Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt. 78 RPM record. El Maleh Rachamim - For Victims of the Titanic.

An early and historic American recording of Chazan Yossele Rosenblatt (1882-1933). So stunned was Yossele’s wife by the news of the sinking of the Titanic on April 14th, 1912 - in which 1503 of the 2200 passengers aboard lost their lives - she attempted to persuade her husband to cancel his upcoming trip to America. Nonetheless, lured by an invitation from the First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek, the Cantor arrived in New York on May 26th, 1912, and there he remained for the rest of his life. See S. Rosenblatt, Yossele Rosenblatt (1954) pp. 90-93, also p. 369 (discography). The dramatic sinking of the “unsinkable” ocean liner with tragic loss of life, touched a great many, hence a recording of a Memorial Prayer.