Researcher: Ariel Agarunov, Stuyvesant '27

Early Life
Lan Adomian (born John Jacob “Lan” Weinroth Waisman) was a Jewish-American composer and musician who volunteered for the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. Lan was born in Moghiler-Podolsk, a small town in modern-day Ukraine, on April 29, 1905 and was the son of a Jewish cantor, and followed in his father’s footsteps in the world of music.
He immigrated to the United States on November 1st 1923, when he was 18 years old.
After immigrating, He studied music at the Peabody Cons. of Music in Baltimore from 1924 to 1926, before moving to learn at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia from 1926 to 1928. In 1926, Lan became a member of the “Communist Party of the U.S.A (CPUSA)”. And in 1934, Lan joined the racially mixed choral group “The New Singers”,which featured famous names such as Duke Ellington and specifically played revolutionary communist composers such as Hanns Eisler.
Spanish Civil War
Lan Adomian’s communist politics likely invigorated his will to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War. He travelled to Spain under the passport of Juan Garcia Rodriguez, issued around the advent of 1938. By February of the same year, he had received training as part of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. By October of 1938, he had been hospitalized either by illness or injury, and decided to return back to America onboard the Ausonia in December. During his time in Spain, he also served on the Cultural Commission, a position which allowed him to meet and form lifelong connections with many significant individuals such as Langston Hughes and Miguel Hernandez.
During his short tour in Spain, Adomian never left his music behind. His time recuperating in the hospital was spent setting the patriotic poems of Miguel Hernandez to music. These poems (“The Gates of Madrid”, “The Gates of Madrid”, and “Song of the Sixth Division” ) were meant to be sung on the front, to increase the morale and fervor of soldiers. Miguel Hernandez personally chose him for the job.
After the War
After the brigades were disbanded and volunteers arrived back home, they were celebrated as heroes who fought against fascism. However, with the rise of McCarthyism and “The Red Scare”, McCarthy felt that he was no longer safe in America, and chose self-exile to Mexico. While in Mexico, he continued to compose music: He worked on such big names such as the original Superman TV show in the 1950s, and eventually died of old age on May 9, 1979 in Mexico City, Mexico.

Sources

Biography" ADOMIAN, Lan | Sidbrint.” 1936. Ub.edu. 1936. https://sidbrint.ub.edu/brigadista/adomian-lan.

“Columbians Invited to Aid New Singers.” 1936.  Columbia University Libraries. Columbia University. Autumn 9, 1936. https://archive-publications.library.columbia.edu/?a=d&d=cs19360929-01

“Duke Ellington.” 2021. Grammy.com. 2021. https://www.grammy.com/artists/duke-ellington/11972.

“Hanns Eisler: Composer as Revolutionary.” People’s World. July 4, 2003. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/hanns-eisler-composer-as-revolutionary/.José C.Cárdenas. 2026.

“MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ Y LAS CANCIONES de LA GUERRA.” Blogspot.com. June 16, 2026. https://cancionypoema.blogspot.com/2018/05/miguel-hernandez-y-lascanciones-de-la.html

Langston Hughes Papers. James Weldon Johnson Collection in the Yale
Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript
Library.
https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/archival_objects/334506
Accessed June 16, 2026. Slonimsky, Nicolas, Laura Kuhn, and Dennis McIntire. 2026.

“Adomián, Lan | Encyclopedia.com.” Encyclopedia.com. 2026. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/adomian-lan.