Paul Schoenfeld’s Tales from Chelm—Four Pieces for String Quartet, completed in 1991, is a programmatic work that depicts humorous incidents, scenes, and characters from eastern European Jewish folklore centered around the Polish city of Chelm and its imaginary Jewish inhabitants. The very mention of the city of Chelm can evoke laughter, owing to the large body of humorous stories connected to its mythical former Jewish residents. Since at least the 19th century, generations of eastern European Yiddish-speaking Jews and their descendants have been entertained by those sometimes satirical, sometimes nonsensical stories mocking Chelm’s supposed population of fools—sarcastically in folklore as khelmer khakhomim (the wise men of Chelm). In four movements: A Meeting of the Council of Sages, A Tight-Rope Walker, The Witch Cunegunde, and The Soldiers of Chelm.