Cantors Assembly Journal of Synagogue Music

J O U R N A L

OF SYNAGOGUE MUSIC

February 1967/ ADAR 1 5727
VOLUME I
Number 1

CONTENTS

The Legacy of Music Through the Ages Edith Gerson-Kiwi 3

In Memo r i am: A. W. Binder Saul Meisels 26

From the Introduction TO "Kol Israel" Morris Levinson . 27

Rosh Hashanah 1966

Stuart M. Porticha and Moses J. Silverman 36

Trends in Contemwrary J ewish Music Peter Gradenwitz 41

Hashirim ASHER LISH'LOMO 46

DEPARTMENTS

Pirkei HAZZANUT Max Wohlberg 57

review of new music Charles Davidson 60

B'kol Zimra by Tzipora H.J ochsberger

Six Short Hebrew Anthems by Herbert Fromm

Shiratv4t/c/e/ni/ by Arthur Yolkoff

Hashkioenu by Maurice Goldman

Agada arranged by Harry Coppersmith

Torat Emet arranged by Harry Coppersmith

JOURNAL OF SYNAGOGUE MUSIC, Vollllfie I, Nlllflber 1,

February 1967/Adar Z 5727
Published by The Cantors Assembly of America

editor: Charles Davidson

managing editor: Samuel Rosenbaum

editorial board: Gerald Hanig, Joseph Levine, Morris Levinson,
Solomon Mendelson, Morton Shames, Morton Shanok, Kurt Silber-
mann, Hyman Sky, George Wagner Max Wohlberg, Arthur Yolkoff.

officers of the cantors assembly: Hazzan Saul M eisels,Presi dent;
Haztan Arthur Koret, Vice President; Hazzan David J. Leon, Vice
President; Hazzan Yehudah Mandel, Treasurer; Hazzan Solomon
Mendelson, Secretary; Hazzan Samuel Rosenbaum, Executive Vice
President.

journal of synagogue music ±s a quarterly publication. The sub-
scription fee is $5.00 per year; $10.00 per year for patrons. Second-
class postage paid at New York, New York. All articles, commun-
ications and subscriptions should be addressed to Journal of
Synagogue Music, Cantors Assembly of America, 3080 Broadway,
New York 10027.

Copyright © 1967, The Cantors Assembly of America.

THE LEGACY OF JEWISH MUSIC THROUGH THE AGES"

E dith GERSON-KIWI

The source of ancient J ewish music was the Bible. Yet, it is not so long
ago that Bible study and, for that matter, anything concerning Biblical music
was the exclusive and well-guarded domain of a handful of theologians and
linguists. Only when modern archaeology enormously widened the horizon,
and the cities, temples, palaces and libraries of Babylon appeared out of
the rubble of the past, did general interest spread. Now that the ancient
types of inhabitants of these regions as well as the newer ones are both
historically and anthropologically well defined, the world of the Bible has
once more come to life.

The stones themselves talked, and the Biblical figures have come to
live uncannily near us; their modes of life, their poetry and their songs, have
become a life picture in our mind. The connection of the present-day Oriental
with his ancient past which was generally believed dead, has now become
perceptible and real in literature and the plastic arts just as in music. His
music already provides material of a certain documentary value which,
under favourable conditions, may yet corroborate to an unforeseen extent
the sparse historical evidence. No musical notations, nor treatises, have been
left to us from Biblical times. Only a very few instruments have survived.
But the musical practices of the present-day Iraquis, Persians, Syrians,
Kurds and Oriental Turks may, thanks to their static nature, furnish us
with the keys to many a buried treasure.

I n the midst of the ancient Asiatic cultures, Hebrew musical tradition
forms a realm of its own. Israel today, is a people in formation, a community
of exiles of all descriptions, and it borders on boldness to try to evaluate
the variety of colours in this mosaic of peculiar traditions that have de-
veloped during the 2,000 years' exile. Israel has had to forego any continuity
in its musical history. It is, as it were, broken info single phases, with tie
and space between, leaving us no clues as to their natural continuity. Biblical
music may be said to form one of the main phases, the Talmudic period a
second, the Spanish-Arabic epoch a third, the Hassidic a fourth, and so on.
But it can be safely assumed that, with the destruction of the Temple in 70
C. E., the culture of instrumental and secular music came to an end and,
from then on, musical liturgy became the sole carrier of music, a music that
can only be grasped in the light of the diversity of the diaspora styles, a
mixture comparable to curious amalgamations of the native and alien.

Today, with the return of the dispersed communities to the old home-
land, there exists a splendid opportunity for the study of the separate
traditions, reunited now within 20th century Israel. Today, fifteen years
after the foundation of the State of Israel, J erusalem has representatives
of all major communities many made up of Oriental tribes which, for a
time, had continued their ancient musical traditions, only to fall-and this

* From a paper delivered by the author at the First International Conference on
Liturgical Music held in J erusalem in J uly 1964 called by the Cantors Assembly
of America.

in a surprisingly rapid way-victim to European assimilation. Therefore,
there is now only one last opportunity to collect this old Hebraic folklore
authentically.

The high age of the styles in Oriental singing is evident. Even the lay-
msn feels its attraction and is subdued by the originality of its melodies
and those sounds which, though belonging to a past world, have nevertheless,
throughout the changes and destructions wrought upon our material world
in the course of time, retained all their purity. To hear such singers from the
Yemen, from Syria, Sameria, or Baghdad, conjures up an impression of
coming home to the cradle of all that is music and sound.

I n these tunes of ancient times, beauty signifies nothing but the soul-
fulness and force of its narration mean everything. There are tones which
hardly conform to a rational tone-system, as is the case with European
music, with their sounds moving outside the normal keys, revealing and
symbolizing man and his peculiarities as an ethnic expression.

Before dealing with the particular aspects, let us take a brief look at
these old tribes and their musical peculiarities. There are three main ethnic
groups:
I. the genuinely Asiatic J ews of the Yemen, Babylon, Syria, Persia and

India;
1 1 . the Spanish-Sephardic J ews from all the shores of the Mediterranean;
1 1 1 . the West- European and the East-European J ewish communities.

I. THE SONG OF THE ASIATIC JEWISH COMMUNITIES

1. Yemen

The numerous J ewish congregations of the Yemen, now united on
Israel's soil, look upon a past unusual not only in its historical events, but
also in its strong consistency of folk traditions. According to their legends,
J ewish communities have lived among the South-Arabian tribes for about
2,500 years, nestled together in small villages or quarters. Here they de-
velop^ through the ages an uninterrupted community life, and it is no
wonder if they preserved a treasure of musical folklore, side by side with
their folk arts and literature. Though there existed, from time to time,
connections with the centers of J ewish learning in Palestine or Egypt, the
Yemenite J ews, on the whole, remained isolated from foreign influences and
retained their ancient style of chanting, singing, dancing, clapping and
drumming.

Legend has it that their migration to the Yemen started during
the First Temple, i.e prior to 587 B.C.E., but archaeological and historical
evidence starts only in the third century C.E. They enjoyed a short time of
political independence during the 5th and 6th centuries, when the Himyaric
Royal. House adopted the J ewish faith, but with the death of the last
Himyaric king, thej ew, J oseph Du Nuwas (d. 525 C.E.), and the growth of
Islam with its many -fanatical sects, unaccounted sufferings for the J ews
began which resulted only in strengthening their J ewish consciousness and
their Messianic faith. Their final return toj erusalem began in 1881/82 and

was concluded in 1949/50 with the transfer of the entire population of
Yemenite J ews-induding the far-away Hadramoutb-Habanim (ca. 40,006
people) to Israel.

The very age of this tribe, their absolute seclusion from the European
sphere of influence, their natural inclination to music, and, in general, their
devotion to the Muses, have in fact made them the prototype of a J ewish
folk-tradition. A relevant point in this connection is their Bible recitation
which, as in other Oriental cults, takes the form of a documentary style
with "graces" here and there as syntactical marks, as in the following:

Ex. 1: Yemenite Bible Reading

Yemen ■ Exodus 12:21 (Phon. G-K 1392)

Ua-yiq - ra Mo- she

; „ r | J, _T3 p I I Vrpppi-pp

*ney Yia -ra - el ua - yo - met a - le -hem ,

mi - she* - k h u .

u - q£hu

ha-tu ha-po - sah

This sort of chanting assured the interpretation of the Holy Script:
its words were forever wrapped up in music. Later on, this style of canti Na-
tion also provided the key for understanding whenever the origins of the
early Christian mode of singing the Psalms and Lessons had to be traced.
These were probably the first points of contact between the liturgies of the
two world religions.

In the Yemenites' religious home-tunes for the celebration of the
Sabbath and the holy days, mostly from the pen of their great baroque poet
andcabbalist Mori SalimShabazi (born 1619), a mystic-meditative style

is pre-eminent. The singing is antiphonal, alternating between two groups of
singers and a precentor. The melody consists of short, slightly ornamented
phrases.

Ex. 2: Yemenite Festive Song

Yemen - Shabbat Hymn "Ani esh'al". (Phon. G-K 2509)

(1st and 2nd group)

(2nd verse)

u a - h a - shab

-bath

(Tutti)

ba - to - kham hi g£ - do - la

Timbre, tone quality and performance, these three are more decisive
for style than any possible musical notation. Striking are the thin falsetto
registers of the Yemenite singers, who remind us physically of the graceful
and delicately formed South-Arabian mountain nomads, with whom they
have in common the tense agility of the body which during their singing
never ceases to perform dance-like movements. Thus, vocal sounds and
physical movement3 together are here necessary to form a complete musical
picture.

Yemenite songs for women are a world apart. On account of the strict
seclusiveness of the Oriental females, something of the remote past has re-
mained in their singing which is no longer present in the singing of the
males. It is perceptible, first of all, in the odd and old-fashioned formality
of the short melodic phrases with which they dress their saga-like poems.
The following is such an example: a son from San'a, Yemen's capital.

Ex. 3: Yemenite Women's Song

Yemen - Women Song 'Ya ualdi ya mishenehe" (Phon. G-K 1747)

Stanza- Scheme

Copper Plate: —J
Hand Drum

H-

-*-*-*-

f: r p J» j J V J l r p J>g J> y jUp p J>

♦ — v A * y J* t — ^-JU — **&-* — *J^ — r^M — r^

g J>V J>l r p JflAy Jl f p t $ *yJ>[ pJLfrjL+J

Thanks to their highly developed traditional popular art, it has fallen to
the Yemenites to exercise the most creative influence in Israel's musical life.
Their extremely attractive song motifs are now profusely adopted and elabo-
rated in present-day Israeli compositions. Furthermore, Yemenite dances,
with their exotic steps, have now become, apart from their musical value,
the model of new folk-dancing. Their costumes, silversmith craft, carpet-
making and weaving have prepared the ground for a new start in handicrafts.

2. Iraq -The Babylonian and Kutdish Jews

In addition to the Yemenites, we regard the Babylonian J ews as an
outstanding cultural group. Since the days of the Babylonian exile, i.e. since
the 6th century B.C.E., an important Jewish colony existed there, known
for its scholars, whose essential accomplishment was the interpretation of
the Bible text in that monumental work, the Babylonian Talmud.

In music, the work of Baghdad's medieval "Masoretes" is of importance
to J ew and non-Jew in terms of reading and understanding the Biblical
text. These Masoretes developed a system of accents or reading marks for
Bible cantillation. No wonder that the Baghdad community today still pos-
sesses one of the best developed musical liturgies. In the following example
we shall give the Babylonian form of Bible cantillation. This is, like the
Yemenite Ex. 1. from the book of Exodus, 12;21-22:

Ex. 4: Babylonian Bible Reading

Baghdad (Iraq) - Exodus 12:21 (Phon. G-K 1587)

Ua - yiq - ra Mo-she

le* - khol ziq - ney

a ♦

Y i s - r a - el wa - yo - mer a-le-hem: mi - she -khu

^^

^

ltj- r p n ^

u - q<5 - hu la- khem tzon

le- mish - pa

-fco - t e - khem u - sha - ha - tu ha - pa - sah.

This logically phrased and very plastic way of reading is reserved for the
prose text of the Bible In prayer, on the contrary, a free cantorial melody
with a broad outline is predominant.

Ex. 5: Babylonian Piyut

Baghdad (Iraq) - New Year's Prayer: "Shoef kemo 'eved"

(Phon. E. G-K 2604)

■3

u -k ra oh&tar

A second group of the Iraqi-Babylonian tribes are represented by the
Aramaic-speaking J ews of Kurdistan. In distinction to the learned Baghdad
group, they are part of the more primitive community groups and are mostly
mountain tribes, people of powerful physique and wild temperment, but hard-
working. Their popular epic poems on biblical, historical, love and war themes
which are still sung in the traditional style of their ancient bards. The melo-
dies, corresponding each to a verse line used in this connection, bear no
resemblance to recognized folksong. They are dramatic recitations richly
executed, beginning with a surprisingly long wordless vocalise — as, for
example, in the following Kurd song-saga told in the still very little explored.
Kurmangi language.

Ex. 6: Kurd Song

Kurdish-Jewish Epic (opening) (Phon. G-K 1018)

3. Persia and Neighboring Countries

Persia, besides Iraq and Yemen, is a third cultural centre with Bukhara,
Afghanistan and Daghestan. In Persia, we see an abundance of local tradi-
tions coming from Shiraz, Isphahan, Meshed, Teheran, Rast and so forth.
The Persian J ews are late descendants of the tribes from the state of North
Israel who were deported to Assur and Medea 135 years before the exile of
prophets. They thus conserved an earlier musical liturgy, basically still the
religious reform movement that took place after the downfall of South
J udaea, and which marked the beginning of the classical period of the
southern state of J udea to Babylonia. They, therefore, had no part in certain
forms of recitation, as in the responsorial reading of the Book of Esther,
which originated in Persia and is still chanted there in the ancient form.

10

Ex. 7: Persia: Book of Esther

Meshhed (Persia) - Book Esther 1: 2 (Phon. G-K 096)
Ca ntor: ^ a ; g

Ba- ya- mim.

ha-hem

k£-she

vet

ha- me-lekh A-bash-ve - iosh al ki - se mal-khu-to
a Congregation: ^^-x -^ ,

p MP P" P ' r g r P r

sher be - Shu - shan

Cantor:

ha - bi-

The inner connection of this type of reading as done here by the J ewish
"Marranos" of Meshed, with the recitation of the Persian classical "Shah-
name" Saga (by the poet Firdousi) becomes evident.

Ex. 8: Persia: Shahname Recitation

Persia - Recitation from Firdosi's "Shahname."

(Phone. G-K 131).

tj> j j> i j j j> j m .) =£

*

A - ya shah- e mah-bub - e' kesh - var

V-zO

- sha.

ze kas gar na-tar - si be'- tars

> rn j i ; j n g i i> ^^

az kho - da

ke pish az to

sha- han fa - ra

-me taj - da-ran - e' "ICei-han 7 *

j j j* .i i i

bo "d and .

11

W ithin the Persian fold, there still exist remnants of older, non-Semitic
points of style that have become absorbed in the J ewish rites. As an example
of assimilation of Persian melodies into J ewish liturgical music, here is a
song from the Pesah haggada:

Be 9: Persia: Pesah Song (Ki Lo No-a)

Persian (Meshhed) } Pesah Song (Phon. G-K 500)

Ki lo na- - - eh ki 16 ya -

eh

A-

■ dir birrrlu

khe-a ba - bur ka - ha - la -

khSa

It may be followed by en Afghanistan form of reading the haggada
which in essence is very near to the Persian one.

Ex. 10: Afghanistan: Haggada (Holohma Anal)

Afghanistan
Cantor

- Psalm

Recitations (Ps.

113:1-2)

(Phon.

G-K

2861.)

Hal -

le- lu-

ya

hal- le-lu

! av -de A -

Congregation;

do

• nay,

4 ^ : FFPflP'PPffllfiflF PPP

hal- le - lu

et shemA-

do-nay

Ye-

hi shem

A- i

do-nay

me'-bho-rakh

Persian culture also flourished in Bukhara, a most important center of
J ewish folklore H ere, as in the case of Yemen, a high quality of aesthetic
feeling is manifest end an abundance of folk art. Among their religious tra-
ditions, the nightly reading from the mystical book of Zoher gives a very true
picture of the strange sounds of the high-pitched Bukharien tenor; and their
power an intensity of expression, as do the many devotional songs.

12

A deep gulf separates this mystic-contemplative singing from the primi-
tive magic songs sung at Bukharian weddings by the women, the female
minstrels of the Orient, who hold their own when compared with medieval
entertainers. They dance, sing, make verses, extemporize, execute certain
wedding ceremonials and indulge in a bit of wizardry. Often, their wedding
songs are mere acclamations, and even incantations; their drumming is full
of ravishing accents and polyrhythmic impulses. Wedding dances have not
yet lost their functional purpose: courtship, purification, the "selling" of
the self, the transfer of power.

II. THE MUSIC OF THE SPANISH-SEPHARDIC J EWS
Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Greece, Cochin

The musical heritage of Western civilization from Israel became evident
through a great number of cultural contacts between the exiled Jewish
people and its guest countries. On this basis, a variety of regional traditions
developed which are not easily defined or related to each other. To take one
instance: the historians of J ewish sacred music are today confronted with a
difficult question, namely, whether under the many layers of diaspora styles,
there can still be discovered a common source pointing to the all-embracing
cult music of ancient Israel. Whether or not such an archetype of Jewish
melody is still in existence, the only way to attack the problem seems to be
to learn more about the individual attitudes to music within the many com-
munities of the diaspora To achieve this approach we focused on the main
ethnic groups and let them speak for themselves.

First came the group of J ews from purely Asiatic countries. A second
great family of communities are the Spanish or Sephardic Jews. By this we
understand those J ewish communities whose cultural center, at the height
of the Arabian empire in the Middle Ages, was Spain (or, in Hebrew:
Sephared). After their expulsion from Spain as a result of the Inquisition in
1492, the greater part of the refugees settled in the countries surrounding the
Mediterranean-in Morocco, Egypt, Italy, Turkey, Syria, and once again,
J erusalem. These are the Oriental Sephardi J ews. A smaller part of those
Spanish J ews who tried to find shelter in Portugal, finally had to emigrate
northwards to Holland where they established a new Jewish centre in
Amsterdam with dependencies in London, Hamburg and South America.
Those who remained behind were baptized by force and continued to live
there as the so-called Marranos or Conversos. I n spite of their general assimi-
lation to Catholicism, there still seem to exist some remnants of an ancient
j ewish ritual, especially among the Portuguese Jews.

In the countries around the Mediterranean, local variants of the Seph-
ardi tradition sprang up and spread all over the Near-Eastern countries
covering many of the older Asiatic synagogal styles with a thick layer of
Spanish- Sephardi chanting, as in the following Bible reading from Morocco:

13

Ex. 11: Morocco: Bible Contillation

Morocco - Reg. 1, 1:1 G-K 4023

-qen ba.

ba - ya - mim wa- yJS - kha -

yi - ham

Morocco, as the first stop of the great J ewish retreat, has been sheltering
a great number of J ewish communities of very different origin and outlook.
Among them are the descendants of the J ewish Berbers whose language,
the "Shlihi," is a mixture of Berber and Hebrew elements. They have been
dwelling in isolated communities, in the interior of the country, thus pre-
serving some of the most ancient pre-lslamic trends of J ewish folk life. An-
other group are the descendants of Spanish J ews who settled down in the
cities along the Moroccan shores: they represent an educated group and have
actually preserved in their home traditions some important remnants of the
pre-Columbian Iherian culture which has long since disappeared in Spain
itself. Not only did they perpetuate the Castilian language of the 15th cen-
tury but, together with it, also the literature of those times with Romances,
Villancicos and Epics and with their inseparable musical forms of old.

14

Ex. 12: Morocco: J udaeo-Hispanic Romance

Morocco: J udaeo-Hispanic Romance. (From Ortega, no. 9)

Un hi - jo tie - ne^el Rey Da~vid '.

che per

J J if tj i r r i uj S~p \ r i i

e-ra- - a su prop - rie da] su prop - rie Her-ma-na.

Therefore, the Sephardi J ews, and especially those of Morocco, became
the carriers of ancient elsewhere extinct elements of Spanish civilization.
During the J ewish resettlement all around the Mediterranean basin, rem-
nants of the Spanish lore were carried over the Balkanese countries and
Turkey back to J erusalem. Here, in the precincts of the J ewish quarter,
Hispanic songs found a safe shelter for the following four centuries. They
are practiced today as in the times of old, especially in the homes of J ews
originating from the famous J ewish community of Salonica (Greece). An
example of one of the historic romances, sung in the old Castilian language
by a Sephardi woman of the Old City of J erusalem, may follow:

Ex. 13: J udaeo-Hispanic Romance- (Salonica-J erusalem)

J udaeo-Hispanic Romance: "Arboleras." (Phon. G-K 3890/1)

-bo - le - ras

- gen - til.

15

No less dramatic is the history of the J ews of Algeria. It seems that
J ewish colonization started already in pre-Roman times, on the track of the
Phoenician seafarers who had opened the trade route on the Mediterranean
between the eastern and western shores of Tyre and Carthage. During the
Second Temple, Algeria became a Roman province, and when, during the
reign of J ustinian, new trouble started for the J ews, many of them fled and
found shelter with the Berber tribes in the interior of the country. Through
the long co-existence between the J ews and the Berber fellahs of the Kabyle
and the Arab nomads of the Atlas mountains, a rare type of Berber -J ews —
J ewish cave-dwellers, and Arab-J ewish nomads — developed whose remnants
have even been found in recent times. Lately, part of them have been reset-
tled in the Lachish area in Israel, and others may yet follow. There are fine
artisans among them, especially carpet weavers, and they still indulge in a
variety of ancient folk customs and beliefs, folk songs and dances.

As in the case of the Morocccan J ews, there are several ethnic groups
among the Algerian J ews. Besides the ancient stock of Berber J ews, there are
communities originating from the East-Arabian countries — from Baghdad,
Egypt and the Yemen- having migrated westwards after the Arab con-
quest. They brought with them the Babylonian practice of religious law and
chant, and the split of congregations which set in here was further deepened
by the influx of the Spanish J ews. Another estranged variety of J ewish de-
scendants are the Moslem "Marranos", forcibly converted Jews during the
12th century's terror of the fanatic Almohades sects. There is reason to
assume that among the Arab nomads of the Kabyle regions (and elsewhere),
a good percentage is of J ewish extraction, and that, consequently, their
music, too, has preserved some ancient roots of J ewish song. The J ews of
the Atlas mountains may best represent the ancient symbiosis of musical
styles.

EX. 14: Atlas Mountains: Two Dance Tunes

(a)

lb)

Atlas Mountains (S-Morocco) -Two Dance Tunes G-K 4288, 4279

A

Drums^J i T"3 - f7J

Reaching the Tunisian shores, we meet the little island of Djerba be-
lieved to have been the place of the lotus eaters of the Odyssey. There,
among the Berber population, a small community of J ews used to live who
claim to have settled there after the destruction of the Second Temple.
Two synagogues were the spiritual centers of this ancient and unbroken
tradition of communal life. Their liturgical order and religious song —
though not basically different from that of the Tunisian J ews on the main-

16

land — show, nevertheless, some peculiarities which can only be ex-
plained through the remoteness of their islander-life which kept their singing
style relatively pure from more recent influences. Their strict adherence to
song alone as the exclusive musical instrument, the abhorrence shown for
songs, point to an archaic approach to the idea of music making. There
is, for instance, no preconceived fission on certain scales or modes while
chanting a certain portion of the Bible, and the same singer may apply
several such modes or intonations for the same sentence, according to the
start of his voice or to his inclination of the moment, as our human voice is
not bound to establish intervals as found in mechanical instruments. Thus
we may uncover, with the Djerba J ews, some ancient roots of human music.
Here are two variants of the same sentence (after R. Lachmann) :

Ex. 15: Tunis (Isle of Djerba — Ps. 1 : 6

Tunis (Isle of Djerba) - Ps. 1:6 (after R. Lachmann, no. 5)

1st singer:

2nd singer:

■ ■

i K

L yu

" de _ _ .

. _ _ _ *a

has

- se

m

y 4

. . » —

-J-Uj

LZ~J*

N * !

ki - yo - de

<a is - sem

m J 1 __U, ^^

, de - rek sad- di - qim u

de - rek

de - rek sad -di - qim

j n nr m,n , i i

ra

to

bed.

17

The Oriental-Sephardi J ews who had received their training in J udaic,
Islamic and Roman-Christian thought, represent an intellectual force under
whose impetus the musical liturgies of most of the Eastern communities were
modified into a partly Spanish, partly Arab style of singing which, with the
original J ewish mode, developed a new variety of richly ornamented mel-
odies.

One of the most striking properties of this Sephardic song is the adop-
tion of the Arab technique of guided improvisation, on certain melodic for-
mulae of Maqamat. This went side by side with the adaptation of the mea-
sured poetry to the Hebrew language which now took on a new musical garb:
During this rare interval of peace and cultural exchange between the Arab
and J ewish people, the sacred music of the synagogue, hitherto jealously
guarded, became gradually imbued with the beauties of Arab love songs. The
Spanish school of J ewish poets, with masters like Ibn Gabirol, Ibn Ezra, or
Yehuda Halevi, adopted not only the metric Arab verse but also the foreign
Andalusian melodies of Islamic Southern Spain, These J udaeo-Arab songs
are not unlike the Christian-Spanish Villancicos or the French Virelai of the
same period and are mostly accompanied by a small ensemble of musical in-
struments, as in the Troubadour songs: a lute, violin, flute, cymbals and
drums.

The Arab singing technique upon melodic models was then transplanted
to the poetical portions of the Bible. Psalms and Canticles got their popular,
song-like melodies from these, as in the following Song of Moses, performed
by a J ewish cantor from Egypt:

Ex. 16: Egypt: Song of Moses (Sephardic)

Egypt (Sephardic) ■ Moses' Song (Ex. 15: 1-2) (Phon. G-E 2430)

shi - ra l'A-do - nay ki ga - o

ga

4 O jj i j j j J' ii j j, i j j j i

sus

we-ro-khe - bo

ra - ma

ba

From here it is only a short step to real folk-song. The genuine &?/;/*«/*-
die folk songs are mostly in the Ladino language, the dialect spoken by the
J udaeo-Spanish communities. The next example is a bi-lingual ceremonial
song (in Hebrew and Ladino) from the circumcision ritual of Greek J ews:

18

Ex. 17: Solonlca: Circumsision Song

Sephardic - Greek Circumcision Song. (Phon. G-K 0156.)

Ya vien'-el pa - ri - - ■ do_

Et-tra- hen - do en la' ma - no.

do to-do biencom-pl

do

fry rg.j'j i rj

pen

m F

m

che

va

el pa

do

With this Greek-J ewish song we have reached the eastern shores of the
Mediterranean. Here, an independent school of Hebrew poets developed in
the 10th century, culminating in the 16th century in the Kabbalistic school
of Safed, in Galilee, with its master poet Israel Nagara. In his Diwan (or
collection of songs) of 1587 and 1599/60 he provided a list of well-known
melodic tunes which may have served many hundreds ofindividual songs,
and which seem to have survived in a number of present-day hymns.

Strange traces of the Spanish style have been discovered among the
far-away Jewish tribes of South-Indian Jews coming from Cochin on the
coast of Malabar: emissaries and teachers of Spanish upbringing may have
transferred the Spanish idiom of chanting to these parts.

19

Ex. 18: Cochin J ews, (South India) : Cantillation

Cochin (India) - Bible Recitation. Gen. 1: 1. (Phon. G-K)

Be- re-shit ba- ra E - lo-him et ha - sha-ma - yim

wa-wo - hu we -ho-shekh al pe - ney tk- horn we - ru

- ah E - lo-him me - ra- he-phet 'al pe- ney ha - ma - yim

we have now reached the extreme Eastern end of Oriental-&p&r&c
traditions. On the other hand, at the Western end of Europe, the Portu-
guese-Sephardic community of Amsterdam had flourished for more than four
centuries. In their sacred music, the ancient Iberian style is still recognizable,
though mixed with the elements of the Gregorian Chant and rendered in a
more rational intonation. But, in spite of the very Westernized form of this
prayer, we can still trace the underlying Oriental-Sephardic origin.

Ex. 19: Holland: Purim Hymn (Seph. -Portuguese)

Holland (Seph.- Portuguese) : Purim Hymn. (Phon. G-K 1294.

Mi do-me lakh w* - eyn do -me lakh

20

SPECIAL JEWISH TRIBES AND SECTS

Apart from the above-named Oriental communities, there are some
rather forgotten Jewish groups of the East, as, for instance, the Bene-lsrael
and the Cochin Jews from India, or the black Falasha-Jews from Ethiopia.
There are also some ancient Jewish sects, such as the Samaritans, the Kara-
ites, and the (more recent) Sabbatean sect. Among Indian Jews, we know
two different communities: (a) the Bene-lsrael congregation in and around
Bombay which probably stems from the Galilee which they left during the
invasion of Antioch Epiphanee (175 B.C.), settling down on the West coast
near Konkan, in complete isolation from the rest of Judaism. Thus, they
did not know, until recently, of the post-ezilian religious feasts, not even of
Hanukka -an event which occurred only ten years later than their flight.
On the other hand, they still retained some Temple customs like the incense
sacrifice, apparently without knowing of the Fall of the Second Temple and
the abolition of burned sacrifice. In the course of time, their song and chant
had adopted some particulars of Hindu song, and, in more recent times, their
liturgical music partly assimilated to the general Oriental-sephardic one,
as already shown. About ten years ago, a large number of them was resettled
in Israel.

In a similar way, the almost forgotten Jewish tribe from Cochin, in
South-India, was transferred to Israel (in 1954). They, too, had emigrated
from ancient Israel after the destruction of the Temple, and settled on the
South-West coast of Malabar. They eventually reached political independ-
ence through a decree of 1020, and even developed a caste system, in accord-
ance with their Hindu neighbours. Their style of singing is reminiscent of
the Malayalam culture, but again assimilated to the Sephardic rite.

One of the most interesting sideways of J ewish history are the black
Jews, or Falashas, of Ethiopia. They belong to the Amharic tribes, have their
own villages, their classes of priests, their altars where they still practice the
burned sacrifice, and even a class of monks. Their holy books are the Old
Testament and an apocryphal "Book of Hymns" written in the old Geez-
language. The Talmud remained unknown to them as did the poat-ewilian
feasts, Until modem times, Hebrew was not known to them. Their religious
song is accompanied by drums and an iron gong — a quite unusual thing in
J udaism. As to the modalities and the voice-timbre of their songs, one can
observe a close association to the East-African folklore.

Jewish Sects: Of the ancient Jewish sects, it is the schismatic move-
ment of the Samaritans which is the moat interesting from the musical and
folkloristic point of view, Their forms of chanting the Bible, the phonetiza-
tion of the Hebrew, their melodic lines drawn out and interrupted by magic
calls - these and many more particulars indicate that we are facing here a
living antiquity Not unlike the Cochin Jews and the Falashas. they still
adhere to the incense burning of the Temple period, the famous Pesah lamb
sacrifice. They also have ten reading accents for the cantillation of the Bible,
but their melodization and grouping of accents is different from any known
Jewish one. Many magic beliefs and customs help to complete the picture of
an archaic tradition. A number of Samaritan families live in Israel (Holon) .

21

The sect of Karaites sprang up in Iraq during the 8th century as one of
the schismatic branches of the Babylonian Talmud Academies rejecting Tal-
mudic law and rabbinical authority. In the footsteps of the J ewish wander-
ings in medieval times, they spread southwards to the Egyptian diaspora,
and northwards through Constantinople to Poland and Luithuania. The mu-
sical liturgy of their Cairo colony reveals great likeliness with the musical
dialect of Egypt's J ews.

A quite new form of J ewish sect are the Sabbatheans (Subbotniis), a
group of Russian Proselytes which came into being about the year 1800 and
spread like fire over whole districts. After murder and persecution, they were
banned to Siberia and the Caucasus by a decree of 1825, ordered by the
Tzar Alexander I. Some families of these fugitive Russian peasants found
their way to Israel and settled in the Emek, in a village of their own (Kfar
HaHoresh), but recently they left to join their brethren elsewhere. The
musical rendering of their psalms and hymns with which they honour the
Sabbath, the center of their sectarian movement, has preserved the ancient
responsorial form of South-Russian folk choirs.

III. THE MUSIC OF THE ASHKENAZI JEWS

Western and Eastern Europe

A third ethnic group among the J ews are the European or Ashkenazi

J ews who among themselves are again divided into those of Western and
Eastern Europe.

The Ashkenazi communities settled mainly in the non-Latin countries
of Europe. Their most ancient settlements stem from late antiquity, particu-
larly from the time of the Roman Empire when it was about to expand its
colonization scheme and erect strategic points all along the river Rhenus
with the foundation of cities like Mainz, Worms, Bonn and Aachen. In these
surroundings of South-West Germany, the oldest centres of Ashkenazi com-
munity life can be found.

In times when these J ews enjoyed relative peace — as they occasionally
did in the early Middle Ages - they may have absorbed a great deal of the
musical language of the Gentiles. In particular, the contact with the medi-
eval German folk song must have been rather strong, given the fact that,
until this very day, its traces can easily be detected in Western Synagogue
chants and prayers.

Surprisingly enough, the Bible cantillation of West-Germnn commun-
ities is still built upon the archaic pattern of pentatonic musical folk idioms
which at that time was customary with the Celtic tribes who inhabited the
Rhenus region. The following example illustrates the five-tone style of Ash-
kenazi Bible reading with its broad declamation and trumpet-like melodic
turns.

22

Ex. 20: Ashkenazic Bible-Reading

Ashkenazic Bible Cantillation in Israel. (Phon. G-K 0167.)

Cen. 1:1 Be* - re- shit
n r

3^^

_J LI Li 1 U_

et ha - sha - ma - yim

et ha - a - retz

$ J' J 1 ijj j i i j p r

we* - ha - a

retz ha - ye - ta to - hu wa

te - horn

ru - ah E - lo - him me - ra

i

3E

-he

ph et

'al

p^ney ha

ma

yim.

TheJ ews in Western and Eastern Europe did not remain separate en-
tities but were constantly intermingled by fate and history. During the 15th
and 16th centuries, pogroms and persecution drove the Jews of Central
Europe, especially those of Southwestern Germany, out of their traditional
homes in an Eastern direction, to Poland, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine.
With them went their folklore, Westernized through long established cul-
tural contacts, and their J udaeo-German language, Yiddish. In their new
surroundings, in Eastern Europe, and without further contact or develop-
ment ,these properties were preserved in their fundamentals in the now de-
veloping idiom of a Yiddish home culture and language. When, after the
gruesome Chmelnitzki pogroms in the 17th century, J ews fled back to Ger-
many, the reverse process started, and the many cantors from Eastern Eu-
rope started to cover the older German-J ewish folklore with a new blend of
synagogue chanting.

Meanwhile, in the East, J ewish life in the ghetto had started with its
degradation, poverty and affliction. Yet, in spite of all the misery within
the ghetto walls, folksongs sprang up once more with a vehemence and emo-
tional intensity which gave the Yiddish song a kind of universal appeal.

In the 18th century, the mystic religious movement of hasidism, heir to

23

the older kabbalistic movement, swept like a hurricane over the misery-
stricken communities. Thanks to Martin Buber who helped us to rediscover
hasidic thought in all its depth, the way is now open to a better understand-
ing of its music. Hasidism started as a popular movement, the rebellion of
the man in the street against the learned rabbinical J udaism with its fixed
and often harsh postulates. Instead of this, the followers of hasidism asked
for individual piety and the inner vision of God, for contemplation, exalta-
tion, and the immense joy to view the greatness of God. Words and knowl-
edge, and ready-made prayers and ritual laws were regarded as a hindrance
in man's approach to God. His only knowledge was his feeling heart; his only
true speech-his speechless melodies, the niggun, and singing itself became
the highest communication with the Almighty. Such a wordless niggun has
six phases of inner contemplation and finishes in ecstatic dances. Here is the
beginning of a niggun:

Ex. 21: Hasidic Niggun
Hasidic Nigun (Dem Rebbens Nigun) (after Idelsohn, Vol. 10, 40. 123.)

Here, one is aware of a new creative force which is constantly seeking
self-expression, regardless of the mixed origin of its melodic means. Yet,
these heterogeneous elements are bound together by an ecstatic intonation
and a kind of Oriental ornamentation which give it a character quite its own.

Particularly striking is the richly ornamental melody of this prayer
which, with its dramatic climaxes and sudden parlandos, is not far away from
the dramatic recitatives of early Baroque opera, but it may also have ab-
sorbed a good deal of the Arabesque style of Oriental singing.

During the last centuries, the secular folksong of East-European
J ewry has developed so profusely, with thousands of touching little songs,
that it may rightly demand a coveted place in the domain of J ewish folklore.
Since the eighteenth century, it has been saturated with hasidic nigun-mel-
odies and with anything else coming under the heading of ancient Oriental
formulae for chanting, or prayer tunes, or remnants of gentile folksongs as
were the Polish, Ukrainian, Rumanian, Hungarian or German tunes, and of
strains of instrumental art music, even of marches or ditties of any descrip-
tion.

24

The East-Ashkenazi Yiddish folksong excels, in particular, in the type
of semi -religious popular songs of which the following "school" song, a dia-
logue between a disciple and his learned rabbi, may serve as prototype of
this genre. (The pupil asks how the other world looks and the master
answers with a satirical play of words.)

Ex. 22: Yiddush Folksong "Rein Gold"

Yiddish Songs: "Rein Gold." (Phon. G-K 1416)

Tfs J tfi ^ +z 0-

Rein (e) rein (e) rein (e) gold

rein (e) rein tel rein (e)

rein (e) rein(e) rein (e) gold

ach re- be-niu vae

•bi - niu oi

oi far vus s'schtetveil es

schtet al hct she-fto " to ™ nu le- fo~ne- kho

J i L jj -

D.C.A.F.

bfc - qa - luth roirh ,

25

A special feature of these folksongs is their bilingual or even trilingual
composition. Usually, their central text is a literal H ebrew quotation from a
Bible verse, often a Psalm, or else from prayer lyrics which were translated
and commented on in the vernacular, as in the bilingual songs of the M as-
tersingers. Like the previous example, also the following tune-a nostalgic
song of Z ion-is sung in Hebrew and Yiddish.
Ex. 23: Yiddush Song: "Umipne Hataenu-

Yiddish Song: "Umipne hataenu" (Phon. G-K 1424)

- nu me- - 'al ad ■ ma ■ te - nu

This Hebrew quotation serves as a kind of prelude or introduction
dressed in the traditional style of an ecstatic cantoral recitative, and is fol-
lowed, without a break, by a popular exegetic translation in the vernacular,
moving in its candor and naivety.

Concluding we may say that the musical legacy of ancient Israel for
W estern civilization worked on a double track. J ust as Israel provided the
Western Christian world with the wealth of religious and musical values,
so, in her turn, exiled Israel received correspondent values from the peoples
and cultures of the countries in which the J ews were now scattered. Together
with all that remained of the J ewish people, music went with them into their
exiles. Therefore, J ewish music underwent great changes of styles and ex-
pression. Today, it seems to exist only in a multitude of synthetic alloys
which are as difficult to separate as are chemical elements. Nevertheless, it
happened that J ewish music as such did not completely disappear and it
even gained new stature by passing through various stages of renaissance
under the impact of both the Islamic and Christian civilizations. Its history
during the ages of exile could easily be presented as a sequence of temporal
and local symbioses-each one changing its surface without destroying its
basis.

Thus the stage was set for new developments, among them also an
artistic trend. But a more profound renaissance of J ewish music based on
the direct sources and resources of ancient traditions may possibly spring
up in modem Israel where the language of the Bible has again become a
spoken tongue and Bible cantillation and song the active forces to inspire
musical production.

IN MEMORIAM: A. W. BINDER Saul MEISELS

In the passing of Abraham Wolf Binder, J ewish music in Amer-
ica has lost one of its great pioneers. He was a prolific composer,
teacher, conductor, lecturer; a great influence on young J ewish stu-
dents. The purpose of his life was creative service to the field of
J ewish music.

I am one whose life was touched by A. W. Binder. As a singer
thirty-five years ago under his direction in the "Y" Choral Society,
and throughout my thirty years in the cantorate, I was and con-
tinue to be impressed by his unerring devotion to the cause of J ew-
ish music, his sensitive musicianship, and his earnest efforts to
broaden the interests of those around him in music of an authentic-
ally J ewish and religious spirit.

Consider his influence on J ewish music for the synagogue. Any-
one who professes any interest at all in the synagogue must, I am
sure, possess already a number of his volumes. He was among the
first of the J ewish composers of America to bring Palestinian music
to the attention of the American J ew. Dr. Binder possessed a deep
love for Zion, and this found expression in his many songs and
cantatas.

I recall meeting him in Israel, where he was completing a new
work for chorus and soloists, inspired — he told me — by the at-
mosphere of Israel. "Hora V'Hodaya" Praise and Dance: A
Choral Ballet, has since been published, as well as a Friday even-
ing service inspired by the themes and tonal colors of Israel.

He was the first of the American J ewish composers to dedicate
his life to J ewish music. He became the inspiration for others who
subsequently emulated him. Small wonder, therefore, that he was
the music director for so many years of Dr. Wise's Free Synagogue,
and Professor of Music at the J ewish Institute of Religion. Those
who came in contact with him were not only enriched but could not
help but become intensely devoted to the J ewish musical idiom.

His primary interest at all times was: How can J ewish music
best be served? This was the goal towards which he devoted himself.
The music which he created reaffirmed strongly his belief in the dis-
tinctive character of J ewish music. It has become a touchstone for
others to emulate, a prophetic road upon which others follow.

A. W. Binder taught a generation to become aware of the musical
heritage of its people. Into this effort he poured his gifts, and through
these he made us prouder and stronger in our appreciation. His is a
voice which will be heard for a long, long time.

26

27

FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO "KOLYISRAEL*

Translated by: Morris levinson

East and West in Hazzanut (Ashkenazic)

"Hazzanut," is the musical art and science that the Sh'liah
Tzibur employs during the service in the synagogue. It Is a great
and precious religious and national -historical art that occupies a
singular place in the J ewish musical world. Hazzanut has always
striven to give voice not only to the deep religious feeling of each
pious J ew as he stood in prayer before his Maker, but also tried to
articulate, in its song, the greatness and innate goodness of the
Master of the Universe; the feelings of longing, yearning and inner-
most hopes of the individual J ew and the Hebrew nation while, at
the same time, to instill a festive and joyous spirit into the life of
the J ews.

Hazzanut is an 'ancient institution that, during the course of
generations assumed certain forms while divesting itself of others.
The hazzan, as Sh'liah Tzibur, is not found in Talmudic literature.
Later sources, however, do depict him in that role. The transforma-
tion of the hazzan from his early beginnings as a servant in the
sanctuary, in various capacities, to a permanent Sh'liah Tzibur,
began to take place during the Gaonic period. Hazzanim
were first permitted to officiate as Sh'lihe Tzibur in the 5th and 6th
centuries after the destruction of the Temple and became rooted
firmly in that position during succeeding generations.

Hazzanut was originally conceived in order to give musical in-
terpretation to the Psalms, the poetry and the prayers and paral-
leled, in growth, the development of our various Books of Prayer.
The hazzan, appointed as he was to be the musical interpreter, was
rightfully called the Sh'liah Tzibur for he was not only the sweet
singer of the J ewish Community, but its representative, pleading its
case, voicing its heart's desires, its strivings and hopes, bringing its
sufferings and aches before the tribunal of the Almighty.

Vocal art and religious song occupied a very important position
during the days of the first and second Temple. J ust as the syna-

* "Kol Yisrael" is a two volume anthology of hazzanic material for the liturgi-
cal year published by the "Bilu" Synagogue and Cantonal Seminary in Tel
Aviv, Israel in 1964. The Introduction is, in fact, a comprehensive review
of the history and development of hazzanut.

The editor of the anthology is the well known expert on hazzanut and
cantillation, M. S. Geshury. Much of the music is the work of the late
revered hazzan and teacher of hazzanim, Solomon Rawitz.

28

gogue, the "little sanctuary," took the place to some degree, of the
Holy Sanctuary, so did hazzanut find its source in the songs of the
Levites. Hazzanic music and the music of the La/ites, however, were,
never exactly identical. The songs of the Levites were, naturally,
inspiration and eastern-oriental spirit in the land of its birth, hazza-
estine in answer to the call of the hour, at the destruction of the
Second Temple, was meant to serve the J ews of the diaspora as well
as those remaining in the Land of Israel. Although it' received its
inspiration and eastern-oriental spirit in the land of its birth, hazza-
nut went through many changes and metamorphoses due to the
changes wrought in the Siddur and the extensive global wanderings
of our people.

Hazzanut, born simultaneously with the synagogue, developed
in minute degrees, finally to achieve recognition as a great art in our
music and literature. The synagogue became the center of musical
creativity in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora, with many of
the ancient modes of the Holy Temple woven, in various patterns,
into the fabric of synagogue song. Definite and permanent nus-ha-ot
became established for all the prayers and were preserved, in their
traditional motives, to the present day. The hazzanic "Avodah"
came to include the following: a) The nusah of the prayers b) A
systematic style c) The musical scales of the synagogue d) A free
.and stirring musical formula and e) Recitative.

When the Temple was destroyed, a gradual development of
hazzanut began in the various lands where J ews resided, keeping
as its original source, the spirit of EretzYisrael. Not until the Ren-
aissance period in Europe did hazzanut begin to show signs of
recognizable change.

Hazzanut, in its beginning, was indeed the unifying force for
all J ews. There was absolutely no difference in the religious music
of one J ewish community or another so long as the ties between the
J ews remaining in the Land of Israel and the Exiles were maintained.
As time went on, however, divisions came about. The three basic
divisions in hazzanut are: Ashkenazic, Sefardic and Yemenite. The
nusah of each of the three has retained much of what each has in-
herited from the ancient Hebrew musical modes in the Land of Israel.
The latter two, for various reasons, show very little development
during the period of their existence although the heavy hand of as-
similation -is evident in their music to a greater or lesser degree.
Sefardic and Yemenite hazzanut is not considered vibrant enough
today to establish a basis for its continued independent existence in
the State of Israel of today. We shall deal, here, only with Ashzenazic
hazzanut which has enjoyed the highest degree of development both

29

in a gigantic hazzanic library and in hazzanic personalities, hundreds
of whom are to be numbered among musical geniuses who left a
legacy of great honor to hazzanut, J ewish music, tradition, and
J udaism.

Ashkenazic hazzanut has given birth to much research and
countless discoveries and, since the 15th century, experienced many
innovations and changes. Many scholars and musicologists labored in
the field of the Ashkenazic nusah, arranging its forms into scientific
musical theories. The Sefardic nusah, on the other hand, still awaits
the hand of competent authoritative research.

The basic attributes of the original hazzan were twofold: a) the
possessor of a naturally beautiful voice from early childhood and b)
the creator of melody or an improvisor who produced melodic lines in
the course of prayer without having known what he would sing be-
forehand, while simultaneously remaining faithful to the musical
tradition ("MiSinai" tunes and trope) that had been handed orally
from one generation to the next. In spite of the freedom assumed
while improvising, the creative hazzan remained faithful to the spirit
of the nusah. The background of J ewish melody was both national-
istic and religious. The hazzan was obliged to sing his own melodies,
products of his own rich musical imagination, without being able to
notate them because modem musical script had not yet been in-
vented. Where the birth of a particular style of hazzanut occurred
in the East it was thoroughly Eastern. The recitative and coloratura
had their origins in the East. The measured beat and scale, however,
were not known in Eastern music.

Eastern hazzanut is identified by improvisation and cantillation.
These aspects remained indigenous to the East for hundreds of years
prior to its contact with the West and with Europe, the continent
which eventually became the focal point for religious and secular
music. That contact came about accidentally when Eastern J ewish
music came up against the music of other religions whose very
theories and form3 were completely strange to the East. It seemed,
at first glance, that Ashkenazic hazzanut spread its wings in all di-
rections when it emerged from its Eastern walls because it took on
the characteristics of "amended" Western music and became, in
reality, a blend of East and West. In spite of the strong Western
influence, hazzanut was unable to adopt European harmony in its
entirety. The European harmonic garments did not quite fit the
melodies that had first seen the light of day in the Eastern land of
Israel.

Ashkenazic hazzanut is prevalent among the majority of the
J ews throughout the world. During a period of about 1500 years it

30

existed as an oral tradition and began to find written form during
the era of Solomon Rossi. TheHazzan in the Ashkenazic community
became its central figure. There were many who excelled in their
vocal prowess and musical ability. Many others found their forte in
composition, and created a wealth of melodic treasures that were
preserved by our people with the composers, themselves, remaining
anonymous. During the recent centuries many new works were added
by hazzanim of Europe who, having acquired artistic and musical
proficiency, wrote choral works that served as accompaniments to the
hazzan or as compositions sung independently by the choirs. Great
artists, hazzanim and conductors, enriched the J ewish prayer service
with their hazzanic creations. The synagogues of Berlin, Vienna,
Budapest, Warsaw, Wilno, Lemberg, Odessa, Moscow, Petrograd and
others attracted the elite of their countries' society who came to
listen, spellbound, to the prayers as they were sung by the hazzanim
and their choirs.

The hazzanim of Eastern Europe emphasized the lyricism in-
herent in the Psalms while the hazzanim of "Ashkenaz" (Germany-
Western Europe-M.L.) chose to sing those piyuttim that abounded
in religious exaltation such as "L'cho Dodi," "Mi Chomocho" and
others. The thrilling excitement engendered by hazzanut served as a
great educational force in the lives of Russian and Polish J ewry. The
influence of that hazzanut was unbelievably great and the spell of its
magic still influences large segments of our people even today. The
hazzan became obliged to study continually and to become adept
in nusah, the Hebrew language and its sources no less than in gen-
eral musical theory and its various tributaries.

Ashkenazic hazzanut of Europe was preserved in its original
purely-Eastern form until the Renaissance period in Italy. The ears
of the J ews I i vi ng i n I taly were suddenly aroused to the sounds of
new musical styles of independent character that found early en-
trance to withi n the wal Is of the svnagogue. The idiosyncracy of fate
had caused Christian music, which had originally been influenced
by that of ours, as evidenced in Gregorian chant and church music
of various periods, to make a complete about face and begin to bear
strong influence upon J ewish music.

Salamon Rossi (1587-1628), the great musician and composer
who lived in Mantua, Italy, was the first to attempt the creation
of music for the synagogue in a polyphonic style, in accordance with
the Catholic stvle of Palestrina. His work was printed in 1622 and
bore the title "Ha-shirim Asher Li-Shlomo." Yehuda de Medina who
served as hazzan in a synagogue in Venice, Italy, the possessor of a
beautiful tenor voice, sought to create a place for Rossi's composi-

31

tions, with great difficulty. Rossi was the first to introduce strange
music into the songs of the synagogue. His creations were not uni-
versally accepted because they lacked the beauty and inner excite-
ment of traditional J ewish music. Foreign influences, mostly of Pal-
estrina, were evident in Rossi's music and the Italian J ewish com-
munities found it very difficult to permit its entrance into the syna-
gogue.

It is interesting to note that the influence of Palestrina's music
reached the circle of rabbis in Italy as well. Many of them were
drawn to it. Rabbi Yehuda Mascato of Mantua, a devotee of Pales-
trina's music, sought to prove that the word "musica" was derived
from the Hebrew "mozeg," meaning, "to measure" (in this case, to
measure tones) and that "Calliope" (the Italian Muse of Song) was
derived from the Hebrew Kol Yaffe (beautiful voice). Rabbi Abra-
ham Porte-Leone, devoted one-third of his tome Sh'litei Giborim
(1682) to the value of music.

While Solomon Rossi was introducing the pretty baubles of
J aphet into the tents of Shem, there was a Christian musician of that
era, by the name of Benedetto Marcel lo, who visited regularly in the
J ewish houses of worship, found great interest in their traditional
tunes and adopted many of them to the various Psalms and Festi-
val prayers.

That transpired in Italy. Hazzanut in the other lands of the
Diaspora remained just as it had always been, with its virtues and
its lacks. In Germany, in the 14th century, Rabbi Yaakov Molin
Segal (Maharil) stood as an obstructing dam against the flow of new
compositions by hazzanic composers. Thanks to him we have be-
come the heirs to many traditional tunes for the Festivals and Sab-
bath

Eventually there occurred a division within Ashkenazic hazzanut
Ha-regesh (emotional song) there emerged the hazzanut of
Western Europe called Zimrat Ha-Seder (systematic song), the fore-
most proponents of which were Solomon Sulzer, the Viennese hazzan
and Louis Lewandowski, the choir-director of the Berlin Synagogue.
The relationship between the "emotional" and the- "systematic" was
not an easy one among the Ashkenazic J ews. The J ewish recitative
which had originally been based upon traditional modes, gave way to
a metered melodic line in accordance with the then-current European
secular taste and became based upon the major and minor modes that
had just been introduced to the music of that time.

The theory of "systematic song" ran parallel with the "Reform
of J udaism" movement popular among the worldly J ews of that time,
headed by the scholarly Moses Mendelsohn. The cry "N'hei k'hol

32

ha-Goyim" (let us become like all other peoples) that echoed
throughout the Western Jewish Communities, soon encompassed the
subject of Jewish prayer, its identity, context, its musical content
and form. A great polemic was aroused concerning these problems
and a fierce battle ensued, lasting many years, between the "Reform-
ers" and the "Conservationists."

Western and Central Europe saw the inclusion of foreign strains
in Jewish music and the cultural exchange of the Christian and Jew-
ish communities as had occurred in Italy. The acculturated Jews
found flaws in their own music. Emil Breslauer, the Berlin assimila-
tionist, issued a special publication in which he tried to prove that
there is nothing original in Jewish music but that the ancient He-
brews borrowed it, wholly, including scales, modes, and styles from
other nations, younger than the Hebrews. The Christians and their
foremost musical exponents, on the other hand, had great respect
and admiration for synagogue music. Franz Liszt, one of thegreatest
of Europe's musicians, emphasized in one of his essays, his deep im-
pression with the prayers chanted by Hazzan Sulzer in Vienna. The
singer N icolai Linau, the composer Franz Schubert, and many others
were just as favorably influenced.

Solomon Sulzer (1804-1890) trained his Viennese choir to sing
in four-part harmony, with definite nuances and church-like disci-
pline. H is main goal was to give an aesthetic aura to the service so
that it would be not only "pleasant to hear but beautiful to see." A
new functionary was thus created — the "Assistant to the H azzan"
or choir director.

Lewis Lewandowski (1823-1949) shared with Sulzer of Vienna
and Samuel Naumbourgof Paris in pioneering the new music of the
synagogue. He succeeded in establishing, in the Berlin synagogue,
the first choir that sang in accordance with the established principles
of harmony, thus luring the congregation back to synagogue attend-
ance. The synagogue which had theretofore become empty of wor-
shippers, now became the place to which Jews came to listen and to
enjoy the singing of the hazzan and the choir. Lewandowski worked
in the midst of assimilationist Jews who considered themselves, first
and foremost, one-hundred percent Germans and, only secondarily,
of Mosaic persuasion. These people were receptive, in the main, to
sentimental and romantic music and Lewandowski, sensitive as he
was to the wants of his contemporaries, created in accordance with
the needs of that period.

He was a true artist in his field, both theoretically and in prac-
tice, whose great talent is evident in the abundance of his work. H e
had the ability to build a magnificent structure with limited material

33

and to paint a magnificent canvass with a paltry supply of colors.
Lewandowski became the standard of the musical prayer-service in
Germany and many were the choirs that drew their nourishment
from him. Sometimes over-romantic and at times a bit too senti-
mental, he could also be quite cold. Those of our prayers that express
mighty emotional thoughts, very often lacked the necessary spiritual
strength in Lewandowski's music. That heavenly dramaticism, the
typical festive spirit of East-European J ewry was missing.

In recent generations there arose hazzanim and composers who
fused the "emotional" music with the "systematic" and sought to
develop a new musical form that would be loyal to the original spirit
and character of J ewish religious music. Thehazzan and the tradi-
tional nusah have remained as the pillars of "conservative" hazzanut,
but even there the ground has become prepared for changes. These
changes, however, will not have been motivated by a desire to as-
similate or to abolish the original ideals of J e/vish prayer.

On the heels of the division just mentioned, came a new, triple
division, in American hazzanut. Hazzanut in the United States is
now divided into three categories: Orthodox (traditional), Conserva-
time (very much akin to the "conservative" mentioned above) and
Reform. Each division maintains a separate school for hazzanut in
which the curriculum is based upon the current needs. The positive
aspect of this state of affairs is that each tries to embellish the ser-
vice in the synagogue with new creativity for the hazzan and the
choir.

Hazzanut, despite the many changes in its form, function and
importance, and notwithstanding the various divisions that have oc-
curred through the years has remained an integral and most im-
portant part of the eternal spiritual treasures of Israel. Our own
generation has not become orphaned. There are still, among the
hazzanim of the Diaspora, many with beautiful voices; talented men
who are very well versed in song and in music whose ability should
not be minimized, from whose midst have come competent hazzanim
to settle in the reborn State of Israel.

There is some sentient in Israel against those hazzanim of
the Diaspora who do not know the meaning of the Hebrew prayers
and who betray their ignorance in their interpretations; cry un-
necessarily and at the wrong time; employ improper embellish-
ments; include non-J ewish motifs or musical passages that are
completely foreign to the essence of the particular prayer or piyut.
What is mostly lacking in the hazzanut of the Diaspora is that spark
of holiness that emerges from the innermost depths of the soul. That
type of hazzanut is merely an external manifestation and can never

34

find its way to the hearts of the congregants. The congregation may
find pleasure in the beautiful voice of the hazzan and in his graceful
melody but is not otherwise impressed. That spirit of holy fervor
that arouses the spirit and raises it aloft is sadly lacking.

The destruction of the J ewish centers of Europe and the estab-
lishment of thej ewish spiritual center in Israel saw the rejuvenation
of hazzanut in the Holy Land. The eyes of hazzanut now look towards
Israel whence will come the spiritual influence, including the haz-
zanic to the remnants of our people throughout the world. All the
changes and inversions of Rossi, Sulzer, Lewandowski and others in
the Hazzanut of Europe will, of necessity, become obsolete where
the State of Israel is concerned because that country is in and of the
East.

Many new problems will, of course arise, the primary one of
which will be that of the establishment and maintenance of a uni-
fied hazzanut. Israel itself is divided in three; Ashkenazic, Sefardic,
and Yemenite, each with its own nusah, tradition, musical scales,
separate directions and emphasis in its song. Sefardic hazzanut is
built in. the main, upon the Arabic modes and upon Xhemaquam
which has seventeen steps; that is to say, the scale is not built upon
half-steps as in Greek and European music, but upon third-steps.
There is a basic difference in the intervals of Ashkenazic and Sefar-
die hazzanut. The difference in intervals becomes even more compli-
cated where Yemenite hazzanut is concerned because they also util-
ize quarter-tones. Sefardic hazzanut places emphasis on its melodic
line that is not based upon an evenly-distributed lyricism as in the
hazzanut of the Ashkenazi m. The day wi 1 1 i ndeed be a great one
when we will be able to blend the Sefardic melody, the Yemenite
rhythm and the Ashkenazic lyricism. The concept of "One People"
will then include the field of music as well as all others.

Is the State of Israel ready for that great task? Israeli hazzanut
is very far, today, from the attainment of that goal. The State, itself,
has not as yet, produced one hazzan worthy of that name. The pro-
fession in Israel is devoid of those creative and organizational talents
necessary for a proper solution of the problem. Israeli hazzanut now
stands at the crossroads, faced with a serious crisis. There is no di-
rection, no program, and no guiding hand. It seems as though haz-
zanut in the State of Israel has been doomed to failure.

There is, however, a sign of a small flicker of hope that some
practical forces may be harnessed. There is a school for hazzanut in
J erusalem, sponsored by the Israel Institute of Religious Music and
in Tel-Aviv there exists a seminary for the study of hazzanut, called
"Selah," connected with the Bilu School. The latter graduates stu-

35

dents every year who know hazzanut in the Israeli spirit. With the
passing of the dean of hazzanim in Jerusalem, ShlomoRivlin, the
gates of the school "Shirat Yisrael" were closed. Some of his former
students, however, are preparing a campaign to re-open the school.
There was an Academy for Hazzanut in Tel-Aviv, directed by the
famous H azzan Leib G lantz. N ow that he has passed away, the fats
of the Academy is unknown. The increased immigration of our
brothers from the Arab lands brought many hazzanim to the country.
Many among them occupy hazzanic positions in various synagogues.
Sefardic and Yemenite hazzanut received an impetus in Israel and
the Israeli book-stalls occasionally display samples of Sefardic haz-
zanut in the form of musical anthologies.

The great strides made in recent years in electronic and tech-
nical development have proven to be of inestimable value to hazza-
nut. Hazzanic compositions have been lifted bodily from their musical
script and books of music that had heretofore been open only to
musicians, and have been brought into the homes of all music lovers.
The recording is now a cultural necessity. The invention of the
phonograph posed a new religious question: Is the recording of
prayers in keeping with our tradition oris it to be regarded as a
desecration. Pi nkas M inkovsky, the famous hazzan of Odessa remon-
strated vehemently with those hazzanim who accepted invitations
to record their prayers and compositions. He devoted an entire series
of articles in various newspapers and periodicals to give vent to his
deep feelings of pain and frustration at the profanation of the songs
of our holy days. The record was victorious, however, and caused the
broadening of the hazzanic horizon and universal acquaintance with
that art.

There were hazzanim, masters of their profession, imaginative
thinkers, who issued hundreds of recordings, becoming wealthy and
famous in the Jewish world. The recorded library of Jewish music
has continued to grow, encompassing hazzanut and the folk songs
of the Ashkenazim, Sefardim, Yemenites, and others.

Although the present hazzanic modes in Israel represent a
strange mixture, there is no doubt that time will bring abouta more
stable and harmonious blend in which each of the communities will
be equitably represented. The new unified nusah that is to come will
be very much like the Hebrew language that has come alive to unite
all the segments of our nation. The unified nusah in hazzanut will
complement the language in its efficacy as a binding and unifying
agent.

(To be continued)

RDSH HASHANAH 1966

(The following is an exchange of letters between a young doctor now
serving in Viet Nam and his hazzan, Moses J. Silverman of Chicago)

August 20, 1966
Dear Cantor Silverman:

My fami ly and I have been members of the Anshe E met con-
gregation for many years and although you may not remember me,
I 'm sure that the name Poti cha wi 1 1 be fami I i ar to you .

I am presently in the army as a doctor with the 12th Evacua-
tion Hospital. We have just received orders for shipment to Viet Nam
and I find that the dates of Rosh Hashona will find us aboard ship.
I have spoken with our Protestant Chaplain about the holidays and
he has assured me that we will at least have prayer books. Interest-
ingly enough, of the twenty doctors who will be on board, six of us
are J ewish. We are all interested in having some type of holiday
service despite the conditions and I 'm sure that each of us appre-
ciate the significance of the holidays this year perhaps more than
ever before.

To me the holidays have never been as beautiful or inspiring as
when I was in your congregation. The few years when I was at col-
lege and was forced to spend the holidays in Baltimore always
seemed to lack something and to me those prayers sung in any other
than your magnificent voice are somehow a little less meaningful.

I therefore wondered if you had recordings or tapes of any parts
of the High Holiday services in your library and if so, you would be
willing to loan them to me for this year. I know this is an unusual
request, but I can assure you if it were possible this tiny congrega-
tion aboard ship in the mid-Pacific would be every bit as appreciative
as the Anshe Emet congregation, which has been so inspired by your
services all these years.

I know this request will reach you a little late because we are
leaving here on August 28; however, we just received our orders. Be-
cause the time is so short, I called my father and asked him to call
you late last week. If you do find anything we might borrow you can
mail it to: Capt. Stuart M. Poti cha, c/o 12th Evacuation Hospital,
Fort Ord, California. I'm sure an air mail package would arrive in
time.

Let me take this opportunity to thank you for anything you
might be able to do and to wish you and your family a happy New
Year. Even if I cant spend the holidays with you this year, you can

36

37

be sure that, God willing, next year will find me in my usual seat at
Anshe Emet.

Sincerely yours,

STUART M. POTICHA, M. D.

August 22, 1966
Dear Stuart:

I cant begin to tell you how deeply moved I was by your very
beautiful letter and I want to thank you most sincerely for the kind
sentiments you expressed.

As soon as I read your letter I made arrangements for a few
albums of records to be sent to you, air mail, which will contain a
number of the chants of the Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur liturgy
as sung by some of our great Cantors. In addition, I am sending you
a recording of my own that has a number of selections on it, includ-
ing my own rendition of Kol Nidre.

I want you to have these as my gift and with it goes my prayers
for your continued good health. I shall look forward, God willing, to
having you back with us at Anshe Emet in the not too distant
future.

With affectionate regards.

Cordially,

MOSES J. SILVERMAN

August 27, 1966
Dear Cantor Silverman:

I have received your wonderful gift and cant tell you how
pleased I am. You can never know how much having your Kol Nidre
service means to me.

I find it difficult to adequately express my gratitude to you —
someone I've respected and admired so much all these years. I think
perhaps the best way to tell you how much this means to me and
to all of us for that matter, will be to write you a description of what
your service was like, both on board ship for Rosh Hashanah, and
Yom Kippur in Viet Nam.

I say your service because I feel that this year more than ever
before you are responsible for making these holidays the wonderful
and exhilarating experience I know they will be.

Sincerely yours,

STUART M. PORTICHA, M, D.
Fort Ord, California

38

September 17, 1966
Dear Cantor Silverman:

At dusk on the evening of September 14, this ship, the Gen-
eral E. D. Pattrick, pulled into the harbor of the Vietnamese port of
Quinhon. We are anchored in the harbor about three miles from
shore and, despite the growing darkness, work began immediately to
unload the ship into LCM landing craft which had pulled alongside.

As darkness fell we gathered on the top deck and gazed out
across the shore. All through the night the land was illuminated by
flares, and from the surrounding hills occasional flashes of light told
us of the war. Several times we heard the crack of rifles, and watched
as the tracer bullets flew across the water. Rosh Hashanah Eve 1966,
the New Year, and our first look at the country we would live in
this year.

For several days we had been working on a service which we
would hold in the ship's Chapel. Before we left San Francisco, we
had called the Chief J ewish Chaplain of the Sixth Army, and he had
provided us with some supplies, among which were several abridged
prayer books for the High Holidays. The ship's library contained
one edition of the London prayer book, and using this we had
planned our service.

First, we obtained a phonograph and a tape recorder from the
ship's Special Services Department. Following the service in our
prayer books, we tape recorded from all three records, until we had
an orderly service.

At 0830 on the morning of September 15, all the J ews on board
gathered in the Chapel on thefantail of the ship. Outside the winches
and cranes were unloading cargo from the aft hold. There are 1000
men aboard this ship; we had ten J ews for our service.

There were two large crosses on the altar. We covered these
with a Tallit and over this my purple Tallit sack. This was our Ark.

We began the service with the Shema which we sung in Hebrew
and read in English. Then our electronic Cantor sang Mi'chomocho,
in your voice. We read the Ashrei responsively in English and then
followed in Hebrew as Koussevitsky sang it for us. And so the service
went — some in the recorded voices of our great Cantors and some
in Hebrew in ten different melodies from ten different Synagogues
all over America. Kaddish, theAmidah, Ovinu Malkeinu —all those
familiar prayers that meant so much more to me this Rosh Ha-
shanah. TheTorah reading was done by Dan Nixon, an internist
from New York. He sang the blessings in Hebrew and read the Torah
reading in English.

39

At the beginning of the Musaph Service I read Hinneni in Eng-
lish How many times I have heard that indescribably beautiful
prayer as you have sung it. And this year I was blessed by feeling a
tiny bit of the awful significance of its words:

"Oh, behold me, destitute of good works, trembling and
terrified, in dread of Thee, who inhabitest the praises of Israel,
standing in Thy presence to supplicate Thee, for Thy people
Israel, who have deputed me; although I am not properly
qualified for it, yet do I beseech Thee . . ."

Tears came to my eyes as I read the words for I knew that J ews
all over the world would hear that prayer this day, but nowhere could
it be more true than in our service. Trained as a surgeon, not a
Rabbi, in my stumbling Hebrew I was trying to lead ten J ews in
prayer. Would God hear my small voice in the midst, of all those
glorious prayers which would reach Him from all over the world on
this day. And yet, how important it was for us this year. How each
man knew in his heart that this year he would face more danger than
ever before, that this year he would need God more than ever before.

Un'sanah Tokef, B'rosh Hashanah — we read the prayer in He-
brew with Koussevitzky and then read them aloud in English. And
we trembled as we heard those words as if hearing them for the first
time ". . . who shall live and who shall die, who at the measure of
man's days and who before it; who shall perish by fire and who by
water, who by the sword . . ." We had all read the words before, but
this, year it seemed as though they werewritten for us.

And so it was with every prayer, each word conveying its mean-
ing to us as never before. And when we rose to hear you singing the
Benediction, we all knew that this year we had been in a house of
prayer, not just at the Synagogue. We added one last sentence to
your benediction: "May God see fit to find us next year at this time
in our own Synagogue with the people we love."

And then it was over. We stood around and smiled and shook
hands. Some of the comments I remember:

'This year I really read the words instead of just saying
them."

"It was the most moving service I can ever remember."

"I 'm going to write home tonight. My mother will be happy
I attended a service."

"I t was the fi rst J ewish service I Ve attended si nee I Ve been
in the army."

"Boy, was it hot in there."

"It was just the right length."

"Poticha, if you're as good a surgeon as you are a Rabbi,

40

the 12th Evac. Hospital has nothing to worry about."
We all had one more treat in store for us. We had arranged
with the ship's cook for a special meal. The Chaplain in San Fran-
cisco had supplied us with a bottle of wine for Kiddush and some
bottled gefilte fish. We found a Polish corpsman who had worked
in a J ewish bakery in New York and he, with the help of a doctor
from Philadelphia, baked challe. The ship provided us with honey
to put on the bread for "a sweet year."

Cantor, this was my Rosh Hashanah 1966. A holiday I will
never forget. Without your help we never could have done it. How
much it meant to all of us — your service here in Viet Nam. And
po from Nixon and Nelson and Baker and Wolf from New York;
from Piatt and Kessler from Philadelphia; from Cooley from Pitts-
burgh and from Kobel from Boston; from Litberg and Poticha from
Chicago— 'Thank you, Hazzan thank you!"

STUART M. POTICHA, M. D.

Quinhon, Republic of South Viet Nam
September 17, 1966

September 26, 1966
Dear Stuart:

Your letter which arrived a few days ago was not only one of
the most moving I have ever received in my years at Anshe Emet,
but one of the most inspiring.

I could go on at great length describing my reactions as I read
your words, but I will merely say that my work as a minister in
Israel can, at times, be frustrating.

Of course, this is due in large measure to the frailties of human
nature — lack of understanding, disinterest in religious values, etc.
H owever, when I am so fortunate and blessed as to receive a letter
such as yours, I suddenly see a ray of sunshine which makes every-
thing seem right with the world.

Stuart, it is I who should be thanking you. If, through the years
that you have been part of my synagogue, if I have succeeded in
giving to you just a little bit of spiritual understanding, it more than
restores my faith in human-kind and gives me renewed strength.
As I said before — I thank you!

God bless you and keep you well. I echo your sentiment that
next year you will be back with us at Anshe Emet. Please write
me whenever you can.

Affectionate good wishes,

MOSES J . SILVERMAN

TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARY JEWISH MUSIC*

Peter GRADENWITZ

A musical work is the product as much of the composer's own
period and surroundings as of the creative faculties of the artist him-
self. While it is of little interest to search for nationalistic trends,
for regional traits, or spiritual leanings in a work of art, it moot
certainly does belong to its period as well as to the place where it
was created. Many are the examples in music history of composers
who were voluntarily or involuntarily transplanted to a new environ-
ment where the musical climate was different from that in which
they grew up originally. Flemish composers who emigrated to Italy
in the early 16th century sought the warmer and livelier atmosphere
of the sunny south, and their music composed in Italy took on a
different character. Beethoven and Brahms exchanged their cold
birthplace cities in Northern Germany and went to live in cos-
mopolitan Vienna. Hungarian-born Liszt felt best in the musical
atmosphere of Paris. Chopin abandoned his native Poland for France,
as did Russian-born Strawinsky some eighty years later. And
though characteristic features of style and expression link the early
works of all these composers and their mature musical creations,
profound changes in musical outlook and style, were naturally
brought about by their adoption of a new country,

For these great masters of European music a change in domicile
meant a new colouring of their works or a synthesis of various
styles. For the J ewish composers who left their countries of birth
to settle in the Land of Israel, to find a new home, the situation
was slightly different. 1 Not only did they come to a new continent,
so to speak, which had nothing of the civilization and cultural tradi-
tion in which they had grown up, but they also soon acquired the
feeling that they were called upon to contribute, by their very crea-
tive work, to the upbuilding ofthe old-new country. Their previous
nations seemed curiously out of place in the new surroundings.
Acclimatization was imperative. We speak especially of the earliest
generations of immigrant composers — let us call them the pre-
Kol-lsrael and pre-Philharmonic Palestinian composers, whose
struggle for artistic self-expression went on in an atmosphere of
general pioneering, without much hope of finding an appreciative
ear too soon.

* From a paper delivered by the author at the First International Conference
on Liturgical Music held in J erusalem in J uly 1964 called by the Cantors
Assembly of America.

41

42

The earliest attempts at coming to terms with the newly con-
quered world were — we may say naturally — arrangements and
elaborations of folklore. Some of these attempts were doomed to
failure, as the composers applied western harmony and composition
technique to tunes demanding quite a different treatment. And
which were the tunes, really? The first aliyot of Eastern-European
immigrants brought material collected by members of the J ewish
Folklore Society of Petersburg, hassidic tunes and dances, and
liturgical nusschaot from their countries. Little was in them of
genuine J ewish, ancient J ewish heritage. Slav elements had changed
melodies and rhythms. The first Palestinian composers, men like
Rosowsky, Engel, set poem; by Bialik and other early poets to music
in the vein of what they had known in their old lands, and the
modem Hebrew limped along in false prosody for a long time til I
the metric rules of our reborn language were musically acknowl-
edged. The next wave of immigration, from Central and Western
European countries, brought children's songs and folktunes from
countries with quite different musical traditions. Only in the late
forties and early fifties did the African and Asiatic J ewish immigra-
tion acquaint the musicians and the public at large with folklore of
really ancient heritage, belonging to and into our geographical
region and cultural climate. It was not enough to hear recorded
tunes or broadcast programmes; you had to see and hear the magic-
carpet-lsraelis in order to be able to know them, understand them.

By mentioning these three widely diverging folk groups, we
have already pointed to the basic trends in present-day Israeli
music, as far as the generations of old and middleaged composers,
the generations of teachers, are concerned at least. The composers
hailing from the Eastern-European countries, in which a profound
J ewish renaissance had come under way, developed in the spirit of
Eastern-European art-music and the feeling for J ewish values. The
composers from Central and Western Europe had gone through the
schools of modernism in the nineteen -twenties; their knowledge of
J ewish folk music and J ewish life in general was much less developed
than that of their colleagues from the eastern countries. The aliyot
from these different zones did bring many composers to our country.
Almost none came from the African and Asiatic countries — at least
these were not creators of musical art works as the West under-
stands them. But all musicians from the ancient countries are com-
posers. A melody or. an instrumental tune is composed, that is to
say, put together while it is performed, on the basis of most ancient
formulas, and of handed-down ways of elaboration, ornamentation

43

and variation. Acquaintance with their singing and playing proved
a welcome attraction to the western musicians with open ears and
hearts, and while many among the public at large, accustomed to
listen to Beethoven and Tschaikowsky, Chopin and Brahms, if not
to the Beatles, dismiss genuine singing and playing of the kind as
"non-European", "Primitive", "Monotonous", composers studying
this music know they return to the roots of all musical art.

We can well say today that those among the I srael composers-
and their number is growing — who have absorbed something of
these roots, have come to understand the power of expression, the
attraction of variety, the intellectual as well the sensual pleasure
of singing and playing as the musicians of ancient traditions do, are
the ones who seem most interested in their works from the point of
view of observers in the highly-developed world of contemporary
music. A synthesis has been reached in some Israeli compositions,
of East and West, of the traditional and the modern, of therule-
bound and the experimental -free.

(As illustrations there followed works by J . Stutschewsky, Paul
Ben-Haim, J osef Tal, Bernard Bergel, A. U. Boscovich, M. Avidom,
M. Seter, on tapes and records.)

I should really have had the time to devote more examples and
illustrations to the lesser known and the younger Israeli composers.
And I very much regret that I do not have it this morning. Especially
as only a few of these younger men have had their compositions
performed abroad yet. But let me summarize in a few words where
the principal direction now lies, where the Israeli composer searches
for new ways and means of composing these days.

The composers whose works you have heard in excerpts, have
given impetus, direction, instruction and example to the younger
generations. And there is one important figure, who for technical
reasons — unavailability of the kind of music I should have liked to
illustrate — could not be included in this morning's examples:
Oedoen Partos. I n his most recent works, it is Partos who has most
successfully blended tradition and modernism, East and West. He
has thoroughly studied the music of tone-rows, serial music, as prac-
tised by most of the important composers of present-day western
music, and he has learned of the deep-rooted parallelism between
the western conception of tone-rows and the most ancient tone —
and melody-models known as raga in the Indian world and as
maqamat in the Arab Near-East. His instrumental compositions,
like the Viola Concerto No. 2, the quintet for flute and strings
"Maqamat", the "Images" for large orchestra, and "Visions" for

44

chamber orchestra, are all proof of artful synthesis and combination
of Near-Eastern elements and modern techniques of elaboration. And
this is the way paved for new generations of composers who have
left nationalism behind and are putting Israel on the map of musi-
cally creative countries, of general artistic interest.

Among the younger composers, we must mention Ben-Zion
Orgad, Yehoshua Lakner, Abel Ehrlich and Yizhak Sadai — as
musicians who have tried to come to grips with the musical world
of the East. Still younger are Ami Ma'ayani, Noam Sheriff. And
in the music academies of J erusalem and Tel Aviv, you can find a
number of composers whose names will probably soon be heard of
in your own countries.

No mention has been made hereof the lighter sides of musical
composition, which — as may be expected — follow similar paths,
if in a simpler way — as the vocal and instrumental music of the
composers mentioned. Best-known, in the field of lighter symphonic
music and oratorio is Marc Lavry, a master of his craft in his own
right, whose works are often performed in Israel and in the world
at large.

Time is running out, but I do not want to close this session
without mentioning a singular tribute paid to Israeli music by a
major organizations abroad. I speak of the magnificent series of
recordings made by His Master's Voice in London, with Sir Laurence
Olivier reading portions from the Holy Bible on 12 Long-Playing
records, and a musical background — preludes, interludes, post-
ludes, and illustration — of what is termed "Music from the Holy
Land". The music is by Paul BenHaim, J osef Tal, Oedoen Partos,
J osef Kaminski, Karel Salomon, and by Habib Touma, from Naz-
areth, a graduate from the Tel Aviv Music Academy.

It is often asked why so little is heard of sacred music in Israel,
whose Temple music once inspired the civilizations of the ancient
world and provided the roots for the sacred music of the West.
There are many scholars and musicians who agree that the study
and stylish use of Bible canti Nation opens the way to the real
foundations of all J ewish music but as many others feel that the
msny-coloured traditions in liturgical music-though derived from
the same basic roots-have during history been subject to pollu-
tion, assimilation and acculturation and there could be no renaissance
of J ewish sacred music before a thorough cleansing by way of
autoemancipation.

The various individual scholars and some of the institutes in
Israel make material available in abundance to students and musi-

45

cians but while quite a number of Israeli composers are genuinely
interested in the Bible from both its religious and historical aspects,
tie find only a very few works of importance in the field of Israeli
liturgical music. In some instances the composers have been inspired
to write liturgical music by way of commissions. Cantor David
Putter man was the first to commission a complete cycle of liturgical
compositions from Israel for a memorable Friday Night Service at
the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, recently Cantor Meisels
followed suit. But who in Israel would ask an Israeli composer to com-
pose music for the synagogue? Israeli composers stand aloof from
the synagogue as they have no opportunity to make their voice
heard there.

The religious leaders have no wish to attract musicians and
music loving public — as did the Church at the heyday of its
power in the European middle-ages and down to the baroque era,
and is doing again today -. Paradoxically enough, it was the socialist
kibbutz movement which first mobilised poets and composers to give
new literary and musical form to the traditional J ewish Holydays —
Passover, the New Year, Yom Kippur, Sukkot.

The ban on music in the synagogue, so often interpreted as
derived from the mourning for J erusalem's Holy Temple, was really
historically based on the teachings of an art-suspicious period. The
Christian Church banned excessive music because it reminded the
Church of the J ewish, that is to say heathen practice in King
Solomon's Temple. The Islam authorities banned music as it de-
tracted attention. The J ews found a sentimental reason. But now,
while the Holy Temple has not been rebuilt yet, we should not
mourn in our own land, and should not hesitate to return to the
synagogue the deep spiritual meaning, social significance, and artful
splendour that was the Temple's in the golden age of ancient Israel.
Only then will Israel liturgical music have a future.

HASHIRIM ASHER USH'LOMO

This month marks the culmination of a scholarly and musical
endeavor which had its genesis in 1623. In that year Salamon
Rossi issued a collection of thirty-three vocal compositions entitled,
HASHIRIM ASHER LISH'LOMO (The Songs of Solomon), set-
tings of Hebrew texts taken from the Old Testament and from the
North Italian synagogue liturgy of the seventeenth century. The
music, scored for three, four, five, six, seven and eight voices, is
mostly polyphonic in texture and suggests the style of Rossi's
Venetian and Roman contemporaries.

The eight printed part books which serve as sources for this
new edition came from the presses of the Venetian publishers Pietro
and Lorenzo Bragadini. The well-known Ferrarese Hebrew scholar,
Rabbi Leone da Modena, was the editor of this work. He was appar-
ently a competent musician since very few errors are to be round
in these part books. Rossi himself may have participated in pre-
paring the edition for the press.

Hashirim ASHER LISH'LQMO is the first printed music that
appeared with Hebrew text. No scholarly edition of this unique
work has been available so far; the practical edition published by
S. Naumberg, Paris, 1876, is neither a complete nor a trustworthy
one by todays standard.

The complete text, which includes 428 pages of music, is printed
in two volumes. Volume 1 contains the settings for three, four, five
and six voices; Volume 2, the remaining compositions for seven and
eight parts. The editor uses modem clefs, but indicates the original
clefs and time signatures.

The publication includes critical notes regarding both text and
music, transliteration and translations of the Hebrew text, repro-
ductions of title and text pages of the original Venetian edition,
and a piano reduction intended only for rehearsals.

A third text volume will contain facsimile reproductions and
an English translation of the complete prefatory material of the
original printing. It will include detailed commentaries by Joel
Newman and Milton Feist on the liturgical, historical, and stylistic
aspects of Rossi's HASHIRIM. The important responsum by Rabbi
Leone da Modena favoring the performance of choral music in the
synagogue, the approbation of this point of view by Venetian rabbis,
are included as well as Leone da Modena's significant statement
that the composer's copyright be safeguarded_

This edition is being published by the J ewish Theological Sem-
inary of America in cooperation with the Cantors Assembly of
America. The funds for much of the research and for all the pub-
lication costs were provided from the Publication Fund of the
Cantors Assembly of America. The project was begun in 1953
thanks to the special interest and efforts of Hazzan David J .
Putterman, then Executive Vice President of the Assembly.

46

47

The project lagged for some years due to a shortage of funds.
Finally, in 1965, under the direction of the Assembly's current
president, Hazzan Saul Meisels, the project was revitalized and
completed. At the request of Hazzan Solomon Mendelson, Chairman
of the Publication Committee and Hazzan Samuel Rosenbaum,
Executive Vice President the necessary additional funds were made
available through a grant to the Assembly by Mr. Charles Avnet.

PREFACE OF VOLUME I

However modest the place of Salamon Rossi may appear in the
general history of music, his importance in J ewish musical history
can scarcely be overestimated. His unique effort to introduce Western
musical practices into the Synagogue secures this place. Though his
experiment may be viewed as onlya belated manifestation of what
may be termed a Renaissance Exubrance-a n attempt to show that
the Synagogue could sustain what the ChurcHiad created-it was a
noble try. It would appear that Rossi undertook this work with only
the slightest appreciation of the innate conservatism of the J ewish
service. More serious perhaps was his profound misapprehension of
what the place of music is in a service as thoroughly individualistic
and egalitarian as traditional J ewish worship. In any case, his book
of synagogue compositions, Hashirim Asher LiSh'lomo, which ap-
peared in Venice in 1623, came too late. Italian J ewry had passed
the peak of its creative period. The progressive Stranglehold of the
ghettos proved too strong for J ewish creativity and, as has happened
frequently in J ewish history, there was nobody to succeed him or to
carry his work forward.

Rossi's artistic fate is not unlike that of the thirteenth century
poet, Suzkint von Trimberg-the only known Jewish minnesinger-
whose portrait is familiar to us from the Manessiche Handschrift.
Roth men were unique in their times. Neither had any significant
artistic antecedents, nor did either of them produce any immediate
progeny. Their work stopped with them. Though there were many
J ewish poets who wrote in the vernacular outside of Germany from
the fourteenth century onward, more than three hundred years were
to pass before a composer with remotely the talent approaching —
that of a Rossi would again turn his attention to the synagogue.
For the J ewish composer of the twentieth century Rossi's example
poses many significant problems still to be solved.'

Turning to the music, we may say with confidence that some
of it is absolutely first rate no matter what standards one invokes.
All of it is masterfully wrought. Rossi's synagogue music must be
given a very high place in the total oeuvre of this man whom the
late Alfred Einstein aptly termed "a universal composer en mini-
ature." We might take exception to the word "miniature" with
reference to the Hashirim. A composition such as Rossi's setting of

48

Psalm 137 can be placed beside the most passionate utterances of a
Monteverdi, and Rossi's eight-part echo epithalami urn demonstrates
both the charm and the intellectual subtleties of the best of Lassus.
From a practical point of view, this new edition is neither archival
grubbing or quaint antiquarianism. This is music-vital, attractive,
the product of a refined mind and the result of high socioethical
aspirations.

A final word about the genesis of this edition. My own interest
in Rossi goes back some thirty-five years, when my father brought
me a copy of the Naumbourq-D'l ndy edition of 1877, revealing to me
a J ewish world that I had not dreamed of. When I came to the
Cantors I nstitute some fifteen years ago, one of my first interests
was to bring out a reliable modern edition of the Hashirim Fritz
Rikko was placed in charge, and we are finally witnessing the results.
Much thanks must be given him for his work, his patience and his
persistence. We are also very grateful to the Cantors Assembly of
America for their continued support of this project, and to Milton
Feist for his ever-generous help.

HugoWeisgall

49

SALAMON ROSSI

HASHIRIM
ASHER

LISH'LOMO

(The Songs of Solomon)

THIRTY-THREE PSALMS, SONGS
AND HYMNS SET TO MUSIC FOR
THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX, SEVEN
AND EIGHT VOICES

EDITED BY FRITZ RIKKO
WITH A PREFACE BY HUGO WEISGALL

VENICE 1623

50

Alphabetical Index

ADON 'OLAM (#29) &6 vtfl.2

AL NAHAROT BAVEL (Psalm 137) (#10) 84 vol. 1

BAR'KHU (#3) A3 vol. 1

BARUKH HABA B c SHEMADONAI (Psalm 118:26-29) (#23) a 6 vol. 1

EFTAH N A S e FATAI (#25) a 7 vol .2

EFT AH SHIR BIS FATA I (#27) a 8 vol.2

EIN KELOHEINU (#26) a 8 vol.2

ELE MO'ADEI ADONAI (Lev. 23:4) (#6) a3 vol.1

ELOHIM HASHIVENU (Psalm 80:4,8, 20) (#8) 4 4 vol. 1

HAL C LUYAH,ASHREI ISH YARE ET ADONAI (Psalm 112) (#30) 48 vol.2

HAL C LUYAH,HAL C LINAFSHI ET ADONAI (Psalm 146) (#1 1) 44 vol.1

HAL e LUYAH,ODE LADONAI (Psalm 111) (#31) 48 vol.2

HASHKIVENU (#15) 4 5 vol. 1

LAMNATSTSEAtf 'AL HAGITITM IZMOR L e DAVID (Psalm 8) (#13)45 vol.1
LAMNATSTSEAH 'AL HASHSrT MINIT M IZMOR (Psalm 12) (#5)4 3 vol.1
LAMNATSTSEAH BINGINOT MIZMOR SHIR (Psalm 67) (#9) 44*vol.l
L C MI EtJPOTS (#33) 88 vol .2

MIZM OR L C ASAF, ELOHIM NITSTSAV BA'ADAT-EL (Psalm 82) (#4)4 3 vol.1
M IZMOR L e DAVID,HAVU LADONAI B^EIELIM (Psalm 29)(#24) a6 vol.1
MIZMOR L e TODA (Psalm 100) (#14) 45 vol. 1

MIZMOR SHIRL e YOMHASHSHABAT (Psalm 92) (#32) 88 vol.2

OE^KHA Kl ANITANI (Psalm 118:21-24) (#22) 86 vol. 1

QADISH (#1) A3 vol. 1

QADISH (#16) A 5 vol. 1

QfDUSHA (Keter) (#7) 84 vol. 1

SHIRHAMMA'ALOT,ASHREI KOL Y e RE ADONAI (Psalm 128) (#2)4 3 vol.1
SH IR HAMMA'ALOT, ASH REI KOL ^RE ADONAI (Psalm 128) (#12) 4 5 vol. 1
SHIR HAMMA'ALOT, ASH REI KOL Y^RE ADONAI (Psalm 128) (#20)4 6 vol.1
SHIR HAMMA'ALOT, B C SHUV ADONAI (Psalm 126) (#17) 85 vol. 1

SHIR HAMMA'ALOT L e DAVID, LULEI ADONAI (Psal m 124) (#21) a 6 vol. 1
SHIR LAMMA'ALOT, ESSA EINAI (Psalm 121) (#18) &5 vol. 1

Y^USUM MID BAR (Isaiah 35:1, 2, 5, 6, 10) (#19) *5 vol. I

YIGDAL (#28) *B vol.2

•Performance possible without Bass, as suggested by Rossi's indication.

51

ORIGINAL TITLE PAGE -BOLOGNA COPY

52

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Praised be the Lord who is blessed for all eternity.

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PIRKEI HAZZANUT

by Max Wohlberg

When the view ahead contracts, one instinctively looks back.
Thus the aging are wont to reminisce.

Having just begun my fortieth year of uninterrupted service in
the Cantorate, I hope to be forgiven for indulging in a bit of retro-
spection on matters peripheral to our profession, but not without
some interest to students of the cantoral mores of the recent past.

I n my early teens, possessed of a not unpleasant voice, I often
wished to study music seriously. However, in theoppresively pious
Yeshivas in which I studied, there was neither time nor opportunity
for such study.

During one of my infrequent visits at home I approached our
local Hazzan X, who was a most competent cantor, to permit me to
attend his choir rehearsals and, for a fee, to teach me music. His curt
refusal he justified with the fact that my stay at home would not be
of sufficiently long duration to make it wortlnvhileto involve him-
self in the matter, and on the not-too-wel I -veiled intimation that if
I had any musical ability at all it was probably not worthy of cul-
tivation.

After extended pleading he referred me to one of his tenors, who
commenced to give me music lessons. 1 1 did not take me too long to
realize that my teacher was himself in need of some music instruc-
tion.

Hazzan X's repertoire included two Yiddish songs which I was
most anxious to learn. Somehow, he was always too busy to teach
them to me. I managed to memorize the melody and asked him to
say the words slowly, so that I could write them down. Unable to
shake me off, he at last began to recite the words hurriedly, while
he walked back and forth with me, pencil and paper in hand, trail-
ing him. I fmally did succeed in learning the songs.

When, years later, I came to the United States I had prac-
tically forgotten about X. Subsequently, his son arrived here and
became a prominent conductor.

Some of my readers may remember a Cantor Kantor of Cleve-
land (no relation to Cantor Kantor of Brooklyn). It seems that a
cantorial position in Cleveland was vacant. Kantor, entrusted with
the task of finding a suitable candidate, went to the Hazzanim Far-
band where I was recommended to him. He arranged for my visit to
Cleveland and came to hear me on Friday evening. My davening
was anything but successful. Somehow nothing seemed to work and

57

58

I was truly remorse-stricken at having disappointed Kantor. Shuhris
on the morrow was better and Musaf quite satisfactory.

After many weeks and many more candidates, I received a call
from Cleveland informing me that the congregation, then at its
annual meeting, had elected me. By this time, due mainly to the
promptings of my family, I had decided to remain in the position I
then held. I promptly declined the offer.

Within the hour I received two more calls, each time raising the
salary offered me. I, however, stuck to my refusal.

Months later I learned that the congregation couldn't agree on
any of the other candidates. They, therefore, decided to engage the
second-best applicant solely for the High Holidays. He was Hazzan
X.

Chairman of the placement committee at the Hazzanim Far-
band at that time was the famous composer of popular Yiddish songs
(Zokhrenu L'Hayim, etc.) the now nonagenarian Abraham Singer.
At his urging I applied to fill a vacancy in a most distinguished con-
gregation at a considerable distance from New York. Since I used
to boast of the fact that I was elected for every position that I ap-
plied for, my ego received a sharp reprimand at never having heard
again from this congregation.

The fact that the applicants following me were legion and the
contest was not decided for many months somewhat soothed my in-
jured pride. It was also comforting to know that the congregation
I then served was anxious for me to stay.

It was, as I recall, two or three years later at a board meeting
of theFarband, when Cantor Singer, speaking of the irresponsibility
of some congregations, dropped an off-hand remark about "that con-
gregation that called 2-3 weeks before Selihot, saying they wanted
Wohlberg." He, of course, told them it was too late and wouldn't
even bother to tell Wohlberg about their call.

I sat stunned, not knowing whether to bawl him out for making
so important a decision without even consulting me, or to be pleased
that I had, after all, been selected. While I was deciding what to do,
the subject was changed and I haven't returned to it until this
moment.

******

My Father, the son of a cantor, was a fine scholar, a cultured
gentleman, a poor businessman, and had, I was told, a sweet voice.
In my birthplace in Czechoslovakia (Carpatho-Russia) there were
three places of worship in close proximity. There was the large Syna-

59

gogue where the cantor and choir held forth. Nearby was the spa-
cious Bes Hamedrash, where the more scholarly worshipped. Facing
it was the kloyz, the province of the Hassidim. The Rav davened
mostly in Bes Hamedrash, occasionally in kloyz and three-four times
a year in the Synagogue. My Father davened all year in kloyz, but
on the High Holidays he donated his services as Hazzan of the Bes
Hamedrash. He, I was told, sang beautifully but, as I was two-and-
a-half when he died, I have no recollection of him.

This past summer my older brother, in the company of some of
his rabbinic colleagues, visited a number of countries behind the
iron curtain. He also made a flying trip to our birthplace to visit
keverovos During this journey he chanced on two who well -remem-
bered hearing our Father chant the High Holiday service and gladly
recorded on my brother's tape recorder some of the melodies my
Father sang more than half-a-century ago.

It is indeed, I mused, a miraculous world when a slender tape
can pierce through iron curtains, span across continents, overcome
decades and bring me the songs of my Father.

I plan to teach them to our son and, if God gives me years, to
our beloved grandson.

60

REVIEW OF NEW MUSIC

B'KOL ZIMRA: A Collection of
J ewish Choral Music for Mixed
Voices (SATB) A Cappella by
Tzipora H. J ochsberger, Mercury
Music Corporation, N. Y.

Mercury Music is giving away a
bargain to say the least. Tzipora
J ochsberger's collection of arrange-
ments that are useable and that will
be fun to sing, all for $2.50.

If one of the moot points in this
short review seems crassly commercial
to those who might expect something
more scholarly in a Music J ournal
which is non-partisan in outlook and
interests, please note that this reviewer
cannot remember an occasion in re-
cent times when J ewish Music was
priced more realistically and more in
keeping with most chorus and syna-
gogue music program budgets. There
will be no need for the hard-pressed
choral director to purchase one copy
of "Bekol Zimra" and rush to the
nearest duplicating machine to run
off copies for his 30, 40 or 50 voice
choir. And, there are pieces included
in the work that will go beautifully at
concerts or during services. For in-
stance, Anim Zemirot. Karev Yom,
Ein Kelohenu, Tzur Mishelo and
Yigdal.

Miss J ochsberger shows the fine
hand of the well-grounded musician
and arranger. One wishes for a little
more variety and hopes that the suc-
cessor to this book, as there surely
must be, will include more secular
numbers.

SIX SHORT HEBREW ANTHEMS
(Based on Tradition) : For Solo,
Mixed Voices and Organ (or Piano)
by Herbert Fromm. Transcontin-
ental Music Corporation, N. Y.

Mr. Fromm has continued in the
tradition which he himself has set

before in his "Madrigals" of trans-
muting simple melodic anthems into
ideal chamber pieces for a small group
of voices. These settings, but in reality
they are no longer merely settings
but logical musical pieces unto them-
selves, go but partly toward the event-
ual formalizing of a substantial
catalogue of music that practicing
hazzanim and music directors may
program for chamber concerts and
programs of J ewish Music that will
command the legitimate musical abili-
ties of the performers and the edu-
cated sensibilities of the modern
listener and that will at the same
time be definitely "J ewish"; of J ewish
origin, set in a contemporary J ewish
manner by a fine J ewish composer.

Anim Z' mi rot, A I Tim Yaacov
Tsur Mishelo, Adir Hu (a fine rousing
setting) Moladti and Eshet Chayil
comprise this delightful chamber
suite.

SHIRAT ATIDEINU: A Service of
Friday Evening Worship for Youth
Chorus by Arthur Yolkoff. Trans-
continental Music Publications. N.Y.

Beautifully and artistically covered,
Arthur Yolkoff 's first major publica-
tion excludes all of the freshness of
a long awaited spring. Commissioned
by Hazzan J erome Kopmar of Con-
gregation Beth El and his Junior
Choral Society in Akron, Ohio, this
Service was premiered at the Cantors
Assembly Convention of last year.
Based upon traditional nusah; cantil-
lation and folk-like motives originated
by the composer it gives great promise
for the future of similar works written
for children because of the great de-
mand upon the publisher to make this
work available.

Written in a clean and easy to sing
style the music reflects the composer's
own ability and great experience in

61

working with voices. The melodic
line is charming and mirrors the
simplicity and innocence inimitable to

children's voices. The service in gen-
eral is guileless and untainted. It
'offers an interesting blend of tradi-
tional, nusah oriented melodies with
an Israeli -upbeat, all blended together
with a fine choice of medieval

(French?) harmonies. One feels called
upon to comment upon Hazzan Yol-
koff's studies at the Cantors Institute
as having played an important part
in his musical make-up and under-
standing of the varied traditions of
our people. Yiyasker koh'ka.

HASHKIVENU: For Cantor and
Mixed Voices by Maurice Goldman.
Transcontinental Music Publica-
tions, N. Y.

Transcontinental Music has done a
fine service in reprinting this practical
and dramatic setting of the prayer by
Maurice Goldman. It is with sadness
that one notes the present unavail-
ability of great works in our J ewish
Music Library because of the lack of
willingness of publishers to re-invest
monies in works that have been sold
out and that are no longer available
to us. For example, the fine series of
commissioned works by the Park Ave-
nue Synagogue and Hazzan David
Putterman, which were bound in one
famous volume by G. Schirmer, Inc.
is no longer available, as indeed are
almost all of the works of Lazare

Saminsky and the other fine services
of Achron, the Friday Eve Service of
J acoby and the works of Zilberts.

This "Hashkivenu" is a welcome
addition to our current literature and
one which will surely regain popu-
larity.

AGADA: For SATB Arranged by
Harry Coppersmith. Transcontin-
ental Music Publications, N. Y.

From a melody by A. Karchevsky,
this setting will be a useful one. The
harmonization seems to be slightly out
of style with what one might expect
with this vintage song and the juxta-
posing of "modem" chords with the
"traditional" ones makes this arrange-
ment uneven stylistically. The basses
also seem to be at the extreme depth
one might reasonably expect from an
amateur section. This arrangement
will go well with good voices.

TORAT EMET: For SATE. Ar-
ranged by Harry Coppersmith.
Transcontinental Music Publica-
tions, N. Y.

This choral transcription by Mr.
Coopersmith is effective and will
'Work". Although one might get the
feeling of perhaps too many eighth
notes it will be a good choral experi-
ence for the amateur choir and its
director.

C. D.