Cantors Assembly Journal of Synagogue Music

JOURNAL

OF SYNAGOGUE MUSIC

September 1968/Elul 5728

Volume 1
Number 4

CONTENTS
SALOMON SULZER, 1804-1890

On P reservation and Renewal of the

M USIC OFTHE SYNAGOGUE

CONGREGATIONAL Singing
Personal Articles OF Faith
Epitaph FOR J E WISH MUSIC?

Eric Manddt

Avigdor Herzog 14

David J . Putterman 23

M orris L evi nson 27

Samuel Rosenbaum 30

DEPARTMENTS
Review of New Music Charles Davidson 42

The Song of Eat her by lssa<'har Miron and Avrom Soltes

Four Composition* by Frfderif'k Pikel

SI it- hot Service by 1-eih Giant i

Yizkor by Sholom Seeunda and Samuel Rosenbaum

Ani Chamtselet HaSharon by Samuel Bugalch

Horh My Beloved by Emanuel -I. Barkan

Grant Us Peace by Max He If man

Six Yiddish Art Songs by Lazar Weiner

By The Hirer* Oj The Babylon by Edward M. Goldman

Psalm 98 by Julius Chajes

Hear My Prayer by Minuet ta K easier

Friday Evening Service by Robert St a re r

Music Section

Synagogen Gesange by Arno Nadel

53

JOURNAL OF SYNAGOGUE MUSIC, Volume I, N UmbST 4

September 1968/Elul 5728
Published by The Cantors Assembly of America

editor : Charles Davidson

managing editor: Samuel Rosenbaum

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

officersofthe cantors assembly: Hazzan Arthur Koret, President;
Hazzan David J, Leon, Vice President; Hazzan. Morris Schorr, Vice
President; Hazzan Yehudah Mandel, Treasurer; Hazzan Solomon
Mendelson, Secretary; Hazzan Samuel Rosenbaum, Executive Vice
President.

journal of synagogue music is 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 © 1968, The Cantors Assembly of America

3

SALOMON SULZER 1B04-I 890

E ric MANDELL

"On Thursday, May 12, 1904 at 7 p.m. sharp in the large hall
of the 'Musikverein'," says the opening sentence of the programme
for a concert arranged in Vienna by the Society for the Collection
and Preservation of Artistic and Historic Jewish Mementoes.

The conductor was Professor Joseph Sulzer (the son of Salomon
Sulzer), the Imperial and Royal Court musician who was also the
choir director of the "Wiener Israelitische Kultusgemeinde." The
artists taking part were: the court actor, Konrad Loewe; the cantors,
Bela Gutmann and Don Fuchs, and the combined choirs of Vienna's
two main synagogues.

The entire programme was made up of Hebrew music, psalms
and synagogue prayers. Franz Schubert's setting of the Hebrew
words of Psalm 92, one of the Sabbath psalms, received its first public
performance at the concert, although it had been composed nearly
eighty years earlier-in 1827. All the other music performed came
from "Schir Zion," by Salomon Sulzer, the great cantor and liturgical
composer.

The elite of Viennese Jewry gathered in the "Musikverein" for
the concert, which marked the centenary of Salomon Sulzer's birth
on March 30, 1804. He had officiated at the Seitenstettengasse Syna-
gogue from its consecration on April 9, 1826 until his retirement on
April 2, 1881-a period of 55 years. Sulzer died on January 17, 1890.

The concert had originally been scheduled for May 5 in the
small hall of the "Musikverein," but since thousands of people were
expected to attend-according to a contemporary report-it had to
be postponed until May 12 and transferred to the large hall.

On March 20 a festive commemorative evening had been held at
the city synagogue, the first time in the history of synagogue music
that a liturgical composer's centenary had been celebrated.

Another commemoration of Sulzer's centenary took place in
Konigsberg, East Prussia. It was arranged by Eduard Birnbaum,
who was a cantor there and was later to achieve notability as a
collector of Jewish music. According to a report in the "Israelitische
Wochenschrift" (Berlin) of April 15, 1904, he arranged a concert
in Konigsberg to pay homage to the memory of Sulzer on the occa-
sion of his centenary, together with an exhibition of Sulzer's manu-
scripts and first editions from his personal collection.

ERIC MANDELL, Director of Music at Har Zion in Philadelphia,
lecturer, composer, conductor and musicologist established and maintains the
Mandell Collection, one of the largest private libraries of Jewish music in the
world.

Sulzer's centenary was marked in America, too. The Reverend
S. Rappaport, a cantor at New York's West End Synagogue, pub-
lished a biographical sketch of him in 1904. In 1940, the fiftieth anni-
versary of Sulzer's death was marked in New York by the Jewish
Ministers' Cantors' Association of America, who organized a com-
memorative concert in which prominent rabbis, cantors and com-
posers took part.

"Salomon Sulzer and the Viennese Jewish Community," pub
lished in Vienna in 1904 by Dr. M. Steiner, contains an interesting
survey of the position of the Jews in general and synagogal develop-
ments from the end of the eighteenth century up to Sulzer's death
in 1890.

The outstanding Rabbi Isaac Noah Mannheimer (1793-1865)
had been charged with the task of devising the ritual for the Seiten-
stetten Synagogue and of introducing an order of divine service in
keeping with the era of enlightenment. It was on his recommendation
that Sulzer was called to Vienna at the age of 22 to officiate as
cantor.

Sulzer's artistic personality, his superb voice and gifts as a
composer did not impress only his contemporaries. To this day he
is still considered a unique phenomenon in the history of synagogue
music. He has become an almost legendary figure, and a number of
biographical sketches purport to describe events in his life which
border on the fantastic, particularly in regard to his childhood.

For instance, a divine miracle is supposed to have saved him
from certain death at the age of 7, when his native city of Hohenems,
in Voralberg, was inundated by flood waters. This is supposed to
have impelled his mother to consecrate young Salomon (who was a
Levite) to the service of God.

The truth is more prosaic. Sulzer himself wrote in 1876 that he
was launched into the realm of synagogue music in his earliest youth
by the cantor of Hohenems, Salomon Eichberg, and shortly after his
Bar Mitzvah was already leading prayers in the synagogue.

According to the regulations in force at the time, the appoint-
ment of a cantor had be be endorsed by the Government. This en-
dorsement had, however, been denied to Eichberg because he was an
alien, and the position of cantor was thus vacant. The young Sulzer
applied for it in 1817.

The idea of appointing a boy just past Bar Mitzvah, even though,
according to Jewish law he could be considered a fully fledged
member of the community, aroused opposition among the congre-
gation. Since they could reach no satisfactory settlement among

themselves the matter was eventually referred to Vienna via the
usual channels, as Eduard Kulke relates in a biographical sketch of
Sulzer published in Vienna in 1866.

The Emperor Franz Josef personally endorsed the 13-year-old
Sulzer' s appointment as cantor of the Hohenems community on the
express condition that he first devoted himself to further cantorial
studies.

Salomon first went to Switzerland for training by a cantor,
Lippmann, who traveled from community to community, conducting
Sabbath services. These services were very popular and served as a
substitute for public concerts, especially in smaller communities.

These traveling cantors were frequently accompanied by sup-
porting singers who were known as "Meshorerim" — a tenor
("Singerl") and a bass. The "Meshorerim" stood on either side of
the cantor and took the place of instrumental accompaniment.

For three years, Sulzer traveled through Switzerland, Swabia
(Germany) and France. In Alsace-Lorraine, wrote Sulzer, he "en-
countered organized Jewish communities which afforded me a deeper
insight into the requirements of synagogue life. I searched everywhere
for the ideal of my future profession, seeking that for which my soul
was yearning. Everywhere I gathered impressions which had a de-
termining and shaping influence on my conception of the cantoral
office and, even before the three years were up, I returned to my
native town of Hohenems to deposit the first fruits on the altar of
God at the age of 16."

This small community only became known in the Jewish world
because it was the birth-place of an outstanding figure in the history
of synagogue music, whose name is still renowned to this day.

To quote again from Sulzer himself: "Thus, yielding to my
creative urge, I worked intuitively in an out-of-the-way place, remote
from art and fellow-artists, without any guidance other than that of
my own taste, shaping and reshaping myself, striving to improve the
order of divine service. I had no inkling of the widespread echo of my
achievements until I received a call from Vienna inviting me to a
tryout performance in the Imperial City."

The "call" came in a letter from the executive of the Vienna
community dated December 23, 1825. He made his first appearance
in Vienna on February 12, 1826, singing traditional synagogue melo-
dies together with two auxiliary singers, whom he had brought with
him from Hohenems. In his own words: "Here, too, I came, I sang,
I conquered. The result was my engagement on a permanent basis."

The consecration of the new Seitenstettengasse synagogue took
place on April 26, 1826, and was a milestone in the reshaping of the
musical side of the Vienna community's liturgy. Sulzer's reforms and
his creative activity became a model for the whole of Europe, in-
cluding Russia, and his compositions soon made their way across the
ocean becoming a standard part of the cantoral repertoire in many
American synagogues.

In connection with the establishment of the Seitenstettengasse
synagogue, reference must again be made^/en if only briefly-to
the surpassing importance of Rabbi Isaac Noah Mannheimer. He
arrived in Vienna in 1825, and was responsible for reforming the
divine services held in the Austrian capital. The so-called "Mann-
heimer Rite" was accepted as binding by a meeting of wardens, rep-
resentatives and members of the Viennese community, and this
acceptance was embodied in the statutes of the "Bethaus der
Israeliten in Wien."

It was a most happy occurrence in the history of the Seiten-
stettengasse synagogue that this great man had working with him a
cantor who, by his artistry and deeply serious conception of his
office, brought order and dignity into the musical aspects of syna-
gogue liturgy.

Nevertheless, the close proximity of two such strong personal-
ities as Mannheimer and Sulzer was bound to give rise to occasional
strains and stresses, and Sulzer was suspended from office in 1865
for, according to Eduard Birnhaum, "drastically rejecting Mannhei-
mer's collaboration in introducing the new liturgy into the syna-
gogue." Mannheimer, himself the son of a cantor, was in reality "a
well-qualified and knowledgeable adviser who participated in the
arrangement and musical planning of divine services."

Mannheimer died in 1865. Eleven years later, Sulzer wrote
warmly of the rabbi. "May this great man, who many years ago
preceded me along the dark path all mortals have to follow, who
was my guide and mentor, my friend and colleague in office ...
partake of everlasting blessedness," wrote Sulzer.

Mention should be made here of Mannheimer's and Sulzer's
joint participation in the funeral ceremonies of those killed in the
Vienna March revolution (March 17, 1848). There were two Jews
among the first fifteen fatally wounded. Dr. Rosenmann relates that
arrangement had been made for a Roman Catholic priest to perform
all the burial rites, when Rabbi Mannheimer, in full canonicals and
accompanied by Sulzer, strode into the chapel, there to discharge
his priestly obligations to the Jewish dead.

At the beginning of his career Sulzer was confronted by an
almost insuperable musical task. The synagogue music was in a
chaotic state, and Sulzer had to battle against corrupt musical tra-
dition. But although there was no J ewish example on which to model
his reorganization, he was fully aware of the significance of the
genuine traditions handed down from the past. Only one man
before him had attempted to reform synagogue music-Salomone de
Rossi of Mantua, in the early seventeenth century. But Rossi
neglected to ensure that his choral works would be performed by
those who came after him, and they remained forgotten until the
end of the last century.

It was Sulzer's task to select the genuine traditional melodies
of the synagogue, to trace them back-as far as possible-to their
original form and to cleanse them of all additions and superimpo-
sitions that were musically alien to the synagogue.

In addition, he had to harmonize these melodies. In his youth
he had devoted himself to serious musical study at Karlsruhe in
Germany, and as a young Viennese cantor he had been given the
opportunity of studying under acknowledged masters. One of the
best-known of them was Ignaz Xavier Ritter von Seyfried (1776-
1841), a pupil of Haydn and a friend of Mozart and Beethoven.
Among Sulzer's other instructors in composition was J osef Fischhof
(1804-1857).

From the very beginning of his work in Vienna, Sulzer was con-
scious of the fact that he still had much to learn about composition.
I n order to complete his repertoire for the Seitenstettengasse Tempel
he commissioned liturgical pieces from a number of well-known Vien-
nese composers. It is indicative of Sulzer's reverence for tradition
and his appreciation of the significance of Hebrew, that these com-
posers-some of them non-J ewish-were asked to set the original
Hebrew text to music, not the German translation. This was no easy
task. Mention has already been made of Schubert's setting of Psalm
92 in Hebrew. The German virsion did not appear until 1870, when
the Viennese publisher Ludwig Doblinger brought out Moses Men-
delsohn's translation.

In "Schir Zion" (published in two volumes) Sulzer published
his own compositions and the works he had commissioned. The pre-
face to Volume I was written as early as 1838 or 1839, but the
volume itself was not printed until 1840 or 41. The preface to Vol-
ume II is dated 1865, but the whole work presumably appeared in
1866.

The first volume of "Schir Zion" contains the musical liturgy
for Shabbath, the three Festivals, for New Year, the Day of Atone-
ment, Purim and Tisha B'Av, and miscellaneous songs. The table of
contents printed at the end lists 159 compositions, and Sulzer him-
self reports in a footnote that 37 items were contributed by other
composers, including Franz Schubert, von Seyfried, Fischhof and
others. Of the remaining 122 pieces composed by the author himself,
36 were based on traditional synagogue tunes. As already stated
Sulzer's attitude was marked by his reluctance to break with
tradition.

However, he did break with the past when he began to har-
monize the old music of the synagogue. Here he was faced with an
almost intractable problem. The rhythm had to be fixed first. Then
it had to be forced, as it were, into rigid bars, which involved the
danger of distorting the old melodies.

It was only in the second volume of "Schir Zion" that the
mature Sulzer dared to tackle traditional hazzanut for cantor and
choir on a larger scale. The compositions in Volume I were written
in the choral style of the period and strongly influenced by con-
temporary secular and ecclesiastical music. Sulzer was unable to
resist the effects of the classical epoch on his music although he had
himself written, in the preface to the first edition of "Schir Zion":
"As has already been indicated, I considered it my duty to pay as
much regard as possible to tunes handed down to us from antiquity
and to free their ancient, venerable essence from subsequent arbi-
trary and distasteful embellishments. I want to restore them to their
original purity-both musically and textually-in a manner that
accords with the laws of harmony."

The appearance of the first volume of "Schir Zion" aroused the
interest of many leading communities in Europe and America. It was
reported from Berlin, for instance, that Cantor Ascher Lion was un-
able to decipher the choruses because of their antiquated notation.
It was only with the assistance of young Louis Lewandowski, who
was subsequently to gain a reputation second only to Sulzer as a
composer of synagogue music, that he was enabled to study the
Viennese music.

J ust as in Vienna, Sulzer's music was sung almost exclusively,
so in Berlin Lewandowski's compositions predominated in the official
scores used by the congregation. These scores remained in use until
the Nazi regime forbade synagogue services and began deporting
J ews. Yet there are a few compositions by Sulzer which kept their
place in the Berlin order of service for nearly a century.

One example in his "En Kamocha", the prayer introducing the
reading of the Law. We find it-in a German transalati on-even in
the printed scores of the Berlin Reform congregation (published in
1928).

In America, his music was being sung soon after the appearance
of the first volume of "Schir Zion". According to A. W. Binder, in
1849, Leo Sternberger, the cantor of the Ansche Chesed Congrega-
tion of New York, asked that Sulzer's score be sent to him as
quickly as possible.

Before the volume appeared, Sulzer was often asked for manu-
scripts of his compositions. It was only when-in his own words-
the demand by congregations and hazzanim for his scores increased
with each passing year that he reluctantly agreed to the publication
of the volume.

However, individual compositions of his had already been printed
earlier. Eduard Birnbaum relates that some synagogue music by
Sulzer was published without his knowledge in Copenhagen in 1836.
Also, works by Sulzer are to be found in a collection of choral songs
issued in about 1838 by the Konigliche Isrealitische Oberkirchen-
behorde at Stuttagart in Wurttemberg. The second volume of this
collection also contains Sulzer's famous setting of "Adon Olam" in
A Major.

His work as a composer had its beginnings during his youthful
activity at Hohenems and continued without interruption from 1826
to 1839. "Schir Zion" soon brought Sulzer fame in the world of
Jewish music.

He knew well that he had departed from authentic Jewish
musical tradition in publishing his choral pieces, but indicated in
the preface to "Schir Zion" that he intended publishing a manual
for hazzanim in the course of the year. To the best of my knowl-
edge this manual never saw the light of day, and I have never come
across any of Sulzer's manuscripts of this particular type. Many
specimens of hazzanut appeared in the second volume of "Schir
Zion" in 1866. They were presumably taken from the manuscripts
of cantoral songs.

The preface to the first edition of "Schir Zion", Volume II, con-
tained the following note: "This second part should not merely
supplement its predecessor- it is a separate collection of liturgical
songs for all occasions, both ordinary and extraordinary ... For
that reason it contains everything proved by long-standing usage to
be practicable for ritual purposes, as well as of musical worth, and
which has already found a permanent place in the hearts of con-
gregants."

10

Sulzer continues: "I have devoted special attention to the
venerable tunes of the great Nestor Maharil, often using them as
the basis of my own compositions." (Maharil was Jacob ben Moses
Halevi, born in Mainz 1365. He fixed the usages of synagogal liturgy
and advocated the conservation of traditional synagogue music.)
"I even paid full attention to the Polish school of singing, insofar
as it offered something truly characteristic, so as to let it appear in
its authentic uniqueness and to impose musical order on it."

The second part of "Schir Zion" shows the composer at the
peak of his creative ability. How much he veers towards the tradi-
tional style of hazzanut is shown especially in the prayer "V'teerav
L'faneha Atiratenu", which introduces the priestly blessing and is
sung in the course of Musaf on the High Holy Days. It is composed
in the style of the eighteenth century. The cantor's part is a recita-
tive, and the "M'shorerim", the auxiliary singers, repeat his words.
However, this is anything but arbitrary improvisation-the whole
arrangement is kept within strict musical form.

The second part also contains the composition "Vayehi Binsoah
Ha'aron", which is presumably in use all over Europe today. Cer-
tainly, it is no exaggeration to state that it can be heard in hundreds
of American synagogues.

This composition is an original creation by Sulzer. "The Law
issues forth from Zion and the Word of the Eternal One from
Jerusalem". Sulzer set the tune in three-quarter time and this
device probably accounts for its great popularity.

Much more could be said about Sulzer's other liturgical com-
positions, which include some that can be described as pearls of
synagogue music, but space permits comment only on the masterly
musical arrangements of the important Rosh Hashanah Musaf
prayer, "On the Day of the New Year it is written, and on the Day
of Atonement it is sealed".

Today, no less than 100 years ago, this composition impresses
as a profound musical interpretation of the Jewish spirit. Its perfect
rendering makes the most exacting musical and artistic demands
upon cantor as well as choir.

"Schir Zion" has gone through five editions to date. Joseph
Sulzer edited the second edition in 1905, and his revised edition
served as the model for all subsequent issues. The fifth edition
appeared in New York in 1954 on the occasion of the 150th anni-
versary of the composer's birth.

The standard "Cantorial Anthology" by Gershon Ephros, pub-
lished in five volumes between 1929 and 1957. contains a selection

11

of Sulzer's best compositions. It can be found in many public music
libraries all over the world, and is an indispensable handbook for
every cantor and every musican interested in synagogue music.

Mention must be made here of one of the many honours ac-
corded to Sulzer. The "Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" of Vienna
appointed him "Professor des Gesanges" in 1845, a position he
occupied until 1848.

Sulzer's fame spread not only to America, but also to the Holy
Land, where his compositions were sung during his own lifetime.
This is borne out in a letter written by Cantor Bardaki on Shevat
19, 5640 (1860). At that time Bardaki was officiating at the Bet
J acob Synagogue in J erusalem.

Franz Liszt, in his book "Die Zigeuner and ihre Musik in
Ungarn" (1861), wrote of Sulzer: "We have only once had the
opportunity of gaining an inkling of what J ewish art could become
if the Israelites would reveal the full intensity of their innate
emotions in the form of their spirituality. We made the acquain-
tance of Cantor Sulzer in Vienna ... and in order to hear him we
visited the synagogue whose musical director he was ... It seemed
as though the Psalms hovered above us like spirits of fire-bowing
low at the foot of the All -Highest to serve as a pedestal. Then
majestic, triumphal sounds proclaimed the power of the God of Abel
and Noah, of Isaac and J acob, and it was impossible not to join with
all the sympathies of one's soul in the invocation of this choir which
carried-as if on gigantic shoulders-the burden of so many thou-
sands of years of tradition, of so many divine benefactions, of so
many rebellions and chastisements, and of such indestructible hope."

In a memoir written by Sulzer himself in 1876, on the golden
jubilee of his becoming a cantor, the man who occupied the office
of "Oberkantor" with glory disclosed that he was opposed to the
appellation. It was, he said, a loan word from another religion, and
did not really describe the content of his sacred office. (J ohann
Sebastian Bach, for instance, was "Kantor" of the Thomas Kirche
in Leipzig.) Sulzer preferred the Hebrew appellations of "Hazzan"
or "Shaliah Tzibbur."

Salomon Sulzer had 14 children. He died on J anuary 17, 1890.
The announcement of his death was signed by his four sons: J ulius,
Emile, Carl and Joseph. In addition the names of the following
daughters appear: Marie Belart, Hermine Gingold, Henriette
Biacchi, Rose Wagner, Rachel Niederhofheim, Auguste Fischel and
Fanny Abrest.

12

As far as can be ascertained, no comprehensive biography of
Salomon Sulzer has yet been written, nor, to my knowledge, has
any intensive research concerning his descendants been undertaken.

Sulzer's son J ulius was an operatic composer; one of his works
was performed in Prague. He died in 1891. J oseph was a renowned
'cellist, and was also director of the combined Vienna synagogue
choirs. He died in 1926.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, two of Sulzer's daugh-
ters were opera singers. Marie Belart worked at the Imperial Vien-
nese Opera School at one time. Henri ette Biacchi sang on the
Spanish and Italian stages and was director of the Imperial Opera
of Mexico in 1866.

Noah Mannheimer and Salomon Sulzer are two personalities
who symbolize the beginning of the reorganization of synagogue
liturgy from the textual and musical points of view. Together they
raised the standards of divine service in Vienna to their zenith.

Today regular services are once again being held at the Seiten-
stettengasse synagogue, which survived the Nazi years of terror.
The very same walls that echoed the voices of Mannheimer and
Sulzer again reverberate with the sound of prayer and the chanting
of a cantor.

The last pre-war cantor of the Seitenstettengasse synagogue
was Heinrich Fischer, who left Austria (presumably towards the
end of 1938) for England, where he was a cantor in Leeds.

He managed to save his private musical library, the fruit of
many years collecting, which is today, part of the Eric Mandell
Library of Jewish Music. It contains, among many other items,
scores and choir-books in Fischer's own hand, including a manu-
script score for the High Holy-days, consisting almost exclusively
of Sulzer's compositions. Fischer's collection also comprises a rare
original edition of Sulzer's "Ein Requiem zur Feier des Seelen-
gedachtnisses", which contains Psalms 49 and 16.

Today, new liturgical music is being created in Zion. As stated
earlier, Sulzer's "Songs of Zion" were already being sung in J eru-
salem in 1860. It is indicative of Sulzer's attitude to J ewish music
that he wrote about "national melodies" in the epilogue to "Schir
Zion", and he was the first to advocate the correct pronunciation
and stress of Hebrew texts used in synagogue music.

Sulzer's principles concerning the Hebrew language are ob-
viously the basis for the contributions to synagogue music reaching
us from Israel. Haim Alexander, Paul Ben-Haim, Itzhak Edel,
J oseph Rambam and Erich Walter Sternberg are some of the com-
posers whose names come to mind.

13

Sulzer's "Songs of Zion" issued forth from Vienna to proclaim
the word of God to the whole world-and from the new Zion will
issue forth the national melodies of which Sulzer spoke as early as
1840. It is to be hoped that this new sacred music will exercise a
fruitful influence upon development of religious music in the diaspora.

Selected Bibliography

1. Birnbaum, Edward. "Zum Gedachtnis Salomon Sulzers" in

Israelitische Wochenschrift, Jahrgang XIII, 1904.

2. Friedmann, ARON. Lebensbilder beruehmter Kantoren. I. Teil,

Berlin, 1918.

3. Gedenkblatter an. Oberkantor Salomon Sulzer, Wien, 1882.

4. Jellinek, Adolf. Rede am Sarge des Oberkantors Salomon

Sulzer, Die Neuzeit, Wien, 1890.

5. Kulke, Eduard. Salomon Sulzer, Biographische Skizze, Wien,

1866.

6. Liszt, Franz. Die Zigeuner und ihre Musik in Ungarn, Pest,

1861.

7. MANDELL, Eric. Evaluation of the Life and Works of Salomon

Sulzer in "Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Conference —
Convention of the Cantors Assembly and the Department of
Music of the United Synagogue of America," May 1951,
New York.

8. Minkowsky, P. Der Sulzerismus, "Die Wahrheit," Wien, 1905.

9. Rappaport, S. Salomon Sulzer, A Biographical Sketch. New

York, 1904,

10. Rosemann, M. Isak Noah Mannheimer, "Ost und West,"

Jahrgang X, Berlin, 1910.

11. Rosemann, M. Isak Noah Mannheimer, Sein Leben und Wir-

ken. Wien und Berlin, 1922.

12. SCHWAGER, Max. Zur Erinnerung an die Sulzer-Feier am 12.

Mai, 1904. Wien, 1904.

13. Steiner, Maximilian. Salomon Sulzer und die Wiener Juden-

gemeinde, Wien, 1904.

14. Friedmann, ARON. Der Synagogale Gesang, Eine Studie. Zum

100. Geburtstage Salomon Sulzer's ... first edition. Berlin,
1904.

The musical and literary sources for this essay are to be found at
The Eric Mandell Library of Jewish Music, Philadelphia, U.S.A.
References 1, 3 and 4 by courtesy of the Hebrew Union College
Library, Cincinnati, Ohio.

14

ON PRESERVATION AND RENEWAL OF
THE MUSIC OF THE SYNAGOGUE

AVIGDOR Herzoc

The various J ewish communities throughout the world differ
from each other in many respects. There is no need to explain the
geographical and geo-sociological reasons for this variety. We know
that it exists, and because of it, a member of one J ewish community
cannot easily take part in the life and cultural achievements of
another community.

The Jewish liturgy has, however, preserved many elements
common to all communities. This makes it possible for us to enter
freely into this or that synagogue and take part in J ewish prayer
everywhere.

But, as regards music in the synagogue, common elements are
in the minority when compared to the many differences. It seems that
for the present these differences will continue to increase, and not
simply because of geographical and "tribal" separation, if we do not
take active steps to prevent it.

I shall try to define what kind of music is now heard in
synagogues throughout the J ewish world, including North America
and Israel.

There are, as we know, two fundamental categories of per-
formance of music among almost every people in the world. These
we know as Art music and Folk music. These two categories and
many other intermediate forms exist as well in the synagogue.

An extreme example of Art music in the synagogue would be
a modern composition specially commissioned, written for orchestra,
choir and soloists, performed by professional musicians.

In this case, the congregation is generally passive and its role
is that of an audience only.

For the second category, Folk music, let us consider an example
very familiar to us here in Israel: Congregational performance led
by a Sheliah Tsibbur. The singing is communal, everybody present
takes an active part and sometimes even a genuine responsorial
pattern is set up between the congregation and the Sheliah Tsibbur.
I n this case, the music has never been written down, and, we do not
know by whom, when and how it was created.

This is considered to be true Folk music, handed down from
generation to generation.

AVIGDOR HERZOG is a young creative musicologist serving as a Research
Fellow of the Jewish Music Research Centre of the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem.

15

The congregation is an active participant. It even exercises a
sort of collective supervision and criticism of what and how each
member sings. Such an ideal congregation is fully integrated with its
own special style and tradition, it is conscious of its musical idiom
and the limits of improvization.

Between these two extreme cases there are, as said before, many
intermediate forms which are, of course, those not often heard.

For instance, a Hazzan of high musical culture, accompanied by
a professional choir, chanting traditional music of the synagogue in
the "traditional" way. A congregation singing tunes which have
"become traditional" but which were written by composers who
are are still alive. Many other variations exist.

Now, if we compare or rather confront the synagogal music
heard in Israel with the music of Western synagogues, we shall find
that each is oriented towards one of the two extreme categories
described above.

The Western synagogue today seems to strive to have its singing
carried out by professionals. The ideal is a composed liturgical work
of "high musical art and value and aesthetic appeal."

Here, in Israel, the majority of the population belongs to the
non-Ashkenazic communities. Its synagogue music can be classified
close to Folk music. Participation by the entire congregation is
generally high. Even in Ashkenazi synagogues in Israel, there are
almost no professional musicians who earn their living from the
cantorate. There is also no contact at all, at present, between Israeli
composers and the Israeli synagogue.

Our description does not imply any evaluation or criticism and
the term "better" or "worse" has no meaning in this discussion.
Nevertheless, for obvious reasons, we must help to come into being,
at least here, in Israel, a new kind of synagogue music to stand close
beside the old one, close enough so as not to become Art music.

Our problem is, after all, an entirely different one. In our
present situation, in this time of the ingathering and integration of
exiles, we must try to create conditions as favorable as possible to
all those who should pray together. This need is not just theoretical.
It is actual and urgent.

There are synagogues wherever Jews pray, in the army, in
schools, in youth villages and in many other places in Israel where
there is no common, simple musical tradition. What can be done to
encourage the formation of shared communal prayer?

At this point, the need for revival, renewal makes itself felt.

The respective communities suffer from a disintegrating trend
caused by sociological factors which make many of them discard their
heritage. They consider it backward and inferior and thus there is a
continuous loss of musical self-confidence and self-respect. This must
somehow be restored. We should not look upon this kind of synagogue
music as a museum exhibit. It concerns us all intimately, it is flesh
of our flesh. It is alive, it may develop, progress or degenerate but,
I dare to say, with it is linked the fate of our whole musical culture.

Therefore, on the one hand, we must, as far as possible,
strengthen the belief of each community in its own musical values;
that is, we must take steps toward the preservation of this kind
of synagogal music heritage. But, on the other hand, and at the same
time, we must strive to create "new" synagogal music in Israel.

We are aware that in this process of mutual acculturation, some
of the important and original musical characteristics may be weak-
ened or even be lost. But there are only two alternatives: either we
allow our musical heritage to disappear or degenerate or we attempt
to save whatever we can although in "renewed" form.

Let us now try to take this idea of renewal one step further
and say: If it is possible to transfer specific music in Israel from one
community to another for the sake of bringing our brothers in the
synagogue closer together, it should be possible to achieve the same
among Jewish communities in the world as a whole and thus avoid
the split that is at present forming between Israel and the Diaspora.

The musical examples below are presented to emphasize that not
only pure cultural-sociological reasons should dictate the steps to
be taken in music renewal in the synagogue, but that the aesthetic
approach may be of no smaller importance. We should work with
material of genuine musical value.

We hope that many other tunes will not remain locked up in
books or in the memory of their singers, but that they will be
collected, transcribed, published and made live again, here in Israel
and everywhere in the world where Jewish people sing.

And something else. Genuine traditional synagogal music may
serve as a foundation for contemporary musical creation of all kinds,
and a true renaissance of Jewish music might come about.

These tunes were chosen to represent different styles, not all
the styles, that can be traced in the synagogue of various communi-
ties, each transferable to a different musical and liturgical purpose
even in the synagogue of the Western Jewish world.
Example 1 .

The original version was recorded by me 8 years ago in Moshav

17

Berechia near Ashkelon, in which live only Jews from the island of
Ferba, near the Tunisian coast.

This seems to be an ancient Jewish community with special
customs, tunes and pronunciation. The tune was recorded during
actual prayer in the synagogue on the intermediate days of Sukkot
and it was sung to the shaking of the lulav at Hallel. As for the
transcription (see also Nos. 4 and 5) the upper staff (appearing in
small print) is the original form of the melody which has been tran-
scribed as it was recorded. The staff below has been submitted in a
simplified version to make performance easier and thus to encourage
its revival.
Example 2.

A part of Hallel from the town of Tunis. This melody was
printed in musical notation at the end of a Siddur published in
Tunis, 1908.
Example 3.

("Rise up, dove, caught in the snare"). This piyyut by Israel
Najara has been published in notation in the second volume of the
famous Thesaurus of A. Z. Idelsohn. It comes from Babylonia.

This example reminds us that an intensive search should be
undertaken through the printed material for precious tunes of this
type which are hidden there, and which may be brought to new life.
Example 4.

This tune, which I recorded about 8 years ago, comes from
Mosalte in Iraq. The words of the piyyut were written by Harow
Josef Haim about two generations ago. He fitted his new poem
which is for Tu Bishevat, to a well-known Purim tune already used
for the piyyut. Here we have an eample of how a wandering
melody, current in a certain community, serves as a vehicle for
constant poetic renewal.
Example 5.

This is the piyyut L'kha Eli Teshukati written by Abraham
ibn Ezra, again from Tunis. I recorded the original as sung by the
late Rav Rahamin Hai Hawitar Cohen in Berechia. The metre in
that piyyut is the well-known Hazag metre, as found in the nygat
Adon Olam, Eli Zion and in others.

"The musical examples were taken from the following printed sources
published by the Israel Institute for Sacred Music, Jerusalem and edited by the
author:

No. 1 from "Renanot" series, Booklet 10.

No. 2 and 3 from "Rinatah" series, "Canticles and Songs."

No. 4 and 5 from "Renanot" series, Booklet 1-2.

18

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23

CONGREGATIONAL SINGING

David J. Putterman

I have chosen to write about this subject because, quite fre-
quently, after a service, someone will approach me and ask, "Hazzan,
why don't we sing the melodies at our services that we used to sing
when I used to go to shul with my father?" I am certain that almost
every hazzan, at one time or another, is asked the same question. The
answer is not as simple as the question appears to be.

There are those who are of the opinion that congregational
singing is a relatively recent innovation, when, as a matter of fact,
it is as old as synagogue worship. In the ancient Temple in Jerusalem,
we are told, that as the Levites sang the major portions of the service
the congregation responded by singing "Amen," "Halleluyah" and
"Ki Leolam Hasdo." Congregational participation in prayer and
song has become an integral part of religious services in most houses
of worship. Unfortunately, however, in some synagogues the melodies
that have become known as "traditional" are in many instances based
on popular secular songs, marches, dance melodies, etc. This regret-
able practice is the result of a period many years ago when synagogue
worship was looked upon as a "performance." Synagogues competed
with each other for "star cantor" attractions. Those who promoted
these performances did not hesitate to violate the Sabbath and
holy days by selling tickets of admission. It was not unusual for
cantors, at that time, to adapt sacred prayer texts to the tunes of
operatic arias. People came to these synagogues to be entertained,
not to pray. It was also not unusual for the congregation to some-
times applaud the cantor during services at the conclusion of a
particularly brilliant rendition.

Congregational melodies followed a similar pattern during that
era. The melodies were at times different in every synagogue de-
pending upon the particular musical judgment of the hazzan. "Hit"
tunes from the Yiddish theatre as well as many similar melodies
found their way into the synagogue and became "traditional." The
seeming readiness on the part of some congregations to continue to
use these secular musical elements during religious services, is no
justification for their continuance. It is the responsibility of every
hazzan, rabbi and ritual committee to dissuade and to discourage the
use of these melodies no matter whose tastes they may happen to
satisfy. They are erroneously referred to as "traditional." There may

DAVID J. PUTTERMAN is the Hazzan of New York's Park Avenue
Synagogue, and a member of thr faculty of the Cantors Institute of the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America. He was thr prime founder, in 1947, of the
Cantors Assembly of America.

24

even be congregants who enjoy singing them, nevertheless there i's
no valid reason for continuing to use them. They have no place in
J ewish religious worship, which is the highest and most sacred form
of human expression.

The Conservative Movement promulgates and encourages a new
philosophy for J ewish observance and ritual. Namely, to retain all
that is good and true and beautiful of our heritage and to introduce
innovations. In the realm of congregational singing, however, there
are still evident undesirable elements. Today the musical tastes of
congregants are constantly improving, and they expect to hear
good music in the synagogue; music that creates a mood conducive
to prayer, that arouses religious fervor, music by the hazzan and
the choir that will stimulate the congregation to worship God with
reverence and innermost devotion.

What type of melodies should then be used for congregational
participation? Before answering this question, let us define the terms
"traditional" and "good" and "bad." In Judaism the word "tradi-
tional" is defined as "an unwritten code said to have been revealed
to Moses at Mt. Sinai at the time of the giving of the Torah and
then handed down through the oral teachings of prophets, scholars
and teachers." If we accept this definition then it becomes apparent
that many of the melodies that we, our parents and possibly our
grandparents have been singing are most assuredly not traditional.
For example, the "Maoz Tzur" that is sung in most congregations
during Hanukkah, the En Kelohenu which we sing so lustily every
Shabbat morning are undoubtedly considered by many as "tra-
ditional." They are not. The first is a Lutheran church hymn and
the second was adapted from a German street march.

The word "good" is here defined, not in its moral sense, but in
its descriptive terminology, as pleasant, agreeable. In a similar sense,
the word "bad" is defined as disagreeable, unpleasant, obnoxious.
Therefore, good traditional congregational melodies must contain
certain basic, acceptable elements. As the hazzan is the Sheliach
Tzibbur, the representative or emissary of his congregation in prayer
to God, whose function it is to interpret the meaning of the prayers
in accordance with our traditionally prescribed nushaot, similarly,
our congregational melodies must be based on nusah and/or J ewish
folk motifs. These melodies must have a singable melodic line within
the voice range of the average congregant. They must correctly
accent and phrase the Hebrew texts and interpret them musically to
conform to the Sabbath, Festivals, High Holy days, and the various
moods of the particular occasions. Sabbath melodies should not be

25

sung on the Festivals; Festival melodies should not be sung on the
High Holy days, and vice versa.

There were those who were concerned about this problem.
Conferences were held attended by hazzanim, rabbis, choir leaders,
organists, music teachers and composers, representing various con-
gregations throughout the country. Suggestion were made that there
was an obvious need for songsters that would contain a variety of
new melodies for every congregational prayer and that would include
some of the old melodies that are universally used. Synagogues could
then avail themselves of these songsters and their use would thereby
help to standardize congregational singing. The Cantors Assembly of
America proceeded to fill this need. In 1955 they published Zamru
Lo, Volume 1, containing melodies for the Friday evening service,
and in 1960 Zamru Lo, Volume 2 was published containing melodies
and zemirot for the entire day of Shabbat. Songsters for Shalosh
Regalim and Yamim Noraim are being prepared for publication. The
first two volumes have had a wide distribution and are being used
extensively.

One must not attempt to revolutionize a service. New melodies
should be introduced gradually, one at a time, over a period of several
months. A harmonious blending of the old with the new is advisable
and desirous. To teach a new melody, the hazzan should chant it
first and the choir and congregation should then repeat it. Members
of choral groups, glee clubs, etc. who have already learned these
melodies in preparation for the service should distribute themselves
throughout the synagogue, during the service, and as they lead in
the singing, those who sit near them will be encouraged to join.
Everyone on the pulpit should participate in the singing. Synagogues
that have professional choirs should sing all congregational melodies
in unison. The children in the religious schools should also be taught
only these melodies. None other should be used in the Junior Congre-
gations, Youth Services and at all auxilliary and overflow services.

Congregational participation is essential and desirable in syna-
gogue worship. It adds warmth to a service and affords the wor-
shipper an opportunity to experience an affirmative emotion, a com-
mittment, the embracing of an ideal. It gives one a sense of unity
and identity with the collective soul of our people, which is attain-
able through cultural expression. Music, next to Hebrew, is the prime
cultural expression in Jewish worship. Conservative synagogues be-
lieve that there should always be the familiar and traditional in the
music of the service, but that there should also be the new and the
unfamiliar. For if there is no innovation, the service can easily

become mechanical and perfunctory. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai
said, "He who recites his prayers perfunctorily fails to to obtain
mercy and grace before the Lord."

There must be variety, change, yes even the unexpected. A most
meaningful service is one which aims towards a maximum of con-
grgational participation in davening, prayer and song. The musical
portion of each service should allow sufficient time for the hazzan
to express his hazzanic artistry, for the choir to sing its prepared
musical compositions, and for the congregation to participate
throughout the service.

It is an accepted fact that that which is familiar is usually
acceptable and enjoyed, but that which is new is sometimes disliked
and rejected. We must however not lose sight of the fact that what
has become familiar was at one time new and unfamiliar. We must
be amenable to change, to variety and to innovation. When a work
of art appears to be in advance of its period, it is really the period
that has lagged behind the work of art. The late Chief Rabbi Kook
of J erusalem said it most eloquently when, in 1943, he wrote: "New
songs will be created, breathing the love of God and echoing His
mighty word. New and bright domains of culture will be discovered,
tilled and fructified. The old will be renewed and the new will be
sanctified."

27

PERSONAL ARTICLES OF FAITH

Morris LEVINSON

It would do us all a great deal of good if we were to stop once
in a while to take stock. "Why am I a Hazzan?" for instance, is a
good question. We have all answered it, at one time or another.
The answers may not have been completely candid, but they were
answers and served to lay that particular question at rest for
another year or another decade. Some of us have been motivated by
our love of Jewish music. There are others who found the demands
of our particular profession in the twentieth century uniquely suited
to their natural abilities and chose hazzanut as their life's vocation.
Still others among us were dazzled by the allure of the acclama-
tion offered to musical artists or by the desire, a very legitimate
one, to function as a religious personality in the Jewish community.
But why do we function as Hazzanim?

Why Rabbis and why Hebrew teachers? Why Hebrew schools and
why synagogues? Why the expenditure of so many millions for
Jewish education, and why the preoccupation of all Jewish organiza-
tions with intermarriage? Why Jewish organizations, why Zionism,
why a Jewish State? Why, indeed, a Jewish people? It would be much
easier to become part of the plural in the pluralistic society and to
become so acculturated to the majority culture that we no longer
would have to worry about our own. Let's all join the Unitarians or
the Ethical Culturists or not join anything at all and be just plain
one hundred percent Americans with nothing on our minds but easy
living.

I make no pretense to philosophy. The above questions have
been asked many times. I believe, however, that as hazzanim, we
must answer the questions ourselves although they may not differ,
in essence, from those given by Heschel or Buber or by our ancient
prophets. Our answers as hazzanim must be in our context and must
involve us and our own particular role in Jewish life.

Among my personal articles of faith is the very strong belief
that if the Jewish people should ever disappear, our planet itself
would not long survive. The people of Israel must stay alive because
it is the people that still gives the Torah to the world; that is still
engaged in the process of teaching right from wrong, the futility of
war and the justice of social equality. We are still the conscience of

MORRIS LEVINSON is the Hazzan of Congregation Beth El of South
Orange. New Jersey, and a member of the Executive Council of the Cantors
Assembly of America.

28

the world, in an era when justice is a platitude and expediency is the
guide for individuals, nations and world bodies. The J ewish People
is still the figurative "minyan of the righteous" for whose sake God
does not destroy the world. The J ewish people must live on. J ewish
education must become more effective. J ewish organizations and the
State of Israel must thrive, and intermarriage must be reduced as
much as possible.

Do hazzanim have a particular role in all of this?

We have been at enough conventions, have listened to enough
papers and have engaged in enough discussions to know exactly
what the role of the hazzan is.

At services the hazzan inspires the congregants musically and
keeps alive in the soul of the listeners, the golden chain of the
chanted J ewish prayer. He, more than anyone, has the means by
which to lead the modern American J ew to pray by teaching him
the songs of the congregation and encouraging him to sing at the
services, to participate in prayer. Outside of the synagogue itself,
the hazzan acts as the catalyst for that delicate and subtle process
that inspires the thirteen-year-old boy and girl to remain faithful to
the J ewish people; that encourages teen-agers to sing songs of Israel,
to dance its dances and to take an interest in the State of Israel.
There are few agents as potent as music in arousing human emotions.
The hazzan is, in J ewish life, a prime mover in arousing pride in
and love for the J ewish people among young and old.

But again, why all that? Primarily to keep the world alive by
helping to maintain the balance between good and evil. The J ewish
people must live; its culture renewed and expanded; the teachings
of its prophets perpetuated so that, in the midst of chaos and
brutality, materialism and expediency; murder, plunder and war,
there will be at least one people who, historically, has rejected
wrong for what is right, and that which may be self-serving and
expedient, for justice and truth.

Who said that "Klei-Kodesh" are also human? If no one
said it, we'll say it now and if it has been said, it very well bears
repeating. A hazzan is a human being with a yetzer-too and a
yetzer-ra. But if the hazzan is to serve the J ewish people and
humanity in the role that history has thrust upon him, there are
times when he must make some sacrifices.

"Where do you draw the line?" is currently the twentieth
century catchword. J udaism may be dying in the Soviet Union be-
cause the government does not know where "to draw the line." We
are living in a bacchanalian society because our courts do not know

29

where "to draw the line." Molders of public opionion, our news
media, publishing houses and the man in the street, have been caught
up in the frenzy that has enveloped the entire world. So strong has
the animalistic wave become that it has engulfed leaders of nations
and, to our dismay, leaders of religious movements as well-and all
because, by their own admission, they don't know "where to draw
the line."

Politicians and judges wallow in graft because they don't know
where legitimate self-interest stops and self-aggrandizement begins.
A rabbi appears in black-face in a production of his own congrega-
tion and a hazzan, advertised as a hazzan, assumes the public guise
of musical comedy star because neither knows "where to draw the
line."

We are the most fortunate people on earth. We have the Torah,
the Talmud, the Midrash, the Prophets, the Commentaries, the
Ethics of the Fathers, a four thousand year history of lives that did
not trespass over the edge of truth and justice. We have it relatively
easy. Our lives are clearly defined and boldly painted. A J ew does not
have to ask "where do I draw the line?" He knows.

30

EPTTAPH FOR JEWISH MUSIC?

Samuel ROSENBAUM

Moshe Hayim Luzzato, the eighteenth century J ewish moralist
introduces his ethical treatise, "Mesillat Yesharim" with the follow-
ing words:

"I have not written this book to teach the readers anything new.
Rather is it my aim to direct his attention to certain well known
and generally accepted truths, for the very fact that they are well
known and generally accepted is the cause for their being over-
looked."

I, too, will not attempt to teach anything new. Rather is it my
aim to call attention to certain well known facts in the hope that it
may help us to act to save J ewish music.

I do not mean to be an alarmist, nor do I overstate a situation
merely to attract attention to it but I believe that there is palpable
evidence that J ewish music, as we know it and treasure it, may, in
our own generation, filter out of the mainstream of J ewish culture.

The signs and portents are all about us. Most of us are so
familiar with them that we fail to be moved by them. In that failure,
in that apparent lack of concern, in that, lies the real danger.

Let me document the problem.

The psychologists tell us that man functions on two major
levels. They say that man's entire activity complex is in response
to two sets of goals: the immediate and the long range.

A man wakes each morning and plunges into the day's work.
Why? To gain the immediate necessities of life: food, shelter, cloth-
ing, comforts. But man differs from other creatures in that while
he is apparently totally immersed in reaching his immediate goals,
he can also be concerned with goals far off in the future.

He sees the daily grind, but he sees also, with an inner eye, a
child who will one day go to college, a home in a better neighbor-
hood, growth in his business or profession.

Most of us are able to perceive our own lives in both per-
spectives.

There are some, less fortunate, not so well adjusted, who
polarize their lives; they over-respond to one goal or the other.
They become so involved in making a living that they forget to
live. Others become so attracted to a far off ideal that they fail to
make a living.

*Keynote Address, 21st Annual Convention. Cantors Assembly of America.
May 6, 1968 at Grossingrrs. New York.

31

Neither extreme is desirable. A normal human being learns to
live in both planes. He faces the immediate and yet manages to
keep an eye on the future. Particularly fortunate is he who can
integrate both goals, to put his immediate needs in harmony with
what he hopes to achieve in the future.

We, hazzanim, face the same situation in our profession. We are
practitioners in the world of J ewish music. We sing, we chant, we
teach. We are immediately and regularly occupied with it. But what
of our long range interest in Jewish music? How much attention
have we given to the future?

The founders of the Cantors Assembly, and the entire roster
of leadership which followed them, understood the need to be con-
cerned with both the present and the future and it should be a
source of satisfaction to us that we have made steady progress
toward the realizations of both goals.

I think it can be said that for most of us a reasonable proportion
of immediate goals has been achieved. While the Messiah is not yet
at the gate, and though there are individual exceptions, we are
meeting the problem of making a living with a fair degree of success.

But somehow, as individuals we seem to have become bogged
down in the daily grind. We are so involved with personalities,
salary, status, working conditions, insurance, retirement that we
rarely have the time or the energy to think about anything else.
But there is a tomorrow!

What of tomorrow?

I have sombre thoughts about tomorrow!

Buried beneath the apparent general well-being I sense a per-
sistent, ominous apprehension. The cynicism with which many of
our generation are so dangerously infected seems to have captured
us as well. Somewhere along the line we seem to have given up the
future! We appear to be living each day only for what that day
can bring us.

There is much to fear from such a philosophy. There is much
to fear from those who might deter us from becoming concerned
for the future by reminding us continuously that the present is still
not perfect.

In the hope that we of the Cantors Assembly are not nearly so
dangerously infected, I share with you the results of a recent
survey I conducted on the state of J ewish music. I confess that less
than 75 of my colleagues responded and that for this reason alone my
statistics may be open to question. But I wonder whether we can
afford to disregard them entirely.

And I wonder, too, whether the meager response is not, in
itself, a sobering statistic of the highest creditability.

Here are some of the facts I learned. I take them at random,
but together they form a pattern.

• For most congregations the late Friday evening service is
still the major service of the week. On the average, less than a half
hour of that service is devoted to music. The half hour of music
(most services last an hour and a half) is divided in varying pro-
portions between hazzan, choir and congregation. In many cases
the bar mitzvah of the following morning also participates and uses
part of the half hour.

• In most congregations the purely professional choir and
the purely professional quality of singing is a thing of the past. It
has been replaced by a volunteer choir that sings generally on Friday
nights and on the high holidays.

• While most congregations schedule a three hour Sabbath
morning service, the largest regular attendance is present for only
the last hour of the service.

• Most congregations allot twenty minutes for Musaf. Many
have made it a practice for the Bar Mitzvah to chant either Shaharit
or Musaf or both.

• Most J ews still come to the synagogue on Rosh Hashannah.
Less than 30% of the average four-hour-service is allocated to haz-
zanic, choral or congregational music.

• The average congregation last year spent a maximum of fifty
dollars on the purchase of synagogue music.

• To my knowledge, not one of the three canrorial schools has
graduated a singleteacher qualified and competent and now teaching
J ewish music in our religious schools.

• The J unior Congregation is where the foundation must be
laid for an understanding and an appreciation of synagogue music.
Most of these are led by teachers of Hebrew, or by lay volunteers
with little musical knowledge, training or talent.

• The average student who attends a religious school is offered
a maximum of twenty minutes of instruction in J ewish music per
week, usually led by a teacher with little or no special training or
knowledge. The curriculum offered in most cases consists of a half
dozen ruah songs from Israel and the usual quota of hackneyed
holiday songs.

• Congregations whose annual school budgets varied last year
from $25,000 to $200,000 all managed somehow to spend exactly
the same amount, $50, on music and music materials for their school.

33

• There remains today only one publisher specializing exclu-
sively in J ewish music. Fifteen years ago there were more than a
half dozen.

• During the '40's and '50's a host of internationally known
singers of J ewish art and folk music appeared regularly before the
American J ewish public. Today, one man remains in the field and
it is no secret that he turns to hazzanut on the high holidays in
order to make a living.

• There is not, to the best of my knowledge, one single serious
composer studying J ewish music in any of the three cantorial schools.

• So far as I know only one serious composer of J ewish music
occupies a teaching post on any one of the faculties of the three
cantorial schools.

• From my colleagues 1 learn that as much as 80% of the music
heard in their synagogues was composed before 1900; as much as
50% before 1940. A few report that no more than 20% of their
repertoire was composed after 1940.

• With the exception of David Putterman and the Park Avenue
Synagogue and Saul Meisels and the Temple on the Heights no
synagogue in the Conservative Movement has a continuing program
for the commissioning of new music.

• The total enrollment of full-time cantorial students in all
three cantorial schools does not exceed 50.

There is more but it is not necessary to continue.

I have told you little that you do not already know, but, perhaps
this is the first time that so much bad news has been gathered to-
gether in one place.

Each of us can evaluate these symptoms for himself. Some may
find that these facts have no counterpart in their own experience.
It is more likely that for most of us these facts only scratch the
surface. I doubt whether anyone can honestly say that the facts are
entirely irrelevant.

In weighing the seriousness of the situation much will depend
on one's perspective. One could probably shrug his shoulders and
leave the symptoms for others to diagnose and care. More, I hope,
will agree that a profession that has no future forfeits also the
present. They will agree with me that the body of J ewish music lies
gravely ill.

Can we help?

Will we help?

34

Can we help? The answer to that is, yes.

Will we help? The answer to that lies in your hearts. If we
are truly the guardians of J ewish song as well as its interpreters we
must help or watch our profession waste away before our eyes!

I will admit that we face disaster but we are not necessarily
lost. We need to remind ourselves that we, our entire generation,
has come to a totally new place and a totally new time which no one
has explored before. But we have a tradition which can provide us
with certain tested tools and some unfailing insights and there is
still time to make our own map.

This is not the time, nor will it help, to make excuses or to
ask where the blame lies. The truth is that we are all at fault. The
indifference, the inertia, the ineptitude of the broad Jewish com-
munity, including its hazzanim and its rabbis and its other pro-
fessionals have helped to bring us to the brink of disaster. Before
we can succeed in rescuing J ewish music we will need to enlist the
aid and cooperation of that same broad community together with
its hazzanim and its rabbis.

This leads us to the ultimate question: How can we help?

I think the time is long past when timid palliatives can help.
It is too late for aspirin. A major miracle is now in order; nothing
less will do.

If there is anything that can be salvaged from the ashes of the
past it is the knowledge that we must capture again for ourselves
that sense of pride which once was ours, a sense of pride in the
great enterprise which is J ewish music.

We must savor again the joy that comes from being an inter-
preter of this ancient, sacred and ennobling art which is the unique
expression of the J ewish spirit. We must come to know again the
serene satisfaction which can come to a master of this mystical,
wordless language which has the power to illumine wisdom and
faith like a prism in the morning sun.

We must know anew the exaltation which can come to us as
guardians of the one key with which the inner gates of prayer may
be opened for those on whose behalf we stand before the Amud.

Such pride is neither vain nor boastful. It is rather the pride
of the professional in his profession. It comes from knowledge, from
assurance, from love and for us hazzanim, from the conviction that
we are engaged in God's work.

This kind of pride can help us to face and to overcome three
great challenges which must be met; three tests which J ewish music

35

must pass before it can be considered to be out of danger. These
are continuity, vitality and creativity.

The first of these is continuity.

When we speak of continuity our thoughts flow directly to our
children. We look to them to pick up the threads of our lives from
where we shall some day drop them.

There will be no Jewish music if our children are not instructed
in it. Here is where we fail most pitifully and where the consequences
are the most severe.

For some reason we have always looked upon our tasks with
children as a necessary evil, a demeaning aspect of our careers as
hazzanim. We are beginning to reap the whirlwind from the seeds
we have sown.

At a time when the communications industry spouts 1,000 new
educational techniques every day we have not come up with a
single new idea to facilitate the teaching of Jewish music; to make
it interesting and exciting. There has not even been published in
the last 15 years a realistic music curriculum. Each of us seems to
have been making sh abbes farzich.

Yes, individual talented and concerned men have devoted time
and effort to this crucial area. We have heard some of their work
at this convention and at others in the past. One or two have been
concerned with developing a new method for chanting sacred texts.
But outside of their own congregations they have met with little
encouragement. To tell the truth at times I have had the feeling
that many of us looked down on these men, implying somehow that
such colleagues must be inadequate at the pulpit and for that
reason try to strengthen their position by becoming involved with
children.

Even the simplest tools are not readily available to assist the
hazzan in this work.

The Cantors Assembly, along with the other hazzanic and music
bodies, must begin at once to make available new song books, text
books, prayer collections, recordings, slides, films, tapes as well as
new techniques and methods.

Most urgently required is a new, re-thought nationally stand-
ardized music curriculum for elementary and high school grades,
and a standardized Haftarah and Torah nusah and method. This
therapy must be regularly and continuously repeated over the next
decade no matter what the cost or the sacrifice.

While we are on the subject of teaching Jewish music I should
like to make one further comment. Many will probably feel that

4Weisser later took many of his compositions found in this volume, modified
them musically (to avoid repetition of words), applied correct Hebrew accen-
tuation to the text, and published them together with new material in SHIREI

RFTH HAKNESETH VOLUME II

36

it is the least practical of the many impractical suggestions I am
making. But this suggestion has one saving grace: it is critical of
the rabbis and so I am sure you will listen.

I daresay that no one will disagree that many times we find,
to our dismay, that the level of musical taste of the rabbi is no
higher than that of many laymen. Far too often it is he who calls
for quote simple music end quote. All too often it is he who
would substitute the imitation hasidic nigun he has heard on a
record for a piece of authenthic hazzanut or nusah.

All other considerations aside, the basic reason for his naive
taste is that he just does not know any better. Those who should
have taught him better when he was just a student in his own
Talmud Torah failed him. By the time he gets to the Seminary his
sensitivity and his taste are already established. If he has been
raised in a synagogue where good music was the norm, he will de-
mand that of his hazzan. If the reverse is true, he will demand cheap
or poor music, without realizing that he is acting to lower standards
rather than to raise them. It would seem to me that if we are to
begin to make serious efforts to teach music to our young, we must
also begin to make provision for a comprehensive music curriculum
for rabbinic students at the Seminary.

If our rabbinate is to be properly prepared, culturally as well
as halachically, rabbinical school curricula must be broadened to
include: a course in the history of our sacred nushaot, a course in
nusah, a course in the appreciation of the choral and hazzan ic
repertoire. Most helpful would be participation in some choral ac-
tivity together with cantorial students.

Such a program would go a long way in bridging the gap of
understanding which now separate all too many hazzan im from
their rabbinic colleagues. But such a program can come into being
only if we are prepared to suggest it, to promote it, and, if neces-
sary, to finance it.

Let us turn now to the other end of the spectrum. Let us look
for a moment to our heritage and see how it may be preserved and
fortified.

Although many old and venerable J ewish communities have
been wiped from the face of the earth in our lifetime, there are
still, thankfully, in this country and in Israel, those who escaped
the holocaust and who still remember the unique melodies which
were sung in those communities. Such udim mutzalim mayesh must
be found. The musical traditions which are locked in their memories
must be put on paper and on tape. First, because we owe it to those

37

communities, to history and to ourselves. Second, because such
memories can serve to enrich our own music and our own lives.

Not everything that will be recorded will be a treasure; the job of
culling and sifting and editing will come later. Now, while they are
still in our midst, is the time to capture forever these songs and
tunes, nushaot and nigunim which will otherwise be lost.

VITALITY:

A living thing must leave an impression on its surroundings if
its existence is to have meaning. A civilization must leave a record
if it is to be remembered.

It should be of great concern to us that all but one publisher
of Jewish music has left the field. The publisher is, in the truest
sense, the recorder of history. When all is said and done all that
will remain of the thought, of the creativity, of the philosophy, of
the outlook of our time is the printed word, the printed note. The
greatest songs, the greatest thoughts, the greatest plans, if they are
not recorded and published die with their creator.

We are an historic people not only because our history is a
long one, but because we have learned to live with history, to build
our lives in historic perspective. Even now, centuries after they were
first written, we find how important and meaningful the written
word of the Dead Sea Scrolls can be in shedding light on an age
long gone.

If the field of Jewish music is not broad enough to provide a

publisher with a sound economic basis for publishing then it must

be our responsibility to assist with publication grants, with research

grants and with other reasonable means of insuring their continued

operation.

Some musical works are just not feasible for a commercial pub-
lisher to undertake. This does not excuse us from the responsibility
to see that they are published. Our reform colleagues all are to be
congratulated for their early efforts in restoring and making avail-
able out of print masterpieces. The Jewish community will also be
in our debt for the outlay of time, effort and energy which we are
expending on the works of Solomon deRossi.

Each hazzan will need to re-examine his own conscience with
regard to a practice which has become all too widespread. In the
naive belief that we are saving money for our congregations we re-
produce, without permission, -copies of published music either by
hand or by mechanical copier. I know that the practice is widespread
in all fields of culture and education. This does not make it right.
It is in the fullest sense g'neuat hada-at, plagiarism.

38

In trying to save money in this fashion we are actually saying
to our congregations that Jewish music does not deserve serious
budgetary consideration, that it is not worthy of a full budget and
that we, as practitioners in the field of Jewish music, do not under-
stand, or do not care to point up, the importance of working with
proper materials. It is helpful sometimes, to be able to repair an
automobile engine with a paper clip or a hair pin but General Motors
prefers that you go to an authorized dealer who will use the proper
guaranteed part.

When we complain about small music budgets we should stop
to consider whether or not we are guilty of inspiring them.

Jewish music will remain vital and continue to serve its purpose
only if it has meaning for our time. Music, especially religious music,
faces the same crucial tests to which all heretofore accepted tradi-
tion has been put by our generation. Religion, morality, ethics, good
and evil, all of these are being carefully scrutinized and examined
with an inquisitiveness, unfettered as never before by sacred cows,
and in some cases with an honesty which is at once refreshing and
shattering, optimistic and at the same time sadly revealing.

Ahead lies great promise and great danger.

Even Judaism itself is not being excused from this searing re-
examination. Judaism will pass muster in the eyes of those whose
search is an honest one but it will pass only if it is true to itself
and if it is willing to do what it has always done: if it is willing
and able to adapt itself to the needs of our time.

But we must not be misled by the phrase "the needs of our
time." Not everything new is necessarily good. Not everything that
is timely is necessarily meaningful or true.

We must strive for relevance to the world in which we live,
but also keep in mind that in every age one finds the good and the
bad. Our music should, must, be relevant to the world in which we
live, but relevance must not preclude quality.

Robert Shaw, in a recent address on "New Directives in Music
for Worship" had this to say. He speaks in terms of the church,
but the point is relevant to us, as well.

nothing but the best is good enough. If one comes to me
saying that one man's 'St. Matthew Passion' may be another's
'Old Rugged Cross' then I may only reply that that is unfortunately
his loss, for there can be little doubt about which music serves God

the more nobly or ascribes to him the greater glory. There are,
after all standards in the construction of music as there are stand-
ards in the building of apartment houses or dams. God is not served

39

by enshrining the mediocre. It is good to have five thousand young
people chanting a Billy Graham hymn 'Softly and Tenderly J esus
is Calling' in Madison Square Garden, but if they could have heard
the Dona Nobis Pacem — the prayer for inner and outer peace —
of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, they would have had a religious
experience of vastly greater vigor and enrichment."

is it too much to hope for, that at least some laymen and rabbis
and hazzanim will keep this in mind the next time the question
of choosing this or that choral or congregational selection comes up
for discussion?

CREATIVITY:

We have talked before about the need to create new music.
I do not want to get involved here in whether we should like the
contemporary sound or the old sound or the jazz sound or far out.
What I am talking about here is the concept that we must continue
to add music to our repertoire. J ust as one cannot continue to grow
financially if he lives on his savings, so we cannot continue to pro-
gress culturally if we do not continue to enlarge that culture with
contributions from our own time.

Hazzanim somehow have been smitten with the notion that
composers cannot live without composing, that they will compose
because they cannot help themselves. We are content to examine
their work and to criticize it but very rarely to instigate its creation.

Let us, once and for all, rid ourselves of this myth. Composers
are human beings, creative human beings, they need encouragement,
they need guidance, they need to know that their creativity is
needed, they need to be supported in every sense of that word.

If you do not like contemporary sounds, commission someone
to write in a traditional style. If you like sophisticated music, or
twelve tone music find a composer who works in those media. It is
not necessary for every new work to be avant garde. The main
thing is to keep the creative mill going.

Sooner or later the poor music will filter out and the good music
will remain.

But even the process of commissioning is an art. I see little
value in commissioning people to write music for the synagogue if
they are not intimately acquainted with the needs of the synagogue,
the musical traditions of the synagogue, the liturgy of the synagogue
or if they, themselves, have not, at one time or another, worshipped
in a synagogue.

I wonder whether commissioning Stravinsky to write a service
would provide, in the long run, a lasting contribution to J ewish

40

music. Yes, we need greai composers but only if these great com-
posers know the field, or on!y if they are willing to become thoroughly
acquainted with it. What I am speaking of is not only knowledge
of traditional nwa-. I am more concerned that the composer be
in tune with Jew ishldease, be in command of the liturgy and that
he shall be proud to be engaged in such a sacred project.

There are probably good reasons why so few of us are interested
in new music. Maybe it is because we have lost so much that we so
desperately cling only to the past. We have become a people that
x57:_i i I u on- to recite kaddish. only to remember the past. We need
to learn, as well, how recite Modeh Am, to look to tomorrow. We
rob the past of any meaning, we empty it of purpose if we do not
use the inspiration of the lives of those we mourn to guide us in
our own. They absorbed and created anew out of their own experi-
ence , and thus passed on a treasure richer than that which they
received. We can do no less.

The Task for us is not one which we can accomplish by our-
selves. We will need to mobilize the entire broad American Jewish
community. As our own pride in what we are grows, as we become
more and more committed to the future as well as to the present,
this pride will become contagious. It will produce the funds, the
good will, the energy which will be needed to save Jewish music.
It will create the atmosphere in which, at last, Jewish music will
be properly taught, properly performed, properly preserved and
properly loved.

Pride and work can perform miracles. Only those will wipe out
the shame which is reflected by the pitifully low enrollments in our
Cantorial schools. That statistic is, I am afraid, the most telling
of all.

When hazzanut becomes, for each of us, the ennobling and
elegant art which it can be, when it becomes, for all of us tiferet
leoseha, uetiferet la min ha-adam, a thing of glory to those who
pursue it, and a source of pride to all mankind, then we shall not
lack for young men to follow in our footsteps.

Jewish music lies gravely ill. I hope that I have suggested some
means by which it may be healed. There are, I am sure, many
remedies which offer similar promise. But this much is clear. Nothing
will happen if we do not begin at once to share in the healing.

A broader, brighter, healthier Jewish music lies just within our
grasp, but we must first roll up our sleeves, stretch out our arms
and plunge into the task.

Those who will be content merely to stand and look on may

41

find themselves mourners at the death bed of J ewish music.

Long ago the rabbis of the Midrash advised: If you come to
the house of worship do not remain standing outside the gate
but enter ddet leFnim middet, gate after gate, until you reach the
innermost gate. The rabbis spoke of the synagogue but they meant
all of life. There are heights and depths, ideals and realities, chal-
lenges and disappointments, gate after gate through which we must
pass. They understood that true participation in something precious
cannot be achieved by standing on the outside looking in.

In "Before the Law" one of the great parables of modern
literature, Franz Kafka describes a man who arrives before the
gate to the Law. The doorkeeper says that he cannot admit him
at the moment. The man waits. The gate to the Law stands open
so the man strains to look inside.

The doorkeeper wants to help. He advises the man: 'Try to
get in without permission. But note that I am only the lowest
doorkeeper. From hall to hall keepers stand at every gate, one
more powerful than the other."

The man is puzzled. He thinks the Law should be accesible to
every man at all times. But, he decides to wait until he receives
permission to enter. He waits for days; he waits for years.

During all these long years he watches the doorkeeper con-
stantly and learns every detail of his appearance. He forgets about
the other keepers of the other gates. This one seems to be the only
barrier between himself and the Law.

Finally, his life is about to end. Before he dies, all that he has
experienced forms into one question. He beckons to the doorkeeper
since he can no longer rise, and asks: "Everybody strives to attain
the Law. How is it, then, that in all these years no one has come
seeking admittance but me?"

The keeper of the gate answers: "No one but you could enter
here, since this gate was reserved for you alone. Now I shall go and
close it!"

This is the choice which is before us today, tonight, this
moment. Shall we, like Kalka's poor devil, wait for an auspicious
moment to enter the gate? And, finding no auspicious moment die
outside the gate? Or, shall we, as our sages advise, enter at once,
gate after gate, until we reach the innermost?

The answer for each man lies in his own heart. But in another
Midrash, the rabbis have this advice:

At God's gate, they teach, there is no keeper. The Lord of all
keeps the gates wide open. All there is for us to do is to enter.

42

REVIEW OF NEW MUSIC

THE SONG OF ESTHER: A Folk-
Cantata by I ssachar Miron and
Rabbi Avraham So lies.

A first performance of a folk can-
tata. "The Song of Esther", by Issac
har Miron was given on Friday eve-
ning March 22nd at Temple Emanuel
of Great Neck. The book and lyrics
were written by Rabbi Avraham
Soltes who introduced the work and
also took part, together with Cantor
Merril Fisher, in the narration. The
performers were the Ray Charles
Singers and Orchestra — conducted
by Ray Charles. Mr. Miron is a pro-
lific composer highly esteemed both
in Israel and in other countries, also
being active as a music educator. He
has written several cantatas, vocal
and instrumental concert music, and
is the holder of the coveted Israeli
Engel Prize for composition.

The "Song of Esther" is a modern-
or rather revolutionary-way of re-
telling the biblical story which is
especially written to help in the re-
vival of the Purim services for the
congregational family, pleasantly ap-
pealing to children as well as to
adults. It also constitutes an interest-
ing experiment in involving the entire
congregation in the narration, re-
sembling the anti phonal Greek
chorus. This bold creative attempt
proved to be a great success as the
audience responded exceedingly well,
reading their parts (unrehearsed)
with ferver and enthusiasm

The work has been composed with
assurance, craftmanship, a sense of
balance, color and continuity. The
predominating characteristics of Mi-
ron's music in this particular work
are a unique blend of contemporary
and conventional harmonies and an
amalgamation of Eastern Mediter-
ranean melos and Western music, in-
volving popular dance rhythms and
a great deal of percussion. It is cer-

tain that such a radical deviation
from the traditional manner of read-
ing the biblical story of Purim in the
Synagogue would have shocked our
orthodox forebears; yet. on the other
hand, it seems that very large sec-
tions of the Jewish community of
today need some sort of modern
stimulus designed to perpetuate the
spirit of Judaism. Therefore, thr
"Song of Esther" promises to become
an important contribution to Jewish
life and the world of culture.

Mr. Miron knows how to write for
voices and to make the vocal line
"sing". There is variety in texture of
the vocal score. Among other devices,
the use of 4- part unison singing,
melodies on pedal points, incidental
thickening or thinning of texture, and
solo singing unsupported by vocal
harmonic, foundation occur frequent-
ly throughout the work. His skillful
and brilliant orchestration seems to
constitute an invention on its owns. It
was Rimsky-Korsakov who has been
credited with the assertion that "or-
chestration is composition." and Ar-
tur Rubinstein assures us that
"music is a sixth sense, and if you
are born with it you can become a
musician." Some composers excel i n
either one of these qualities —
Miron assuredly excels in both of
them. His orchestration utilizes each
instrument, both in accompanying
and in solo functions on virtuoso
levels. He contrasts powerful rhyth-
mical themes, building up enormous
climaxes with perpetually escaping
labyrinths, almost without accentu-
ations. He rushes surprisingly and
often from polytonality to a spirit-
ual harmony of rhythm and blues.
Eastern hlediterranean modalities,
first separating them, thrn lovingly
blending them in one daring contem-
porary rntity.

In I Will Not Walk, we hear an
amazing four stick writing technique
for marimba, intercepted with trum-

pet replies, staccatissimo, sounding
like a real baroque trumpet and un-
derlined with graceful but highly
animated bass. Though there were
feelingly solemn moments, the instru-
mentation characterizes the com-
poser's moods, ranging from gay.
grotesque, tenderly lyrical to dramati-
cally joyous.

The musical background of the nar-
ration serves as an outstanding ex-
ample of how tensions of contrasting
moods are achieved through simple
means of instrumental solo passages.
Often the fanfare of two trumpets
carries the imagination of the entire
audience to the ancient Mediter-
ranean royal pomp and glory. At
other moments the running glissando
of the marimba creates a comic at-
mosphere causing the audience to
burst into laughter.

As regards structure, the work
consists of an orchestral overture and
thirteen movements each of which be-
gins with a narration followed by
choral and solo singing (except in the
first and last movements where there
are no solos) with orchestral accom-
paniment. The chorus opens the Can-
tata with a lively unison section, us-
ing neutral syllables instead of words
and involving syncopation and modal
progressions with a flavor of biblical
cantillation. The chorus continues by
singing "0 Shushan" in a chordal
setting, then repeating the unison
section and Hail to Ahasverus (in
4-part harmony) which closes the
movement. In the second movement
there is a beautiful solo of queen
Vashti in a dialogue with the sopra-
nos and altos of the chorus. Its melo-
dic line has pronounced biblical
characteristics. The following move-
ments are based on a similar solo-
and-chorus pattern, involving male
and female solos. One of the out-
standing movements is thr tenth with
its forceful sweep and the grand
motif of Mordechai, Mordechai (D.

A sharp, B) evoking joyful exhilera-
tion, indeed. Another movement,
"Remember," has some very expres-
sive singing, but the noise from the
loudspeakers and strong percussion
blurred the beautiful vocal melodies
and harmonies.

The conductor, Ray Charles, led his
group with professional authority and
competence; however, in this writer's
opinion, he should have kept down
the fortissimo drumming in order to
secure dynamic balance and trans-
parency of texture. The vocal en-
semble and soloists displayed good
voices and fine musicianship, singing
admirably well the difficult intervals
of the modern melodic lines. But some
of the singing was much too loud and
robust to be able to express the par-
ticular melodies and the true meaning
of the words, probably due to lack
of adequate rchrarsing. We hope,
however, that the next performance
will show better care and refinement
in the interpretation of this original
work.

One of the highlights of the evening
was the excellent reading of the nar-
ration by Avraham Soltes, giving
with his clear enunciation, natural-
ness, and sonorous velvet voice real
pleasure to everyone present.

The book by Avraham Soltes is a
significant iter a r y and artistic
achievement which he conceived with
such poetic vision, biblical insight,
style and craftsmanship enhanced by
an air of music in his lyrics, that it
is sure to become a notable Purim
classic.

The last two movements of the
"Song of Esther" were Unto Our
People Glory with a lyric tune, sung
by mezzo, and Lehaym. Lehayim with
the powerful and stimulating cli-
maxes, forming a joyful finale.

J udging from the high degree of
public response, it is clear that such
experiments should be given a chance
of developing further by commission-

44

ing and performing works of similar
modernity for the enrichment of both
sacred and secular music.

Alexander Ryger

Professor Ryger lectured at the
"Neue Schule fuer Musik und Buen-
enkunst* T in Vienna; TeJ-Aviv Uni-
versity, Academy of Music; Conser-
vatoire of Music, Tel- Aviv; Columbia
University and Hunter College,

He has hecn Vocal Instructor of the
Israel National Theatre, Habima, and
Chamber Theatre. Tel -Aviv.

FOUR COMPOSITIONS by Fred-
erick Pihei: "Only for God Doth
My Soul Wait" (From the 62nd
Psalm), "Out of the Depths I Cry"
(From the 130th Psalm). Ahavas
Olonrf and "Sim Sholom." Trans-
continental Music Co. 1965.
From the gifted pen of Frederick
Piket have come the above men-
tioned compositions. They are gener-
ally neo- romantic and tonal in style,
and they capture the texts with deep
understanding.

The English hymn, "Only For God
Doth My Soul Wait" starts with an
opening declaratory statement set
forth with straight- forward dignity.
In form it is somewhat contrapuntal.
The middle section becomes contrast-
ingly dramatic with emotional agita-
tion in the words of chastisement and
complaint and then retreats to a
mood of tranquillity of reassurance
evolving into a restatement of faith.

In "Out of the Depths I Cry"
there is effective sustained writing.
The form here is almost completely
contrapuntal in texture with the ex-
ception of pages 4, 7, and 8. The
motivic material is functionally good
with substantial emotional sweep to
give it warmth in its interpretation of
the text.

In "Ahavas Olom" a solo in Hebrew,
the organ accompaniment effectively
uses the motives of a falling "second/ 1
The thematic material in this prayer

setting is divided into four sequences
with augmental and progressive de-
velopment between the third and
fourth sections. The vocal recitative
is simple and direct, following the
pattern of the text except for a de-
clamatory sequence at the top of page
5 "ttvohem nrhgeh yu/nam voioyloh"

My favorite selection of the solos
is "Sim Sholom." Starting with a basic
theme as an opening statement, it
develops inventively in modal charac-
ter. One senses an approach of awe
and holiness and whether the com-
poser consciously wanted to or not
he has infused this music with a
strong flavor of mysticism and has-
sidisnr

Though the reviewer does not agree
with Mr. Pi kefs resistance to "the
rigid adherence to outdated formulas
such as nusah, modes; etc. — ** (which
resistance he oftimes subconsciously
and very delightfully forgets, as in
parts of Sim Sholom), we acknowl-
edge that here is an independent and
honest composer with an alive imagi-
nation coupled with disciplined musi-
cianship and developed technique.

These compositions will surely serve
to enrich our resources of liturgical
music

Charles B. Bloch

S'UCHOT SERVICE: For Cantor,
Chorus and Organ by Leib Giant z.
Hallel V'zimrah Association, Mon-
treal. Quebec. Canada,
The late lamented Hazzan Leib
Glantz is better known to most syna-
gogue musicians through his record-
ings than through his printed works.
With the posthumous publication of
his major work, the S'Hchot Service,
an important new dimension has
been added to his influence. Although
his S'lichot Service contains unusual
elements, they should not come as a
complete surprise to those who have
studied his works through the years.
There seems to be a consistent evo-

45

lution in his style, and the S'lichot
Service can be regarded as its logical
and crowning culmination.

In attempting to evaluate the legacy
that Hazzan Glantz left to contempo-
rary Hazzanut in this outstanding
service, the following fundamental
considerations come to mind.

To say that Hazzan Glantz sought
and found a perfect blend between
music and word is not quite enough.
The overriding impression is that
Glantz placed the greatest emphasis
on the words of the prayers and on
their deep meaning and interpreta-
tion. When we consider the fact that
the Hassidic background of Glantz
was by far the most affecting influ-
ence that shaped his musical person-
ality and style, we find here a great
paradox. On the one hand we have
as a dominant factor the complete
sense of freedom of expression, the
dveykus, the abandon and the total
lark of inhibition — all character-
istic influences of Hassidism. On the
other hand, contrary to the basic
Hassidic philosophy, we find an al-
most complete lack of pure melodies
that have an independent life of their
own. The melodic line is so subord-
inated to the needs of the words that
in same instances it disappears com-
pletely.

The dominant and most impressive
feature of the S'lichot Service by Leib
Glantz is his use of a "singing-speak,
ing" style of declamation where no-
thing matters but the true and pure
interpretation of the text. In sev-
eral instances, "sprechstimme" (liter-
ally, "spoken voice") is used with
only a vague sense of pitch.' Such
extreme instances, when music seems
to give in altogether, occur only in a
few short phrases in the service, but
a modified extension of this tech-
nique of speaking-singing-declamation
(reminiscent of Alban Berg's style)
constitute the major feature of the
entire service. It is an effective

tool that affords the Sh'liah Tzibbur
the opportunity for a most direct
expression and interpretation of
highly emotional and dramatic pas-
sages and to communicate them to the
congregation with a shuttering impact.
This, after all, is the main function of
the Sh'liah Tzibbur.

Contrary to impression, this style is
far from simple or easy to adopt. Only
a man with the fantastic vocal, musi-
cal and scholarly talents of Hazzan
Glantz could have perfected it. To
be able to utilize this technique ef-
fectively, a Hazzan must possess
natural musicianship of the highest
order that will prevent him from
veering off helplessly into unrelated
tonalities. He must also be fully
versed with the text, its deep mean-
ing and its historical and philosophical
implications. Above all, he must
possess an innate piety that will en-
able him to communicate his sincere
feelings and intentions to his congre-
gation, When done improperly, this
sublime form of expression can easily
degenerate into cheap theatrics. There
is an additional practical difficulty
to the utilization of this trail-blazing
style, a difficulty which has to do not
with the qualifications of the Hazzan
but with those of his worshippers.
Since this style discourages the inclu-
sion of mere pretty melodies that
exist for their own sake, it would re-
quire a congregation that speaks and
understands the language fluently to
appreciate it and to react instantly
and spontaneously to all the nuances
that its Spoksman is trying to com-
municate to them. The fact that Haz-
zan Glantz wrote this service in Israel
for an Israeli congregation explains,
in part, its effective use and accept-
ance there.

The great Hazzanim-composers who
have left their mark on Hazzanut
through their recordings can be di-
vided into two categories. There are
those whose music can easily be uti-

46

lized by others in the profession with
only slight modifications. Their in-
fluence can be measured by the num-
ber of their compositions that is in
current use. On the other hand, there
are a few whose creations are
uniquely tailored to their own indi-
vidual musical personality and talent
to such an extent that attempts to
adapt them usually end in frustration.
Their influence is subtle, but deeper
and more affecting even if it is not
quite as tangible. The late Hazzan
Glantz belonged to that second group.
This fact perhaps explains why even
a thorough examination and study of
the printed score of his S'lichot Serv-
ice may leave one with a vague and
not completely satisfying impression.
Fortunately, Hazzan Glantz left us a
magnificently recorded version of the
same service (Famous Records, FAM-
1015). and it is most highly recom-
mended as an indispensable com-
panion to the printed score to any-
one who wishes to discover the im-
portant contribution that this great
genius has made to the Hazzanut of
today and tomorrow.

Listening to this recording while
following the printed score was for
this reviewer a deeply moving and un-
forgetable experience that left him
limp and emotionally drained. It was
an experience that transcended by far
the mere pleasure of hearing the
magnificent voice of Glantz with
its phenomenal range and incredible
flexibility. Having previously struggled
to make sense out of the printed score,
it was now amazing and truly awe-
inspiring to see the dry notes and the
seemingly meaningless passages come
to life with such irrepressible vitality
and with such intense power. Old
familiar words and phrases suddenly
assumed new and unexpected mean-
ing, and conveyed a variety of new
emotions-raw and uninhibited. The
total effect is a curious and wonderful
mixture of the old-fashioned and the

daringly new. Almost completely ab-
sent are the folksy rhythmical tunes
which made Hazzanut such a popular
art and which, at the same time,
halted its development and arrested
its growth. Gone to a large extent are
the arbitrary Hazzanic cliches and
formulas whose destination and char-
acter are so familiar and so predict-
able. Instead, we have a freewheeling
melodic line that seems to trail -blaze
new and exciting paths in previously
uncharted grounds. Uninhibited and
unrestrained, it proceeds daringly to
draw vividly a variety of new pictures
and to convey new moods and emo-
tions. Alternately, it is expressing fear,
mystery, anger and hurt. Alternately,
it is arguing, pleading, shouting, whis-
pering and talking. But, at the same
time, there is always the comforting
presence of the pure and authentic
Nusah which is the hallmark of Leib
Glantz. It acts to reassure the listener
and to cushion the jarring effect of the
unfamiliar manner of expression and
the daring innovations. Particularly
deliberate and effective is the pure
and unadulterated Nusah conclusion
of most of the selections. They give
the listener the warm feeling of hav-
ing arrived home after an exciting and
adventurous exposure to the elements.

The printed score of the S'lichot
Service contains a brilliant preface
by Max Wohlberg which sums u P
eloquently its outstanding virtues.
Had this review been concerned
only with the Hazzanic lines (which,
fortunately, constitute the major part
of the work) we would have little to
add. Regretfully, we must turn our
attention, even though briefly, to the
choral parts of the service, and that
is where the short-comings are.

The S'lichot Service by Leib Glantz
is a through-composed work where the
limited objective of deeply interpret-
ing individual passages has been ac-
complished at the sacrifice of many
other musical considerations. The ele-

47

ment of Form, for instance, is com-
pletely non-existent in the work as a
whole as well as in individual selec-
tions. Consequently, the S'lichot Serv-
ice must be regarded more as a col
lection of individual compositions and
fragments than as a complete entity
that is held together intrinsically by
a set of ideas and motives in the
modern concept of larger musical
works.

What is even more painful to point
out is the large gap in artistic integ-
rity that exists between the Hazzanic
lines and the choral parts. It seems
apparent that the genius of Glantz
and his creative abilities did not
extend to choral writing. Pleasant
as they may be, the choral parts have
very little nrw to offer. In "T'vienu,"
for instance, the choral introduction is
a routine immitation of Bachman's
neo- romantic style. However, when
the Hazzan takes over and off, the
entire prayer comes suddenly to life.
There are a few notable exceptions,
such as parts of the Ashrey and the
first verse of "B'motozo'ey M'nuchoh."
Significantly, however, these excep-
tions occur when the chorus sings
along with the Hazzan (with little
harmony) and complements his style.
The melodic lines are substantially
the same in the recording and in the
book. The choral harmonies are con-
siderably different. The organ accom-
paniment which was added to the
book (in the recording there is no
instrumental accompaniment) is par-
ticularly undistinguished. We prefer
to believe that in transcribing the
book, someone other than the corn,
poser has tampered extensively with
it. If this is true then no worthwhile
service has been rendered.

Since it is safe to assume that all
those who will buy the book (and no
Hazzan should be without it!) will do
so because of its Hazzanic material
and not for its choral arrangements,
let us reiterate our conviction that the

S'lichot Service by Hazzan Leib
Glantz is a towering achievement and
indeed a milestone in the development
of contemporary Hazzanut. It is an
extremely important work that will,
no doubt, influence the future course
of Hazzanut and 'will enshrine the
memory of Hazzan Leib Glantz in our
grateful hearts for a blessing.

Pinchos Spiro

YIZKOR, An Oratorio for Narrator,
Baritone, Tenor, Mezzo Soprano,
Mixed Chorus and Orchestra (or
Organ). Text by Samuel Rosen-
baum. Music by Sholom Secunda.
Published by the writers.
On Tuesday evening. May 7, 1968,
the second night of the annual con-
vention of the Cantors Assembly of
America, held at Grossinger's in
Liberty, New York, a moving and
memorable program was presented in
commemoration of the 25th anniver-
sary of the uprising in the Warsaw
Ghetto. The featured work of the
evening was an oratorio, "Yizkor,"
text by Hazzan Samuel Rosen baum
(the Executive Vice-President of the
Cantors Assembly) and music by the
eminent J ewish composer, Sholom
Serunda. "Yizkor" was originally com-
missioned for the Temple on the
Heights in Cleveland and Hazzan
Saul Meisels by the family of Harry
and Sarah Givelber in their memory.
The program began with two selec-
tions by the Rochester Chorale, a
chorus of outstanding musical quality
from Rochester, New York; prepared
and conducted by Milford Fargo. The
first was Max Helman's highly ef-
fective arrangement of "Ani Ma'amin"
and the second A. W. Binder's ar-
rangement of Hirsch Glick's 'Song of
the J ewish Partisans." Hazzan Moses
J . Silverman then introduced Dr.
J oachim Prinz, who delivered a deeply
moving and emotionally stirring ad-
dress, which set the ideal mood for the
presentation of the "Yizkor" oratorio.

48

The soloists were Hazzan Michal
Ha mm merman, tenor; Hazzan Saul
Meisels, baritone; and Margaret Sage,
mezzo-soprano, all of whom were
highly equal to their assignments.
Actor Howard daSilva narrated in a
polished and impressive manner. The
choral parts were rendered by the
Rochester Chorale, prepared by Mil-
ford Fargo, with Ray Egan, organist
and Paul Oster percussion. The per-
formance was conducted by the com-
poser, Sholom Secunda.

The entire mood, the technique and
the structure of the music are in-
separably bound to Hazzan Rosen-
baum's text, and cannot be discussed
without first considering the qualities
and organization of the poem itself.
Its lines are deeply and sensitively
drawn. They portray succinctly so
many familiar and touching images.
These most successfully bring to mind,
with simplest allusions, sad reminders
of our tragic past, as well as many
pictures which convey nostalgic tradi-
tional attitudes on so many facets of
J ewish life.

This inspired poem appears to be
organized as follows: an introductory
call to "Yizkor," followed by the
poet's poignant reflections on the most
horrifying of tragedies, climaxed by
the appropriate citation of the famous
passage which tells of Mother Rachel
weeping for her children. The scene
then moves to Heaven, where Reb
Levi Yitzchok of Berditschev, protests
with a brilliantly moving "new" de-
mand for a "Din Toire" with the
Almighty. Here, the famous "Dudele"
is paraphrased as Levi Yitzchok de-
ma n d s , ". when a blind child is
hurt, to whom does he turn? to You,
to You, only to You!" He continues,
"And You had nothing to say? .
How long could You play at Eternity?
Therefore, I, Levi Yitzchok. the
son of Sara of Berditchev-that is no
more-1 call You to judgment!" Re-
turning to a description of the horrors

taking place on earth, the poem also
portrays with utmost eloquence, the
beauty and character of that once
flourishing Polish J ewry as it leads
into their courageous, albeit hopeless,
uprising. The poem concludes with a
powerful, pressing plea that the holy
martyrs who perished must be re-
membered by us. followed by a re-
stated call to Yizkor. This is climaxed
by the famous Kaddish of Reb Levi
Yitzchok at the very end.

The task of setting a poem such as
this to music, presents numerous dif-
ficulties. The length of the poem poses
the problem of finding ways to main-
tain the listener's interest. The moods
within it are extremely diverse and
necessarily contradictory. There is, on
the one hand, the savage brutality of
the fiendish tormentor, his inhu-
maness, contemptuous arrogance and
sadistic amusement, sharply con-
trasted by the traditional J cwry cry
referred to in the poem, "Remember
my Yahrzeit. remember my name."
The poet's reactions range from dra-
matic protestations of anger and de-
fiant resentment to expressions of
heroic courage on the part of the
martyrs; expressions of screaming, ex-
ploding emotions at certain times, and
at others, resignation and despair,
contrasted with the tender reference
of "Habein Yakir Li Efraim." and
the sweet nostalgic reminiscences of
Polish J ewry's glorious past.

These problems were handled skill-
fully and effectively by composer,
Sholom Secunda. He availed himself
of three solo voices which he em-
ployed separately and in ensemble, a
chorus which he used for singing with
text, as a humming background, and
for dramatic choral declamation. A
narrator, timpani and gong are em-
ployed in addition to the organ, all of
which are cleverly manipulated to pro-
vide constant variety in color and
timbre.

To give expression to the varying

49

emotions of the poem, Mr. Secunda
combined late 19th-early 20th cen-
tury chromaticism with augmented
chords, sonorities based on the whole-
tone scale and Impressionist-style
parallelism to express the extreme
moods of suffering, protest and weep-
ing. He also drew heavily upon tradi-
tional J ewish musical content, which
he frequently treated in simple tradi-
tional style, reminiscent of East Euro-
pean synagogue and folk music, which
this writer considers most praise-
worthy. The music mirrors the mood
of the text from its quiet, despairing
weeping to its imposing dramatic mo-
ments.

Special mention should be made of
some of the high points in the work.
such as the use of the timpani at the
very beginning, as well as at the tense
moment of the "Din Toire" in Heaven
immediately preceeding the lines,
"And You, You sat obstinate and
waited! for what!?" This climax makes
one shudder as it recalls the terror
inflicted by the Nazis, which in the
introduction is followed by alternating
contrasts between a loud, pompous
phrase and a soft, tearful Hazzanic
style cry. The use of the gong seems
to serve as an awakening of our con-
science immediately preceding the
opening choral phrase, "Yizkor. re-
member!" The dramatic plea of Reb
Levi Yitzchok, "I call you to judg-
ment!" which climaxes the scene in
Heaven is realized musically as well
as textually, to complete grandeur.
The choral humming background to
the narrator's description of grand-
parents blessing grandchildren, etc., is
most properly and beautifully sug-
gestive of the Yiddish folk song, as
are other portions of the music.

Toward the end, immediately fol-
lowing the phrase, "It is time for
Yizkor," the choral background to the
mezzo-soprano solo, "We shall remem-
ber ." very effectively suggests an
eternal "Ani Ma' amin"-like march of

the martyrs. Equally effective is the
imposingly repetitious phrase "We
shall remember," and the insertion of
the age long vow. "Im Eshkachech
whoever will forget- 1 will remem-
ber." The concluding recapitulation
and the quotation of the famous
Kaddish of Reb Levi Yitzchok both
textually and musically brings the
cantata to a fitting, appropriate and
emotionally successful close.

Sholom Kalib

ANI CHAVATSELET HASHARON
for Voice and Organ by Samuel
Bugatch; HARK MY BELOVED
by Emanuel J. Barkan; GRANT
US PEACE for Voice and Organ
by Maw Helfman all published by
Transcontinental Music Publica-
tions, N.Y.

Mr. Bugatch's restful piece is taste-
ful and vocal but the accompaniment
is obviously intended for piano rather
than organ. An ostinato chordal ac-
companiment binds the setting to-
gether and excepting for a too con-
stant tonality of D, the piece is quitr
successful. The vocal line is tropal-
motivic without being particularly
fragmented.

Barkan's "Hark My Beloved" is
less successful, if only because of his
penchant for simple and four-square
melodies, so admirable in his chil-
dren's songs, but so un suited for ex-
tended and lyrical texts which demand
a more sophisticated approach.

Helfman 's "Grant Us Peace" is like
an echo of the past with the sweet,
uncluttered and deft touch of "Max"
so clearly evinced in this short work.
Simple in its approach, it will be a
popular setting in a very short while.

SIX YIDDISH ART SONGS by

Lazar Weiner. Transcontinental

Music Publications, N.Y.

We are indebted to Transcontinenal

Music for reprinting these songs of

Weiner during this year which marks

the composer's 70th birthday. Lazar
Weiner is. essentially, a song writer
in the tradition of the great romantic
masters, and tfiese six fascinating
songs are as subtle end refined as any
which bear his name Particularly sen-
sitive are "Shtile Licht," "In Feld"
and "Shtile Tener" while the humor
of "Volt Main Tate Raich Geven" is
instant end infectuoust.

BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON,
(SATB) by Edward M. Goldman.
Transcontinental Music Publica-
tions. N.Y.

An uninspired an d repetitious
choral piece that makes one long
fur the bard clarity and color of some
other settings of this great Psalm
such as Saminsky's uncompromising
and clear approach of almost 25 years
ago. Regression towards mediocrity
is disturbing.

HALLELUJAH (PSALM 98 ) for
Solo Voice and Mixed Choir by
Julius Chajes. Transcontinental
Music Publications. N.Y.
A fine and exuberant setting by Mr.
Chajes. commissioned in 1967 hy
Temple Emanu-El of New York, ded-
icated to reunited Jerusalem. The
barreness of the consecutive open in -
tervals is balanced and complimented
by a legato, linear solo line for Can-
tor and interest is maintained by trips
through related keys. A substantial,
short work.

HEAR MY PRAYER. Anthem for

Mixed Choir by Minuetta Kessler.

Transcontinental Music P u b 1 i c a -

tions. N.Y.

An interesting anthem in a classic
approach replete with entrances and
contrasting counter-melody in differ-
ent voices. If the method were more
authentic and exact counterpoint
employed the results would have been
an exercise in real 18th C e n t u r y
style rather than in a pseudo-style.

The basic question, however, relates
to the consonance of this style with
the synagogue service, a question
which is not new and which was de-
bated long and full in past years. The
practicing musician, actively involved
in producing music for the synagogue
of today, would benefit from a first
hand knowledge of the work and ideas
of those inspired artists and craftsmen
who wrote and worked in the begin-
ning of this century, as well es those
who are traveling new paths in our
time.

SERVICES
KABBALAT SHABBAT. A Friday
Evening Service by Paul Ben-Hoim.
Published for the Union of Ameri-
can Hebrew Congregations by Israeli
Music Publications Limited. Tel
Aviv.

A major Service by a major sym-
phonist, "Kabbalat Shabbat" was
premiered in the Spring of this year
in Lincoln Center in New York with
thr composer in attendance. Abraham
Kaplan directed The Festival Chorus
and Orchestra with Cantor Ray
Smolaver as soloist in a fine first per-
formance. A perfect example of the
direction a project may take if initi-
ated by knowledgable Cantors, thr
Service contains tunes (L' cha Dodi,
Adon Olam) as well as concerted sec-
tions (Hariu Ladonai, Mi Chamocha,
Kiddush)

Scored for Cantor. Soprano solo,
SATB and Organ (Or nine unstru-
ments) hearing the total work was an
experience slightly touched with dis-
appointment because one expected an
important work of great magnitude
from such a distinguished pen. rather
than merely a good work. Perhaps
time will tell a truer story.

After a suitable pastoral introduc-
tion the Service begins forcefully with
a vibrant "Hariu Ladonai" with some
of the must successful instrumental
accompaniment of thr entire work. A

51

blessing for candle-lighting (Reform
Ritual) for women's chorale and solo-
ist finds the alto part too low and the
solo too high for practical purposes.
"L'cha Dodi" is charming and well-
put-together with a free moving ac-
companiment that never intrudes.
"Bar'chu" mixes a melismatic cantor-
ial line with a simple and effective
rongregational response. The last
chord with its added major ninth
seems one of the several "concessions"
the composer made in deference to
his "American" commissioners. The
"Sh'ma" which follows is simple and
direct while the accompaniment is in
keeping with Mr. Ben-Heim's style in
settings of Yemenite songs. A free
"V'ahavtah" is orchestrated with the
finesse of a post-Impressionist and
leads into a "Mi Chamocha" notable
for its drive and the obviousness of its
augmented second. This reviewer is
unsure of his reaction to a very dif-
ferent and well-wrought "V'shom'ru"
that seems to bring contemporary
angularities into conjuction with the
style of medieval madrigals and
motets. The method is not one which
presents doubts but one questions the
difference in the style of this piece in
relationship to the total work,

While "Hashkivenu" seemed unsuc-
cessful, "Yiyu L'ratzon" is sure to be
useful. One is unsure of the ultimate
reaction of congregations to the
seemingly "structured obviousness" of
the augumentrd-second interval which
is basic to the piece. It is quite easy
tc become desensitized to the sound.

Of the concluding numbers, "Adon
Olam" is probably destined for much
exposure. Well written and very melo-
dic, it employs a tune of Sephardic
origin ("Chants Sephardis" notated
by Leon Algazi) which none-the-less
is uncomfortably reminiscent of some
children's songs currently popular
with the nursery set. All in all, one
might applaud the efforts of all in-
volved and hope that the commission-

ing incentive will be repeated many
times in future years and that major
composers of Ben-Haim's stature will
be approached to add to our reli-
gious, musical experience.

FRIDAY EVENING SERVICE by
Robert Starer.

Commissioned by the Park Avenue
Synagogue in celebration of the 20th
Anniversary of the State of Israel's
Independence and the 35th Anniver-
sary of Cantor David Putterman's
tenure as Hazzan of the Park Avenue
Synagogue, the FRIDAY EVENING
SERVICE is a gem of the first qual-
ity. Sparse, almost skeletal in struc-
ture, it speaks more musically than
other services may attempt to declaim,
in a more heavily fleshed and adorn-
a men ted language.

The "Festive Prelude for Organ"
serves as an introduction to the Serv-
ice itself and is motivic in nature.
The Pedal-Left Hand is based upon
D, E. E flat and F-F sharp in an
ostinato with added notes in sequence.
Melodically there is a falling melis-
matic figure, a short eighth note semi-
blues linear series and a dotted
rhythmic pattern of short duration.

"L'chu N'ranena" is called "respon-
sorial for Cantor, Congregation and
Organ" and is charmingly simple and
direct. Yehudi Wyner's fine Service of
last year seems to have opened doors
to composers who wish to use the
organ in a Spartan-manner or as in
Starer's case, barely in evidence. The
organ is sounded only 25 times in this
first number of which 12 notes are
D's, 6 are E's and 7 are C's This
count was not made out of complaint
but in admiration for the restraint
and economy of the means employed
in its construction.

The vocal lines are deceptively
simple and have a pentatonic. cantil-
lation character. They seem to be
constructed in alternating Dorian and
Aeolian patterns with suggestions of

52

D Major and A Major tonalities as
well. The organ is obviously intended
to support the voices only, and to keep
everyone in the same key.

After setting the tonality for "L'cha
Dodi" (one small "A") the organ dis-
appears completely in this third set-
ting although the organist is in-
structed that he may play the refrain
with Choir and Congregation. The
same modal patterns are used for
this "L'cha Dodi" and it certainly
promises to be one of the most dif-
ferent approaches to the text that
"organized" congregations will ex-
perience.

'Tov L'hodot" is also responsive
with the congregation repeating the
melody of the Cantor exactly. Here
the organ is reintroduced, and very
effectively, in a most gentle and blues-
suggesting way. The instrumental
quality of all the writing has been
refined and purified and the simplicity
of the accompaniment in its two and
sometimes three voice-parts is charm-
ing.

"Bar'chu" seems a little pretentious,
although one must assume that such
a clarion text should call for a more
declamatory attitude, as in this case.
"Sh'ma" is, on the other hand, sub-
stantial, and generates a certain
solidity through the polytonal accom-
paniment. "Mi Chamocha" is strong
and majestic.

The "Hashkivenu" is one of the

most effective this reviewer has ever
seen or heard in its approach as a
prayer for peace. One feels impelled,
however, to comment upon the use of
a recurring accompaniment motive as
similar in approach to another famous,
contemporary setting of the text. This
in no manner detracts from the ef-
fectiveness of the piece. Its scope is
large although the means are small.
It is a superb piece of religious music.
"V'sham'ru" on the other hand seems
"crowded" and evinces too much
movement in the voice parts, except-
ing for the nicely graphed ending.

"May the Words" imposes an
English solo over a choral line in
Hebrew and very successfully. We
are shown the opening motivic device
of the four note figure seen in the
Introduction. While the piece will
prove too long for regular use in most
synagogues it will be ideal for special
situations.

At the end of the Service the com-
poser returns to the strict responsive
form of the opening Psalms for a
lively "Adon 01 am." The key chosen
is not one which will make all the
notes available to congregations which
are not all soprano or tenor-voiced
but perhaps there may have been
other justifications for the high tessi-
tura. All in all. the Service is a
delightful one and a fine addition to
our Liturgy.

C. D.

53

MUSIC SECTION

This rare, slim volume of five compositions for hazzan and
choir for the Sabbath Eve was composed by Arno Nadel, outstand-
ing Jewish composer-musicologist. He was born in Wilna, October
3, 1878, he perished in Auschwitz in 1943. We reproduce it here, in
its entirety, thanks to the gracious co-operation of Eric Mandell.

SYNAGOGENGESANGE

VON

ARNO NADEL

1930

54

56

SONDERDRUCK

AUS

SCHIRE SIMROH

SYNAGOGALE KOMPOSITIONEN ZEITGENOSSISCHER AUTOREN

SAMMELBAND

AUS DEM WETTBEWERB DES
ALLOEMEINEN DEUTSCHEN KANTOREN-VERBANDES E. V.

IM JAHRE 1926

HERAUSGEOEBEN VOM

ALLGEMEINEN DEUTSCHEN KANTOREN-VERBAND E. V.

(VEREINIGUNOJ UDISCHER KANTORCN)

VERLAO J. KAUPPMANN. FRANKFURT AU MAIN

''/

Adonoj moloch "\bft 'H

(Psalm 93)

55

Arno Nadel

m it Wiirde!

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