tones
compulsive cantater
The following odd rambling had (to use an appropriately Old Testament term) its genesis in listening to a Bach cantata. The cantatas are, I believe, one of mankind's greatest musical achievements, yet, it occurred to me, to Jewish ears, they are not only distinctly non-kosher, but also sometimes downright blasphemous. I find this rather sad, but of course completely understandable. (We have the odd circumstance that the revival of Bach was started by a Jew, Felix Mendelssohn (grandson of the great Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn), and his performance of the St. Matthew Passion, but the Mendelssohns had converted to Lutheranism ââ'¬â€œ Felix even composed a ââ'¬Å"Reformationââ'¬Â symphony).
Jewish contributions to civilisation are far out of all proportion to their numbers. For good or ill, they have given the world all three great monotheistic religions (remember that in Islam, Abraham and Jesus are the second- and third-ranking prophets after Mohammed, and one of the major bases of Christianity is that Jesus fulfilled the whole Jewish law). And this year is the centenary of the extraordinary year in which a Swiss Patent Office clerk called Einstein changed forever the way the universe would be perceived.
These extraordinary gifts apparently do not extend to music. Not that the Jews weren't fond of music. Read the Psalms ââ'¬â€œ they're full of celebrating God by singing and dancing:
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD. (Ps.150:4-6 (NIV))
(And of course anyone who has ever attended a Jewish wedding will know what a joyous musical outpouring they can be).
Although reconstructions of Temple music have been attempted, nobody really knows how this music was performed. The destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD70 after the Zealot revolt and the scattering of the Jews brought that to an end. As what we now know as classical music was written initially for the church and the nobility, from both of which the Jews were effectively barred, it is perhaps not surprising that Jewish contributions to classical music are relatively thin on the ground. The art of the synagogue cantor continues to this day, and Jewish themes have intermingled with the folk and gipsy music of eastern Europe, but there was relatively little effect on mainstream classical. We all know of the prodigious number of great Jewish artists, but where are the great Jewish composers? There were some minor Jewish composers in the 18th century, but for major contributions we had to wait for Mendelssohn, Mahler and Bloch, and of these three Bloch is the only one who is consciously Jewish. There is also Lenny Bernstein. Have I left anyone out? Am I totally up the creek?
(P.S. Having written this, I did a quick Google and found this:
http://www.jbuff.com/c080703.htm
which fills in some of my gaps ââ'¬â€œ diodn't know Strauss was Jewish).
Jewish contributions to civilisation are far out of all proportion to their numbers. For good or ill, they have given the world all three great monotheistic religions (remember that in Islam, Abraham and Jesus are the second- and third-ranking prophets after Mohammed, and one of the major bases of Christianity is that Jesus fulfilled the whole Jewish law). And this year is the centenary of the extraordinary year in which a Swiss Patent Office clerk called Einstein changed forever the way the universe would be perceived.
These extraordinary gifts apparently do not extend to music. Not that the Jews weren't fond of music. Read the Psalms ââ'¬â€œ they're full of celebrating God by singing and dancing:
praise him with tambourine and dancing,
praise him with the strings and flute,
praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
Praise the LORD. (Ps.150:4-6 (NIV))
(And of course anyone who has ever attended a Jewish wedding will know what a joyous musical outpouring they can be).
Although reconstructions of Temple music have been attempted, nobody really knows how this music was performed. The destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD70 after the Zealot revolt and the scattering of the Jews brought that to an end. As what we now know as classical music was written initially for the church and the nobility, from both of which the Jews were effectively barred, it is perhaps not surprising that Jewish contributions to classical music are relatively thin on the ground. The art of the synagogue cantor continues to this day, and Jewish themes have intermingled with the folk and gipsy music of eastern Europe, but there was relatively little effect on mainstream classical. We all know of the prodigious number of great Jewish artists, but where are the great Jewish composers? There were some minor Jewish composers in the 18th century, but for major contributions we had to wait for Mendelssohn, Mahler and Bloch, and of these three Bloch is the only one who is consciously Jewish. There is also Lenny Bernstein. Have I left anyone out? Am I totally up the creek?
(P.S. Having written this, I did a quick Google and found this:
http://www.jbuff.com/c080703.htm
which fills in some of my gaps ââ'¬â€œ diodn't know Strauss was Jewish).
