HALLELUJAH! Timothy W. Sharp, editor

Editor's Note: The following article is oned in Babylon, were asked to entertain Pentateuch (comprising Genesis through conttibuted by Joshua R. Jacobson, one their captors with sacred music from the Deuteronomy) is divided into small por- of the foremost authorities on Jewish Sanctuary. They wrote of this experience: tions so that the entire book is read con- choral music. He is Professor of Music secutively in the course of a year. and Director of Choral Activities at By the rivers of Babylon we sat Appropriate readings from the Prophets Northeastern University and Adjunct down and wept when we remem- and the Hagiographa may be chanted, as Professor of Jewish Music at Hebrew bered Zion. By the willows there well. This scriptural chant, called College, Brookline, Massachusetts. He we hung up our harps. For there "cantillation," has the following charac- is also founder and director of the our captors, our tormentors, teristics: Zarnir Chorale of Boston. Jacobson is demanded gleeful song, "Sing us All texts are chanted, never spoken. past President of the Massachusetts some of your songs from Zion." The performer is usually a male solo- chapter of the American Choral But how could we sing the Lord's ist. (Only recently have women been per- Directors Association. song on foreign soil? (Psalm 137: mitted to read in some congregations.) 1-4) There is no harmony or any form of accompaniment. What Is Jewish Liturgical Music in the Synagogue The scales most commonly used are A new form of worship service devel- the dorian, aeolian, mixolydian and Music? oped in the Babylonian exile. Sessions of pentatonic.3 Music in Ancient Israel study and prayer in meeting houses (called There is no fIxed meter; the rhythms synagogos in Greek or bet kenesset in are logogenic, flowing freely from the MUSIC HAS always played an indispens- Hebrew) took the place of the Sanctuary natural accents of the lyrics. able role in Jewish worship. Three thou- ritual.2 For nearly two thousand years, The selection of the mode is deter- sand years ago, when King David brought the service in the synagogue has com- mined by the liturgical occasion. In other the Holy Ark to Jerusalem, establishing prised the following elements. words, one set of melodic motifs is uti- that city as the political and spiritual capi- lized for reading the Torah (Pentateuch) tal of Israel, he arranged a musical cel- 1. Cantillation on weekdays, Sabbaths, and holidays, an- ebration led by the Levite family singers other set for reading the Torah on High and players. At some services, a soloist known as the ba' al keriya, the master of the reading, Holy Days, another for reading the Haftarah (a selection from the Prophets) David told the leaders of the chants a pericope from the Bible. The Levites to appoint their relatives as singers to sing joyful songs accompanied by musical Amazing Grace instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals .... So all Israel brought Our graceful hardwood music stand can up the ark of the covenant with expand to serve a duet, trio or quartet... shouts, with the sounding of rams' and it's just one of the many pieces we horns, trumpets, and cymbals, and design and manufacture. with the playing oflyres and harps. Our new catalog is filled with fine (lChr. 15:16,28) hardwood instrument stands, sheet music cabinets, footrests and more. After the Sanctuary (Bet HaMikdash in Hebrew) was built in Jerusalem during Call for your FREE copy today. the reign of King Solomon (c. 1004 b.c.e.), music was an integral and impres- sive part of its ceremonies. There was a Call Toll Free large orchestra consisting of multiple 1-800-324-5200 harps, lyres, flutes, trumpets, and cym- or email [email protected] bals, as well as an all-male chorus.! The Sanctuary was destroyed by the Alden Babylonians in 586 b.c.e. The Levite mu- , Tee sicians, exiled from Jerusalem and impris- - DCompany,'ne. :;J Dept. CHJP, 1215 Chrysler Drive, Menlo Park

SEPTEMBER 1997 PAGE 39 characteristics of the prayer modes are , :J J J simil~r in many respects to those of way-yik-ra mo - s~ Ie - chol zik-ne yis - ra-el way - yo - mer a - Ie -: hem. cantillation. All texts are chanted, never spok6n. The performer is a male soloist Figure lao Iraqi Jewish cantillation of Exodus 12:21. (recehcly women have begun leading the pray~rs in some congregations). TTh.ere is usually no harmony or any form I of accompaniment. However, in medieval Europe a practice arose in which Ky - ri-e e-Iei - son. Do-mi-ne_ mi-se-re - re Chns-tus ___ Do-ml - nus. the cantor would be accompanied by two Figure lb. Kyrie Eleison (third tone, Gregorian). "IIiesTh.orerim"- a boy soprano and a bass who ',Vould improvise drones and antipho- t:\ t:\ nal re,sponses. j j JI ~ J J J ~ I:J TJ:\.e scales used most often are the , J r E! :h dorian, aeolian, mixolydian and pen- tik kan - ta shab - bat ra - tsi - ta kor-be - no - te - ha tsi - tatonic, as well as the "freygish," a form t:\ , t:\ oJ) of thJ phrygian mode with a raised third, r p I:J ;1 creating an augmented second between , :::01 CJ ~ r E () 6f :J 5 vi - ta pe - ru - she - ha im sid-du-rey ne- sa - che - ha. me-an-ne - the second and third degrees'? There is no fded meter and no system of nota- nA A s J J JA tion. '['he soloist is expected to improvise ,A • basedlon the appropriate set of motifs . ge - ha Ie - 0 - lam ka - vod yin - cha -lu. to-a- me-ha cha- yim za - chu._ ve - THe selection of the mode ("nusach," in HJbrew) and its associated motifs is J deterrhined by the liturgical occasion. The gam ha-o - ha vim _ de - va - re - ha ge-du-Ia ba - cha ru. cantor is expected to know which mode to use.at each service. Thus, a knowledge- Figure 2. "TikkantaShabbat" able dongregant could know the holiday and time of day from listening to the on Sabbaths and holidays, another for description of the cantillation o~ the melody. A fragment of the Ashkenazic reading the Song of Songs on Passover, Haftarah: (Nort,hern European) chant for the Sab- Ruth on Pentecost, and Ecclesiastes on bath ~orning "Musaf" prayer is shown Tabernacles, another for read,ing Esther . He Uesus] went to Nazareth, where in figiIre 2. on Purim, and yet another for reading he had been brought up, and on th~ Lamentations on the Tish'a Be'Av fast. the Sabbath day he went into I 3. Hymns One hundred years ago, the musi- synagogue, as was his custom. And The texts and music for the cantillation cologist Abraham Z. Idelsohn embarked he stood up to read. The scroll of of thelBiblical pericope and the chanting on a comprehensive study of cantillation the prophet Isaiah was handed to of thel prayers are quite ancient; many of practices from a variety of Jewish tradi- him. Unrolling it, he found the them ktre more than two thousand years tions. Eric Werner extended Idelsohn's place where it is written [Isaiah old. Of more recent vintage, dating from study, concentrating on a comparison of 61:1-2]: "The Spirit of the Lor~ the Jedieval period, is a repertoire of Jewish and Christian chants. Both stud- is on me, because he has anointed' hymn~ chanted in unison by the congre- ies showed a remarkable similarity among me to preach good news to the gatio~. The lyrics of these hymns, reflect- all these traditions. The most plausible poor. He has sent me to proclaim! ing the influence of Arabic poetry, are explanation for this similarity is that freedom for the prisoners and; often tast in a fixed meter, such as iambic many of these chants share a common recovery of sight for the blind, to tetrarrleter. The music for these hymns origin in ancient Jerusalem. Figure 1 release the oppressed, to proclaim tends to be more Western sounding, with shows a comparison of two chant frag- the year of the Lord's favor." Then! a rigid triple or quadruple meter, evenly ments, one Jewish4 and the other he rolled up the scroll, gave it back balanded phrases, and tonal cadences. Not Gregorian5 (figures 1a and 1b). to the attendant and sat down. all the! music heard in the synagogue is The practice of cantillation is noted. ancient Hebrew chant. Throughout the several times in the Christian Bible. Acts 2. Prayers centurfies, many gentile melodies have 15:21 describes the cantillation of the To- In each service the ancient prayer~ are made itheir way into the synagogue ser- rah: "For [the Pentateuch of] Moses has chanted by the entire congregation! led vice. Fbr example, the well-known melody been readG in every city from the earliest by a soloist called the hazzan or cantor. for th~ Hanukah hymn Ma'oz Tsur was times and is read in the synagogues on The resultant sound is often a vohimi- derivJd from an old German love every Sabbath." Luke 4:16-20 offers this nous, uncoordinated heterophony. ['he i song. Figure 3 shows a nineteenth-cen- i

PAGE 42 CHORAL JOURNAL tury melody by the Russian cantor Eliezer §~ Gerowich for the hymn text, Adon Olam I' &(' j 1J r J )1 J J 3 j' j 1J r] r' 1(br J j' j 1 (Master of the World), written by elev- A - don 0 - 10m a - sher rno-Iach be - te - rem _ kol ye - tsir _ niv-ro, le- enth-century poet Solomon Ibn Gabirol. .,.I f) I J 111 I 4. Sermon • J E] J J 0 In some synagogues a sermon may be es na-a - so be - chef - tso kol a - zai me - lech she - rno - ni kro. delivered by one of the members or by Figure 3. Gerowich, Adon Olam (first verse) the rabbi. Rabbi means "teacher" in He- brew; he has no official role in the liturgi- In the nineteenth century, under the teenth centuries when choral singing be- cal service. The sermon is the only portion spell of humanism, Jews in Central and came popular in the synagogues ofVenice of the service that is usually spoken rather Western Europe, formerly segregated in and the surrounding communities. The than sung.s ghettos, were allowed to associate and so- Mantuan composer, Salamone Rossi cialize with Christians to an unprec- Hebreo, composed and published a col- 5. "Niggunim" edented degree. After their first exposure lection of thirty-three motets to be sung In eighteenth-century Poland, a popu- to European culture, many Jews at- in these synagogues. His music met with list movement called, "Chassidism" es- tempted to emulate Christian perfor- the opposition typically caused by any poused the principle that the spiritual mance practice. As a result of this radical break with tradition. One of his choris- aspect of prayer could be enhanced by break from tradition, accepted at first only ters wrote in the early seventeenth cen- intense and prolonged singing and danc- in "reformed" congregations, the organ tury: ing. The adherents of Chassidism devel- was introduced into the synagogue ser- oped a particular type of music called the VIce. We have among us some "niggun" (Hebrew for melody), in which connoisseurs of the science a short, basic tune is repeated many times, 7. Choral Music of singing, six or eight until the performer enters a hypnotic state While choral singing was an integral knowledgeable persons of our in which the soul is said to achieve tran- part of the service in the Jerusalem Sanc- community. We raise our scendence and "cling" to God. The niggun tuary some two thousand years ago, it voices on the the festivals, and may be a setting of a liturgical text frag- never gained an important foothold in sing songs of praise in the ment, or, oftentimes, vocables such as "ya the synagogue. lO There was a brief pe- synagogue to honor God with ma ma" or "ay di dai." Chassidim may riod in the late sixteenth and early seven- compositions of vocal harmony. sing a single niggun for hours, as an en- hancement to their prayers (figure 4). Slowly, with intensity The niggun has achieved a resurgence > freely of popularity in recent decades among all ~n. types of Jews. In modern synagogues, J J 1n. J #3 1n. J J 1#:0: j In. J J however, the niggun, often degenerates Ya-rna rna rna ya-rna rna rna ya-rna rna rna ya - rna ya-rna rna rna into a jolly sing-along experience. The repetitions rarely exceed a few minutes, J I].> IJ J J and spiritual transcendence is .sought and ya-rna rna rna rna ____ ya-rna rna rna ya-rna rna rna achieved by only a few dedicated indi- fille viduals. I]. I J t II ah ______ya-rna rna rna ya-rna rna rna rna------___ 6. Instrumental Music ~ -=::::> ~==== 3 ====- The use of musical instruments has ~ 1 IjM:zgEIJg. been proscribed in the synagogue for g' r r [t'ifF r jig' r r thousands of years. The twelfth-century ya - rna rna rna ya - rna rna rna ah ______ya-rna rna rna Rabbi Moses Maimonides wrote in his f> -===== > compendium of Jewish law: J Ir'>-=lr t I b:r r r I[t' #r r ya-rna rna rna rna ya-rna rna rna ya-rna rna rna The rabbis at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple -=:::: 3 ====- . . . prohibited playing musical ~ 1 instruments .... It is forbidden to jMJllJ sg. ah ______listen to them because of the ya-rna rna rna ya-rna rna rna ya - rna __ destruction [of the Temple].9 Figure 4. Chassidic niggun (composer unknown)

SEPTEMBER 1997 PAGE 43 A man stood up to chase us many synagogues. Some of the greatest and rePlaced by a homophonic hymnal. away saying that it is not right composers of the past two centuries lJ,ave In oth~rs the cantor leads the service with to do so, because it is forbidden composed choral settings of the syna- a guitar, singing modern American pop- to rejoice, and that the singing gogue liturgy. Among them are Samuel style s~ttings. In others the music is all of hymns and' praises in Adler, Paul Ben-Haim, Arthur Berger, newly icomposed, performed by well- harmony is forbidden. Although Heiman: Berlinsky, Leonard Bernstein, trained! musicians. In some traditional the congregation clearly enjoyed Ernest Bleich, Yehezkel Braun, Dave synagogues, called "shuls," one can still our singing, this man rose Brubeck, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, hear th~ ancient chants, guarded as much against us and condemned us David Diamond, Norman Dinerstein, as posslble from change. In a few small publicly, saying that we had Lukas Foss, Herbert Fromm, Morton enclav~s of spirituality, the niggun can sinned before God!ll Gould, Jacques Halevy, Roy Harris, Fdix still be ~eard in its original intensity. The Mendelssohn, Giacomo Meyerbeer, majoritY of synagogues in America, how- In the nineteenth century several Darius Milhaud, Daniel Pinkham, Steve ever, have fallen in step with the spirit of prominent cantors succeeded in intro- Reich, Bernard Rogers, Arnold the times, which is reflected in a desire for ducing polyphonic choral singing into Schoenberg, Franz Schubert, Robert demotib simplicity, a reduction of the lit- their synagogues. The most noteworthy Starer, William Grant Still, Kurt Weill, urgy tq meet the needs of a community were Salomon Sulzer in Vienna, Louis Lazar Weiner, Hugo Weisgall, Stephan that laqks basic Jewish literacy, a dearth of Lewandowski in Berlin, Israel Lovy and Wolpe, and Yehudi Wyner. spiritmUity, and an overwhelming desire Samuel Naumbourg in Paris, and David to shorren the service as much as possible. Nowakowski in Odessa. Their choirs Jewish Worship Fort;unately, there are positive signs of were well-trained, and many of their renewal on the horizon. The cantorial semi- compositions became quite popular. Due in America Today naries in New York are training a new to the atmosphere of tolerance in Eu- In contemporary American synagogues generation of synagogue musicians who rope and America, as well as the success one finds a wide variety of musical prac- are well versed in the treasures of the Jew- of these talented innovators, choral sing- tices. In 'some synagogues the traditiQnal ish litufgy. The quest for spirituality that ing has remained a regular feature in elements have been virtually elimin

PAGE 44 CHORAL JOURNAL 10 Choral singing in Jerusalem two thousand Con c eptTours years ago was quite different from our A bridge to the World - contemporary conception of the choral art. The texture was probably Not Just Another Petfonrtancein-a-Foreign Place monophonic or heterophonic, rather than A cultural focus, in the broadest and~t sense of the word. polyphonic, and the tone quality was A customized itinerary; p1anri~arOliIldyour gIOUP'S unique agenda. most likely more nasal than the bel canto Experienced professionaJsat ~ery stage, from tour design to execution. ideal. An educational perspective,w,ithvisits to historic sites &. cultur~landmarks. 11 Israel Adler, "The Rise of Art Music in the Specialized guides, accommodations & travelarnenities to meet yoUr budget. - - - Italian Ghetto," in Jewish Medieval and - - Renaissance Studies, ed. Alexander Altman (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Music Collaborations_ &. Performance Tours 1967),336-37. GroupTh:tlrstoN~~ York City

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SEPTEMBER 1997 PAGE 45