HALLELUJAH! Timothy W. Sharp, editor

Transcription

1 HALLELUAH! Tmothy W. Shap, edto Edto's Note: The followng atcle s conttbuted by oshua R. acobson, one of the foemost authotes on ewsh choal musc. He s Pofesso of Musc and Decto of Choal Actvtes at Notheasten Unvesty and Adjunct Pofesso of ewsh Musc at Hebew College, Booklne, Massachusetts. He s also founde and decto of the Zan Choale of Boston. acobson s past Pesdent of the Massachusetts chapte of the Amecan Choal Dectos Assocaton. What s ewsh Ltugcal Musc? Musc n Ancent sael MUSC HAS always played an ndspensable ole n ewsh woshp. Thee thousand yeas ago, when Kng Davd bought the Holy Ak to eusalem, establshng that cty as the poltcal and sptual captal of sael, he aanged a muscal celebaton led by the Levte famly snges and playes. Davd told the leades of the Levtes to appont the elatves as snges to sng joyful songs accompaned by muscal nstuments: lyes, haps and cymbals... So all sael bought up the ak of the covenant wth shouts, wth the soundng of ams' hons, tumpets, and cymbals, and wth the playng oflyes and haps. (lch. 15:16,28) Afte the Sanctuay (Bet HaMkdash n Hebew) was bult n eusalem dung the egn of Kng Solomon (c b.c.e.), musc was an ntegal and mpessve pat of ts ceemones. Thee was a lage ochesta consstng of multple haps, lyes, flutes, tumpets, and cymbals, as well as an all-male chous.! The Sanctuay was destoyed by the Babylonans n 586 b.c.e. The Levte muscans, exled fom eusalem and mps- oned n Babylon, wee asked to entetan the captos wth saced musc fom the Sanctuay. They wote of ths expeence: By the ves of Babylon we sat down and wept when we emembeed Zon. By the wllows thee we hung up ou haps. Fo thee ou captos, ou tomentos, demanded gleeful song, "Sng us some of you songs fom Zon." But how could we sng the Lod's song on foegn sol? (Psalm 137: 1-4) Musc n the Synagogue A new fom of woshp sevce developed n the Babylonan exle. Sessons of study and paye n meetng houses (called synagogos n Geek o bet kenesset n Hebew) took the place of the Sanctuay tual. 2 Fo nealy two thousand yeas, the sevce n the synagogue has compsed the followng elements. 1. Cantllaton At some sevces, a solost known as the ba' al keya, the maste of the eadng, chants a pecope fom the Bble. The Amazng Gace Ou gaceful hadwood musc stand can expand to seve a duet, to o quatet... and t's just one of the many peces we desgn and manufactue. Ou new catalog s flled wth fne hadwood nstument stands, sheet musc cabnets, footests and moe. Call fo you FREE copy today. :; Alden, Tee - DCompany,'ne. Call Toll Fee o emal aldenlee@aol.com Dept. CHP, 1215 Chysle Dve, Menlo Pak Pentateuch (compsng Geness though Deuteonomy) s dvded nto small potons so that the ente book s ead consecutvely n the couse of a yea. Appopate eadngs fom the Pophets and the Hagogapha may be chanted, as well. Ths scptual chant, called "cantllaton," has the followng chaactestcs: All texts ae chanted, neve spoken. The pefome s usually a male solost. (Only ecently have women been pemtted to ead n some congegatons.) Thee s no hamony o any fom of accompanment. The scales most commonly used ae the doan, aeolan, mxolydan and pentatonc. 3 Thee s no fxed mete; the hythms ae logogenc, flowng feely fom the natual accents of the lycs. The selecton of the mode s detemned by the ltugcal occason. n othe wods, one set of melodc motfs s utlzed fo eadng the Toah (Pentateuch) on weekdays, Sabbaths, and holdays, anothe set fo eadng the Toah on Hgh Holy Days, anothe fo eadng the Haftaah (a selecton fom the Pophets) PAGE 39

2 , : way-yk-a mo - e - chol zk-ne ys - a-el way - yo - me a - e -: hem. Fgue lao aq ewsh cantllaton of Exodus 12:21., Fgue lb. Kye Eleson (thd tone, Gegoan). j j E! : :h, p Ky - -e e-e - son. Do-m-ne_ m-se-e - e Chns-tus Do-ml - nus. tk kan - ta shab - bat a - ts - ta ko-be - no - te - ha ts -,A na A C E () 6f o), : : ;1 5 :::01 v - ta pe - u - she - ha m sd-du-ey ne- sa - che - ha. me-an-ne - s A ge - ha e lam ka - vod yn - cha -lu. to-a- me-ha cha- ym za - chu._ ve - gam ha-o - ha vm _ de - va - e - ha ge-du-a ba - cha u. on Sabbaths and holdays, anothe fo eadng the Song of Songs on Passove, Ruth on Pentecost, and Ecclesastes on Tabenacles, anothe fo ead,ng Esthe on Pum, and yet anothe fo eadng Lamentatons on the Tsh'a Be'Av fast. One hunded yeas ago, the muscologst Abaham Z. delsohn embaked on a compehensve study of cantllaton pactces fom a vaety of ewsh tadtons. Ec Wene extended delsohn's study, concentatng on a compason of ewsh and Chstan chants. Both studes showed a emakable smlaty among all these tadtons. The most plausble explanaton fo ths smlaty s that many of these chants shae a common ogn n ancent eusalem. Fgue 1 shows a compason of two chant fagments, one ewsh 4 and the othe Gegoan 5 (fgues 1a and 1b). The pactce of cantllaton s noted. seveal tmes n the Chstan Bble. Acts 15:21 descbes the cantllaton of the Toah: "Fo [the Pentateuch of] Moses has been ead G n evey cty fom the ealest tmes and s ead n the synagogues on evey Sabbath." Luke 4:16-20 offes ths PAGE 42 Fgue 2. "TkkantaShabbat" descpton of the cantllaton the Haftaah:. He Uesus] went to Nazaeth, whee he had been bought up, and on the Sabbath day he went nto synagogue, as was hs custom. And he stood up to ead. The scoll of the pophet saah was handed to hm. Unollng t, he found the place whee t s wtten [saah 61:1-2]: "The Spt of the s on me, because he has anonted' me to peach good news to the poo. He has sent me to poclam! feedom fo the psones and; ecovey of sght fo the blnd, to elease the oppessed, to poclam the yea of the Lod's favo." Then! he olled up the scoll, gave t back to the attendant and sat down. 2. Payes n each sevce the ancent ae chanted by the ente congegaton! led by a solost called the hazzan o canto. The esultant sound s often a vohmnous, uncoodnated heteophony. ['he chaactestcs of the paye modes ae n many espects to those of cantllaton. All texts ae chanted, neve spok6n. The pefome s a male solost (ecehcly women have begun leadng the n some congegatons). TTh.ee s usually no hamony o any fom of accompanment. Howeve, n medeval Euope a pactce aose n whch the canto would be accompaned by two "esth.oem"- a boy sopano and a bass who ',Vould mpovse dones and antphonal e,sponses. T:\.e scales used most often ae the doan, aeolan, mxolydan and pentatonc, as well as the "feygsh," a fom of th phygan mode wth a ased thd, ceatng an augmented second between the second and thd degees'? Thee s no fded mete and no system of notaton. '['he solost s expected to mpovse basedlon the appopate set of motfs. THe selecton of the mode ("nusach," n Hbew) and ts assocated motfs s detehned by the ltugcal occason. The canto s expected to know whch mode to use.at each sevce. Thus, a knowledgeable dongegant could know the holday and tme of day fom lstenng to the melody. A fagment of the Ashkenazc (Not,hen Euopean) chant fo the Sabbath "Musaf" paye s shown n fge Hymns The texts and musc fo the cantllaton of thelbblcal pecope and the chantng of thel payes ae qute ancent; many of them kte moe than two thousand yeas old. Of moe ecent vntage, datng fom the edeval peod, s a epetoe of chanted n unson by the conge- The lycs of these hymns, eflectng the nfluence of Aabc poety, ae often tast n a fxed mete, such as ambc tetalete. The musc fo these hymns tends to be moe Westen soundng, wth a gd tple o quaduple mete, evenly balanded phases, and tonal cadences. Not all the! musc head n the synagogue s ancent Hebew chant. Thoughout the centufes, many gentle melodes have made the way nto the synagogue sevce. Fb example, the well-known melody fo Hanukah hymn Ma'oz Tsu was devd fom an old Geman love song. Fgue 3 shows a nneteenth-cen- CHORAL OURNAL

3 tuy melody by the Russan canto Eleze Geowch fo the hymn text, Adon Olam (Maste of the Wold), wtten by eleventh-centuy poet Solomon bn Gabol. 4. Semon n some synagogues a semon may be delveed by one of the membes o by the abb. Rabb means "teache" n Hebew; he has no offcal ole n the ltugcal sevce. The semon s the only poton of the sevce that s usually spoken athe than sung. s 5. "Nggunm" n eghteenth-centuy Poland, a populst movement called, "Chassdsm" espoused the pncple that the sptual aspect of paye could be enhanced by ntense and polonged sngng and dancng. The adheents of Chassdsm developed a patcula type of musc called the "nggun" (Hebew fo melody), n whch a shot, basc tune s epeated many tmes, untl the pefome entes a hypnotc state n whch the soul s sad to acheve tanscendence and "clng" to God. The nggun may be a settng of a ltugcal text fagment, o, oftentmes, vocables such as "ya ma ma" o "ay d da." Chassdm may sng a sngle nggun fo hous, as an enhancement to the payes (fgue 4). The nggun has acheved a esugence of populaty n ecent decades among all types of ews. n moden synagogues, howeve, the nggun, often degeneates nto a jolly sng-along expeence. The epettons aely exceed a few mnutes, and sptual tanscendence s.sought and acheved by only a few dedcated ndvduals. 6. nstumental Musc The use of muscal nstuments has been poscbed n the synagogue fo thousands of yeas. The twelfth-centuy Rabb Moses Mamondes wote n hs compendum of ewsh law: The abbs at the tme of the destucton of the Second Temple... pohbted playng muscal nstuments... t s fobdden to lsten to them because of the destucton [of the Temple].9 ' &(' j 1 )1 3 j' j 1 ] ' 1 (b j' j 1.,. A - don 0-10m a - she no-ach be - te - em _ kol ye - ts _ nv-o, lef) E] es na-a - so be - chef - tso kol a - za me - lech she - no - n ko. n the nneteenth centuy, unde the spell of humansm, ews n Cental and Westen Euope, fomely segegated n ghettos, wee allowed to assocate and socalze wth Chstans to an unpecedented degee. Afte the fst exposue to Euopean cultue, many ews attempted to emulate Chstan pefomance pactce. As a esult of ths adcal beak fom tadton, accepted at fst only n "efomed" congegatons, the ogan was ntoduced nto the synagogue se- Vce. Fgue 3. Geowch, Adon Olam (fst vese) 7. Choal Musc Whle choal sngng was an ntegal pat of the sevce n the eusalem Sanctuay some two thousand yeas ago, t neve ganed an mpotant foothold n the synagogue. lo Thee was a bef peod n the late sxteenth and ealy seventeenth centues when choal sngng became popula n the synagogues of Vence and the suoundng communtes. The Mantuan compose, Salamone Ross Hebeo, composed and publshed a collecton of thty-thee motets to be sung n these synagogues. Hs musc met wth the opposton typcally caused by any beak wth tadton. One of hs chostes wote n the ealy seventeenth centuy: We have among us some connosseus of the scence of sngng, sx o eght knowledgeable pesons of ou communty. We ase ou voces on the the festvals, and sng songs of pase n the synagogue to hono God wth compostons of vocal hamony. Slowly, wth ntensty > feely 1 n. #3 1 n. 1#:0: j n. Ya-na na na ya-na na na ya-na na na ya - na ya-na na na ].> ya-na na na na ya-na na na ya-na na na flle ]. t g' 1 -=::::> [t'ff ya - na na na ya - na na na ah ya-na na na ya-na na na na ==== jm:zgeg. ah jg' ya-na na f> -===== > '>-=l t b: [t' # ya-na na na na ya-na na na ya-na na na -=:::: 3 ====- jmll 1 sg. ah ya-na na na ya-na na na ya - na Fgue 4. Chassdc nggun (compose unknown) na PAGE 43

4 A man stood up to chase us away sayng that t s not ght to do so, because t s fobdden to ejoce, and that the sngng of hymns and' pases n hamony s fobdden. Although the congegaton clealy enjoyed ou sngng, ths man ose aganst us and condemned us publcly, sayng that we had snned befoe God!ll n the nneteenth centuy seveal pomnent cantos succeeded n ntoducng polyphonc choal sngng nto the synagogues. The most notewothy wee Salomon Sulze n Venna, Lous Lewandowsk n Beln, sael Lovy and Samuel Naumboug n Pas, and Davd Nowakowsk n Odessa. The chos wee well-taned, and many of the compostons became qute popula. Due to the atmosphee of toleance n Euope and Ameca, as well as the success of these talented nnovatos, choal sngng has emaned a egula featue n 'O)=- many synagogues. Some of the geatest composes of the past two centues l,ave composed choal settngs of the synagogue ltugy. Among them ae Samuel Adle, Paul Ben-Ham, Athu Bege, Heman: Belnsky, Leonad Bensten, Enest Blech, Yehezkel Baun, Dave Bubeck, Mao Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Davd Damond, Noman Dnesten, Lukas Foss, Hebet Fomm, Moton Gould, acques Halevy, Roy Has, Fdx Mendelssohn, Gacomo Meyebee, Daus Mlhaud, Danel Pnkham, Steve Rech, Benad Roges, Anold Schoenbeg, Fanz Schubet, Robet Stae, Wllam Gant Stll, Kut Well, Laza Wene, Hugo Wesgall, Stephan Wolpe, and Yehud Wyne. ewsh Woshp n Ameca Today n contempoay Amecan synagogues one fnds a wde vaety of muscal pactces. n 'some synagogues the tadtqnal elements have been vtually elmn<l;ted New, Advent & Chtnta Tbe Stoy of e.1ud' Btb by oyce Schubkegel A new Chstmas cantata fo teble voces and keyboad based on Luke chapte 2 fom the New ntenatonal Veson. Sutable fo teble o mxed chos but excellent fo solos o small ensembles. Full scoe, C28N6022, $12.50 Choal octavo, C28N6021, $1.25 Come, Lttle CbUen by Wllam Baun Ths SATB aangement can be accompaned wth handbells o a keyboad usng a chme o bell sound. C28N6028, $1.25 A Quet Caol by Davd W Musc The lycal melody and contemplatve text of ths new Chstmas anthem wll appeal to cho membes and lstenes alke. C28N6027, $1.15 Fo moe nfomaton about musc t Nothwesten fom NPH o to place an ode,. 9' Publshng House ext. 163, o VSt ou 11" 1250 Noth 113th Steet on-lne musc catalog at Mlwaukee. W and eplaced by a homophonc hymnal. n the canto leads the sevce wth a guta, sngng moden Amecan popstyle n othes the musc s all newly composed, pefomed by welltaned! muscans. n some tadtonal synagogues, called "shuls," one can stll hea ancent chants, guaded as much as posslble fom change. n a few small of sptualty, the nggun can stll be n ts ognal ntensty. The majoty of synagogues n Ameca, howeve, have fallen n step wth the spt of the tmes, whch s eflected n a dese fo demotb smplcty, a educton of the ltugy tq meet the needs of a communty that laqks basc ewsh lteacy, a death of sptmuty, and an ovewhelmng dese to shoen the sevce as much as possble. Fot;unately, thee ae postve sgns of enewal on the hozon. The cantoal semnaes n New Yok ae tanng a new geneaton of synagogue muscans who ae well vesed n the teasues of the ewsh ltufgy. The quest fo sptualty that began p. the 1960s has evved an nteest n the powe of musc, unhued musc, to awal<:en the soul. Fnally, the gowng acceptance of multcultualsm n the U.S. has es41ted n a enassance of many foms ltugcal musc both n the synagogue :nd on the concet stage. NOTES 1 Mshnah Aachn 2:3-6 2! n 515 b.c.e. the Sanctuay n eusalem ebult and, untl t was destoyed agan n 70 c.e., exsted sde-by-sde wth thb synagogues. 3 ews lvng n Aab lands, seveal othe scales ae head. 4 Abllam Z. delsohn, ewsh Musc n ts Hstocal Development (New Yok: Holt, Rnehat, and Wnston, 1929; epnt ed. Dbve, 1992),40. 5 delsohn, 42. 6! efeng to the pactce of cantllaton, wtes fom many dffeent contnue to use the wod "ead" (o ts equvalent n anothe language) when efeng to "chant." 7 Aml:mg the ews n Aab lands, one can seveal othe modes, as well. 8 n some congegatons the semon s n a pmtve chantlke ectatve. 9 Mabondes: The Laws of Fastng 5:14 PAGE 44 CHORAL OURNAL

5 10 Choal sngng n eusalem two thousand yeas ago was qute dffeent fom ou contempoay concepton of the choal at. The textue was pobably monophonc o heteophonc, athe than polyphonc, and the tone qualty was most lkely moe nasal than the bel canto deal. 11 sael Adle, "The Rse of At Musc n the talan Ghetto," n ewsh Medeval and Renassance Studes, ed. Alexande Altman (Cambdge: Havad Unvesty Pess, 1967), C]- Con c epttous A bdge to the Wold - Not ust Anothe Petfontancen-a-Foegn Place A cultual focus, n the boadest sense of the wod. A customzed tneay; goup's unque agenda. Expeenced pofessonasat stage, fom tou desgn to executon. An educatonal pespectve,w,thvsts to hstoc stes &. Specalzed gudes, accommodatons & tavelanentes to meet you budget Musc Collaboatons_ &. Pefomance Tous Yok Cty Cathedal '1busofGeat Btan -." Easte&Weste Eluope UK, South. Atneca & Asa Contact: Denns Hunt, Concept Tous,hc.- HOW: 74th St., NYC Tel: Fax: COlceptToll:@aoLcon GMadg. Gnne by clpfc' Paul Bandvk l.c autho of The Compleet Madgal Dnne Booke Scpts nclude: ALL DALOGUE: Geetngs, Toasts, Festvtes, Concet, Faewell Plus: HUMOROUS RENASSANCE MASQUE Plus: REPERTORE SUGGESTONS Ceemonal musc and concet WTE TRAVEL Specalzng n --: Custom-Desgned :: Tous Fo Cho & \\'<---,-::--: Choal Goups Unted States. Canada t-----,--"''<\ Geat Btan /' \\1 --'",// Euope Scandnava TWENTY dffeent scpts avalable, ncludng scpts appopate fo chuches and younge pefomes. New ths yea: HANDEL AND GRETZKE: TALE OF TWO KDDES Call o wte fo you FREE descptve bochue. on the thousands who have made these Madgal Dnne Scpts a tadton. knght-shtck pess Box 814 Dept. A Bemdj, MN Telephone kspess@nothennet.com A Dvson of EXTREMELY, LTD. Wheeve you jouney, let us be you gude. Take a step up ths yea! Kape1meste Cho Stools Custom Desgned & Bult Sngle and Double Heght -----' THETEMPOWATCH Fo all muscans Fo the conducto. compose, teache, student Exact tempo as t happens n eheasal, n ecodng Pecse tmng of beats pe mnute Fully guaanteed. Comes wth potectve cayng case Wte fo nfomaton: THETEMPOWATCHCOMPANY P.O. BOX 3309 TERRE HAOTE, N PAGE 45