THE ASHKENAZI TRADITION OF SYNAGOGUE MUSIC
The rich musical heritage of the Jews of Europe remains largely an untold story. It signifies a vibrant culture that once flourished throughout Central Europe and in Eastern Europe wherever there were Jewish communities, and of course in Lithuania and Latvia from where most South African Jews can trace their roots.
It flourished until its brutal destruction by the Nazi regime. It was a culture of religious as well as artistic expression - with reverence for tradition, yet born out of the particular intellectual,
political and social climate that characterized the Jewish populations. This precious legacy is one of the most important chapters in Jewish cultural history.
In Germany, the cantorial and synagogue choral tradition reached its peak in the 19th and early 20th centuries, beginning with the watershed contributions in Berlin by one of the most important liturgical composers of any generation, LOUIS LEWANDOWSKI. He had profound impact on future generations of cantors and composers throughout the Ashkenazi communities in Orthodox as well as Liberal and Reform circles — extending also to Eastern Europe.
Lewandowski and his many musical heirs created a large and varied repertoire of sacred music that resonated in the splendid and grand synagogues of the major cities as well as in the more modest synagogues (' shuts ) in smaller towns alike — until the night in 1938 when most were reduced to smouldering rubble. The pride in cantorial music was high... visitors, foreign dignitaries, non-Jewish musicians and even royal personages came to hear chazzanim (Cantors) singing in the synagogue. At the same time, various regional melodies were developed, but much of this has become nearly extinct.
The revitalization of these valuable traditions is long overdue. Tonight you are invited to join in re-establishing these links of tradition. Together we shall remember and re-new.
F. Singer August 2000
THIS PAGE SUBMITTED TO AVRON KAPLAN FOR POSSIBLE INCLUSION IN THE CHOIR FESTIVAL PROGRAMME (Schoonder Street shul 20 August 2000).
During the Third Reich — beginning in 1933, when Hitler came to power, Jewish music and musicians would not be silenced. Disenfranchised Jews founded their own symphony orchestras, opera companies, choirs and chamber ensembles.
Refugees from Germany who went to Palestine brought their culture with them, and were instrumental in founding (in 1946) the Philharmonic orchestra (later the I.P.O.), and also the whole Israeli music establishment. German-Jewish music scholars formed the bedrock of Israeli musicology.
