What Makes It Great – Masterworks of Jewish Music

Program: Hebrew College Tamid
Instructor: Dr. Joshua Jacobson (Read Bio)
Dates: 6 Tuesdays, Fall 2024: 10/29, 11/5, 11/12, 11/19, 12/3 & 12/10
Time: 9:30-11:30 a.m. ET
Course fee: $300, financial aid is available
Location: Zoom
Hosted by: Hebrew College
Registration: Click here

We will explore musical masterpieces with Jewish content, asking what makes it great and what makes it Jewish. Our goal is to listen actively and not just hear. We will delve into great vocal and orchestral works by Ernest Bloch, Paul Ben-Haim, Leonard Bernstein, Steve Reich, Arnold Schoenberg and others.

Course details:
1. The First Jewish Concert Music: Art Songs
The beginnings of concert music based on Jewish themes can be traced to composition students at the St Petersburg Conservatory at the beginning of the 20th century. Encouraged by their teacher, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, they began to explore what would be called “Jewish Music” in the classical/romantic styles of the time, and their work would inspire others to follow in their footsteps. We will analyze and listen to art songs with Jewish texts by Moses Milner, Lazar Weiner, and Maurice Ravel.

2. Ernest Bloch’s Sacred Service: “A Whole Drama in Itself”
“I aspire to write Jewish music…because I am sure that this is the only way I can produce music of vitality and significance.” In 1929 the Swiss-American composer, Ernest Bloch was commissioned to write a setting of the Sabbath morning service. But Bloch soon realized that he was writing something far grander than the commissioners had in mind. He wrote, “It far surpasses a Hebrew Service now. It has become a cosmic poem, a glorification of the laws of the Universe.” Bloch’s awesome Sacred Service (Avodat Hakodesh) is the closest music we have to compare with the great masses of Mozart and Beethoven.

3. Paul Ben-Haim: Israel’s First Great Composer
When Paul Frankenburger left Germany in 1933 to settle in Tel Aviv, he had already established a reputation as one of the great musicians of his country. But arriving in the land of Israel and changing his name to Ben-Haim, he had a revelation. “I am of the West by birth and education, but I stem from the East and live in the East. … We can provide a musical synthesis between East and West.” Indeed, Ben-Haim become Israel’s first great composer, establishing the “Eastern Mediterranean” style. We will listen to Ben-Haim’s orchestral suite, From Israel, as well as several of his art songs.

4. Leonard Bernstein’s Jewish Symphonies
Leonard Bernstein’s rapid rise to fame is well known. Lesser known is the composer’s deep Jewish faith and his commitment to the State of Israel. The composer of West Side Story also gave us symphonies and songs that are marinated in his Judaism. We will investigate the sources of Bernstein’s faith and delve into several of his works, including the Jeremiah Symphony and the Kaddish Symphony.

5. Arnold Schoenberg: Jewish Revolutionary
One hundred years ago one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, Arnold Schoenberg, revolutionized the world of classical music, replacing tonality with his system of organized dissonance. In 1933 Schoenberg rediscovered his Judaism, leaving his native Austria for the United States, declaring, “We are Asians, and nothing of real substance connects us with the West. We have our destiny, …we must return to our origins, to the source of our strength.” We will delve into two of Schoenberg’s dramatic Jewish compositions, A Survivor from Warsaw, and Kol Nidre.

6. Post-Modern Jewish Music: Steve Reich and Osvaldo Golijov
For our final class we will look at two American composers who rejected the dissonance of modern music and found their own paths. The minimalist composer Steve Reich (b. 1936) began his return to Judaism in his forties. His study of Hebrew texts and biblical cantillation inspired him to compose Tehillim (1981). Osvaldo Golijov (b. 1960) moved from Argentina to Israel, before finally settling in Boston. In K’vakarat he creates shimmering layers of sound revolving around a traditional High Holiday text.

For more information or questions, contact the Hebrew College Tamid Team