Center for the
Study of Cultures
of Place in the
Modern Jewish
World
מרכז לחקר המוסיקה היהודית
JEWISH MUSIC RESEARCH CENTRE
Supported by the I-CORE Program of the
Planning and Budgeting Committee and The
Israel Science Foundation (grant No 1798/12)
Odessa Jewish
Soundscapes
Mama of Odessa
אימא אודסה
המוסיקה של אודסה
היהודית
Одесса Мама
Еврейская Музыка
Одессы
Music of the Synagogue and the Jewish
Street in Odessa at the Beginning of the
20th Century
Sunday, 25 March 2018
Cantor Azi Schwartz (Park Avenue Synagogue, New York)
Vira Lozinski - Yiddish and Russian songs
The Chamber Choir of the Jerusalem Academy
of Music and Dance
Conductor: Stanley Sperber
Piano and organ: Raymond Goldstein
Da'at Hamakom - Center for the Study of Cultures of Place in the Modern Jewish World
Jewish Music Research Centre - Faculty of the Humanities - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
In collaboration with
Park Avenue Synagogue, New York
Idea and production:
Anat Rubinstein, Eliyahu Schleifer, Edwin Seroussi (Jewish Music Research Centre)
Technical support and production coordination:
Anat Reches (Da'at Hamakom), Sari Salis, Tali Schach (Jewish Music Research Centre)
Production coordination for the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance:
Chana Englard
The Chamber Choir of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance
Conductor and musical manager: Stanley Sperber
Assistant conductor: Taum Karni
Musical adviser: Tami Kleinhaus
Choir pianist: Irina Lunkevitch
Choir manager: Maya Politzer
Acting choir manager: Yif'at Shachar
Choir members:
Soprano
Alto
Tenor
Bass
Maria Liubman
Lilach Krakauer
Ziv Sabag
Yuval Siman-Tov
Rachel Shifrin
Michal Cohen
Omer Plotnik
Netan'el Ozana
No'am Avidan
Ma'ayan Bar-Sever
Taum Karni
Dov Antin
Danielle Cohen
Yael Schreiber
Hilel Medini
Matan Seri
Einat Biron
Tami Kleinhaus
Assaf Lederman
Akiva Segal
Batya Scheiner
Tal Suliman
Michael Bechner
Yoram Bar-Akiva
Maya Golan
Shiri Reisman
Ofri Grosz
Yonatan Varnik
Inbal Brill
Yif'at Shachar
Michal Tamari
Hagai Ben-Yehezkel
Recording: Avi Elbaz | Editing and English Translation: Tova Shani | Graphic design: Frisbee
Odessa Mama
Da'at Hamakom
Center for the Study of Cultures of Place
In the Modern Jewish World
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Faculty of the Humanities
Jewish Music Research Centre
Odessa Mama
Jewish Soundscapes of Odessa
E
Оде а Ма а
е кая Mу ыка Oде ы
Cantor Azi Schwartz (Park Avenue Synagogue, New York)
Singing: Vira Lozinski
The Chamber Choir of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance
Conductor: Stanley Sperber
Piano and organ: Raymond Goldstein
Sunday, 25 March 2018, 20:00
Wise Auditorium, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram
18:30 – Introductory discussion: Jewish Odessa and the composers
of the works performed at the concert
With
Prof. Emeritus Eliyahu Schleifer – Hebrew Union College
Dr. Svetlana Natkovich – University of Haifa
Ms. Anat Rubinstein – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Moderator: Prof. Edwin Seroussi – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Landscapes of Odessa –
ופי או
Odessa, Odessa! The city named 'Little Paris', a city of orange groves and
boulevards, a city built on the shore of the Black Sea, renowned for its SPAs. A
city of perfect beauty with its roads, pavements and sidewalks, with its broad
even streets, outstanding shrines, towers, suburbs and theaters, but also with
its hellish pyres, burning seven leagues around it" (Cantor Pinchas Minkowsky,
"From the Book of My Life", Reshumot 6 (1929):84)
Odessa was founded in 1794 at a spot where a Tatar fortress had once stood. The name
Odessa derives from the nearby ancient seaport of Odyssos. Empress Catherine the Great,
who espoused the vision of the Enlightenment in Russia, conceived the idea of building a
modern, cosmopolitan, enlightened and progressive seaport town. To enhance the city's
development, the government encouraged various ethnic communities to settle there. The
new settlers included Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Italians, and numerous Jews, who had
previously been confined to the Pale of Settlement, and whose freedom of movement had
been severely restricted until then. The city and its surroundings soon became the chief
south-bound sea access of the Russian Empire, and a maritime bridge for Russian trade with
Asia, the Far East and the Mediterranean.
In cosmopolitan Odessa of the early twentieth century, 30% of the population was Jewish. It
was the "El Dorado" of the Russian Empire. Many of the newcomers hoped to make a fast
fortune, and realize the dream of "living like God", as the Yiddish saying goes, "make a
fortune and lead a new life of comfort, free of the rattle and clatter of the chains of
tradition" (Minkowsky, ibid., pp. 140-141). Odessa soon developed a different character
from other Russian cities. It was perceived as "southern" and "remote", a city of the "wild
south", a place with rules of its own, fine nuances and a particular dialect. Its large Jewish
community had a major role in shaping the unique urban, demographic, cultural and social
texture that made the city famous. The neighborhood that was most identified with Jewish
folklore, bred tales and urban legends, was the Moldavanka suburb, a derelict slum,
crowded, disease-stricken and ill reputed. Odessa's Jews saw in Moldavanka a symbol of
poverty, desolation and organized crime, as well as an inexhaustible source of juicy stories.
The city became a myth already in its heyday. Its image of a lawless, sinful city of underworld
crime, a city of hedonistic good life next to the poverty and distress of Moldavanka, were
nostalgically romanticized and glorified. This gave birth to spicy, witty and humoristic stories
and songs. After the 1917 revolution, nostalgia and pining for "Odessa Mama" intensified,
keeping alive the city's myth in literature, music and Soviet cinema.
Odessa was a magnet for Jewish scholars – Maskilim – who made it a leading center of
Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) in Eastern Europe. They opened schools in the city,
published Hebrew newspapers, and founded public institutions and cultural centers. Odessa
became a center of Yiddish and Hebrew literature (Mendele Mokher Sfarim, Shalom
Aleichem, Shaul Tchernichovsky, Hayyim Nachman Bialik and others). These Jewish
education centers and public institutions attracted a Jewish intellectual elite that made
Odessa the center of modern Hebrew culture and Zionism.
From its very early days, Odessa was famous for its prolific music making, in which all its
citizens were involved. The city theater built in 1810, which was also home to the opera, was
the cultural heart of the city. Its modern opera productions matched those of Europe's most
important opera houses. The city's Jews streamed to the opera and were among its most
enthusiastic devotees. Their great fondness of music motivated them to cultivate a young
and promising generation of musicians. Some of the greatest Jewish violinists, such as
Mischa Elman and David Oistrakh, who starred in concert halls around the world in the first
half of the twentieth century, grew up in Odessa.
A picture painted in 1894 to glorify the city's achievements on its centennial anniversary,
illustrates its cosmopolitan musical nature. Empress Catherine the Great stands at the
center, behind a woman who resembles Virgin Mary, symbolizing "Mother Russia". A baby
(Jesus) sits in the woman's laps, holding a boat – symbolizing the city's location on the
seashore. Next to the Empress are clerics, generals and city rulers wearing medals. The city's
heterogeneous population is represented by children wearing the traditional clothes of its
various ethnic groups, holding musical instruments: An Italian girl holds a violin, a German
girl holds a guitar, a Polish girl holds a lute, an Albanian girl holds a triangle, a Ukrainian girl
holds a domra, and a Russian child holds a flute. Interestingly, the Jews are not represented
in the painting, despite their prominence among the city's population.
Allegoric picture (1894) celebrating the city's Centennial anniversary. The Historic Museum of Odessa. In Iljine
and Patricia Herlihy, Odessa Memories (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003), 52.
About the Concert
The concert has three parts. The first introduces selected works from Odessa's two leading
synagogues. The second brings a selection of folk, street and cabaret songs in Russian and
Yiddish. The concert ends with a number of Hebrew songs reflecting the Zionist turn among
Odessa's Jews in the late nineteenth century.
Music in Odessa's synagogues
Odessa had dozens of synagogues, of which two were the most prominent: The Great
Synagogue and the Brodsky Synagogue. These two synagogues were in constant competition
over the skills of their cantors and the quality of their choirs. They were leaders of the Khor
Shul (Choral Synagogue) liturgical style, which had developed in Central and Western Europe
in the late nineteenth century, bringing it to the point of perfection.
Shortly after the city's founding, its first Jewish inhabitants built the Great Synagogue, also
known as The Shalashna Street Synagogue. During its first thirty-five years, the synagogue's
chief cantor was the legendary ba'al tefilah Bezalel Shulsinger (aka Bezalel Odesser, 17791873). Later, when the synagogue moved to a new spacious building on Richelieu Avenue,
one of the city's most important arteries, it became famous for its cantors Jacob Bachman
(1846-1905) and Joshua (Osias, aka Pitzi ) Abrass (1820-1884). Other cantors that passed
before the ark were Avraham Dunajewski (1843-1911) and Ephraim Zalman Rozumni (18661904). The Great Synagogue was Odessa's central Jewish religious institution, and the old
Jewish elite's place of worship. Other than regular prayers, it served as a venue for official
ceremonies held by the Jewish Community in honor of the authorities.
The Great Synagogue, Lithography, 1859. In: Iljine and Herlihy, Odessa Memories, 70.
[Nicholas V. Iljine Collection]
The second synagogue, known as the Brodsky Synagogue, was founded in 1841 by educated
immigrants (Maskilim) from the city of Brody in Galicia. The synagogue was modeled after
the aesthetic principles of modern German synagogues. Its first cantor was the famous
Nissan Blumenthal (1805-1903), who served the community for almost half a century before
5
he retired. He was replaced by tenor Pinchas (Pini) Minkowsky (1858-1924), who held the
position for thirty years (1892-1922) until the Bolsheviks closed the synagogue. Gifted
composer David Nowakowsky (1848-1921) worked alongside these two revered cantors as
the synagogue's devoted choirmaster. Minkowsky's rise to the position of chief cantor in
1892, and his collaboration with Nowakowsky marked the beginning of a new era in the
musical history of the Brodsky Synagogue. During Minkowsky's tenure, an organ and a
mixed-gender choir were regularly included in the services. These changes, considered
radical at first, have eventually become the main attraction of the synagogue. The
synagogue's musical style was influenced by the German model of Salomon Sulzer and Louis
Lewandowski. At the same time, Minkowsky and Nowakowsky remained loyal to the
traditional style, namely, the cantorial recitative, and the "emotional" style Shirat
HaRegesh . The Brodsky Synagogue was, then, a leading musical institution in Jewish
Odessa, and was celebrated around the world as an important center of Jewish liturgical
music.
The Brodsky Synagogue, postcard, early twentieth century
"Odessa Mama": Humor, satire and nostalgia in the city's musical world
Street music was extremely common in Odessa, and an important component of its local
color. Its mild weather enabled holding performances and concerts in the city's green, wellgroomed gardens and on the seashore promenade, to entertain the passers-by. Every selfrespecting café had a balcony, whose guests could enjoy the music.
The folklore brought in by different groups of immigrants and the citizens' humor and wit
poured into the urban melting pot, giving birth to a distinctive cultural and musical language.
It mainly reflected the Yiddish term "di Odesser gas" – the Odessan street – in popular
culture, language and song. Many Odessan songs are nostalgic, addressing the city as
"Odessa Mama". The songs describe the city's vibrant lifestyle and beauty, the hedonism
and lawlessness of its inhabitants, and the opportunities it offers to make easy fortunes.
Urban legends linked with names of Moldavanka gangsters and underworld figures are also
told in song.
The Odessan klezmer was a unique phenomenon. Testimonies and tales describe the wild
and temperamental playing of Jewish klezmorim, who made a living playing for drunk
audiences in taverns and clubs. Another musical style identified with the permissive
atmosphere and the debauchery that ruled the city's clubs and bars was the tango. In the
1920s, this genre spread like wildfire throughout Europe. Odessa was no exception, and the
city's Jews became extremely fond of it.
Odessa's jazz scene, although something of a late bloomer, was another outcome of its
tendency to attract new musical styles and integrate them into its local color. In the 1920s,
Russian jazz had undergone a stylistic change. The new Soviet regime demanded adjusting it
to Soviet concepts, aiming to moderate the wild, individual and anarchistic dimension
underlying jazz. Soviet jazz, known as theatro-Jazz or Jazz Comedy was rather tame.
Zionism and its early songs in Odessa
Odessa played an important role in the early history of the modern Hebrew song. One of the
most important Hebrew songbooks (with music) – HaZamir [The Nightingale] was published
there in 1903. Words written by Hebrew poets were set to new melodies or to adaptations
of local tunes. Among the composers of Zionist Hebrew songs were also liturgical composers
such as Minkowsky and Nowakowsky. The new Hebrew songs of Odessa were performed in
Zionist congresses, and soon became widespread, also reaching Eretz Israel, where they
became assets of the new Hebrew culture.
Acknowledgements
The idea of this concert was put forward by Da'at Hamakom – Center for the Study of
Cultures of Place in the Modern Jewish World, and the Jewish Music Research Centre of the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Its point of departure was research conducted by Anat
Rubinstein, which studied the music of Odessa and the Brodsky synagogue, and the work of
Cantor Pinchas Minkowsky. Her research was expanded to include Odessa's Jewish musical
culture, and this prompted the idea of presenting some of the research findings in a concert.
Our thanks go to Dr. Gila Flam and the devoted staff of the music department at the
Jerusalem National Library, for their cooperation on the involved archive work, and to Prof.
Julia Kreinin for her help in locating and translating historic materials in Russian. We thank
Dr. Miriam Trinh, Eliezer Niborsky and Michael Lukin for their assistance in translating and
arranging Yiddish materials.
This musical event could not have taken place without the willing participation of the artists
involved, primarily the members of the Chamber Choir of the Jerusalem Academy of Music
and Dance. Particular thanks go to the choir's conductor, Maestro Stanley Sperber, for the
enthusiasm with which he approached the project. Cantor Azi Schwarz of the Park Avenue
Synagogue in New York was quick to accept our invitation to participate in the concert,
offering, other than his voice, his vast experience as prayer master. Dr. Raymond Goldstein
willingly undertook to arrange some of the works and accompany the singing. Chana Englard
of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance facilitated the coordination between the
Academy and the concert producers. Finally, our sincere thanks go to the administrative
staff of the two research centers, to Anat Reches of Da’at Hamakom and to Sari Salis and Tali
Schach of the JMRC. Without their effort, this concert would not have come to fruition.
On the compositions in the program
Synagogue Singing
Adonoi z’khoronu – Ps. 115 (Hallel), by David Nowakowsky
The work illustrates Nowakowsky's rich harmony and his way of using the word-painting
technique, where a musical gesture "describes" or "paints" a certain detail of the text. For
example, the deep voice of the bass, singing the words "The dead praise not the Lord,
neither any that go down into silence" (Ps. 115, 17), stand for the depth of the afterworld.
Another example is the contrast between the words "The heavens are the heavens of the
Lord", where the singing register is high, and "but the earth hath He given to the children of
men" (Ps. 115, 16).
The work culminates in a fugue ( But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for ever.
Hallelujah ; Ps. 115, 18) ending in a reverberating chord that closes the piece. This festive
work, which opens the concert, is among Nowakowsky's best-known and often performed
works, and was also selected to open the 2015 Lewandowski Festival in Berlin.
The LORD hath been mindful of us, He will bless
He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.
The LORD increase you more and more, you and your children.
Blessed be ye of the LORD who made heaven and earth.
The heavens are the heavens of the LORD; but the earth hath He given to the children
of men.
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence;
But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for ever.
Hallelujah. (Ps. 115, 12-18)
Lekha dodi, from Kabbalat shabbat. Music: Pinchas Minkowsky. For choir and cantor, with
organ accompaniment.
This work, edited from an unpublished manuscript found in the archive of Pinchas
Minkowsky at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem, in one of his richest and most
colorful works. There are two musical approaches to Lekha dodi in the modern synagogue
literature. In the first, the refrain Lekha dodi likrat kala, penei Shabbat nekabela is sung after
each stanza. The second school uses a through-composed approach inspired by the choral
style of the German synagogues and the models of Salomon Sulzer and Louis Lewandowski.
In this second approach, each stanza has a different melody, whose mood and style reflect
the content of the text.
Minkowsky's music follows this second compositional approach. For example, the mood of
the stanza Mikdash melekh is sad, describing the diaspora. In contrast, Hit'oreri, hit'oreri, ki
ba orekh kumi 'uri is powerful and vigorous. The last stanza, Bo'i beshalom 'ateret kala, is
festive and regal. The piece features two fugues, Mikdash melekh and Kumi, 'uri shir daberi,
whose harmony is particularly rich.
Amar Rabbi El'azar – from the Shabbat morning prayer (Berachot 64, 1), by Ephraim
Zalman Rozumni. Arrangement: Raymond Goldstein
This work is a typical example of the "emotional" singing style Shirat HaRegesh”), namely,
of the traditional embellished, expressive cantorial style. The work stands out for its widerange coloratura passages that challenge the best of cantors with their extremely high notes,
touching the limit of their voice. Cantor Joseph (Yossele) Rosenblatt (1882-1933), who
performed and recorded this piece, extended Rozumni's original coloratura passages,
considerably raising the performance bar. The version performed at the concert is
Rosenblatt's best-known.
Na'aritzkho – Introduction to the Kedusha for the Mussaf of Shabbath and Holydays
according to nussah Ashkenaz, by Avraham Dunajewski (1877)
This is one of the most beautiful melodies written for this text. Dunajewski treats the text
with reverence, as if he were himself standing at the throne of God surrounded by angels.
This reverence is conveyed in the choir's pianissimo. The music of the words Holy, holy, holy
is lyrical and animated, as the angels sing to each other in the style of an operatic aria. The
work features several musical traditions: The khor shul synagogue style next to folk-like
melodies near the end. The work also stands out for its varied vocal ensembles: a duet
between a baritone and the cantor ("Holy, holy, holy" and "mimkomo") and the choir against
a group of soloists.
Kol dodi – from David Nowakowsky's Song of Songs book. Arrangement: Raymond
Goldstein
Several commentators have interpreted the biblical Song of Songs as a poetical allegory of
the love between God and the People of Israel, disguised as the love of a man for a woman.
Inspired by this interpretation, David Nowakowsky created a musical love story, a kind of
operatic duet based on a mosaic of verses from the Song of Songs. In the first part of the
piece, Nowakowsky brilliantly expresses the excitement and anxiety of the lovers about to
meet, by a motive based on an augmented fourth against the backdrop of a minor scale. The
motive conveys yearning and pining. Its orientalist themes, remindful of the style of Rimsky
Korsakov, represent the ancient magic image of the bible, which inspired expressing national
ideas in music. A change of mood comes with the lovers' meeting in the second part of the
work. The melody, in a dance-like triple meter, is in major.
This is one of Nowakowsky's best-known and frequently-performed works. It has a number
of versions, including one for choir, a version for two cantors, and a duet between a man
and a woman.
Hark! My beloved! Behold, he cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the
hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart; behold, he standeth behind our wall,
he looketh in through the windows, he peereth through the lattice. (Song of Songs 2,
8-9)
O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see thy
countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is
comely. (Song of Songs 2, 14)
Return, return, O Shulammite; Return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will
ye see in the Shulammite? As it were a dance of two companies. (Song of Songs 7, 1)
Adon olam – From the morning prayer, by Pinchas Minkowsky
Of the vast number of melodic settings of the piyyut Adon Olam, this is one of the most
original. This work too is also found in an unpublished manuscript of the Minkowsky archive
in the Israel National Library in Jerusalem. It is influenced by various musical traditions such
as Western art music, Russian music and Romantic musical Orientalism. The first and last
stanzas are rich in elements borrowed from Russian harmony of the kind found in works by
Glinka, Rimsky Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. A pentatonic motive (a five-tone scale frequently
used in European folk music) catches the listener's ear. The work comprises dramatic
cantorial recitatives (ve'hu haya, ve'hu hove, ve'hu yihye betif'ara) and dance-like sections in
triple meter (ve'hu nisi umanos li). The diversity of style indicates the rich musical sources
Jewish composers were exposed to in Odessa, inspiring their writing for the synagogue.
Odessa Mama – Popular songs in Russian and Yiddish, for voice and
piano (for texts see the Hebrew section of this brochure)
In Ades (In Odessa). Lyrics: Louis Gilrod and Peretz Sandler, from the musical
Volodke in Ades. Folk tune often included in Klezmer repertoires.
Ха
, а
ч у а р
У Чер
! (Haim, close the shop!) Odessan folk song.
ря (On the Black Sea). Lyrics: Semion Kirsanov, music: Modest
Tabatchnikov.
Proshtshay, Odessa! [Farewell, Odessa!] Folk song, after Pesach Burstein's version in
the album "Mit a yiddishe taam."
The Music of Hebrew Odessa
Bein nehar Prat linhar Hidekel. Lyrics – Hayyim Nahman Bialik. Music: David
Nowakowsky
An art song in the style of a German Lied, with Oriental elements. Avner Holzman wrote the
following about Bialik's song (Hayyim Nahman Bialik: Songs. Dvir, 2005, p. 336): "This
original work of Bialik's incorporates typical Yiddish folk motives (such as addressing a wish
to a legendary magic bird). It is one of a series of songs that describe fondly and with irony a
decent Jewish maiden yearning for a happy loving match. The heroin visualizes her blackhaired sweetheart, devising tricks of temptation and seduction to ensnare him. Her innocent
monologue exposes her desperate erotic desires with daring and detail that are rare in
Bialik's canonical poetry". The song is also rich in expressions and images from the Song of
Songs, such as "a garden locked up".
Nowakowsky set to music the song's first four stanzas. His musical gestures create an
association with the free flight of the exotic bird. The melody is rich in oriental
ornamentation and climbing scales that symbolize the soaring of the bird. Similar to Kol
Dodi, oriental elements inspired by Russian composers represent the awakening of Jewish
nationalism in Eastern Europe, which regarded Bialik's songs as its symbol.
Shabbat HaMalka, Lyrics – Hayyim Nahman Bialik. Music: Pinchas Minkowsky, choral
arrangement – Sarah Shoham
In 1903, Odessan educator and pedagogue Noah Pines published a collection of children's
songs he had written, under the title "Hazamir – shirei yeladim lezimra ulemikra" [The
Nightingale – children's songs for singing and reading]. The publisher was Moriah, Bialik's
publishing house. The collection included game songs, songs of nature and national songs
that Pines deemed right for children after his strict pedagogical approach. In addition to
Pines' songs, the collection included songs by Hayyim Nahman Bialik and Shaul
Tchernichovsky, as well as song translations. The music of the songs, mostly composed by
Pinchas Minkowsky and David Nowakowsky, appeared in a separate book.
The "Shabbat Song", written by Bialik and set to music by Minkowsky, is among the bestknown pieces of this collection, and with time became an Israeli classic. Poet Yaakov
Fichman wrote in his memoir: "When he [Minkowsky] wrote the music for Bialik's song 'Bo'u
netze likrat Shabbat hamalka', it seemed to complement his 'Lekhu neranena" and "Lekha
dodi". We used to sing the melodies with deep longing, and Bialik himself liked humming the
tune." ("Nigunei Elul", in Arugot – divrei shira ufroza, kitvei Yaakov Fichman [Flowerbeds –
Prose and Poetry Pieces, The Writings of Yaakov Fichman], book 5, Jerusalem: Mossad Bialik,
1954, pp. 228-229).
Sarah Shoham is a choir conductor and composer, writing music for first-rate choirs in Israel
and abroad. Her compositions and arrangements have been performed by choirs worldwide.
She won numerous prizes for her musical achievements, including the Levin Kipnis Prize for
art compositions (1989), the Prime Minister's Prize for composers (2002), and the Paul BenHaim prize for her musical life work (2013).
Shir HaMa'alot, Ps. 126. Music attributed to Pinchas Minkowsky, choral
arrangement: Raymond Goldstein
According to Ashkenazi custom, this song is sung before birkat hamazon [the blessing after
the meal] on Shabbat and holidays. The text images are taken from the world of agriculture
in Eretz Israel – sowing and harvesting, wheat sheaves – and express a yearning to return to
Zion.
The composer's identity is uncertain. The work won publicity thanks to its rendition by
Yosele Rosenblatt (who was a relative of Pinchas Minkowsky). In a film produced in 1933
during Rosenblatt's visit to Eretz Israel, he is seen performing the song with great pathos on
a boat sailing the Jordan River. Although Rosenblatt recorded the song, he had never
mentioned the name of its composer. As a result, the song was unjustly linked with his name
(Rosenblatt never bothered to deny that he had written the song). Some of Minkowsky's
acquaintances insisted that Minkowsky, who was known for his nationalist ideas, is the true
composer, and that the melody did not match Rosenblatt's style. Whatever the case may be,
the song, with its music of longing, became a symbol of the modern return to Zion. The
Zionist movement embraced it warmly, and even proposed using it as the anthem of the
Jewish national movement.
When the LORD brought back those that returned to Zion, we were like unto them
that dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing;
then said they among the nations: 'The LORD hath done great things with these.'
The LORD hath done great things with us; we are rejoiced.
Turn our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the dry land.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Though he goeth on his way weeping that beareth the measure of seed, he shall come
home with joy, bearing his sheaves. (Ps. 126)
The Composers
David Nowakowsky (1848-1921)
David Nowakowsky was composer, teacher, and conductor at the Brodsky synagogue in
Odessa. He was born in Malin, Ukraine, left his home at an early age, and moved to
Berdichev, where he was hired as a choirboy at the local synagogue. In Berdichev he taught
himself harmony and counterpoint as well as cantorial traditions of famous cantors such as
Yerucham Blindman ("Little Yerucham").
In 1869, at the age of 21, he was offered a position at the Brodsky synagogue in Odessa as
choir director and assistant to cantor Nissan Blumenthal. In Odessa, he adopted a German
musical style, after the model set by Salomon Sulzer and Louis Lewandowski. In 1892,
Blumenthal retired and was replaced by Pinchas (Pini) Minkowsky, who was appointed chief
cantor of the Brodsky synagogue. That was the time when Nowakowsky won fame in the
world of Jewish music. He went on developing and perfecting his choral style and mastering
polyphonic and contrapuntal techniques that won him the nickname "the Jewish Bach".
Minkowsky and Nowakowsky worked together for three decades before the synagogue was
closed, inspiring each other stylistically. The musical style for which the Brodsky synagogue
became world-famous took shape at that time. It was a combination of polyphonic choral
style and traditional hazzanut – a mixture of e otio al Shirat HaRegesh”) and "orderly"
singing Shirat HaSeder : "Nowakowsky must thank Minkowsky [for Minkowsky's masterful
rendition of his music gained Nowakowsky fame as a composer]. Of course, Minkowsky must
also thank Nowakowsky, for transforming "Pini" into Minkowsky..." (Elijahu
)ałudko ski, Kultur-treger fun der Yidisher Liturgye. Białystok: s. .., 1930, p. 193-194).
Two volumes of Nowakowsky's compositions were published in his lifetime. One included
original music for Friday evening, and the other for Neila, the prayer that ends Yom Kippur.
The bulk of his compositions, titled "Songs of David" was never published, but miraculously
survived the Holocaust. Parts of it have been recently published in the United States.
In addition to his job at the Brodsky synagogue, Nowakowsky also taught music in several
Odessan schools, as a professor of theory and harmony. He organized and produced
concerts, wrote instrumental and vocal art music, as well as children's songs in Hebrew
published in Hazamir (1903).
By the late nineteenth century, Nowakowsky became active in the Odessa Committee, a
group of intellectuals who supported the Zionist movement led by Herzl. As an active
member of the group, Nowakowsky was asked to set to music Naftali Herz Imber's song
"Tikvatenu" [Our Hope] for the fifth Zionist Congress. His music did not succeed in replacing
the popular folk melody that had already spread at that time and eventually became the
national anthem of the State of Israel. After the Bolshevik revolution, life in Odessa became
extremely hard. Nowakowsky's health failed, and he passed away in the summer of 1921.
Pinchas Minkowsky (1859-1924)
Pinchas Minkowsky was cantor, composer, writer and researcher of Jewish music. He served
as cantor of Odessa's Brodsky synagogue for thirty years (1892-1922). Minkowsky was born
to a family of cantors in the town of Byala Zherkov in Ukraine. As a child, he was already
known for his beautiful voice, and served as prayer leader. When he grew up, he studied
with the famous cantor Joshua Abrass. He studied music theory and harmony with Robert
Fux in Vienna, and was cantor in Kishinev, Harson, and for a short while at Odessa's Great
Synagogue. In 1887, he was invited to be chief cantor at the Adat Yeshurun synagogue on
Eldridge St. in New York. After four years, he was called back to replace Nissan Blumenthal
as chief cantor of the Brodsky synagogue in Odessa. Minkowsky's collaboration with David
Nowakowsky made the synagogue a leading center of Jewish liturgical music. His style was a
mixture of what he called "emotional singing" Shirat HaRegesh”) – traditional hazzanut
style, and "orderly singing" Shirat HaSeder – western choral style. He won fame and
reputation, and was internationally acknowledged as a cantor and an expert on Jewish
music.
Minkowsky was also a famous writer, scholar and researcher of Jewish music. His literary
style is rich, colorful and witty. He published dozens of articles and other writings in Hebrew,
Russian, Yiddish and German. His articles explore the history of Jewish music, musical theory
and hazzanut. Minkowsky was also an active member of the "Lovers of Hebrew" association
( рo e ey “’fat й er , later renamed "Tarbut" [culture]), and published articles where he
described Jewish music as a means to foster Jewish nationality.
Minkowsky composed dozens of pieces for the synagogue, set to music songs by his friend
Hayyim Nahman Bialik, and children's songs from HaZamir book. He was close to the
"Odessa Writers" circle (Shalom Aleichem, Mendele Mocher Sfarim, Tchernihovsky, Achad
Ha'am).
After the Bolshevik revolution and the subsequent riots in Odessa, Minkowsky managed to
obtain an exit permit, and immigrated in 1922 to the United States, where he and his family
lived in Philadelphia. He was unable, however, to regain success. Although he received the
honorary title of President of the Cantors' Association in the United States, he was unable to
secure a regular position as a cantor. Heartbroken and destitute, he died in the winter of
1924. Hundreds of cantors attended his funeral.
Minkowsky firmly objected to any commercial recordings of synagogue singing. He
considered them a sacrilege, and sharply criticized cantors who indulged in them. His voice,
which had moved so many hearts, was therefore lost forever. Most of his works survived in
manuscripts, and were eventually donated by his family to Israel's National Library, with the
rest of his archive.
This evening, several of Minkowsky's works are being performed in public for the first time
in a hundred years. The works were discovered and arranged by Anat Rubinstein as part of
her research, with the support of Da'at Hamakom and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
JMRC. The concert therefore takes a first step towards doing justice with this unique
personality.
Ephraim Zalman Rozumni (1866-1904)
Cantor and composer Efraim Zalman Rozumni was the cantor of Odessa's Great Synagogue.
He was born in Nikolayev, Russia, and was named after his grandfather, who had served as
the city's chief Rabbi. This family name was given to his grandfather on his appointment by
Tsar Nikolai I, who was impressed with him and said he was "a wise Jew" ( о у
єв е ).
Efraim Zalman was known for his beautiful voice from his early childhood. The story goes
that his beautiful voice appeased the wrath of the Rabbi in the heder, who was known as
extremely short tempered. At the age of 19, Rozumni was appointed chief cantor of
Nikolayev's Great Synagogue. He later worked as cantor in Kishinev and then at the Great
Synagogue of Odessa, where he remained to the end of his life. Rozumni was extremely
popular, among other things because he was among the first cantors to give concerts of
hazzanut across the Russian empire. He was also known for his colorful personality and
hedonistic conduct. His compositional style leans on convoluted traditional cantorial
recitatives and improvisation. The melody El male rahamim adopted by the Ashkenazi
community is attributed to him. His collection of cantorial recitatives Shirei Rozumni was
published in 1930, with famous cantor Samuel Alman as editor.
Avraham Dunajewski (1843-1911)
Dunajewski was a composer and choir director at the Great Synagogue of Odessa. His music
was famous for its rich and "sweet" harmony, influenced by German and Russian sources.
Dunajewski published two volumes of his works: Israelitische Tempel Compositionen für den
Sabbath [Synagogue Compositions for Shabbat] – 1887, 1893, and Liturgische feierliche
Synagogen-Compositionen für Cantor und gemischten Chor [Festive Liturgical Synagogue
Compositions for Cantor and Mixed Choir] – 1898. His music for the prayer Av harahamim is
extremely popular in many Jewish communities around the world to this day. Pinchas
Minkowsky wrote the following about Dunajewski's eclectic style: "Mr. Dunajewski
absorbed the old and new hazzanut directly from the source. He has also mingled here [in
Odessa] with Italian singers who have been disseminating their homeland's singing for many
years. Dunajewski is well versed in the laws of harmony and knows how to use voices and
lead them correctly. His melodies are easily received... We can find in them a mixture of
Italian and Slavic singing... We must thank him for his contribution to the Jewish prayer
repertoire in Russia, after the old songs of Ashkenaz have lost favor and the new ones do not
suit us at all, and if there is no singing – there is no prayer, and his songs are pleasant to the
ears of the listeners". [Pinchas Minkowsky, "Prayer and singing – 4" Hatzfira, 24 December
1897].
Interior of the Brodsky synagogue, ca. 1910: Cantors, synagogue personnel and choir. Cantor Pinchas
Minkowsky stands to the right of the Ark; next to him is choir director David Nowakowsky.
Source: YIVO.
5
The Performers
Azi Schwartz – cantor
Cantor Azi Schwartz is the Senior Cantor of Park Avenue Synagogue, and is a worldrenowned vocal performer and recording artist whose music reaches both Jewish and
interfaith audiences worldwide. His craft of Jewish liturgical music has been described as
emotionally moving, spiritually uplifting, and artistically dynamic.
Azi grew up in a small, traditional community in Israel. His grandfather, also a cantor,
inspired Azi to pursue his passion and inclination for singing and music. After graduating
from Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute and studying under the top cantors in the world, including
composer Raymond Goldstein, Azi continued studying music at The Jerusalem Academy of
Music and Dance where he studied under phenomenal teachers, including Maestro Stanley
Sperber. He earned a Masters in Classical Singing and Conducting from Mannes School of
Music.
This journey brought Azi to New York, where he leads Park Avenue Synagogue (PAS), the
largest Conservative community in NYC and the flagship of Jewish liturgical music in North
America. As PAS Music Center's Director, Cantor Schwartz creates, records, and publishes
new liturgical music, as well as hosts world-class guest artists for concerts and worship.
Passionate to bring Jewish liturgy to non-Jewish audiences, Azi has performed at Carnegie
Hall, the United Nations, Madison Square Garden, the US Capitol Rotunda, and the Israeli
K esset. Duri g Pope нra is’ isit to Ne York i O to er
5, Ca tor “ h artz
represented the Jews at the multi-religious service at the National September 11 Memorial
& Museum. He plays the ca tor’s role i Ri hard Gere's o ie 'Nor a ', a d perfor s i
concerts and interfaith missions around the world. Azi has an astounding online following.
He released his ninth album this fall, containing liturgical music commissioned in the past
year.
Dedicated to cultivating the next generation of cantors and inspired by Professor Eliyahu
Schleifer, Azi serves on the faculty of all major cantorial schools, and serves as Treasurer for
the Ca tors’ Asse ly, the largest professio al orga izatio for a tors. Azi is married to Dr.
Noa Schwartz, and they have four children.
Vira Lozinsky – singing
Lozinsky is acknowledged as one of the best Yiddish singers of our time. She was born in
1974 in Belz, Moldova, to a family of Yiddish performers, from whom she inherited her love
for the Yiddish language and its songs. She began studying music at a young age, and
excelled in playing the violin. In 1990, after she made Aliyah at the age of 16, she studied
musicology and Yiddish literature at Bar Ilan University. She studied voice development at
the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the legendary Yiddish singer
Nechama Lifshitz was her teacher for several years.
In 2012, Vira won first prize in the International Competition of Jewish Music in Amsterdam.
She is proficient in many musical styles – classical music, Balkan, Gypsy and Russian folk
music, as well as Blues and Jazz. Her performances attract both Yiddish music devotees, and
audiences that have no knowledge of Yiddish.
Her two recent albums were awarded international prizes, and she has participated in
several international projects. One of her songs has recently been included in the song
collection "Jewish Celebration" of the Putumayo world-music company.
Vira performs with her own musical ensemble and with other well-known ones, such as the
Raanana Symphonette, The Klezmatics (Grammy winner), the Emil Eibinder Ensemble, and
many others. Her performances were broadcast on Israeli television's Channel 2, on the
German-French television channel Arte, and in radio stations such as CBC (Canada), BBC,
Deutsche Welle (Germany) and Kol Israel.
The Chamber Choir of the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance
The choir numbers 30 members, mostly music students of the Jerusalem Academy of Music
and Dance, and won first prize in the 2008 National Choir Competition. Soon after Avner Itay
founded it in 1969, it was recognized as one of the best choirs in Israel, and has appeared
with Israel's most important orchestras including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (Israel Broadcasting Authority) and the Israel Chamber
Orchestra. It has performed under maestros Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Mazur,
Daniel Barenboim and Gary Bertini.
In 2000, Stanley Sperber was appointed the Chamber Choir's artistic director, and has
conducted its numerous performances throughout Israel. Among others, the choir appears
regularly in the Abu Gosh Festival, in the Tzlilim BaMidbar [Desert Sounds] Festival, and in
the Choral Fantasy Festival in Jerusalem. The choir gave concerts in the United States, and
took part in the prestigious international choir competition in Marktoberdorf, Germany. At
the end of the competition, the choir joined forces with the Munich Voice Ensemble in two
special concerts performed in Munich and at the Dachau Memorial.
In the past few years, the choir has joined the Israeli Philharmonic Choir in performing
Penderecky's Polish Requiem, Verdi's La Traviata, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Mahler's
Second Symphony. It also performed Handel's Dixit Domino with the Israel Chamber
Orchestra, Mendelssohn's Song of Praise with the Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva, and Brahms'
German Requiem, with the Chamber Choir of the Buchman-Mehta School of Music.
In 2014, at the festive opening concert of the International Arthur Rubinstein Competition,
the choir performed Stravinsky's The Wedding and Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with the
Israel Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra under the baton of Stanley Sperber.
Stanley Sperber – conductor
Stanley Sperber, a native of New York, established the Zamir Chorale in New York. He
immigrated to Israel in 1972 and made his debut with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in
1973. Sperber has appeared as guest conductor with the London Symphony Orchestra,
Philharmonia Orchestra (London), the Symphony Orchestras of Baku, Estonia, Sofia, The
Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, and the Philharmonic orchestras of Budapest, Salonika,
Novosibirsk, Krakow, and Bucharest and a number of orchestras in North America including
the Edmonton Philharmonic, the Oakland Symphony Orchestra and the Colorado Music
Festival Orchestra. In 2004 he made his conducting debut in China with the Shanghai Opera
Company.
A prominent expert in choral-music and conducting, Sperber was the music director of the
Tel Aviv Philharmonic Choir, the Jerusalem Academy Chamber Choir and for 16 years, the
Israel National Choir – Rinat. Sperber has directed the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the
Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the latter in performances of the Brahms Requiem, and was
music director of the Haifa Symphony Orchestra (1985-2000), after which he was appointed
Laureate Conductor. His awards include "Order of Merit" by the Israeli Composers
Association, and from the National Council of Culture and Arts: "First Prize for the
Performance of Israeli Music" with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra (1992).
Professor Sperber is music director of the Chamber Choir of the Jerusalem Academy of
Music and Dance where he teaches choral conducting, and in 2009 he was appointed
Professor of Conducting by the Academy.
Sperber is an active tennis player and an internationally certified tennis chair umpire. He has
represented Israel in major competitions including the Davis Cup and the US Open.
Raymond Goldstein – pianist, organist, composer and arranger
Pianist and composer Raymond Goldstein was born in 1953 in Cape Town where he
completed his musical studies. Since 1978, he has been on the faculty of the Jerusalem
Academy of Music specializing inter alia in opera/musical theatre/Jewish art music. He also
holds the post of music-arranger (associate-conductor) to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue
Choir where he has over 1000 works to his credit. In 1991, he was appointed senior teacher
at the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute. As musical director/accompanist, he frequently appears
on stage, radio and television in Israel and has undertaken concert tours in Australia, USA
and Western Europe. He has made professional recordings with international cantors and
singers, and as accompanist and arranger, his name appears on more than 300 CDs, cassette
tapes and DVDs. His compositions include a chamber opera, three cantatas, a concert
Kabbalat Shabbat service, orchestrations, works for chamber ensemble, and numerous
arrangements (more than 3000 in total), sacred and secular.
Klezmorim in Odessa’s streets – להקת כליזמרים מרחובות אודסה
Program
Synagogue songs
David Nowakowsky – Adonoi z’khoronu – for choir, cantor and organ
Pinchas Minkowsky – Lekha dodi – for choir, cantor and organ
Efraim Zalman Rozumni – Amar Rabbi El'azar – recitativo for cantor with piano
accompaniment. Arrangement: Raymond Goldstein
Avraham Dunayevsky – Na'aritzkho – a-capella choir and cantor
David Nowakowsky – Kol dodi – duet with piano accompaniment. Arrangement:
Raymond Goldstein
Pinchas Minkowsky – Adon olam – for choir, cantor and organ
Odessa Mama– popular songs in Russian and Yiddish, for voice and
piano
In Ades (In Odessa). Lyrics: Louis Gilrod and Peretz Sandler; from the musical
Volodke in Ades; folk song, often included in the klezmer repertoire.
Ха
, ла очку ак о ! [Chaim, close the shop!]. Odessan folk song.
У Че о о о я [On the Black Sea]. Lyrics: Semyon Kirsanov ( е ё о К
music: Modest Tabachnikov (Моде т Т ч ков)
ов),
Proshtshay, Odessa [Farewell, Odessa!]. Folk song.
The Music of Hebrew Odessa
Bein nehar Prat linhar Hidekel for voice and piano. Lyrics: Hayyim Nahman Bialik.
Music: David Nowakowsky
Shabbat HaMalka for a-cappella choir. Lyrics: Hayyim Nahman Bialik. Music: Pinchas
Minkowsky. Arrangement: Sarah Shoham
Shir HaMa'alot for a-cappella choir. Psalms 126. Music attributed to Pinchas
Minkowsky. Arrangement: Raymond Goldstein