OKT 6 7.30 p.m.
The Three Jewish Cantors with
Jerusalem Great Synagogue Choir
Copenhagen Synagogue
Price of ticket: 250 dkr. Order on jewishculture@gmail.com
www.politiken.dk/plus (price 215 dkr.) or www.billetnet.dk
THREE JEWISH TENORS IN COPENHAGEN
ROSH HASHANAH CONCERT IN THE COPENHAGEN SYNAGOGUE
The Temple of King Solomon
Since the time of the first Temple of King Solomon, music has played an important part in the religious services of the Jewish people. Initially the responsibility to provide music and choral singing was the service and duty of the Leviim (the priestly tribe of Levites) and even to this day, 2000 years later, a very high proportion of synagogue choristers and cantors can trace their ancestry back to the tribe of Levi. The solo singer is called chazzan or cantor.
According to tradition, this solo sang was accompanied by 12 music instruments and 12 male singers. After the destruction of the Temple in the diaspora (dispersion) music was first banned with the exception of family Shabbat songs. Later this ban was relaxed gradually, but it can still be tracked in a capella synagogual singing in the Orthodox rite.
Over the millennia much was lost, but certain ancient notations have been retained. These can be found in the weekly reading from the Scrolls of the Law (Torah = the Five Books of Moses), extracts from the Book of Prophets, where each word is set with small hieroglyphics denoting the cadences to be used in chanting the text.
Traditionally, services were conducted by a Baal Tefillah (Prayer Master) who had made a study of the ”nusach” (mode) required for each festival or Sabbath and from these unpretentious beginnings the cantor was born.
The art of the cantor began some 200-300 years ago when the Baal Tefillah was inspired to embellish the basic liturgy with melodies that would enhance the chanting of each prayer with own cadences in order to engender a greater degree of religious fervour in his congregation. The cantor added perhaps some remembered folk or classical melody and variations.
Jewish liturgical tradition in East and West
The oriental (Sefardi) tradition developed differently from the Ashkenazi (Europan) singing tradition. While the Sefardi intonation is more monotonous and kept in the same pitch and resembles the Arabic maqam (can be compared to an arabesque), the European chazzan ”interprets” the contents of the text with his dramatic intonation. But there is a difference between Eastern European and Western European traditions, too. Cantor and choir in the West prefer established harmonies, the repetition of well-known forms and the response of the congregation is also along predictable lines. The Eastern European tradition allows for more improvisation and the congregation is more intense and emotional.
Soon the very talented synagogue singers opened cantorial schools and their congregations in small and big cities were proud of their famous and gifted cantors. To the small communities in Eastern Europe the singing heard in synagogue was one of the few cultural experiences possible. .
Enthusiastic pupils flocked to these cantorial schools, learning mainly by rote and committing the melodies to memory, as written notation was, in those early days, not common. Later more formal training was advisable in music schools and conservatories where they acquainted themselves with the operatic style of the 18th and 19th centuries. There is no wonder that the vocal style of the cantors, while containing Middle Eastern and East European cadences, mirror the opera compositions of the period.
Being a cantor has always been a respected profession and is often inherited in a family. Some cantors became legendary outside their own congregations and moved to bigger towns or other countries. The British Conservative politician, Michael Howard’s father came this way to
England from Transylvania to look for a better job.
Cantorial singing and opera
Others were tempted into the world of opera and achieved world fame, or as Al Jolson from a cantorial family, became a jazz singer. Another child of a cantor, Irving Berlin, became the greatest name in the American songbook with “God Bless America” and “White Christmas.” Some of them reached ”the top of the pops” in popular musical entertainment, for example Bob Dylan, Barry Manilow, Neil Sedaka or Neil Diamond , all of whom were either the sons of cantors, or were originally stimulated to experiencing singing in synagogue choirs. And here we have to mention our own Ralph Levitan, whose Danish fame stems from his participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Cantors have always been lauded as great artists and the greatest of them perform at concerts all over the world where the audience can enjoy their virtuosity in both liturgical singing and opera arias. These cantor concerts attract big audiences everywhere and this is our great pleasure that JEWISH CULTURE IN COPENHAGEN has invited three of the greatest cantors together with the Choir of the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem for the Rosh Hashanah Concert 2010 at the Copenhagen Synagogue on October 6.
Cantor Benzion Miller was born in a cantorial family of Bobover Chasids and is a living legend. He was born shortly after the Second World War in a DP-camp (displaced persons’ camp) near Munich and the young family moved to the USA, where young Benzion began his singing career at the very early age of five! He studied at different yeshivas and worked as a cantor in Canada and since 1981 he was elected to serve as Cantor at the prestigious Young Israel Beth-El Congregation of Borough Park. His world famous tenor can be heard all over the world, he has performed with various symphony orchestras and recorded many cds with liturgical, Chassidic and Yiddish music. http://www.thecantors.com/miller.htm
Moshe Schulhof was born in New York City and began his singing career as a child prodigy at the early age of six when he performed before an audience of 2000. Later his learned to sing in seven different languages and his vocal style follows that of his father and grandfather, who was a cantor in Austria. He studied cantorial singing and opera both in New York and Montreal and has worked later in the USA and Canada. For many years he served as the cantor of the Jewish Center Beth Jacob in North Miami Beach, but in recent years his concert engagements bring him all over the world. He has performed with leading symphony orchestras and holds a teaching position like Benzion Miller. Recently, he has performed for the members of the American Congress and represented cantorial singing in a series of historic concerts throughout Eastern Europe.
http://www.mosheschulhof.com/new/rw/index.html
Israel Rand was born in Tel Aviv and studied in Israel. While still a student, he was appointed Lead Cantor of the Central Synagogue of Tel Aviv. Later he went to the USA, where he served as a cantor on Long Island and at the New York Synagogue in Manhattan. In 2006 he returned to Israel to the Great Synagogue in Ramat Gan, which became a unique centre for cantorial music and draws many guest cantors and big audiences. Israel Rand performs often at concerts, his repertoire is a combination of cantorial songs, musical theatre songs, Israeli and Chassidic folk music, Neapolitan and Yiddish songs and opera arias. He has performed everywhere, from the Lincoln Center in New York to the Opera House in Budapest and many other places. He performs often with leading symphony orchestras and teaches cantorial singing. http://www.israelrand.com/official/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
The programme of the New Year Concert includes Jewish and secular repertoire of opera music and popular entertainment. The Choir of the Great Synagogue of Jerusalem accompagnies the three tenors.
http://www.mostlymusic.com/jerusalemgreatsynagoguechoir-p-2361.html
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