[HANASHIR:11679] Did Sulzer compose "his" Shema?

[Jeff Klepper <jeffklepper...>]

> although the "trad" shema is a viennese waltz, it was
> still written by sulzer.

Aha! Not so fast, Erik ;->

Did Sulzer really write the Shema that bears his name?  Some years ago I
scoured the Out Of Print Classics versions of his multi-volume Schir Tzion,
and guess what?  Couldn't find it.  The Shema we sing begins exactly like
Sulzer's Ki Mitzion.  The ending of the version we sing is similar to the
ending of his "real" Shema from Schir Tzion (actually there are several
different one scattered throughout the collection) which leads me to
hypothesize that someone literally cut and pasted to create the Shema that
all of us grew up on and which has nearly defined synagogue music for
millions of Jews around the world over the years.  My guess is that person
was A. W. Binder, a giant figure in synagogue music himself, (composer of
hundreds of pieces, most notably our two most famous candle blessings, the
ones for Shabbat and Chanukah) who happened to be the music editor for the
CCAR's Union Hymnal, of which multiple editions were published in the 1930s
through 50s (I don't have those exact dates in front of me.)  Though we may
never know the truth, I'd wager real money that when Binder was editing the
Torah service music for the Union Hymnal, he performed some musical surgery
on Sulzer in order to make the service more singable and memorable.  And,
like a mensch, he put Sulzer's name on it instead of "Trad."  The key point
is that the Union Hymnal is the first place you'll see the famous version of
Shema published.  I'm leaving open the possibility that the "transformed"
version, whoever wrote it,  was in use prior to that time, but as you say
with regard to Ein Keloheinu, "Where's the written evidence?"

Binder, by the way, was Rabbi Stephen S. Wise's music director for many
years, wrote the music for dozens of English Hymns (Come O Sabbath Day and
All The World Shall Come To Serve Thee) taught several generations of rabbis
and cantors how to chant trope at HUC-JIR, and was my first teacher of
Jewish music in 1965.

Shabbat Shalom,
Jeff Klepper

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