RE: The skinny on Maoz Tsur

[Janet . PAPE <Janet.PAPE...>]

Regarding Ma'oz Tsur, I was really interested to read Judah Cohen's
explanation of what he could find out about its origins.  This Sunday at
the Anglican Cathedral where I am soloist, we sang hymn 393, which is
Ma'oz Tsur with different words.  It was so bizarre to be singing this
in a church, and at Purim time, not Hanukah.  Eric Werner was listed as
the adaptor.

> ----------
> From:         Judah Cohen[SMTP:jcohen (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu]
> Reply To:     hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Sent:         Thursday, 12 March, 1998 4:10PM
> To:   hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
> Subject:      The skinny on Maoz Tsur
> 
> I just read an article which helps to clarify some of Erik's questions
> on
> Ma'oz Tsur.  Reference:  Hanoch Avenary, "The Ma'oz Zur Tune:  New
> Facts
> for its History."  in *Encounters of East and West in Music* (Tel
> Aviv:
> Faculty of Visual and Performing Arts, Dept. of Musicology, Tel Aviv
> University, 1979): 175-185.  The article is over thirty years old, so
> it's
> entirely possible more has surfaced since then.  BUT it clarifies some
> of
> Erik's points.
> 
> >1) point of info: someone had mentioned (a while back) the authorship
> of
> >the trad. "maoz tzur" melody and its attribution to a 'drinking
> song'. It
> >is my understanding that the melody, in fact, was written by Martin
> Luther,
> >an ardent anti-semite. why/how the tune got attatched to the melody?
> 
> According to Avenary, there are two Lutheran hymns, one written by
> Martin
> Luther, which share the same first seven notes with Ma'oz Tsur.
> Avenary:
> "these modest results have turned into widely known and profusely
> quoted
> 'fact.'  Something like a general opinion has been formed asserting
> ironically that the Hanukah lights were kindled to the sound of a
> Lutheran
> chorale.  This superficial suggestion can now be revised with the aid
> of
> historical documents that have recently come to light."
> 
> Avenary then notes several older sources (both ecclesiastical as well
> as
> written-down folk melodies) which have melodies (or sections of
> melody)
> similar to those of Ma'oz Tsur; he notes, however, that these phrases
> were
> only in circulation at the time, and a direct relationship has not
> been
> proven in any way.  In his postscript, he notes (wisely):
> 
> "future students must be warned not to content themselves with the
> identity
> of one single phrase or motive for concluding relationship or
> dependency. .
> . In this and similar cases, the student should consider carefully
> where to
> draw the border-line between accidental similarity and the possibility
> of
> real relationship."
> 
> I don't know if that makes anyone more comfortable with the melody,
> but I
> hope it helps clear things up a little.  If I come across anything
> else,
> I'll mention it.
> 
> Judah.
> 
> Judah Cohen
> Music Department
> Harvard University
> Cambridge, MA  02138
> jcohen (at) fas(dot)harvard(dot)edu
> (617) 628-4783
> 
> "...I do not feel that my research suffered unduly from the fact that
> I
> enjoyed it." -- Daniel Miller, "Modernity--an Ethnographic Approach"
> (p. 6)
> 
>