"Classical" music with a Jewish theme

[Max Stern 310-524-6152 <lms...>]

Ari Davidow asked about "classical" Jewish music and asked for more
information about Matt Fields' compositions.

Although I believe Ari's question was focused on contemporary
composers, I think it would be fun to develop a FAQ answer for the
question "What 'classical' music has been written throughout the ages
on Jewish themes?"  The list could be arranged chronologically by birth
date of composer.  Maybe some kind of asterisking convention should be
used for list entries which are controversial.

Here's a smattering of a beginning, from memory.  '*' means that the
item is controversial because not all would agree that it is inherently
Jewish; '@' means that not all agree that it is classical (for example,
because it was written for the synagogue rather than for the concert
hall).

  Salamone Rossi        @dozens of choral settings of psalms, etc.
  Handel                *Israel in Egypt (oratorio)
                        *Judas Maccabeus (oratorio)
  Felix Mendelssohn     *Elijah (oratorio)
  Verdi                 *Nabucco (opera)
  Ernest Bloch          Sacred Service (Avodat HaKodesh)
                        Shelomo
                        Kol Nidre
  Leonard Bernstein     Kaddish
                        *Chichester Psalms
  Yehezkel Braun        many choral and orchestral works
  Jose Bowen            @Jazz settings of Jewish liturgy

I have left out literally *dozens* of contemporary composers -- mostly
Israeli and American -- who are writing in this general area.  One of
them is Max Stern of Jerusalem -- no relation, although I have met him
-- who won a prize for composition a year or so ago.  The list above is
only a skeleton, which may suggest the breadth of this topic.

Anyone want to contribute to this list?

 |\/|  /_\  \/
 |  | /   \ /\                      Max(dot)Stern (at) 
TorreyPinesCA(dot)ncr(dot)com

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