Re: Jewish Music in the synagogue-hazzanim

[mkirschb <mkirschb...>]

>It seems that a major concert for Chazzanim was recently organized in
>Israel (Tel Aviv? Ramat Gan? Rishon? Petah Tikvah?...Can't remember).
>Among the personalities invited to perform was one  well known Hazzan
>whose name was only mentioned once - Miller ? Possibly Ben Zion Miller?
>And in addition, another attraction was Mordechai Ben David, dubbed as
>the singer of MOSHIACH MOSHIACH.

        I understood from the rest of your message that there are tunes
that you like, etc that are just as legitimate an expression of religious
feeling, etc, and don't see why there should have been an antipathy to
Mordechai Ben David, who is essentially a kitschy "Hassidic" singer.  A
historical note may be in order.
        Hazzanut is not "the music sung in the synagaogue by cantors"
although it started that way.  When the term is used, it applies to a
performance art that was in its day regarded as highly as was opera.  In
the early decades of the century, Yossele Rosenblatt's advance record sales
were as high as Caruso's, and they were equally regarded worldwide.
Sirota, Kwartin, Koussevitsky- these Hazzanim were considered serious
performers with technique and material of high caliber.
        Unfortunately, as with all things, due to this popularity, there
were many pretenders to the title, and especially with the advent of film,
all sorts of "entertainers" jumped on the bandwagon.  Stories of
debauchery, rumors of adultery and syphillis (which wouldn't have made too
much of a difference to opera, but Hazzanut was supposed to be something
different), corrupted the image, and after one too many Moyshe Oysher
headlines, the whole thing lost its veneer in America.  In Europe, of
course, the shoah destroyed the really productive centers as well as most
of the cogniscenti of the form.
        For a long time, given the 60's and the seeming importancce of
relevance, etc, the high-art form of Hazzanut remained buried.  In Orthodox
congregations it became de rigeur to sing Simon and Garfunkel tunes for
Qedusha, as well as Israeli-like tunes (future ethnomusicologists will
contemplate whether the pop hit Erev shel Shoshanim came out of the
synagogue repertoire...).  Recently, however, due to the efforts
particularly of the Israeli musical community, there has been somewhat of a
rennaisance, with serious performers and choirs of high musical training
appearing, the best known of which is probably Hershtik's unit at the Great
Synagogue, and his "chevra", usually British-South African (which
apparently were spared the intrusion of the 1960's due to their
conservative-minded communities) at Yeshurun and other places.  The
performances at the Great Synagogue, with their very professional choir,
modernist arrangements, and tight interplay with the Israel Symphony
Orchestra, has again given a positive name to the high-art version of
Hazzanut, and this has filtered down to people like Ben-Zion Miller in the
states, who did have a fling with the kitschier neo-Hassidic pop marketed
in Boro Park, but now has "returned" to the classical Hazzanut.  The
Israelis, more secure due to their well-acclaimed success, were thinking of
enlarging their audience, whereas it is still an uphill battle for Ben-Zion
Miller in the states.
        Does this help explain anything?

                                   mark h kirschbaum, m.d.
                                   mkirschb (at) fred(dot)fhcrc(dot)org

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