"Saying Good-Bye to Bruch"/Dan Kazez

[Dan Kazez <KAZEZ...>]

The article below appeared in the New York Violoncello Society 
Newsletter.  Perhaps it is of interest to come of you.

Dan

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    Daniel Kazez, Associate Professor of Music
    Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio 45501 USA
    tel: 937-327-7354   fax: 937-327-6340   kazez (at) wittenberg(dot)edu
    http://www.voyageronline.net/~drcello/kazez.htm
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                   "Saying Good-Bye to Bruch"

                          Daniel Kazez
                      Wittenberg University


   Three years ago, a woman visited my university to participate in a 
   Holocaust conference.  She was set to give a dramatic presentation with 
   violin accompaniment, only to find that her violinist was ill and had 
   not arrived on campus.  With twenty-four hours' notice, I was called to 
   fill in, on cello.  The next day's performance, which was quite a 
   success, spurred me to consider performing art music inspired by my own 
   Jewish tradition.  (My father is a Sephardic Jew who emigrated to the 
   U.S. from Turkey after World War II, in search of further education.  My 
   mother is of Ashkenazic descent.)  After several years scouring the 
   nation's libraries and databases for scores, I unearthed a body of 
   wonderful, but mostly rarely performed, compositions.

   I have had the good fortune to perform concerts of what I call "Music on 
   Jewish Themes" in many of the cultural capitals of Europe:  in Prague 
   (at the Jeruzalemska Synagogue, as part of the 1995 Prague International 
   Festival of Jewish Culture); in Berlin (at the College Music Society's 
   International Conference, in a lecture and performance entitled 
   "Expression of Jewish Musical Style and Extramusical Associations in Art 
   Music for the Violoncello"); in Rome (at the Centro Ebraico Italiano, 
   the Jewish Cultural Center for Rome and all of Italy); in Florence (at 
   the Great Synagogue, one of the major sights of Florence, often cited as 
   the world's most beautiful synagogue); in Paris (at Temple Victoire, 
   also known as the Rothschild Synagogue, one of the world's largest 
   synagogues); in Brussels (at Cercle Ben Gurion, a benefit concert); and 
   in London (at the Jewish Museum of London, sponsored jointly by the 
   Manor House and the Sternberg Centre for Judaism).  More recently, I 
   performed in Toronto and I spent two days in residence at Northern 
   Illinois University, lecturing on "Jewish music" and the cultural 
   activities of Diaspora populations.

   Up until a few years ago, Bruch and Bloch were the mainstays of Jewish 
   repertoire.  One of the best known ostensibly Jewish works for cello 
   (Kol Nidrei, 1881) is arguably less Jewish than many other works of 
   music.  Bruch, a non-Jew, learned of Jewish traditional tunes from 
   Abraham Jacob Lichtenstein, a nineteenth century cantor.  Kol Nidrei is, 
   in essence, a short cello concerto in the Romantic tradition which 
   begins with the Kol Nidrei melody.

   The music that I include on my programs has a clear Jewish connection, 
   usually in the title itself.  More important, I choose music in which 
   the melodies and rhythms have an audible connection to Jewish sources--
   music that, from beginning to end, has been profoundly influenced by 
   Judaism.  Here are some compositions I have included in my programs, 
   along with relevant biographical information on the composers:

   Joachim Stutschewsky, Six Israeli Melodies

     1. Kinnereth; 2. Raindrops; 3. You, The Earth;
     4. Oriental Melody; 5. Prayer; 6. Wanderer's Song

   Joachim Stutschewsky (1891-1982) was a composer, folklorist, cellist, 
   lecturer, writer, and proponent of Jewish music.  Born in the Ukraine to 
   a family that had been klezmorim (Jewish folk musicians) for several 
   generations, Stutschewsky took up the violin at the age of five, and 
   switched to the cello at age eleven.  He moved to Zurich in 1914 and 
   then Vienna in 1924, where he founded the Association for the Development 
   of Jewish Music.  He moved to Israel in 1938.  Stutschewsky collected 
   and edited Hassidic melodies, and incorporated many of these in his 
   compositions.

   Julius Chajes, Israeli Dance

   A resident of Vienna, Tel-Aviv, and then Detroit, Julius Chajes (1910-
   1985) was the son of a surgeon and a concert pianist.  In Palestine 
   (1934-36) he conducted research on ancient Hebrew music.  Chajes arrived 
   in the U.S. in 1937, and served as Music Director at the Jewish 
   Community Center in Detroit.  He was chairman of Hashofar, a society for 
   the promotion of Jewish music.

   Ernest Bloch, Prayer (From Jewish Life)

   At the age of ten, Ernest Bloch (1880-1959) wrote a vow that he would 
   become a composer.  Then, in ritual fashion, Bloch burned the paper over 
   a mound of stones positioned in the shape of an altar.  Born in Geneva, 
   Switzerland, he worked for a time in the family clock-making business.  
   His earliest works incorporated traditional Jewish tunes as sung by his 
   father, who was the son of Meyer Bloch, president of the Jewish 
   community of Lengnau (in the Swiss Canton of Aargau).  After composing 
   many of his major Jewish-inspired works, including Schelomo (1916), he 
   moved permanently to the United States, founded the Cleveland Institute 
   of Music (1920), and later became director of the San Francisco 
   Conservatory (1925).

   Harvey Gaul, A Yigdal from Yemen
   
   American composer and conductor Harvey Gaul (1881-1945) performed as 
   organist in his native New York, as well as in Cleveland and Pittsburgh.  
   His teachers included the French composer Vincent d'Indy.  He was the 
   first music director of radio station KDKA and a music critic for the 
   Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Most of his 500+ compositions were published 
   under pseudonyms.

   David Popper, Wie einst in schoner'n Tagen

   Best known as a master cellist and pedagogue, David Popper (1843-1913) 
   was also a prolific composer of very effective genre pieces for the 
   cello.  He was born in Prague and died near Vienna.  His technical works 
   form the basis of modern cello study.  Popper died in Baden, before the 
   beginning of World War I.  According to Popper's student and biographer 
   Stephen De'ak, Popper's wife "was not able to escape the Nazi occupation 
   of Austria, and like millions of others of her faith she was captured by 
   the Gestapo, and sent to a concentration camp in Germany, where she met 
   her end in the gas chambers" (David Popper, 1980).

   Srul Irving Glick, Prayer and Dance

   The father of Canadian composer Srul Irving Glick emigrated to Canada 
   from Russia, where he became cantor in several of Toronto's synagogues.  
   The young Glick, born in Toronto in 1934, was deeply influenced by his 
   participation in choirs and by hearing his father sing.  He studied at 
   the University of Toronto, receiving degrees in music theory and 
   composition.  Glick's teachers included Darius Milhaud and John 
   Weinzweig.  One of Canada's most celebrated composers, he is currently 
   active also as a conductor, teacher, and radio producer.  Glick is 
   composer-in-residence at Beth Tikvah Synagogue in Toronto.

   Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Chant hebraique

   A member of an old Florentine family, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-
   1968) studied music at the Cherubini Royal Institute of Music.  His 
   discovery (in 1925) of a notebook of Jewish melodies in his 
   grandfather's house led him to begin composing Jewish compositions: "The 
   discovery of this little notebook was one of the deepest emotions of my 
   life and became for me a precious heritage."  Soon thereafter he became 
   familiar with the sounds of synagogue cantillation and Hebrew melodies.  
   Racial laws forced Castelnuovo-Tedesco to leave his native Italy.  When 
   anti-Semitism became rampant in Italy, during that country's alliance 
   with Nazi Germany, Castelnuovo-Tedesco fled to the U.S. (1939).  He 
   settled in Hollywood where, like many other composers of his time, he 
   composed film music, in addition to his other works.

   Joachim Stutschewsky, Frejlachs

   My complete collection of "Music on Jewish Themes" includes several 
   dozen works--a virtually untapped repertoire for cellists.

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     E U R O P E A N   C O N C E R T   T O U R :     S U M M E R   1 9 9 5

13 June
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
Jeruzalemska Synagogue
   One of the world's most impressive synagogues. 
   A performance as part of the 1995 Prague International 
   Festival of Jewish Culture.

17 June
BERLIN, GERMANY
Maritim Pro Arte
   College Music Society International Conference, focusing 
   on "Multicultural Perspectives in Music."  A lecture and 
   performance entitled "Expression of Jewish Musical Style 
   and Extramusical Associations in Art Music for the 
   Violoncello."

20 June
ROME, ITALY
Centro Ebraico Italiano ("Il Pitigliani")
   The Jewish Cultural Center for Rome and all of Italy. 

22 June
FLORENCE, ITALY
Great Synagogue
   One of the major sights of Florence, and often cited 
   as the world's most beautiful synagogue.

25 June
SALZBURG, AUSTRIA
Synagogue and Chabad House
   A celebration of the life and work of Rabbi Schneerson.

28 June
PARIS, FRANCE
Temple Victoire (Rothschild Synagogue)
   The most important synagogue in Paris, and one of the 
   world's  largest.

29 June
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Cercle Ben Gurion
   A concert for Merkaz 'Hai, a benefit for needy children.

2 July
LONDON, ENGLAND
The Jewish Museum of London
   Europe's largest Jewish community center.  A concert 
   sponsored jointly by the Manor House and the Sternberg 
   Centre for Judaism.

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