Re: Orgin of Hatikvah

[Solidarity Foundation <svzandt...>]

Hope, 
I think we're talking at cross-purposes. Once the tune has been set to the
words of the poem "Hatikvah," you can use all your musicological skills and
I will gratefully read your findings as to the origin of the tune. The
point is, though, that until somebody had set that tune to the poem 
"Hatikvah", IT WAS NOT THE TUNE TO "HATIKVAH"! In that sense, the crucial
point is the IMMEDIATE source of the tune, and the rest is irrelevant --
or let us say, it's an entirely different question. 

Now, you may not have heard of Samuel Cohen of Rishon li-Ziyyon, but the
Encyclopedia Judaica has, and that's good enough for me. You're not
suggesting that Imber or whoever else you think set the lyrics, was
familiar with the 1608 intermedio or Salamone Rossi, are you? Then why is
it so hard to believe that Imber and/or Cohen, both of whom were from
Romania, used a Romanian folksong? That's what mystifies me. This has
nothing to do with Zionism or the state of Israel. It just has to do with
logic.
Itzik-Leyb