Re: Hava Nagila

[Andy Rubin <andyrubin...>]

>Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1998 17:01:58 -0800 (PST)
>From: eisenbak@;*Kug;;
>X-Sender: eisenbak (at) basil(dot)stthom(dot)edu
>To: Andy Rubin <andyrubin (at) jps(dot)net>
>Subject: Re: Hava Nagila
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>
>Hi Andy,
>
>I would post to the list, but my e-mail server is misbehaving.  Feel free
>to forward the information if you think it's of interest.
>
>According to a short book by Sheldon Feinberg entitled _Hava Nagila_, the
>tune was in fact brought to Palestine by a group of Chasidim from
>Sadigora.  A. Z. Idelsohn had recorded it, brought it to a music class
>he taught, and Moshe Nathanson, one of his students who was then 12,
>suggested that it needed words.  Idelsohn proposed that each of the
>students try to set words to it; Nathanson's text was chosen.
>
>Nathanson was my cantor when I was a kid, so I'm particularly attached to
>this story.
>
>Paula Eisenstein Baker
>Houston, TX
>
>On Sun, 8 Nov 1998, Andy Rubin wrote:
>
>>
>> 11/8
>>
>> I know that this has probably been discussed on the list before, but would
>> anyone out there be willing to provide me with some background on Hava
>> Nagila? I believe I read somewhere (here?) that the melody may have been a
>> Sadegurer Chasidic tune that they refused to do once it became secularized,
>> and that the words were written by a 2nd grade girl as part of a contest.
>> Can anyone fill in details (or correct me if I'm wrong)?
>>
>> -Andy Rubin
>>
>