Re: Perry Como

[Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky <reyzl...>]

>Great art transcends all religious and ethnic boundaries. I hear the
>fervent prayers to the same God in Bach's B minor Mass and St. Matthew
>Passion as in Jossele Rosenblatt's Sh'ma Koleynu. 


There is no doubt that that great art transcends all religious and ethnic 
boundaries.  There is also no doubt that the fervor in Sh'ma Koleynu, St. 
Matthew Passion. and Bach's B minor Mass come from the same exact human source 
in the human soul.   That was too obvious to mention.  But I was asking a 
different question and a more personal one.   I was asking what Christian music 
moves Jews here?   I suppose that I am asking about esthetic fervor rather than 
religious fervor, because I don't believe that anyone referred to in my post 
below is getting religiously fervent when listening to either Perry Como or 
Luciano.   So I guess I am asking what explicitly Christian music moves people 
in that esthetic fervent way.  Come to think of it, a second question is, what 
explicit Christian music moves Jews here in a religious way?  And Elliot, since 
you conduct Jewish and Christian choirs, do Bach's B minor Mass and Sh'ma 
Koleynu inspire you spiritually equally as a Jew?     As for me, as I once 
tried to explain to Owen, I don't quite know what it is about Celtic music, but 
no matter what the tune is, traditional Celtic music always, always goes right 
to my soul in a way that no klezmer music ever has.   But a nigun, well, that's 
already a whole other kettle of fish for me.  

Marvin Margoshes wrote:
>The music of the Bach mass is magnificent, especially as I heard it done by
>the Boston Symphony this Fall.  However, the words are anti-Semitic.

I don't know the words to this music, and have no idea if the statement is true 
or not.   Let's say that it is, how do you Elliot deal with that?    When we 
read Dostoyevsky, knowing that he was an anti-Semite is totally irrelevant to 
reading Dostoyevsky's great works, but singing or conducting music that is 
anti-Semitic may be something else.   What I want to know is how do you 
construct your filter?  


Reyzl


----------
From:  elkahn (at) JTSA(dot)EDU[SMTP:elkahn (at) JTSA(dot)EDU]
Sent:  Monday, December 14, 1998 10:01 AM
To:  World music from a Jewish slant.
Subject:  Re: FW: [2ND-GEN:7773] Re: Perry Como

Great art transcends all religious and ethnic boundaries. I hear the
fervent prayers to the same God in Bach's B minor Mass and St. Matthew
Passion as in Jossele Rosenblatt's Sh'ma Koleynu. 

I've conducted choirs in both synagogues and churches and have to say
people pray to the same God -- the One that will give them healthy
children and a modicum of dignity and security in their own lives.

As Jacob said: Surely God is in this place and I did not know it.

Happy Hannukah to all,

Eliott Kahn


On Mon, 14 Dec 1998, Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky wrote:

> 
> 
> This letter was posted on a mailing list of children of Holocaust 
> survivors.   I thought it would be interesting for this mailing list.
> I have removed all identifying markers of personal names so that we 
> can respond only to the content therein.  Just to orient people: the 
> person writing the letter beginning with "a propos Perry Como" is 
> an Orthodox Dutch Jew married to an American and now living in Israel.
> I thought you would enjoy the incongruity of these scenes.   
> 
> As for me I have had for the last five years or so made sure not 
> to miss Luciano Pavarotti's annually telecast PBS Christmas show 
> (including the annual multiple re-telecasting on every PBS cable 
> channel) because I love how he sings every single Christmas song, 
> including "Silent Night".  I have never been able to bear hearing 
> this song from anyone else [I went to the frumest girls Yeshiva 
> girl in Brooklyn and I basically deaden myself to the December 
> theme], but the die-hard Luciano fan that I am, listening to 
> Luciano sing it, sing actually just about anything, raises me 
> several feet off the ground every year.  It plays in my ears for 
> months after the December season which brings ethereal joy to my 
> heart, but it of course has nothing to do the meaning or symbol of 
> any of the songs.   I guess this Montreal concert had to have been 
> extraordinary since they repeat the show every year for so many years.   
> The fact that he sings the Latin version of "Silent Night" whose 
> words are opaque to me I guess helps me block out all content in the
> song.   Didn't see it this year though but I have been too busy to 
> watch any TV.   Anyone else feel this way about any rendition of 
> Christmas or Christian music?   Or is this something that only 
> opera lovers can feel?   I don't think that the fact that my husband, 
> Josh Waletzky, directed a film with Luciano in the late 1980's for 
> PBS (called "Luciano Pavarotti and the Tradition of the Italian 
> Tenor"), is a factor in any of this (I was already a die-hard fan 
> by then), but have others here had the same reaction to this singer 
> or that Christmas show?
> 
> BTW, the thread below started with the discussion of Jewish 
> superstitious beliefs, such as licking a child's eyelids of kids
> who awoke from a nightmare.  
> 
> Reyzl Kalifowicz-Waletzky
> 
> 
> 
> 
> --------------------------FORWARD---------------------------
> > 
> > And speaking of Perry Como...
> > 
> > In my house growing up, somehow my mother never saw anything
> incongruous in
> > the fact that she could lick our eyelids when we kids had terrible
> nightmares
> > (see previous post on this subject) and chant a Yiddish ditty that
> all our bad
> > thoughts and ills should be transferred to the "goyem's kep" AND
> the fact that
> > we never, ever missed a Perry Como Christmas or Easter special. 
> Come to think
> > of it, year after year we religiously (pardon the pun) watched Bob
> Hope's
> > Christmas specials, Bing Crosby's Christmas specials (who one year
> had David
> > Bowie as a special guest and they dueted on "Little Drummer Boy" --
> imagine
> > that!),  and Andy Williams' Xmas specials.  In fact, my mother
> would make it a
> > point to finish up the dinner dishes and be done with general
> household duties
> > so she could free up her evening for viewing these holiday specials
> -- my dad,
> > too.  When I look back at it now, it does seem bizarre, given their
> staunch
> > stances against assimilation.
> > 
> > But Perry Como was a particular favorite in our house --him and
> Dean Martin --
> > OY, did my mother love their singing!  To this day she maintains
> she has yet
> > to hear anyone, Jewish or Gentile, sing a more soulful rendition of
> "Kol
> > Nidre" than Perry Como.  Since I never heard this, EVER, I have
> always been
> > more than a bit incredulous about this -- could it be true?  But my
> mother
> > remained adamant -- yes, it was true and she could still "hear" his
> voice in
> > her ears!  Well, to tell you the truth I stopped making an issue
> over it.  And
> > then just this past summer, I ran into an acquaintance (parents
> also
> > survivors) who swore that yes, it was indeed true!  His mother
> practically
> > wore out an album on which Perry Como sang "Kol Nidre," so he could
> verify
> > this for me.  Alas, he has no idea whatever became of the album and
> we both
> > had no doubt it must be long out of print.  I would love to get my
> hands on a
> > copy of this, if only to hear it once for myself.....and then to
> give to my
> > mother.
> > 
> > Anyone else out there familiar with Perry Como singing Jewish
> songs, and
> > (bonus question) whether any recordings of this still exist?
> > 
> > [name]
> 
> 
> ===================================================== 
> 
> ---------------------------
> 
> 
> a propos Perry Como 
> when people in Holland asked my husband's name, i would say- you know
> Perry- like in Perry Como and then everyone knew.
> A propos songs. We are an observant family. When our first child got
> married he asked whether we wanted any special songs played during
> the reception. Perry - not Como- [very Jewish sounding last name]- 
> gave him his favorite Bing Crosby golden oldies tape. And there we were 
> in our new finery on the reception line saying thank you thank you- me 
> showing off a new wig and Perry in a new suit and all and suddenly- the 
> dulcet tones of old Bingo "I am dreaming of a white Xmas"
> I am not sure that we have lived this down yet.
> He has been married almost 10 years.
> Happy Hanuka
> [name]
> Haifa
> 
> 
>