Re: Kol Nidre

[robert cohen <rlc...>]

I only know of the supposed (i.e., some heard it and others were dubious, tho' 
I've thought it reasonble enough to include in lectures on Jewish music 
history) incorporation of a few bars of Kol Nidre in Beethoven's sublime 14th 
String Quartet--but you allude to half a dozen classical composers who have 
used the Kol Nidre melody.   Could you advise who you mean and in what 
pieces--other than the Beethoven above and, obviously, Bruch?  Many thanks.  
BTW, for what it (my unsolicited advice) is worth, if you're going to do a 
program (radio? where?) on anti-Semitic music--about which, frankly, I have my 
doubts (see re unsolicited advice above) given a culture in which anti-S. is 
not normatively or acceptably expressed--anyway, if you're going to do that and 
have doubts as you mentioned re inclusion of a particular song or not, I would 
always advise, if you have any doubts, DON'T include:  "Anti-Semitic" shd mean 
so blatantly so that any reasonable person would see as such.  _Any_ inclusions 
of dubious or problematic material would impeach the credibility, I think, of 
the entire project--this has happened w/ ADL's recent assessment of Black 
anti-Semitism, wherein accepting as true (or more-or-less true?) any of several 
perfectly valid overall judgments of Jews (like we stick together!), some 
benign or postive (!), some less so, was seen as anti-Semitic, to the 
indignation of some Blacks and others who pointed out that they invoke some of 
these characterizations of us as qualities their (Black) people should 
_emulate_!  So that's my two dollars.  Mel Brooks may be/often is tasteless, 
vulgar, etc., when he's not being brilliant and hysterical, but to call a song 
from The Producers anti-Semitic is to rob the term of any meaning at all--and, 
again, to vitiate the entire project/program.  Thanks for listening--as we say 
in the radio biz.
--

On Thu, 17 Dec 1998 09:08:37   robert wiener wrote:
>From: Robert (proud to be a) Wiener
>
>The original Bruch "Kol Nidre" was written for cello but many
>transcriptions have been recorded.  I don't have my complete list
>handy, but it's been done at least by violin, viola, clarinet, French
>horn, string bass, and harp.  Of course that doesn't mean you, Peter,
>will like any of them, although it's possible that you like the first
>part (arrangement of traditional melody) and not the second part
>(improvisation) or vice versa.
>
>The Ashkenazi melody has been used as a theme by at least half a dozen
>classical composers.  I've done some research on this for a program I
>did at CAJE and elsewhere.  Perhaps we'll be interested in talking
>more about Kol Nidre (e.g., our favorite cantorial renditions) around
>Yom HaKippurim.
>
>Bob
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Peter Hollo <raven (at) fourplay(dot)com(dot)au>
>To: World music from a Jewish slant. <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
>Date: Thursday, December 17, 1998 8:46 AM
>Subject: Re: Kol Nidre
>
>
>>Robert Weiner: Many thanks for clearing that up for me! My experience
>>being of the cello piece by Bruch, I implied that it is by a gentile,
>>but of course had I thought about it more I'd have realised that the
>>underlying melodies are Jewish.
>>Doesn't make me like it more (just a personal thing!), but I won't
>make
>>the same implication again.
>>
>>Peter.
>>--
>>Peter Hollo  raven (at) fourplay(dot)com(dot)au
>http://www.fourplay.com.au/me.html
>>           FourPlay - Eclectic Electric String Quartet
>>             http://www.fourplay.com.au
>>"Of course, dance music can be a music where you lie on your back and
>>your brain cells dance" -Michael Karoli of Can, quoted in Wire mag.
>>
>
>


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