Re: early music in Israel

[BarMusProd <BarMusProd...>]

Dear Listers,

Sorry to quote the original and its response in their entireties below, but 
if someone was not following the thread, my comments would not be 
understandable. I was about to write a response to the initial inquiry, when 
Eliot Kahn said everything that I would have said in his response, much more 
eloquently. Two additional comments: I was severely disappointed with the 
Gradenwitz. If you're looking for detail and great scholarship, you won't 
find it there, IMHO. It is quite a superficial survey. I had purchased it 
from the Jewish Book Club, and after looking at it, I just sent it back. 

The Rothmüller (that's a U with an umlaut) is an excellent resource. It is 
one of the three Jewish music books that I refer to most often?the others 
being _Jewish Music_ by A. Z. Idelsohn and _Concise Encyclopedia of Jewish 
Music_ by Macy Nulman, which has a concise bio of Rothmüller, by the way. Not 
only is (was?) he an operatic singer, according to Nulman, but also a 
composer as well. He even studied with Alban Berg. He was a cofounder of 
"Omanut" that Eliot referred to. The first edition of Rothmüller's book was 
in German in 1951. I have a "new and revised" edition in paperback in my 
personal library, dating from 1967 and published by A. S. Barnes; later in 
paperback in 1975, the year I bought it (I used to write the year of purchase 
in my music books). I do not know if it is still in print. It should be.

What scholarly books do you listers use out there for research into Jewish 
music? Is there anything recent, comprehensive, *and* good? Inquiring minds 
want to know. Simon?What do have at Hatikvah that you would recommend?

Best wishes,
Steve

Steve Barnett
Composer/Arranger/Producer
Barnett Music Productions
BarMusProd (at) aol(dot)com 

Here are the original messages:
In a message dated 9/30/99 1:36:30 PM, elkahn (at) JTSA(dot)EDU writes:

>The Rothmuller book is an excellent one, even if a little dated. He was
>involved with "national Jewish music" during the 30's as a composer. I
>believe he was from Yugoslavia and one of the people involved with Edition
>Omanut, a Jewish music publisher there. Rothmuller was also supposed to
>be
>quite a fine singer and--after emigrating to the U.S.-- taught at the Univ.
>of Indiana for many years.
>
>I reviewed the 2nd edition of the Gradenwitz book (1997) for the Music
>Library Association.  It's a good all--round book, a little light in
>scholarship, but nevertheless, quite a good world-survey of disapora Jewish
>music. (To me, anyway. One will find not much mention of oral traditions
>in
>it.) The first ed. is from 1945 or so, and woefully lacking in current
>research--obviously.
>
>BTW Keep that Rothmuller. It's out of print.
>
>Eliott Kahn
>Music Archivist
>Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary
>New York, NY
>
>
>At 12:15 PM 9/30/99 -0400, you wrote:
>>I recently purchased two books at a local used book dealer in Nyack NY.
>>I have no idea of there significance or reputation for authenticity or
>
>>accuracy.
>>Any opinions either way would be appreciated.
>>1."The Music of the Jews" by Aron Marko Rothmuller 
>>Beechhurst Press 1954
>>2. "The Music of Israel-Its Rise and Growth Through 5000 Years"
>>by Peter Gradenwitz  W. W. Norton & Co.
>>
>>Bob Fogel
>>

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