clarinet music by Jewish composers

[Sandra M. Mosteller <smost...>]

Dear Dr. Lubet,
After reading your response to the following e-mail and I thought you might
be able to help me.  I am a non-Jew who happens to really enjoy Jewish
music.  (I am a doctoral student in clarinet performance with a minor in
ethnomusicology.)  I am trying to put together information about clarinet
music (solo and chamber works) by Jewish clarinet composers (particularly
new music).  My listing is increasing all of the time, but I would like to
search as many avenues as possible.

First, have you written clarinet music and if so, could you give me some
information about yourself and the pieces you have composed?  Also, I am
sure may know other Jewish composers of whom I am not aware.  If you could
pass on any names to me I would greatly appreciate it !

Thank you so much in advance!
Sandy Mosteller
DMA student, UNC Greensboro
-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Lubet <lubet001 (at) umn(dot)edu>
To: World music from a Jewish slant <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 1:11 PM
Subject: Re: What is Jewish Music?


>>A while ago, Alex Lubet--or maybe it was Wolf, cited by
>>Alex--offered the imaginative definition of Jewish music as "music
>>used by Jews to propagate Jewish life."  Though I think that's an
>>intriguing addition to our files, as it were, I've been meaning to
>>take (some) issue with it--as I think motivation is always a
>>difficult and problematic thing to assess.
>>
>>What if music with some traditional or traditional-sounding
>>(whatever that means) Jewish content, or music without (discernible)
>>such, at least in the minds of a given listener or listeners, was
>>created by the composer as a means of expressing his own Jewish
>>identity--and/or his relationship _to_ Jewish identity, or Jewish
>>culture and music, or Jewish history, or whatever; but (s)he lacked
>>the specific intention of "propagating Jewish music."  Is the result
>>Jewish music?
>>
>>I'm thinking, for example, of many of the compositions that come
>>under the (anomalous?) rubric of "Radical Jewish Music"--from the
>>composers around the Tzadik label, the Knitting Factory, and such.
>>I don't know that any--or, anyway, some--in that scene particularly
>>intend to propagate Jewish life--and that's not a typical motivation
>>for composing music (or for most artistic work) in any case.  But of
>>course one *could* argue--though this, too, would be a
>>variable/subjective/problematic judgment--that their music does, *in
>>fact,* help propagate Jewish life.  Indeed, one could perhaps say
>>one or both things about Wolf's music itself--soon coming to Tzadik,
>>as it happens (though only he could really settle the first
>>question, obviously).
>>
>>What say you--Wolf, Alex, et al.?   Do you really have to intend to
>>propagate Jewish life for your music to be Jewish music?
>>
>>--Robert Cohen
>
>At the risk of sounding a bit like Bill Clinton, who rose to his own
>defense by asking his interrogaters to define words like 'is,' the
>definition I provided is intended to problematize ownership (the
>'your' the Bob refers to).  The example you give, of 'Radical Jewish
>Culture,' is unambiguous insofar as, John Zorn, the reigning honcho
>of the Tzadik label and its Radical Jewish Culture series, clearly
>intends to propogate Jewish life through these recordings.  I think
>it's self-evident in what he chooses to call them.
>
>Needless to say, that's not going to end debate about Zorn, Tzadik,
>Wolf's music, or any other music, nor was it intended to do so, as
>that would be foolish.  What constitutes Jewish life is hotly debated
>and will be for the forseeable future.
>
>Speaking as a composer who has taught composition to many, many
>students for nearly a quarter-century, I've seen numerous motivations
>for composing and no one has to be limited to any one, nor can we
>always be sure what anyone's motivations are, including oneself.  Who
>among us really comprehends the social (and other) forces that
>motivate our decisions.  On the other hand, I've done plenty of music
>with what I and numerous others would regard as Jewish content.  I
>think constantly about the social ramifications of the music I 'do'
>(a carefully chosen ambiguous term that includes, but is not limited
>to composing and/or performing.  Do I do what I do to propagate
>Jewish life?  Absolutely!  (It's also the way I make my living, I
>like doing things that make people happy, I like to do music I enjoy
>myself, and I like doing things I think I do well.  Doubtless there
>are other forces that motivate me that I don't fully comprehend.)
>
>
>
>
>--
>Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
>Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
>Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
>University of Minnesota
>100 Ferguson Hall
>Minneapolis, MN 55455
>612 624-7840 (o)
>612 699-1097 (h)
>612 624-8001  ATTN:  Alex Lubet (FAX)
>
>
>
>


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