Re: Max Bruch/Kol Nidrei: Redux nokhamol!

[I. Oppenheim <i.oppenheim...>]

I would like to draw your attention to a letter
that Max Bruch wrote to cantor and musicologist
Eduard Birnbaum on 4 December 1889:

"... Kol Nidre und einige andere Lieder (u. A. >>Arabiens Kamele<<)
habe ich in Berlin durch die mir befreundete Familie Lichtenstein
kennen gelernt. Obgleich ich Protestant bin habe ich doch als
Kuenstler die ausserordentliche Schoenheit dieser Gesaenge tief
empfunden und sie deshalb durch meine Bearbeitungen gerne
verbreitet.

...Ich habe schon als junger Mann ...Volkslieder aller Nationen
mit grosser Vorliebe studiert, weil das Volkslied die Quelle
aller wahren Melodik ist---ein Jungbrunnen, an dem man sich
wieder erfrischen und erlaben muss---wenn man sich nicht zu
dem absurden Glauben einer gewissen Partei bekennt:
>>Die Melodie sei ein ueberwundener Standpunkt.<< So lag denn
auch das Studium Hebraeischer Nationalgesaenge auf meinem
Wege."

I would like to conclude, quoting Idelsohn's remarks on Bruchs
Kol Nidre (JM in its Hist. Dev, 1929):

"[Bruch's] melody was an interesting theme for a brilliant
secular concerto. In his presentation, the melody entirely
lost its original character. Bruch displayed a fine art,
masterly technique and fantasy, but not Jewish sentiments.
It is not a Jewish Kol-Nidre which Bruch composed."

As Bruch indicated in his letter, he himself did not consider
his Kol Nidre to be a Jewish composition, but just an artful
arrangement of ...a folk tune! So, to Bruch, his Kol Nidre
was just one of the many arrangements he made of European folk
songs.

Accidentally, the Lichtenstein mentioned in his letter
was the cantor-in-chief of Berlin, who was known to have
friendly relations with many Christian musicians of that time.
Another friend of Lichtenstein was Carl Loewe, who composed
"Das Hohe Lied Salomonis," based on tunes that Lichtenstein
sang for Loewe.

It is also interesting to mention that the conductor of
Lichtenstein's choir was nobody less than Louis Lewandowski.
Idelsohn proved that many of the compositions of Lewandowski
were based on the chazzanut of Lichtenstein.


All this information is taken from the following
interesting paper:

Auteur      : Sabine Lichtenstein
Titel       : Abraham Jacob Lichtensein: eine juedische Quelle fuer Carl
              Loewe und Max Bruch
In          : Die Musikforschung, ISSN 0027-4801,
              Vol. 49  (Issue 4), 1996, 349-367 (19)


I would advice everybody interested in this topic
to go to the library and read this paper.

If anybody else knows of other scientific studies
of either Bruch's Kol Nidre or Lichtenstein
I'd like to get your references.

Irwin Oppenheim

Ps: what does the word 'Redux' mean?

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