Re: Dutch Cantorial Music/Prewar Media

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

On Thu, 7 Mar 2002 SamWeiss (at) bellatlantic(dot)net wrote:

> notated solo collections such as Katz's
> usually represent one cantor's improvisation of a
> nusach tradition (the equivalent of a home tape
> recording of a later era) which rarely has a direct
> influence on the regular repertoire of other cantors,
> let alone shape an oral tradition.

To put everything in proper perspective, I would like
to cite from Bloemendal's thoughtful introduction to
his anthology of Dutch Chazzanut (p.XII) [the
translation is by me]:

"We get to the question: what is authentic? Did the
chazzan-composer deviate strongly from the score in his
recitation, or did the people in shul in those days
sing according to their own taste? I observed this
phenomenon frequently during my study of Amsterdam
Chazzanut.

A remarkable example is the Kiddush by Katz, which is
very well-known in the Netherlands. When I first heard
chazzan Maroko singing this piece, it was something
completely different from what chazzan Moskovits was to
deliver. And that differed again from the
interpretation of the chazzanim De Jong and Mossel, not
to mention various individuals.

When I finally got the 'real' score, the bare notes
were again slightly different."

Groeten,

  Irwin Oppenheim
  i(dot)oppenheim (at) xs4all(dot)nl

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