Re: Oy Gevalt! (Part Two)

[Francesco Spagnolo <yuval.italia...>]

Dear Eliott,

>Thank you for a first-hand account of what is happening in your 
>beautiful country. As someone whose historical specialization is 
>Germany between the wars, I find your report extremely disturbing.
><snip>
>
>Eliott Kahn


You touch exactly the issue that I was trying to point at with my 
rather long -- and hopefully not too OT (my apologies to those who 
felt it inappropriate: although I of course believe it is not...) -- 
posting.
That is, the relationship between the "love" for "Jewish culture" 
within a non-Jewish society and the "difficulty" in dealing with the 
"Jews"...

I have been exploring Jewish and non-Jewish sources from pre-WWII 
Italy, looking for information about musical life, the role of Jewish 
composers, and the popularity of Jewish music and cultural themes. 
Well, it can be easily assessed that Jewish music enjoyed a wide 
popularity in Italy up to 1936, when the anti-Semitic laws were 
passed.

Many leading figures in Italy's mainstream music culture were Jewish. 
Recently, a study group began its activities under the auspicies of 
Yuval Italia, researching sources and information about this topic. 
It is interesting to note that major composers -- besides Mario 
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, thus such as Vittorio Rieti, Renzo Massarani, 
Fernando Liuzzi and others -- were Jewish, and at times (although 
always in very "shy" ways) attracted to Jewish musical themes. At the 
same time, also several musicologists, music historians, and music 
teachers, were Italian Jews. Among them, Alberto Gentili, the first 
full professor of Music History in an Italian University, and the 
person who launched the Vivaldi renaissance...

Even besides this, we can enumerate some facts:
- Ernst Bloch's "Avodath Hakodesh" premiered in Turin, Italy (1933);
- The following year La Scala presented an entire concert devoted to 
Bloch's music (including "Shelomoh" and "Avodath Hakodesh");
- Composer Lodovico Rocca presented his opera "Dibbuk" at La Scala (1934);
- all of the above (which is a bit like the tip of an iceberg) was 
made possible thanks to the interest and the work of non-Jewish 
musicians (all soloists listed for these performances were Gentiles).

This was happening in a country that two-three years later would 
promote a set of anti-Semitic laws that threw the Jews out of society.

I am in no way suggesting that what is happening in Italy now -- a 
decade of extreme popularity of Jewish music and culture, especially 
among non-Jews, and a wave of anti-Jewish episodes -- is like what 
happened during the 1930's. But I think that we should be at least 
aware of our past, and critical about our present.

Moreover, I do not -- in any way -- suggest that non-Jewish (what is 
that, anyways?) interest in Jewish (what is that, anyways?) music , 
and popularity of Jewish music in non-Jewish societies, is a negative 
fact. A lot of good has happened in Italy over the past years.

I am, though, concerned with Jewish traditional music being presented 
*only* on concert stages -- thus completely separated from any form 
of Jewish life...

Would you be interested in sharing with us some ideas about 
similarities with pre-War Germany?
I am fascinated with the issue of the recurrent waves of Jewish music 
throughout history...

Francesco

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