Re: Passion Plays and Jewish Music

[Alex J. Lubet <lubet001...>]

Helen Winkler wrote:

> Every so often I get calls from people mounting Passion Plays, asking
> for my suggestions for which Jewish music and dances they should use
> in their productions.  I've always been uncomfortable and unsure of
> how to answer.  This time I finally told them that I didn't think
> Jewish music and dances belonged in a Passion Play due to the history
> of Anti-Semitism associated with Passion Plays and also because the
> music they want to use (Israeli and Hasidic) doesn't make sense for
> Biblical times.  Just wondering if any others have had to deal with
> this kind of thing before, and how have you addressed these
> issues.Helen
> Helen Winkler
> Helen's Yiddish Dance Page
> www.angelfire.com/ns/helenwinkler Calgary Folkdance Fridays
> www.cadvision.com/winklerj/cff.html

Nothing that outrageous, but I've had a fair number of requests from
Christian students to learn about Jewish music so that they can use what
I teach them in religious contexts where I'd prefer it not be.  If I had
a simple request to the once you've had, Helen, I would simply refuse
with the precise degree of politeness the situation merited.

It's a little difficult for me to simply deny information to a
composition student in the public university where I teach.  The nature
of my creative and scholarly work makes it pretty obvious that I'm
Jewish and that I know something about Jewish music and culture and I
don't know of an acceptable way to flat out deny my students
compositional knowledge they request.  (I get plenty of questions about
other ethnic and popular traditions as well.) Being asked to recommend
repertoire for use in a passion play is a few steps up from being asked
for basic knowledge about Jewish music and I'd have no problem turning
down that request.

It's somewhat off-topic, but I ran into a Karaite web site from Israel
yesterday that had the most incredibly coherent arguments to use against
evangelists.  Perhaps a bit nasty (and, of course, they're not crazy
about Rabbinaite Judaism, either), but I was impressed with the
theology, often eloquent.  Could be useful next time you're asked to
help with the music for a passion play.

Shevua Tov,


--
Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music
Adjunct Professor of American and Jewish Studies
Head, Division Of Composition and Music Theory
University of Minnesota
2106 4th St. S
Minneapolis, MN 55455
612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)


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