Re: mitzvot music

[Fred Blumenthal <xd2fabl...>]

I do know of a Jewish composer who set the Ave Maria prayer, but the famous
one is by Franz Schubert.  Schubert was gentile, but set a psalm in Hebrew;
possibly the origin of this misunderstanding.

To go back to an earlier stage of this string (I tried a response that
didn't go through) some churches DO have canopies.  The Vatican and the
Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, at least, have domes over the high altars
called (various spellings) baldachin, baldaquin or baldachino.  They aren't
specific to weddings or symbolic of Abraham's tent, but the dictionary does
indicate that the word is of Middle Eastern origin.

Special thanks to Tuna Pase and Steve Simpson for particularly educational
contributions to the conversation.  And let us remember "Kol Yisrael
chaverim; kol Yehudim chaverim."  It's ok to respectfully disagree, but
some of these responses seem a little bit angry.  I'm shaking my finger in
my own face as much as in anyone else's, but let's save the anger to make
it more meaningful when it's needed.

Fred Blumenthal
xd2fabl (at) us(dot)ibm(dot)com



                                                                                
                                 
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                      07/17/2002 03:40 AM                                       
                                 
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Many of us American (-oriented) "klezmers" do parodies. Not necessarily for
humor, simply putting Jewish words to well loved standards. "This Land is
Your Land", Woody Guthrie's national anthem, is a perfect example. I know
of
four Zionist versions including my own. Adom Olam to the English folksong
Scarboro Fair is another example. I have a "Hay Jew" to "Hay Jude"--I
thought it was the actual title of the song, btw. I was famous on the
street
here in Jerusalem for an "If you want Moshiach now you gotta be a Torah
Jew"
knockoff of "Alice's Restaurant" (Also by a Jewish Author--Woody's 2nd wife
was Jewish. Woody was well aware that Arlo is Jewish and wrote a Chanukah
song to an Irish melody which is a show stopper wherever I do it around
that
time of year.).

While many would prefer more traditional klezmer at a wedding, the
distinctions have become quite blurred. Modern Chassidic music has become
more and more rock-n-rollish. I still prefer the quieter, more traditional
sound of Reb Shlomo (ztz"l) even though he drew as much from the American
folk revival of the 60s as from the Modsitz tradition. Others may
vehemently
disagree. L'taam v'reach ....

Doing church stuff--NO and NO. BTW, I believe Ave M.. melody is by a Jewish
composer as are many of these compositions and carols. Irving Berlin gave
the American people "White Xmas"--We Jews like to earn a buck or two here
and there while making others happy! :-)







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