Re: Jews in Handel's time

[Wilfried GUILLET <wilguillet...>]

Please, I would like to unsuscribe momentarily (e-mail box exploding)

W.Guillet
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Alex J. Lubet" <lubet001 (at) umn(dot)edu>
To: "World music from a Jewish slant" <jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org>
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2004 6:04 PM
Subject: Re: Jews in Handel's time


> Thanks.  I made a very similar point when this thread appeared, although
on
> somewhat less authority.  ancient Jewry was a major fascination for the
British
> in this period.  I suspect they barely made a connection between the
ancients and
> their Jewish contemporaries.
>
>
>
> Joel Bresler wrote:
>
> > Fred Blumenthal wrote (about the Handel oratoria "Judas Maccabeas")
> >
> > But I prefer the apocryphal story that Handel was advised to compose for
> > royalty and the aristocracy, but wanted to see seats filled in the
theater,
> > and so wrote for the Jews.
> >
> > Yoel Epstein, aka Joel HaRishon, wrote:
> >
> > How fascinating. Does anyone know anything about the concertgoing habits
of
> > Jews in this period? Did Jews actually go to Handel's concerts, and did
> > they constitute a significant part of the audience? What about in
countries
> > other than England?
> >
> > Joel Bresler, aka Joel HaSheni, wrote his brother in law's brother in
law
> > (it's a small Jewish world), Prof. Todd Endelman of the University of
> > Michigan, author of "The Jews of Modern Britain, 1656 to 2000" and "The
> > Jews of Georgian England, 1714-1830" and put the question to him. He
replies:
> >
> > Dear Joel,
> >
> > I very much doubt that Jews attended performances of Handel's music
during
> > his lifetime. Few Jews in central and northern Europe would have been
> > sufficiently acculturated that they would attend public concerts. There
may
> > have been a handful of wealthy Sephardim in Amsterdam and London who
were
> > concert goers, but they would hardly have been noticed. It is also
> > important to remember that in the 18th century the overwhelming majority
of
> > Jews in central Europe did not live in big cities. They were scattered
in
> > small towns and villages. Berlin, for example, during Handel's lifetime
was
> > a backwater. Urbanization is a 19th-century phenomenon. In short, the
story
> > sounds entirely apocryphal. It says much more about those who believe it
> > than it does about Jews of the past.
> > ---
> > Shabbat shalom,
> >
> > Joel HaSheni
> >
> > Joel Bresler
> > 250 E. Emerson Rd.
> > Lexington, MA 02420
> > USA
> >
> > 781-862-4104 (Telephone & FAX)
> > joel(dot)br (at) verizon(dot)net
> >
>
> --
> Alex Lubet, Ph. D.
> Morse Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Music and Jewish Studies
> Adjunct Professor of American Studies
> University of Minnesota
> 2106 4th St. S
> Minneapolis, MN 55455
> 612 624-7840 612 624-8001 (fax)
>
>
>


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