9/15/10

Is Music Jewish?

No, according to an essay in the Times (Op-Ed Contributor, The Music You Won’t Hear on Rosh Hashana, By MILES HOFFMAN), music is not Jewish.

Yes, there are Jewish composers, but, the crux of the article opines, "Western classical composition, the dominant feature of Christian sacred music for more than a millennium, remains mostly absent from Jewish liturgical music. Given the number of extraordinary Jewish classical composers over the last two centuries, this absence is particularly striking..."... more...

4 comments:

Theophrastus said...

I'm hoping you will blog on this article. There are several layers of stereotypes going on in the article -- I can hardly believe it appeared in a Jewish publication. Is it good for the Jews?

Richard said...

Felix Mendelssohn

Igor Stravinsky

Arnold Schoenberg

Leonard Bernstein

Neil Diamond

....

It would seem that you are mistaken.

Elaine Fine said...

And don't forget Seymour Barab who is alive and well (at 89) and living in New York!

I just finished uploading an opera by Seymour Barab called Jewish Humor from Oy to Vey,"

There is a segment where the composer talks about writing the opera that you might also enjoy.

Richard said...

Seymour Barab did a lot of work with Philip Glass - who you can also add to the list.