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There are also very important works by non-Jew composers in the Jewish music. Maurice Ravel with
his Kaddish for violin and piano based on a traditional liturgical melody and Max Bruch's famous
arrangement of the Yom Kippur prayer Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra are among the best known.
Sergei Prokofieff's Overture sur des Themes Juives for string quartet, piano and clarinet clearly
displays its inspirational sources in non-religious Jewish music. The melodic, modal, rhythmical
materials and the use of the clarinet as a leading melodic instrument is a very typical sound in folk
and non-religious Jewish music.
Dmitri Shostakovich was deeply influenced by Jewish music as well. This can be seen in many of his
compositions, most notably in the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry, and in the Second Piano Trio.
However his most outstanding contribution to the Jewish culture is without doubt the 13th.
Symphony "Babi Yar".
How Many Jewish Musics?
The world-wide dispersion of the Jews following the Exodus and its three main communities create
the basic kayout of the world-wide Jewish music. Those communities in their geographical dispersion
covering all continents and their unique relations with local communities have given birth to various
kinds of music as well as languages and customs.
Following the exile, according to geographical settlements, Jews formed three main branches:
Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi.
Roughly they are located as follows: Ashkenazi in Eastern and Western Europe, the Balkans, (to a
lesser extend) in Turkey and Greece; Sephardi in Spain, Maroc, North Africa and later in the
Ottoman Empire (Turkey); Mizrahi in Lebanon, Syria, East Asia, Iraq, Yemen, Egypt.
The music of those communities naturally entered into contact with local traditions and evolved
accordingly.
Ashkenazi and the Klezmer
"Ashkenazi" refers to Jews who in the 9.th century started to settle on the banks of the Rhine.
Today the term "Ashkenazi" designate most of the European and Western Jews.
Besides the Hebrew, Yiddish is commonly used in speech and songs.
The traditional Ashkenazi music, originated in Eastern Europe, moved to all directions from there
and created the main branch of Jewish Music in North America. It includes the famous Klezmer
music. Klezmer means "instruments of song", from the Hebrew word klei zemer. The word come to
designate the musician himself and it is somehow analogous to the European troubadour.
Klezmer is a very popular genre which can be seen in Hasidic and Ashkenazic Judaism, it is however
deeply connected with the Ashkenazi tradition.
Around the 15th century, a tradition of secular Jewish music was developed by musicians called
kleyzmorim or kleyzmerim. They draw on devotional traditions extending back into Biblical times,
and their musical legacy of klezmer continues to evolve today. The repertoire is largely dance songs
for weddings and other celebrations. Due to the Ashkenazi lineage of this music, the lyrics,
Songs were performed in Hebrew but with a clear Arabic style on traditional Arabic instruments: the
"Oud", the "Kanun", and the "darbuka".
Classic Hebrew literature, including liturgical texts and poems by medieval Hebrew poets constitued
the main source of lyrics.
Music in Jewish Liturgy
There are a wide collection of, sometimes conflicting, writings on all aspects of using music in the
Judaic liturgy. The most agreed-upon facts are that the women voice should be excluded from
religious ceremony and the usage of musical instruments should be banned in Synagogue service.
However some Rabbinical authorities soften those straight positions but not regarding the exclusion
of the female voice. In weddings, for instance, the Talmudic statement "to gladden the groom and
bride with music" can be seen as a way to allow making instrumental and non-religious music at the
weddings but this was probably to be done outside the Synagogue.
The very influential writings of the Spanish Rabbi, also a physician and philosopher, Maimonides
(1135-1204) on one hand opposed harshly against all form of music not totally at the service of
religious worship and on the other hand recommended instrumental music for its healing powers.
Healing powers and mysterious formul hidden inside musical scores was commonly sought after in
music scores during middle-ages, renaissance and pre-Baroque epochs. Interestingly, in a recently
published fiction novel "Imprimatur" by the musicologist Rita Monaldi and co-author Francesco Solti
the whole plot is built-up around a composition of Salomone Rossi (1570-1630), an important Jewish
composer.
Jewish mystical treatises, like the Kabbala, particularly since the 13th. century often deal with
ethical, magical and therapeutic powers of music. The enhancement of the religious experience with
music, particularly with singing is expressed in many places.