B i o g r a p h y
B i o g r a p h y
B i o g r a p h y
Joshua R. Jacobson holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Harvard College, a Masters in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, and a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Hebrew College. Before retiring in 2018, Dr. Jacobson served 45 years as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University, including nine years as Music Department Chairman and six years as the Bernard Stotsky Professor of Jewish Cultural Studies. He is also Visiting Professor and Senior Consultant in the School of Jewish Music at Hebrew College. He is also the founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, a world-renowned ensemble, specializing in Hebrew music. He has conducted workshops on choral music for various groups, including the American Choral Directors Association, and has guest conducted a number of ensembles, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Symphony and Chorus, the New England Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera Company. He has also written articles on various aspects of choral music, and over one hundred published compositions and arrangements. In 1989 he spent four weeks in Yugoslavia as a Distinguished Professor under the auspices of the Fulbright program. In 1994 Hebrew College awarded him the Benjamin Shevach Award for Distinguished Achievement in Jewish Educational Leadership, in 2004 the Cantors Assembly presented him with its prestigious “Kavod Award,” in 2016 Choral Arts New England presented him the Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2018 Chorus America selected him for its Distinguished Service Award. Prof. Jacobson is past President of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. He is the conductor and host of the PBS film, Zamir: Jewish Voices Return to Poland. His book, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation, published by the Jewish Publication Society in 2002, was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He is co-author of Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire—Volume IV: Hebrew Texts, published by earthsongs in 2009.
Prof. Jacobson’s articles have appeared in The Choral Journal, the American Choral Review, The Journal of Synagogue Music, Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, Encyclopedia Judaica, Studies in Jewish Civilization, Yale University Institute of Sacred Music Colloquium, The Musical Quarterly, and others. His compositions, arrangements and editions have been performed by ACDA honors choirs, by the Boston Pops and Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and by the St. Olaf College Choirs, among others. His music is published by Transcontinental, ECS, Broude Brothers and Earthsongs. He has guest lectured at Harvard, Brandeis, Yale, and many other schools. In addition to his specialization in Jewish music, he has conducted many of the standard choral-orchestral masterworks, including Bach’s Johannespassion, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Poulenc’s Gloria, Schubert’s Mass in E-flat, Thompson’s A Peaceable Kingdom. He has also prepared Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for Daniel Barenboim and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler's Second Symphony for Zubin Mehta and the I. P. O., Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms for Gary Bertini and the Jerusalem Symphony, Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw for Piero Bellugi and the New England Conservatory Orchestra. In 2011 Jacobson launched "Middle Eastern Harmonies," a program bringing together on stage Jewish and Arab music and musicians. He has performed the program for diverse audiences throughout New England.
Here are excerpts from some press reviews. Richard Dyer wrote in the Boston Globe (June11, 2002) “Jacobson has a gift for programming that is instructive and entertaining, and more often than not, the Zamir Chorale performs works that music lovers would be unlikely to hear anyplace else.” Philip Greenfield in the American Record Guide (March/April, 2002), “The Zamir Chorale of Boston has become America’s foremost Jewish choral ensemble.” Kevin Gabriel in The Worcester Telegram and Gazette (March 25, 1996), “Jacobson led polished performances that emphasized clarity and balance. And the chorale’s professionalism was everywhere evident, particlularly in its unflagging attention to detail.”
Joshua R. Jacobson holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Harvard College, a Masters in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, and a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Hebrew College. Before retiring in 2018, Dr. Jacobson served 45 years as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University, including nine years as Music Department Chairman and six years as the Bernard Stotsky Professor of Jewish Cultural Studies. He is also Visiting Professor and Senior Consultant in the School of Jewish Music at Hebrew College. He is also the founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, a world-renowned ensemble, specializing in Hebrew music. He has conducted workshops on choral music for various groups, including the American Choral Directors Association, and has guest conducted a number of ensembles, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Symphony and Chorus, the New England Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera Company. He has also written articles on various aspects of choral music, and over one hundred published compositions and arrangements. In 1989 he spent four weeks in Yugoslavia as a Distinguished Professor under the auspices of the Fulbright program. In 1994 Hebrew College awarded him the Benjamin Shevach Award for Distinguished Achievement in Jewish Educational Leadership, in 2004 the Cantors Assembly presented him with its prestigious “Kavod Award,” in 2016 Choral Arts New England presented him the Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2018 Chorus America selected him for its Distinguished Service Award. Prof. Jacobson is past President of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. He is the conductor and host of the PBS film, Zamir: Jewish Voices Return to Poland. His book, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation, published by the Jewish Publication Society in 2002, was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He is co-author of Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire—Volume IV: Hebrew Texts, published by earthsongs in 2009.
Prof. Jacobson’s articles have appeared in The Choral Journal, the American Choral Review, The Journal of Synagogue Music, Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, Encyclopedia Judaica, Studies in Jewish Civilization, Yale University Institute of Sacred Music Colloquium, The Musical Quarterly, and others. His compositions, arrangements and editions have been performed by ACDA honors choirs, by the Boston Pops and Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and by the St. Olaf College Choirs, among others. His music is published by Transcontinental, ECS, Broude Brothers and Earthsongs. He has guest lectured at Harvard, Brandeis, Yale, and many other schools. In addition to his specialization in Jewish music, he has conducted many of the standard choral-orchestral masterworks, including Bach’s Johannespassion, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Poulenc’s Gloria, Schubert’s Mass in E-flat, Thompson’s A Peaceable Kingdom. He has also prepared Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for Daniel Barenboim and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler's Second Symphony for Zubin Mehta and the I. P. O., Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms for Gary Bertini and the Jerusalem Symphony, Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw for Piero Bellugi and the New England Conservatory Orchestra. In 2011 Jacobson launched "Middle Eastern Harmonies," a program bringing together on stage Jewish and Arab music and musicians. He has performed the program for diverse audiences throughout New England.
Here are excerpts from some press reviews. Richard Dyer wrote in the Boston Globe (June11, 2002) “Jacobson has a gift for programming that is instructive and entertaining, and more often than not, the Zamir Chorale performs works that music lovers would be unlikely to hear anyplace else.” Philip Greenfield in the American Record Guide (March/April, 2002), “The Zamir Chorale of Boston has become America’s foremost Jewish choral ensemble.” Kevin Gabriel in The Worcester Telegram and Gazette (March 25, 1996), “Jacobson led polished performances that emphasized clarity and balance. And the chorale’s professionalism was everywhere evident, particlularly in its unflagging attention to detail.”
Joshua R. Jacobson holds a Bachelors degree in Music from Harvard College, a Masters in Choral Conducting from the New England Conservatory, a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati, and a Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa from Hebrew College. Before retiring in 2018, Dr. Jacobson served 45 years as Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Northeastern University, including nine years as Music Department Chairman and six years as the Bernard Stotsky Professor of Jewish Cultural Studies. He is also Visiting Professor and Senior Consultant in the School of Jewish Music at Hebrew College. He is also the founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston, a world-renowned ensemble, specializing in Hebrew music. He has conducted workshops on choral music for various groups, including the American Choral Directors Association, and has guest conducted a number of ensembles, including the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Symphony and Chorus, the New England Conservatory Orchestra and the Boston Lyric Opera Company. He has also written articles on various aspects of choral music, and over one hundred published compositions and arrangements. In 1989 he spent four weeks in Yugoslavia as a Distinguished Professor under the auspices of the Fulbright program. In 1994 Hebrew College awarded him the Benjamin Shevach Award for Distinguished Achievement in Jewish Educational Leadership, in 2004 the Cantors Assembly presented him with its prestigious “Kavod Award,” in 2016 Choral Arts New England presented him the Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2018 Chorus America selected him for its Distinguished Service Award. Prof. Jacobson is past President of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. He is the conductor and host of the PBS film, Zamir: Jewish Voices Return to Poland. His book, Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation, published by the Jewish Publication Society in 2002, was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. He is co-author of Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire—Volume IV: Hebrew Texts, published by earthsongs in 2009.
Prof. Jacobson’s articles have appeared in The Choral Journal, the American Choral Review, The Journal of Synagogue Music, Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, Encyclopedia Judaica, Studies in Jewish Civilization, Yale University Institute of Sacred Music Colloquium, The Musical Quarterly, and others. His compositions, arrangements and editions have been performed by ACDA honors choirs, by the Boston Pops and Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and by the St. Olaf College Choirs, among others. His music is published by Transcontinental, ECS, Broude Brothers and Earthsongs. He has guest lectured at Harvard, Brandeis, Yale, and many other schools. In addition to his specialization in Jewish music, he has conducted many of the standard choral-orchestral masterworks, including Bach’s Johannespassion, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Poulenc’s Gloria, Schubert’s Mass in E-flat, Thompson’s A Peaceable Kingdom. He has also prepared Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony for Daniel Barenboim and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler's Second Symphony for Zubin Mehta and the I. P. O., Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms for Gary Bertini and the Jerusalem Symphony, Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw for Piero Bellugi and the New England Conservatory Orchestra. In 2011 Jacobson launched "Middle Eastern Harmonies," a program bringing together on stage Jewish and Arab music and musicians. He has performed the program for diverse audiences throughout New England.
Here are excerpts from some press reviews. Richard Dyer wrote in the Boston Globe (June11, 2002) “Jacobson has a gift for programming that is instructive and entertaining, and more often than not, the Zamir Chorale performs works that music lovers would be unlikely to hear anyplace else.” Philip Greenfield in the American Record Guide (March/April, 2002), “The Zamir Chorale of Boston has become America’s foremost Jewish choral ensemble.” Kevin Gabriel in The Worcester Telegram and Gazette (March 25, 1996), “Jacobson led polished performances that emphasized clarity and balance. And the chorale’s professionalism was everywhere evident, particlularly in its unflagging attention to detail.”
JOSHUA JACOBSON
Titles S-Z Recommended Jewish Choral Music
title: Sacred Service (Avodath Hakodesh)
composer: Bloch, Ernest
publisher: Broude Brothers
catalogue number:
voicing: SATB (div), solo baritone
accompaniment: orchestra
language: Hebrew (optional English)
text: Sabbath morning liturgy
year of composition: 1933
timing: 50 minutes
recordings: SONY SM2K47533
level of difficulty: challenging
description: It took Bloch four years to complete his Sacred Service (Avodat Ha-kodesh). Although it was commissioned to be based on the Sabbath morning liturgy, this grand work, with its universal themes, its post-romantic organic conception, scored for large orchestra, chorus, and baritone soloist, is more appropriate for the concert stage than for the synagogue bimah. Bloch himself considered it more a sacred Hebrew oratorio than a Jewish liturgical service.
title: Sa’enu (Carry Us to the Desert)
composer: folk (arranged by Charles Davidson)
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 990744
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: a cappella
language: Hebrew (English alternative text)
text: Alexander Penn
year of composition: 1965 (arrangement) (song c. 1927)
timing: 3:35
recordings:
level of difficulty: moderate
description: This is a magical arrangement of a popular Israeli song. Generally the sopranos carry the melody, which is based on a Bedouin folk song, while the lower parts weave a bell-like accompaniment.
title: Samachti (I Was Glad)
composer: Charles Osborne
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 991488
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: piano (or orchestra)
language: Hebrew
text: Psalm 122
year of composition: c. 1995
timing: 2:11
recordings: Jewish Composers in America
level of difficulty: easy to moderate
description: This lyrical setting of the Jerusalem pilgrims’ Psalm is in strophic form, with the second strophe adding an ingratiating descant countermelody.
title: Sanctus
composer: Bernstein, Leonard
publisher: Boosey
catalogue number: G Schirmer 11973
voicing: SATB div
accompaniment: piano (optional bongos)
language: Hebrew, Latin, English
text: Isaiah 6, Psalm 118
year of composition: 1973
timing: 4:30
recordings: Sony 63089
level of difficulty: challenging
description: This excerpt from Bernstein’s theatre piece, MASS, is a wonderful choice for an interfaith concert or service. It includes the “Sanctification” in English, Latin and Hebrew. Moderate difficulty. Full of joyous Bernstein rhythms.
title: Service Sacré
composer: Darius Milhaud
publisher: Salabert
catalogue number: EAS15270A
voicing: SATB div, baritone solo
accompaniment: orchestra (or organ or piano)
language: Hebrew (alternate French)
text: liturgy
year of composition: 1947
timing: 56:00
recordings: Naxos
level of difficulty: moderate
description: In this most charming setting of the Jewish Sabbath liturgy, Milhaud subconsciously evokes the synagogue melodies of his childhood. This work is not as through-composed as Bloch’s more famous setting; various sections can be added or omitted.
title: Seven Sephardic Love Songs (Don Amadi, Esta Rakhel, Nani Nani, Durme, Por que Llorax, Di me Rozina, Morenica)
composer: Yehezkel Braun (arranged by Joshua Jacobson)
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 982024, 982025, 982012, 982022, 982013, 982023, 982021
voicing: SATB, SAA, and TB (S solo)
accompaniment: piano
language: Ladino
text: folk
year of composition: 1981
timing: 17:00
recordings: Sepharad 92 (HZ-903)
level of difficulty: moderate
description: In 1981 Israeli composer Yehezkel Braun composed “Seven Sephardic Romances,” a song cycle for soprano and piano. This work was based on love songs from the ancient traditions of Jews who lived in Spain prior to the sixteenth century. The Ladino language is a jargon combining elements of Castilian Spanish and Hebrew, with the former predominating. In 1990 Joshua Jacobson arranged the entire cycle for mixed chorus. Each number could be performed separately, or the conductor could create his/her own suite.
title: Sevivon (Hanukah Spinning Toy)
composer: folk (arranged by Steven Barnett)
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 991293
voicing: satb (div)
accompaniment: a cappella
language: Hebrew
text: folk
year of composition: 1981 (arranged)
timing: 1:30
recordings: Lights
level of difficulty: moderate
description: This traditional Ashkenazic folksong is about the “sevivon” or “dreydel,” a children’s spinning toy for Chanukah. Barnett’s engaging setting utilizes snappy rhythms and jazz harmonies, but is not too difficult to learn.
title: Shavu'ot (Festival Commemorating the Revelation on Mount Sinai)
composer: Joshua Jacobson
publisher: Transcontinental Music Publications
catalogue number: 991455
voicing: SATB (divisi)
accompaniment: a cappella
timing: 4:45
language: Hebrew
text: Exodus 20 and a hymn by the eleventh-century German Rabbi Meir Ben Yitzhak
year of composition: 1991
recordings: Seasons of Our Joy (HZ-908)
level of difficulty: moderate, somewhat challenging
description: The holiday of Shavu'ot celebrates the first harvest of Spring and commemorates the giving of the Decalogue at Mt. Sinai. This composition is an attempt to convey some of the mystery surrounding the theophany, the revelation of the Lord’s presence. The text of the Ten Commandments is preceded and followed by verses from an eleventh-century hymn that is chanted in the synagogue on Shavu'ot. Traditional Ashkenazic melodies for both texts have been utilized in this composition. The antiphonal effects of this piece work best if the choir abandons the stage and surrounds the audience on opposite sides of the hall. The aleatoric sections are meant to simulate a deep reverberation, as if the voices were being echoed in an extremely resonant chamber. This piece is most effective performed by a large choir performing in a reverberant venue.
title: Shedemati (My Field)
composer: Yedidyah Admon (arranged by Joshua Jacobson)
publisher: earthsongs
catalogue number:
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: piano (four hands), tof (middle-eastern drum)
language: Hebrew
text: Yitzhak Shenhar
year of composition: 1927
timing: 4:00
recordings: The Songs of Israel
level of difficulty: moderate
description: A farmer expresses his love for his land in this song from the early Jewish pioneers to the land of Israel. The melodies and harmonies are exotically modal.
title: Shir Hashirim (Cantici Canticorum Caput III) (Song of Songs, Chapter 3)
composer: Yehezkel Braun
publisher: Transcontinental Music Publications
catalogue number: 992035-25
voicing: SATB, solo soprano
accompaniment: a cappella
timing: 13:00
language: Hebrew (alternate English)
text: Song of Songs, chapter 3
year of composition: 1973
recordings: The Songs Live On
level of difficulty: moderate, somewhat challenging
description: Yehezkel Braun’s fascination with chanting is evident in many of his compositions, including this one. Braun’s textures are frequently woven of chant-like lines, soaked in colorful modalities and seeming to float above any sense of terrestrial meter. This six-movement work is a setting of the entire third chapter of the Biblical Song of Songs. It is a beautiful evocation of amorous dreams, the lively dancing of lovers, and the splendor of King Solomon’s court.
title: Shir LaShalom (Song for Peace)
composer: Yair Rosenbloom (arranged by Joshua Jacobson)
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 991450
voicing: SATB, solo alto or baritone
accompaniment: piano (optional drum set and bass)
language: Hebrew
text: Yaacov Rothblith
year of composition: 1969, arranged in 1993
timing: 2:49
recordings: The Songs of Israel
level of difficulty: moderate
description: An arrangement of the “Song for Peace” that was sung by Israeli prime minister Yizhak Rabin just before he was assassinated. It is part of medley, joined with “Al Kol Eileh,” a song acknowledging that our life encompasses both the good times and the bad.
title: Silent Devotion and Response (from "Sacred Service")
composer: Ernest Bloch
publisher: Broude Brothers
catalogue number: BB 179
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: a cappella (optional prelude for organ)
timing: 2:15
language: Hebrew (alternate English)
text: Psalm 19:14
year of composition: 1933
recordings: The entire Sacred Service can be heard on SONY SM2K47533.
level of difficulty: moderate
description: This octavo is a brief excerpt from Bloch’s magnum opus, “Sacred Service” (“Avodat Hakodesh”), one of the only truly great choral-orchestral settings of the Jewish liturgy. The brief prelude (“silent devotion”) for keyboard (actually a reduction of the orchestration) may easily be omitted. This neo-romantic work gives the chorus the opportunity to show off its blend and its ability to phrase expressively. The tempo is slow, the mood is contemplative and the mode is Dorian.
title: Sim Shalom (Grant Peace)
composer: Max Janowski
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 986022
voicing: SATB, T solo
accompaniment: organ or piano
language: Hebrew
text: liturgy
year of composition: 1968
timing: 5:00
recordings: The Songs Live On
level of difficulty: moderate
description: Janowski had a rare gift for melody, and his melodies were modal, invoking the strains of traditional Eastern European synagogue music. The chorus must be able to sustain a long phrase and to sing comfortably in the upper range of their voices. A powerful and dramatic tenor soloist is called for.
title: Simona MiDimona (Simona from the Town of Dimona)
composer: Shlomo Weissfish (arranged by Joshua Jacobson)
publisher: earthsongs
catalogue number:
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: piano, tof (middle-eastern drum)
language: Hebrew
text: Chaim Shalmoni
year of composition: c. 1960 (arranged in 1998)
timing: 2:25
recordings: The Songs of Israel
level of difficulty: moderate
description: A vivacious song from Israel, in which a young man expresses his ardent love for Simona, the dark beauty of the desert.
title: Song of Praise
composer: Robert Starer
publisher: MMB
catalogue number: MMB 89001
voicing: mostly unison (some two-part), any combination of voices
accompaniment: piano (or harp, violin and cello)
timing: 4:40
language: Hebrew and English
text: from Psalm 92
year of composition: 1988
recordings: Jewish Composers in America
level of difficulty: easy
description: Robert Starer belongs to the generation of young Jewish musicians who fled Austria in the 1930s. After spending a decade in Jerusalem, Starer eventually settled in the United States. “Song of Praise” is one of Starer’s many works in which he alternates Hebrew and English lyrics. The writing is basically tonal (or modal), but frequent and unexpected modulations are common. The voicing is flexible enough so that this piece works equally well with all-male, all-female or mixed choirs, large or small. This is the first of four choruses in the Psalm suite, Mizmor L’David.
title: Souls on Fire
composer: Charles Osborne
publisher: ZC Music
catalogue number:
voicing: SATB (SATB soli, narrators)
accompaniment: orchestra
language: English and Hebrew
text: Aryeh Finkelstein
year of composition: 1998
timing: 75 minutes
recordings: ZC Music 9001
level of difficulty: challenging
description: Osborne’s oratorio was inspired by Elie Wiesel’s book of the same title, chronicling the lives of the Hassidic masters. The work is characterized by a remarkable variety of expression. But lurking beneath the surface is a reminder of the anguish of the Holocaust. Portions of this work (notably “Shalom Aleykhem”) can be excerpted and performed with piano accompaniment.
title: Survivor from Warsaw, A
composer: Arnold Schoenberg
publisher: Boelke-Bomart
catalogue number:
voicing: TB unison, narrator
accompaniment: large orchestra
language: English, German, Hebrew
text: Schoenberg & Deuteronomy 6
year of composition: 1947
timing: 6:30
recordings: Sony 44571
level of difficulty: difficult
description: A devastating setting of the composer’s own text describing a round-up of Jewish prisoners in the Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War. The male chorus sings a twelve-tone row in unison at the end of this miniature oratorio.
title: Tefillah (Prayer for the State of Israel)
composer: Burger, David
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 992018
voicing: SATB div
accompaniment: piano
language: Hebrew
text: liturgy, prayer for the State of Israel
year of composition: 1975
timing: 4:40
recordings: The Songs of Israel
level of difficulty: moderate, somewhat challenging
description: Burger’s music reflects his strongly emotion ties to the Jewish people. This prayer for peace in the State of Israel is lyrical, yet powerful. Not too difficult.
title: Tikun Chatsot (Midnight Vigil)
composer: Mordecai Seter
publisher: IMI
catalogue number:
voicing: 3 choirs, tenor solo
accompaniment: large orchestra
language: Hebrew
text: Mordecai Tabib, based on traditional texts
year of composition: 1961
timing: 32:00
recordings: Capriccio 10-368
level of difficulty: challenging
description: A huge oratorio based on mystical visions that come to a worshipper who prays through the night. A synthesis of Yemenite Jewish melodies with Bartokian techniques.
title: Tikvateinu (Hatikvah Hanoshanah) (Our Ancient Hope)
composer: David Burger
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 982031
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: piano
language: Hebrew
text: N. H. Imber
year of composition: 1978
timing: 5:00
recordings: The Songs Live On, Seasons of Our Joy
level of difficulty: moderate
description: Burger’s setting of Imber’s 1878 poem should not be confused with the national anthem of the State of Israel. Although the lyrics are similar, Burger’s music is original, in a captivating emotional style, influenced by the popular American folk revival of the 1960s.
title: Tov Lehodos (It Is Good to Give Thanks)
composer: Franz Schubert
publisher: Broude Brothers
catalogue number: CR 43
voicing: SATB, baritone solo and SATB quartet
accompaniment: a cappella (optional organ)
language: Hebrew (alternate English)
text: Psalm 92
year of composition: 1828
timing: 4:15
recordings: Majesty of Holiness
level of difficulty: moderate
description: In 1828 Cantor Salomon Sulzer commissioned Schubert to compose a setting in Hebrew of the Sabbath Psalm for his renowned choir. The work, in ABA form, is in the style of the part songs of the early Romantic period.
title: Tsen Brider (Ten Brothers) (The Jewish Death Song)
composer: Martin Rosenberg (arranger: Joshua Jacobson)
publisher: Transcontinental Music Publications
catalogue number: 991433-12
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: piano
timing: 4:30
language: Yiddish
text: Martin Rosenberg
year of composition: 1942
recordings: Hear Our Voices (HZ-909)
level of difficulty: moderate
description: Martin Rosenberg, a conductor and educator in pre-war Poland and Germany, was arrested by the Gestapo in 1939 and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where he was brutally tortured. As soon as he recovered, he organized and conducted a clandestine chorus of prisoners. When it became known that the Jewish prisoners of Sachsenhausen were to be transferred to the death camp at Auschwitz, Rosenberg composed this gruesome parody on an old Yiddish folksong called “Tsen Brider.” In Rosenberg’s version, which he called a “Jewish Requiem,” the ten brothers are murdered, one after the other, in the gas chambers. This rearrangement of “Tsen Brider” for mixed chorus conveys the horror and irony of this Holocaust lament in a musical language that is simple and direct.
title: Uri Tsiyon (Arise, O Zion)
composer: Moshe Wilensky
publisher: Transcontinental Music Publications
catalogue number: 992019
voicing: SATB
accompaniment: a cappella
timing: 2:30
language: Hebrew
text: Isaiah 52:1
year of composition: 1959
recordings: The Songs of Israel
level of difficulty: moderate
description: One of the favorite themes of the “enlightened” Jews of the nineteenth century and the Zionist Jews of the early twentieth century was that of the Jewish people awakening from centuries of slumber to begin a new life. The words of the ancient prophet Isaiah (“Awake, O Zion! Clothe yourself in splendor… arise, shake off the dust, sit on your throne, Jerusalem!”) were exceedingly relevant to this modern audience. Moshe Wilenski’s setting of these lyrics captures the excitement of this renaissance. “Uri Tsiyon” is based on the Mixolydian mode and is replete with the syncopated rhythms of the horah dance. There is a great deal of variety in this little piece: homophony and polyphony, dynamic changes, modulations. A rousing way to end or begin a concert program.
title: Zol Shoyn Kumen Di Ge’uleh (May Our Redemption Come Soon)
composer: Abraham Cook (arranged by Joshua Jacobson)
publisher: Transcontinental
catalogue number: 991435 (SA version is 993109)
voicing: SATB divisi (or SA) with solo (any voice)
accompaniment: piano
language: Yiddish
text: Shmerke Kaczerginski
year of composition:
timing: 3:40
recordings: Hear Our Voices
level of difficulty: easy to moderate
description: Kaczerginski created this song as a vehicle to raise the morale of the Holocaust survivors he met in the DP camps after the Second World War. It has a wonderful refrain for audience participation.
title: Zol Zain Sholom (Let There Be Peace)
composer: folk (arranged by Joshua Jacobson)
publisher: World Music Press
catalogue number: 24 (24A for SA chorus)
voicing: SATB or SA, solo any voice
accompaniment: piano
language: Yiddish (or English)
text: folk
year of composition:
timing:
recordings: An Hour in the Garden of Eden, The Monster and the Nightingale
level of difficulty: easy
description: A joyous Yiddish call-and-response song from Eastern Europe