# Is there such a thing as "Jewishness" in music?



## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

I think it depends on what the composer wants to put into it, and for what reasons. If a "quality" comes through in the music, it is because the composer's identity is the impetus. 
Since Copland is an American, and I think he would have self-defined his identity that way, and subsequently, his music sounds American, not Jewish. 
Bernstein seems to have accepted his heritage by openly composing Kaddish and keeping his name intact.

There may be other, less obvious 'meta-factors' at play here. For example, George Gershwin's music may not sound "Jewish" (except for maybe that opening clarinet in "Rhapsody in Blue" which rings of klezmer), but it does sound like jazz, which is essentially black music, invented by blacks. So there is an element of Gershwin feeling like 'the outsider,' and also the desire to identify with a cultural, social element, such as black jazz, in order to assimilate into the prevailing culture.

This would be an example of the Romantic ethos, the attitude that "becoming" is better than "being."_ 'Being' _is static, and represents the established order, while 'becoming' can be accomplished by anyone, and is self-defining. This is how the Romantics viewed history, as transcending the established order of the past, where social hierarchy was strictly defined (being) and was already set in stone.

Mahler's identification in his 8th symphony, with Beethoven's Ninth "everyman" spirituality, transcending Christianity, shows how the Romantic view of the world, with its rejection of the past established order, was so appealing to all the proletariat, especially those marginalized by poverty or other reasons.

That reminds me of F.Scott Fitzgerald saying, "The wealthy _really are _different than us," to which Ernest Hemingway replied, "Yes, they have more money."

So "being" in the static sense has been replaced in our supposedly democratic era with "becoming," or the potential of everyman to excel. That's why nobody in their right mind wants to be stuck in an "identity" that they have been handed, as a result of a static set of qualities, be they genetic, ethnic, or cultural. Hopefully, the internet will go further in reinforcing this, with its delicious quality of being able to remain relatively anonymous, and to "assimilate" into various places of interaction without being charged with any past "baggage" that they may possess, either by "being" something, or having "become" something, both of which are targets for Human aggression, in the form of "identity branding."


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

I cant remember when or what, but I think klezmer music is represented a lot in classical music


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## Oskaar (Mar 17, 2011)

Naxos has a very good series of jewish classical music.

Milken Archive of American Jewish Music


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