# Music With Jewish Themes/Motifs



## Chrythes

Hi,
Recently I became interested in Classical Music influenced by Jewish music, mainly for my own pleasure but also for a possible future project. 
So far I've heard - 
Bloch - Violin Concerto/Avodat Hakodesh/Schelomo
Bernstein - Kaddish/Hashkiveinu
Shostakovich - From Jewish Folk Poetry/2nd Piano Trio
Prokofiev - Overture on Hebrew Themes

It's not much, so I'm asking for your help in gathering as much "Jewish" music as possible. 
Toda raba.


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## violadude

Chrythes said:


> Hi,
> Recently I become interested in Classical Music influenced by Jewish music, mainly for my own pleasure but also for a possible future project.
> So far I've heard -
> Bloch - Violin Concerto/Avodat Hakodesh/Schelomo
> Bernstein - Kaddish/Hashkiveinu
> Shostakovich - From Jewish Folk Poetry/2nd Piano Trio
> Prokofiev - Overture on Hebrew Themes
> 
> It's not much, so I'm asking for your help in gathering as much "Jewish" music as possible.
> Toda raba.


Add Suite Hebraique for viola and orchestra (or piano) to your Bloch listening list.

The 3rd movement of Mahler's 1st symphony has some Jewish moments.

Kimmo Hakola's clarinet concerto, the last movement at least, has some romping Jewishness to it.

Bernstein's 1st symphony has a Jewish theme too (Jeremiah)


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## joen_cph

_Some more on top of my head:_

Aron Copland:"Vitebsk", piano trio

Mikhail Gnesin:The Jewish Ball at Nottingham

John McCabe: Chagall Windows, orchestral suite

Asger Hamerik: Jewish Trilogy

Max Bruch: Kol Nidrei

Herman D. Koppel: Moses Oratorio; Psalms of David

Paul Dessau, K.A. Hartmann etc.:"Jüdische Chronik"

Joseph Achron: Hebrew Melody

+ works by Noam Sheriff & Paul Ben-Haim


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## PetrB

Aaron Copland ~ Vitebsk 'Study on a Jewish Theme for violin, violoncello, and piano' -- a piano trio, in all but name: and a strong work in his 'downtown' non-populist style. Worthy of much more play and exposure.

Lukas Foss ~ Song of Songs. Lovely neoclassical, soprano and orchestra. Since the Old Testament is about as Jewish as it Gets.








Morton Feldman ~ Rabbi Akiba, for soprano and chamber ensemble / though 'textless' I would include his rite-like Rothko Chapel.

Certainly Leonard Bernstein's "Kaddish" Symphony

Darius Milhaud ~ Kaddish, for cantor, chorus and organ, Op.250

Ditto Ravel's "Deux Mélodies hébraïques": here is the Kaddish, as sung by Victoria de Los Angeles (sigh




and All of it, with Barbara Hendricks (sigh II 





[Personally, I find those Bloch works more than guilty of what Nikolas Slonimsky called 'Musical exoticism' (I call it musical tourism) -- i.e. a slight adaption of a scale by an 'outsider,' which renders a postcard snapshot of a non-western cultural object as conceived of by a European (all those fun and mannered David Roberts watercolors of the Egyptian ruins of antiquity)
British composer Kettleby's "in a persian market," etc. in other words, a form of kitsch. - That is just my opinion, but a lot of people, at least currently, find the Bloch, uh, 'corny,']


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## Ukko

Re Bloch - there is a Praga CD (PRD/DSD 250 271) "Ernest Bloch -From Jewish Life" containing works for cello and piano. The pieces:

From Jewish life (1924)
Nigun (transcription for cello and piano)
Meditation Hebraique (1924)
Voice in the Wilderness (1935)
Visions and Prophecies (1936)
Suite no. 3 for solo cello (1957)

Nowhere does the documentation say so, but it plays in a CD player, so it's a hybrid CD/SACD.


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## Sid James

*Milhaud*, already mentioned, has a _Service Sacre_, on the Naxos label. Great piece, more a fusion of Jewish and other things, eg. ancient Christian choral styles and of course his trademark polyrhythms.

*Josef Tal*, his symphonies on cpo label (I've got disc one - Nos. 1-3), have Jewish-type melodies in a modern symphonic setting (instrumental).

*Castelnuovo-Tedesco* did some Jewish themed choral/vocal things after his exile to USA. That's on the *Naxos Milken Archive of American Jewish Music series*, as are loads of other stuff (incl. Milhaud above). But I've not got many of them, there's lots of stuff there.

Less stricly on topic perhaps, Schoenberg's _Survivor from Warsaw _ends with a traditional Jewish chant for male voices (Hear, O Israel).


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## Chi_townPhilly

"Shema Yisroel" makes an appearance in Schönberg's _A Survivor from Warsaw_...


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## Sid James

Chrythes said:


> ...
> Shostakovich - From Jewish Folk Poetry/2nd Piano Trio
> ...


Shostakovich put Jewish themes in his music esp. in the 1940's, as a reaction to the Holcaust. He didn't know it, but Stalin was planning a pogrom, but luckily carced it before that could go ahead. Naturally, these works were not performed until after Stalin's death. Other works like this are his _String Quartets 4 & 8_ (same Jewish tune in latter as _Piano Trio #2_), also _Violin Concerto #1_ (written for David Oistrakh, who was Jewish).


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## Sid James

Also, just listened to THIS EMI set last week, which includes *Zemlinsky's* only piece based on Jewish sacred texts, a piece for weddings, _Hochzeitgesang, Jewish liturgical piece for tenor, chorus & organ_. Like many composers of Jewish heritage, he had to convert to Christianity to make a career in music, so this is his only work of this sort.


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## Sid James

Something by David Diamond also comes to mind? Others may know.


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## Lukecash12

A short little piano piece.






That was a Jewish hymn, and the rest of the set is here:


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## Lukecash12

Two more hymns:











A psalm, which happens to be my favorite short piece of Alkan's involving the piano, falling just short of his shorter organ/pedalier pieces that I adore:


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## Lukecash12

And now, Thalberg's Moses Fantasty, a true masterpiece:


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## Lukecash12

Tomorrow I'll really get cracking with some Meyerbeer, Mosches, etc. I've get an index at home of this stuff.


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## itywltmt

Canadian composer *Srul Irving Glick* comes to mind. Here's a link to his page at the _Canadian Music Centre_ wuth links to 88 archival streams (To hear the streams, you must sign up - quick, painless and free):
http://www.musiccentre.ca/apps/index.cfm?fuseaction=composer.FA_dsp_biography&authpeopleid=336&by=G


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## Chrythes

Thank you for all the recommendations! It will keep me busy for a while. 
I listened to Bernstein's 1st symphony and it was rather underwhelming. The third movement was the most interesting one, I guess the other two were merely introductions, but still I was expecting a bit more from a man that seems to understand works of geniuses so thoroughly. I will try his Third. 

Lukas Foss ~ Song of Songs on the other hand was indeed lovely, as Thalberg's - Moses Fantasia (but some parts, especially the end, were a bit too "sweet melodically", or something like that (maybe sentimental?). It's a great piece nonetheless). Alkan's psalm is also quite lovely, and differs a lot from the Alkan I've heard so far. Looking forward to your other suggestions Luke!

BTW, just an interesting probably unintentional "Jewishness" in Beethoven's music - The first bars of op.131 Adagio quasi un poco andante movement resemble Kol Nidrei. 

PetrB - I'm not sure how to respond to your comment about Bloch's corniness, but apparently he was Jewish and probably experienced the Jewish culture on a more personal and profound level than David Roberts experienced Egypt. If his musicality is the source of his corniness then I must listen to more of his works. I only heard his Violin Concerto and I thought it was quite good and enjoyable.


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## Lukecash12

Well, it turns out that that index was in a book that I got from the library a little while ago. I'll have to check it out again and get back to you this week.


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## Benny

M. Weinberg has a Symphonette on Jewish themes, and has some Jewish allusions in his Phapsody on Moldavian Themes (Klezmer style) and in his thrilling Cello Concerto.


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## hpowders

Bloch's Schelomo for cello and orchestra is probably as Jewish as it gets.


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## QuietGuy

Bernstein's _The Dybbuk_.


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## Bo Hyttner

Dear Joen,
I like to make one very important addition regarding Hamerik (who I believe was not Jewish himself) I am referring to Hameriks second symphony called Tragic. The second movement is called Andante Penitente. The motive is exactly the same as in the Kol Nidrei cermony! It is truly very strange indeed, with the echos of the famous main motif between the brass and the Orchestra, repeating the motif. I wish somebody could explain this. Penitente means repenting....
All the best
Bo Hyttner
Stockholm, Sweden


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## elgar's ghost

Lees - Symphony no. 4 ("Memorial Candles")
Korngold - Prayer op. 32
J. Weiberg - Shabbat Ba'aretz
Wolpe - The Man From Midian


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## brotagonist

Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes

This short piece for string quartet, clarinet and piano appears on the String Quartets album by the Russian String Quartet. It is most enjoyable, very much a work by Prokofiev, but there are noticeable klezmer influences.


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## Simon Moon

Schoenberg - Moses and Aron

The "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuÿle" section of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition".

About 2 Jews, one rich and one poor. The rich Jew is represented by the low strings, the poor Jew represented by the high trumpet.

According to Wiki: The use of augmented second intervals approximates Jewish modes such as the Phrygian dominant scale. The movement is in ternary form (A|B|A+B)


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## hpowders

Mahler Symphony No.1 Funeral March, Second Section.


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## isorhythm

Reich - Tehillim and You Are Variations.


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## joen_cph

Bo Hyttner said:


> I like to make one very important addition regarding Hamerik (who I believe was not Jewish himself) I am referring to Hameriks second symphony called Tragic. The second movement is called Andante Penitente. The motive is exactly the same as in the Kol Nidrei cermony! It is truly very strange indeed, with the echos of the famous main motif between the brass and the Orchestra, repeating the motif. I wish somebody could explain this. Penitente means repenting....


_Hej_,

you´ve probably done a good deal of research, and unfortunately studies on Hamerik are sparse, but I´ll keep it in mind & inform about it, if something turns up on the radar. BTW, I don´t have the liner notes of the Dacapo CD series with Hamerik´s symphonies right here, but no doubt you know them too; others might be interested in the existence of that series.


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## Mandryka

Wixjdwjdhdhbanausksp ja


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## cjvinthechair

Pancho Vladigerov - Jewish Poem 



Moses Pergament - The Jewish Song choral symphony 



 (link to prelude)
Tina Mauko - Jewish Rhapsody 



 (link to part 1)

+ others to which I can't post YT links


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## pianississimo

Sid James said:


> Shostakovich put Jewish themes in his music esp. in the 1940's, as a reaction to the Holcaust. He didn't know it, but Stalin was planning a pogrom, but luckily carced it before that could go ahead. Naturally, these works were not performed until after Stalin's death. Other works like this are his _String Quartets 4 & 8_ (same Jewish tune in latter as _Piano Trio #2_), also _Violin Concerto #1_ (written for David Oistrakh, who was Jewish).


His extraordinary piano trio from 1944 (Op.67) also. I heard it played live on Wednesday. The 'Danse Macarbre' fourth movement is so moving and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. This was a reaction to stories of the Red Army discoveries of concentration camps where the survivors told of being made to dance on the graves that they'd been forced to dig.
Brilliant music and proof that music is the best history book.


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## science

Golijov's _Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind_ and _Ayre_

Berlinski's _From the World of My Father_, _Shofar Service_, etc.


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## csacks

Just to add music about Jewish themes, I would add all the oratories written about old testament themes. Some of them, as the famous theme From Haendel´s Judas Maccabeus was used by Beethoven for beautiful variations for cello and piano (WwO 45). This particular theme has been adopted in most conservatives synagogues down here in south america.


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## Headphone Hermit

it isn't an 'obvious' candidate for inclusion on this thread and not all violinists play it in such a way that you can hear it, but when I first heard *Nathan Milstein * play the slow movement of *Tchaikovsky's violin concerto*, I could immediately imagine walking along a dusty road towards a Jewish village in nineteenth century Russia


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## manyene

And it turns up in some unexpected places such as the use of the shofar in Elgar's 'The Apostles'.

My eyes were opened some years ago when I came across klezmer music in its classic form, with its prominent use of clarinet and violin soloists: its influence, on Mahler especially, is very noticeable. Not forgetting the sheer enjoyment and excitement of this art form.


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## metro845

Two essential books on Jewish music in general include extensive discussion of classical music by Jewish composers and compositions with Jewish themes:
Music in Jewish History and Culture (Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, 2006) by Emmanuel Rubin and John H. Baron.The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Music (Cambridge Companions to Music, 2016) edited by Joshua S. Walden.


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## Pugg

metro845 said:


> Two essential books on Jewish music in general include extensive discussion of classical music by Jewish composers and compositions with Jewish themes:
> Music in Jewish History and Culture (Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music, 2006) by Emmanuel Rubin and John H. Baron.The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Music (Cambridge Companions to Music, 2016) edited by Joshua S. Walden.


I do hope O.P still is around.


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## hpowders

In the third movement of the Mahler Symphony 1, he uses Klezmer band effects, characteristic of the Jewish Shtetls (villages) found in Eastern Europe.


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## rojaba

I think someone already mentioned Salomone Rossi, worth adding there's an Israeli ensemble called Profeti della Quinta who have done some beautiful recordings of his work. http://quintaprofeti.com/

Profeti della Quinta have also composed their own music in this Renaissance/early baroque style


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## jailhouse

Steve Reich's Tehillim is criminally underrated by purist snobs. Trust me, just listen to it

(specifically the 'Alarm Will Sound' recording - by far the best)


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## Judith

I think Baal Shem No 2 composed by Bloch reminds me of pre-pogram times when Jewish people lived in Shtetls in Russia!!


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## MarkW

Mahler has a lot of Klezmer moments, which are there for irony as much as anything. 4th movement of the 10th Symphony is good example (Lopes-Cobos' recording of Mazetti II version brings them out superbly).


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## Guest

How has no one mentioned John Zorn?


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## pcnog11

This CD should be in your collection:

Tradition Itzhak Perlman Plays Popular Jewish Melodies


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## 20centrfuge

As far as I know, Bloch is the poster child for Jewish music. Seriously, I think every one of his pieces has Jewish themes, allusions, historical contexts -- in short, some serious Jewish-ness.


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## Pugg

Maurice Ravel wrote Mélodies hébraïques for violin and piano.


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## Orfeo

*Weinberg*: Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes
-->


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## hpowders

Mahler Symphony 1. Klezmer influences.


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## Pugg

Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) His opera _Esther de Carpentras_ draws on this rich musical heritage.


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## hpowders

Dinicu Hora Staccato.


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## Pugg

Viktor Ullmann: take your choice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Ullmann#Theresienstadt_works


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## Meyerbeer Smith

Halévy's _Juive_. Opera about anti-Semitism, performed in 1835. Complete with representation of the Passover Seder.

Meyerbeer's music uses Jewish themes, according to Pencak, who believes he was carrying a Jewish message to a Christian world (https://muse.jhu.edu/article/534050).


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## Heck148

Chrythes said:


> Hi,
> Recently I became interested in Classical Music influenced by Jewish music, mainly for my own pleasure but also for a possible future project.
> It's not much, so I'm asking for your help in gathering as much "Jewish" music as possible.
> Toda raba.


Bernstein - Sym #1 "Jeremiah"
Marc Lavry - "Emek" - Symphonic poem...1936 - probably the most "Jewish" work in know..


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## Rowan Ackerman

Leonard Bernstein Chichester Psalms
Many non-liturgical Requia have Old Testament influence or even full pieces.


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