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    Hazzanut History: Cantorial Music

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    Antonio Celso Ribeiro
    This document discusses the history and development of cantorial music or hazzanut. It describes how hazzanut was once a major form of entertainment for Jewish communities but became more focused on prayer over time. The golden age of hazzanut was in the early 20th century when famous cantors like Yossele Rosenblatt performed and recorded extensively. Today, even those who avoid lengthy cantorial performances in synagogue are often familiar with famous melodies. The document recommends exploring hazzanut through recordings of great 20th century cantors like Rosenblatt, Sirota, Hershman, Kwartin, and Koussevitzky to gain appreciation for this Jewish musical art form.

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    Hazzanut History: Cantorial Music

    Uploaded by

    Antonio Celso Ribeiro
    155 views2 pages
    This document discusses the history and development of cantorial music or hazzanut. It describes how hazzanut was once a major form of entertainment for Jewish communities but became more focused on prayer over time. The golden age of hazzanut was in the early 20th century when famous cantors like Yossele Rosenblatt performed and recorded extensively. Today, even those who avoid lengthy cantorial performances in synagogue are often familiar with famous melodies. The document recommends exploring hazzanut through recordings of great 20th century cantors like Rosenblatt, Sirota, Hershman, Kwartin, and Koussevitzky to gain appreciation for this Jewish musical art form.

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    This document discusses the history and development of cantorial music or hazzanut. It describes how hazzanut was once a major form of entertainment for Jewish communities but became more focused on prayer over time. The golden age of hazzanut was in the early 20th century when famous cantors like Yossele Rosenblatt performed and recorded extensively. Today, even those who avoid lengthy cantorial performances in synagogue are often familiar with famous melodies. The document recommends exploring hazzanut through recordings of great 20th century cantors like Rosenblatt, Sirota, Hershman, Kwartin, and Koussevitzky to gain appreciation for this Jewish musical art form.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    155 views2 pages

    Hazzanut History: Cantorial Music

    Uploaded by

    Antonio Celso Ribeiro
    This document discusses the history and development of cantorial music or hazzanut. It describes how hazzanut was once a major form of entertainment for Jewish communities but became more focused on prayer over time. The golden age of hazzanut was in the early 20th century when famous cantors like Yossele Rosenblatt performed and recorded extensively. Today, even those who avoid lengthy cantorial performances in synagogue are often familiar with famous melodies. The document recommends exploring hazzanut through recordings of great 20th century cantors like Rosenblatt, Sirota, Hershman, Kwartin, and Koussevitzky to gain appreciation for this Jewish musical art form.

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    Cantorial Music

    Learning to appreciate hazzanut (cantorial music)

    BY DAVID OLIVESTONE

    In a sense, it is the Jewish equivalent of classical music. Just as classical music is an


    acquired taste, hazzanut needs to be worked at to be understood. By becoming more
    familiar with it, one can learn to enjoy it.

    Hazzanut History
    At one time, before the advent of recordings and easy access to popular entertainment, a
    performance by a hazzan [cantor] and his choir was the major form of entertainment for
    Jewish people. But somehow, the line between entertainment and davening [praying]
    became blurred. Hazzanim started singing many elaborate pieces in synagogue that
    were composed for the concert stage but were never really intended to be used during
    davening.

    During the first half of the 20th century, hazzanut enjoyed what has become known as
    its golden age. While Yossele Rosenblattwas one of the first of Europe’s great hazzanim
    to move to America, he was not the only hazzan of his time to do so. Scores of highly
    talented hazzanim davened [prayed] in shul s in New York and other major cities.
    Recordings and concerts proliferated, and many of the most famous pieces of hazzanut
    were composed in that era.

    Today, even those who tend to avoid shuls where the chazzan gives lengthy
    performances can often sing or hum some famous cantorial melodies, such as
    “Sheyibaneh Beit Hamikdash,” “Shehecheyanu,” and “Retzei.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYLgromNzkk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBlc2VtLDhU

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP4LiS_JZNc

    Recordings
    You might like, therefore, to learn to appreciate hazzanut outside of a shul setting,
    through recordings and concerts. There is a vast range of recordings by virtually all the
    great hazzanim of the past century that you may sample to discover your preferences.

    Listen to the music a few times before you decide if you really like it. See how it
    reflects your own understanding of the words of the prayer. Or just enjoy it for the vocal
    artistry of the performer. Remember that–as in any art form–not every piece is of the
    same quality, and you have to learn how to be discriminating.

    Here are five of the greatest hazzanim of the 20th century, who have left us extensive
    recordings:

    • Yossele Rosenblatt (1882-1933) was one of the most prolific composers and


    recording artists of cantorial music. To hear his range–both vocal and emotional–listen
    to his “Hineni,” “Geshem” or “Ata Yatzarta.” His “Shir Hama’alot,” “Rachem Na,”
    “Vehu Rachum,” and “Kevakarat” are perhaps the most often-heard pieces that he made
    popular.

    • Gershon Sirota (1874-1943) was one of the most powerful and highly trained tenors
    of his time, with climactic top notes and outstanding voice control. The only one of the
    great hazzanim of his era not to accept a position in America, Sirota perished in the
    Warsaw Ghetto. You can hear the emotional intensity of his dramatic tenor voice in the
    famous “Retzei” and in his rendition of “Unetaneh Tokef.” You can also hear his
    extraordinary vocal agility in “Veshamru.”

    • Mordechai Hershman (1888-1940), one of a line of great hazzanim to serve at


    Temple Beth-El in Borough Park, Brooklyn, was a master of Yiddish folksong as well
    as hazzanut. The elegance and warmth of his singing and the power and sweetness of
    his tenor voice are evident in such pieces as “Eilu Devarim,” “Umipnei Chata’enu,” and
    “Tal.”

    • Zavel Kwartin (1874-1953) is best known for his rendition of “Tiher Rabbi


    Yishma’el,” one of the most dramatic and moving pieces of hazzanut ever written. The
    intensity of Kwartin’s phrasing and delivery in such pieces as “Ve’al Yedei Avadecha”
    and “Uveyom Simhatkhem,” make him very worthwhile listening to.

    • Moshe Koussevitzky (1899-1966) is still remembered by many as the greatest hazzan


    of the post-World War II era. He had a graceful and powerful lyric tenor with a
    phenomenal upper register with which he could do wonders. For sheer artistry, it is hard
    to beat his “Hashem Malach,” “Esa Einai,” or “Ledor Vador.” Koussevitzky’s rendition
    of Israel Schorr’s “Sheyibaneh Beit Hamikdash” is his most famous recording.

    There are, of course, many more hazzanim to listen to. Some of them may be easier to
    appreciate, such as Shmuel Malavsky, Moishe Oysher, Leibele Waldman, or Richard
    Tucker. If you would like to hear a live performance by some of the leading hazzanim
    of our day, look for concerts by Chaim Adler, Yitzchak Meir Helfgot, Joseph
    Malovany, Benzion Miller, Yaacov Motzen, and Benjamin Muller, among others.

    Since hazzanut is a genuinely Jewish art form, there is a special satisfaction involved in
    enjoying it. You may also discover that–through your enjoyment of the music–your
    familiarity with the words of the davening will be greatly enhanced. The rewards are
    many and varied, so buy your first tapes or CDs–in Judaica stores or on the Web–and
    learn to appreciate the unique manner in which generations of our people have chosen to
    speak to the Almighty–in words and in song.

    This   article looks at some of the great Orthodox cantors of yesterday and today. The
    non-Orthodox movements also have a rich heritage of great cantors, though they are
    omitted from this piece. Reprinted with permission from Jewish Action, the magazine of
    the  Orthodox Union.
    https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/cantorial-music/

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