Over the past eighteen months, I have been researching Jewish art music from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries with a view to promoting and performing it, particularly since most is little- or unknown. Although the project is still in its early days, below is a quick summary so far...


Despite that Jewish musicians occupied some of the most prominent positions in courts and noble houses throughout Europe during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, their music is often deplorably neglected. As composers, many remained only locally well-known due to social or community pressures, but many more continued to build a renowned career despite the strictures imposed on their lives. No less impressive is the number of Gentile composers who were moved to write music on Jewish, or at least Hebrew, themes. Occasionally, they were commissioned by a local Jewish community to do so for a particular celebration; more often, they wrote such music out of curiosity or affection for Jewish culture.

However, although the earliest example of Jewish art music is found in the twelfth-century Cairo Geniza by Obadiah haGer (Obadiah the Proselyte), it was not until the sixteenth century that it really began to develop. As humanism swept Western Europe, many Jewish communities found themselves abandoning their age-old isolation and beginning for the first time to study Western music, painting, dancing, theatre and philosophy. This was one of the rare periods in which religious cultures coexisted peacefully and had no corrosive effect upon each other; whilst Jews were prominent in secular life, they remained steeped in religious tradition and were devoted to traditional religious scholarship.

Following their integration into secular life, the music of Jewish composers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries bears little or no relationship with the traditional music or synagogal chants of the time. It is not part of the Sephardic or Ashkenazic folk tradition, and it does not often incorporate the traditional melodies with which the composers would have grown up. It is, for the most part, indistinguishable with the music of their Christian counterparts. Even the most Jewish of compositions, Shir haShirim asher liShlomo (The Songs of Solomon), by the most Jewish of composers, Salamone Rossi, does not differ greatly from the conventions of early Baroque music. However, that it is written in Hebrew, and that Rossi, despite working closely with Gentile families and colleagues, never succumbed to the temptations of writing sacred Christian music, are testament to his deep involvement with his community.

Much of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music by Jewish composers, and by the considerable number of non-Jews who were interested in Jewish themes, has been forgotten or lost, either through time, or through the numerous pogroms which followed its composition and wiped out much of the European Jewish culture. If it is played today, it is generally only the choral music of such composers which is known. However, given that instrumental music used to play a large part in Jewish cultural life, and that Jews have traditionally held important roles in musical life, it seems apt to resurrect such music and bring it back to life. Furthermore, since Jewish law forbids the playing of instruments on the Sabbath and festivals, it is hardly surprising that many of the works were composed for voice. However, there is no small amount of instrumental music included in some of the vocal collections, and as stand-alone sets of music. It is also reasonable to suppose that, if performances took place outside the synagogue or community, instruments would have been used in vocal music also, either playing alone, or doubling voices.

The most famous of all early Jewish composers is, of course, the Venetian composer Salamone Rossi Hebreo, who was so highly regarded in his day that he escaped many of the strictures imposed upon Jews, such as the wearing of the distinctive yellow star. However, Jewish composers whose music is still in existence today, and who remained known as Jews and practising against all odds include the Bassano family, J.M. Blochwitz, Michele Bolaffi, Abraham Casseres, Davit da Civita, Francesco Drei, Volunio Gallachi, the Lupo brothers, Luys Milan, Allegro Porto and David Sacerdote. The activities of several others, including Isacchino Massarano, Rabbi Leon Modena, Israel Najara, Rabbi R.E. Hay Ricchi and Asher de Rossi are well documented, but their music has been lost.

Surprisingly, given the social difficulties faced by the Jews of the time, there were a large number of Gentile composers who were interested in Jewish, or at least Hebrew, themes, and who were moved to write for them. They include Adriano Banchieri, Giacomo Carissimi, François Couperin, Carlo Grossi, Orlando di Lasso, Cristian Giuseppe Lidarti, Benedetto Marcello, Louis Saladin, Ludovico Viadana and Thomas Weelkes, to name just a few.

These names form an impressive canon of composers whose work has been until now more or less neglected. Certainly, if the music has been played, it has been the vocal, which is more abundant than instrumental music. Since Jewish law forbids the playing of instruments on the Sabbath and festivals, it is not surprising that much of the Jewish music composed is vocal; however, there is every reason to suppose that, if performances took place outside a religious setting, instruments would have been used in vocal music to either double voices or take them over completely. Furthermore, there is no small amount of instrumental music included in some of the vocal collections, and as stand-alone sets of music, most of which is completely unknown despite its quality.

With thanks to Dr. Alexander Knapp and Professor Israel Adler for their help in this project.