Synagogue choral music of nineteenth-century Vienna, Paris, and Berlin: Its repertoire and history

In 1623, Salamone Rossi (c.1570-c.1630) published the world's first collection of notated choral music for the synagogue in Western, late-Renaissance style. Following this singular achievement in synagogue composition, no significant choral activity occurred in Jewish music until the tenure of Salomon Sulzer (1804-1890) in Vienna. Sulzer's publication in 1839 of the first comprehensive collection of choral-cantorial repertoire for the Jewish liturgy unleashed a wave of interest in synagogue choral music throughout Europe, most notably in two other major compendiums of new Jewish choral repertoire, published by Samuel Naumbourg (1815-1880) in Paris and Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894) in Berlin.;Sulzer obtained both a Jewish and Western music education; in addition to being a cantor and synagogue composer, he was a famous vocalist in the secular world, specializing in the art songs of Schubert. During his long career as cantor at Vienna's Seitenstettengasse Temple, Sulzer published two volumes of synagogue choral music, entitled Schir Zion (1839 and 1865). These collections tie together three musical elements; they include edited transcriptions of traditional cantorial chants, new music by Sulzer, and music that Sulzer commissioned from his non-Jewish contemporaries.;The circumstances that permitted Sulzer's great achievement in Vienna (and, ultimately, parallel achievements by synagogue composers in Paris and Berlin) center around two phenomena of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Jewish Emancipation, which began its rumblings in the late eighteenth century, opened doors to allow Jews to participate in society. The Reform movement in Judaism inspired Jews to re-imagine new formats and possibilities for worship; however, it also tended to extend too far in eradicating important aspects of tradition, such as cantorial chant. Sulzer, Naumbourg, and Lewandowski managed to preserve much of the traditional art while also championing new music for Jewish worship.;Samuel Naumbourg brought his German training and sensibility to Paris, where he worked alongside his Jewish colleagues, Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) and Jacques Halevy (1799-1862), who achieved great fame for their French Grand Operas. As cantor for the Ashkenazi Temple, Naumbourg composed new music for the synagogue in Grand Opera style and commissioned other composers, such as Halevy, to contribute compositions. The primary thematic material of Naumbourg's prayer setting, El Adon, appears prominently in Meyerbeer's subsequent opera, Le Prophete, which is the opera that particularly drew the ire of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) in his pamphlet Das Judenthum..;Louis Lewandowski's rise to fame was slower and more methodical than either Sulzer's or Naumbourg's. Although he showed early promise as a cantorial assistant and a young student of music---the first Jew ever to attend the Berlin Academy of Arts---an illness set him back from career development. When he recovered, he took a behind-the-scenes job assisting the cantor in preparing a new chorus to sing Sulzer's music at the Heidereutergasse synagogue in Berlin. After years in this thankless position, Lewandowski achieved the title of music director to accompany his work. Although evidence shows that he began composing and integrating his own compositions into the liturgy early in his career, Lewandowski did not begin to publish his music until 1871 (a volume of largely cantorial and two- and three-part prayer settings, entitled Kol Rinnah u'T'fillah). He later published a two-volume set of major synagogue choral repertoire: Todah W'Simrah (1876).;The synagogue music composed by these three masters circulated throughout Europe and beyond, created a Jewish choral culture that persisted for over a century, and inspired countless other composers to contribute to the repertoire.