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  How Excellent is Thy Name

Erik L.F. Contzius - Baritone, Kimberley Marshall - Organ

LRCD1011

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The organ is a relative newcomer to Jewish liturgical music, and its participation is generally limited to accompanying services in the Reform tradition.

Despite the intricate and opulent use of instrumental music in the liturgies of the First and Second Temple (as documented in Chronicles I and II and the Talmud), following the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 C.E. no attempt was made to reinstate this musical practice. On the contrary, instrumental music was banned from the Jewish liturgy to symbolize mourning over the Temple. This is reflected in passages from the Talmud: “from the day the Temple was destroyed, there has been no day without a curse” and “when the rabbinical court [Sanhedrin] ceased to exist, song ceased from the places of feasting.” (M. Sotah IX, 12, 11) Indeed, an extremist view states that no one should even smile until the Temple and its sacrificial rite are restored. But this exclusion of instruments from the synagogue did not reflect a negative attitude towards them by the Jewish authorities; rather, instrumental music was an essential part of the sacrificial rite and as such held no place in the newly evolving synagogue liturgies that developed after the Temple’s destruction. 

The organ was adopted to accompany singing during synagogue worship as part of the reformed liturgical practices introduced in Germany in the nineteenth century. The choice of the organ was clearly taken from the mainstream culture of Christianity, as were other aspects of the early Reform movement: Shabbat was observed on Sundays and much of the Hebrew service was translated into the vernacular.  Perhaps more significantly, synagogues were considered to be modern Temples in their own rights, without the emphasis on restoring a lost sacrificial rite.  It was in this frame of mind that man Jewish congregations n Germany and eastern Europe installed impressive organs in their Temples, leading to a flowering of musical composition for cantor, choirs, and organ.

During the twentieth century, there has been a backlash against the more assimilationist facets of the early Reform movement, and this has led to ambiguous views of the organ and its role within modern Jewish liturgical practice. The very sound of the organ reeks of the Church to those who are not knowledgeable of the fine tradition of Jewish music written expressly for the instrument. As a sort of compromise between this fundamental “distrust” of the organ and the need for an instrument to support singing, some Temples have opted to buy pianos (at a fraction of the cost of an organ), while others have resorted to synthesizers and electronic imitations that at best fall very short of the finesse and subtlety available on the organ. Only the largest and wealthiest congregations have maintained the liturgical use of the instrument at the high standard with which it was first introduced to Judaism. Yet despite the rather sad current state of the organ within the Reform movement, a wealth of superb music has continually been composed for cantor and organ, as reflected in the repertoire heard here. 

This recording reflects my desire to honor the long tradition of Jewish liturgical music for the organ with a two-fold purpose: to educate those who would spurn the instrument on grounds of assimilation, and to make known to a wider listening public the many gems of musical expression that have been inspired by the Jewish liturgy. The organ has the greatest variety of sounds and pitches of any single musical instrument, and it is ideally suited to leading a congregation in worship, whether it be in majestic praise of God or in quiet contemplation of the divine.

The vast palette of timbres necessary to convey the many styles of music that Erik and I have included here is amply furnished by the Murray Harris organ at Stanford University. Constructed in 1901, this specimen of one of America’s greatest organ builders has survived two major earthquakes (as well as the often more damaging vicissitudes of changing aesthetics!) to remind us today that a beautiful instrument never becomes obsolete, only misunderstood or neglected. It is my hope that this recording will foster interest in the fine repertoire of Jewish liturgical music for the organ so that it will be understood and cherished. 

 

 

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