American Music: Important Traditions--Jewish


Figure 1.-- Until the arrival of the Eastern European Jews in the late-19th century, classical music was the reserve of the American cultural elite. But among Jewish families, even the poorest had a desire for their children, especially the boys, to learn musical instruments and perform in the classical tradition. Here we see an 8-year old New York Jewish boy, compete with a bandaged finger, preparing to lead an orchestra. The newswire caption read, "Above is pictured eight year old prodigy Charles Cohn, who is to conduct the 'My Girl' orchestra during the entr'act concert at the Vanderbilt Theater today. Since earliest days the youngster has been musically inclined, and for the past year the Salvation Army has been paying for his music lessons. This concert is to be his first public test and friends are sure the youth will acquit himself with glory."

Of all the European groups, Jews seem to have had a particularly important impact on American music. They acted as both a conduit for tghe German classical traditionnas well as their own vibrant cultural contriubution. The first Ameeican Jews were small numbers of Sephardic Jews. For most of the 19th century, most American Jews came from Germany and carried with them a strong German classical tradition. This changed after the Civil War when Tsarist pograms drove much larger numbers of Eastern European Jews to America. They brought with them both the classical German tradition (German music proundly affected music throughout central and Eastern Europe), but also destinctly Jewish rabinical and cultural music. Jews made a major contribution to American music. Until the arrival of the Eastern European Jews in the late-19th century, classical music was the reserve of the American cultural elite. But among Jewish families, even the poorest had a desire for their children, especially the boys, to learn musical instruments and perform in the classical tradition. Many of these children pursued popular music. Jewish performers and composers are some of the best known figures in American music. Much of this was within the Jewish community, but after World War I, a generation of second generation mussicians burt upon the popular stage. Broadway singer Al Jolson was one of the most popular performers of the 1920s. The Jewish music tradition of Eastern Europe was fed into the American popular tradition with composers like Irving Berlin. He made "America the Beautiful" a gift to the American people. George Gershwin trained as a classical composer and was one of the most important early American composers. He wrote classical pieces and with his brother Ira wrote some of the most beloved Broadway music. Some of his pieces like 'Rhpsody in Blue' and 'An American in Paris' bridge the cap between classical and popular idiom. Jerome Kern wrote 'Showboat' (1927), a musical that continues to be popular after nearly a century. One observer writes, "Amricans of all backgrounds adopted it as a nationally defining story, one that dealt with the ever-intensifying issues of race relations and the search for a common American identity." Benny Goodman, Ziggy Elman, and Artie Shaw helped to bring jazz to a wider American audience. Simon and Garfunkel played a role in popularization folk music. Barbra Streisand and Mel Brooks are other artists that have helped shape music and the modern theater. Jewish composers, most strongly influenced by the German tradition, have also played a major role in clasical music. Perhaps the most important American clasical composer is Aaron Copland. For his compositions he drew from American folk music, but maintained the symphonic textures of classical music. Conductor an composer Leonard Bernstein is another towering Jewish figure in American music. He fused religious and secular music forms with compsitions like 'Chichester Psalms,' which include both Latin and Hebrew sacred texts.







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Created: 5:45 AM 8/19/2010
Last updated: 5:45 AM 8/19/2010