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Why The Organ Is The Most Jewish Instrument
the Forward ^ | December 13, 2012 | Benjamin Ivry

Posted on 09/20/2021 5:33:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

To some lovers of classical sounds, organ music seems irremediably goyish, despite outstanding achievements by such Jewish composers as Aaron Copland and Arnold Schoenberg in writing for the so-called “king of instruments.” For these, “The Organ and Its Music in German-Jewish Culture,” recently published in paperback, will be a real ear-opener. Its author, musicologist Tina Frühauf, notes that “until the Middle Ages, the organ was not officially permitted in any Christian liturgy inasmuch as instrumental music was associated… with the Jewish services once held in the temple at Jerusalem.”

Even after organs appeared in churches and became taboo for synagogues, there remained some Jewish fans of organ music, notably the 15th century Italian humanist philosopher Yohanan Alemanno, who in “Solomon’s Desire,” his commentary on the “Song of Songs,” included praise of a performance at the Mantua court by the German organist Conrad Paumann, a touring superstar of the 1400s. By the 18th century Haskalah, Europe’s Jewish Enlightenment movement, the time was ripe for a return of the organ as liturgical instrument. In 1810, at the Jacobstempel synagogue in Seesen, Lower Saxony, an organist named Gerson Rosenstein first participated in services. Debate was sparked and in 1818, Eliezer Liebermann, an Austrian Talmudist, wrote “The Bright Light,” a treatise which argued that organ playing had been the “Jewish custom in the Temple prior to the Christians’ adoption of the instrument.”

Some rabbis worried that if organs needed repair or adjustment on Shabbat, would that qualify as work...

Organ playing in European synagogues was violently halted, along with so much else, in 1938, but has enjoyed an afterlife in Israel, where many modern composers, such as Jacob Gilboa, Josef Dorman, and Ari Ben-Shabtai, are inspired by the instrument, even more than in today’s America.

(Excerpt) Read more at forward.com ...


TOPICS: History; Music/Entertainment; Religion; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: epigraphyandlanguage; faithandphilosophy; fakenews; godsgravesglyphs; israel; jewishconnection; judaism; kwtrollhatesjews; middleages; music; notjewish; organ; pipeorgan; renaissance; thejewishconnection
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To: SunkenCiv

So what does that make the accordion? Chopped liver?.....................


21 posted on 09/21/2021 5:57:45 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Eddie01

Emmerson, Lake and Palmer....................Brain Salad Surgery..................


22 posted on 09/21/2021 5:58:52 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Listened. Awesome.

Wendy Carlos - A Clockwork Orange
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCBwiM3notI

Wendy Carlos - Tron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5RcNuQXuR4


23 posted on 09/21/2021 6:07:49 AM PDT by Eddie01
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To: Eddie01

Oh I have. I remember Switched-on Bach, and those movies.

I had a friend that was a fan of hers, many years ago. I was ELP fan................


24 posted on 09/21/2021 6:15:41 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

I am a HUGH ELP fan!

Right up there with 70s Yes.


25 posted on 09/21/2021 6:21:23 AM PDT by Eddie01
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To: Eddie01

I saw them in concert in about 72 or so.................


26 posted on 09/21/2021 6:31:17 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: MarvinStinson

:^) I think they primarily wrote for accordion.


27 posted on 09/21/2021 10:55:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3W7BYIPAmg

https://www.google.com/search?q=Arnold+Schoenberg+organ+piece&tbm=vid


28 posted on 09/21/2021 10:57:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Eddie01

I’ve got the vinyl of Walter Carlos’ second album, thank you very much.


29 posted on 09/21/2021 10:58:06 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Clemenza

/rimshot


30 posted on 09/21/2021 10:58:45 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Red Badger

What’s the difference between an onion and an accordion?

No one cries when you chop up an accordion.


31 posted on 09/21/2021 10:59:38 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

A friend of mine plays the accordion.

I will tell him that, but he’s probably already heard it...............


32 posted on 09/21/2021 11:03:00 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: SunkenCiv

A friend of mine plays the accordion.

I will tell him that, but he’s probably already heard it...............


33 posted on 09/21/2021 11:03:01 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Same joke works for banjo, harpischord, bagpipes, probably krumhorn, all rap music...


34 posted on 09/21/2021 11:06:11 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

He also plays banjo, bagpipes and some tuba-like thingy...................


35 posted on 09/21/2021 11:09:08 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

https://www.youtube.com/user/copperleaves/videos


36 posted on 09/21/2021 11:22:03 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: SunkenCiv

nice


37 posted on 09/21/2021 11:29:30 AM PDT by Eddie01
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