Customer Reviews

Passport to Jewish Music: Its History, Traditions, and Culture (Contributions to the Study of Music and Dance)

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4 star:		(1)
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The title Passport to Jewish Music is, in my opinion, a misnomer. Or perhaps I didn't understand the author's meaning when I ordered the book. As well as historical material, most of which shows how American cantorial music was affected, there is quite a lot that is bibliographic such as sections devoted to Abraham Z. Idelsohn & Gershon Ephros (cantors and researchers), Leonard Bernstein, Berlin, Gershwin, Ernest Bloch and Offenbach to name a few. The writing is often interesting but the main reason I have not given more stars is because this is the only book I have read on music without a single written note. For example statements such as:

"The cultural legacy of Judeo-Spanish folk song has best preserved the history of Iberian-Judaism. That music was created and appreciated during the old "golden" times, where it has been preserved and cherished. Those distinctive melodies and Ladino poetics echo with old Castilian, Aragonese, Catalonian, and Andalusian tunes and folklore. Scholars of Spanish history study them for information about the culture of Old Spain."

While there is a reference to a possible source to see the actual music, I would very much have liked to have seen at least a small sample.