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- Title
Sources of Jewish Music: Active and Passive Assimilation Revisited.
- Authors
Friedmann, Jonathan L.
- Abstract
He had intended to write a twelve-chapter tome on "The History of Hassidic Music", but just two chapters were completed (only the first of which is extant).[65] The topic was ill-suited for Werner, who had little patience for Hasidism's populist mysticism and dismissed Hasidic song as "cheap", "unoriginal", and "not genuine."[66] Although Sharlin did not blame Werner for impeding the paper, he remarked: "God bless Eric. Werner appreciated Sharlin's rich Judaic and musical background and occasionally relied on him as a proofreader and ghostwriter.[57] As a result, much of Sharlin's writings echo his mentor's interests, including the interplay of stability and change in a musical I minhag i or mainstream, which he defined as a "reasonably stable body of music (call it "tradition") that exists at any given period of time in a relatively broad geographic area."[58] Sharlin's approach to the subject came with its own agenda. Werner remained committed to the views and values of the old guard, and, like Idelsohn, considered liturgical music as the core of Jewish heritage and the only subject worth his attention.[28] At the same time, Werner strove to differentiate himself from Idelsohn, dismissing much of his predecessor's scholarship as "naïve", "monolithic", and "non-pluralistic."[29] Werner particularly disparaged Idelsohn's view of musical "assimilation" as "an evil force in whatever form or shape, [which] has wrought only harm to the Jewish people." Despite the varied and self-corrective nature of present-day Jewish musical scholarship, many cantors uncritically accept contested claims by Idelsohn, Werner, and other "founding fathers."[21] A rare practitioner's voice of dissent belonged to cantor-composer William Sharlin (1920-2012), Werner's protégé and sometimes-collaborator.
- Subjects
JEWISH music; SYNAGOGUES; MUSIC appreciation; MUSICOLOGY; SACRED music; MUSICAL criticism; CONTEMPORARY classical music; RABBIS
- Publication
American Jewish History, 2022, Vol 106, Issue 4, p389
- ISSN
0164-0178
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/ajh.2022.a899289