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President's
Greetings
As
in previous issues of the journal, Volume XVI of Musica Judaica is
notable for its diversity of topics. That it makes its appearance so soon
after our last issue is especially gratifying, and for their dedication and hard
work, I would like to thank our editors, Drs. Israel J. Katz and Arbie Orenstein.
Musica
Judaica has been and will continue to be the
Society's finest and longest lasting achievement. Since its inception. in
1975, it has continued to be a resource guide for live performances of Jewish
music, as well as a springboard for festivals, seminars, and lectures. The
American Society for Jewish Music has promoted such performances through its own
concert series, most recently in conjunction with the American Jewish Historical
Society.
In
bold strokes, the mission of the ASJM is three-fold: to preserve the past, which
we do primarily through Musica Judaica, to give Jewish music's present
its due, by commissioning new works. I am grateful to our Chairman, Rabbi
Henry D. Michelman and our Board of Directors, who have devoted their time and
talent to realize our goals.
In
our effort to communicate with our membership more regularly, we have recently
initiated a periodic newsletter, ASJM Matters, the first three issues of which
were devoted to the lectures that were presented as part of our 2002-2003
season. Each lecturer was introduced by Dr. Boaz Tarsi, the Chairman of
our Lecture committee. In November 2002, the renowned scholar, Israel
Adler spoke on the inspiring and recent discovery of the 18th century manuscript
of C. G. Lidarti's "Oratorio Ester, Or Teshaut Yisrael al yedey Ester
('The Salvation of Israel by Esther')," whose whereabouts was unknown
for more than two centuries. The libretto by Rabbi Jacob Raphael Saraval
of Venice and Mantua and the muic were probably commissioned by the Portuguese
Jewish community of Amsterdam. In February 2003, Dr. Edwin Seroussi, Prof.
of Musicology and Director of the Jewish Music Research Centre of the Hebrew
University (Jerusalem), gave a talk entitled, "Imagining the Pat: The
Irresistible Appeal of the Sephardi Folksong." He discussed the
impact of the collection, recording and publication of Ladino songs by
non-Jewish Spanish scholars and Sephardic intellectuals in the early 20th
century. This spurred a revival of interest in Sephardic musical culture
in the latter part of the century. The scheduled lecture in April 2003, by
Dr. Gila Flam, Director of the Music Department and the Jewish National and
University Library (Jerusalem) was cancelled due to the unpredictable Spring
snowstorm. Her topic concerned the musical culture of inmates in the Lodz
Ghetto, a community, isolated from the outside world -- for a period of almost
five years --that performed and composed songs, mainly in Yiddish. We look
forward to her lecture next year.
To
extend our outreach efforts even further, we wish to report that the ASJM is
developing its own Website to provide information about our concerts, lectures,
and the Aaron J. Capilow Composer's Competition. We have also established
links with other Jewish music sites, institutions, publishers, and databases, in
our continuing efforts to provide important information concerning Jewish music
(locally, nationally and internationally). The Website is an exciting, new
venture in bringing our members and all those interested in Jewish music closer
together. For the present, I invite you to contact us my e-mail at asjm@cjh.org
or by writing to our office at The Center for Jewish
History, 15 West 16th Street (3rd Floor), New York, NY 10011.
Michael Leavitt |
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