The Sentinel, v.063 no. 11, 1926

              THE SENTINEL
They Sing as They Build
The Place of Music in the New Jewish Life in Palestine
By Dr. M. Robinson
Palestine Jews possess a feeling and
taste for music and singing to an
extraordinary degree. From the
"Chaluz" down to the beturbaned Jew
there is an irresistible impulse to sing.
One hears a snatch of a song on the
street and one joins in without cere-mony.
Not long ago two world fa-mous
cantors, Kwartin and Sirota, vis-ited
Jerusalem and all the public halls
from the great Synagogue to the Zion
theater were too small to hold the vast
throngs that turned out for the occa-sion.
A sea of red tarboushes and
silken gabardines surged into the door-ways.
Tickets cost three times as
much as they would in America!
Pound notes fluttered into the box of-fice
like manna from heaven. The
famous cantors bought estates on Mt.
Carmel in the same locality where the
prophets in Biblical days concertized.
During the past few years the Pal-estine
opera has constantly risen in
prestige. Two and a half years ago,
a company of seventy excellent singers
and musicians organized into a co-operative
opera company. They went
at their task with the enthusiasm of
artists-Chaluzim, and in a short pe-riod
of time managed to create a
new Jewish world of fantastic and
beautiful harmonies. Thirteen, classi-cal
operas have already been sung in.
Hebrew and every year sees new ones
in preparation. Next year six new
operas are scheduled for production.
All Classes Attend the Opera
On the days that the opera company
descends upon Jerusalem from Tel-
Aviv, a holiday spirit fills the streets
of the Holy City. The aesthetes and
the music lovers supply themselves
with tickets in advance. When the
cool blue night descends upon Jerusa-lem
and the square before the Zion
theater is illuminated by electric lamps,
a long queue of impatient music
lovers forms before the box-office.
Many bring their last shilling in order
to fill their thirsty souls with melody.
Carriages and automobiles drive up to
the entrance as they do before the
opera in Paris. There come Jewish
aristocrats with pince-nez and lorg-nettes,
priests in capes and black cone-shaped
hats, Englishmen with their
long-throated women, Chaluzim in
white blouses and in general workmen
spruced up for the occasion though
still fatigued from their labors. The
High Commissioner, Lord Plumer, is
a regular visitor to the opera and
applauds the artists warmly from his
box.
Operas Are Sung in Hebrew
The Biblical ring of the Hebrew
text, the Jewish style of singing and
the decorations, also of a specifically
Jewish character, have made some
rather startling changes in the char-acter
of the classical operas. The
spirit and the psychology of the audi-ences
calls for the Judaizing of all
that appears upon the Palestinian
stage. The enthusiastic audiences
often see a heroic "shomer" from
Galilee in the role of the toreador in
Carmen.
Operas based on Jewish themes such
as: Judas Maccabees, Samson and De.
lilah, La Juive, etc., discard in Pales-tine
their foreign classical garb and
take on the character of the back-ground
with which they deal. It is
interesting to note that in recent years,
an intense nationalistic spirit has im-pregnated
the work of the Jewish
musicians and composers throughout
the world, and they are beginning to
create original Jewish music. The
spirit of creative unrest moves them
to an effort for national renascence.
They can no more sing of alien gods
and alien aspirations; they long for
home. Their spiritual ears, awakened
to new tonal beauty, are turning away
from the over-ornamented, old-fash-ioned
classicism to hear the pure har-monies
flowing from the harp of the
Daughter of Zion. There have ap-peared
operas of a genuinely Jewish
character in Hebrew, such as the
"Ha'Chaluz," by Weinberg, "The Seed
of Abraham," by Gnessin, "King
Ahaz," by Almon, etc.
The Chaluzim Receive Musical
Instruction
The Hebrew opera is not only a
source for aesthetic delight. It is
growing into a great institution for
the people's instruction. In the even-ing,
the Chaluzim, after a hard day's
manual labor, congregate in the studios
and in the. rooms of the choral socie-ties,
and bring beauty into their lives
through art. And if the time will
come when the Hebrew opera will
bring its Jewish music to the lands of
the Diaspora, sprung from its own
source of inspiration, it will refresh
the withered hearts and uprooted souls
of our people.
Of even greater importance is the
projected Conservatory of Music which
is to open in Jerusalem. World-famous
artists like Leopold Godowsky
and Jascha Heifetz visited Palestine
not long ago and assured us that the
American committee for the Jewish
Conservatory of Music is working very
energetically for the consummation of
this plan. On Mount Scopus, near the
Hebrew University, will be built a
magnificent temple for Jewish music
where the greatest Jewish musicians,
rlzowitsch,w Hefetz aetc.,weil electur
and instruct.
There will also be a department fot
liturgical music, where our cantors,
our religious singers, who for hun-dreds
of years have sung in exile and
persecution, will learn to pour out
their hearts in songs of redemption.
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