Eduard Birnbaum

Eduard Birnbaum (born March 12, 1855 in Kraków , † August 8, 1920 in Königsberg ) was a German Chasan and one of the first researchers to study Jewish music .

life and work

Birnbaum studied synagogal liturgical singing for three years in Vienna with Salomon Sulzer Chasanut . In 1872 he was appointed deputy cantor of the synagogue community in Magdeburg . Two years later he became chief choirmaster in Beuthen. Here he began collecting printed scores and manuscripts, literature and source material, which became the basis for his research work, as well as for his critical treatise on Baal T'fillah , a collection of 1,500 Jewish ritual melodies and recitatives by cantor Abraham Bär published in 1877 ( 1834-1894). In 1879 Birnbaum succeeded Zvi Hirsch Weintraub as chief cantor in the Jewish community of Königsberg and held this position until his death in 1920.

Birnbaum published two volumes of Liturgical Exercises (1900 and 1912). He also composed liturgical works, some of which were published posthumously in The Jewish Cantor 1927–1931, including a setting by Lecha Dodi . Most important, however, are his writings, which were acquired as the Birnbaum Collection from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati . They contain his thematic catalog, which lists synagogal melodies on around 7000 cards , as well as his reference collection on music in rabbinical texts .

literature

• Encyclopaedia Judaica , Volume 4, p. 1039.