Louis Lewandowski

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Louis Lewandowski (born on April 3, 1821 in Wreschen , Province of Posen , Prussia , today Poland; died on February 4, 1894 in Berlin ) was a German-Jewish composer who was best known for the revival and opening of the Jewish liturgy . He is the namesake of the Louis Lewandowski Festival, which has been taking place in Berlin since 2011 .

Life

Childhood and youth

Louis (Lazarus) Lewandowski came from a very difficult family background. His father was a synagogue servant and assistant cantor in Wreschen and could therefore hardly raise the financial means to feed his five children. For this reason it was decided that the young Louis should leave the family when he was only twelve and go to Berlin to earn his own living there. This was not entirely unusual, as many of Lewandowski's cohorts and co-religionists tried to escape domestic poverty.
When Lewandowski arrived in Berlin, he found accommodation in the local Jewish community . There one quickly became aware of his extraordinary musicality and his beautiful voice. Cantor Ascher Lion (1776–1863) therefore hired him as his musical assistant to organize the church service. Lewandowski had already successfully filled this position as the so-called "Singerl" as his father's assistant. In return, the community provided for his livelihood and enabled him to attend high school .

As an assistant to Lions, Lewandowski was part of an orthodox version of synagogal music that was caught in the traditional principles before the introduction of the Haskala . All musical instruments were banned from the synagogue, only the conduct of the service by the prayer leader was permitted, who could be supported by a gabbai if necessary . Jewish music had never been the subject of theoretical science or written considerations ; it was only passed on orally.

Training in Berlin

If Lewandowski had not been in the metropolis of Berlin, he would only have continued his old life elsewhere. But the diverse influences of the royal seat had to appear to him as a culture shock compared to his previous life in the province: The Berlin Jews did not live in the ghetto, as in Wreschen, and did not speak Yiddish , but High German. Furthermore, not a few of Berlin's Jews belonged to the city's intellectual elite. A teacher of Lewandowski, the Hebraist Salomon Plessner , introduced his pupil to the house of Alexander Mendelssohn , a grandson of Moses Mendelssohn and a cousin of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy .

The most important artists of the residence frequented and made music here. Lewandowski was given the opportunity to attend talks and concerts, and was thus able to expand his horizons considerably. Alexander Mendelssohn recognized his musical talent and financed him thorough violin and piano lessons. For two years Lewandowski attended lectures on counterpoint and harmony at the Stern Conservatory . Thanks to the advocacy of Alexander Mendelssohn and after passing an excellent entrance exam, Lewandowski was the first Jew to enroll at the Berlin Academy of the Arts . Lewandowski began now with success to compose and perform secular music; so he received the composition prize of the well-known Sing-Akademie zu Berlin , founded in 1791 .

Illness and Recollection

However, a four-year nervous problem forced Lewandowski to finish his studies. During this time he was without a job and without professional prospects, but was able to reflect on his family and musical roots: synagogue music. After Lewandowski had got to know and love the classical European music tradition in the previous years in Berlin, the desire arose in him to combine the two traditions.

In their endeavors to fertilize Jewish and Christian culture, numerous members of Prussia's Jewish communities also considered synagogue worship to be in need of reform. Both representatives of Reform Judaism and Samson Raphael Hirsch , the founder of Neo-Orthodoxy, advocated giving the sermon in the national language and fundamentally changing the liturgical chant. In this regard, it was hoped that synagogue music would ultimately be renewed through the adaptation of the basic features of the compositional technique of Western music (this remained a utopia for a long time and could only be realized very slowly).

Liberalization of synagogue worship

A concert that the Königsberg cantor Hirsch Weintraub gave in Berlin in 1838 and in which he and his singers performed traditional prayer songs as well as harmonized psalm melodies, works by Salomon Sulzer and even vocal arrangements of string quartets by Mozart and Haydn , was an enormous success, because on this occasion a connection between orthodox and liberal elements of song was established.

Many members of Ascher Lion's Berlin congregation, to which Lewandowski still belonged, began to oppose the cantor's practice of synagogue music, which was regarded as outdated. People wanted to hear works by Sulzer in church services, but Lion found himself unable to understand this music, let alone teach it to his singers. This was now the opportunity for Louis Lewandowski, who had just recovered, to contribute his knowledge and skills: He transcribed Sulzer's works into the treble clef - the only clef Ascher Lion could read - and thereby acquired a position of trust with the aging cantor. To this end, he was appointed conductor of the four-part synagogue choir, which was newly established for the performance of Sulzer's works. Lewandowski also became a cantor trainer and singing teacher at the Jewish Free School , giving him the opportunity to educate the young community members didactically in line with his reform wishes.

However, during this time he was unable to realize his big dream of publishing his own compositions and implementing them in church services. Rather, he produced works for four-part choir or for soloists with organ or instrumental accompaniment in large quantities for the drawer, as he did not have a suitable auditorium for a performance of these works.

However, this changed from 1845: Ascher Lion retired as a cantor for reasons of age. The new cantor was Abraham Jacob Lichtenstein , who had a classical music education and was open to new musical suggestions in the service. Lewandowski was still unable to bring his own compositions to the service, but at least he was able to adapt the works of Sulzer, the great reformer of synagogue singing.

In 1865 Lewandowski was appointed Royal Music Director on the occasion of his 25th anniversary as choir conductor of the Jewish community - a position of honor he would certainly never have dreamed of.

Conductor in the New Synagogue Berlin

Even more positive for his development as a musician was that a year later, in 1866, a large new synagogue was inaugurated on Oranienburger Strasse in Berlin, where Lewandowski was engaged as a conductor. In contrast to his previous place of work in the synagogue on Heidereutergasse, the New Synagogue also had an organ, so that Lewandowski finally had the opportunity to rehearse, perform and publish his own, instrumental works.

The inauguration of the organ in the New Synagogue was celebrated with a large festival. An eyewitness, Cantor Bernhard Jacobsohn, reported: “The highlight was undoubtedly the great Hallelujah, Psalm 150, by Lewandowski. For this purpose, the composer provided this four-part, mixed choir with organ accompaniment, for which trumpets, triangles and kettledrums played in a highly effective manner. The audience must have been deeply moved by this cheering choir. Even the then Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck, who attended the celebration, could not escape this impression; because no sooner had the final chord faded than he let Lewandowski humbly and shook his hand with words of thanks for the pleasure he had just received. "

From this point on, Lewandowski was regarded as the genius of synagogue singing. A final major highlight was his 50th anniversary of service with the Jewish community in December 1890, which was celebrated with a large celebration, concerts with religious and secular works by Lewandowski and a feast. The Akademie der Künste honored Lewandowski on this occasion by appointing him Professor of Music.

tomb

Louis Lewandowski died on February 3, 1894, less than two years after his retirement. His grave is in the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery .

plant

Lewandowski combined traditional synagogue singing with modern European musical developments in his compositions. The fact that the New Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse, where Lewandowski had been choirmaster since 1866, had an organ, gave him the opportunity for a complete innovation in Jewish sacred music: he developed a new liturgy with organ accompaniment for Jewish worship.

In 1871 Lewandowski published his most famous book, Kol Rinnah u Tefillah , a cycle of compositions for cantor solo and two voices, intended for the musical arrangement of church services over the course of an entire year. With this work Lewandowski established his national popularity. In 1876 and 1882 he published the two parts of Todah we Simrah ( thanks and song ) for cantor solo, four-part choir and community singing . Both works are still part of the standard repertoire of Jewish sacred music today. Other synagogue compositions by Lewandowski that are still often sung today are Uwenucho Jomar , Zacharti Lach for Rosh Hashanah and We'al Chatajim for Yom Kippur . In addition to synagogue music, Lewandowski also set psalms and composed symphonies, cantatas and songs. Lewandowski based his 18 liturgical psalms for solos, four-part choir and organ on the German psalm texts. As a result, they are not directly tied to use in the synagogue, but some of these works can be included in synagogue worship because they also appear in the Jewish prayer book. The Liturgical Psalms were published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1879 and are still very popular with Christian choirs (after being republished in 1994 also by Breitkopf & Härtel).

A new feature of Lewandowski's compositions was the inclusion of community singing; he let the audience become the 'interpreter'. Another new feature was that the choir took up even more space with him than had already been the case with Sulzer: Lewandowski was interested in the simplicity and singability of the melodies, which is why he often integrated the forms of German art songs into his works. His choral compositions in particular follow the style of the choral works and oratorios by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, a circumstance that Lewandowski has nicknamed "Mendelssohn of Synagogal Music".

In addition, Lewandowski was the first to assign the organ a convincing role in Jewish worship, without using it as a virtuoso instrument. It was more about giving choir, solo and community singing a solid foundation. However, he also composed works for organ solo. After all, Lewandowski was also the first to introduce the previously unknown forms of duets, trios and instrumentally accompanied solo songs into the synagogue and to set German texts to music for them.

Lewandowski's music therefore played a bridging role. On the one hand, he enriched traditional Judeo-religious music with Western forms, sounds and ensembles. On the other hand, through his arrangements of traditional Jewish themes, he also promoted the popularization of Jewish song in the surrounding societies.

literature

  • Jascha Nemtsov , Hermann Simon : Louis Lewandowski. “Love makes the song immortal!” Hentrich & Hentrich, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-942271-38-7 .
  • Encyclopedia Judaica. Article “Lewandoski, Louis.” 2nd edition, Volume 12, p. 758.
  • Jewish Lexicon. Article "Lewandowski, Louis." Volume 3, 2nd edition, 1987.
  • Jewish Lexicon. Article “Synagogal Music.” Volume 4.
  • Jewish Lexicon. Article "The Organ Dispute." Volume 4.
  • Heidy Zimmermann: Schir Zion: Music and song in the synagogue. In: Jewish Music. 2004, pp. 53-75.
  • Tina Frühauf: Art between two cultures: “Organ matters” at the New Synagogue in Berlin. In: New dawn. 2001, pp. 293-310.
  • Tina Frühauf: Louis Lewandowski's 'Five Festival Preludes op. 37' for organ: compositions in the field of tension between Jewish and Christian tradition. In: Journal of Jewish Music and Liturgy. 21, 1998-1999, pp. 20-40; 22, 1999-2000, pp. 24-48; 23, 2000-2001, pp. 25-43.
  • Andreas Nachama : The Mendelssohn of Synagogal Music. In memoriam Louis Lazarus Lewandowski. In: The Music of Eastern European Judaism. , Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 978-3-518-11613-5 ), pp. 32-37.
  • Hermann Simon : "Love makes the song immortal!" The composer Louis Lewandowski. In: Open the gates. 1995, pp. 129-136.
  • Andreas Nachama, Susanne Stähr: The forgotten revolution: the long way of Louis Lewandowski. In: Menorah. 3, 1992, pp. 241-255.
  • Geoffrey Goldberg: Neglected sources for the historical study of synagogue music: the prefaces to Louis Lewandowski's 'Kol Rinnah u'T'fillah' and 'Todah w'Simrah'; annotated translations. In: Musica Judaica. 11, 1989-1990, pp. 28-57.
  • H. Herz: Thanks and singing: Louis Lewandowski, a reformer of synagogue music. In: Tradition and Renewal. 30, 1970, pp. 552-556.
  • A. Ackermann: The synagogue song in its historical development. In: Jacob Winter, A. Wünsche: Die Jüdische Literatur. Volume III: History of the poetic, cabbalistic, historical and modern literature of the Jews. 1897, pp. 475-529.
  • Israel Adler: Synagogal Art Music in Europe from the Time Before Emancipation. In: Karl E. Grözinger (Ed.): Judaism in the German-speaking area. Pp. 237-255.
  • Hannoch Avenary: The History of Jewish Music. In: MGG2. Volume 7. 1989, Col. 224-261.
  • Aron Friedmann : The synagogal song. A study. Photomechanical reprint of the 2nd edition 1908.
  • Abraham Zvi Idelsohn: Jewish music in its historical development. 3rd edition New York 1975.
  • Andreas Nachama: On the meaning and history of the Hebrew prayer songs. In: Volker Rodekamp (ed.): Aspects of the past. Volume 2: Jewish Life - Religion and Everyday Life. 1988, pp. 35-41.
  • Andreas Nachama: A singing people. Sketch of the development of the Jewish prayer song in the synagogue and the people. In: Jörg Albertz (Ed.): 'Jewish clichés' and Jewish reality in our society. (= Series of publications of the Free Academy , Volume 4). 1985, pp. 113-117.

Recordings

Web links

Commons : Louis Lewandowski  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Bernhard Jacobsohn: Fifty Years of Memories from Office and Life , Berlin-Friedenau, 1912, p. 29
  2. Walter Salmen: Organ synagogues between 1810 and 1900 in Freiburg circular letter - magazine for Christian-Jewish encounter , volume 5/1998, p. 265
  3. Peter Sühring on info-netz-musik , October 29, 2012; accessed on September 21, 2014