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Article

Jerusalem: Modern History  

Ury Eppstein

Publication History:

Published in print:
20 January 2001
Published online:
2001

Musical life in modern Jerusalem can be divided into two separate spheres: the liturgical music of the various Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious communities who maintain their living musical traditions; and Western secular art music.

Most of the many Jewish religious musical traditions are represented in the synagogues of the various communities, the most ancient being of Middle Eastern origin, mainly from the Yemen, Baghdad, Kurdistan, Iran, Bokhara and Syria. On further investigation, these may prove to preserve elements of musical traditions from biblical times. There are also representatives of the musical traditions of Spanish-based Sephardi communities, especially those from North Africa, Greece and Turkey, as well as of the mainstreams of eastern European Ashkenazi tradition, namely Hasidism (which created in Jerusalem a special vocal style imitating instruments, stimulated by the ban on instrumental music imposed to signify mourning for the destruction of the Temple) and its opponents, Mithnagdim, who developed a Jerusalem version of the Lithuanian-style Bible cantillation. Western European communities, mainly from Germany, also have synagogues with their own musical traditions....

Article

Moscow: 1600–1703  

I.M. Yampol′sky

revised by Rosamund Bartlett

Publication History:

Published in print:
20 January 2001
Published online:
2001

With the consolidation of Moscow’s importance as the musical centre of Russia in the 17th century, the work of correcting the chant books, improving the ancient kryukovaya (hook) system of notation and unifying the forms of the ecclesiastical chant was carried out. Special commissions of experts on ecclesiastical chant (the so-called didaskalï) were set up; two of these (1665 and 1668) were engaged in establishing model versions of the chants, and were headed by Aleksandr Mezenets, music scholar and monk of the Savvino-Storozhevskiy Monastery and later a proof corrector at the Moscow printing press. Ivan Shaydur, a Moscow clerk and music theorist, improved the hook notation. At about this time the new polyphonic style known as partesnoye peniye (part-singing), originally taken over from Ukraine, became widespread in Moscow. Nikolay Diletsky, the most important theorist of part-singing, worked in Moscow from 1670 to 1680. The Moscow school of polyphonic singing (Vasily Titov and others) took shape during the 17th and 18th centuries....

Article

Moscow: 1703–1918  

I.M. Yampol′sky

revised by Rosamund Bartlett

Publication History:

Published in print:
20 January 2001
Published online:
2001

With the reforms of Peter the Great secular music came to have a much more prominent place in Russian life. The founding of St Petersburg, to which the court moved, also had an effect on the musical culture of Moscow, which changed radically during the 18th century. At the beginning of the century Russian music was represented by its rich heritage of folksong, by ecclesiastical chants and by the simplest domestic genres; by the end of the century Russian opera was taking shape, symphonic and chamber music were being written by Russian composers, and early examples of the Russian song were beginning to appear. The musical needs of Russian society were growing, its tastes were changing and the circle of educated music lovers was expanding. In spite of the fact that St Petersburg drew great artistic forces to the court, Moscow formed its own professional musical circles. Of particular importance were the serf musicians, who performed as soloists and in the many large serf orchestras....