Salomon Sulzer
Encyclopedia
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
hazzan
Hazzan
A hazzan or chazzan is a Jewish cantor, a musician trained in the vocal arts who helps lead the congregation in songful prayer.There are many rules relating to how a cantor should lead services, but the idea of a cantor as a paid professional does not exist in classical rabbinic sources...
(cantor) and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. His family, which prior to 1813 bore the name of Levi
Levi
Levi/Levy was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi ; however Peake's commentary suggests this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
, removed to Hohenems from Sulz
Sulz, Vorarlberg
Sulz is a municipality in the district of Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Austria.-References:...
in 1748. He was educated for the cantorate, studying first under the cantors of Endingen
Endingen, Switzerland
Endingen is a municipality in the district of Zurzach in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland.In the 18th and 19th century, Endingen was one of few villages in which Swiss Jews were permitted to settle. Old buildings in Endingen have two doors – one for Jews and one for Christians. Endigen's...
(Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
) and Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, with whom he traveled extensively, and later under Salomon Eichberg, cantor at Hohenems and Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
. In 1820 Sulzer was appointed cantor at Hohenems, where he modernized the ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
, and introduced a choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. At the instance of Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Mannheimer of Vienna he was called to the Austrian capital as chief cantor in 1826. There he reorganized the song service of the synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, retaining the traditional chant
Chant
Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures Chant (from French chanter) is the rhythmic speaking or singing...
s and melodies, but harmonizing them in accordance with modern views.
Sulzer's "Shir Tziyyon" (2 vols., Vienna, 1840-1865) established models for the various sections of the musical service—the recitative of the cantor, the choral of the choir, and the responses of the congregation—and it contained music for Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
s, festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
s, wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
s, and funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
s which has been introduced into nearly all the synagogues of the world. In the compilation of this work he was assisted by some of the best musical composers of Vienna.
Sulzer published also a small volume of songs for the Sabbath-school, entitled "Duda'im"; and a number of separate compositions, both secular and sacred. His responses are tuneful, and though more melodious than the choral chant of the Catholic Church, show a strong resemblance to it. In all his compositions strict attention is paid to the Hebrew text; and a scrupulous adherence to syntactic construction is observed throughout. The collection "Zwanzig Gesänge für den Israelitischen Gottesdienst" (Vienna, 1892) was printed posthumously. In his "Denkschrift an die Wiener Cultusgemeinde" he sums up his ideas on the profession of cantor. Sulzer, who was widely famed as a singer and as an interpreter of Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, was a professor at the imperial conservatorium of Vienna, a knight of the Order of Francis Joseph I and a maestro of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, based in Italy.It is based at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western...
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. Universally recognized as the regenerator of synagogal music
Religious Jewish music
This article describes the principal types of religious Jewish music from the days of the Temple to modern times.-History of religious Jewish music:...
, he has been called the "father of the modern cantorate". the Jewish Museum Hohenems (www.jm-hohenems.at) houses a documentation of Sulzer's career in its permanent exhibition and an extensive genealogy on www.hohenemsgenealogy.at.
Jewish Encyclopedia Bibliography
- Heinrich GraetzHeinrich GraetzHeinrich Graetz was amongst the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective....
, Hist. v. 581 - TänzerTanzerTanzer or Tänzer is a surname, meaning "dancer" in German, and may refer to:* Jacob Tanzer, an American attorney* Kurt Tanzer * Stephen Tanzer, an American wine critic* Tommy Tanzer, an American sports agent...
, Gesch. der Juden in Hohenems, 1903 - A. Friedman, Der Synagogale Gesang, BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, 1904 - Josef Singer, Entwickelung des Synagogengesanges: Gedenkblätter an Salomon Sulzer, ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, 1882 - Alois KaiserAlois KaiserAlois Kaiser American chazzan and composer, and considered to be the founder of American cantorate....
, Salomon Sulzer, in Report of Society of American Cantors, New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, 1904- idem, Sulzer's Music, in Year-Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1904
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- By Isidore SingerIsidore SingerIsidore Singer was an editor of the Jewish Encyclopedia and founder of the American League for the Rights of Man.-Biography:...
, Alois KaiserAlois KaiserAlois Kaiser American chazzan and composer, and considered to be the founder of American cantorate....
- By Isidore Singer
Article references
See also
- Jewish musicJewish musicJewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish People which have evolved over time throughout the long course of Jewish History. In some instances Jewish Music is of a religious nature, spiritual songs and refrains are common in Jewish Services throughout the world, while other times, it is...
- IKG Wien
- IKG Hohenems