Israeli city. It was formerly the capital of the British mandated territory of Palestine; on the formation of the state of Israel (1948), it was divided into the new city (capital of Israel) and the old city (Jordan), and in 1967 it came under Israeli administration.
See also Jewish music, §II; Palestinian music and Israel.
HANOCH AVENARY (1), URY EPPSTEIN (2)
The importance of Jerusalem as a music centre originated in the foundation by King David of a central extra-tribal sanctuary, the Temple to Solomon or First Temple of Jerusalem, for which he laid down well-defined musical functions. A certain group of landless Levites was to devote itself entirely to music throughout all its generations. Although the principle of organized officialdom in cult music also existed elsewhere in ancient Asia, the Bible gives a detailed account of how it actually worked (1 Chronicles xv, xvi, xxiii and xxv). The first step (c1002 bce) was the appointment of three elders to lead with cymbals the performance of 14 string players and seven trumpeters. This body of 24 musicians was based on the symbolic number of 12, which remained in force in both the First and the Second Temple of Jerusalem. About 970 bce David fixed the total of active musicians at 288 (i.e. 24 x 12), and they were also given a kind of royal charter (1 Chronicles xxv.1–6).
The Temple music of Jerusalem excluded drums, rattles and other noisy instruments; its cymbals and trumpets were not sounded during the service. The prevalence of plucked strings accompanying a small choir indicates quiet, spiritual music, well suited to the inspired holiness of the psalms, which were to become the basis of sacred song through the ages. David and Solomon were regarded as the fathers of Hebrew poetry and song and later, in Christian times, as topoi of sacred music. Later court and urban music yielded to foreign influences (Isaiah v.11f). Temple music, however, was reformed by Hezekiah (c720 bce) and Josiah (c625 bce; 2 Chronicles xxix and xxxv).
After the Babylonian exile, the reconstruction of Temple music met with great difficulties and was accomplished only in 445 bce (Nehemiah xii.27f). The Talmud reports on the splendid musical service of the second Temple period. Meanwhile Hellenism had obtruded on the musical life of the capital (Wisdom of Sirach xxxii.3f). Herod even inaugurated periodic games (Actiads) in 28 bce, offering prizes for the best musicians (Josephus: Antiquities, xv.8.)
After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 ce, the Roman colony founded on its site (130) was already an episcopal see, and under Constantine (c274–337) the Church of Jerusalem became a model for Christian services in both East and West. Its rites are said to have influenced the Roman liturgy under popes Damasus (366–84) and Leo (440–61), as well as the Spanish and Coptic churches; its melodies probably travelled together with the liturgical texts. Specific rites transferred ‘de Hierosolymorum ecclesia’ to the West are certain alleluias, the trisagion and the Adoration of the Cross. Modern research has traced certain melodic formulae and cadences of Byzantine and Ambrosian chant back to a common source in the Church of Jerusalem.
Byzantine liturgy was enriched by the Jerusalemite Patriarch Sophronius’s famous Nativity hymns (see Byzantine chant), written shortly before the Muslim conquest (638). St Sabas’s monastery developed a school of renowned kanōn-writers, including, in the 8th century, John Damascene and Kosmas of Jerusalem. Thereafter Jerusalem’s importance for liturgy and music declined. Under the Muslims, it remained a minor provincial town; the churches were at variance with each other and the Jews stricken by insecurity and poverty: thus, the city long remained a mere meeting-place of divergent musical styles.
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.
The most ancient Christian liturgical musical traditions practised in Jerusalem are those of the Eastern churches. The Armenian Orthodox church and monastery of St James, founded in the 4th century, maintains a male choir in its theological seminary (established 1843). Its library of Armenian manuscripts includes over 100 musical items, from the 14th century to the 16th, including hymnals with neumatic notation and illuminated Bibles with miniatures depicting instruments. The Ethiopian Orthodox church, which has been in Jerusalem since the 4th century, and the Greek Orthodox church, which maintains a choir in its theological seminary, both possess many ancient music manuscripts.
In 1934 the Gethsemane Convent, which has a nuns' choir, was attached to the Russian Orthodox church of St Mary Magdalene (1888). In Roman Catholic churches parts of the service are held in Arabic. At the church of St Sauveur, where an Italian organ was installed in 1910, the German organist and choral conductor P.E.J. von Hartmann (1863–1914) held office in 1893–4, and at the Anglican Christchurch Cathedral an organ was installed in 1851: Elizabeth Anne Finn, wife of the British consul, was the first organist. The Lutheran church of the Redeemer (1898) contained an organ presented by Kaiser Wilhelm II, which was replaced in 1971 by a new German instrument used for recitals from 1972. The organ of the Ascension church in the Augusta Victoria compound on the Mount of Olives was inaugurated in 1990. At the Benedictine Dormition Abbey, founded in 1906, a chamber organ was installed in 1980 and a large church organ in 1982.
The history of Western secular art music in Jerusalem started in the late 19th century, when the first mass migrations of Jews to Palestine took place. However, the first European-style orchestra heard in Jerusalem was the Turkish Army Band, which played at Muslim festivals and at official functions, such as the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Brabant (1855), the opening of the railway station (1892) and the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1898). Brass bands were also founded by the Christian Templars in the German colony (1885) and by the Syrian orphanage of the German-Protestant Schneller Foundation (1910).
The first chamber orchestra was founded in 1933 by Karel Salmon. The principal orchestra in the city is the Jerusalem SO of the Israel Broadcasting Authority, so named since 1973. It was founded in 1936 as a chamber orchestra of the Palestine Broadcasting Service. In 1938 it was reorganized as a symphony orchestra by Crawford McNair and Karel Salmon to form the Palestine Broadcasting Service Orchestra; it was renamed the Kol Israel Orchestra in 1948. Since 1939 its weekly concerts at the YMCA and, since 1975, the Jerusalem Theatre have been a regular feature of music in Jerusalem. The orchestra emphasizes the commissioning and performance of modern works, both Israeli and foreign, and encourages local soloists and conductors besides engaging guest artists. Outstanding among its conductors were Michael Taube, Georg Singer, Otto Klemperer, Heinz Freudenthal, Shalom Ronly-Riklis, Mendi Rodan, Lawrence Foster, Yoav Talmi, Sergiu Comissiona, Lukas Foss and Gary Bertini. David Shallon was appointed the orchestra's principal conductor in 1992. Works that had their première in Jerusalem include Milhaud's David (1954), Stravinsky's Abraham and Isaac (1964) and Dallapiccola's Exhortatio (1971).
The Jerusalem Chamber Orchestra was formed from among the radio orchestra's string players in 1964, but was disbanded in 1969. The Israel Camerata chamber orchestra, founded in 1991 by Arner Biron, moved to Jerusalem from Rehorot in 1996 and gives regular subscription concerts. A municipal youth brass band was founded in 1959 by Yohanan Boehm. The Hillel Hebrew University Orchestra, consisting of students, faculty members, new immigrant musicians and volunteers, was founded by Anita Kamien in 1989.
There have been numerous Jewish and Christian choral societies in Jerusalem. The first known secular choral society, Shirat Yisrael, was founded in 1901 by S.Z. Rivlin and was remodelled in 1910 by Abraham Zvi Idelsohn to maintain the musical traditions of the various Jewish communities. In 1917 Idelsohn founded the larger Habamah Haivrith Choir to perform Hebrew songs at concerts and official functions. The Palestine Broadcasting Service assembled a temporary chamber choir for its first-day programme in 1936. In 1938 the Palestine Broadcasting Service Choral Society was founded by Crawford McNair, and after its dissolution in 1948 at the end of the British mandate, the Zionist World Organization Broadcasting Service established the Kol Zion Lagola Choir (1951) under Marc Lavry; it was later taken over by the Israel Broadcasting Service, renamed the Kol Israel Choir (1958) and dissolved in 1971. These radio choirs were the principal choral organizations of their time. The Shem Choir, established in 1936 by the National Council of Palestine Jews under Max Lampel, functioned until 1948, mainly to provide Jewish music for radio programmes, while the radio choirs concentrated on classical music. The main choral society after 1970 was the Jerusalem Chamber Choir of the Rubin Academy, founded in 1969 by Arner Itai. In 1987 the Jerusalem Oratorio Choir was established. The Opus Singers vocal ensemble was founded in 1989 under the directorship of Oscar Gershenson; the group was renamed A Cappella in 1994.
With the establishment of the Jerusalem Musical Society (1921–37), chamber music assumed greater importance in the city. The Jerusalem String Quartet, founded in 1922, was renamed the Women's Quartet in 1930, and reverted to its former name when Emil Hauser became its leader in 1934; it was active until 1939. From 1938 the Palestine Broadcasting Service (later the Israel Broadcasting Authority) was the chief promoter of concerts. The Jerusalem Musicians' Association organized chamber music concerts after 1945 and continued as the Jerusalem Chamber Music Society until 1975. The Caprisma Ensemble was founded in 1991 to perform mainly 20th-century music. The Israel Contemporary Players ensemble was also founded in 1991 to perform 20th-century chamber music. It consists mainly of Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra members. The Israel Museum has organized chamber concerts since 1969.
Jerusalem never possessed a hall intended especially for music until 1986, when the Henry Crown Symphony Hall was completed at the Jerusalem Theatre. Musical and literary evenings were held at the Feingold Hall from 1910, but this has fallen into disuse. The first large halls in the city were cinemas, which together with the YMCA auditorium served for orchestral and operatic performances, while school halls were used for smaller orchestras and chamber music. Orchestral concerts are held at the Jerusalem International Convention Centre (1958; fig.1) and the Jerusalem Theatre (1971; fig.2), while chamber music was performed at the Khan (a renovated Turkish caravanserai) until 1983 and is now given at the Rubin Music Academy, the Ticho House art gallery (since 1986) and the Targ Music Centre. The Sultan's Pool, an ancient former reservoir, has been used for occasional large-scale open-air performances of opera and other events since 1978.
Since the 1950s Jerusalem has been associated with several festivals and competitions, some local and some international. The Zimriyyah World Assembly of Jewish Choirs, a triennial choral festival initiated in 1952 by Aron Zvi Propes, holds some of its concerts in Jerusalem. The Abu Ghosh-Kiryat Yearim Music Festival, held annually from 1957 to 1971, and again since 1992, at a Catholic church in an Arab village near the city, is devoted mainly to church music and given chiefly by Jewish artists. The first round of the triennial International Harp Competition, inaugurated in 1959, also by Propes, is held in Jerusalem, and the Israel Festival, held every summer from 1961, was transferred in 1982 from the Caesarea Roman Amphitheatre to Jerusalem. Testimonium, a concert series organized by Recha Freier every two or three years, commissioned from 1968 to 1983 works from Israeli and foreign composers to give musical expression to important events of Jewish history. A popular song festival has been held annually since 1963 by the Israel Broadcasting Authority on Israel’s independence day.
The Palestine Broadcasting Service has had a music department since its inception under Karel Salmon. Under British management the service aimed at balanced broadcasts to the Christian, Jewish and Arab sectors. From 1948 a heavier emphasis was placed on Israeli music, but an orchestra of traditional Near Eastern instruments was also established; for Christian listeners, programmes of sacred music have been introduced, and religious holiday services are transmitted live from various churches. A special network for broadcasts of classical music, named The Voice of Music, was established in 1983.
The first institution for musical education in Jerusalem was Shirat Yisrael, founded in 1909 by Idelsohn and Rivlin to train cantors in the various musico-liturgical traditions of the Jewish communities and to make a systematic collection of traditional chants. In 1910 the first secular music school, Shulamith, was founded by Shulamith Ruppin, but survived only until 1912. The British military governor Ronald Storrs founded the Jerusalem School of Music in 1919, in collaboration with Idelsohn; it was directed initially by the violinist Anton Tchaikov and from 1922 by Sidney Seal. In 1932 the school of Music and Movement Art was founded on the initiative of cellist Thelma Yellin, with violinist Schlomo Garter as director. In 1933 it was renamed the Palestine Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art, and Emil Hauser was appointed its director; it included a seminar for school teachers of music from 1939. In 1947 a group of teachers separated from the institute and founded the New Jerusalem Academy and Conservatory of Music, renamed the Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music in 1958. The older conservatory closed down in 1952. A conservatory for schoolchildren and, since 1960, a secondary school of music are connected with the academy, which has had its own building since 1958, including an electronic music laboratory and a museum of instruments containing the collection of Sergei Koussevitzky.
At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1925) a department of musicology opened in 1965, offering, besides the regular curriculum, historical and ethnomusicological courses in Jewish, Israeli and oriental music. The Archive of Oriental Music was founded at the university in 1935 by Robert Lachmann and functioned until his death in 1939. The university's Jewish Music Research Centre, founded in 1964 by Israel Adler, conducts historical and ethnomusicological research. It publishes Yuval (a periodical collection of research papers on Jewish music), the Yuval Monograph Series and a record anthology of traditional music. The Israel Centre for Electronic Music was founded in 1960 by Josef Tal and later became part of the university.
The World Centre for Jewish Music was founded in 1938, with the support of such composers as Bloch, Milhaud and Weill, to promote Jewish music internationally; however, because of the political situation before World War II, it lasted less than two years, having published only one number of its periodical Musica hebraica. Its archives are in the Jewish National and University Library's music department. The Israel Institute for Sacred Music, founded in 1955 by Avigdor Herzog, arranges lectures, conferences and concerts, publishes scores, books and periodicals and makes field recordings, all of Jewish religious music. The Israel Composers' Fund was established in 1958 by Recha Freier to commission works from Israeli composers. It functioned until 1975. The Jerusalem Music Centre Mishkenot Sha'ananim was founded in 1976 by Isaac Stern to conduct masterclasses and workshops. The centre is equipped with an audio and video recording studio and also holds chamber concerts and recitals.
One of the largest collections of Jewish music is held in the Jewish National and University Library, which developed from a collection started in 1884 and has a music department containing the archives of Joseph Achron, Friedrich Gernsheim, Idelsohn and Lachmann. Since 1964 it has also contained the National Sound Archives, which hold disc recordings of Idelsohn, disc and cylinder recordings of Lachmann; the Archives for Jewish and Oriental Music, founded by Edith Gerson-Kiwi in 1947 as a department of the Palestine Institute of Folklore and Ethnology; and a large collection of original tape recordings of Jewish and oriental traditional music. Other specialized collections are the AMLI music library (1958) at the Rubin Academy of Music; the Israel Broadcasting Authority record library; and the Jaromir Weinberger Archive, in the possession of Weinberger's nephew Yehuda Polacek.
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A.M. Luncz: ‘Makhan Shirat Yisrael’ [The Shirat Yisra’el Institute], Jerusalem Yearbook, viii (1909), 356
A.M. Luncz: ‘Beit sefer linegina’ [A school for music], Jerusalem Yearbook, ix (1910), 391
D.L. Schneller: Wünschet Jerusalem Glück: Festschrift (Münster, 1911)
E. Blyth: When we Lived in Jerusalem (London, 1927)
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P. Jeffery: ‘The Earliest Christian Chant Repertory Recovered: the Gregorian Witnesses to Jerusalem Chant’, JAMS, xlvii (1994), 1–38
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