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Unchartered Waters
posted 29 January 2007

22 February 2007, 1pm

Sternberg Centre
80 East End Road
Finchley, London N3
Entrance Free

Music by 18th and 19th century British-Jewish composers together with Beethoven and Mendelssohn. A recital by Eliot Alderman, tenor, and Malcolm Miller, piano.

Programme:

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) 6 Gellert Lieder (One of these was adapted in the 19th century to Hebrew text for synagogue use)
Harriet Abrams (1758-1821) ‘The Ballad of Crazy Jane’
John Braham (1774-1856) ‘The Death of Nelson’
Isaac Nathan (1790-1864) Selection >from Byron’s Hebrew Melodies and the opera Don John of Austria
John Barnett (1802 -1890) Arias from his opera The Mountain Sylph
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Three Lieder: ‘Alnaechtlich im Traume’, ‘Morgengruss’, ‘Reiselied’
Emanuel Aguilar (1824-1904) ‘Edith’ (Text by Grace Aguilar)
Charles Salaman (1814-1901) ‘Hebrew Love Song’
Frederic Cowen (1852-1935) ‘Serenade’

This recital traces the development of British Jewish music for the concert hall and opera stage in a selection of songs by prominent 18th and 19th century composers and singers, many of which are not currently available in modern editions. Harriet Abrams, a student of Thomas Arne, was one of the first women composers. John Braham stands out as one of the finest opera tenors Britain has produced, closely involved in Mozart’s circle. Isaac Nathan commissioned Byron to write the famous Hebrew Melodies and is credited with the first Australian opera. John Barnett composed one of the first English lyric operas. Aguilar is best known as the arranger of the Anthology of Sephardi Synagogue Melodies edited by Cantor David Aaron de Sola in 1857. Charles Salaman’s melodies are still regularly sung in synagogue services. Beethoven never composed for the synagogue, but a passage from the Emperor Concerto and one of his Gellert Lieder is included in the United Synagogue ‘Blue Book’ anthology of synagogue music, set to Hebrew words. Mendelssohn was closely connected with British musical life as conductor and composer, and his Lieder are still unfamiliar to many music lovers.

Presented in association with the JMI Forum for Israeli Music

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Malcolm Miller Eliot Alderman

 

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