Western Classical Music

Jewish art music may be said to have begun with court composer Salamoni de Rossi of Mantua in the early seventeenth century. In the eighteenth century, Jewish composers emerged in Amsterdam, Southern France and Italy, but the main flowering of the Jewish contribution to western art music began with the emancipation of the Jews following the French Revolution. Jewish composers born during the nineteenth century tended to write in accordance with classical mainstream and not to exhibit Jewish characteristics in their music. However, in the twentieth century, Jewish composers had the confidence to express Jewish features in their music, through the use of traditional sacred and secular material as well as evoking Jewish subjects in their works. JMI is also interested in music on Jewish themes by non-Jewish composers and how music has been the medium of cultural, religious and philosophical dialogue since the Enlightenment.

last modified: 29 October 2005