Rhapsody on Traditional Jewish Tunes

From Wind Repertory Project
Jeffrey Meyer

Jeffrey Meyer


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General Info

Year: 2022
Duration: c. 8:45
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Jeffrey Meyer
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Congas
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Glockenspiel
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Tambourine
  • Tam-Tam
  • Tom-Toms
  • Triangle
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

I first had the idea to set Jewish prayer songs from my youth in 2007. My idea was to set them for trombone and piano in the spirit of Vaughan Williams’s Six Studies in English Folksong. That project never came to fruition, but I resurrected the idea when Dr. Benjamin Druffel asked to see the score for one of my existing works, Marfa Lights, and I felt it was time for me to write something new instead.

The piece opens with the Aliyah prayer, the blessings before and after a Torah reading. Because this chant only contains four pitches, it felt appropriate to begin with a timpani solo. As the section progresses, I take more liberties with the harmony, including playing with semitone relationships that I will discuss in the next section. The prayer translates to “Praise the One to whom our praise is due! Praised is the One to whom our praise is due, now and forever! Praised be the eternal G-d, Ruler of the universe, You have chosen us from all peoples by giving us Your Torah. Blessed is the Eternal One, Giver of the Torah.”

The next major section is a setting of a Haftarah melody: readings from the Prophets. This is similar to what you may hear in a temple during a Bar or Bat Mitzvah. You may recognize this melody as like one used by Leonard Bernstein in the Profanation movement of his “Jeremiah” Symphony. While Bernstein was an undisputed genius, I feel that his setting doesn’t capture the application of this melody in prayer. Because different cantors and amateur singers often recite these modal melodies, there is some semitone variability, where sometimes harmonies imply major or minor modes. I tried to capture that essence, inspired by how Percy Grainger and Alan Lomax tried to capture the idiosyncrasies of country folk singing.

The next segment contains two different settings of Adon Olam, the final prayer of the Musaf service on Shabbat morning. This section is fleshed out with fragments of Hatikvah (The Hope), the Israeli national anthem. The Adon Olam prayer translates to, “The Lord of the Universe who reigned before anything was created. When all was made by his will He was acknowledged as King. And when all shall end He still all alone shall reign. He was, He is, and He shall be in glory. And He is one, and there's no other, to compare or join Him. Without beginning, without end and to Him belongs dominion and power. And He is my G-d, my living G-d. To Him I flee in time of grief, and He is my miracle and my refuge, who answers the day I shall call. To Him I commend my spirit, in the time of sleep and awakening, even if my spirit leaves, G-d is with me, I shall not fear.”

This is followed by the Shema prayer. Traditionally, you cover your eyes when you recite the first line, “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” The next verse is said in a softer tone of voice, which is why brass leads, echoed by woodwinds, “Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever.”

The rhapsody ends fittingly with the Aleinu, closing prayer (“It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to acclaim the greatness of the One who forms all creation.”) Beginning energetically in a triple meter felt in 1, the music slows during “va-anachnu korim” (we bend the knee), where our Ashkenazic congregation literally bends the knee and bows the waist in a display of humility towards G-d. Here, I tried to once again invoke Grainger and capture the “push and pull” of the chant. The piece ends with the final line of the prayer fused with a repetition of “Shema”: “G-d will be One, and G-d's name will be One.”

Rhapsody on Traditional Jewish Tunes was composed in January-March 2022 for the Minnesota State University Moorhead Wind Ensemble, Dr. Benjamin Druffel, director, and dedicated to my grandfather, Helmuth Meyer. I revised it in the summer of 2022 for a performance by the Northern Illinois University Wind Ensemble, Dr. Thomas Bough, director.

- Program Note by composer


Media


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Works for Winds by this Composer


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