Shabbat Hanukkah – 1987
Liturgical music has been a hallmark of Park Avenue Synagogue for generations. A significant portion of the Rita and George M. Shapiro Audio Archive is devoted to contemporary composers as well as the preservation of classical melodies. December 18, 1987 on Shabbat Hanukkah, the 44th Annual Friday Evening Liturgical Music Service, titled "Sacred Sounds of the Synagogue: Music of the German Jews," featured the works of 19th- and early 20th-century composers: Louis Lewandowski, Eduard Birnbaum, Emanuel Kirschner, and Abraham Sukoenig, who was hazzan of Park Avenue Synagogue from 1914 to 1932. As noted in the program, "throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, German Jewry developed a highly sophisticated and richly diverse sacred music which incorporated many local traditions and styles. Virtually the entire genre and tradition of synagogue music had its modern historical origins in the German-speaking areas of the Rhineland, beginning with the Jewish settlement established there during the Middle Ages."
Neil W. Levin of the Cantors Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary wrote in the program, "This commemorative Shabbat service increases our awareness of the depth and diversity of Jewish music by reconstructing some of the fading culture that was German Jewry at its zenith. More importantly, it helps to fulfill our sacred obligation to remember the magnificent liturgical sounds that once flourished in the synagogues throughout an entire land."
“Sacred Sounds of the Synagogue: Music of the German Jews”
Selections from the 44th Annual
Friday Evening Liturgical Music Service
December 18, 1987 – Shabbat Hanukkah
featuring music composed by
Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894); Emanuel Kirschner (1857-1938)
Eduard Birnbaum (1855-1920); Abraham Sukoenig (1878-1936)
Presented by Cantor David Lefkowitz
with the Synagogue Concert Choir
Abraham Kaplan, conductor – Neil Robinson, organist
Ma Tovu – L. Lewandowski [Vol. II, No. 2]
L’cha Dodi – L. Lewandowski [Vol. II, No. 13]
Adonai Malach – L. Lewandowski [Vol. II, No. 22]
Bar’chu – L. Lewandowski [Vol. II, No. 30]
Ki Hem Chayenu – L. Lewandowski [Vol. I, No. 17]
Sh’ma Yisrael – E. Kirschner [Vol. III, No. 41]
V’ne-emar… Ga-al Yisrael – L. Lewandowski [Vol. II, No. 36]
Hashkivenu – Ed. Birnbaum [May 28, 1892]
V’shamru – E. Kirschner [Vol. III, No. 20]
Hanerot Hallalu – L. Lewandowski [Vol.III, No. 235]
“These Hanukkah Candles”
Kiddush for Shabbat Eve – L. Lewandowski [Vol. I, No.27]
Alenu: Va-anachnu – Abraham Sukoenig* [Sabbath Eve No.8]
Bayom Hahu – Abraham Sukoenig* [Sabbath Eve No.9]
Adon Olam – E. Kirschner [Vol. I, No. 16]
Maoz Tsur – trad. - arr: L. Lewandowski [Vol.III, No. 256]
Improvisation on Maoz Tsur melody – Neil Robinson
We hope you enjoy this important piece of PAS history. Please email your comments or questions: shapiroarchive@pasyn.org.