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Zamir Choral Foundation Presents a Concert
Celebrating
the Genius and Musical Triumph of Composer
Salamone Rossi
--First
composer to write and publish Jewish liturgical choral music
to illuminate the meaning of sacred Hebrew texts--
NEW YORK, NY –
Four hundred years ago, Jewish-Italian Renaissance composer
Salamone Rossi (circa 1570-1630), created a ground-breaking
collection and musical triumph: the first published Jewish
choral music set to sacred Hebrew texts. The Late
Renaissance/Early Baroque music that Rossi’s genius
created will be presented in a live concert under the
direction of Matthew Lazar and performed by The Mantua
Singers on November 20
at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center in NYC at 8 pm.
Rossi was one of the great innovative musical figures in
late 16th and early 17th century in instrumental and vocal
music and collaborated with the celebrated Monteverdi and
others. Determined to communicate Jewish texts in the
musical style of his time, he was the first composer to
apply Western musical harmonies and techniques to illuminate
Jewish liturgical texts. Just as Handel wrote music to
express his faith in his “Messiah,” similarly Rossi composed
this music as a testament to his Jewish identity and faith.
According to music director and conductor Matthew Lazar, “I
was first introduced to Salamone Rossi when I was 15 years
old. He, of course, had been dead for almost 350 years, but
his music spoke to me as clearly and directly as the great
Western composers did, combining accessible yet riveting
music with familiar and meaningful texts, creating an
extraordinary experience and a journey like no other in the
Jewish music canon. I had never heard Western harmony,
especially in the Renaissance and early Baroque style,
so completely and easily express the essence of Jewish texts
and beliefs through the music.”
Rossi’s canon was written, as all music is, from left to
right but the text, which is in Hebrew, was written from
right to left. The musicians in Mantua had to master both
vocabularies in order to sing Rossi’s liturgical choral
music. Lazar has assembled a
unique ensemble of professional soloists, the Mantua
Singers, who will perform in this concert.
The Mantua Singers was created by Matthew Lazar to give
voice to the extraordinary Jewish music of Salamone Rossi.
While its members all enjoy successful solo careers, their
combined sound, coupled with their unique ability to realize
the Jewish sensibilities of the Italian master create an
unparalleled ensemble.
Each member of the Mantua Singers understands Rossi’s
musical style and its relationship to the Hebrew text, a
necessity for performing Rossi’s music passionately and with
historical accuracy.
As an established musician and composer, Rossi was so well
regarded that although there was discrimination against Jews
(most of whom were confined to a ghetto), he was exempt from
wearing the badge required of Jews. The publishing of his
own musical settings was a testimony to his determination
and ingenuity, creating “something new in the land,” the
first published manuscript with musical notation and Hebrew
characters. Rossi departed from the 1500-year-old practice
that rejected music other than traditional chants and modes
in the synagogue, and gained rabbinic endorsement to
establish an archetype by which subsequent composers and
their work may be measured.
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