Passport to Jewish Music: Its History, Traditions, and Culture

(Hardback)

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Description

The purpose of this book is to present a survey of Jewish music to illuminate its special role as a mirror of history, tradition, and cultural heritage. The 27 topical chapters have been placed within a modified chronological perspective to present a historic picture of virtually every important development in Jewish music. The book represents a culmination of several decades of the author's dedicated labor and scholarly study in this field.

Reviews

.,."all of the essays are concise and well written and, highly accessible. A broad spectrum of readers will find this work useful."-Choice
...all of the essays are concise and well written and, highly accessible. A broad spectrum of readers will find this work useful.-Choice
Irene Heskes, the seemingly indefatigable bibliographer and promoter of Jewish music study, provides a sampling of the fruits of "several decades of dedicated study and scholarly labors in the field of Jewish music,"(p.ix). The volume contains a collection of newly compiled essays and preexistent lectures, chapters, journal articles, book reviews, and prefaces, arranged systematically to cover the diverse terrain of Jewish music. .../For the newcomer to Jewish music scholarship(to whom these writings seem mainly directed), the volume is particularly useful for its brief biographies and assessments of those who are fundamental to the field.- Music Reference Services Quarterly
This work fulfills overwhelmingly the promise of its title, being an exhaustive examination of the history, form and meaning of Jewish musical traditions. Passport to Jewish Music takes the reader beyond the potentially pedantic historical delineation to a wealth of information on "tradition and history, liturgy, and folklore, custom and artistry." For that reason it stands as a potential reference work not only in music, but in ethnography, religion, and biography as well. Highly recommended for academic libraries, for collections of music, religion and Jewish studies.-Notes
..."all of the essays are concise and well written and, highly accessible. A broad spectrum of readers will find this work useful."-Choice
"This work fulfills overwhelmingly the promise of its title, being an exhaustive examination of the history, form and meaning of Jewish musical traditions. Passport to Jewish Music takes the reader beyond the potentially pedantic historical delineation to a wealth of information on "tradition and history, liturgy, and folklore, custom and artistry." For that reason it stands as a potential reference work not only in music, but in ethnography, religion, and biography as well. Highly recommended for academic libraries, for collections of music, religion and Jewish studies."-Notes
"Irene Heskes, the seemingly indefatigable bibliographer and promoter of Jewish music study, provides a sampling of the fruits of "several decades of dedicated study and scholarly labors in the field of Jewish music,"(p.ix). The volume contains a collection of newly compiled essays and preexistent lectures, chapters, journal articles, book reviews, and prefaces, arranged systematically to cover the diverse terrain of Jewish music. .../For the newcomer to Jewish music scholarship(to whom these writings seem mainly directed), the volume is particularly useful for its brief biographies and assessments of those who are fundamental to the field."- Music Reference Services Quarterly

Author Bio

IRENE HESKES is a music historian who specializes in Jewish music. She has written numerous articles and reviews for musicological and general journal publications in America, Europe, and Israel, and has contributed to the Encyclopedia Judaica, as well as to Musical Theater in America (Greenwood, 1984), and Handbook of Holocaust Literature (Greenwood, 1993). Among her books are: Studies in Jewish Music (1971), Jews in Music (1974), Ernest Bloch: Creative Spirit (1976), The Resource Book of Jewish Music (Greenwood, 1985), The Music of Abraham Goldfaden (1990), The Golden Age of Cantors (1991), and Yiddish-American Popular Songs, 1895 to 1950 (1992).