Klezmer: Music, History and Memory
Where: New York Public Library—Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library
476 Fifth Ave. (42nd St. Entrance)
212-340-0863 Price: Free
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A lecture and musical program with Dr. Walter Zev Feldman (author, cimbal) and Deborah Strauss (violin)
Emerging in 16th century Prague, the klezmer became a central cultural feature of the largest transnational Jewish community of modern times – the Ashkenazim of Eastern Europe. Much of the musical and choreographic history of the Ashkenazim is embedded in the European klezmer repertoire, which functioned as a kind of non-verbal communal memory. The klezmorim ensured that their music would be mediate between the secular and the religious poles, and between the East and the West. In these musical choices they were unique among all other Jewish communities of modern times. While many klezmorim emigrated to the Americas, within decades many key patterns both of klezmer music and of Jewish dance changed fundamentally. The klezmer’s music became restricted to dance music and no longer featured display pieces or substantial improvisations. Dance itself lost the gestural and expressive qualities that had been its hallmark in Eastern Europe. In America the klezmer music of South East Europe came to predominate and within that mainly what is termed the “transitional” repertoire originating in Moldova, whose Jewish element was somewhat marginal. In particular the mediating role of klezmer music between secular and religious poles of Jewish culture collapsed. Thus to appreciate the klezmer music of Eastern Europe requires a knowledge of a variety of sources and an immersion in the Ashkenazic oral tradition of musical articulation.
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