As published in HAARETZ May 23. 2003:
There ain't nothing like a Dane singing
`Shir Hama'alot'
By Charlotte Halle
"You could sit in synagogue, close your eyes and know - just from the tune - what day of the year it was," says
Pinchas Melchior, recalling his youth in Copenhagen.
The rich musical heritage of Danish Jewry is reflected in the vast array of melodies used in the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen,
says Melchior, who now lives in Ra'anana. A testimony to this heritage, he suggests, is the inexhaustible number of tunes for Psalm
126, "Shir Hama'alot," which is traditionally sung prior to Grace After Meals on Shabbat and holidays.
Together with fellow former Dane, Ralph Levitan, and his late nephew, Ino Schwarz, Melchior has now ensured many of the tunes
Danish Jews use for Shir Hama'alot will not be lost even though the Jewish community back in Copenhagen is shrinking: The trio
have recorded a CD containing 32 different versions of the psalm.
"It was mainly our children nagging us," says Melchior on the impetus behind recording the disc. "They liked the tradition of not
singing the same tune every Shabbat and asking `What Shir Hama'alot shall we sing today?'"
The disc, which has just been released, contains a full calendar of variations, including two different tunes for the festival of
Passover and two for Shavuot, both based on musical motifs from the melodies used to sing the holiday prayers.
For Hanukkah, there is a tune which combines the festival's melody for the Kadish prayer and the tune of the most popular
Hanukkah song "Maoz Tzur." There is a special tune for two of the three weeks of mourning leading up to Tisha B'Av, plus a separate
melody for the Shabbat immediately preceding Tisha B'Av and a medly of tunes for Simhat Torah, when the completion of the annual
reading of the Torah is celebrated.
"When you approach a holiday, applying the special tune for that holiday on the Shabbatot leading up to it creates an expectation and
a revival of the amosphere of that holiday," says Melchior.
continue.....
`Shir Hama'alot'
By Charlotte Halle
"You could sit in synagogue, close your eyes and know - just from the tune - what day of the year it was," says
Pinchas Melchior, recalling his youth in Copenhagen.
The rich musical heritage of Danish Jewry is reflected in the vast array of melodies used in the Great Synagogue of Copenhagen,
says Melchior, who now lives in Ra'anana. A testimony to this heritage, he suggests, is the inexhaustible number of tunes for Psalm
126, "Shir Hama'alot," which is traditionally sung prior to Grace After Meals on Shabbat and holidays.
Together with fellow former Dane, Ralph Levitan, and his late nephew, Ino Schwarz, Melchior has now ensured many of the tunes
Danish Jews use for Shir Hama'alot will not be lost even though the Jewish community back in Copenhagen is shrinking: The trio
have recorded a CD containing 32 different versions of the psalm.
"It was mainly our children nagging us," says Melchior on the impetus behind recording the disc. "They liked the tradition of not
singing the same tune every Shabbat and asking `What Shir Hama'alot shall we sing today?'"
The disc, which has just been released, contains a full calendar of variations, including two different tunes for the festival of
Passover and two for Shavuot, both based on musical motifs from the melodies used to sing the holiday prayers.
For Hanukkah, there is a tune which combines the festival's melody for the Kadish prayer and the tune of the most popular
Hanukkah song "Maoz Tzur." There is a special tune for two of the three weeks of mourning leading up to Tisha B'Av, plus a separate
melody for the Shabbat immediately preceding Tisha B'Av and a medly of tunes for Simhat Torah, when the completion of the annual
reading of the Torah is celebrated.
"When you approach a holiday, applying the special tune for that holiday on the Shabbatot leading up to it creates an expectation and
a revival of the amosphere of that holiday," says Melchior.
continue.....
| For more information about the disc, (call in Israel) 09 774-6106 or 054 200-583. Email: bpm61@hotmail.com |