Kol Nidre, op. 39 by Arnold Schoenberg

Kol Nidre, op. 39 by Arnold Schoenberg
Nick Strimple, conductor
Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale
Iain Farrington, organ
Ira Bigeleisen, speaker/rabbi
Schoenberg's Kol Nidre, op. 39, was completed 75 years ago in August 1938, in the months between the Anschluss of March 1938, when Hitler was welcomed into Schoenberg's homeland Austria, and Kristallnacht, when the Nazi terror was partly unleashed against the Jews of Germany and Austria with the destruction of hundreds of synagogues, the looting of shops and the arrest of thousands of Jews. During this time Schoenberg was particularly occupied with the plight of his close family and friends still trapped in Europe, many of whom eventually perished, and so the Jewish subject-matter of the Kol Nidre must have particularly affected him. In the weeks following the completion of the Kol Nidre, he would put his thoughts into a prescient essay entitled "A Four Point Program for Jewry," which contains the earliest, and most accurate prediction of the Holocaust on record ("Is there room in the world for almost 7,000,000 people? Are they condemned to doom? Will they become extinct? Famished? Butchered? . . . What have they done to find a place for the first 500,000 people who must migrate or die?").
In a 1941 letter to the German-Jewish emigré composer Paul Dessau, Schoenberg described the thinking behind the creation of his Kol Nidre, op. 39:
"I wrote Kol Nidre for Rabbi Dr. Jacob Sonderling [...] He will certainly also be able to tell you about it. At my request the text of the 'traditional' Kol Nidre was altered, but the introduction was an idea of Dr. Sonderling's. When I first saw the traditional text I was horrified by the 'traditional' view that all the obligations that have been assumed during the year are supposed to be cancelled on the Day of Atonement. Since this view is truly immoral, I consider it false. It is diametrically opposed to the lofty morality of all the Jewish commandments.
"From the very first moment I was convinced (as later proved correct, when I read that the Kol Nidre originated in Spain) that it merely meant that all who had either voluntarily or under pressure made believe to accept the Christian faith (and who were therefore to be excluded from the Jewish community) might, on this Day of Atonement, be reconciled with their God, and that all oaths (vows) were to be cancelled. So this does not refer to businessmen's sharp practice.
"The difficulty of using the traditional melody has two causes: 1. There actually isn't such a melody, only a number of flourishes resembling each other to a certain degree, yet without being identical and also without always appearing in the same order. 2. This melody is monodic, that is, is not based on harmony in our sense, and perhaps not even on polyphony. I chose the phrases that a number of versions had in common and put them into a reasonable order. One of my main tasks was vitriolising out the 'cello-sentimentality of the Bruchs, etc. and giving the DECREE the dignity of a law, of an 'edict'. I believe I succeeded in doing so. Those bars 58 to 63 are at least no sentimental minor-key stuff.
"I am very glad you like the piece. I am sure, too, that you see much of what I did for the main effect by means of laying a basis with the motives. It is such a pity that people like Saminski decline to adopt the piece for use in the synagogue, on ritual and musical grounds. I believe it must be tremendously effective both in the synagogue and in the concert-hall."
Originally written for full orchestra, the Kol Nidre was reduced for organ by Schoenberg's assistant Leonard Stein following a suggestion Schoenberg had himself made to Rabbi David Putterman of Park Avenue Synagogue in New York. Although the full orchestral version is not often heard, the work has had recent performances led by Ricardo Muti in Chicago and Zubin Mehta in Salzburg and New York.

[@marshallmkerr]

Shortly after sundown here on this extraordinarily momentous and perilous Yom Kippur in the long history of the Jewish people, this 72-year-old self-appointed Shabbos goy (himself born exactly 8 months and two weeks after Arnold's death) comes to share his own tears of repentance, gratitude and prayer for the future peace, security, prosperity, education, spiritual uplift and dignity of everyone on Earth - and particularly for the children of Israel everywhere. G'mar chatima tovah!

[@kastrati-n5k]

Stunning Version.😊

[@ernestsparks518]

This work stops my heartbeat and starts it again. I am so powerfully moved. Thanks to you all.

[@sittirayyanamil170]

I CAME HERE BCUZ OF MY MODULE🤣

[@zambosouthern7130]

Naku sitti

[@sittirayyanamil170]

@@zambosouthern7130 HAHAHAHAHA🤫

[@hazzands1]

Artful. Great organist! It was Hazzan David Putterman who accepted the suggestion of the maestro.

[@brianmorgan6657]

Magnificent. And what a great organist!

[@yvettemarin2851]

So magnificent !

[@Erickvazquezc]

This is so beautiful

[@stephencharlesmayer8792]

how lovely. what synagogue is this? who is the organist?

[@bauyajohnrey6613]

Owh! Nice,

[@mariloumotel884]

bat moko dnala dito module

[@jangjang9283]

Same mare 😔