(Author: David Klepper, Vol. 68, No. 3, Chanukah 2013)
Tina Frühauf, born to a non-Jewish German family, developed an early interest in music and decided to become a keyboard performer, with emphasis on the organ. She then discovered an old print of German-Jewish cantorial parts in the University Library of Bochum, Germany. This excited her curiosity, and inspired many years of research culminating in this very readable, thorough and loving description of a culture wiped out by the Holocaust. Being someone who moved from Reform to Orthodox Jewish practice, conventional wisdom would suggest that this reviewer would be uninterested in a culture associated with Reform Judaism in the country where the movement started. As a lover of good music, however, I must recognize that the culture produced a very large and fine body of music (only a fraction of which survives). The sincere efforts of Tina Frühauf to assist in preserving what remains of this, chronicle its history and bring it to wider notice is to be applauded.
Frühauf has a good understanding of organ design and construction, and there is a wealth of detail on this. She has profound knowledge of music theory, and the book contains thorough and clear descriptions of music compositions. Some readers may wish to skip these sections, but will not lose the overall continuity of the story. That story is largely the progression from music similar to the traditions of the Christian Church to a blend of modern serious creative musical thinking and traditional Hebrew chants and melodies. The book has many mini-biographies of German-Jewish musicians of the time. The reader will obtain understanding of the degree to which these considered themselves Jewish and German and how they attempted to blend the two cultures under varying circumstances.
The penultimate chapter, dealing with the Nazi era, records how those Jewish organists, choral directors and composers (many being all three) who survived immigrated, in the main to the United States and Israel, as well as to a lesser degree to the UK. In making new lives for themselves, these musicians often found employment in synagogues, while those in Israel earned a living primarily as teachers. Both in Israel and in North America, they returned to composing new music, influenced by their new surroundings.
Some may be surprised to learn that there are Orthodox congregations with organs. At one extreme, Shearith Israel in New York City, North America’s oldest Jewish congregation, has the small reed-organ left behind by George Gershwin upon his move to Hollywood. The West End Synagogue in Frankfort has a large Walcker pipe organ on the style of the many organs by that firm that were destroyed during Kristallnacht. In both cases, these are used for special events, but not for accompanying worship. Other cases are discussed, including one synagogue that welcomed the Sabbath with organ accompaniment but did not use the organ during the Sabbath itself. The above notwithstanding, the controversy concerning the use of the organ continues to be one of several bones of contention between Orthodox and non-Orthodox modes of Jewish worship.
What is striking is the resilience of German Jewish music under the Nazis. Music continued to be composed, with composers now being drawn more to specifically Jewish themes, from worship chants and folk music. Concerts were presented, including organ recitals. The last such concert took place as late as 1941!
Because her main interest is in the organ and its music, Frühauf’s treatment of German Reform Jews and their assimilationist tendencies is objective; she has no ‘axe to grind’. This in itself is an excellent reason for reading this book. For the individual specifically interested in organs, there is access to the publisher’s website and descriptions of all known European synagogue pipe organs. The list of organ compositions by German and Austrian Jewish composers within the book is comprehensive and formidable.
The only area that needs some addition or correction is the mention of the historic Jewish musical notation for chanting from the Torah, other sacred texts, and prayers. The text shows familiarity only with Ashkenazi use, but the author may since have learned that Sephardim and also the Yemenites use these signs, but with other musical values.
Frühauf now teaches at Columbia University, New York, and is continuing her research. It is to be hoped that her future books will be as fine as this one.
The Organ and Its Music in German-Jewish Culture by Tina Frühauf, Oxford University Press, New York, 2006, 284pp.
Dave Klepper is a student at Yeshivat Beit Orot, Jerusalem. He is former President of Klepper Marshall King Associates, Ltd. White Plains, NY
