Jewish Music has a fascinating history.  Depending on where the Jews have settled, our music has been influenced by the surrounding culture, while at the same holding onto much of our traditional melodic and liturgical practices.  One of the areas that I have begun researching is the Jews of Italy and their musical traditions.

Did you know that Jewish people have a long history in Italy originating over two thousand years ago.  The music of the Jewish people in Italy has three distinct influences: “…Italian, Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions, with Italian musical culture and its innumerable cultural, regional and linguistic differences.” (Source: ON THE MUSIC OF THE JEWS OF ROME – Francesco Spagnolo, University of California, Berkeley) I learned on the Cantors Assembly Mission to Spain in 2016 that Sephardic Jews from Spain emigrated to Italy and Greece to escape the Inquisition.

Most of us are familiar with Italian music as Opera, sung by amazing voices with power and passion.  And so liturgical music followed with many compositions written in the Operatic style.  As Jewish music developed in Italy during the time of the Haskalah (Emancipation) in the 19^th Century, Cantors and lay composers began creating amazing choral repertoires and even adding instrumental music to the prayer experience.

The music of the Synagogue was not the only place where the Jews had their presence felt.  Jewish musicians were active during the late Renaissance / Baroque period.  After the Haskalah, Jewish performers and composers became involved with Opera and even composed operettas. Some served at court as concert masters where they entertained Dukes and their guests.

Much of the origins of the Italian music culture can be found in the works of Salamone Rossi, an Italian Jewish composer and violinist (ca. 1570 – 1630).  Rossi is unique because he not only composed and entertained for court, he also wrote Jewish liturgical compositions using popular music of his time (Baroque), and using the Hebrew language.  His music represents the blending of the Italian Musical style during that time period and the liturgical style of the Synagogue.

By the beginning of the 20^th century Jewish involvement in the Italian music scene became prominent, including musicologists, ethnomusicologists, performers, and music historians, several of whom taught in universities.  Unfortunately, by the late 1930s Mussolini’s regime enacted strong Anti-Semitic laws, which forced the Jewish presence out of the general Italian musical community.  Many of the composers of the time fled Italy and only a few of the families returned.

Though we have a lot of records of the music of the Jewish people in Italy, much of the creativity came to a sudden halt during the time of the Holocaust.  After the Holocaust there has been a reconstruction of Jewish communities and their liturgy in Italy.  Much of this was done via recordings, public performances and education.  There was a strong oral musical tradition that kept Italian Jewish Music alive during troubling times.

Much of the work created by Jewish composers, not only in Italian music but also Liturgical music was lost during this period.  Only now, through research are we finding out names of many of these composers, performers, and musicians, and their musical works.

Join My wife Kathy and myself in 2021 – June 28 – July 8 along with the Cantors Assembly through Ayelet Tours as we take a Journey to Italy.