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Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Naomi and Ruth / Sacred Service for the Sabbath Eve

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Castelnuovo-Tedesco: Naomi and Ruth / Sacred Service for the Sabbath Eve

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NAOMI AND RUTH Naomi and Ruth (1947) was Castelnuovo-Tedesco's first nonliturgical biblical choral work, a genre to which he later dedicated himself...

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NAOMI AND RUTH

Naomi and Ruth (1947) was Castelnuovo-Tedesco's first nonliturgical biblical choral work, a genre to which he later dedicated himself intensely. It was written for women's chorus and a soprano soloist who takes the role of Naomi. Ruth's responses, described by the composer as "characteristically universal," are left to the chorus.

Castelnuovo Tedesco's interest in the story went back to his childhood. Naomi happened to be his mother's name as well, and as he later wrote:

In some way I identified with this biblical character through my mother (and at the same time I identified myself with her).... Some time later I found another "connection": The other principal female character, the mild and faithful Ruth, resembled my wife, Clara.... In a certain sense, it really was my "symbolic autobiography," existing before I decided to write--to open my heart.

In 1948 Castelnuovo-Tedesco was visited by his friend, composer Ernst Toch, a refugee from Vienna then living in Los Angeles. Toch gave him the score to his cello concerto (op. 35). Moved by the affection expressed by Toch's gift, Castelnuovo Tedesco returned the gesture by presenting Toch with a manuscript copy of this cantata. Almost immediately he regretted what he had done, writing later:

"To Ernst, who was such a complex and mature musician, this cantata must seem much too simple and childlike. But with extreme surprise (and immense gratification) I received a letter from Toch ... telling me that "this is one of the purest and most touching compositions you have ever written."

Naomi and Ruth (subtitled A Small Cantata for Women's Voices from the Book of Ruth) was premiered in Los Angeles in 1949 by the Los Angeles City College Philharmonic Chorus conducted by Hugo Strelitzer, with the composer at the piano. It was orchestrated subsequently.

SACRED SERVICE FOR THE SABBATH EVE

Castelnuovo-Tedesco's Sacred Service for the Sabbath Eve was written originally in 1943 on request from his friend Rabbi Nahum Immanuel, interim rabbi at Beth Sholom Temple in Santa Monica, California. Its premiere was originally envisioned for that Reform congregation and is therefore set to the prayer texts as they appear in the Union Prayer Book--except for the sections added later.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco had already written several individual prayer settings, beginning with l'kha dodi (1936) at the request of an Amsterdam synagogue, for an a cappella male choir (his first setting of the Hebrew language). He had revised it for mixed choir and organ, at Cantor David Putterman's invitation, for a performance in 1943 at the New York Park Avenue Synagogue's first service of new liturgical music. Although Castelnuovo-Tedesco had not been actively involved in the Florence synagogue prior to his emigration, apart from holy day attendance, he had become acquainted with cantors and synagogue music directors in Los Angeles, who invited him to compose for their congregations, Yet he had never attempted an entire unified service, and he saw Rabbi Immanuel's invitation as an opportunity to write a work dedicated to his mother's memory. He later recalled that his mother had helped him with the Amsterdam l'kha dodi by transliterating the words with correct accentuation for him and making a literal translation.

Also, at that time he was feeling increasingly anxious about the fate of his many relatives left behind in Europe, and he felt "filled with Jewish inspiration."

As he began to contemplate the work, Castelnuovo-Tedesco was confronted by various obstacles. One was the mixed formal use of English and Hebrew, including English recitation, in the American Reform service (and in many Conservative/non-Orthodox services of that time as well). This seemed alien to him and presented an aesthetic imbalance.

His resolution was to fashion organ accompaniments for those recitations, in which themes of preceding choral parts were developed in what he called a "melologue." His resolve was to compensate for this perceived aesthetic dissimilarity by striving all the more for stylistic unity throughout. The organ, too, was problematic for him--not for reasons of Jewish legal prohibitions of musical instruments on Sabbath or other holy days, but because he held the common but historically erroneous prejudice against its sound as one associated with Western Christian churches. In fact, the organ had been introduced into Reform and Liberal synagogues in Germany in the 19th century, not to emulate Christian services, but for musical-aesthetic reasons and to facilitate orderly, Western-style congregational hymn singing. Moreover, organs had existed in a number of western and central Europe orthodox synagogues as well, albeit only for legally permitted occasions such as weddings, non--holy day services, and liturgical concerts. In any case, Castelnuovo-Tedesco's subsequent use of the organ in his liturgical pieces after the Sacred Service suggests that he might have come to appreciate its sound within the context of Jewish worship.

An academic issue posed a more interesting conceptual problem for Castelnuovo-Tedesco in selecting an overall musical approach: whether to attempt to base the service on historical ground--specifically on early liturgical traditions or practice. He appears to have flirted briefly with the idea of using a reconstructed sound of Jewish worship in antiquity, or at least in its premodern stages. This would have meant consciously avoiding Western classical techniques, and he came to the conclusion that little could be known of the actual musical sound of early Hebrew liturgy, especially with its continuous acquisitions of musical features of host countries and cultures over the centuries. Also, he realized the difficulty of finding a way to utilize organ, part-writing, polyphony, or harmony in any such reconstruction, since he knew that none of these had existed in those early periods and that choral monody had probably prevailed.

So he deter mined instead to follow specifically the Italian polyphonic tradition, in that way at least relating the work to another, albeit non-Jewish, aspect of his Italian heritage. He also saw a historic rationale for turning to the approach of the 16th- and 17th-century Italian composer Salomone Rossi, the first to apply independent Renaissance polyphony to Hebrew liturgy.

The Sacred Service was completed at the end of 1943, although the composer later remarked, "In a way, it was never finished." The premiere, however, never occurred at the Santa Monica synagogue. By early 1944 Rabbi Immanuel had left that interim post to become rabbi of the new Westwood Temple, in no position yet to cover the costs of the large professional choir the composer required; neither was the Santa Monica synagogue interested or able, since Rabbi Immanuel appears to have been its primary champion. Castelnuovo-Tedesco withdrew the service.

Two years later Cantor Putterman excerpted three movements from the full service--mi khamokha, May the Words, and kaddish--which were per formed at the Park Avenue Synagogue in 1945.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco had offered Putterman these three movements only on the condition that the Sacred Service would soon be performed in its entirety.

Until that time, the Park Avenue services, which had become annual events, presented only individual compositions by a variety of composers in a single evening, but not yet entire services by single composers. However, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, stressing that he felt this to be his best work in many years, insisted that he wanted "for the first time to have it performed in its entirety; if not entire, I would not give you permission." In 1950 the Sacred Service was premiered in full at Park Avenue, with some newly added movements.

It was also recorded by the State Department for radio broadcast on the Voice of America. As the first complete singly composed service of the Park Avenue Synagogue commissioning program, it established a precedent, and that practice continued until at least 1976.

For the expanded Sacred Service for Park Avenue, Castelnuovo-Tedesco composed four brand-new settings for l'kha dodi, kiddush, ma tovu, and hashkivenu. These have been incorporated into the present Milken Archive recording.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco commented that he felt this to be one of his "most purely inspired works," one of the pieces in which he began to "find" himself again. He observed that it had been inspired by neither dramatic nor mystical feelings, but by recollections of serenity from his early home life. How much the Service meant to him on an inner spiritual level is suggested by his expressed fantasy of being able to "hear it once in the synagogue in Florence" where his family had worshiped.

When he sat among the congregation and watched the Torah being taken from the Ark, that synagogue had evoked in him an image of Jewish antiquity, and its image was filled with memories of family traditions. In America he had come to associate it with his personal Judaism. But in a special emotional way it indicates a return full circle to Jewish roots.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco fantasized that if he were ever to write a second service, it would either be in a completely nontraditional style or it would involve a faithful artistic resurrection of authentic tradition going back to antiquity. In that case he would employ a choir monodically--as he correctly supposed was the case in the ancient Temple and for a good time afterward--but with all the instruments enumerated in the Bible (in Psalm 150) instead of organ. "It would be a kind of jazz band, as was probably the Levites' orchestra (in the Temple). Certainly no synagogue in America, perhaps in the whole world, would consent to perform it." Of course, there had been the Bloch and Milhaud services with orchestra, performed in a prayer service context, albeit classically employed. And in the 1960s there were a few willing experimenters, even with actual jazz and blues ensembles, who found synagogues willing to accommodate. But for the most part Castelnuovo-Tedesco was correct in his skepticism. It is a pity that he did not live to witness that time when a few more musically visionary synagogues, including even some within the Conservative movement, were willing to experiment with orchestral services. Some, such as And David Danced, by Charles Davidson (in a basically traditional Conservative congregation), have been successful in using the orchestra not only to retain but also to reinforce the prayer experience, in no way expropriating the congregation's own role.

Castelnuovo-Tedesco would have approved.

Even though Castelnuovo-Tedesco's own tradition was Sephardi, the Sacred Service was writ ten according to Ashkenazi pronunciation and accentuation, which was the prevailing practice in America, except in specifically Sephardi congregations.

Many Conservative and then Reform-- followed even by some Orthodox--synagogues only gradually adopted the Sephardi pronunciation later, in order to be synchronized with the official pronunciation in Israel.

PRAYERS MY GRANDFATHER WROTE

When Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco was nine years old, his maternal grandfather, Nonno Senigaglia, suffered a heart attack while walking in the street on Sabbath evening. The composer later recalled that his grandfather asked to be brought to the synagogue, "where he prayed for the last time; and then, brought back to his home, he died peacefully a few hours later--a wonderful death." Some time after his death, the family discovered a small notebook in which he had notated music for several prayers. Nearly sixty years later, his grandson, then living in Beverly Hills, California, arranged one of those musical prayers into a set of variations for organ as Prayers My Grandfather Wrote: Sei Prelude per organo sopra un tem di Bruto Senigaglia. In the 1962 foreword to the piece, Castelnuovo-Tedesco wrote, "Now the little book [ my grandfather's prayers] is exactly one hundred years old; the first entry (a simple 'tone row' marked as a figured bass) is dated 1862. And, now a grandfather myself, I have taken some of grandfather's simple themes, developing them into a series of short preludes for organ."

ADONAI MA ADAM, YOSHEV B'SETER, and SHIVITI

(from Memorial Service for the Departed, op. 192)

These three settings are excerpted from the composer's collection of memorial liturgy, Memorial Service for the Departed, written in 1960 on commission by the Cantors Assembly of America. (The other prayer included is ma enosh.) These are among the most commonly recited liturgical texts or Psalms for memorial services and funerals in all Jewish orientations. The commission came at a time when Castelnuovo-Tedesco was enjoying some of his greatest success in both Italy and America. He had just received notice that his opera The Merchant of Venice, which had been awarded the Campari Prize in 1958, would be premiered in Florence at the 1961 Maggio Musicale. The return to Italy for the performance would be a professional highlight but also an emotional personal experience, for i brought into focus for him all the many friends acquaintances, and family who died since he had left for America--and especially those who had been murdered in the Holocaust. This work was dedicated to his cousin, Lina Castelnuovo Tedesco, but it was a special remembrance as well for his parents and brother.

These settings were intended for use at a memorial service, individual or collective, including the yizkor service on Yom Kippur and Festivals in those synagogues that use organ; and even for funerals in nontraditional contexts where organ could be used during the mourning period.

--Neil W. Levin

Disc 1

Naomi and Ruth, Op. 137

(more info)

Performed by: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra
Composed by: Neville Marriner Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Ana Maria Martinez, soprano
Recording date: September 2000

Naomi and Ruth, Op. 27 - 10:54

Sacred Service for the Sabbath Eve, Op. 122

(more info)

Composed by: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco Ronald Corp
Ted Christopher, baritone
Rodney Mariner, reader
Hugh Potton, organ
Jeremy Cohen, tenor
Recording date: February 2000

Ma Tova - 3:57
L'kha Dodi - 5:06
Tov L'hodot - 6:36
Bar'khu - 1:17
Sh'ma Yisra'el - 1:05
Mi Khamokha - 1:49
Hashkivenu - 5:11
V'sham'ru - 2:34
May the Words - 1:59
Kiddush - 3:25
Let Us Adore - 1:53
Va'anahnu - 2:09
On That Day - 0:57
Benediction - 1:40
Adon Olam - 2:55

Prayers My Grandfather Wrote

(more info)

Composed by: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Barbara Harbach, organ
Recording date: February 2000

I. Tema - 1:53
II. Hashkivenu - 3:49
V. Ra'u Banim - 2:33

Memorial Service for the Departed

(more info)

Composed by: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
Conducted by: Neil Levin
Simon Spiro, cantor
McNeil Robinson, organ
Recording date: February 2001

I. Adonai Ma Adam - 2:24
III. Yoshev B'seter - 1:39
IV. Shiviti - 3:18

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Composer(s):
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario; Corp, Ronald; Marriner, Neville

Conductor(s):
Levin, Neil

Orchestra(s):
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Orchestra

Artist(s):
Christopher, Ted; Cohen, Jeremy; Harbach, Barbara; Mariner, Rodney; Martinez, Ana Maria; Potton, Hugh; Robinson, McNeil; Spiro, Simon

Label: Naxos Milken Archives/American
UPC: 636943940426
Item Number: 8559404
Release Date: Sep 1, 2003