![]() ![]() ![]() Indeed, non-Jewish as well as Jewish Schoenberg aficionados have interpreted it as both his personal and his highly personalized-if idiosyncratic (and perhaps autocratic)-attestation of faith. Nonetheless, like much religiously inspired cultivated concert or “classical” music that originated in the context of worship, but whose universal artistic messages have transcended that function, Schoenberg’s Kol Nidre remains a manifestly religious expression. Yet even those who are generally sympathetic to far-reaching liberal and creative liturgical innovations-as well as devotees of musical modernism on its most rigorous levels-are likely now to acknowledge that this work belongs properly to the realm of spiritually infused concert or art music rather than to any potential synagogue service repertoire. Moreover, both Schoenberg and his literary-theological rabbinic collaborator on the work had hopes, albeit ultimately futile, for its subsequent adoption by forward-looking synagogues. The piece began its performance life optimistically and adventurously as an imaginative part of a formal Yom Kippur eve service. Conceived specifically for actual synagogue use, it was also his first foray into the genre of Jewish sacred music-assuming, as we should, that Psalm settings per se do not necessarily fall into the functional framework of synagogue music when not so envisioned by their composers.Īs its title indicates, this work is related to Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, and is linked to this Day of Atonement’s most obvious and most ubiquitous musical sine qua non in the popular perception of the Ashkenazi world. 39) is his only completed, intentionally liturgical work.
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