I cannot give any information upon the music of the synagogue,
although I sang six years there. The music is all manuscript and the
cantors of the different schules all have their own services and
nothing else is used, but they are very chary of their services, as
they call them. I believe during my time we had six different ones,
with their accompanying hymns, responses and chants, all in the Hebrew
language. We had high days and holidays, which were very impressive
and solemn, and the music was very beautiful and delightful to sing,
even if we could not understand the meaning of the Hebrew. When the
words of one service had been conquered, the others were easy to
sing--like the Latin in the masses. The Episcopal service, which is as
familiar as all the others to me, has the same Te Deums, hymns and
chants, choruses and quartette, litany and vespers, services, glorias
and sacred cantatas. There is extra music for Christmas festivals and
appropriate music for Lenten seasons and joyful songs for Easter,
processional and recessional hymns written for this service by
well-known men. The orthodox services are not so elaborate--an opening
anthem, hymns, offertories selected from the many available churchly
compositions written by Dudley Buck, Adam, Mason, Ambrose and other
English and American writers of our time and before our time. I have a
wonderfully fine collection of such songs that I have used all these
years and have successfully sung.
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