Religion, a subtle matter in music

[rug]

19th-century German culture split roots for Jewish composers

6:19 PM, Nov. 12, 2011
Written by
Stuart Low
Staff music critic

When I first saw the program for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra's Oct. 20 concert, I had an aha moment.

Music director Arild Remmereit was going to conduct Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel's Job cantata and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection." As a music lover with Jewish roots, I immediately assumed that the RPO planned to showcase Christian music by Jewish composers.

As it turned out, this wasn't an intended theme. And these composers' religious identities weren't easy to summarize, though they offered fascinating insights into 19th-century German culture.

Hensel and her famed brother, Felix, were grandchildren of the celebrated German philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, often called the "Father of Reform Judaism." Their father, Abraham, viewed Lutheranism as a ticket into cultured German circles and made sure that his children were baptized as Lutherans.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111113/LIVING/111130312/Religion-subtle-matter-music

[HopeHoops]

1. Yeah, but despite being Saxons, the music doesn't work so well with saxaphones.

:shrug: Go figure.

[rug]

3. That's because Adolphe was Belgian.

[HopeHoops]

4. What the hell is an Adolphone?

[rug]

5. An early attempt at a iPhone.

[HopeHoops]

6. iUnderstand

[saras]

7. I thought it was Hitler's folk version of a Bananaphone

[rrneck]

8. Actually

I think that was the Bic banana, one of the earliest precursors to industrialized communications technologies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXQXnUWuHc

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[laconicsax]

9. Mahler converted to Catholicism to avoid the rampant antisemitism in Vienna.