Language:
English
Year of publication:
2001
Titel der Quelle:
Journal of the American Musicological Society
Angaben zur Quelle:
54,3 (2001) 439-491
Keywords:
Jezebel, Songs and music
;
Solomon, In music
;
Bloch, Ernest,
;
Bible in music
;
Jews Songs and music Identity
;
Jews Identity 20th century
;
History
Abstract:
Disappointed in the reception of his opera "Macbeth" (1910), and torn between what he considered opposing French and German musical aesthetics, the Swiss Jewish composer Ernest Bloch, together with his librettist Edmond Fleg, turned to Jewish topics. Traces the development of Bloch's Jewish identity from his opera "Jézabel" (begun in 1911 and never completed) through his violoncello rhapsody "Schelomo" (1915-1916). Although both works have similar stylistic characteristics, the change between what is conceived as “Jewish” in the one and the other is significant. In "Jézabel", Bloch depicted an imaginary pure world of Jews, with diatonic, simple melodies, and he painted the pagan Jezebel with the lush chromaticism associated with Oriental sensuality. In "Schelomo", he interpreted the chromatic, augmented-second-ridden style as expressive of Jewishness. "Schelomo" fulfilled the expectations of Bloch's audiences by playing into stereotypes of Jewish music. Ironically, then, the antisemitism that was a major factor in driving Bloch to find a particularly Jewish voice also inspired the corroboration of a musical style that, like the society around him, marked Jews as others.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
Permalink