Idelson Abraham (1882-1938)

Idelson Abraham Zvi (1882, Felixberg, Courland Governorate, now Jurkalns, Latvia — 1938, Johannesburg, South Africa) — musicologist, composer, cantor. Founder of modern Jewish musicology and one of the first ethnomusicologists. Studied the art of the cantor in Liepāja, then at the conservatories of Königsberg, Berlin and Leipzig. Was a cantor at synagogues in Leipzig, Regensburg and Johannesburg. Among his teachers were S. Jadassohn, Sh. Krehl, H. Kretzschmar and K.F. Zöllner. In 1905, settled in Jerusalem, where he founded the Institute of Jewish Music (1910) and the Jewish Music School (1919). In 1924–34 — professor of Jewish music at Hebrew Union College (USA). Founded the Centre of Jewish Musicology in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1937, moved to Johannesburg. Idelson gave a scientific character to the collecting and study of Jewish music; made over a thousand phonographic recordings of folk Jewish melodies; freshly illuminated the influence of biblical cantillation on the musical traditions of various Jewish ethnic groups. Among his major works are the monumental “Thesaurus of Oriental Hebrew Melodies” (vols. 1–10, 1914–32), “Sefer ha-shirim” (“Book of Songs,” vols. 1–2, 1913–22), “Toldot ha-negina ha-'ivrit” (“History of Jewish Music,” vol. 1, 1924, vols. 2–3 in manuscript), “Jewish Music in Its Historical Development” (in English, 1929, 1968), “Jewish Liturgy” (in English, 1932, 1968) and others. Idelson composed the first Israeli opera “Jephthah” (staged in Jerusalem, 1922), a number of songs, and the popular “Hava Nagila.”

KEE, vol. 2, col. 643

M. Mikhaylets