Chosen Voices: The Story of the American Cantorate
Chosen Voices is the definitive survey of an often overlooked aspect of American Jewish history and ethnomusicology, and an insider's look at a profession that is also a vocation. Week after week, year after year, Jews turn to sacred singers for spiritual and emotional support. The job of the hazzan -- much more than the traditional "messenger to God" -- is deeply embedded in cultural, social, and religious symbolism, negotiated between the congregation and its chosen voices. Drawing on...
Search in google:
Chosen Voices is the definitive survey of an often overlooked aspect of American Jewish history and ethnomusicology, and an insider's look at a profession that is also a vocation. Week after week, year after year, Jews turn to sacred singers for spiritual and emotional support. The job of the hazzan -- much more than the traditional "messenger to God" -- is deeply embedded in cultural, social, and religious symbolism, negotiated between the congregation and its chosen voices. Drawing on archival sources, interviews with cantors, and photographs, Slobin traces the development of the American cantorate from the nebulous beginnings of the hazzan as a recognizable figure through the heyday of the superstar sacred singer in the early twentieth century to a diverse portrait of today's cantorate, which now includes women as well as men. Slobin's focus on the current nature of the profession includes careful consideration of the sacred singer's part in creating and maintaining the worship service, the recent relationship between the rabbi and the hazzan within the synagogue, and the music that contemporary cantors sing. This first paperback edition features a new preface by the author. A thirty-five-minute cassette for use with Chosen Voices is available separately from the University of Illinois Press.
Preface to the Paperback EditionPreface1The Cantorate in Jewish Culture321680s-1880s: Colonials Through German Reformers2931880s-1940s: First- and Second-Generation Eastern Europeans51Interlude: Paths to America7841950s-1970s: Postwar Professionals9451970s-1980s: New Trends, New Gender1126Finding a Role1357Defining a Job1568Life in the Sanctuary1689The Music of Participation19510The Music of Presentation21311The Music of Improvisation25612Conclusion281App.: Annotated Accounts of Service Building287Bibliography298Index309
