Ḥazzan and Qahal: Responsive Chant in Minhag Ashkenaz

Ḥazzanut is frequently perceived as implying the elaborate performance of the ḥazzan to a passive congregation. However, such an assertion is largely untrue for Oriental and Sephardic Jews. Nor is this description representative of the Ashkenazi synagogue in earlier centuries. From minhag books, sid...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Goldberg, Geoffrey (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: HUC 1991
In: Hebrew Union College annual
Year: 1990, Volume: 61, Pages: 203-217
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Non-electronic
Description
Summary:Ḥazzanut is frequently perceived as implying the elaborate performance of the ḥazzan to a passive congregation. However, such an assertion is largely untrue for Oriental and Sephardic Jews. Nor is this description representative of the Ashkenazi synagogue in earlier centuries. From minhag books, siddurim and maḥzorim there is considerable evidence that in Minhag Ashkenaz, the liturgical rite of southwest and south Germany, the responsive form, resulting in an interaction between ḥazzan and congregation, was a significant element of synagogue worship. Even after the rise of virtuoso ḥazzanut in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the responsive form, contrary to the pattern in Eastern Europe, continued in many German communities. This would strongly suggest continuity with Oriental Jewish practice, in form, if not in actual musical content.
Contains:Enthalten in: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Hebrew Union College annual