The modern Reform Cantorate is seen as a result of developments that took place during the 19th century, largely in Europe. The process continued to evolve in America following the emigration of German Reform Jews towards the end of the century.
Emancipation We may attribute these events to a new dialectic obtaining between Jews who saw themselves as reformers and the views held at the time by the majority of Jews in the world. Although a modernist tendency was already present within European Jewish thought, the French Revolution and its aftermath gave free rein to those who wished to remake Judaism based on the new relationship Judaism had with Western society.
Revision of the service The novel experience of life "as citizens" was for Jews, as if a mirror had been cast in front of them. They appraised themselves in relation to non-Jews as they never had before and felt the need to accommodate the new situation in religious as well as in civic life.
...ancient Jewish ritual practices stood in pale contrast to the enlightened modern church. The church offered participatory rites punctuated by the singing of moving hymns by the congregation and impressive performances by professional choirs singing the glorious music of Bach and Mozart—complete with stirring instrumental accompaniments. The synagogue offered unaccompanied Eastern chants known only to a limited inner circle of chazzanim, recited in an antique, literally backward and virtually incomprehensible language. How could Judaism hope to compete on such a stage? The only possible answer was to reformulate Judaism to suit the sensibilities of the modern era.
The model for change tended to be the relatively staid Protestant service. The Orthodox service, previously marked by its fervor, slowly changed into a "modern" synagogue ritual in an attempt to achieve the decorum that was thought to go with recognition by the state. Many aspects of the way in which prayer was rendered (and therefore the music) changed rapidly. "Unsuitable traditional singing which interrupts the prayer" was curtailed, and congregants were "reminded and ordered to follow the cantor's prayers quietly and silently", cited by
Rather than rabbis, the first figures to make and attempt reform were laymen. The first successful reformer of synagogue ritual was Israel Jacobson (1768–1822), a wealthy and influential merchant. His goal was to reform ritual as well as religious education of the Jews in Germany. In Seesen (in Lower Saxony) in 1810, he erected the first Reform temple on the grounds of a boys' school. Many innovations were based on the Christian model. The temple had a bell used to announce the time of prayer. For the first time sermons were delivered in German. Jacobson was the first to introduce confirmation.
Overturning the traditional musical style As well as taking responsibility for re-arranging the ritual, the music was also changed. Jacobson installed an organ. A children's service was set, into which he introduced hymns that used tunes from Protestant chorales. The chanting of the Pentateuch and Prophets and prayers according to traditional modes were discarded. The service was read without chant, meaning that there was no longer the need for a chazzan; at least not a chazzan who could only function in the traditional capacity.
Not only were congregants quieted, but also the high and low voiced singers who used to accompany the chazzan were replaced by decorous choruses as change spread across the German lands community by community throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. Hymns in German replaced the old piyutim, [liturgical poems] which began to be curtailed or proscribed altogether., cited by
The pioneer of Jewish musicology A. Z. Idelsohn (1882–1938) observes that as long as Jews lived in the belief that their stay in the Diaspora was compulsory galut (exile), as long as it was necessary to hope for a return to Palestine, they instinctively preserved the Semitic-Oriental element in themselves and in their cultural creations. Again, this self-assessment was altered by their self-appraisal as 'citizens' of a nation. The Reform usage of the term 'temple' for their places of worship (rather than 'synagogue') was intended to convey a renunciation of any desire to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem; one of the crucial events anticipated by those who envisioned the inevitable return of the Jews to the Levant. Since it was no longer necessary to engender this hope via stylistic elements in their music, Western European melodic and harmonic techniques could be embraced without constraint. Idelsohn explains:
[Rather than abandon Judaism altogether it was thought to] reform their Judaism, by which they meant to cut away exotic, Semitic-Oriental parts, and retain only that part of Judaism which was of a general religious and ethical nature. The idea was so to remodel Judaism that it should not be a stumbling block by reason of its Orientalism and medievalism, that it should be as easy to observe as is Christianity, that, furthermore, the modern Jew should not be offended by its strangeness and should be attracted by its European exterior.
But there was a limit to the amount of change the even a liberal congregation would accept. In Berlin, Jacob Herz Beer (1769–1825) a banker and sugar manufacturer,Wilhelmy-Dollinger, Petra. "Berlin Salons: Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Century." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. November 16, 2009 the father of the composer Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791–1864) opened a temple in his home according to Jacobson's program. His son (who happened to oppose the use of the organ in Jewish services—see below) arranged the music. But from the beginning, Beer was constrained to engage a chazzan in order to attract a greater audience. Back in Seer, Jacobson also acquiesced to public demand and engaged Chazzan Hirsch Goldberg (1807–1893). Together with Julius Freudenthal (1805–1874) (his famous tune to Ein Keloheinu is still sung today) they modernized synagogue song eventually publishing a collection of solos and two-part choir arrangements.
From Chazzan to Cantor At this point, the new Reform model retained the chazzan's title, but he was beginning to be valued less for his abilities as a soloist and more for his skill in either composing new works or arranging old melodies for the congregation to sing. The new arrangements may have required solo from the chazzan, but it was no longer requisite to sing long solos (or even have a particularly good voice!) in order to be effective. Things were becoming more 'democratic' with regard to who did the singing, but rather than threatening the role of the cantor, this trend enhanced it, because the new responsibilities of composer, arranger, and conductor required conservatory training.
The first of the great cantor-composers were Salomon Sulzer, Samuel Naumbourg, and Louis Lewandowski, who held posts in Vienna, Paris, and Berlin, respectively. They created melodies that are today considered 'traditional' in synagogues, temples, and even little shteiblachs of every variety. Their arrangements are still required study for student cantors and continue to be sung by choirs of all levels. Their profiles and achievements are well-documented elsewhere. Here we will deal with a single issue or event, seemingly unimportant in relation to the rest of their work, but having considerable impact on the Reform cantorate or music in Reform temples.
Salomon Sulzer's advocacy of the organ Salomon Sulzer (1808–1890) was the legendary oberkantor ('chief cantor') of Vienna. He was the first to consciously devise this role (and the title), basing it on the example of J.S. Bach. He is revered as an innovative composer, a singer of marvelous range and expression (a tenor/baritone) and as a prominent teacher, having been a member of the Vienna Conservatory faculty. His compositions combined 'old' and 'new' by setting traditional melodies in arrangement for four-part chorus, influencing the musical style of many synagogues in Eastern and Central Europe. Sulzer's main contributions to synagogue music did not take place as a part of Radical Reform Judaism in Germany, but rather in the context of the Viennese Rite, which was more akin ideologically to the Neologue Synagogues of Hungary and the teachings of Zecharias Frankel. Sulzer took a progressive position on the renewal of vocal music in the synagogue, however he opposed the use of the German language in the Jewish service, and initially the use of organ, and his view won out. Though often erroneously referred to as Reform, the Vienna Stadttemple was, in fact, more akin to a contemporary modern Orthodox synagogue. Max Wohlberg wrote, “The Jews of Vienna eschewed the rationalistic and universalistic ideas of extreme Reform and preferred the milder nationalistic and historic views that were later crystallized by Leopold Zunz, Abraham Geiger, Zechariah Frankel, and even Samson Raphael Hirsch.” The service was officiated strictly by men, and women sat separately. Although some piyyutim were removed, and a few prayers added in the vernacular, the liturgy was, for the most part, the traditional liturgy, (as opposed to the liturgy of radical Reform) as evidenced by Sulzer's primary notated musical compendia, Shir Zion (published between 1840 and 1866). The choir of Sulzer's time consisted strictly of men and boys. Though there were optional organ accompaniments in many of the pieces, the organ was not used during services on the Sabbath and Holidays. Vienna was then the music capital of the world and even chazzanim from Orthodox Eastern Europe came to Vienna in order to learn something of the new style.
Singing and choirs were introduced without much controversy, but when it came to the organ, synagogues were more hesitant, even negative. Meyerbeer, (noted above) when he was asked to compose a work for the consecration of the new Jewish house of worship in Vienna, once made the following comment on music in the synagogue: You are not about to introduce an organ into the synagogue! That is a purely Christian instrument. What next! ...The human being in prayer should speak to his god without any intermediary. This is what the Jews have done since the destruction of the Temple; it has been the custom for two millennia. We should make no innovations. But if they are determined to have different music, it should in my opinion, be music from trombones and flutes, like those that resounded in the Temple of Solomon.Foyer (Leipzig: 1898), in Max Grunwald, Der Kampf um die Orgel in der Wiener Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde. (Vienna: Verlag von Dr. Bloch's Volkenshrift, 1919), p. 17. Cited in . The first Jewish synod at Leipzig, in June 1869, brought together rabbis and community leaders from all over Europe, the United States, and even the West Indies to discuss the ideas of "enlightened" and liberal Judaism. Salomon Sulzer was a deputy in the synod; the sole representative of cantors and synagogue musicians—testifying to the high regard the body of liberal rabbis held for this cantor and their understanding that music was a critical element in the 'liberal' congregations they envisioned. In his address, Sulzer brought up the issue of the organ.An instrumental accompaniment of the singing during the worship service [should] be introduced everywhere, in order to make it easier for the members of the congregation to take an active part in the same. ...the organ is worthy of recommendation for the required accompaniment, and there are no religious objections to its us on the Sabbath and on holidays.Salomon Sulzer, motion. Summarized in Verhandlungen der ersten Israelitischen Synode zu Leipzig (Berlin: 1969), pp. 250f. Cited in .