Choral Piece of the Day, Installment 35: Homage to Rossi
Completed in 2010, Homage to Rossi is a six-minute work in four movements for SATB Chorus unaccompanied sung in Hebrew; the running English translation in the score is my own. The movements are 1. Bar'chu (Rossi), 2. Baruch 1 (Rossi/Hoffman), 3. Adonai, erech apayim (Hoffman), 4. Baruch 2 (Rossi/Hoffman).
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Follow the next link to view a watermarked PDF for this piece.
Follow the next link to listen to a synthesized rendition of this sadly unperformed work.
Follow the next link to view my catalog of works at one of my sheet music distributors, oySongs.com, which includes Homage to Rossi.
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Program Notes
Homage to Rossi is a tribute to composer Salomone Rossi (c. 1570-1630). Conceptually, this piece is a quasi miniature Jewish Sabbath Torah service. It begins with Rossi's composition Bar'chu verbatim. This prayer is the blessing which is recited just before the Torah reading. This is followed by a variation on it, Baruch 1, the text for which is the conclusion of that blessing. Then comes the centerpiece of the composition, the Parsha (Torah portion) for which I chose Parshat Shelach, which is Numbers 13:1-15 and 41; I used 4:18 and 15:39-41 in this setting. This section, Adonai erech apayim, features music that strays from the home key to reflect the text " ... and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray." The music gradually returns to the home key, reflecting the words" ... so that you shall remember and perform all My commandments." The homage closes with Baruch 2 which presents the music of Baruch 1 with different words, namely the blessing after the Torah reading. Homage to Rossi is appropriate as a concert piece. Although this setting cannot be used liturgically, adventuresome temple choruses may certainly consider programming it during services as an unusual substitution for an anthem, especially during the week in which Parshat Shelach is read.
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A plea to musicians of all kinds: perform Jewish-centric music!
So much of Jewish-centric music has been and continues to be ignored, or worse, boycotted, today because of the crazy, divisive, upside-down times in which we live. A rich treasure-trove of Jewish-centric music exists.
Explore creative programming options from the time of the Renaissance through the music of today. Many reliable databases of sacred and secular Jewish-centric music exist.
Contact me for more programming ideas about my Jewish-centric music, and the music of countless other composers and arrangers, who include both Jews and Gentiles. I will be happy to help point you in whatever direction I am able.
If you are truly devoted to diversity, then you simply cannot arbitrarily exclude the music of a culture that is over 3500 years old because of geopolitics; to do so is the pinnacle of hypocrisy.
Thank you for your time and attention. Be well, and god bless.
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