Vocal(/Choral) Composition of the Day, Installment 12:
"Veshameru"
for
Baritone or Alto Solo & Organ,
or for
Baritone or Alto Solo, SATB Chorus & Organ,
(1993, rev. 2000)
"Veshameru" is a piece for the Sabbath ("Shabbat"), an original setting of a traditional text sung in Hebrew. Here is my English translation of that text.
And the children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath,
to keep the Sabbath in each generation as a covenant forever.
It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever,
that in six days the Holy One made the heavens and the earth,
and on the seventh day rested from working.
When the version of "Veshameru" for Baritone or Alto Solo, SATB Chorus & Organ was published and recorded in 2000, I recall that it attracted some attention. Musicians emailed me about enthusiastically it at ECS Publishing's Boston office when I was Editor there. "Veshameru" is among my best strophic, modal compositions.
Here are links to the publisher's two respective product pages for Veshameru".
Version for Baritone or Alto Solo & Organ:
ECS Publishing Group Catalog No. 5494.
Version for Baritone or Alto Solo, SATB Chorus & Organ:
ECS Publishing Group Catalog No. 5493.
Follow the next link to view a music video for "Veshameru" on my YouTube channel which I created to encourage additional live performances. This performance of the version for Baritone or Alto Solo, SATB Chorus & Organ is by The Philovox Ensemble, Jennifer Lester, conductor Aaron Engebreth, baritone, Heinrich Christensen, organ. Music: © Copyright 2000 by Ione Press, Inc., a division of ECS Publishing Group. www.ecspublishing.com All rights reserved. Used by permission. Recording: © Copyright 2000 by ARSIS Audio, a division of ECS Publishing Group. www.ecspublishing.com All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Follow the next URL to here to listen to this same track on my website.
Of course, this version gives a very good idea of how the version without chorus sounds.
I hope you enjoy "Veshameru". Thank you for your time and attention.
—
Editorial: 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 height of hypocrisy. Embrace and perform Jewish music as you would the music of any other culture.
—
Stanley M. Hoffman, PhD
Link to my website: https://www.stanleymhoffman.com
Biography Published in Grove Music Online (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Oxford University Press)
https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/browse?btog=chap&pageSize=20&sort=titlesort&subSite=grovemusic&t=music_People%3A18&t0=music_Topics%3A78
The "Stanley M. Hoffman Special Collection" was established at The Berklee College of Music Library Archive in January 2025. It will take whatever time is necessary for the archive to catalog my collection and make it available to the public.
Website: https://archives.berklee.edu
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