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https://www.thedailybeast.com/can-dave-brubecks-cantata-bring-black-and-jewish-communities-together>
"In late February at Holman United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, Remy Ohara,
a UCLA music student, sounded a shofar, the ram’s horn usually used for High
Holiday services at Jewish temples—first in short blasts, then longer sustained
tones. Surrounded by a brass and percussion orchestra and flanked by two
sections of a large choir, she held the shofar aloft. I was struck by the image
of her instrument, directly beneath the large cross affixed to the front wall
of Holman church, where, just three weeks before his assassination in 1968, the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a sermon about the meaning of hope.
Thus began a performance of
The Gates of Justice, a 12-movement cantata
composed by Dave Brubeck in 1969. The work was originally commissioned by a
rabbi, Charles Mintz, to premiere at the dedication of the Rockdale Temple in
Cincinnati, Ohio. Yet it had a deeper, broader intent: to help heal the wound
opened during a period of pronounced violence and unrest following King’s death
and, specifically, to repair a growing rift between American Black and Jewish
communities—rooted in racism, antisemitism, class privilege and historically
unequal partnerships, among other factors—where there had previously been
common cause in fighting social injustice.
“The essential message of
The Gates of Justice is the brotherhood of man,”
Brubeck wrote in his note to the 1970 Decca LP of the piece. (That recording is
now out of print; in 2001, the Milken Archive of Jewish Music, founded by the
businessman Lowell Milken, recorded the work for Naxos.) “Concentrating on the
historic and spiritual parallels of the Jew and the American Negro, I hoped
through the juxtaposition and amalgamation of a variety of musical styles to
construct a bridge upon which the universal theme of brotherhood could be
communicated.”
To that end, Brubeck composed the principal vocal roles for a tenor, in Jewish
cantorial fashion (sung in Los Angeles by Azi Schwartz, a cantor at New York
City’s Park Avenue Synagogue) and a baritone, drawing on Black Spirituals and
blues (sung here by Phillip Bullock). The piece includes among its textual
sources, the Bible, the writings of the Jewish sage Hillel, and excerpts from
King’s speeches, all compiled and shaped primarily by Brubeck’s wife, Iola, who
was his frequent collaborator."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
