Paul Ben-Haim – JORAM

Leipziger Synagogalchor, Germany

Paul Ben-Haim was born Paul Frankenburger in Munich in 1897 and grew up in Germany's musical tradition. After emigrating in 1933, he rose to become one of Israel's most important composers. His oratorio Joram (described by his biographer Jehoash Hirshberg as his "most German work") was his last attempt to hold on to his German cultural heritage in the face of hostility and rejection, while at the same time addressing his Jewish identity: "My heart is in the East, but I am in the West." Structurally modeled on a Bach Passion, the oratorio combines late Romantic influences (of R. Strauss and G. Mahler) with Jewish and Oriental characteristics in rhythm and melody, as audible references caught between German and Jewish culture. 

The EvS Music Foundation is sponsoring the performance of the oratorio, which was completed in 1933 but performed for the first time as late as in 2008 by the Leipzig Synagogue Choir with over 200 mostly young singers. The performance of the oratorio is a necessary and appropriate tribute to a work of art that is musically stirring, highly topical in terms of content and still far too little known.

July 10, 2022
Leipzig Gewandhaus

Further Information:
synagogalchor-leipzig.de