[Avodah] Using Non-Jewish Tunes For Mussaf of Rosh Hashanah?

[Simon Montagu]

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 12:39 AM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 26, 2011 at 05:11:01PM -0400, Rafi Hecht wrote:
>: By the way, speaking of non-Jewish music and Kol Nidrei, ever wonder where
>: the tune comes from? You guesses it - Classical music! Beethoven's "Adagio
>: Quasi Un Poco Andante - Beethoven Op. 131. 14/6 C#," in fact!
...
> Just the opening phrase. But, you underestimate the Ashkenazi melody
> for Kol Nidrei. It was one of the tunes the Maharil declared miSinai,
> meaning it was old even when he was born in 1365 or so. (And thus to
> be considered minhag kedin.) Beethoven was born in 1770. If there was
> borrowing, it went the other way.

Shortly before writing Op. 131, Beethoven had been commissioned to
write a piece for a concert held by the Jewish community in Vienna to
celebrate the opening of a new Beit Knesset/community centre. Because
of the quotation from Kol Nidrei in op 131, musicologists assume that
he took some time to hear the melodies used in the shul, even though
the piece that he wrote for the Jewish Community, the "Dedication of
the House" overture, doesn't use any Jewish themes.


[A correction came in a 2nd email. -micha]

On Tue, Sep 27, 2011 at 6:38 AM, Simon Montagu <simon.montagu at gmail.com> wrote:
> the piece that he wrote for the Jewish Community, the "Dedication of
> the House" overture, doesn't use any Jewish themes.

My memory was confused here. See
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/fid_97-01/992_mend_spm.html and
search for "Vienna's Salomon Sulzer" for a more accurate version.