15th−16th September, 2018, 07.00 pm - 10.00 pm
The Courtyard of the National Museum in Szczecin
27 Staromłyńska Street (entry from Żołnierza Polskiego Square)
How could Jewish music sound in Szczecin?
In the New Synagogue at the present Dworcowa Street used to sound powerful organs and the choir gave concerts and the most famous artists of their times sang in it. The works of Louis Lewandowski (the greatest composer of Jewish music, born in Września and created in Berlin) were performer on the ceremonial days. Psalms were alternately singing with short, dance preludes or monumental instrumental works. By placing a hand on the surviving fragment of the wall of the former synagogue, we are still able to feel its slight tremor. Today, he is moved by the vibration of a live street. Then the sounds of mystical prayer struck him.
Not far away, on Niebuszewo district of Szczecin dozens of people and vehicles were tapping the music of everyday life on the streets. Old folk melodies were humming at work or at home. In the evenings, legends were sung about distant lands and long journeys. The immortal heroes revived in small apartments of craftsmen, tenement houses or wooden houses. Beautiful, pure singing carried away far beyond the city limits. Will we be able to hear it again when looking at our city today?
Thanks to the source materials, photographs and texts of historians, we managed to resurrect these two musical images. During the Days of Jewish Music in Szczecin, we will recreate the music of the New Synagogue and Niebuszewo.
During two evenings we will renew the tradition of two hundred years.
Saturday, September 15, 2018, 07.00 pm
MUSIC OF THE NEW SYNAGOGUE
Jakub Stefek - organs
VOX VARSHE trio composed of:
Anna Woźnicka - soprano
Olga Wądołowska - mezzo-soprano
Aleksander Słojewski - tenor
In ancient times, synagogue music was reserved for a narrow circle of religious communities gathering in prayer houses. In the nineteenth century, in the reformed synagogues, vocal music was combined with organ accompaniment. In the New Synagogue in Szczecin there were powerful organs (it was an instrument larger than the organs currently in the Cathedral of St. James). At the request of the Jewish community, he composed himself, Louis Lewandowski, whose fame is still alive today in Berlin and all over Germany. The synagogue in Szczecin was visited by singers from Warsaw and Łódź. Interrupted by the second world war, the executive tradition will revive the Vox Varshe trio with the accompaniment of Jakub Stefek.
During the concert the premiere of the new song by Eunho Chang, inspired by the vocal and organ Jewish tradition, will take place.
Worth seeing