Each chapter focuses on a different Jewish cultural epoch, and, against the background of its principal historical and cultural traits, explores the music and the way it functioned in that society. Proceeding more or less chronologically, the fifteen chapters cover a variety of Jewish musical expressions. Topics considered include performance practices of the ancient Temple, the relationship of Jewish and early Christian music, cantillation, Jewish music in the worlds of medieval Islam and Christianity, Yiddish and Ladino folk music, growth and development of the synagogue liturgy, cantorial song in Europe and the United States, Yiddish theater in Europe and North America, klezmer, Jews in the concert world of the past two centuries, music of the Holocaust, American synagogue music, and music in modern Israel. A unique feature of the book is its carefully placed historical interludes, while illustrations, charts, and a glossary of technical terms supplement the text. The book has been planned to function both as a college text and an informative guide for the lay reader.

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