Salamone Rossi's Synagogue Motets The 400th Anniversary

• Published in: The Choral journal Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 7 - 23
• Main Author: Jacobson, Joshua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oklahoma City American Choral Directors Association 01-09-2022
• Subjects: Baroque era; Classical music; Composers; Hymns; Jewish people; Liturgy; Musical performances; Polyphony; Religious music; Rites & ceremonies; Rossi, Salamone (1570?-1630?); Vocal music; Italy
• ISSN: 0009-5028; 2163-2170

Rossi's published output consists of six books of madrigals, one book of canzonets, one balletto from an opera, one book of madrigaletti, four books of instrumental works (sonatas, sinfonias, and various dance pieces), and the path-breaking collection of synagogue motets-in all, some 313 compositions published between 1589 and 1628. The title of the collection, Ha-shirim Asher Lish-lomo (The Songs of Solomon), not only refers to the name of the author (Salamone is the Italian form of Shelomo or Solomon), but playing on the name of a book of the Hebrew Bible, Shir Ha-shirim Asher Lishlomo (The Song of Songs of Solomon), also gave the music an implied intertextual sacred stamp of approval. Having virtually no precedent in the polyphonic setting of the synagogue liturgy, Rossi was free to borrow, alter, or reject a wide variety of styles, Middle Eastern and Western. The modern homophonic texture was a perfect vehicle for conveying the text to the congregation in the clearest possible manner.14 Rossi could not have been unaware of the musical reforms of the Catholic church that were influencing the composition of church music in Mantua, as elsewhere.