Keywords:
Paul Ben-Haim, Israeli art music, Bracha Zephira, Archival research
Abstract
This paper explores Paul Ben – Haim's views on Israeli music: a central figure in Israeli art music, however his own individual notions on the matter are still little known. This paper relies on a close reading of two different hitherto unpublished notes for lecture that Ben – Haim had written down at two different time periods (respectively 1954 and 1968). Indeed it is that musical historians such as Peter Gradenwitz in his Music and Musicians in Israel (1952), or Max Brod in his Israel's Music (1951), have attempted to chronicle and elucidate the different musical schools and tendencies that became prominent during those years - The present essay delineates Ben – Haim's personal contribution to these dialogues.
Author Biography
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Liran Gurkiewicz
Liran Gurkiewicz holds a PhD from Bar – ilan University (2016), he has acquired both his BA and MA at Tel Aviv University. His research interests are the variation genre in the Spanish renaissance and Israeli art music, in specific Paul Ben – Haim. His dissertation focuses on Ben – Haim's orchestral music: exploring the intersection of Jewish (non – religious) identity and the stylistical devices that the composer relies on. The research emphasizes the linear continuity between Ben – Haim's later works from Germany, and the later Israeli works that define him. He has published in the Conference Proceedings of Art Musics of Israel, Ed. Malcolm Miller, (Brepols Publishers [2011, in print]), Min – Ad (2013), The Music of Israel (Ben – Gurion press, 2014, Hebrew), Proceedings of Jewish music days, (Haifa University, 2017, Hebrew). This is his second contribution to Min – ad. He is also a freelance journalist.
