Shlonsky, “The First Lady of Israeli Music” 

Authors

  • Ronit Seter Author

Abstract

Say “Shlonsky” in Israel, and most people will instantly know who you are talking about—the poet Avraham Shlonsky. Shlonsky was one of the founders of modern Hebrew poetry in the 1930s, a leader in the generation that followed Bialik, who shaped—indeed reinvented—a Hebrew culture. Say “Shlonsky” to musicians: they will think the same thing. How many musicians know about Avraham Shlonsky’s younger sister, Verdina? How many knew of her during her lifetime? Verdina Shlonsky (1905-90), like Sternberg, was apparently another victim of the exclusive club of national composers. But her “sins” were threefold: she was a woman; she was strongly attached to the European tradition and its contemporary composers—i.e. she was not “Israeli enough”; and, what is more, she had no interest in Mizrahi (Middle Eastern) music. 

Author Biography

  • Ronit Seter

    Dr. Ronit Seter studies twentieth-century music and specializes in Israeli art music. She served on the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory, the George Washington University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and American University, Washington, DC. A contributor to the Grove Music Online (12 entries), she has published in the Musical Quarterly, Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Jewish Women Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Judaica, Tempo, Notes, Min-Ad, Musica Judaica, Journal of the American Musicological Society and Journal of Musicological Research. Her “Israeli Art Music” was published on Music - Oxford Bibliographies in 2019, and two books on Israeli composers are in progress.

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Published

2025-02-09

Issue

Vol. 6 (2007)

Section

Articles