German-Jewish Organ Music: An Anthology of Works From the 1820s to the 1960s

In this welcome anthology, Tina Frühauf publishes solo organ music by Jewish composers from the early 19th through the mid-20th centuries, making known to organists and scholars a fascinating repertoire that was largely obscured by the Holocaust. Frühauf has established herself as an expert on the subject with her monograph, The Organ and Its Music in German-Jewish Culture. In her preface to the musical edition, she explains that the anthology complements her book, since it includes scores of some of the music she has previously analyzed. She made her selections to ‘trace the history and major stylistic developments of organ music in the German-speaking Jewish communities of central Europe, parts of eastern Europe, and finally in the United States and Israel, where many composers emigrated to escape from Nazi persecution’ (vii). This music reveals a rich culture of Jewish organ playing that was virtually extinguished by the devastation of World War II.