It’s always a struggle to draw clear lines around what is and isn’t Art Music. One good descriptor is a piece’s ability to remain popular long after it was new. Simply put, trends come and go, but the stuff that’s really good lives on for decades or even centuries.

Kile Smith is a living American composer who wrote a large work “Vespers” for two professional ensembles, The Crossing choir and Piffaro renaissance wind band. The movements are in Latin and German; it was premiered in Philadelphia. It uses modern compositional idioms and ancient German hymn tunes. It sounds new and ancient at the same time. It breaks new ground while reminding us of something we feel like we already know.

If you like what you hear, I highly recommend listening to the rest of the work. You can find it on youtube, or (the better option) you can purchase the album from iTunes or Amazon.

Hanukkah has ended.

Renaissance composer Salamone Rossi was a court musician in the important musical city of Mantua. During Rossi’s lifetime (and long after), many European Jews (including those in Mantua) were required to wear a yellow badge or hat, were often forced to live in a walled and guarded ghetto. 16th century Mantua was known as a city of relative cultural tolerance. Rossi’s skill as a violinist and composer earned him great renown in the city, and he was excused from wearing the yellow badge.

Like his contemporaries, Rossi’s output as a composer includes plenty of popular, secular court music that was all the rage in Italy: madrigals, dances, love songs. It’s good stuff. But what makes him stand out is his music for religious use in the Synagogue. The words were sacred, but the music was in the same style of the cultivated, aristocratic courts of Italy. It was a revolutionary step for Jewish religious music, similar to the musical revolution that had been happening in the European Christian churches at the same time.

The story ends as sadly as it began. Rossi and his sister, one of the first opera stars ever, were killed (probably) during a battle in Mantua in which the attackers destroyed the Jewish ghetto.

The song of praise “Adon Olam” isn’t specifically attached to Hanukkah; still, it is a beautiful and appropriate way to celebrate the holiday. Rossi set it in the style of the Italian Renaissance – there are multiple choirs, contrasting instrument ensembles, similar to this piece. The Hebrew text is set clearly so every word can be heard – very important, especially for those who view it as the Holy Language.

The story of Salamone Rossi and remains frighteningly relevant today, in all cultures, in all parts of the world. May we all be ever vigilant to crush hatred and prevent evil.

The Magnificat, or Song of Mary, has been set by countless composers. This is  partly because this canticle is used in the daily office – fixed prayers said or sung throughout the day. It is also because the text is so potent and stirring – the song of a humble girl whom God had chosen for things beyond her imagination.

One of my favorites has to be Giovanni Gabrieli‘s Magnificat a 33. That is, for 33 musicians – 33 individual independent parts. These musicians were grouped into “choirs” and placed around St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, where Gabrieli was principal organist and composer. The effect was the various phrases of the text would come to you from different locations, with different musical colors. Sadly, a stereo recording loses this grand effect; to hear it in that massive cathedral must have been magnificent!