FOLK MUSIC IN THE URBAN

GERMAN-JEWISH COMMUNITY, 1890-19391

Philip V. Bohlman

H EINRICH HEINE'S NOVEL, Der Rabbi

von Bacheracli (1987 ed.), is one of the
most vivid and trenchant parables of
the cultu ral quandaries confronting
Jews upon entrance into the urban
societ y of Central Europe. Narrowly
escaping the massacre of his small
communit y by zealous flagellant s,
the Rabbi spirits his wife, Sara, to
Frankfur t, there to seek refuge in
the bustling Jewish quarter. Frankfurt is, of course, a world apart
from Bacherach. Rather than t he
intimate community of relatives and
dose acquaintances that he knew in
the village, the Rabbi finds himself
su rrounded by the din of strange
languages and perplexing customs.
Houses are stacked one upon the
o ther along narrow alleyways, and
even the most sacred practices bear
witness to secular currents flowing
through the community. Jewish life,
as Rabbi Abraham and Sara have
known it, seems no more than a
faint tracing in the panorama of city
life.
Also present in He ine's novel are
mOMents of parable for the transform ations th roug h w hich Jewish
music passes as it becomes part of
the life of the city. Not only do the
voices of the Jewish quarter speak
wit h differen t accents, even in
different languages, but they sing
diffe ren t variants of traditional

songs. The baz.zan comes from elsewhere and is the focus of both
criticism and praise from the community members, who would probably prefer a Dutch cantor, but
cannot complain too vociferously
because, after all, this cantor remains happy enough in receiving
only 400 Gulden per year . T he
traditional Jewish music of Bacherach, too, seems no more t han a
dis tant echo in Frankfurt. Who in
the village would have ex pected that
the Rabbi and Sara would have to
s uffer through an irreverent rendition of "Chad Gadya" croaked by a
half-cra zed gatekeeper as they symbolically entered the new world of
the city? Change and, specifically,
urbanization had touched even the
most sacred a nd had conflated traditions in ways that the Rabbi had
probably never before imag ined.
And ye t, it was to t his Jewish
culture of the city that the Rabbi
had turned out of necessity, out of
the need to find refuge within the
only Jewish community av<>ilable to
him.
The His torica l Fram e work of
Urbanization in German-Jew ish
C ulture
The urbanization t hat we observe in Der Rabbi von Bacherach
forms, of course, an earlie r chapter

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 2

BOHLMAN/URBAN GERMAN-JEWISH FOLK MUSIC

in the history of Jewish culture in

Central Europe. Though Heine
intended the story to be timelesshistorical details are either absent or
veiled- it is clear that the general
time framework is that of "early
modern Europe," that is, the transition from medieval to Renaissance
Europe. Heine was himself writing
on the eve of a new phase of
urbanization in German-Jewish history, specifically the final phase,
that which gave birth to the great
flowering of German-Jewish culture
at the end of the nineteenth century
and the early decades of the twentieth.> We can imagine, then, that
Heine was not only looking back on
the past, but that he was also
looking forward, sensing perhaps
the historical exper iment upon
which German-Jewish culture was
about to embark.
The history of this urbanization
is familiar and it is therefore unnecessary to recount it in detail. In
the nineteenth century, Jews mi grated from rural Europe in mass ive
numbers, largely abandoning the
Landesgemeinde for the many social,
professional, and cultural opportunities of the city. Jews from the shtetls
of Eastern Europe also swelled the
pop ulations of cities in Central
Europe, accounting for a majority of
the residents in several quarters of
cities such as Vienna and Berlin.
This urbanization further gave birth
to many of the themes with which
we examine German-Jewish history
in the century prior to the Holocaust: ass imilation, secularization,
the birth of Zionism, the Jewish
intellectual and artist as catalyst for
modernism. These themes, even
when treated dispassionately, tend
to imply the disappearance of the

23

traditional, the replacement of one

form of society with another in
which the progressive outweighs all
other concerns. Within such intellectual treatment, the theme of the
present article seems more than a
little improbable, the title suggesting almost an oxymoron juxtaposing
the unlikely counterparts of urbanization and folk music.
But, in fact, the tradit ionalespecially the conscious and concerted search to understand and
foster its specific components, such
as folk music-was very much a
part of the urbanization of Central
European Jewish culture. Indeed,
one can say that the conscious
concern for tradition within t he
new urban environment was a
widespread endeavor in the Jewish
communities of Central European
cities, an endeavor that sought to
superimpose revived symbols from
the historical past on a contemporary society that was changing at a
feverish pace. And it was precisely
urbanizat ion that empowered a
preoccupatio n with the tradi ti onal
to reify in distinctly new forms.
Accordingly, folk music occupied a
new and more complex position in
German-Jewish urban society, and
in so doing it came to play an
important role in the new meanings
engendered by that society for the
purposes of understanding itself.
The Proce sses of Ur banization
within German-Jewish Folk Music
It is with the phase of urbanization that began about 1890 that we
are first able to recogn ize the
varied ways in which urban German Jews understood and practiced
their own folk music. Collections of

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 5

24

MUSICA JUDAICA

folk music began appearing at this

time, witnessing both what was
deemed the traditional repertory
and what was considered absent or
lost from that repertory.3 That
previous collections of GermanJewish folk music had not been
numerous in the early part of the
nineteenth century is hardly surprising when we remember that
German folk-music collectors and
anthologizers were primarily concerned with establishing a cultural
canon for the German Volk. By the
end of the century, a new concern
was evident in collections of German folk music, namely a concern
for the particular, the small community or social group, the voice of
diversity within the putative unity
of Central European nation-states.
And one of the voices in this
diversity was that issuing from
German-Jewish society.
The historical wi n dow that
makes an understanding of German-Jewish folk music possible is in
many ways the result of urbanization. When I speak of "collections,"
for example, 1 am not just referring
to the physical output of publishing
compa nies, but of a process of
standardizing the dissemination anc
reception of folk music. Perhaps the
most common "collection," surely
the most numerous, was that commissioned by a single organization,
local or international, for the use of
its own members (ibid.). Such organizational activities, such examples
of German Vere'in5wesen, are phenomena of the city and urbanization.
The processes of change that
formed the repertories of GermanJewish folk music from 1890 until
1939 emanated from the city, its
institutions, and the participation of

Jews in these institutions. Here I

shall refra in from discussing in
minute detail the many processes of
change that shaped German-Jewish
folk music in its urban environment;
however, a quick overview of the
most important processes will serve
as a guide for understanding the
examples that follow and the overall
role played by urbanization. Clearly,
the city as focus for different types
of immigration brought many different traditions together, thereby
consolidating them. Different regional
traditions, for example: Alsatian,
Bavarian, and Silesian, as well as
different folk-music genres, began
to occupy the same social sphere.
Consolidation could therefore serve
as a symbol of the richness and
diversity of Jewish culture and
history. The instrument of consolidation was, so to speak, the insfifu
lion. The role of the institution took
specific forms, which I shall designate here as institutionalization.
The importance of the institution in
this period is not only a result of its
remarkable proliferation in the city,
but is evident also in the ways it
prescribed specific uses and functions for folk music, for example, in
a "Blau-Weiss" wandering group or
for a Jewish Gesangverein. The concern for historicity-tapping the
past for use in the present-quickly
took the form of revival. Revival, of
course, seeks to restore previous
cultural meanings, but in so doing
also creates new ones. Again, the
city provided the ideal setting for
revival attempts because of the
diversity it commanded. Revival led
to two other processes that, in
opposing ways, establish ed the
canons of German-Jewish folk music: daHicizalion and diversification.

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BOHLMAN/URBAN CERMANJEWISH FOLK MUSIC

Classicization brought about the

building of a central core of folk
songs, those whose meanings represented a Jewish culture devoid of
specific temporal and spatial boundaries. Classicized folk songs served
not just a specific historical moment
or social function, but in some way
the larger sweep of Jewish history
and cultural identity. Diversification, in contrast, resulted from rapid
change spurred by urban ization,
thus admitting new repertories and
genres to the canon and constantly
reshaping it.
There can be no doubt that all of
these processes meant that change
was rapid and sweeping, and that
interest in folk music came from all
sectors. Folk music responded to
these changes by appearing in new
variants and repertories, and by
constantly functioning in new ways.
As a consequence, folk music became ever more emblematic of the
processes of urbanization in German-Jewish society as a whole.

25

man -Jewish social organizations

symbolized the ways in which Jews
in Central Europe interpreted their
own society and its relation to nonJewish society. Finally, the development of Jewish social organizations
passed through very distinct historical phases, which accordingly left
their mark on folk music practices
and repertories.
Jewish social organizations were
indeed many and diverse, and their
activ ities touched many different
sectors of Central European society.
In most cities there were Jewish
groups for the cultivation of gymnastics and physical activity, and
Jewish Miinnerchiire joined together
with non-Jewish singing societies in
the mammoth choral competitions
that regularly took place througho ut Central Europe. There were
even societies specifically devoted to
the collection and study of Jewish
folklore that appeared in Germanspeaking countries exactly during
the time period with which we are
here concerned (Daxelmiiller 1987).
I refer here to the German, later
The German-Jewish "Ve rein- also Austrian, " Gesellschaft fiir
swesen" and Folk Music
jiidische Volkskunde," founded in
1896, and the Swiss " Kommission
German-Jewish social and culfii r jiidische Volkskunde," founded
tural institutions. the diverse Vereine
in 1917. Both of these organizations
of Central Europe that Jews created
were overt in their attempts to
and joined in large numbers from
recuperate a shared Jewish folklore,
1890 until 1938, are especially valtogether with folk mus ic, and to
uable as means of examining folk
establish some part of this as a
music for several reasons. First,
component of, or an alternative to,
they provide us with a document or
urban Jewish culture. What we can
text, i.e., the songbook, which in
glean from the membership lists of
turn represents a shared repertory
these organizations shows further
of mus ic and an abstraction of
that they comprised members from
pertinent and meaningful symbols.
all sectors of Jewish society, secular
Second, they reveal something of
and religious, amateur and profest he practice of folk music-who
sional (ibid.: 7). Accordingly, the folk
performed it and where, and even
music with which they were conhow it was performed. Third, Ger-

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 11

MUSICA JUDAICA

cerned was not the product of a

single, prescri bed group, but of a
larger culture that was in their
estimation irrefutably Jewish.
Jewish social orga nizations were
roughly of two sorts. The firs t was
in many ways parallel to organizations in non-Jewish society. The
"Blau-Weiss" wandering groups, for
example, were at first little more
than a chapter of the Wa11dm10grl.
Externally, most Jewish choral socities are almos t unrecognizable as
Jewish, bearing very general names,
such as Lirderkra11z, and practicing
repertories that unti l about 1920
contained very few songs with
Jewish content; it is, in fa ct, only
later in their history, especially
during the 1930s, that their relation
to the Jewish community becomes
unequivocally evident. Such grou ps,
however, were not in all ways
parallel to non-Jewis h groups. The
quantity and sheer diversi ty of
songbooks bear witness to the ways
in which the Jewish groups sought
to distinguish themselves. A section
of student songs in such books, for
example, might draw largely from
standard Commersbucher, but it might
also translates some of the best
known songs into Hebrew.
The second t ype of social organization had no direct parallel in nonJewish society. Social organizations
that espoused Zionism offer the
best example of what I mean to
suggest by non -pa rallel, though
even here one could understand
Zionism as related to a broader
nationa listic spirit that pervaded
Central Europe at the time. The
songbooks of such organizations
needed repertories that, at least in
some ways, emphasized the distinctiveness of the group. With Zionism

especially, one can see the refinement of an appropriate genre of

Jewish m usic developi ng together
with the refinement of Zionism and
t he grow ing viability of Jewish
settlements in Pales tine.
The organizational songbooks
show that folk music, its repertories, and the conceptualization of
what it represented were changing
rapidly from 1890 until 1939. Repertories were never static, as witnessed by changes from one edition to
the next and t he in t roduction of
new repertories into existing traditions.' Especially malleable were the
concepts of what constituted Jewish
folk music. These concepts varied,
on the one hand, from the transformation of non-Jewish songs in
symbolic ways-often through the
use of Hebrew- on the ot her, to the
search for repertories th at bor e
witness to specific contemporary
communitie s, for exampl e an
emerging community in Palestine.
The changing formulation of what
Jewish folk music really was-or
really had the po ten tial to becometook place in three broad phases.
The first, from about 1890 to 1910,
is characterized by repertories less
concerned with the specific content
of Jewish folk songs than with the
establishment of a corpus of songs
distinct from allgtmtint Volkslitdtr,
that is, the German canon. The
second ph ase, stretching from
roughly 1910 until 1925, sought to
revive a highly prescribed corpus as
Jewish, namely Yiddish folk songs.
In the final phas e, Palestine, and
Jewish settlements there, came to
symbolize a new vitality and in turn
a new musical culture with its own
distinct folk music.
The diverse Jewish social organi-

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 14

BOHLMAN /URBAN GERMAN-JEWISH FOLK MUSIC

zations, of course, espoused varying

concepts of the nature of GermanJewish folk music. Their concepts,
nevertheless, were in several ways
similar. All reHected the historical
awareness, the overt historicity so
characteristic of urbanization during
the period. All based their concept
of folk music on function, in other
words, on the vital presence of folk
music in the life of the Jewish social
organization and the Jewish community. Even though we may be
tempted to see such concepts as
purely revivalistic, we must also
look a bit farther, recognizing a
similar process of change with a
similar etymology, namely revitalization, not just of repertory, but of
a social framework for folk music
itself.
Creativity within the GermanJewi s h Folk-Music T r adit ion:
Parodies and Broadsheets
Thus far I have concentrated on
what we might call the conscious
appropriation from other traditions
to synthesize new repertories for
new, that is urban, traditions. Were
these the only processes for creating
new repertories, the traditions
would surely stultify and their
practices might well yield little more
tha n museum pieces. But there
were also other forces of creativity
at work from 1890 until 1939, and
these indicate that the folk music
tradition had at least the potential to
expand and change as the result of
an influx of new songs, these produced by the urban culture itself.
Long a source for the composition and introduction of new folk
songs in Europe and North America,
the broadside or broadsheet also
played a role in German-Jewish

27

society. It is difficult at this point to

determine exactly how widespread
this genre was in German-Jewish
society and even more difficult to
know the extent of its reception and
impact. Nevertheless, new collections gathered by t he Deutsches
Volksliedarchiv in Freiburg enable
us to document the ways whereby a
genre of Jewish song could arise,
specifically taking Jewish culture in
Central Europe as its object. Moreover, t he very nature of broadsheets
as the literate evidence for an oral
tradition indicates that even those
broadsheets that we do possess
testify to a more far-reaching tradition, whose full extent we may
never completely fathom.
The songs, parodies, and dialogues in the broadsheets with
which I am concerned were composed by Jews for the performance
by and entertainment of other Jews.
This broadsheet tradition, therefore,
largely comprises a commentary on
the practices and attitudes of coreligionists- what one wears or how
one comports oneself amidst t he
vicissitudes of modern urban life.
Very often, the commentaries in the
songs are such that only other Jews
could understand them, for example
when they rely on differences in
dialect or variations in religious
practice. The larger broadsheet
tradition from which these examples come, of course, is limited to no
single ethnic group and includes
many different social groups. That
one group used the broadsheet to
comment upon another is not uncommon within this tradition, and
accordingly we find broadsheets
from this same period that are antiSemitic to varying degrees. [, myself, would be very surprised if

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 17

28

MUSICA JUOAICA

some o f the more subtl y an t iSemitic songs did no t find their way
into Jewish settings, for sometimes
the parodistic treatment of the hero
o r heroine lacks the blunt sy mbolism that is so common to the genre
and so essential to the popularity of
any given song. It is the reliance on
blunt sy mbo lism, however, that
helps us perceive some o f the meanings th at these songs were intended
to portray. We can recognize many
of the anti-Semitic songs because
the engraving or picture accompanying them is q uite distinct from
those accom panying songs Jews
created about other Jews.
The subjects of the broadsheets
were many, but I hope you will not
think me self-serving or this analyEXAMPLE 1 :

sis tautological if I suggest that the

most all-embracing subject was the
urbanization of Jewish society. The
characters we encoun ter in the
ballads, th erefore, often struggle
agai nst the dilemmas of urban life.
We hear of the difficulty of finding
a husband as customs change, or we
witness the social adjustments required of a newly-successful stockbroker. The Jewish community in
the city is suddenly confronted by
its own pluralism, with contrasting
traditions and conflicting religious
stances. One of the most powerful
and pervasive themes of this pluralistic confrontation is the portrayal
of differences between C entral
European and Eastern European
Jews, especially in Vienna, which

"Die gute Stube." Composed by Hans Bartl. Sung by Franz Kriebaum .

Vienna: Verlag von M. Mossbeck, n.d.

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DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 20

BOHLMAN / URBAN GERMAN-JEWISH FOLK MUSIC

was no table as a focus fo r the

immigrat ion of both in the early
twentieth century. In shor t, these
songs were about life in the ci ty, abo11t
the relationsh ip between Jewis h
culture and the city.
A few examples w ill illustrate
the range of the subject mat te r
encompassed by this tradition, as
well as the palette of creative techniques upon which the composers
and performers of such songs relied
(see, also, Hol zapfel 1986:135-7). In
"Die gute Stube" (Ex. 1), we meet
poor Haschel Krabser, an unfortunate soul who simply cannot resist
the many temptations he finds in
the cit y, here p robably Vienna,
w here this humorous song was
composed and the broadsheet
printed.
EXAMPLE 2:

29

The hero and si nger of "Ich mu/3 dir

Epps entdecken" (Ex. 2) is desperately in love with a g irl w hose wealthy
parents probably expect more than
he can possi bly wr in g from his
humble resources. In his musing
and fussing about possible solutions
to this lover's impasse, he wonders
why it is not possible merely to be a
norma l pe rson, a ]edermann , for
whom love is simply love itself. This
particular song is additionally interesting because its title page an nounces four other songs, at )east
two of which are religious, th us
suggesting that th e broadsheet
tradition, at least in Frankfurt I O der
and Berlin, where this text was
printed, had a religious component
as well.

" !ch mu ss dir Epps entdec ken." From Fiinf sch iine neue Lieder .
Frankfurt I Oder and Berlin: Trowitsch und Soh n, n.d .

at< +>'t''

:!)1n 3op[&onb lo6 Id) fo~rn, ou "'"

lt>tl) !
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<mic 5tortrcbonbtmccrcn, au

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ma~

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:OodJ 1061 bann 0d)n1uO ftd) mod)rn,

OU l't'tl) !
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~rne.

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mu~ '' tnblldj 1.009rn, ou rvrq!

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:D<t

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 23

BOHLMAN / URBAN GERMAN-JEWISH FOLK MUSIC

was no table as a focus fo r the

immigrat ion of both in the early
twentieth century. In shor t, these
songs were about life in the ci ty, abo11t
the relationsh ip between Jewis h
culture and the city.
A few examples w ill illustrate
the range of the subject mat te r
encompassed by this tradition, as
well as the palette of creative techniques upon which the composers
and performers of such songs relied
(see, also, Hol zapfel 1986:135-7). In
"Die gute Stube" (Ex. 1), we meet
poor Haschel Krabser, an unfortunate soul who simply cannot resist
the many temptations he finds in
the cit y, here p robably Vienna,
w here this humorous song was
composed and the broadsheet
printed.
EXAMPLE 2:

29

The hero and si nger of "Ich mu/3 dir

Epps entdecken" (Ex. 2) is desperately in love with a g irl w hose wealthy
parents probably expect more than
he can possi bly wr in g from his
humble resources. In his musing
and fussing about possible solutions
to this lover's impasse, he wonders
why it is not possible merely to be a
norma l pe rson, a ]edermann , for
whom love is simply love itself. This
particular song is additionally interesting because its title page an nounces four other songs, at )east
two of which are religious, th us
suggesting that th e broadsheet
tradition, at least in Frankfurt I O der
and Berlin, where this text was
printed, had a religious component
as well.

" !ch mu ss dir Epps entdec ken." From Fiinf sch iine neue Lieder .
Frankfurt I Oder and Berlin: Trowitsch und Soh n, n.d .

at< +>'t''

:!)1n 3op[&onb lo6 Id) fo~rn, ou "'"

lt>tl) !
:.Jm lrlht Q.ltlb nur mil \llrr0onb
'!luf \!llrdJfrl au!; unb "lJ ! ou f ')lfonb, ou
<mic 5tortrcbonbtmccrcn, au

ft!tl)I OU nH9 !

ma~

~cb

:OodJ 1061 bann 0d)n1uO ftd) mod)rn,

OU l't'tl) !
!8trfou~n:1 unb bann fodJcn, ou tot1}!
llnb bon ')'ro~I lltlb Id) olibonn
~lcf) at~ cinr gro~t :l:>otnt an, au l"et9! ou

~rne.

muf bfr e'rp rnrbccftn, ou n1t9 I

ir 1"1U lrlll ').lord)te fd)lntcfcn r OU 1Vf9 !
$tin firfitr 9lltrO uloobr mid) mcOr.
!)cf) Hn 9on1 Iron! unb fcuflr fd)1rrr. ou IN9!
Clll WtQ!

!3<?

mu~ '' tnblldj 1.009rn, ou rvrq!

llnb bic mtin E?ftnb floog1n, nu t1'C1)!

~orum fou frOr id1 bin brmi~r,
!)cf) bin9oqommrrlld1 bttllr&r, ou
! ou nr9!
~II eJlb . unb !Jlofrn f.>tlbt 1 ou "''9 !
').'rongfl bu btt ~fttrn '3rt11br, au mt!)!
\lnb cucn grc~tn :Oconhtn1,
:tr.i9(1 tu nl& :l\fng on brirrrr J,ionb, 0111"trl

'"'9

011 "''" !

W.tln !llll1n1d11n unb 1nrln Qloild)rn, nu

\\'Cl'!

2ld1 1"nrrt no di o !!tlnlld1rn, nn 1urn !

;I)rnn ~ r brr ~ni~llng nod) .,r(lrold)11
'!IDGrb tlr 'orn m(r Nt J)a11t- f\trtfiiJr, du l\'t~!
au I\''"!
:t'rn

~ti}!

!ld1

1611 ~id1

naf brtt6rtrr, au 1r10!

~ics mng bir rcb t-fd) lc~ru,, ou n.ui !
:l)n1111 ~~ id1 sor bor ollrr !!t'tlr
711, Olb11r6 .lfalb bid) oufg1(1rUr, au 1Vr9!
Oil 1r/9 !
~u ltfl ~idJ !rin erbium, au '"'~ !
'.)l1n9(1 in brr t!au~u~lucrn, ou ttir~~
~csfl

bu bcn 2}fht bcu mir gul'ortbt

llnb irlJ ~In 1t-11~rlicf) bC'cf) fd}ormnnr, au l't'Cl~ !

OU t\'tl)!

')'~t~

lrl1 11111

~ri<n

.ltrogrn,

011

~:id) llhlt1tlifd)

1ut9 !

brrl1 iu ftJgtn, 011 tt'tl) !

llnb mocf) frl) nfc1J mfr ou unb o<f)
eauntctt fdbfl fn 7l1h11oncdJ1 OU n1t9! OU Ntl)!
~rh rnnn 11frl) 'OOn blr fofTtn, au ll'tQ f
~ch 1111;1irr filb(I rnld) 601f1n, ou ll't9!

llnb f,;n\< td) 011 &ti ;)rbrrmonn

:<'it flr:r 1-rl fld) frl&cr u, ou '"'l ! ou 10<9 !

:D<t

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 26

30

MUSICA JUDAICA

In many ways t he awareness of

differences in the culture of Yiddish-speaking Jews finds its way
into these songs, really as a curiosity
more than anything else, though, of
cou rse, as a source for satire as well.
In "Der Vergleich zwischen den

deut schen und po lnischen Juden"

(Ex. 3), the differences between Eas t
and West are rendered explicit and
parodied in the text, title - page
depiction, and even the music, if
with no more than a few grace
notes in the Polish Jew's part.

EXAMPlE 3 : "Der Verg leich zwischen den deutschen u. polnischen Juden."

"Duoscene" sung by Emil Schnabl and Ed. Blum. Vienna: Verlag von M. Mossbeck,
n.d.
r. \J\

Jhuli Ullo.\ '"\" t... 'l1?.u .... h4i , , tJiwiat

Ht

~-~} =;&@ tfl r;==;''..@

~ . rt. ..1.... ,\ Tll\, ~ .....

Efg:@5t
\('t

-..ui

l\\~t :- r~ a "-'l-,11;., ~di

jo. ,.M w;.i; t~ "' '!enu1.n y\flw

~ "'=='
.. . 1;

'"'" fi~,1

,.,,

;)\I,

&

t1 '

1910 !"-

~ =
a.... t<'-"i a.. ,. ;..

!hG Si.11. l t,.V.Si11\t \11. !i~& '"'i ::lnlt11.

J\aCi d:ltt f1\ ) ."'" ~ a.udi .. ,~ ... , .S.~a.
Ct t~ll .,,. 6 .. tr 'Jfuf\ 'llltt O lli.

a.:.

~.o

,,h' '''o"' ~.,. .,...,

1-J, 4-Gdj ~ 11.1 ~ i ht ~tu Oh "'

!tit {d) {n. ~.v., ."'. 'lhu.
)url\ "'htn 6\1'1. \r._ 't' t \t~

~111 (11.dj1

lhro. ,,.....,~ 1'\t

.!)ct:' 'lJ Ct:IJ (cicfJ J1\1trcljt?tr Ol?lt

deu(sd1etl u.polnischen Juden
lhaotttr\t Sttun(el\ "'"'

Emil Schnabl.!:. Ed. Blum.

t'!..,,.h;b" ,,,,,

Q@=~

~~;q

:\\,.\t'lf ~tnll.\l.n. '1Ui.1\1 j)L'l'\t'I\

~ggg;g;g,1tt4

'*

1'ttt

iJEF

4hOt ri- 11Sn1.,3.;11t' .t.,;,.,..f.,.

@H

=E::!j
\cfi $\(.h
bQJ

;fl""''" J\a.11\c..:lttrnr.1
'B

''"''?
Etl=i .

t'''"'-

6\l lifct ....,,. &e

~'11. "-"'!I 1\ttijt ~ f~'-"""'"'

... r...

a.I, :JV.T
h' ;tf\,6t"t\ ft\ r,r,an1t ! 151"'
!iho ~ft~rt" ;;.;...,, ~t(ht
':li.ltt. ,,..... C"l.Uh . ''''"'

. lll1\"- Opti.tCi,.< \(t;, l~ "''~...,_ 'Pl.6 116 :

l 'flt,~(\. t
~--"
~ u.9 f'o(C mlT Ht ll&Tn~f1il

p.J.Jla.!'l

!l..::Jt&l(r,r, !jcf1"''0c. t"'"" .Ant"'-i &"'"'-'~

1P\lc\ .. Vnbi '- ~ l'li\,.Jl tio11, Wiol.1' lluf(ut 'f.

~

<.Q

tl110

:U.t1.6 ~PL TYl.t\"t\ fo ftl\ u 11:\1i..

.:..,:rs 'l'tl-.T 6<tG.i.uf,1'1\ ""'G it ~ rc~&.mtt\ 1 '11.,f.rv.

4. J. ~r~. ~ A.(t' m.\'t f t\TU e l\U\,ag "''

. 71\.o.\.ht{ftl\. ~&S' id) o.u.rlJ l t l 11\\C
l!1\t\ij [1 m1\t\u1. )it1utn. Oe.9 r1\
lift. .,.t\n.t '""' ti.1\ ftin.' ilt.titt.
p.I. .~\"' ija.6' irij ft;.~, llirijft
,,_,, "fl\.,,.,t lti. ui.'t n{cfil"llo~ 1.111,...6au!I
~di ,.,....
.,...\dj in\l .. ~~~~fl
! :r..i,, 1n.(hP """'' -. '.mul" ~...,.~.

..u.,

h~.. ..lu.,. 1 "'' ~'""'""s ""'-'-djt

,-.rr;s."'-'., '"r.'"'.

The composition and publication performer, t he professiona l who

of these broads heets enta iled, of sa ng these songs on the stages and
course, business ventures that in- in the cabarets of Berlin o r Vienna.
volved several parties. The compos- A majority of the printed versions,
er had to spin out as many texts as in fact, advertise the name of the
possible, and he had to hope that as singer or parody actor w ho had
many as poss ible would be hits. T he already- so we are led to believeprinter, too, was in the business of made the song famous. It was not
numbers, and sales had to be as just the subject of these songs, then,
brisk as possible to keep the public that was primarily urba n, but the
interested. A n d there was ye t modes of production and perforanother related tradition, that of the mance. These, too, depended on an

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 29

;J

BOHLMAN/ URBAN GERMAN-JEWISH FOLK MUSIC

urban audience, one willing to look

at itself in new ways, perhaps even
to laugh at itself, but certainly
willing to pay for the privilege of
doing so.
G e rm an- Je wis h Fol k - Mus i c
Reper tories: Tradition, Diversity,
Innovation
Just as I have spoken of very
differen t social organiza tions and
social functions in connection with
German-Jewish folk music, so too is
it necessary to speak of very different repertories. For an ethnomusicologist accustomed to speakin g in th e plural of coexis t ing
musics, there is nothing particularly
jarring about thinking of a multitude of repertories that function in
different ways, yet which, nonetheless, constitute German-Jewish folk
music. Moreover, for the collectors
and songbook editors of the time, it
was abundance and di versity as
much as anything else that spurred
their endeavors to create and mold
new repertories.
Even with the earliest songbooks, most of them fairly modest
in content, dive rsity and mixed
genres seemed to pose no problem
for the compiler o r, presumably, for
those who sang from th e books.
The editors were aware that most
si ngers were acquainted with both
Jewish and non-Jewish repertories,
and few seemed troubl ed by the
need to include both reperto ries in
their anthologies. No r did the use of
a songbook by a Jewish social organization preclude the inclusion of
non -Jewish songs with specifically
religious, that is Christian, subject
matters. Mixing repertories does
not see m to have been a cause for

31

concern that the repertories were

actually bei ng diluted or tainted.
More import ant, the diversity in
most repertories seems also to have
spawned vitality. This really is not
so difficult to understand when we
remember the different structures
that social organization could assume in urban German-Jewish communities. No Zionist leader would
doubt that there were numerous
sources for nationalism in Eu rope
from which to draw inspiratio n. Nor
would a compiler of songbooks for
social o rganizat io ns, adhering to
Zionist goals, ques tion that many
songs inspiring nationalism among
non-Jews could also stir the Zionist
chords of Jews.
The urban structure of the tradition furthermore made diversi ty a
convenience. Performers and composers, compilers and pedagogues,
all had many sources at their fingertips. And all reli ed on a fairly
widespread fami li arity with these
sources in the Jewish community.
After all, with Jewish students
attending universities in far greater
numbers than their relation to the
rest of society, one could rely on
their knowing a standard repertory
of German student songs. Therefore, in the songbook of the Second
Zionist Congress, "Alt Heidelberg"
and "O alte Burschenherrlichkeit!"
appear together with "Zions-Lied"
and " Ein Hoch d em g anzen
Judentum!," which, not surprisingly,
employs the melody of "Gaudeamus
igitur" (Verein "Jung Zion" 1898).
Another source of diversity for
which folk music became an important conduit in G erman -Je wish
society, as a means of breaking
down cu ltural boundaries, was
Eastern European Jewry . Th is

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 32

32

MUSICA JUDAICA

source became increasingly important to the tradition of GermanJewish folk music, because it was a
font for new songs, of new symbols,
and of new meanings with which to
expand and rejU\renate the tradition.
And these were ipso facto Jewish folk
songs. In the songbook t radition,
Yiddish songs appeared in ever
increasing numbers. Songs in Yiddish gradually became synonymous
with Jewish folk music for some
compilers, not surprisingly when
one remembers that several important editors, such as Arno Nadel,
came origi nally from Eastern
Europe. Throughout the period, the
differences between Yiddish folk
songs and Central European repertories gradually seemed to lessen in
importance (cf. Holzapfel 1986). For
example, in his Ostjudisch~ \!olkslieder
of 1918, Alexander Eliasberg printed
on facing pages "Hinte r Pojlen
wejhnt a Jid" and t he Wunderhorn
version of "Die schone Judin,"
correctly relating them to the same
ballad family (Eliasberg 1918:170-3).
The acceptance of Yiddish folk
song as German-Jewish folk song
affirmed the role of diversity in the
tradition and sharpened the awareness of an appropriate role for new
songs entering the tradition from
t he outside. That th is awareness
extended also to contemporary
songs in Hebrew is hardly su rprising. And that it should shift the
historical focus of the tradition to a
Jewish community with more contemporary symbols is also concordant with the historicity and diversity that had undergirded the urbanization of German-Jewish folk music
from the beginning of its modern
development. Diversity of repertory, then, was never more extreme

and change more rapid than in the

1920s and 1930s, when new folk
songs could literally arrive in a new
correspondence received from
Palestine or be extracted from a
new field collection in the Soviet
Union. The processes of urbanization had indeed enriched the
repertories of German-Jewish folk
music and its functions in the urban
Jewish commun ity of Central
Europe.
Heinrich Heine never finished
Der Rabbi von Bacherach, and we are
left only with a version that falters
and then halts when the diversity
and complexity of urban life become
the most mystifying and troublesome for Rabbi Abraham and Sara.
Why Heine failed to complete the
novel, this parable of the urban
German-Jewish community, is not
known. We know only that he
began the novel in the 1820s,
published the only known, that is
incomplete, version of it in 1840,
and then lived sixteen more productive years. We are left to presuppose
that the confusion that troubled
Rabbi Abraham and Sara may have
been just as troubling to Heine.
Indeed, it is not hard to imagine that
Heine, the biting critic of German
culture who knew and explored his
own Judaism from afar, saw no
rapprochement for the German and
the Jewish, even in the city. That
the city offered the venue for an
experiment, for a glimmer of hope
and a refuge for the Rabbi of
Bacherach, seems to have inspired
Heine to write the novel, even if he
was left searching for a suitable
conclusion.
And, likewise, there is no real
conclusion to the history of German-J ewish folk music and its

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 35

BOHLMAN/URBAN GERMAN-JEWISH FOLK MUSIC

urbanization. Here, too, the city had

offered a venue for a magnificent
experiment, giving folk music a new
refuge, a new life. Lacking the full
tabulation of results, we can only
observe the progress of this
experiment during the half century
of its course until 1939. This course
and the progress that it entailed
testify to a German-Jewish folkmusic tradition of diversity, breadth,
and change, a tradition benefiting
from a multiplicity of functions and
repertories and drawing sustenance
from the rich confluence of cultures
that only the city could afford.
Notes
1. This study was made possible by a Leo
Baeck Institute I DAAD Fellowship in

German-Jewish History and Culture, an

American Council of Learned Societies

Grant-in -Aid. and a University of Illinois

at C h icago Campus Research Grant.
Much of the research was carried out

during t he summer of 1987 al the

Deu tsches Volksliedarchiv. Freiburg im

33

Breisgau, Federal Republic of Germany. I

am especially grateful for the considerable assistance extended to me by the
Oberkonservator of the Deutsc hes
Volksliedarchiv, Dr. Otto Holzapfel.
2. Der Rabbi """ Barhtrach was surely influenced by Heine's new parl-icipation in the

" Verein fUr Kultur und Wissenschaft der

Juden," itself a manifestation of the
nineteenth-century urbaniiation of Ger

man-Jewish culture.
3. The small organizational songbook also

began to flourish at this time, and the

abundance of Jewish songbooks no doubt
benefited from this tradition (Cf. Schwab
1973).
4. The founder of the "Gesellschaft fur

jiidische Volkskunde," Max G run wa ld,

was rabbi in Hamburg, then later in
Vienna. The journal of the organization

appeared with two names. first as the

Millrilungn1 {Ur jiidiuhr \lofk5kundr, then
after 1923 as the /ahrbuch fiir judischr
Volhkundt (see Daxelmiiller 1987: especially, 6 12) .
s.Com pare. for example, the first and
se<:ond editions of the Blau. Wri{3 Lirdtrbuch
(Glaser 1914 and Nadel 1918).

References Cited
Daxelmiiller, Christoph
1987

"Die deutschsprachige Volkskunde und die Juden : Zur Geshichte und den
Folgen einer kulturellen Ausklammerung." ZtilS<hrifl fur Volkskudr. &3, 1:120.

Eliasberg. Alexander. ed .
1918

Oljudisrhe Volk,/iedtr. Berlin: Judischer Verlag.

Glaser, Karl, ed.

1914

Blau Wti{3 Litdrrbuch. First edition. Berlin: )iidischer Verlag.

Heine, Heinrich
1987

Otr Rabbi von &rherach. Munich: Goldmann Verlag. 1st published 1840.

Holzapfel, Otto
1986

"Yiddish Folksong Documents in the German Folksong Archives." Promdingsof

thr Ninth World Congress of }ewih Sludies, 2: 135 4 I.

Nadel. Arno, ed.

1918

Blau Wti{3 Litdrrbuch. Second edition. Berlin: Jiidischer Verlag.

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 38

MUSICA JUDAICA

Schwab, Heinrich W.
1973

"Das Vereinslied des 19. Jahrhunderts." In Rolf Wilhelm Brednich, Lutz

R6hrich and Wolfgang Suppan, eds., Hadbuchd" Volk.lirdes. Vol. I: Die Gallugm
dt< Volks/iedts. Munich: Verlag Fink.

Yerein "Jung Zion"

1898

Liedtr zum Fest-Commrrs dts 11. Zi1misttnl<ngr1ssts. Basel: Verein "Jung Zion."

DEMI AGAMA^J BANGSA^J DAN NEGARA Page 2