Notes from Cantor Avima

     How many times have I heard people refer to certain prayer melodies as the "traditional" melody with little awareness of the actual historic origin on the melody they may have grown up hearing. Just because you grew up hearing it, doesn't make it a "traditional" melody in the real sense. Take for example the well known melody for the second b'rachah in the amidah known as "m'chalkel chayim". Here it is: M'chalkel Chayim - Hazzan Max Wohlberg  This very well known melody is not "traditional" in the historic sense at all. It was composed by Hazzan Max Wohlberg who was a revered professor in what was formerly known as the Cantors Institute of The Jewish Theological Seminary. I was fortunate to be one of his students in the 1980's. The melody was actually written in the late 1950's (or thereabouts) as part of a children's service to be used in Junior Congregation. The catchy melody of course grew in popularity very quickly and is now thought of as the standard "traditional" melody for that prayer.

     However,  Hazzan Wohlberg grew to regret ever having composed this melody. For one thing, he strongly disapproved of the extra notes which people began to add to the melody at the words "lishaynay afar". Those words refer to those who "sleep in the dust". The melody as he composed it was a descending musical line, however it became popular to add a little tag of rising notes. He objected because as a scholar in synagogue liturgy and cantorial melodies (nusach), those words referring to the dead were always sung to a descending melody and the addition of a little ascending "tag" really irked him. One of my colleagues recalls Hazzan Wohlberg as saying: "Given how most people change this melody by going UP where I went DOWN, thus ignoring what the text says, I am sorry that I wrote it!". He would have been just as happy if his students soon to be leading services in congregations across the country omitted it from their repertoire. 

     In fact Hazzan Wohlberg wrote many, many settings specifically for use in congregational settings. At a time when the the predominant Cantorial style was still very  performance oriented, he advocated for more congregational participation. Many of his settings included singable refrains. He did, in fact write a second melody for "m'chalkel chayim", which is lesser known but very pretty and singable. I actually sing it from time to time. He also honored the historic hazzanic style and especially enjoyed composing "recitatives" which were simpler and less florid than were sung in the "golden age", yet still elucidated the meaning of the text. He often blended both congregation refrains and recitative style in his settings.  

     Although it is easy to understand that there are those among us who have been hearing that melody since the 1950's and therefore attribute it to "tradition", but it is really a rather "young" melody and not so "traditional" at all in the strict understanding of the word. His yahrzeit was just a few days ago on the Jewish calendar. I wonder if a good way to honor him would be to actually refrain from singing the melody he so regretted having written and rather focus on some of his other melodies.