TTBB repertoire for all-Male Choruses
Title Al Sefod (Al S’fod) (Do Not Mourn)
Composer Pavel Haas
Lyricist: David Shimonowitz (Shimoni)
TTBB a cappella
Duration: 3:00
November 30, 1942
Composed for the men’s choir in the Terezin concentration camp, it is based on a Zionist poem calling on the pioneers to arise and work.
Performance https://youtu.be/d83gvPuUGIs
Publisher: Bote & Bock (Sheet Music Plus)
Link to main listing on this website
Title: Je me suis fondu de joie (Psalm 122 or 121)
Composer: Darius Milhaud
TTBB a cappella
Duration: 3:30
1921
Performance: https://youtu.be/_YsGervKcDY
Publisher: Universal Edition
Link to main listing on this website
Title: Papir iz dokh vais (Paper Is White)
Composer: traditional Yiddish love song
Arranger: Josh Jacobson
TTBB, T solo, optional SA, optional piano
Duration: 3:00
1985
Performance: https://youtu.be/fX-GRZmkKog
Publisher: Transcontinental
Link to main listing on this website
Title: Sha! Shtil! (Hush! Quiet!)
Yiddish folksong
Arranger: Ian Assersohn
TTBB, piano
Duration: 2:30
2021
Comments: Humorous song about the Hassidim and their sainted rabbi
Performance: https://youtu.be/g42yOuoIJME
Publisher Oxford
Title: A Survivor from Warsaw
Composer: Arnold Schoenberg
Lyricist: Arnold Schoenberg
TB (unison), large orchestra, narrator
Duration: 6:30
1947
Schoenberg’s Holocaust cantata.
Performance: https://youtu.be/LBNz76YFmEQ
Publisher Schott
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Title: Vayimalet Kayin (And Cain Fled)
Composer: Yehezkel Braun
Lyricist: Yaakov Shabtai
TBB, tenor solo, a cappella
Duration: 3:45
1963
Comments: Based on the biblical story of Cain, after he murdered his brother, Abel.
Performance https://youtu.be/fUpW0nxGZuY
Publisher IMI
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Title: Zocharti Loch (I Remember Your Kindness)
Composer Louis Lewandowski
Lyrics: Bible (Jeremiah and Ezekiel)
TTBB, solo tenor, optional organ
Duration: 4:00
1876
Comments: Lyrical homophony for the Rosh Hashanah service
Performance: https://youtu.be/3jN0oWooqJQ
Publisher Transcontinental
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Works re-arranged for TTBB
Title: Alle Brider (We’re All Brothers)
Composer: trad.
Arranger: Josh Jacobson
Lyricisst: Morris Winchevsky and A. Litvin
TTBB B solo, piano
Duration: 3:00
Date: c. 1920
Comments: Jewish American song of workers’ solidarity
Performance (SATB version): on SoundCloud
Publisher: World Music Press or On Demand
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Title: Hanukah in Santa Monica
Composer: Tom Lehrer
Arranger: Josh Jacobson
Lyricist: Tom Lehrer
TTBB, piano, optional clarinet and drum set
Duration: 3:00
Comments: A humorous take on the Jewish holidays with awesome rhymes.
Performance (SATB version) https://youtu.be/ux30JpUXBq8
Publisher: Transcontinental
Title: Ocho Kandelikas (Eight Little Candles)
Composer: Flory Jagoda
Arranger: Josh Jacobson
Lyricist: Flory Jagoda
TTBB, T solo, guitar(s) (or piano), ad lib percussion
Duration: 3:30
Comments: Serbian Ladino Chanukah song
Performance (SATB version): https://youtu.be/LJPT9wE39rs
Publisher: Transcontinental
Link to main listing on this website:
Title: Shehekheyonu (God Has Kept Us Alive)
Composer: Meyer Machtenberg
Arranger: Josh Jacobson
Lyricist: liturgy
TTBB, T solo (optional piano or orchestra)
Duration: 3:00
Comments: Joyous lighthearted song of thanksgiving
Performance: https://youtu.be/uEoV7ThNXuc (SATB version)
Publisher: On Demand
Two part
Title: Niggun
Composer: Traditional (Moditzer) Hassidic
Arranger: Josh Jacobson
Lyricist: (vocables only)
TB (2 parts) with piano (or harp)
Duration: 3:15
Comments: A slow wordless devotional chant
Performance (SATB version): on SoundCloud
Publisher: Transcontinental
Unison
Title: Amen Shem Nora (God’s Awesome Name)
Composer: traditional and Gabai
Arranger: Matthew Lazar
Lyricist: liturgy
TB unison, T solo, piano, hand drum
Duration: 3:50
Comments: medley of two lively Sephardic hymns
Performance: on SoundCloud
Publisher: Transcontinental
Link to main listing on this website
Title: Ani Maamin (I Believe)
Composer: Azriel David Fastag
Arrangers: Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory
Lyricist: Maimonides
TB (originally for children) unison, piano, violin (optional narrator)
Duration: 2005
Date: 1942?
Comments: Song of faith composed during the Holocaust
Performance: https://youtu.be/PuGDzta-IuE
Publisher: earthsongs
Link to main listing on this website
Title: The Lord’s Wonders at the Exodus
Composers: Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory
Lyricist: Psalm 114
TB unison, piano, soprano saxophone
Duration: 5:00
Comments: The Tonus Peregrinus Gregorian chant of Psalm 114 is set against a spellbinding accompaniment.
Performance: https://youtu.be/V_Cu7atW20o
Publisher: On demand from the composer
Title: Psalm 114 (In Exitu Israel/Betset Yisrael)
Composer: Gregorian and traditional Jewish chants
Arranger: Josh Jacobson
Lyricist: Psalms
TB unison (optional solo) (optional division into antiphonal choirs)
Duration: 3:40
Comments: This piece juxtaposes two plainchant renditions of Psalm 114, one Christian, one Jewish.
Follow this with “The Lord’s Wonders at the Exodus” (see the title just above this one) for a fascinating medley.
Performance: on Soundcloud
Publisher: Transcontinental Music Publications
Link to main listing on this website
Title: Psalm Verses (Eighteen Canons)
Composer: Yehezkel Braun
Lyricist: Psalms
TB (2, 3, 4, and 5 part canons)
Date: 1982
Comments: Each of these little gems is a setting of a verse or two from the Psalter.
Publisher: IMI
Link to main listing on this website
Other
There are many wonderful art songs (and artistic arrangements) written for solo voice that can work effectively when sung by a unison chorus. Of particular note is Shirey Erets (two volumes) for solo voice and piano, a collection of Israeli songs by Menachem Wiesenberg. Many of them work beautifully with a unison chorus.
Catalog number: IMI 6971
Year of writing: 1988, 2014
Publisher: Israel Music Institute
ISBN: 9781491173350
There are many works written (or arranged) for the all-male choirs that were (and in some places still are) the norm in traditional synagogues.
The Great Synagogue, Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Great Synagogue is one of the world's chief repositories of Jewish Ashkenazic liturgical music and one of the few synagogues in the world with internationally-acclaimed Cantors and male choir. Composer Raymond Goldstein and others have enriched the repertoire of this synagogue’s professional choir.
Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue, Montreal. Congregation Shaar Hashomayim is one of only a few synagogues left in the world whose services are led every week by a cantor and male choir. Composer Stephen Glass and others have enriched the repertoire of this synagogue’s professional choir.
Many of the great 19th century synagogue composers wrote music for synagogues that had all-male choirs. Perusing the collections of Louis Lewandowski and others will reveal more gems. Many of these can be found at the website of the Goethe University in Frankfurt.
In the early 20th century there were a number of all-male Jewish singing societies in Europe and the United States. Some of them, like the “Hasomir” singing society of Copenhagen, pictured here, published songbooks.
