Moshe Nathanson (August 10, 1899 - February 24, 1981) was a Canadian

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, and

cantor A cantor or chanter is a person who leads people in singing or sometimes in prayer. Cantor as a profession generally refers to those leading a Jewish congregation, although it also applies to the lead singer or choir director in Christian contexts. ...

who is known for promoting Jewish folk music. Nathanson's most notable work is ''Zamru Lo'', '' Hava Nagila''. and the commonly used tune for

Birkat Hamazon Birkat Hamazon ( "The Blessing of the Food"), known in English as the Grace After Meals ( "to bless", Yinglish: Bentsching), is a set of Hebrew language, Hebrew blessings that Halakha, Jewish law prescribes following a meal that includes at le ...

Biography

Early life and education

Nathanson was born on August 10, 1899, in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, the son of Rabbi Nachum Hirsh Nathanson and Rosa (née Silberstern) Nathanson. He attended a

heder A ''cheder'' (, lit. 'room'; Yiddish pronunciation: ''khéyder'') is a traditional primary school teaching the basics of Judaism and the Hebrew language. History ''Cheders'' were widely found in Europe before the end of the 18th century. L ...

school. When Nathanson was ten, he was sent to study at Bet Sefer Lemell, an elementary school in Jerusalem. The school choir was run by Abraham Zvi Idelsohn, who challenged his students to select words for a nigun and create a modern Hebrew song. It is said that the twelve-year-old Nathanson suggested (Psalm 118: 24), ''"Zeh hayom asah Adonai; nagila v’nismekha vo"'' inspiring the famous Hava Nagila. Nathanson left Jerusalem and immigrated to Quebec, Canada on September 7, 1920, where he later began to attend McGill University in 1922 where he pursued a law degree but later transferred to

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named afte ...

to pursue his passion for music.

Career

Nathanson began his career in 1924 when he joined The Society for the Advancement of Judaism ( SAJ) as their cantor during the tenure of

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Mordecai M. Kaplan. partook in many educational programs to promote Israeli folk and worked for The Bureau of Jewish Education and focused on teaching Jewish youth about their culture and heritage through song and worked as the musical director of The Kvutzah and Camp Achva. Among other works, he set Esther Zweig's text "Salute to Haganah" to music in 1948.

Personal life

Moshe married Zipora Bor (April 2, 1901 - January 12, 1978) on July 1, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York, with whom he had three children: Deena Starr (January 16, 1931 - March 27, 2014), Naomi Brettler (July 16, 1932), and Yaron Nathanson (July 22, 1926 - February 23, 200

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?n=deena-starr&pid=170400024&fhid=2088]. On February 24, 1981 Moshe Nathanson died at his home on 15 West 86th Street, in Manhattan. He was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery alongside his wife Zipora who predeceased him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nathanson, Moshe Canadian musicologists Canadian male composers Canadian Reconstructionist Jews Hazzans 1899 births 1981 deaths 20th-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian musicologists Jewish musicologists People from Jerusalem Jewish composers McGill University alumni Juilliard School alumni Emigrants from Mandatory Palestine Immigrants to Canada Burials at Old Jewish cemetery in Hebron