The collection of music on this site represents the Dutch-Jewish tradition, particularly the Liberal congregations. Most of these synagogue services are sung by a shaliach tzibbur (cantor or singing ‘representative of the congregation in prayer’).
Our Dutch tradition comes to us partly from Western and Southern Germany, but it has also been influenced by the Polish and the Spanish and Portuguese traditions. Most important are the great composers of the middle of the 19th century, especially Louis Lewandowski and Salomon Sultzer.
Eastern European Jewry and its culture were destroyed during the Shoah and under Communism, but it’s tradition survived and flourishes both in the America’s and in Israel. Western European Jewry and it’s culture were almost wiped out in the dark years of the Great Destruction. That tradition has barely survived and one of the places where it is still alive is in our Dutch communities. This too is a reason why we value this particular and most beautiful music in our services, the special nusach and the musical tradition on which we read the Torah and the Haftara.
Using the music library
In the menu you will find the services for which music is included in the library. Especially recordings, but sheet music is also available. However, since much of the written music is copyrighted, we will not publish those items here. On the website of Shulmusic you will find a wealth of written music and on the website of the website of Judaica Sound Archive you will find a unique collection of chazzanut recordings.
The music is put on the pages according to the order in the services. The name of the file begins with the page number(s) on which the text appears in the Dutch siddur or machzor for the Liberal congregations. If you do not find the file you are looking for, look in one of the other services. It may well be found there.