Beautiful Music

There are many versions of the advent carol O COME, O COME EMMANUEL. Today’s Beautiful Music is a solo piano version — arranged by Marshall McDonald and played by pianist Kimo Smith at the Loma Linda University Church in California in 2018. “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” arr. Marshall McDonald – YouTube

18th century Dutch musician Abraham Caceres was composer-in-residence to the Amsterdam Sephardic community. Today’s Beautiful Music is the choral work HISHKI HISKI by Abraham Caceres, composed in 1675 for the inauguration of the Amsterdam synagogue. You can also read a little more about the musician. Synagogue Music in the Baroque – 2 – מוסיקה לבית

Composer Nicholas Lanier (1588-1666) created a musical setting of the poem LOVE’S CONSTANCY by Thomas Carew. The San Francisco-area ensemble Voices of Music performs it for today’s Beautiful Music offering. You can also read about Nicholas Lanier’s connection to the Bassano family, whose patriarch Jeronimo was featured as yesterday’s Beautiful Music. Nicholas Lanier: No more

The Bassanos were a family of musicians in the 16th century.  Jeronimo Bassano was an instrumentalist who played shawms and trumpets and a variety of other wind instruments. The Bassanos relocated from Venice to England to work for King Henry VIII. Today’s Beautiful Music is a Fantasia suite by Jeronimo Bassano performed by His Majesties

Louis Saladin was a 17th century musician from Provence. Today’s Beautiful Music is one of the few known surviving compositions by him — Canticum hebraicum. Louis Saladin – Canticum hebraicum (~1670) Pt. 1 – YouTube Louis Saladin — JewishChoralMusic

Marin Baroque provides today’s Beautiful Music from their concert at First Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo, CA on March 22, 2014. This is Cantata Ebraica, in dialogo by Carlo Grossi, who lived from around 1634 until 1688. Carlo Grossi was not Jewish, however he was known for his musical settings of Hebrew religious texts. MARIN

Leonara Duarte was born in Antwerp in the 17th century into a musical and artistic family of Portuguese descent. The Jewish family was Converso, outwardly pretending to be Christian to avoid persecution. Today’s Beautiful Music is viol consort Fretwork performing Leonara Duarte’s 4th Sinfonia. You can also learn more about Leonara Duarte’s life using the

  Today’s Beautiful Music is an echo-poem for eight double-choirs of 8 voices. It was composed for a wedding in the Jewish ghetto of Mantua by the distinguished singer and composer Salamone Rossi. This performance is by The Cameran Singers, Chamber ensemble and soloists conducted by Avner Itai. You can read more about Salamone Rossi’s

Happy Hanukkah! Today’s Beautiful Music offering is from George Frideric Handel’s oratorio JUDAS MACCABAEUS. He composed the oratorio in 1746 for the Duke of Cumberland, and used the story of warrior Judah Maccabee (whose victory is part of the Hanukkah story) for its plot. The chorus SING UNTO GOD from JUDAS MACCABAEUS is sung by the

As this Thanksgiving weekend comes to a close, I hope you have many reasons to feel gratitude, positivity, and good fortune. Today’s Beautiful Music is a Concerto Grosso by Georg Muffat subtitled PROPITIA SYDERA, or “Lucky Stars.” The performance by Concerto Copenhagen is from a concert in 2018 in Austria. Georg Muffat – Propitia Sydera