Cantor Reuben Rinder, Frederick Jacobi and Temple Emanu-El of San Francisco: Commissioning the...

CANTOR REUBEN RINDER,FREDERICK JACOBI AND

TEMPLE EMANU EL OF SAN FRANCISCO:COMMISSIONING THE SACRED

by Jonathan L. Friedmann

A notice appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on February 16, 1958announcing an upcoming Shabbat service honoring Cantor ReubenRinder (1887-1966) and his forty-five years at Temple Emanu-El.'

The service was billed as a "musical tribute to the minister who in-spired more famous composers to enrich an ancient musical tradition thanany other living man." On the program were excerpts from major worksRinder had commissioned for the Temple, performed by the 175-voicechorus of the University of California at Berkeley, the Temple Emanu-ElChoir and members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Localopera star Stanley Noonan was the soloist, and conducting duties wentto Edward B. Lawton, a professor at the University of California, andMarc Lavry, a prominent Israeli composer who flew in from Jerusalemfor the event.

It is fitting that the service focused on Cantor Rinder's development ofnew synagogue music. Without doubt, he was admired as a skilled vocalistand dedicated clergyman. The Chronicle paid tribute to this aspect of hiscareer: "[Rinder] had chosen the eternal light of religion over the flicker-ing footlights of the operatic stage and had followed the cantorial callingof his family, chanting the rich liturgy of the Jewish service."^ But his pri-mary contribution to Jewish history and heritage was his role in soliciting,advising and promoting liturgical contributions from noted composers.

Rinder's was an era of heightened interest in the aesthetics of theAmerican synagogue, and the heyday of Jewish choral music. Betweenthe 1920s and 50s, more than eighty Hebrew services and 250 individualliturgical compositions were published in the United States.^ Most ofthese works were composed or published in New York, the center of

WESTERN STATES JEWISH HISTORY, Vol. XV, No. 4, Summer 2013, pp. 321-332,© 2013 Jonathan L. Friedmann, by permission.

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American Jewish life. Rinder, who served at B'nai Jeshurun in New Yorkbefore coming to San Francisco, brought this cultural spirit to the Cityby the Bay. In doing so, he facilitated the creation of some of the mostcelebrated works ever written for the synagogue.

Sketches of Rinder's life normally give considerable attention to thecommissioning of Ernest Bloch's Avodath Ha-Kodesh (Sacred Service),widely considered the greatest achievement of twentieth-century syna-gogue song. Bloch, a Swiss-born composer of great renown, had beenpersuaded by Rinder to take the post as director of the San FranciscoConservatory of Music. (His prior residence was Cleveland and he muchpreferred Northern California.) Rinder approached Bloch to composethe service in 1928, and Bloch completed it in 1932 during an extendedstay in his home country of Switzerland.

Regular mention is also made of Darius Milhaud's Service sacré pourle samedi matin (Sacred Service for Sabbath Morning), which Rindercommissioned in 1947. The work is unique for including texts in Hebrew,English and French, and is generally regarded as the second greatestJewish sacred service of the twentieth century (after Bloch's). A Jewfrom Provence, Milhaud left France with the onset of World War II. Heeventually settled in Oakland, California, where he took a position atMills College. As the story goes, Rinder asked Milhaud to write the ser-vice after hearing the composer sing Chad Gadya in Provençal during aPassover seder. He accepted immediately."*

Biographers also note the settings Rinder commissioned from leadingIsraeli composers Marc Lavry and Paul Ben-Haim.

In 1953, Temple Emanu-El gave Cantor and Mrs. Rinder a trip toIsrael in recognition of their decades of tireless work. Upon their ar-rival, the cantor sought out Lavry, who was then director of the IsraelBroadcasting Station. Lavry was recruited to write a Shabbat eveningservice, which premiered at Emanu-El in March of 1955. During a visitto Israel seven years later, Rinder tracked down Ben-Haim, the dean ofIsraeli composers, and contracted him to write three anthems using textsfrom the Book of Psalms (Pss. 4; 23; and 147).

Usually buried in the list of commissions are pieces by Frederick Jacobi(1891-1952), a San Francisco native and brother of a Temple Emanu-Elcongregant. Though highly distinguished in his lifetime—particularlyin the 1930s and 40s—Jacobi's fame has withered since then. The vicis-322

Friedmann / CANTOR REUBEN RINDER & FREDERICK JACOBI

situdes of musical taste and the fickleness of musical audiences haveplaced him among "America's lesser-known composers."* Because of hisdiminished fame, it is easy to overlook that Jacobi wrote prayer musicfor Rinder. It is even difficult to pinpoint precisely which of Jacobi's li-turgical pieces were written for the cantor. His Sabbath Evening Service,according to the Union Prayer Book (1930-31), is sometimes erroneouslylisted as a Rinder commission, but it was written for Lazare Saminsky ofTemple Emanu-El in New York.

The uncertainty surrounding Jacobi's synagogue music is linked tohis obscurity relative to the other composers cited above. Without popu-lar interest in the man, there is hardly motivation to preserve histori-cal details of his work. Nevertheless, it is clear that he wrote settingsfor Rinder, and their professional relationship is worth investigation—sparse though the information may be. This is especially so as it embod-ies the cantor's larger program of supporting local talent in the Bay Area.Unlike other prestigious composers with whom Rinder worked, Jacobi.was a native son.

Cantor Reuben Rinder

Reuben Rinder came from a small town in Galicia, near Lemberg, wherehis uncle was the cantor. Rinder apprenticed for the cantorate under hisuncle's tutelage. Both of his parents passed away when he was a child,and he immigrated to New York around 1900. This was a time of large-scale migration for Jews of Eastern Europe, and Rinder took it as an op-portunity to advance his education. He studied at the Hebrew TheologicalSeminary, which served as a preparatory school for the rabbinical schoolof the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati.^

His first appointment was at a small congregation in Brooklyn.Shortly thereafter he was hired as cantor of B'nai Jeshurun, one of thelargest synagogues in the city. It was through that position that he metRabbi Stephen Wise, an influential leader of American Reform Judaism.The two became friendly and Rinder occasionally participated in RabbiWise's Sunday morning services at Carnegie Hall. Wise put Rinder intocontact with Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco when they were search-ing for a new cantor.

The year was 1913, and Emanu-El's beloved cantor, Edward Stark, wasnearing death. Stark had been with the congregation since 1893, and haddeveloped an elevated music culture that was the envy of the West Coast.

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Stark's musical repertoire included hymns, hymn-like settings, op-eratic selections and oratorio literature—mostly in English translation.He also utilized material from European Jewish sources, both folk andfully composed (especially the works of Salomon Sulzer). He ardentlysupported the use of the organ in synagogue services, which was playedto accompany himself and a mixed choir.

Later in his tenure. Stark began composing liturgical pieces of his own,primarily adapting passages from the Reform movement's newly pressedUnion Prayer Book (1894). He collaborated with his pulpit partner RabbiJacob Voorsanger on Emanu-El's Services for Children, and wrote anddirected drama productions for the religious school. Stark's principalwork is his four-volume Sefer Anim Zemiroth, published between 1909and 1913. It contains settings for the Sabbath and High Holidays.

Rinder gladly inherited this legacy. He was only twenty-six at thetime, but over the next fifty-three years had a significant impact on thecongregation, the city and the musical world—both Jewish and general.

An article appeared in a local newspaper shortly after Rinder's ar-rival in San Francisco. It described a Hanukkah celebration involvingthe cantor and the Koshland family—wealthy patrons who would helpunderwrite many of Rinder's concerts and commissions:

Elaborate decorations of flowers and many candelabra filled the[Koshland] house, and the choir of Temple Emanu-El took part in theceremony of lighting the candles, with Cantor Rinder leading the musicalnumbers. Members of Mrs. Koshland's family lighted the candles up-stairs in the house, while Cantor Rinder conducted the age-old ceremonyon the second floor. Three specially decorated buffet tables were presidedover by Mrs. Koshland and a number of the guests.

This gathering became an annual affair, and provided Rinder with anetwork of philanthropists who would become sponsors of his Jewishmusic renaissance.**

Beginning in 1922, Rinder organized performances and oratorios atthe Temple, which included classical works on Jewish-related themes,like Handel's Israel in Egypt, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Alfred R. Gaul'sRuth and Arthur Honegger's King David. Martin Meyer, who was rab-bi of Emanu-El from 1910 to 1923, first introduced the concert idea toRinder as part of an effort to foster interfaith dialogue. (Among oth-

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er things, Meyer famously invited'Abdu'1-Bahá, leader of the Bahá'íFaith, to Speak at Temple Emanu-El inOctober of 1912.') These concerts con-tinued for several decades, and usu-ally involved the Temple choir, choirsof local universities and a pick-up or-chestra comprised of members of theSan Francisco Symphony.'" Rinder'sinterfaith involvement earned him aposition as chaplain of the CaliforniaChapter of the American Guild ofOrganists in 1943, in which capacityhe officiated three services at GraceCathedral." Cantor Reuben Rinder, #WS7643

Cantor Rinder and Rabbi Meyer were also among the few outspokenZionists in the Jewish community of San Francisco. It was an uncom-mon and unpopular view, but it did not prevent Rinder from composingthe anthem "Battle Song of Zion" (1918) in honor of the Jewish Legionof Palestine. The piece was published by the Pacific Coast office of theZionist Bureau and all proceeds were donated to the Jewish NationalFund. Incidentally, the song's Hebrew lyrics are credited to MosheMenuhin, a Hebrew teacher at Emanu-El and father of famed violinistYehudi, whom Rinder later "discovered."'^

The cantor's wife. Rose Rinder, was similarly active in Zionist causes,founding the San Francisco chapter of Hadassah in 1916. However, whenit became known to some of the wealthier women that Hadassah was notjust a charitable organization but a Zionist one, the group was swiftlydisbanded.'^

One of Rinder's earliest attempts to inspire Jewish musical creativitywas the Society for the Advancement of Synagogue Music. The orga-nization was launched in 1927 with the optimistic goal of discoveringa "Jewish Palestrina.'""* Rinder bemoaned that the vast majority of reli-gious music in the West was composed for the church, and was driven tocorrect the disparity. To that end, the Society sponsored an internationalcomposition contest with a prize of $500. The rules for the 1927 compe-tition are reflective of Rinder's high standards:

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(1) The composition must be written to the Hebrew text of "Adon 01am"(The Lord of All), a liturgical poem contained in the Jewish PrayerBook.

(2) The music must be unperformed and unpublished.

(3) The composition must be written for Cantor (Baritone) and mixedchoir, with accompaniment of organ and instruments, or a cappella. If acappella or if with an arrangement of instruments, an ad libitum organarrangement should accompany the manuscript.

(4) A separate Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass part should accompany thescore.

(5) Scores must be written in ink.

(6) Time limit for the rendition of the entire composition should not ex-ceed seven minutes.

(7) Each manuscript must bear on its title page a nom de plume or motto.A sealed envelope containing the real name of the composer, and bear-ing on the outside the same nom de plume or motto, must accompany themanuscript.

(8) The judges will be subsequently announced. If no work of sufficientmerit is submitted the contest may be postponed.

(9) The winning manuscript shall become the property of the Society forthe Advancement of Synagogue Music. Congregations designated by theSociety will have the right of first performance. The composer will havethe privilege of copyright and of collecting royalties from sources otherthan those mentioned above.

(10) Manuscripts must be submitted no later than Deeember 1st, 1927 toCantor Reuben R. Rinder, care of Temple Emanu-El, Arguello Boulevardand Lake Street, San Francisco, California.'^

With this and other projects, Rinder never gained anything for himselfHis mission was to advance more sophisticated and vital music programsin the American synagogue. The city's Jewish population gave him en-couragement, and wealthy backers like the Koshlands gave him all thefunding he needed.326


Rinder pursued commissions throughout his long tenure at Emanu-El.These include the famous services and selections composed by ErnestBloch, Darius Milhaud, Marc Lavry and Paul Ben-Haim. Two of thesemen had ties to the San Francisco area. With Rinder's help, Bloch washired as director of the San Francisco Conservatory from 1926 to 1930,and Milhaud held a position at Mills College from 1940 to 1946 and alter-nate years from 1946 to 1971. The other two, Lavry and Ben-Haim, residedin Israel and were approached by Rinder during trips to that country.

These calculated encounters and the masterworks they yielded areindicative of Rinder's keen musical sense. He had a gift for knowingwhom to approach, what works to request of them, and how (and howmuch) to guide a composer toward the end result. His extensive corre-spondences with these and other prominent musicians are preserved atthe UC Berkeley library."'

While Rinder liked to think of himself as a performer and composer,his greatest strength was his effect on others. He had a knack for discern-ing genius, the warmth of personality to nurture it, and a loyal group ofgenerous friends to finance it. It can be argued that no one in the firsthalf of the twentieth century did more to enrich the music of the syna-gogue. The works he was responsible for are classics of the genre and theperpetual subject of study, programming and historical interest.

Rinder is also credited with identifying the musical potential of YehudiMenuhim when the future world-class violinist was just two years old.He is likewise recognized for persuading the young Isaac Stern to takeup the violin. While visiting the Stern family one afternoon, Rinder lis-tened to young Isaac playing the piano and commented that, with hislevel of musicality, he should be playing the expressive violin rather thanthe more mechanical piano. He gave similar encouragement to a veryyoung Leon Fleisher." With funding from his benefactors, Rinder show-cased these boy performers in musical events at the Temple and helpedto launch their careers.'^

Cantor Rinder's involvement with Frederick Jacobi is in some ways anintersection of these two areas of interest. On the one hand, Jacobi was—like Bloch and Ben-Haim—a premier composer who had an affinity forJudaic subjects. On the other hand, he was—like Menuhin and Stern—alocal talent who embodied the best of San Francisco's creative life.

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Frederick Jacobi

Frederick Jacobi (1891-1952) was born in San Francisco to German-Jewishimmigrant parents. Flora Brandenstein and Frederick Sr., a wholesalewine merchant. Jacobi's musical proclivities were evident early on. As achild, he would compose short pieces at the piano and play popular tunes

by ear. When his father passed away in1911, he inherited a substantial estate, thewealth of which enabled him to pursuemusical interests.

Jacobi went to New York in his teensto study music. He lived there with hisolder sisters and attended the EthicalCuhural School. During his young adultyears, his principal teachers in New York,San Francisco and Europe were ErnestBloch, Rubin Goldmark, Rafael Joseffyand Paul Juon.

When the United States entered theFÍ¡derick Jacobi, #WS7623 ^^^^^ ^^^^^ "^^^^ ^ ' O i hoped to enlist

in the Medical Corps. But when his re-cruiting officer learned that he was a musician, he was ordered to playsaxophone in the army band—even though he had never touched theinstrument before. Being the musician that he was, he quickly masteredthe saxophone and fulfilled his military service playing in the band atthe army base on Alcatraz.

Jacobi's career as composer and teacher started shortly after the War.In 1924 he took a position at the Master School of United Arts in NewYork. In 1936 he began a fifteen-year tenure as a composition teacherat Juilliard. Closer to his place of birth, he was a regular lecturer at UCBerkeley and Mills College.

Throughout the 1930s and 40s, Jacobi was one of the most distin-guished and sought-after figures in American music. An issue of ModernMusic published at the close of the 1920s listed him as "One of America'smost representative composers," and David Diamond, a leading twen-tieth-century composer, remarked in a 1998 interview that any list ofAmerica's "top ten important composers" should include Jacobi." Hisworks were performed by leading orchestras, such as the San Francisco328


Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, and re-ceived performances in Paris, Zürich, Rome, Milan, Prague and otherEuropean cities.

He first garnered attention for incorporating musical signatures fromindigenous Americans. The 1920s are described as his "Indian period."He returned westward during that decade, visiting Navaho and Pueblotribes in New Mexico. With the curiosity of an ethnographer, he studiedtheir music firsthand and infused their sonorities, rhythms and motifsinto several of his works. With pieces like his first string quartet (1924)and Indian Dances (1927-28), Jacobi introduced Native American soundsinto the tapestry of American classical music, much as other composershad done with cowboy songs, spirituals and New England folk tunes. Asone writer notes, "Jacobi saw native Indian traditions as an authentic cul-tural pool on which to draw for the creation of an American music."^"

Jacobi's interest in ethnic music eventually led him to his own Jewishroots. This focus seems to have begun in 1930, when Lazare Saminskyhired him to write a complete Friday evening Shabbat service. Saminsky,a Russian-born composer of Jewish art song, was music director ofTemple Emanu-El in New York. Saminsky's influence had a lasting ef-fect on Jacobi's oeuvre. From that point forward, he explored the artisticpossibilities of Judaic sources in his music, and became spiritually andculturally consumed by Jewish themes and subject matter.

A contemporaneous commentator called his Jewish music "an inte-gral part of an important tradition in American music which has baseditself on the earnest exploration of the 'Hebraic idiom.'""' This praise,though based on the outdated notion that a monolithic ancient essenceis present in all Jewish folk music, nonetheless captures the regard heearned for these compositions. They include Shemesh (1940), Rhapsody(1940), Ode to Zion (1948), Ashrei Ha'ish (1949) and many others.

Jacobi involved himself with the Jewish Music Forum, a group ofdistinguished composers, synagogue musicians and scholars dedicatedto the growth and integrity of Jewish music in America. Many lead-ing lights filled its roster during its twenty-four year lifespan, includ-ing Leonard Bernstein, Abraham W. Binder, Ernest Bloch, IsadoreFreed, Max Helfman, Paul Nettl, Curt Sachs, Lazare Saminsky, ShalomSecunda, Alfred Sendrey, Albert Weisser and Joseph

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In 1948 Jacobi was invited to address the first convention held by theConservative movement's United Synagogue of America and CantorsAssembly of America. His topic was nationalism in the arts. He de-scribed the inevitable tensions that arise between a composer's individualcreativity, ethnic ties and universal outlook. He warned against relyingtoo heavily on folk material, but stressed the importance of fusing one'sartistic voice with these sources. More specifically, he emphasized thepreservation of age-old synagogue customs, such as cantillation, motivicpatterns and prayer modes. One of the most intriguing lines from thespeech was his comment on originality: "The surest way to kill whateveroriginality one possesses within himself is to try to be original."^^

It is interesting to note that before his involvement with Saminsky,Jacobi had little or no formal interaction with Jewish life. From whatwe can glean about his youth, he did not have a Jewish education. Hisparents elected not to be religiously affiliated, and enrolled their childrenin a school of the Ethical Cultural Society—an institution that was, formany, a substitute for religious schooling, both Christian and Jewish.

Largely for this reason. Cantor Rinder did not become aware of Jacobiuntil after he began composing Jewish pieces in the 1930s. Jacobi was aNew Yorker at the time, but Rinder was proud to learn of his San Franciscoroots. Their collaboration over the 1930s and 40s—which yielded severalworks—combined Rinder's desire to commission top Jewish composersand his enthusiastic support of musicians from the Bay Area.

The San Francisco Scene

The relationship between Rinder and Jacobi has been obscured with thepassage time. We are essentially left with a few references listing Jacobiamong prominent composers commissioned by Rinder at Emanu-El.Thorough documentation exists for the other composers, namely ErnestBloch, Darius Milhaud, Marc Lavry and Paul Ben-Haim. The informa-tion that has survived is proportional to the attention they still receivefrom scholars and performance ensembles. Because Jacobi's star hasfaded, we have very little to draw upon.

Still, the lives and works of Rinder and Jacobi—and the intersectionbetween them—are an important part of San Francisco's Jewish and mu-sical heritage. Lovers of classical music often marvel at the abundance ofmusical talent that has emerged from and been drawn to that city. Starsnormally cited include Isaac Stern, Leon Fleischer, Yehudi Menuhin,330


Ernest Bloch and Darius Milhaud. It is striking that Rinder was involvedwith each of these musicians. He had an instinct for spotting young talentand matching composers with synagogue projects.

Though not as well known anymore, Jacobi was, in his time, a nameas luminous as the others. During the 1930s and 40s, the San Francisco-born composer earned a reputation for his Judaic works. It is no surprisethat he attracted the notice of Cantor Rinder, or that the two partnered onmusical projects. While the details are mostly forgotten, their collabora-tion encapsulates a vibrant chapter in American synagogue music.

Endnotes1. "S. F. Will Honor Cantor Rinder," The San Francisco Chronicle. 16 Feb. 1958, p.

14.2. "S. F. Will Honor Cantor Rinder," p. 14.3. Eric Werner, From Generation to Generation: Studies on Jewish Musical Tradition

(New York: American Conference of Cantors, 1967), p. 151.4. Judith M. Taylor, "All His Geese Were Swans: Cantor Reuben Rinder and Temple

Emanu El," Horthistoria: A History Site <http://horthistoria.com/?p=101>5. Neil W. Levin, "Frederick Jaeobi," Milken Archive of Jewish Music <http://www.

milkenarchive.org/people/view/all/544/Jacobi,+Frederick>6. Robert Harold Matthews, "Darius Milhaud's Sacred Service: A Historical,

Textual, and Theoretical Analysis" (DMA Diss., University of North Carolina atGreensboro, 2011), p. 16.

7. Bruce Ruben, Max Lilienthal: The Making of the American Rabbinate (Detroit:Wayne State University PressH, 2011), p. 214.

8. "Musical Patronage in the San Francisco Bay Area," undated and unidentifiednewspaper clipping, 1913.

9. Ramona Bray Brown, "Rabbi Martin Abraham Meyer (1879-1923) of San FranciscoWho Invited 'Abdu'1-Bahá to Speak in Temple Emanu-El," 'Abdu'1-Bahá inAmerica <http://centenary.bahai.us/photo/rabbi-martin-abraham-meyer-1879-1923-san-francisco-who-invited-abdul-baha-speak-temple-emanu-e>

10. Matthews, "Darius Milhaud's Sacred Service," p. 15.11. Taylor, "All His Geese Were Swans."12. Rose Rinder, Music, Prayer and Religious Leadership (Berkeley: Judah L. Magnes

Memorial Museum, 1971), pp. 124-125.13. Taylor, "All His Geese Were Swans."14. Matthews, "Darius Milhaud's Sacred Service," p. 16.15. "Contest Announcement," Musical Leader, 7 July 1927.

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16. "Rinder (Reuben R.) papers, 1907-1966," Magnes Collection of Jewish Art andLife, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

17. Taylor, "All His Geese Were Swans."

18. Rinder, Music, Prayer and Religious Leadership, p. 69.19. Levin, "Frederick Jacobi."20. Levin, "Frederick Jaeobi."21. Levin, "Frederick Jacobi."

22. Irene Heskes, Passport to Jewish Music: Its History, Traditions and Culture (NewYork: Tara, 1994), p. 215.

23. Levin, "Frederick Jacobi."

Author Bio: Jonathan L. Friedmann is Professor of Jewish MusicHistory at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, and HistoricalMusic Editor for Western States Jewish History. He is the author or edi-tor of twelve books, most recently Music in Biblical Life: The Roles ofSong in Ancient Lsrael (McFarland Books, 2013).

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