Paul Ben - Haim: Between East and West

Paul Ben-Haim: Between East and West

Liran Gurkiewicz

By many, Ben-Haim is considered to be the father of Israeli music. Following the Nazi rise to power in 1933, the then 36 year old Composer/Conductor emigrated from Nazi Germany to Mandatory Palestine (Israel), where he championed the consolidation of the Idiosyncratic Mediterranean (Israeli) musical style. Ben-Haim`s work, much in accordance with the Mediterranean style as a whole, is a unique composite between the local Mediterranean topography which reflects his Jewish identity and between compositional techniques echoing and revealing his more formal German – Western heritage. As such, his work is constructed from the welding of Middle – Eastern elements alongside Western and German post – romantic techniques of writing.

My paper will take a linear approach and chronologically examine some of Ben-Haim`s major orchestral works. Accordingly, I will discuss Ben-Haim`s specific choice of motifs, orchestration, harmonic as well as rhythmic procedures as they come to the forefront on both limited and wider musical perspectives. I will describe how the later works show an ever growing level of sophistication in their imbedding of East and West.

This lecture will shed light on the unique melting pot of cultures that formed in Israel (Palestine) during the 1930`s. It will explain the way that both Middle Eastern and Western techniques of writing were coalesced and imbedded in Ben-Haim`s work – a leading Israeli representative of Israeli art music.