Religion:The Voice Of Prayer And Praise

In 1899, the Choir Committee of the Council of the United Synagogue commissioned Francis Lyon Cohen (FLC) and David Montague Davis (DMD) to colate a standardized the body of liturgical music Kol Rinnah U’Tefillah: The Voice of Prayer and Praise. This was an update of FLC's and B.L.Mosely's 1889 'Shirei K’nesset Yisrael – Songs of the Congregation of Israel', and it became the foundation of communal prayer for the most of Western Ashkenazi Jewery in the UK. Early references to the volume as a ‘hymnal’ highlight parallels with other Victorian religious choral works. Most of the compositions are listed as 'traditional', the work of Julius Mombach, or arrangements by FLC and DMD themselves. Some traditional pieces are also attributed to being of Sephardic origin, but the main reference book for Western Sephardim is 'The Ancient Melodies of the Liturgy of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' by David de Aaron de Sola & Aguilar. Since it was originally published with a blue cover, it has commonly been nicknamed 'The Blue Book'. The blue book contains songs and chants for the entire Jewish calendar written in reduced-score 4-part harmony so it could be played on the piano or organ to accompany the choir in rehearsal or at a wedding ceremony, and the melody and alto lines in tonic sol fa for those who are unable to read sheet music notation. In 1933, Samuel Alman republished the Blue Book adding supplement with several of his own compositions.

Cultural appropriation is a welcome characteristic in Jewish culture and is commonly used in the 'Blue Book'. Two examples are: Va’anachnu is arranged to no. 19 – “Open the Heavens…” from the oratorio Elijah; and Hodo Al Eretz which is based on Hear my Prayer/O for the wings of a Dove (Psalm 55) by Felix Mendelssohn. DMD chose to arrange Va’anachnu in the same key, but doubled note lengths when transcribing it.