The Cabaretesque in Jewish Music

Cabaret provided one of the most public ways of staging the everyday trials and tribulations, the triumphs and tragedies that represent modern Jewish history, consistently capturing the transformations of Jewish life, using music to turn everyday worlds inside-out. This panel follows the many influences of Jewish cabaret music from Central Europe to the shaping of 20th century the film music.

From Berlin to Hollywood, cabaret provided one of the most public ways of staging the everyday trials and tribulations, the triumphs and tragedies that represent modern Jewish history. Cabaret stories consistently capture the transformations of Jewish life, using music to turn everyday worlds inside-out. The concept of the cabaretesque, at the heart of this symposium, throws light on these transformations throughout modern Jewish history. The first synchronized sound films, or talkies, The Jazz Singer (1927) in the US and The Blue Angel (1930) in Germany, were largely set in cabarets. In Hollywood, cabaret provided crucial material for the development of film musicals, and Jewish exile composers, such as Hanns Eisler with his Hollywood Songbook (1942-43), vastly enriched the soundtrack of American popular music. This panel follows the many influences of Jewish cabaret music from Central Europe to the shaping of 20th century the film music.

Mickey Katz Symposium in Jewish Music

PHILIP BOHLMAN (University of Chicago)

TAMARA LEVITZ (UCLA)

PAUL LERNER (USC)

STEPHAN PENNINGTON (Tufts)

Moderator: Todd Presner

Sponsored By:
UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies
Funding Provided by
Natalie Limonick Program on Jewish Civilization
Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music at UCLA
Cosponsored By:
UCLA Department of Musicology
Mickey Katz Endowed Chair in Jewish Music at UCLA