Joseph Drechsler: Haleluyaw Halelu Eyl (SATB) - Digital

Printable PDF for SATB chorus and piano or organ ad lib. License to print 10 octavos for rehearsal and performance.

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Duration: 1 minute, 25 seconds

Hebrew/English, edited and translated by Joshua R. Jacobson

Joseph Drechsler (1782-1852), conductor, composer, organist, and teacher, was far better known in his own day than in ours. As a youth he served as a chorister at Passau and studied at the Benedictine monastery in Florenbach. In 1807, having received an invitation to join the Theater in der Leopoldstadt, he left his native Bohemia for Vienna. Arriving in Vienna, Drechsler decided not to accept the position at the theater; he chose instead to continue studying and composing privately. By 1810 he was associated with the Court Opera, of which he became assistant Kapellmeister in 1812 or 1814. In 1822 Drechsler's incidental music to Meisl's Das Bild des Fürsten and Beethoven's Die Weihe des Hauses were performed on the same program at the Theater in der Josephstadt, where Drechsler was conductor. Beethoven thought highly enough of Drechsler to recommend him to his pupil, Archduke Rudolph. Between 1824 and 1830 Drechsler served as chief conductor and composer to the Theater in der Leopoldstadt. In addition to his duties at the theater, Drechsler served as organist for several churches in Vienna; in 1844 he was appointed Kapellmeister of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Drechsler also enjoyed a well-deserved reputation as a teacher. In 1815 he established a music school, where he taught some of the finest musicians of Vienna, including the young Johann Strauss. In addition to incidental music for numerous plays and sacred works, including sixteen Masses, Drechsler wrote several pedagogical works, including an organ tutor, a thorough-bass course, and a set of instructions on the art of preluding.

"Haleluyaw, Halelu Eyl," a setting of Psalm 150, was commissioned by Drechsler's contemporary Salomon Sulzer (1804-1890), the famous cantor of the Seitenstettengasse Temple in Vienna. Sulzer was actively involved in the liturgical and musical reform then taking place in the Viennese temple under the direction of Rabbi I. Noah Mannheimer. For the first volume of his Shir Zion (published in Vienna in 1841), Sulzer invited leading composers to submit settings of the necessary liturgical texts. Besides Drechsler, contributors to Sulzer's monumental anthology included Ignaz von Seyfried and Franz Schubert ("Tov Lehodos," From the Choral Repertoire 43), among others.

Psalm 150 is included in the morning liturgy of the daily synagogue service. However, it is likely that this setting was intended for the Rosh HaShannah service, when the psalm is also inserted into the festive "Musaf" liturgy. At any rate, the nature of the text, describing the praise of God by all His creatures, in song, dance, and instrumental music, makes this work appropriate for any festive occasion.

The present edition is based on the 1841 print. Grace notes which in the original edition were left to the discretion of the performers have been written out as sixteenth notes falling before the beat. The original transliteration of the Hebrew text, intended for performers fluent in German, has been replaced by one intended for English-speaking singers. The stressed syllables are indicated by accent marks; it should be noted, however, that Drechsler's setting does not always respect these accented syllables, but instead follows a system of pronunciation prevalent in Austria in the nineteenth century.

Although the work was originally intended for a cappella performance, the use of organ to double the vocal parts would not be out of place.