Rediscovering a Sacred Superstar: The Life and Music of the Synagogue Cantor named Salomon (ca.1781-1829) and known as “Kashtan”. An Edition and Translation of the Hebrew biography written by his son, Cantor Hirsch Weintraub, with a detailed commentary an

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My project is to write a scholarly study of the best-known synagogue cantor in Europe 200 years ago. Cantor Salomon (ca. 1781-1829), known by the nickname Kashtan, is a unique figure in the history of the Jewish Enlightenment and Emancipation. He achieved unprecedented fame -- comparable to the status of a superstar today -- by traveling throughout Eastern Europe and singing in synagogues as well as private locales from Riga to Budapest. He has long been recognized as the greatest cantor of his time. However, he has not received the scholarly attention which is his due.Salomon is the first historical cantor whose life and music are well documented. His son, Cantor Hirsch Weintraub (ca. 1813-1881), wrote a biography in Hebrew, which appeared in ten installments in the newspaper Hamaggid in 1875. That Hamaggid was interested in publishing Salomon’s biography forty-five years after his death is strong testimony to his enduring fame and influence. In addition, Hirsch published a volume of his father’s music and preserved additional compositions of his father’s in manuscript. My project has two key objectives. The main one is to present Salomon’s biography. I will publish the entire biography in an English translation, together with the original Hebrew text and a detailed commentary. In the commentary I will develop a timeline for Salomon’s life and travels, and will discuss the people, historical events, liturgical texts, religious customs, and musical compositions mentioned in the text. I will situate these in their historical and cultural context. I will conduct research at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People in Jerusalem and the Center for Jewish History in New York. These institutions possess archival materials and primary sources from this period from many of the Jewish communities with which Salomon was associated. An additional resource will be the archival section of the Birnbaum Collection at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. The second objective is to assess how much of Salomon’s music is hidden in unpublished manuscripts in Cincinnati and to catalog it. Hirsch Weintraub’s manuscript collection, including music composed by Salomon, as well as a couple of pieces by a brother and cousin, is now part of the enormous Birnbaum Collection. So far only three of Salomon’s compositions have appeared in a printed catalog. My goal is to define the corpus of Salomon’s surviving compositions and publish a catalog alongside the biography.