Two Hassidic Tunes
for piano

"Two Hassidic Tunes", commissioned by the Israel Music Institute for the Eliezer Peri Educational Series, was written in 1975. The first tune is based on "Yohanan ha-Sandlar's Niggun", which comes in two versions: a) as a processional niggun played by the Klezmers (Jewish village players) on the night of Lag b'Omer in the course of the pilgrimage to the tomb of the sage Yohanan ha-Sandlar; b) as a Bratzlav Hassidic Niggun to the words "If ye find my beloved, what shall ye tell him?" (Song of Songs 5:8-10). The recording of this tune was made by Andrè Hajdu and is part of the collection at the National Sound Archives in the Jewish National and University Library (no. Ya 95/5). The second tune is based on a niggun of the American Habad Hassidic community to the words from the Passover Haggadah "It is the Divine Pledge that had stood by our fathers", as sung by the young men of Kefar Habad (the Habad village in Israel). The recording of the tune was made at a public performance and is part of the collection at the National Sound Archives in the Jewish National and University Library (no. Yc 1040-41).