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Hanukkah Melodies
Many familiar and beloved melodies are associated with Hanukkah. This recording of the blessings over lighting the candles, followed by Psalm 30, “Mizmor Shir Hanukkat Ha-Bayit,” is sung by the late Rev. Eliezer Abinun of London:
http://www.londonsephardimusic.org/files/Music/Hannuka/AbinunHannukah.wma (The link comes from this page: https://sites.google.com/site/londonsephardimusic/hannukah-1)
This recording of the Psalm “Mizmor Shir Hanukkat Ha-Bayit” is of Dutch Hazzan Simon van David Duque (Amsterdam 1897-Dachau 1945), around 1938:
At Shearith Israel in New York, during morning services on the first Shabbat of Hanukkah, “Min Ha-Metsar,” part of the Hallel, is sung to a composition by operatic composer Jacques Francois Fromental Halevy:
In some S&P congregations as well as many Ashkenazic congregations, the tune of the hymn “Ma’oz Tsur” is used for part of the Hanukkah service. The tune is adapted from a German folk song, but the London version is an elegant four-voice adaptation created by the famous English Jewish composer Julius Mombach (1813-1880), musical director of the Great Synagogue in Duke Street, London. Find out more here:
And listen to a recording of Mombach's version here, as sung by Rabbi Jonathan Cohen on his indispensable website:
