Hopefully the BBC documentary about the Blood Libel will conclude that Jews DON'T murder Christian babies in order to make matzoh, so it was probably Noa Lachman's intention to cooperate with her correspondent in finding relevant music. Thus far the response about "Improperia" seems to be the one best matching the BBC person's desire for medieval music, and Catholic prayers with these anti-Semitic thoughts have been set, according to the discussion up to this point, by Sammartini. My memory is that Francis Poulenc, too, set to music a prayer containing a phrase, in Latin, of course, saying that the Jews crucified Jesus. Not the same as the Blood Libel, in my understanding of the phrase, but still relevant to the topic of music and anti-Semitism. And an examination of "passion music" would probably unearth similar examples. But music in Latin is problematic as a background for a television documentary, since even a British audience wouldn't be so fluent as to be able to follow the association between the text and the topic of the documentary. Our experience with the way music is used in television is tiny snippets of music called "sound bites," supposedly setting the mood for the content of the program. For that reason, I would recommend the BBC turn to music easiest to equate with anti-Semitism - Wagner, and especially Parsifal. Fred Blumenthal [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------+ Hosted by Shamash: The Jewish Network http://shamash.org A service of Hebrew College, which offers online courses and an online MA in Jewish Studies, http://hebrewcollege.edu/online/ * * FREE JEWISH LEARNING * * Shamash invites you to join MyJewishLearning.com, a comprehensive, objective, authoritative and interactive learning resource in all areas of Judaism. Free membership via http://www.myjewishlearning.com/shamash ---------------------- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------=
