Eduard Birnbaum facts for kids

Eduard Birnbaum (also known as Asher Anshel Birnbaum) was born in Poland and became a famous hazzan (say: hah-ZAHN) in Germany. A hazzan is like a lead singer or prayer leader in a synagogue (a Jewish place of worship). Eduard was also one of the first people to seriously study and collect Jewish music. He lived from 1855 to 1920.

Early Life and Music Studies

Eduard Birnbaum was born on March 12, 1855, in a city called Kraków in Poland. When he was older, he moved to Vienna, Austria, to study music. For three years, he learned about synagogal music (music used in synagogues) from a very famous teacher named Salomon Sulzer.

Becoming a Cantor

In 1872, Eduard started his career as a deputy cantor in Magdeburg, Germany. This meant he helped the main cantor. Just two years later, in 1874, he became the chief cantor in Beuthen. This was a very important job!

Exploring Jewish Music

While working in Beuthen, Eduard started a huge project. He began to collect all kinds of Jewish music. He gathered:

• Printed music
• Handwritten music (manuscripts)
• Books and articles about Jewish music
• Old documents and other materials

This collection became the foundation for his important research. He used it to write about Jewish ritual melodies. One of his first big works was about a collection of 1,500 Jewish melodies by another cantor named Abraham Bär.

Cantor in Königsberg

In 1879, Eduard Birnbaum moved to Königsberg (which is now Kaliningrad, Russia). He became the main cantor for the Jewish community there. He held this important position for the rest of his life, until he passed away in 1920.

His Musical Works and Collection

Eduard Birnbaum wrote two books called Liturgische Übungen, which means "Liturgical Exercises." The first volume came out in 1900, and the second in 1912. He also wrote many pieces of music for synagogue services. Some of his musical works were published after he died in a magazine called Der jüdische Kantor (The Jewish Cantor).

His amazing collection of music and writings is now kept at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, USA. This collection is known as the Birnbaum Collection. It includes:

• A special catalog with information about around 7,000 different synagogue melodies.
• Notes and references to music found in old rabbinical texts.

Eduard Birnbaum died on August 8, 1920, in Königsberg. He is remembered as a very important figure in the study of Jewish music.