Friedmann, Moritz

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FRIEDMANN, MORITZ

FRIEDMANN, MORITZ (1823–1891), Hungarian ḥazzan. Born in Hraboc, Friedmann was a noted boy soprano. When he went to Budapest as a youth, the ḥazzan David Broder accepted him in his choir. Later he went to Oedenburg (Sopron) and obtained a post as assistant cantor and Hebrew teacher in a nearby congregation. In 1857 he was appointed chief ḥazzan in Budapest, where he conducted services in the *Sulzer style, with a large choir and set psalms and prayers to music for solo and choir. His collection of Jewish synagogue songs, Izráelita vallásos énekek … (1875), was used in the synagogues of most Hungarian communities. He also edited the paper Ungarische Israelitische Kultusbeamtenzeitung (1883–97), in which he published articles on cantorial music.

bibliography:

Friedmann Album, 2 vols. (1877–85); Sendrey, Music, indexes; M. Rothmueller, The Music of the Jews (1967).

[Joshua Leib Ne'eman]