Kornitzer, Leon

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KORNITZER, LEON

KORNITZER, LEON (1875–1947), ḥazzan and composer. Born in Vienna, the son and grandson of ḥazzanim, Kornitzer served the communities of Klattau, Saaz, and Prague before being called to the Hamburg Tempelverein in 1913. His imaginative and skillful compositions, published in Romemot El (1928), are in the tradition of *Sulzer and *Lewandowski, but they also evince the influence of Emanuel *Kirschner's 19th-century German romantic style. Kornitzer was the editor of Der Juedische Kantor for ten years from its inception in 1927 and edited a collection of liturgical songs and instrumental compositions, Juedische Klaenge (1933). After his emigration to Ereẓ Israel in 1939 he continued to compose and was conductor of the choir at the Central Synagogue in Haifa.

bibliography:

Idelsohn, Music, 241, 510–11; A.M. Rothmueller, Music of the Jews (19672), 136–7.

[David M.L. Olivestone]