Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) originally wrote Deux Mélodies Hébraïques ( Two Hebrew Songs ) for voice and piano for soprano Alvina Alvi, who premiered the two songs in June of 1914. While both songs include French text, the first and more popular song, Kaddisch ( Holy ), is also in Aramaic, while the second song, L'énigme éternelle ( The Eternal Riddle ), is in Yiddish. Ravel orchestrated both for voice and orchestra in 1920, and many other transcriptions, particularly of Kaddisch , have followed over the years. This transcription by the French composer and arranger Lucien Garban put Kaddisch into the violin repertoire, where it finds regular performance.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) originally wrote Deux Mélodies Hébraïques ( Two Hebrew Songs ) for voice and piano for soprano Alvina Alvi, who premiered the two songs in June of 1914. While both songs include French text, the first and more popular song, Kaddisch ( Holy ), is also in Aramaic, while the second song, L'énigme éternelle ( The Eternal Riddle ), is in Yiddish. Ravel orchestrated both for voice and orchestra in 1920, and many other transcriptions, particularly of Kaddisch , have followed over the years. This transcription by the French composer and arranger Lucien Garban put Kaddisch into the violin repertoire, where it finds regular performance.