Baal Shem: Three Pictures of Chassidic Life, B. 47

• Baal Shem: Three Pictures of Chassidic Life B.47 is a three-movement work for violin and piano. Bloch composed the work in 1923, and orchestrated it in 1939.¹
• Bloch dedicated this piece to the memory of his mother,² Sophie, who had died two years before Bloch composed the work.³
• Baal Shem is named after the Polish rabbi who founded modern Chassidic Judaism: Israel ben Eliezer of Miedziboz, (c1698–c1759), who is known by the title Israel Baʿal Shem Ṭov (Master of a Good Name).⁴
• The work premiered at Temple B’nai Jeshurun in Cleveland on February 6, 1924. The soloist was Swiss violinist André de Ribaupierre.⁵

Movements

1. Vidui (Repentence)
2. Nigun (Yiddish for “Tune;” usually connoting a melody meant to inspire spiritual reflection)
3. Simchas Torah (Rejoicing in the Law) ⁶

1.  David Z. Kushner, “Bloch, Ernest,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed February 17, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000003287.
2.  “Baal Shem, B.47,” IMSLP, accessed February 17, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Baal_Shem,_B.47_(Bloch,_Ernest). 
3.  Alexander Knapp, “Baal Shem Suite,” Hyperion (2007), https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W9569_67571. 
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.