Non-Jewish Contributors to Jewish Music

The Israeli Musicians was influenced by many musicians around the World.

A number of non-Jewish composers have adapted traditional Jewish music to their new compositions. Some examples are:

Maurice Ravel wrote Kaddisch for violin and piano, based on a traditional Jewish liturgical melody.

Max Bruch was a German Protestant, though he is often mistakenly identified as a Jew, because of his famous arrangement, Kol Nidrei, of the Jewish Yom Kippur prayer Kol Nidrei for cello and orchestra. Bruch also wrote a cycle of Hebrew songs for choir and orchestra, called Hebraeische Gesaenge.

Sergei Prokofiev wrote Overture on Hebrew Themes, an arrangement of traditional Jewish folksongs for piano quintet and clarinet.

Dmitri Shostakovich was profoundly influenced by Jewish folk music, and incorporated Jewish music in many of his compositions. Most notable are the song cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry, the second piano trio, and the 13th symphony titled Babi Yar.

Many critics who identify Jewish elements in Beethoven's C# minor string quartet, opus 131; however, there is no evidence that Beethoven was actually influenced by Jewish music when composing this quartet.