Nonantum Bulgar Cb3 Sc/pts

“I wrote The Nonantum Bulgar in response to a request for a klezmer-style piece for middle school band. Since my local middle school (F. A. Day) is located in close proximity to Nonantum, the oldest area of Newton, MA, I decided to imagine the dedication of the Adams St. Shul, our city's oldest synagogue, which took place around a hundred years ago (December 15, 1912). According to the Yiddish and English poster announcingthe dedication, the event featured the a prominent Boston cantor and ch oir and a klezmer orchestra leading a 'Grand March' down Adams St. The piece tries to re-create what the klezmer band might have played on that occasion.

A Bulgar is a Romanian Jewish Dance that was very popular among Jewish immigrants at the beginning of the twentieth century. The trumpet solo that opens the piece is a typical rubato prelude, with the trumpet playing 'cantorial-style' Jewish ornaments, and phrasing in the manner of Eastern-European Jewish prayer leaders. Once the dan