Glanz, Leib

Born in Kiev in 1898, his father and both grandfathers were well-known cantors from Hasidic families.

When Leibela was eight years old, he first tried himself as a singer in the synagogue. Soon he becomes known as a very gifted child and begins performing in European cities.

As a teenager, he assembled and directed a large choir in the Hasner’s Hasidic synagogue, the choir performed complex works by Boruch Shor, Solomon Zultser, Luis Lewandowski, Avram Berkovich Kolesnik, Joseph Goldstein, Nisn Beltser , David Novakovsky, Eliezer Mordechai.

Glanz studied piano with the famous pianist and composer Nikolai Tutkovsky, later graduated from the piano and composition department of the Kiev Conservatory in the class of Reingold Moritzovich Glier.

Also in those years, Leib Glanz went to congresses of the He Halutz movement and the World Zionist Congress . He also becomes the chief editor of the socialist Zionist newspaper Ard Un Arbeit.

He received his first independent post in Chisinau (1920-1926).

In July 1926, due to the political situation and social work, he left for Eastern Europe. Going to repatriate to Eretz Yisrael, he writes in the USA his famous compositions Shema Yisrael and Tal.

In the United States, he is invited to the post of chief cantor of the Ohev Shalom synagogue in New York. In the United States, he continues to study under the guidance of Professor Aspinol, a vocal teacher with singers such as Enrico Caruso and Benjamino Gigli.

In 1929, he recorded a series of religious songs on RCA, such as Shema Yisrael, Tefilat Tal, Shomer Yisrael, Kol Adoshem, Lechu Neranena, Birkat Kohanim, Ki Ke? Shimcha, Ki Hineh Ka? Chomer and Ein Ke? Erkecha. He has toured the United States, Canada, Mexico, South America, Western and Eastern Europe, South Africa and Palestine.

In 1936, he married Miriam Lipton. They had two sons - Kalman and Ezra.

In 1941, the Glanz family moved to Los Angeles, where Leib Glanz serves as the main cantor in the Sinai Temple synagogue, and then in the Sha'arei Te'filah synagogue.

In 1948, he made a presentation at the First Annual Conference of the Assembly of Cantors of America with a report on Nushot.

He articulated his theory in a famous lecture to delegates to the Fifth Congress of the Assembly of Cantors of America in 1952, which became a prologue to serious discussion, as his ideas examined new ways of analyzing ancient noushots.

Leib Glanz was a major scholar in the study of the origin of Jewish music. In his studies, he studied the continuity of Jewish music from its inception in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Glanz remained an active participant in the Zionist movement, was a delegate to the eleven World Zinist Congresses since 1921, including twice representing the State of Israel.

Since 1954, Leib Glanz has lived in Israel. An important period of creativity was work in the synagogue Tif'eret Zvi in ​​Tel Aviv. It was during this period that many large works of the author were written. The religious service Midnight Selichot, written by the composer, was recognized as one of the greatest works in the field of cantor art and was recorded on Kol-Israel radio from the Tif'eret Zvi synagogue hall.

In total, Leib Glanz is a composer of 215 works of religious music, Hasidic music and music of other genres.

In addition, he is the leading tenor in the operas Alan Hovanessa “Shepherd of Israel”, Jacques Galevi “Judea”, and Joseph Tal “Saul in Ein Dor”.

In 1959 he founded the Institute of Jewish Liturgical Music in Tel Aviv and a conservatory with a level of academic training - the Academy of Cantors (Ha? Akademia Le? Chazanut).

Leib Glanz is one of the founders of AKUM, the Israeli Institute of Music, and the League of Israeli Composers. Ch. editorial board of Bat-Kol magazine. He was a member of the jury of the prestigious Engel Prize.

Later, the Institute of Jewish liturgical music in Tel Aviv published the works of L. Glanz, in collaboration with the Israeli Institute of Music seven books with the works of the author were published.

In 2008, his son, Jerry (Ezra) Glanz, published a book in English, “Life Glanz: The Man Who Talked to Gd.” The book consists of CDs, which includes a number of his most important works.