The Cantorial Fantasia Revisited: New Perspectives on an Ashkenazic Musical Genre

Based on MS sources of Maier Levi of Esslingen, Germany (1813–1874), the article demonstrates: (1) The genre of the CF was not based exclusively on mi-sinai melodies and can be divided into different categories and gradations; (2) The close connection between the liturgical text performed as a CF and its liturgical function; (3) The music-text relationship of the CF was far more complex than that described earlier by Avenary; (4) The CF was the most highly-developed manifestation of the widespread use of the vocalise in the sung liturgy of the Western Ashkenazi synagogue in the Baroque and early modern period.