A Life in Music

The life of Ben Zion Shenker (1925–2016) offers a window onto an important period of Jewish history. His music was shaped by the momentous events through which he lived and created many of the networks through which it was disseminated. For nearly a century after World War I, Shenker lived in Brooklyn and watched the Hasidic population transform into the vibrant community it is today. The role of the nigun in this community is illuminated by focusing on the work of one of its most respected creators and performers. This monograph, which serves as a companion to the first published edition of the complete collection of nigunim that Shenker composed, presents Shenker’s biography and seeks to understand it in its historical, social, and musical contexts.