David Aaron De Sola was descended from a distinguished family of Sephardim, who emigrated from Spain in 1492 and the family have settled mainly in Holland.
At just eleven years of age, David Aaron de Sola entered as a student to the bet ha-midrash in Amsterdam, studying diligently, and after a course of nine years received his rabbinical diploma from Haham d'Azevdo of Amsterdam. In 1818, D.A. de Sola was called to London to become one of the ministers of the Bevis Marks Congregation under Haham Raphael Meldola (who would also later become his father-in-law). He wrote several books and essays.
D.A. de Sola had a lifelong passion for music. In 1857, he published The Ancient Melodies of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, including a historical account of the poets, poetry, and melodies of the Sephardic liturgy. In the notation of the melodies he was assisted by Emanuel Aguilar, the composer.
Additionally, de Sola composed a melody for Adon Olam that is still used in both Sephardi and Ashkenazi synagogues in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
Biographies:
see Jewish Encyclopedia website.
'David de Aaron de Sola' in Wikipedia.
Other Resources:
BARNETT, RICHARD D. “Haham Meldola and Hazan de Sola.” Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England) 21 (1962): 1–38.
De Sola Abraham. Biography of David Aaron de Sola : late senior minister of the Portuguese Jewish community in London. Philadelphia: W.H. Jones, Printers. (1864). Can accessed online via Internet Archive.
