In coupling these two Hassidic tunes, nos. 7 and 8 – Lied ohne Worte and A Nigun on a Soff – in sequence, Stutchewsky seems to hint at two sides of the same musical coin in Hasidic thought. Cyclical return and the eternal nature of time and space collapse into each other. Incidentally, the melody of Nigun on a Soff was also the basis for a woodwind quintet by Solomon Rosowsky (1917).
This arrangement is the most dissonant and emotionally charged one in the album. In comparison to Schitomirsky’s arrangement (Kisselgoff, Schitomirsky and Lwow 1912, no. 59) – most likely, Stutschewsky’s source for the tune – there are differences in tonality, atmosphere, accompaniment approach, as well as a prominent melodic alteration in Stutschewsky’s version.[1] His version is far more somber and tense – klagend (lamenting) as indicated in the melody’s part. Transposing Schitomirsky’s F minor melody a fourth higher was probably due to instrumental considerations. Playing on a lower position on the instrument’s neck, yet on a higher string, feels more secure for the amateur player and at the same time allows for better resonance.
The tonality of this number is furthermore obscured by the dissonant chords of the piano. The progression consisting of clashing superposed sevenths chords in the very two opening bars announces a bold expressionistic harmonic language. The foreign notes and tense intervals can be interpreted as the challenge of harsh reality to devekut. While the constant descending quarter note movement in the piano’s accompaniment creates a heavy cyclical pattern – in opposition to the light upwards accompaniment in Schitomirsky’s arrangement– two moments of melody-doubling in eighth notes, in bars 8 and 15, stand out.
Most prominent is the abrupt silence in the melody in bar 10, at that point where the original tune reaches the cadence on the dominant note. This abruptness is further emphasized by a caesura sign in both the piano and the solo part as if briefly holding the breath before returning of the Nigun on a Soff. The repeated ending bar mirrors the opening repeated bar hinting to the possible return of the endless tune.
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[1] Schitomirsky’s melodic line in F minor tonality appears in J. Stutschewsky, ibid., p. 59.
