The Hasidic Dance-Niggûn - A Study Collection and its Classificatory Analysis

In our article on Hasidic music we described the problem of the definition of the Hasidic niggûn (melody of the Hasidic patrimony proper) as follows: 

'By one definition, the field of hasidic music would include all music practiced in hasidic society. By another, and related, definition any music performed in 'hasidic style' is hasidic. A further possibility would be to define hasidic music by its content, i.e. by those musical elements and forms which distinguish this from any other music. So far, such distinctions have not been formulated according to the norms of musical scholarship. The Hasidim themselves also possess criteria formulated in their own traditional terms - according to which they judge whether a melody is 'hasidic' or not, and to which dynasty style and genre it belongs. These, too, have not yet been translated into ethnomusicological terms. Moreover, none of the extant studies of hasidic music have as yet managed to furnish a systematic description of the hasidic repertoire or even part of it.' The present study is a first step towards the remedy of this lack.