Forward.com

Book Challenges Old Myths and Uncovers New Surprises About Famed QuartetOlivier Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time,” which premiered in Stalag VIIIA on the Polish-German border in sub-zero weather in January 1940, has become one of the most acclaimed and performed works of the 20th century. In May alone, there are two major performances scheduled in New York: one by Mitsuko Uchida & Friends at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall on May 17, and another at Town Hall on May 5 by Peter Serkin, who for this concert has reconstituted the quartet he founded nearly 40 years ago specifically to play this music.
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A Daring DeclarationAs late as three weeks before Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, no draft of an Israeli Declaration of Independence had yet been written. Cobbled together by legal draftsmen, attorneys and politicians, the final version reflected the influence of multiple authors and texts, including a draft of an Israeli constitution (written in January 1948), the American Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. Having taken under 12 minutes to read, the document contains an essential history of the Jewish people, recounting, among other things, the Jewish longing to return to Eretz Yisrael, the emergence of Zionism and the movement’s international legitimation by the League of Nations and the United Nations. The declaration defined the rights of its citizens, looked ahead toward future Jewish immigration from the Diaspora and extended an olive branch to belligerent Arab neighbors.
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David’s the Singer, He’s the RapperOded Turgeman, director of the new short film “Song of David,” doesn’t do things the easy way.
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