Louis Lewandowski

Louis Lewandowski (April 3, 1821 – February 4, 1894) was a Polish-Jewish and German-Jewish composer of synagogal music. He contributed greatly to the liturgy of the synagogue service. His most famous works were composed during his tenure as musical director at the New Synagogue in Berlin and his melodies form a substantial part of synagogue services around the world today. Life Lewandowski was born in, what was then, Wreschen, Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia. At the age of twelve he went to Berlin to study piano and voice, and became solo soprano in the synagogue. Afterward he studied for three years under A. B. Marx and attended the school of composition of the Prussian Academy of Arts. There his teachers were Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen and Eduard Grell. Lewandowski was the first Jew to be admitted to the school at the request of Felix Mendelssohn. After graduating with high honors, he was appointed in 1840, choirmaster of the Berlin synagogue. In that capacity he developed an extensive body of music for the synagogue ritual. In 1866 he received the title of “royal musical director.” Shortly afterward, he was appointed choirmaster in the New Synagogue, for which he composed the enti