Kaddisch: Violin Solo with Piano

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) originally wrote Deux Mélodies Hébraïques (Two Hebrew Songs) for voice and piano for soprano Alvina Alvi, who premiered the two songs in June of 1914. While both songs include French text, the first and more popular song, Kaddisch (Holy), is also in Aramaic, while the second song, L'énigme éternelle (The Eternal Riddle), is in Yiddish. Ravel orchestrated both for voice and orchestra in 1920, and many other transcriptions, particularly of Kaddisch, have followed over the years. This transcription by the French composer and arranger Lucien Garban put Kaddisch into the violin repertoire, where it finds regular performance.