Aaron Beer

German Jewish cantor and composer

Aaron Beer

Personal
Born	(1739-02-10)10 February 1739 Poppenlauer, Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire
Died	3 January 1821(1821-01-03) (aged 82) Berlin, Prussia, German Confederation
Religion	Judaism

Aaron Beer Gabriel (Yiddish: אהרן בער גבריאל); (10 February 1739 – 3 January 1821), also known as the Bamberger Ḥazzan,^[1] was a German ḥazzan and composer, who served as chief cantor of the Jewish congregation of Berlin. He was known as a tenor of considerable vocal range.^[1]

Biography

Aaron Beer was born in Poppenlauer, Bavaria, in 1739. He became cantor in Paderborn at a young age, and in 1765 he came to Berlin. He succeeded Hartog Leo [de] as chief cantor of the Heidereutergasse Synagogue in 1786.

Beer composed himself, but also commissioned compositions, collecting over 1,200 pieces of music for use in the synagogue. He actively sought to discourage the congregation from singing along by constantly adding new melodies.^[2] His collection is now held at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, United States.^[1]

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; Sohn, Joseph (1902). "Beer, Aaron". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 630.

^ ^a ^b ^c Ne'eman, Joshua Leib (2007). "Beer, Aaron". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 250–251. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
^ "Aaron Beer: German cantor, composer and collector". Thesaurus of Jewish Music. Jewish Music Research Center. Retrieved August 16, 2023.