Music

The world of music, particular in the last hundred years and particularly in America, has been enriched by Jewish composers and performers in nearly every genre, from classical to jazz to folk to rock and roll, from concert hall music to music for stage and screen.
West Side Story Poster

Composers from Aaron Copland and Darius Milhaud to Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin have filled the concert repertoire and changed the course of operatic music. Irving Berlin’s God Bless America and White Christmas have redefined the popular American song and Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim the scope of musical theater. Bob Dylan has reshaped American folk music and The Beastie Boys have re-styled rock music.

Classical concert performance has been dominated by conductors like Pierre Monteux and Leonard Bernstein, pianists like Arthur Rubinstein and Vladimir Horowitz, violinists like Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman and opera singers like Richard Tucker and Beverly Sills.

The Museum will display the Gerald S. Snyder collection of memorabilia related to music. It includes signed original scores and artifacts, as well as autographed broad sheets of many Broadway musicals. As a visitor approaches one of these posters, the theme song of that musical will emanate from it.