Baer, Abraham
BAER, ABRAHAM
BAER, ABRAHAM (1834–1894), cantor. Baer was born in Wielen (Filehne), Poznan (Poland). He was a teacher and ḥazzan in various towns in western Prussia and in Posen, before becoming assistant cantor in Goteborg, Sweden, in 1857 and chief cantor in 1860. Collaborating with the organist of the synagogue, Joseph Czapek, he published a two-volume collection of hymns (principally those of *Sulzer) for choir, with organ accompaniment, Musik till sångerna vid Gudstjensten (2 vols., 1872). Five years later came his great work Baal T'fillah, a collection of melodies and recitatives according to the Polish, German, and Sephardi rituals, which became the basic manual for European cantors. The fruit of 15 years' work, it contains about 1,500 melodies which cover the liturgy of the year. Among them are several melodies of Sulzer, *Naumburg, and *Lewandowski, and some of his own. The collection went through five editions between 1877 and 1930.
bibliography:
A. Baer, Baal T'fillah oder der praktische Vorbeter (18832), xiii–xxviii; J. Schoenberg, Die traditionellen Gesaenge des israelitischen Gottesdienstes in Deutschland (1926); Sendrey, Music, indexes.
[Haim Bar-Dayan]