https://youtu.be/o-FNeRQDzR4# Mizmor LeDavid - Psalm 29 "Continental" (Bolaffi) | LondonThis melody is one of three distinct settings for Psalm 29 (Mizmor LeDavid) preserved by the Spanish and Portuguese Sephardi community of London, chanted to accompany the procession of the Sefer from the Tebah to the Hechal on Shabbatot and Moʿadim.Referred to by members of the choir as the “Continental Mizmor", in the part books compiled by Jacob Hadida it bears the sweeping title “Mizmor LeDavid – Salonika, Gibraltar, Marseilles, Balkans, New York, Nice, Algiers” - reflecting its diffusion across numerous centres within the Sephardi world.Composed in the 1820s, the melody is attributed to Michele Bolaffi (1768–1842), a notably versatile musician who held such arrestingly diverse posts as musical director of both the Great Synagogue of Livorno and to the Duke of Cambridge, as well as maintaining a position as a church musician in France under Louis XVIII.The melody did not become part of the London community’s repertoire until the mid-twentieth century. When it did appear, it came in a form noticeably more sprightly and less weighty than the version previously adopted at Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. Curiously, it has never been part of the Amsterdam Portuguese tradition; nor for that matter, was it taken up by Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia.Variants of Bolaffi’s setting continue to be performed across Jewish communities worldwide, both Sephardi and Ashkenazi, most notably as part of the Kabbalat Shabbat service.Notes for nerdsThis composition has many micro-variants. Indeed, it may not be an exaggeration to say that there are no two communities where is is sung in exactly the same way.Among the extant variants of the piece, the Spanish and Portuguese tradition preserves a rendition closely aligned with the Bolaffi original, where each melodic segment cadences on the mediant (third degree) of the scale. This stands in contrast to the version commonly heard in Ashkenazi communities, which resolves on the supertonic (second degree) - a subtle shift that quite strikingly changes the melodic flow and emotional tone of the piece.In some congregations, both endings can be heard sung at once, the discordant result of congregants having learned different versions over the years and stubbornly sticking to them.An even more curious development is evident in one commonly sung variant: the second part of the melody (known by musicians as the Part B) has disappeared entirely. Whether this is due to a conscious musical decision or the simple fact that no one remembered how it went is anyone’s guess.Hodesh Tob!