BRAUN, YEHEZKIEL

BRAUN, YEHEZKIEL (1922– ), Israeli composer. Braun was born in Germany but was brought to Eretz Israel at the age of two. He studied composition with A.U. Boscovitch\>\> at the Academy of Music, Tel Aviv, where he was appointed as a teacher in 1966. Braun also studied Gregorian chant with Dom Jean Claire at Solesmes (1975) and served as a jury member for prizes in Gregorian chant at the Conservatoire National Superieur, Paris (1990, 1996, 1997); he published a study on a Hebrew Sephardi cantillation: Iyyunim ba-Melos ha-Sephardi-Yerushalmi (Pe'amim 19). Braun is best known for his vocal compositions, which are frequently performed. He has shown originality of invention in a number of works of striking value. In his early works he adopted the ideology of a national Israeli music, merging folk dance patterns with cantilation motifs and modal chromaticism. His compositions include Three Movements for Solo Flute (1955); Concerto for Flute and Strings (1957); Psalm for Strings, Sonata for Piano (1957); Pedals on Vacation for Harp (1964); Apartment to Let (1968), for narrator and orchestra; Seven Sephardic Romances, for voices and piano (1968); Serenade for Chamber Orchestra (1971), commissioned by the Tel Aviv Foundation for Literature and Art; Cantici Canticorum Caput III for Solo and Choir a capella, commissioned by the Tel Aviv Foundation for the 1973 Zimriyyah. His subsequent major works include Itturim li-Megillat Ruth ("Illuminations to the Book of Ruth," 1983); Piano Trio No. 1 (1988), Kinnoro shel David, cantata (1990); Mi-Shirei Itzik (I. Manger, Y. Orland), for two sopranos, alt, and piano (1997); Fantasia Lirica for guitar and orchestra (1998); Hexagon, divertimento for string sextet (1998). He was awarded the Israel Prize in 2003. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Grove online; MGG2. (Uri (Erich) Toeplitz / Gila Flam and Israela Stein (2nd ed.)