'SARA LEVY'S WORLD' Event Set for Center for Jewish History, 5/19

Step into the world of Sara Levy (1761-1854), a Jewish salonnière, patron, and performing musician who shaped the cultural ideals of her time. Levy, the great aunt of Felix Mendelssohn, was well connected with members of the Bach family, and was instrumental in perpetuating the legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach in the years leading up to the revival of his music.

This event will feature performances on period instruments of music that Sara Levy owned and played, combined with expert discussion about Enlightenment Berlin.

Tuesday, May 19
7:00pm
Sara Levy's World: Music, Gender and Judaism in Enlightenment Berlin
Presented by the American Society for Jewish Music's Jewish Music Forum and the Leo Baeck Institute in conjunction with the School of Arts and Sciences and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University

Music | Discussion

A group of elite, cosmopolitan Jewish women played a central role in shaping the dynamic cultural world of late-18th-century Berlin. Sara Levy, an influential salon hostess and performing musician, interacted with important composers and intellectuals of her day. Nancy Sinkoff (Rutgers) and Christoph Wolff (Harvard) comment on Levy's life and times as Rebecca Cypess (Rutgers) and talented collaborators perform a selection of related works.

Tickets: $15 general; $10 ASJM/LBI members, seniors, students. For more information, visit www.cjh.org/event/2619.

Image Credit: Anton Graff, portrait of one of the Itzig daughters (probably Sara). In Peter Wollny, "Ein förmlicher Sebastian und Philipp Emanuel Bach-Kultus": Sara Levy und ihr musikalisches Wirken (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2010), 115. Reproduced from Otto Waser, Anton Graff von Winterthur. Bildnisse des Meisters (Leipzig, 1903).