Nissan Spivak

Nissan Spivak (also known as Nissi Belzer, Nissan Belzer, Nissan Kishinev, Nissan Berdichever; born 1824 – died 1906) was one of the greatest composers, choir leaders, and innovators of Eastern European synagogue music. He is regarded as the foremost representative of the “old school” of chazzanut after Yeruchem Hakoton and is often described as the greatest musical genius produced by Eastern European synagogue song.

Names and Epithets​

Spivak was widely known by geographic names reflecting the cities in which he served:

• Nissan Belzer – from his tenure in Belz
• Nissan Kishinev – from his long service in Chișinău (1864–1877)
• Nissan Berdichever – from his years in Berditchev (from 1877 until near his death)

He is frequently called Nissi Belzer, the form by which he is most widely remembered.

Early Life​

Nissan Spivak was born in 1824 in a small village in Lithuania. As a boy he sang under Boruch Karliner, who became his first musical mentor. He later traveled south to Bessarabia, where he studied with Yeruchem Hakoton, whose niece he eventually married.

Through an accident in early adulthood, Spivak lost his singing voice or was left with a severely impaired one. Despite this, he became a chazzan by virtue of his extraordinary gifts as a composer, choir conductor, and musical organizer.

Cantorial Career​

Spivak held major cantorial positions in:

• Belz – his first major post
• Yelissavetgrad
• Chișinău (Kishinev) – 1864 to 1877
• Berditchev – from 1877 until near his death, as successor to his uncle Yeruchem (with whom he had been on bad terms)

He did not function as a daily synagogue cantor in the usual sense. As a city chazzan, he officiated primarily on special Sabbaths, festivals, and fast days. These occasions became religious concerts, attended by worshippers from many synagogues after they had completed their regular services.

Spivak also undertook concert tours throughout Eastern Europe, and was received everywhere with great honor for his choral performances and compositions.

He died in 1906 in Sadegora (Sadigura) while on a concert tour to the famous Hasidic rebbe of that town.

The Voiceless Chazzan​

Spivak belongs to a remarkable group of famous Eastern European cantors who were largely voiceless. In a culture that prized beautiful solo singing, this seems paradoxical. Yet the public willingly accepted such cantors because:

• Their choirs were superb
• Their compositions were rich, moving, and original

Because of his vocal impairment:

• He minimized solo singing
• He built powerful choirs with excellent voices
• The service became primarily a choral art form, with solo work distributed among choristers

A famous story recounts that after one of Spivak’s great performances before Rabbi Dovidl of Talno, the rebbe asked how much his choir cost. Spivak replied, “Fifteen hundred rubles a year.” The rebbe answered, “Nissi, you are too economical. Why don’t you spend a little more and hire a good chazzan as well?”

Musical Style​

Spivak created a new genre of synagogue music:

• Based primarily on choral writing
• With long cantorial-style solos divided among choristers
• Never written for solo alone or solo with choir accompaniment

His works are:

• Mostly choruses with extended solo passages
• Often very long, sometimes lasting half an hour or more
• Written for “concert services” rather than ordinary prayer services

Musical Characteristics​

• Strong melodic invention
• Rich variation of themes
• Influenced by military music and opera
• Rooted in traditional Jewish modal systems, especially Ahavah Rabbah
• Influenced by Ukrainian scales
• Stronger harmonic sense than Yeruchem Hakoton
• Use of canon, fughetta, bold modulations

Lacking formal musical training, Spivak struggled with large-scale form. He often:

• Repeated themes rondo-style
• Lavishly introduced new material without developing it economically
• Followed the text too closely for strict musical architecture

Yet his themes are considered among the most genuine and emotionally powerful in synagogue music, especially in Ahavah Rabbah mode, where his music was said to strike “the Jewish soul to its deepest core.”

Choir and School​

Spivak’s choir was considered a true “conservatory.” Many great cantors emerged from his school. His meshorer (choir singer) was no longer merely an assistant but became a central artistic force, often carrying the main musical burden of the service.

Among singers associated with his musical world were:

• Nachum Matenko (later cantor in Moscow)
• Elkana (later cantor in Brody)

This represented a major step in the evolution of synagogue music: the rise of the choir as the primary artistic voice of the service.

Rivalry with Yeruchem Hakoton​

A famous rivalry existed between Spivak and Yeruchem Hakoton of Berditchev. Both were world-renowned, deeply learned, and fierce champions of high artistic standards. Neither could be decisively placed above the other in the eyes of their contemporaries.

Writers later lamented that with the deaths of Yeruchem and especially Spivak, the old independent world of Jewish cantorial art—the “Jewish conservatory” of Eastern Europe—had effectively died.

Compositions and Legacy​

Spivak wrote:

• Massive four-part choral works
• Pieces with duets, fugues, variations
• Long concert-style liturgical compositions

Though often technically irregular, his works were praised for:

• Originality
• Emotional power
• Deep Jewish character

Most of his compositions remain in manuscript, scattered among Eastern European and American cantors. They remain an integral part of Orthodox synagogue repertoire.

He stands as the greatest musical genius of Eastern European synagogue song, firmly rooted in Jewish-Oriental tradition, gazing toward European art music without ever fully entering its formal system.

Nissan Spivak represents the summit of the old cantorial school: a composer of towering imagination, founder of a new choral style, and one of the last giants before the transformation of Jewish sacred music in the modern era.