4 Ani Havatzelet Hasharon,

The sublime love poetry of The Song of songs was interpreted by the Zionists as one of the symbols of the renewal of biblical rural life in the old homeland of the Jews. It thus was only natural for Ben-Haim to choose this love monologue for his first setting of Hebrew poetry. The shift from his German style was extreme. The lush chromaticism and the regular meter are replaced by diatonic modal writing, echoing his admiration of Debussy, and by shifting irregular meters. A few mistakes in the placing of syllable-stress did occur, such as the accent on the second syllable of Hasharon, reflecting the typical German pronunciation of this word. Yet the flexible rhythmic patterns minimizes the importance of those mistakes. The harmony is enriched by the sonorities of parallel fifths and triads.

5 Hitragut, Calm, Sefardi Berceuse (1939),

   poem by Yehudah Karni

Ben-Haim's encounter with the Yemenite singer Bracha Zephira (1910-1990) in the beginning of 1939 had a far-reaching effect on his future composition. Zephira was a unique personality in the musical life of Israel. Her mother died while giving birth, and her father died when she was three years old. The little orphan was raised by good-natured poor foster families of different ethnic groups during the terrible years of World War 1, and she was later sent to a boarding school where her wonderful voice was discovered. She soon started to perform traditional ethnic songs of Jews of mid-eastern decent which she had recorded in her unusual memory. She was sent to a drama school in Berlin where she met her first husband, pianist Nahum Nardi who improvised the accompaniment to her songs. In 1939 they divorced, and Zephira made a crucial decision to acquaint the western-educated immigrant composers in Palestine with her fascinating repertory. Ben-Haim collaborated with Zephira for over 15 years as pianist and arranger of 35 of her songs. He especially identified with the traditional Judeo-Espanol songs in the Ladino dialect.

The traditional song Mama yo no tengo visto was turned by poet Yehuda Karni into a lullaby titled Hitragut (Relaxation). Ben-Haim prepared the arrangement for Zephira in June 1939. The moving melody moves in the Phrygian mode above Ben-Haim's discreet, gentle accompaniment. This soon became one of Ben-Haim's most popular songs, also in instrumental and choral arrangements.

Varda Kotler