Brahms of Palestine

(Salvador Arnita)

He was sitting on the balcony of his house overlooking the sea on one side, and greater Beirut was on the other.  It was night time, and the full moon was twining up there.

This is not a romantic scene, it is a scene of a great composer who was retiring as chair of the Music department of the AUB, a Palestinian artist and musician who lived away from his beloved city: Jerusalem, and struggled so much to get the Palestinian classical music to become international. This was Salvador Arnita, which the Bethlehem Academy of Music condoned as the Brahms of Palestine. He was whispering so serenely and dejectedly: “I still have plenty of compositions that I could not realize them: No orchestra, no financial support and no state… “  

Born in 1914 in Jerusalem, he developed a skillful and talent to music, and started playing church organ at age of 11. He was encouraged strongly by the legendary Augustine Lama, and even taught him briefly. 

At 16, he was sent to Alexandria, Egypt, where he worked as church organist to St. Catherine Cathedral, and conducted its choir in 1931.  Three years later he was granted a scholarship to study music at the famous Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He studied composition with Professor Alfredo Casella and Organ with Professor Fernando Germani who was the Vatican organist as well. These three years were the supreme learning period of his life. One could say that he was born there as a genuine composer.

Between 1934 and 1949 he lived a transitory period of his life, in Jerusalem. During these years he followed diploma courses in orchestration techniques with Guild Hall College in London, under Sir Landen Roland. During these years he taught music, and was the music director of the YMCA in Jerusalem, He composed his early works during this period of his life. It was mostly orchestral pieces that include few choral works and chamber music.

It is very hard to see a young composer trying to adopt a philosophy of composition specially if he is coming from a society that barely knew or cherished classical music. Arnita stressed the fact that his life “was full of exciting and active events from growing up, movement from one place to another, witnessing a lot of social and political developments such that it is hardly possible to adopt a classicism as a philosophy of composition. Romanticism was much closer not only to his life, but also to his heart.

Tragedy struck in 1948, and he went in Diaspora like many of his people. One could say that the way Vienna was the Mecca of musicians during the 18 and 19 centuries, Beirut was the Mecca for not only musicians, but culturists, artists and thinkers of the Arab World specially Palestine. So in 1949 he settled in Beirut, joined the American University of Beirut and stayed there until he retried in 1980. During these 30 years he taught several young pianists, such as the famous Walid Ghareeb and others. He wrote most of hsi works here in Lebanon and also rewrote many of his earlier compositions.

During this periods too he toured many countries. He performed in over 100 concerts as solo musician, and conducted many orchestras in other concerts. Many of these orchestras are famous ones like the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Tanglewood and others. He also performed piano as soloist with teh BBC orchestra conducted by Sir Henry Wood, Rome Symphony orchestra conducted by Maestro Molinari and others among them the famous Promenade concerts in London.  He also joined the very famous conductor Charles Munche of the Boston Symphony in concerts. He performed many times in Harvard, MIT and other European universities and cities. He also obtained several prizes and honors including King Leopold’s of Belgium

Composer Arnita (left most) with Conductor Charles Munch (center) at Boston 

Among his compositions, there are three symphonies, four concertos (one for each of: piano, organ, flute and viola), two suites for orchestra. Two piano sonatas, 10 preludes, four preludes and fugues for organ, two string quartets, four sonatas for organ, A cantata for Baritone solo, choir and orchestra based in the famous poem of Mahmoud Darwish (Sajjil Ana Arabi) as a refugee cantata. In addition he composed with his wife, Yusra,  an album for children, called Shadi and Shadiyah.  It is important to note that his wife Yusra was a remarkable woman. Daughter oif the famous Arab musician and Oud virtuoso Wasef Jouhariyeh, she was a highly educated lady who believed in her husband and supported him. In addition she herself was a musician, taught music as well in the AUB, and wrote songs. She also was keen about Palestinian heritage and culture and wrote books about that. She was honored several times by Palestinian leader Arafat and Arab governments as well.

Salvador’s works were performed in many cities in the world in countries like Australia, the United States, Germany Poland, Austria, France and others.

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Perhaps pne of the well known of his works are the organ concerto, suites for the orchestra and a string quartet. His cantata that I have mentioned earlier earned a great admiration not because of the libretto being one of the most famous poems of the most famous poet of Palestine in modern times, or because it talks about the plight of the Palestinian refugees, but because its music is superbly dramatic in nature and one could hardly feel it as a recitative, but passionate arias where the choir and the orchestra try to follow breathlessly to the themes of the solo baritone leading.  This mastery is well exposed in one of his other works: a choral for organ and choir, strings and two soli, called (The Winter night was dark and still: A Christmas carol, op. 40).

Last May I was attending a conference in Beirut, when I dropped by the music department of the American University, where the late Arnita worked. As I was talking to the chair of the department about my interest in the works of Maestro Arnita, he was excited and said “I knew him….  I knew him….he was my great friend.”

You are our great friend Salvador.. and we will work to make may people, not only Palestinians, understand your vision for refined Music compositions in our tradition. God bless your memory Salvador!    

Saleem Zougbi

Bethlehem Academy of Music

2007