Zimrath Yah, Liturgic Songs … Systematically Arranged for the Jewish Rite with Organ Accompaniment, Alois Kaiser, Moritz Goldstein, and Samuel Welsch, New York: 1873, 1875, 1877; Baltimore: 1886

4 Volumes (10 1/8 x 6 ¾ in.; 258 x 172 mm). Musical arrangements of liturgical songs, psalms and hymns, in Hebrew, English, and German with organ accompaniment. Vol. I: Sabbath; Vol. II: Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, Purim, Hanukkah and Thanksgiving; Vols. III & IV: New Year and Day of Atonement. A very few pages showing minor marginal soil or staining. Vol. III with colored title pages; upper board detached. Original quarter leather; spines defective and shedding, Worn.

Abraham Zebi Idelsohn, Jewish Music: Its Historical Development, pp. 323-24; Judah M. Cohen, “Zimrath Yah: Nineteenth Century Jewish Musical Reform as a Transatlantic Conversation,” Proceedings of the Sixteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies, 2013.

Although largely unknown today, Zimrath Yah, the four-volume compendium of Jewish liturgical music published between 1871 and 1886, is perhaps the most significant example of Jewish liturgical activity in 19th century America.  Edited and distributed chiefly by cantors Moritz Goldstein and Samuel Welsch of New York City and Alois Kaiser of Baltimore, Zimrath Yah constituted a major effort to forge a national synagogue-based musical repertoire in the early days of American Jewish institutionalization. Capturing the same spirit that led to the creation of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the compendium reflected a maturing central European Jewish population in America that attempted to stand alongside its more developed European siblings. Ultimately, Zimrath Yah proved to have been a transitional effort, eventually giving way to more unified paradigms in the decades to come.