Abraham Binder

Abraham Wolf Binder (January 1895 – October 1966) was an American composer, conductor, educator, and a leading figure in the development of American Jewish liturgical music. Early life and education Binder was born on the Lower East Side of New York City into a family of cantorial background. His father was a baal tefillah who had learned synagogue music from his own father, a cantor in Galicia (Eastern Europe). At age four Binder began singing in his father's synagogue choir, and from age seven to fourteen he sang as an alto soloist in the professional choir of Cantor Abraham Frachtenberg. Frachtenberg's emphasis on choral discipline and composition strongly influenced Binder's later approach to synagogue music. At fourteen Binder became choir director of the Kamenitzer Schul in Manhattan under Cantor Abraham Singer.

Honors and death In 1960 Binder received the Frank L. Weil Award from the National Jewish Welfare Board for distinguished contribution to American Jewish culture.

Two Hassidic Moods (string quartet) Orchestral suites (various) Symphonic workshop compositions for the 92nd Street Y

Folk song arrangements and collections

Binder was an early American arranger of Palestinian Hebrew and Yiddish folk songs.

Arrangements of Palestinian Hebrew songs (1916–1920s) Zionist choral harmonizations for the Hadassah Choral Union Arrangements of Yiddish folk songs

Editorial and scholarly works

Chair, music committee, Third Edition of the Union Hymnal (Central Conference of American Rabbis) The Jewish Music Movement in America (lecture delivered 1952; published 1954; expanded edition 1975)