Music for Ruth

It was Passover dinner, probably in 1980 or 1981. My little brother Danny was about 17, both of us just a tad too big to be fighting over the Afikomen.

In those days, I sang in the VBS choir. As altos, we always sang the harmony line, and listened to the beautiful soaring voices of the sopranos carrying the melody. Since I couldn't make my voice higher, I decided to try to bring Mohammed to the mountain.

I stole the Afikomen before it was hidden (Dad giggling the whole time), and when Danny realized it was gone, he got really annoyed. He immediately started trying to coerce me into sharing my prize with him. So I told him if Dad would give me what I wanted to redeem the matza, I'd happily share the prize with him.

Dad listened to all of this bargaining very suspiciously and then asked me what I wanted. I said, "In the next piece of music you write, I want the altos to get to sing the melody." Danny's face fell like he'd lost the lottery by one number. Dad laughed out loud and agreed. Which is how it came to be that one of the pieces in "Ruth" has an alto melody line.

Dori Aloni Meshi  more