Herman Berlinski, 91; Prolific Composer of Jewish Choral Works

Herman Berlinski, 91, a composer of Jewish liturgical choral works and oratorios, died Thursday at a hospital in Washington, D.C., after suffering a heart attack and stroke.

Berlinski’s considerable output included symphonic and chamber works, concertos, song cycles, a sonata for violin and piano titled “Le Violon de Chagall,” and a work for two singers, a narrator and instruments called “The Glass Bead Game,” based on the Herman Hesse novel of the same name.

The composer was born in Leipzig, Germany, and his early work included dozens of anti-Hitler songs composed for a German literary cabaret.

After Hitler came to power in 1933, Berlinski moved to Paris and composed music for the Yiddish theater and the ballet.

After serving briefly in the French army, Berlinski moved to New York in 1941. A piano studies graduate of the Leipzig Conservatory of Music, Berlinski earned a master’s degree in music at Columbia University and a doctorate in composition at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

He served as musical director of the Washington Hebrew Congregation from the early 1960s until his retirement in 1977.