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David Ricardo

RICARDO, DAVID (1904–1982), scholar of the liturgical music of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews. Born in Amsterdam, Ricardo acquired his knowledge and love of this music from his grandfather Elyakim Alvarez Vega, who was ḥazzan of the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam from 1885 to 1923. He was also the conductor of the Sephardi children's choir Santo Servicio, which performed at religious services there. Ricardo settled in Ereẓ Israel in 1933 and although a mechanical engineer by calling, devoted himself from 1940 to recording the musical traditions of his community, collecting some 300 melodies. His recordings were donated to the National Sound Archives in the late 1950s and remain an important musical document for scholars. He published three booklets titled Ne'im Zemirot containing 170 notated traditional tunes from the Portuguese Jews Congregation (Amsterdam 1975) with an introduction by E. *Gerson-Kiwi; he dedicated the work to his late grandfather.


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.