About

The poem Dayeinu is the central song of gratitude from the Passover Seder celebration, giving thanks for every stage of the ancient Hebrews’ journey from slavery to freedom. Cohen has created a joyous dance in his setting of the text, the music building in exuberance throughout the piece. The rhythmic challenges—such as shifts between 4/4 and 7/8 in the refrain—are readily worked out as they are so much fun to sing. Dayeinu! is an ideal choice for concerts celebrating spring and the spring holidays.

My setting of Dayeinu!, an exuberant dance, is from the Passover cantata V’higad’ta L’vincha (“And you shall tell your child”), composed in 1996 for the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, founder and director.

Dayeinu! means “it would have been enough for us!” The poem thanks God for every part of the journey from slavery to freedom, each time saying, ”if you had done only this for us, it would have been enough—but look at how much we have to be grateful for!” Dayeinu! is from the larger Passover cantata V’higad’ta L’vincha (“And you shall tell your child”) One of the most significant themes of the Haggadah, emphasized in Cohen’s choices of text for the piece, is that we all must experience the story of the deliverance from slavery as if we ourselves had lived through it; we must then tell our children that story so as to pass it down, vividly, from one generation to the next.

V’higad’ta L’vincha was commissioned by the Chorus as part of the “Commissioning Music/USA” program of Meet The Composer and the National Endowment for the Arts, with support from the Helen F. Whitaker Fund. A recording of the original version for treble chorus with the Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, conductor, appears on the album Generations: Music of Gerald Cohen (New World Records NWCRI 879).

Note: Dayeinu, and the entire V’higad’ta L’vincha, are available in versions both for treble chorus and for SATB chorus.  Either version can be performed either in a full score version with clarinet, cello and piano; or in the piano reduction. 

Score

Text

Kama maalot tovot lamakom aleinu!
Ilu hotsianu mimitsrayim, Dayeinu!
Ilu kara lanu et hayam, Dayeinu!
Ilu sipeik tsorkeinu bamidbar arbayim shana, Dayeinu!
Ilu keirvanu lifnei har sinai, Dayeinu! 
Ilu natan lanu et hatorah, Dayeinu!
Ilu hichnu l’erets yisraeil, Dayeinu!

How many acts of kindness God has performed for us!
If God had brought us out of Egypt, Dayeinu!  (it would have been enough for us!)
If God had split the sea for us, Dayeinu!  
If God had sustained us in the wilderness for forty years, Dayeinu!  
If God had brought us before Mount Sinai, Dayeinu!  
If God had given us the Torah, Dayeinu!  
If God had led us to the land of Israel, Dayeinu!  

Arrangements

Dayeinu, and the entire V’higad’ta L’vincha, are available in versions both for treble chorus and for SATB chorus.  Either version can be performed either in a full score version with clarinet, cello and piano; or in the piano reduction. 

Dayeinu is also the final movement of the instrumental piece Sea of Reeds, in its several arrangements.

Listen/Watch

Performances

Selected:

Premiere: April 1997  – Syracuse Children’s Chorus, Barbara Tagg, cond.; Syracuse, NY
May 1998 – Juilliard Pre-College Chorus, Rebecca Scott, cond.; New York, NY (SSA version)
April 2006 – Princeton Pro Musica, Frances Slade, cond., Lawrenceville, NJ (SATB version)
April 2010 – Choirs of Jewish Theological Seminary and Hebrew Union College, Joyce Rosenzweig, cond. (SATB version)
May 2010 – Concerto Della Donna, Iwan Edwards, cond.; Montreal, Québec (SSA version)
April 2016 – HaZamir, the International Jewish High School Choir, Joel Caplan, cond., New York, NY (SATB version, “Dayeinu” movement) See video of this performance at Carnegie Hall

Press