As Samantha Cooper studied the handwriting on an old opera program, she stopped at one note that referred to the stage: “RSMBLD A SYNGOG.”
Yes, about 90 years ago, New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House stage “resembled a synagogue,” apparently. The note was from a likely Jewish man who went to the Met and tried to understand what he was seeing by comparing it to a familiar experience – going to synagogue.
“It opened up this window into what this experience of going to the opera was like for this presumably Jewish guy in 1934,” said Cooper, who has passion for both music history and Jewish studies. The moment was magic.
She stumbled across the program in New York City’s Metropolitan Opera archives as part of an assignment for her doctoral program at New York University.
Now, she wishes to bring that experience of investigation and adventure to students at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Cooper is coming to University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship with the Sam and Helen Stahl Center for Jewish Studies. Her research associate position entails teaching a class in the fall and spring, each of her own design, and conducting research, all of which will combine her two main passions: Judaism and music.
In the fall, Cooper will offer a lower-level undergraduate course “about immigration history and music in Wisconsin.” Her current plan is to then offer a “music and antisemitism course” for the spring semester.
This is the first time the Stahl Center has hired a postdoctoral fellow, according to the Stahl Center’s director, Professor Joel Berkowitz.
Cooper’s position was made possible by a grant from Bader Philanthropies, with additional support from other donors.
“She is superbly equipped to help us build upon the Stahl Center’s outstanding track record of public programming and relationship-building across campus and into the wider Milwaukee community,” Berkowitz said.
Cooper has spent time at Harvard University and University of Pennsylvania as part of each university’s rotating fellowship program that had themes dealing with Jewish studies and music. Her new position at UWM differs because it offers teaching responsibilities. Cooper has taught similar courses before at City College of New York.
“I think teaching is one of the most exciting parts of working in a university setting,” Cooper said. “I’m looking forward to being surprised by my students, meeting people who are coming from all walks of life into the classroom.”
Cooper has been invested in the connection between the Jewish community and music since her education started.
Back in her hometown of Thornhill, Ontario, Cooper grew up attending Jewish schools and studying privately with voice teachers outside of school.
While she considered becoming a cantor, she ultimately decided on a more academic track, saying she enjoys “the feeling of being able to unearth stories that haven’t been told.”
She graduated with honors from Wilfrid Laurier University with a major in music history. From there, she went on to New York University where she earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in historical musicology.
Cooper is currently working on a book project under contract with Oxford University Press called “American Jews and the Making of the New York Opera Industry, 1880-1940.” It will focus on the American-Jewish relationship with the New York opera scene between when the Metropolitan Opera was founded and when it was sold to the public.
Her archival discoveries largely inspired the book project.
Cooper noted that a great deal of fiction from earlier decades “imagined Jews spectacularly failing at opera-going by asking too many questions, behaving inappropriately, and even comparing their [opera] experiences to Jewish immigrant spaces like the Yiddish theater and the baseball stadium.”
The old opera program, including the note, “RSMBLD A SYNGOG,” added to that history, Cooper said.
“I’ve been to so many archives since then,” she said. “I’ve had very few experiences quite like that.”
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Cooper’s podcast
What does Jewish identity sound like? The Sounding Jewish Podcast features host Samantha M. Cooper in conversation with global musicologists and others.
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