Seu Shearim (Lift Up Your Heads, O Gates)

Born near Ansbach, Bavaria (now in Germany), Samuel Naumbourg was raised in a family connected to a long lineage of cantors. After receiving musical training in Munich, Naumbourg settled in Paris in 1843, establishing himself as an influential choirmaster among the city’s synagogue choirs. Over the course of his career, Naumbourg compiled and published synagogue music for a broad audience, drawing on both his southern German heritage and conventions of opera popular in France at the time to give his music wide appeal.