摘要：To open the celebrations in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary, six articles in this issue of Min-Ad are devoted to the theme of Nationalism. The issue also features articles in the fields of musicology, performance practice, music education, and music and cognition. It is with great pride and pleasure that we bring to public knowledge Jehoash Hirshberg's discovery of four hitherto unknown works by Paul Ben-Chaim, composed before the latter came to Palestine in 1933. We are also proud to publish the first comprehensive work-list of Lev Kogan's compositions, compiled by his student, Keren Ezrati, together with the composer, shortly before his death. Ronit Seter's article about Verdina Shlonsky (1905-90), "The First Lady of Israeli Music," vividly discusses the changing critical reception of Israel's proud, female composer. Originally a victim of the exclusive club of national composers, her "sins" were threefold: she was a woman; she was strongly attached to the European tradition and its contemporary composers; and she had no interest in Middle Eastern music. Seter traces Sholonsky's lifelong conflict, at one and the same time adhering to her European orientation, while expressing her burning love of Israel. After being expelled from the Third Reich's Europe, she settled in Israel, where her songs and other vocal works express both her European legacy and Zionist identity.
