"The Six Days & Seven Gates"

In 1982, 1982during the Israel festival, Matti Caspi composed a piece called"The Six Days & Seven Gates"to lyrics by Itzhak Navon..

The piece was played during the Israel festival by the Israeli chamber orchestra conducted by Caspi. The narrator was Yossi Bannai..

Itzhak Navon tells:

“When I was president of Israel I was offered, during the Israel festival, to choose one narrator and one composer to perform a piece I wrote called “The Six Days and Seven Gates”. I chose Yossi Bannai (RIP) to narrate it and Matti Caspi to compose it. The combination was exciting and unforgettable”.

The text, a legend describing the battle to free Jerusalem and the debate at court about what’s happening in Jerusalem and its gates, and the story of the war between Jerusalem’s different gates over the right to be the gate through which the paratroopers enter the ancient city, was published as a storybook and was very popular in schools and was also translated into German and English.

The show’s recording wasn’t saved, but luckily the original sheet music in Matti Caspi’s handwriting.

The instrumental piece"The Gate of Mercy"from Caspi’s albumOne to Oneis a part of that score.