Hochschule für Musik FRANZ LISZT Weimar
Fakultät III, Studienfach Musikwissenschaft S Soundscapes in Renaissance Granada
Dozentin: Prof. Dr. Christiane Wiesenfeldt
SoSe 2014
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Of Jewish influence and Spanish roots –
The role of the Sephardim in
Renaissance Granada
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Michelle Sun
Marienstraße 4
99423 Weimar
[email protected]
Matrikelnr. 11255
4. Fachsemester (B.A.)
Studentisches Symposium Granada am 21.06.2014
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Outline
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Outline ..........................................................................................................................2
Melting Pot Granada................................................................................................3
The Reconquista 1492 and it’s consequences ..........................................................4
Jewish influence and Spanish roots – a comparison of Jewish and Spanish
romances ...................................................................................................................5
Musical comparison: ............................................................................................7
Textual comparison: ............................................................................................8
Final ideas about the interdependent influence ........................................................9
Bibliography ...............................................................................................................10
Graphics :....................................................................................................................10
Erklärung ....................................................................................................................12
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Melting Pot Granada
The kingdom of Granada was the last Muslim emirate existing on the Spanish
peninsula and has been, until the so called Reconquista in 1492, a melting pot of
cultures for hundreds of years. Muslims, Jews and Christians lived there together in a
more or less peaceful community for centuries, what makes the region from the
cultural point of view very interesting. The different religious groups brought their
tradition and experience and created together a flourishing center of science and
culture. With a special focus on the Jewish culture in this multicultural community, I
want to give you an idea of these interdependent influences.
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Picture 1: Granada in the Renaissance Spain
This map of Spain in the middle age is to give a first impression of the
demographic situation in Granada in the Renaissance. At the end of the fifteenth
century, there lived about half a million people in the emirate. Alone due to the
geographical situation, the population was very different. Whereas in the mountain
regions in the North West especially Berbers settled down as farmers, most of the
population coming to the peninsula after the muslim taking over concentrated on the
capital cities as Granada, Almería and Málaga. These mountains are also a reason
why the emirate could stand so long against Christian Conquest, as they served as
natural border and protection.
The cities were the central point for cultural exchange, even though the
communities lived in separated districts. Talking about the situation of the tree
ethnical majorities, that are the Muslims, Christians and Jews, to each other, it must
be said that Muslims and Christians were much closer related to each other, whereas
the Jewish community was more aside. The Jews were mostly merchants or held
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important positions either in the Finances of the Kingdom or as consultant of the
Muslim Sultan or the Christian King. They were appreciated for their high education,
especially for their knowledge of other religions and languages, a reason for what
they were often positioned as diplomats especially in times of war as well.
The Jews also played an important role in the transmission of knowledge from
the oriental to the occidental word, as they translated important works for example
about medicine and astronomy from Arab to either Hebrew or Spanish1. These
translations later found their way into entire Europe. Very interesting proofs for the
mutual influence the ethnos had on the everyday way of life and especially the
culture also can be found in the literature, poesy and philosophy of the time: Arabic
or Spanish methods of texting often were mixed into the Hebrew language and
tradition and vice versa. So for example, you can find Hebrew texts written with
Arabic letters, or Spanish poems in a Hebrew rhyme and verse scheme.2
The Reconquista 1492 and it’s consequences
Even though there had always been periods of war between the religious
communities, this multicultural period in Granada definitively ended with the
takeover by the Spanish catholic kings Ferdinand II and Isabella I in the year 1492.
After ten years of Christian-Moorish wars the Muslim resistance finally fell, and the
entire Hispanic peninsula was under Christian regime. While the conditions of
capitulation for the Muslim population, that had already been discussed a year before
in 1491, had been advantageous3, the edict publicized in May 1492 considering the
Jewish population was a radical expulsion.
Within three months, all Jews living in the emirate had either to emigrate or to
convert. Who, after the first of august, would have been found living in Spain
without being baptized would have been executed immediately. No exact number is
known today, but academics assume that there must have been from 80 000 to 110
1
see Georg Bossong, Die Sepharden. Geschichte und Kultur der spanischen Juden, München 2008, p.
21f.
2
see Bossong, Die Sepharden, p.21f.
3
see Thomas Freller, Granada. Königreich zwischen Orient und Okzident, 2009 Ostfildern, p.138f.
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000 emigrating and about 600 000 converting Jews in these months4. Ironically,
Jewish Man had financed the catholic Kings until their last fight.
From this moment on, the community of Spanish Jews fragmented, and the
Sephardim “settled throughout the Mediterranean region. Their communities are
[today] geographically classified as Eastern (comprising Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria,
Yugoslavia, Egypt, and Israel) and Western (Algerian, Tangier, and Morocco).”5
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Picture 2: The Expulsion of Jews from Spain
Of course, this massive expulsion also had consequences for the population and the
economy in the Kingdom. From one day to another, the financial elite was missing
and there was no capital for expensive projects anymore. In the cities was a lack of
artisans and merchants, and there were nearly no highly educated, diplomatic
consultants that could speak a number of languages to be found. In addition, the
problem of the distrust in the so called Conversos, the Jews that had converted to
Christianity, and the inquisition coming along with this became an immense social
problem for the following centuries.6
Jewish influence and Spanish roots – a comparison of
Jewish and Spanish romances
Finally coming to the musical part, I’d like to compare two romances, one
Spanish version of the renaissance and a current one sung by Sephardic Jews in
4
see Bossong, Die Sepharden, p. 57f.
5
Judith Etzion and Susana Weich-Shahak, “The Spanish and the Sephardic Romances: Musical
Links”, in: Ethnomusicology, 32/2 (1988), p. 1–37, here: p. 1.
6
see Bossong, Die Sepharden, p. 53.
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Israel. This will perfectly show the interdependent relation and influence of these two
cultures. Without giving much theoretical information about the Spanish ballads,
better known as “romances”, it must be said that they were and are still “the most
characteristic genre of Spain’s national poetry[…]”7. The fascinating fact that these
romances of the middle age and renaissance have, over five centuries, survived in
oral tradition among Sephardic Jews has especially caught the interest of researches,
for these Sephardic romances are used as the key for reconstructing the Spanish
balladry, where many sources have been lost within the years.
The reason why these researches are a very current matter at the moment is, to a
certain degree, that the tradition of singing ballads among the Jews is being
reinforced because many Sephardim in exile come to live in Israel and therefore it is
a living culture.8
Since their expulsion from the Spanish Peninsula in the year 1492 the Sephardim
transmitted the language, culture and tradition of their Hispanic heritage only orally.
Due to the fact that they were spread all over Europe and over this, it is clear that,
with their assimilation to their new home, many influences also from these foreign
cultures found their way into the Sephardic way of live and tradition and transformed
it to a certain point. Therefor it is even more interesting that, when comparing
Spanish Renaissance romances and Sephardic ones, there are still some similar
points both in the musical and the textual aspect that cannot be incidentally.
As an example between many, the Spanish romance “Triste estava el rey David”,
a setting for voice and vihuela published by Alonso Mudarra in the year 1546, will be
compared to a Sephardic version that’s name is “Tristi stá el rey David”. It was
recorded in Israel from Turkish-Jewish immigrants.9 I adhere at this point to a
research by Judith Etzion and Susana Weich-Shahak.
First, I will talk about the melodic similarities and differences, before also the
textual layer will be shortly discussed.
7
Isreal J. Katz, “Toward a Musical Study of the Judeo-Spanish Romancreo”, in: Western Folklore,
21/2 (4/1962), p. 83–91, here: p. 83.
8
Katz, “Judeo-Spanish Romancero” (see note 6), p. 84.
9
see Etzion and Weich-Shahak, “The Spanish and the Sephardic Romances” (see note 5), p. 16.
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Musical comparison:
When hearing the two versions for the first time, they might not seem to have a
lot in common except for the very closely related text. Still, from the musical
perspective, there are some special similarities I want to point out, that are more
underlying but become obvious when looking more closely to the musical text.
Firstly, the sources were divided into musical phrases that are listed in the notes
as letters from A to E. Eye-catching is that the Spanish version consists of five parts,
whereas the Sephardic one has only four phrases. However, the fifth phrase only
repeats the last words of the particular stanza, that is in the first one “de Absalón”,
and in the second one “de corazón”. As this likely only tended to emphasize the
emotions, it can be neglected in this case of musical comparison. More interesting is
a look to the phrases one and four of each version, for they show much related parts.
Significant is the beginning, for it is very special for Spanish romances of this time to
begin on the same tone and then to encircle a certain pitch instead of beginning with
a rising fourth or fifth as was the tradition.10 This motion that is marked with an “x”
can be found also in the Sephardic version. Even though it starts with an upbeat and
is notated a tone lower, you can still find the noticeable encircling motion. Also very
remarkable is the fourth phrase. Not only that both sources share the same final note,
they also have exact the same descending motion in the same musical interval from
the highest tone to the mentioned common goal. It is here marked as “y”. Coming to
talk about the two lines left, they also share some common points, though in reverse
order of appearance. The second phrase of the Spanish version and the third part of
the Sephardic one have, quit like the period marked as “y”, the same descending
interval of a fourth (“r”). And the sign “z” shows again a similar melodic contour as
well as a common tone at the end of the phrase.
As a conclusion, it can be said that the Sephardic version is all in all a more
melodic and varnished one with more notes of smaller value. But nonetheless, even
though the versions naturally have differences, both sources show similar melodic
movements and melodic contours that can hardly be seen as coincidences.
10
see Etzion and Weich-Shahak, “Spanish and Sephardic Romances” (see note 3), p. 19.
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Picture 4: The Sephardic Version “Tristi stá el rey David”
Picture 3: The Spanish Version “Triste estava el rey David”
Textual comparison:
When it comes to comparing the textual level of both versions, the texts are
obviously very closely related to each other.
The thematic is David’s grief and
lament over Absalon’s death, what was, besides, “one of the most attractive textual
sources of the Renaissance polyphonic literature”11. Therefore “Triste estava el rey
David” is a biblical romance. The fact that there are only a few of this kind in
Spanish literature, but in return many in the Sephardic tradition leads me to the first
interesting point of comparison. That is, that the cultural connotation of the text and
hence of the romance differs, more clearly said that there is a change of meaning in
between the two cultures: “Whereas the Spanish romance is a rather objective
testimony of the event, the Sephardic version is an elaborate, highly emotional
narrative […]”12. Remembering the context when the romance came up in Spain, it is
highly probable that it was emotionally connoted to the Christian-Moorish wars,
where many Kings were defeated and died. On the contrary, in Jewish Sephardic
culture, this romance is one of the lamentations sung during the Hebrew month Ab to
commemorate the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem, and gained therefrom
historical and religious importance.
11
see Etzion and Weich-Shahak, “Spanish and Sephardic Romances” (see note 3), p. 16.
12
see Etzion and Weich-Shahak, “Spanish and Sephardic Romances” (see note 3), p. 16.
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Due to these different cultural associations, also the differences in the texts are
evidently visible: While the Spanish romance consists of a short text with two
stanzas, the Sephardic text is a much longer and more detailed version. Still, the texts
“point to a common source, since they share an identical […] rhyme scheme […]”13,
and also their beginning of the text is nearly identical.
Final ideas about the interdependent influence
Examples like this show that, of course, even with such a radical expulsion as has
been the one 1492, a century old community cannot suddenly be culturally split up.
The signs of influence remain visibly, impressively in these examples for a very long
period of time.
Especially when comparing the so called “Spanish” romance to a Sephardic one –
how can we know that the Spanish one is the original version that was traded and
transformed by the Sephardim over the Mediterranean Sea to Israel. Even more
plausible seems that the Spanish composer takes a tune of his own culture, that was
influenced by the Jewish, adapts it and then calls it Spanish. This is, for example,
how a melody of Sephardic origin becomes the cantus firmus of a Spanish romance,
even when it is written several years after the expulsion of the Jews from the
Hispanic peninsula. So what seemed under Jewish influence becomes culturally
Spanish, and the Sephardic romances show Spanish roots.
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13
see Etzion and Weich-Shahak, “Spanish and Sephardic Romances” (see note 3), p. 16.
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Bibliography
Bossong, Georg: Die Sepharden. Geschichte und Kultur der spanischen Juden,
München 2008.
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Clot, André: Das maurische Spanien. 800 Jahre islamische Hochkultur in Al
Andalus, Düsseldorf ²2004.
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Etzion, Judith and Weich-Shahak, Susana: „The Spanish and the Sephardic
romances: Musical Links“, in: Ethnomusicology 32/2 (1988), p. 1–37.
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Freller, Thomas: Granada. Königreich zwischen Orient und Okzident, Ostfildern
2009.
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Katz, Israel J.: “Toward a Musical Study of the Judeo-Spanish Romancero”, in:
Western Folklore 21/2 (1962), p. 83–91.
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Mudarra, Alonso: Tres libros de musica en cifras para vihuela (1546), Facsimile,
Great Yarmouth 1980.
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Graphics :
Picture 1: Granada in the Renaissance Spain ..............................................................3
from: Bossong, Georg: Die Sepharden. Geschichte und Kultur der spanischen Juden,
München 2008.
Picture 2: The Expulsion of Jews from Spain .............................................................5
from: http://usslave.blogspot.de/2013/01/1492-expulsion-of-sephardic-jewsfrom.html
Picture 3: The Spanish Version “Triste estava el rey David” ......................................7
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from: Etzion, Judith and Weich-Shahak, Susana: „The Spanish and the Sephardic
romances: Musical Links“, in: Ethnomusicology 32/2 (1988), p. 1–37.
Picture 4: The Sephardic Version “Tristi stá el rey David” .........................................7
from: Etzion, Judith and Weich-Shahak, Susana: „The Spanish and the Sephardic
romances: Musical Links“, in: Ethnomusicology 32/2 (1988), p. 1–37.
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Erklärung
Ich erkläre, dass ich die vorliegende Arbeit selbstständig und nur unter
Verwendung der angegebenen Hilfsmittel und Literatur angefertigt habe.
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Weimar, den 28. 06. 2014
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Michelle Sun
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