Feature articles

Esther, a Purim oratorio by the composer Lidarti (1730- ap. 1793)

Rediscovered in 1997, the score of the oratorio Ester (1774) by the composer Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti is to this day the longest and richest work of all Hebrew art music …

The Judeo-Portuguese rites in France : Bordeaux, Bayonne, Paris

Engaged in a PhD research work, Hervé Roten studied during seven years the music of the Judeo-Portuguese communities from all sides. He collected precious information, and his thesis that was defended in 1997 gives us the core of it. This work was rewarded by the Zadoc-Kahn Association Award in 1998. …

Shabbat songs

The Shabbat, the day of rest, is a very important event of Jewish life. And the songs that rhythm this particular day hold a major place, at the synagogue as …

Thoughts about the sung Torah

Jean-Philippe Amar studies in the University of Paris IV Sorbonne and prepares a PhD on the cantilation of the Thora the Jewish communities of Paris. The reading of the Torah, …

The Selichot – סליחות

The Selichot are penitential prayers in which the worshipper implores forgiveness to God for the sins committed. This tradition is based on the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy which have been, …

The attitude of rabbis toward music

There are many testimonies concerning the attitude of rabbis toward music, scattered in the talmudic, midrashic and rabbinic literature.A careful attitude, and sometimes a radical opposition to any musical event, …

Jewish music in France

This article which is written after Hervé Roten's research presents the Jewish musical practices in France …

Chasidism and music

Chasidism, the mystic Jewish movement born in Eastern Europe in the middle of the 18th century, enabled the emergence of a lot of music aimed to transcend the impurities of this world …

Jerusalem of gold, a song by Naomi Shemer

Jerusalem of gold (in Hebrew : ירושלים של זהב – Yerushalayim shel zahav) is the name of a popular Israeli song written by Naomi Shemer in 1967. It was first …

Three Passover songs: Adir hu, Echad mi yodea and Chad gadya

Learn everything about the three songs that end the Passover seder : Adir hu, Echad mi yodea and Chad gadya

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Histoires de voix hébraïques

Following his first book, Voix hébraïques - Voyage dans la musique juive d'Occident, published in 2020, Hector Sabo offers in…

The songbooks of Jewish youth movements

The European Institute of Jewish Music has collected a number of songbooks from Jewish youth movements (EEIF, Histadrut, Youth and…

The Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) collection

In December 2023, the Library of the Alliance Israélite Universelle donated a number of musical documents (records, scores, books, archives,…

Piano Music by Jewish Composers

This collection of scores, compiled by Bella and Semjon Kalinowsky, includes little-known works by Louis Lewandowski, Joseph Sulzer, Salomon Jadassohn…