{"id":59182,"date":"2015-02-15T09:33:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-15T08:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/la-source-de-vie-au-temps-des-trouveres\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T10:01:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T09:01:42","slug":"la-source-de-vie-au-temps-des-trouveres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/en\/la-source-de-vie-au-temps-des-trouveres\/","title":{"rendered":"La source de vie : At the time of the minstrels"},"content":{"rendered":"

A TV program hosted by Josy Eisenberg<\/a>, directed by Pascale Kenigsberg-Cahen, with the participation of the Od Yossef Ha\u00ef Foundation. Featuring an excerpt of the concert “Jews and trouv\u00e8res” performed by the Ensemble Alla Francesca on July 20, 2014, in Paris. With<\/strong> Herv\u00e9 Roten, <\/strong>ethnomusicologist and director of the European Institute of Jewish Music.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In the Middle Ages, the minstrels songs were highly appreciated by the Jewish communities that were settled in the North of the Loire (Flandre, Picardie, Artois, Champagne \u2026). Thanks to Hebrew manuscripts, copied at the end of the 13th century, we discovered texts of liturgical poems and songs written alternatively in the O\u00efl language and in Hebrew. At that time, Jews did not how to write music. But the copyist sometimes wrote the title of the melody on which was sung the text in the margin of the manuscript. These titles come from the minstrel\u2019s repertoire, court poets who appeared at the end of the 12th century.<\/p>\n

From a collection of songs gathered by Colette Sirat, prominent specialist of medieval Hebrew manuscripts, it\u2019s an entire cultural world -festive, religious and popular \u2013 that we discover through surprisingly lively music. The songs from religious celebrations (Rosh Hashanah, Passover…) follow juicy wedding songs and their instrumental dances. The religious poetry (piyyutim) speak with emotion of the tragic fate of Jewish communities of this harsh period, situated between the burning of the Talmud (1242-1244) and the great expulsion of 1306.<\/p>\n

This TV show, discussed by musicologist Herv\u00e9 Roten, is based on a concert by the Ensemble Alla Francesca<\/a> (Brigitte Lesne, Lior Leibovici, Vivabiancaluna Biffi, Micha\u00ebl Gr\u00e9bil et Pierre Hamon), Organized by Judith Schlanger, on July 20th 2014, introducing the 10th congress of Jewish studies.<\/p>\n

Order the CD Juifs et Trouv\u00e8res<\/a>
Read the article on Medieval Jewish Music by Herv\u00e9 Roten and listen to the playlist<\/a>
Learn more on the TV show La Source de Vie<\/a><\/p>\n

Watch other videos of La source de vie<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n