[Corfu Pizmon book].
[ספר פזמונים כמנהג קורפו].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Contributor:

Rare Judaica Acquisitions Fund.

Language:

Hebrew

Ladino

Subjects (All):

Sephardim--Greece--Kerkyra--18th century--Hymns.

Sephardim.

Piyutim--Liturgical use--Greece--Kerkyra--18th century.

Piyutim.

Manuscripts, Hebrew--Greece--Kerkyra--18th century--Specimens.

Manuscripts, Hebrew.

Genre:

Hymns.

codices (bound manuscripts)

Manuscripts, European.

Piyutim.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Taj Art (Jerusalem), 2023.

Physical Description:

58 leaves : paper ; 135 x 104 (100 x 78) mm bound to 140 x 104 mm.

Place of Publication:

[Kerkyra, Greece?], [1700-1750].

[קורפו, יוון?], [1700-1750]

Language Note:

Hebrew; one poem with Ladino text (f. 34r-v).

Summary:

Pizmon book written for the Sephardic custom, apparently of Corfu (today Kerkyra, Greece; this collection is of pizmonim, an entity of extraliturgical hymns not associated with specific places in the litugy in this manuscript); many of the pizmonim appear to be otherwise unknown from manuscript and printed sources. The composition and layout of the manuscript bear close similarity to 18th century Corfu ritual manuscripts such as Columbia University Ms. X 893 J 5226, and British Library Or. 5978 (among other examples). A pizmon written for Moses called אדונינו אלקינו ברא את משה רבינו is mostly in Ladino (f. 34r-v), another (written in a different hand) called זכור אזכור הבטחתך מהר צורי נדרך שלם by "Morenu ha-rav ḥai mareh de-atra ha-den" (f. 50r); a hymn about the exile naming Ishmael and Edom, called יה צור ברוב חסדך, with an addendum headed עד מתי ימשול צעיר (f. 43r-v) additionally places the liturgical use as Sephardic-Greek.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title supplied by cataloger.

Layout: Written in thirteen lines (most pizmonim; pizmon on f. 44r-45v written in 17-18 lines), blind-ruled (column and line); some folios with double columns (such as f. 43r, ruled in center in ink).

Script: Written in an 18th century square script, with captions written in a larger square script; one note written in a Sephardic cursive script (f. 50r).

Binding: Marbled paper on boards, with a leather spine (circa 19th century).

Origin: Written in Greece or Italy for a Sephardic use (script, custom, and inclusion of Ladino), possibly in Corfu (similarities to contemporary Corfu manuscripts).

Additional content, written on blank leaves during the 19th century, include a piyut headed כמשוש חתן, and the Circumcision ceremony liturgy, partially romanized (f. 55r-58r).

Collation: Paper, 58 + i (contemporary endpaper); 1-6⁸ 7¹⁰; contemporary foliation in ink, א-מד (covering folios 1-43), upper left recto; modern foliation in pencil, 1-58, lower left recto (references in this record to modern foliation only).

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rare Judaica Acquisitions Fund.

Cited as:

Pizmon book (UPenn CAJS Rar Ms 721). Library at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania.

OCLC:

1451464563