Cairo Genizah : Music; piyyuṭ

Cairo Genizah

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Musical notation of the piyyuṭim ברוך הגבר and ועדה מה in the hand of Obadiah the Proselyte (Johannes of Oppido, an Italian priest, who converted to Judaism in 1102 CE). The Cairo Genizah contains several of his transcriptions, the best known are his Lombardic neumatic notations to piyyuṭim, with formulas characteristic of the Gregorian chant. The stave is ruled with a hard point on one side, and rubricated on the other. Each line of the stave is marked with Hebrew letters, alef to he, from top to bottom. Obadiah has provided us with the first written musical settings to Jewish liturgical poetry, but scholars are at odds about the degree to which he was responsible for their composition. </p>