Cinq Chants Populaires de Palestine d'Israël [title in Hebrew and French]

Paris, February-June 1949. Folio. 10 pp. pen and ink on musical staff paper, autograph note with French translation and guide to Hebrew pronunciation laid in A manuscript fair copy of five short pieces for solo voice and piano by the Jewish-Swiss composer and musicologist Claude Abravanel (1924-2012). Lyrics are in Hebrew and French, the titles of the five pieces in French are "Chant des Marins," "Chant pour le Sabbat," "Mélodie," "Chanson Religieuse," and "Hora / Danse Israélienne." The manuscript was completed in 1949 shortly after the founding of the state of Israel, an event referenced by the crossing out of "Palestine" in the title and its replacement (truncated) with "Israël." Abravanel emigrated to Israel in 1951, teaching music theory at the Jewish Academy of Music and Dance in Jerusalem and serving as founding director of the Academy's music library. His published academic work focused on Claude Debussey — he wrote a bibliography of the composer — and the influence of the Bible on various styles and composers. Abravanel's archives, held in the National Library of Israel, contain a manuscript of Cinq Chants for voice and piano under its original title (Palestine) as well as an orchestral arrangement done in 1957 with the new title (Israel) (Inventory #: 314)