9. La Historia de Amán y Mardoqueo (Coplas Viejas de Purim)

La historia de Amán y Mardoqueo is the first printed Sephardic copla, published around the year 1700 (hence its academic designation as coplas viejas, “old coplas”). Since then, it has appeared repeatedly until its last printing in Constantinople in 1923. The copla recounts the story told in the Book of Esther (Megillat Esther), the biblical text on which the festival of Purim is based. It consists of stanzas of nine lines (referred to in Sephardic literary studies as “Purim nonets”) with an ababbccdd rhyme scheme, a form characteristic of coplas for this occasion. The stanzas are arranged according to a Hebrew alphabetical acrostic, since Sephardic coplas were originally written and published in aljamiado. After completing the Hebrew alphabet, the remaining stanzas continue with an acrostic that hints at the possible author’s name: “amar Abraham hazaq” (“thus said Abraham, be strong [and courageous]”). This acrostic led Moshe Attias (1971) to conclude that the author may have been the coplero from Thessaloniki, Abraham Toledo (on this bard and his authorship, see also Perez 2005). The textual repertoire of Purim coplas, and especially The Story of Haman and Mordechai, has been extensively studied by Iacob M. Hassan (2010 [1976]) and Elena Romero (2008, 2011, 2021).

This copla is sung around the Purim festive table with a particular melody that matches the structure of the Purim nonets (see Weich-Shahak 1993, 2001). In this social function, it is sung together with other coplas on the same theme (see, for example, copla no. 10) and always with variants of the same melodic structure. The two recorded versions we present differ musically. The version by Shmuel Altalef (9a), very close to that of the printed texts, is distinguished by its unsteady beat, slow tempo, and melismatic coloratura—characteristics of Sephardic synagogue singing. In contrast, the version by Rivka Shalom, a text from oral transmission that diverges from the printed ones, is more rhythmic and syllabic.

Text

Empezar quero contar       hechas del Dio Alto,
de lo que quero enmentar    nada no falto,
con baile y canto         y con gran placer,
porque Haman el mamzer
mos quiso matarmos          también atemarmos.

א Oíd lo que aconteció     en tiempo de avante,
de lo que enriqueció,     es cosa de encante,
con un rey gigante          el Ahasverosh;
cantaré con grande voz
y con alegría      esta maravilla.

ב  Basteció el a mandar     por  munchas comarcas,
ciento por tierra andan    barcas y comarcas:
las que eran flacas       las enforteció,
también las enalteció,
emperador fuerte     fue con gran suerte.

ג Gozar quiso él su bien    en aquellos días,
mandó y apañó también     a sus compañías
y de munchas villas     mandó a traer
a mostrarles su haber
y la su grandeza    con muncha riqueza.

References quoted

Attias Moshe. 1971. Ha-meshorer ha-‘amami R. Abraham Toledo vi-yetzirato be-ladino (The popular poet R. Abraham Toledo and his works in Ladino), Shevet va-'am 1, no. 6 (1971): 116-135.

Hassán, Iacob M. 2010. Las Coplas de Purim. Ed. Elena Romero. Madrid: Hebraica Ediciones. (Originally presented as the author's Ph.D. diss., Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1976)

Perez, Avner (Ed. and Trans.). 2005. Hakoplas shel Yosef Hatzadik. Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Institute, Maale Adumim Institute and Ben Gurion University in the Negev.

Romero, Elena. 2008. Y Hubo Luz y No Fue Tan Buena: Las Coplas Sefardíes de Purim y los Tiempos Modernos. Barcelona: Tirocinio.

Romero, Elena. 2011. Los Yantares de Purim: Coplas y Poemas Sefardíes de Contenido Folclórico: Estudio y Edición de Textos. Barcelona: Tirocinio.

Romero, Elena. 2021. La Reina Ester en Solfa: Coplas Sefardíes de Purim Sobre el Libro Bíblico de Ester: Edición y Estudio de Los Textos. Primera edición. Barcelona [Logroño]: Tirocinio; Fundación San Millán de la Cogolla.

Weich-Shahak, Susana.1993. Coplas Sefardíes: Enfoque poético-musical, Revista de Musicología 16, no. 3: 29-42 (= pp. 1597-1610, Actas del XV Congreso de la Sociedad Internacional de Musicología).

Weich-Shahak, Susana. 2001. La estrofa purímica: Molde de coplas sefardíes. Anuario Musical 56: 203–222.