The Jew Without the Yellow Badge: Salamone Rossi and the Song of Solomon
Lucie Skeaping explores the life and extraordinary music of Salamone Rossi, a 17th-century Jewish composer based in Mantua. He wrote a collection of psalms and motets in Hebrew, for the Synagogue, drawing on the Italian polyphonic style of composition employed by the Christian Church. In a period of intense anti-Semitism, when the Jewish community in Italy were required by law to wear on their clothing a yellow 'badge of shame', Rossi's musical skills were highly regarded by the Mantuan court. His collection was not only the first of its kind; it would also remain unique for more than two hundred years. First broadcast 19/11/2011.