LE MANZANICAS COLORADASDI ELIAS CANETTISulle tracce di una canzoncina infantile sefardita

This work investigates the lyrics of a Sephardic children’s song, which Elias Canetti (Ruse, 1905 – Zurich, 1994) recalls in his autobiography, The Tongue Set Free: Remembrance of a European Childhood (Die gerettete Zunge. Geschichte einer Jugend). It examines versions of a Sephardic romance on the theme of love, documented in the choral repertoire, in field research, but also in another autobiographical novel by an author of Sephardic origin, Moïse Abinun (Sarajevo 1912-Paris 2006), Les lumières de Sarajevo. Histoire d’une famille juive d’Europe centrale. These versions partially overlap with the verses quoted by Canetti and allow them to be identified and placed within a tradition. This examination also allows us to better understand the reflections and autobiographical account of the German-speaking author. While the innovations presented in Canetti’s verses, compared to the tradition intercepted, seem attributable to the circulation of romance in the Turkish-Ottoman area, which ends up incorporating the place name of the city on the Bosphorus.