Hayyim Schirmann
Hayyim Schirmann was an Israeli scholar of medieval Spanish and Italian Jewish poetry.Biography
Hayyim Schirmann was born in Kiev in the Russian Empire. He studied in his home country until 1919. His family then moved to Germany. he received a degree in Semitic linguistics from Berlin University in 1930.Academic career
Schirmann joined the Schocken Institute for Study of Medieval Hebrew Poetry in 1930, and emigrated to Mandate Palestine, now Israel, in 1934 when the Institute relocated there.
He began lecturing in medieval poetry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1942, and became a professor there in 1954. Schirmann continuing his work at the university until 1968. He died in Paris in 1981.
Schirmann was also a violinist. He published essays on music and drew parallels between music and Jewish literature in his literary works.Awards and recognition
In 1957, Schirmann was awarded the Israel Prize, for Jewish studies.- Die hebräische Übersetzung der Maqamen des Hariri. Frankfurt am Main: J. Kauffmann 1930.
- מבחר השירה העברית באיטליה . Berlin: Schocken 1934.
- השירה העברית בספרד ובפרובאנס . 2 vols. Jerusalem 1954/56.
- תולדות השירה העברית בספרד המוסלמית Jerusalem: Magnes 1995.
- תולדות השירה העברית בספרד הנוצרית ובדרום צרפת . Jerusalem: Magnes 1997.
