Armand Lunel (9 June 1892 – 3 November 1977) was a French writer and the last known speaker of Shuadit (Judeo-Provençal), a now-extinct

Occitan language Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Vall ...

(in its written form based on the modified Hebrew alphabet; the language persists though in its oral form, which is essentially the same as Provençal written with the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and th ...

Biography

Lunel was born in Aix-en-Provence, France, to a family that belonged to a Jewish subculture that had roots in the area for at least five centuries. After coming of age in the region, Lunel taught law and philosophy in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

. Lunel wrote extensively about the Jews of Provence. He was a childhood friend of the composer

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

, and wrote the librettos of Milhaud's operas ''Esther de Carpentras'' ("Esther of

Carpentras Carpentras (, formerly ; Provençal Occitan: ''Carpentràs'' in classical norm or ''Carpentras'' in Mistralian norm; la, Carpentoracte) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. ...

," 1938, based on Shuadit folklore), ''Les malheurs d'Orphée'' ("The Misfortunes of Orpheus," 1924), and ''

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

'' (1954). He also provided the libretto for Henri Sauguet's ''

La chartreuse de Parme ''The Charterhouse of Parma'' (french: La Chartreuse de Parme, links=no) is a novel by Stendhal published in 1839. Telling the story of an Italian nobleman in the Napoleonic era and later, it was admired by Balzac, Tolstoy, André Gide, di La ...

'', premiered in 1939. He married Rachel Suzanne Messiah, a daughter of architect Aron Messiah in 1920. Most of the current knowledge about Lunel was collected by his son-in-law Georges Jessula.

Bibliography

*''L'Imagerie du cordier'',

La Nouvelle Revue Française LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

, Paris, 1924. *''Nicolo-Peccavi'' ou ''L' affaire Dreyfus à

'', Gallimard, Paris, 1926. *''Le Balai de sorcière'', Gallimard, Paris, 1935. *''Jérusalem à Carpentras'', Gallimard, 1937. *''Les Amandes d'Aix'', Gallimard, Paris, 1949. *''La Belle à la fontaine'', A. Fayard, Paris, 1959. *''J'ai vu vivre la Provence'', A. Fayard, Paris, 1962. *''Juifs du Languedoc, de la Provence et des États français du Pape'',

Albin Michel Albin may refer to: Places * Albin, Wyoming, US * Albin Township, Brown County, Minnesota, US * Albin, Virginia, US People * Albin (given name), origin of the name and people with the first name "Albin" * Albin (surname) ;Mononyms * Albin of ...

, Paris, 1975. Translated by Samuel N. Rosenberg as "The Jews of the South of France" (with a foreword by David A. Jessula), Cincinnati: Hebrew University College ''Annual'' 89 (2018), pp. 1–158. *''Les Chemins de mon judaïsme et divers inédits'', presented by Georges Jessula, L'Harmattan, Paris, 1993.

References

External links

Armand Lunel
at Beit Hatefutsot, the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in

Ramat Aviv Ramat Aviv Alef or Ramat Aviv HaYeruka, and originally plainly Ramat Aviv ( he, רָמַת אָבִיב, ''lit.'' Spring Heights), is a neighborhood in northwest Tel Aviv, Israel. History Ramat Aviv was founded in 1950s following the great inf ...

, Israel
"The Last Man Who Spoke Provence's Dead Jewish Language"
1977 deaths 1892 births 19th-century French Jews French opera librettists Last known speakers of a language Jewish novelists Prix Renaudot winners Writers from Aix-en-Provence French male novelists French male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French novelists 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French male writers {{opera-bio-stub