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Jenna Daniels 4/13/08 Music Technology Research Paper Atkinson-11:15am 1 When you open the Hebrew Bible, you see Hebrew words that represent a history of religions. Solomon Rosowsky, a doctor of law and music states, “The Bible is not only a monument of religious thought, not only poetical creation, but also a great musical heritage.”1 The Hebrew Bible, specifically the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses), contains symbols around the words that have musical significance. Unlike modern music where one note is equivalent to one pitch, in the notation used by the Jews each symbol is equivalent to a group of pitches.2 This paper will focus on the cantillation of the Pentateuch for the Sabbath. It is noted that Monks, as possible converts from Judaism, might have carried this cantillation into early Christian church music. In the Pentateuch the symbols are not notated in the actual scroll; it is only notated in the book version.3 According to Rosowsky, “the Hebrew Bible is chanted in a specific recitative, usually termed as ‘cantillation.’”4 Cantillation refers to the overall chanting of the Hebrew Bible. “Trop” on the other hand, which is a Yiddush word5, refers only to the graphic notations above and below words in the Hebrew Bible.6 There are six different types of cantillation.7 The first and most common type is the cantillation of the Pentateuch during the Sabbath.8 There is only one other type of cantillation that involves the Pentateuch, and that is the cantillation of the Pentateuch on Solomon Rosowsky, “Analytical Theory of Biblical Cantillations,” Proceedings of the Musical Association 5 vol.60 (1934): 39, 12 Nov. 2007 http://www.jstor.org.proxy.lib.fsu.edu. 2 Ibid 3 Nbrody, “Cantillation,” 2007. 4 Rosowsky, 39 5 Joshua R. Jacobson, Chanting The Hebrew Bible (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005) 236. 6 Rosowsky, 39 7 Rosowsky, 42 8 Ibid 1 2 the High Festivals (such as Passover and Sukkot).9 The third type of cantillation is used in reading the Books of the Prophets, the fourth Book of Esther, the fifth the Book of Ruth, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs.10 The final type of cantillation is used in reading Lamentation of Jeremiah.11 According to Rosowsky, “Every Jewish group, no matter what part of the globe it may inhabit, has six types of cantillation used in reading the twenty-one books and scriptures.”12 The motives of the Hebrew Bible are designed in a “strict syntactical order.”13 Some of the ta’amim, Hebrew for “trop,” are known as conjunctive and disjunctive.14 The latter is for separating and pausal “tropes” and the former is for binding or connecting “tropes.”15 This is then subdivided into secondary disjunctive, which marks either the end of a verse or the end of a part.16 An example of disjunctive and conjunctive ta’amim is “Silluk.”17 Silluk is placed on every last word in a verse.18 Silluk contains three notes, the second note is a step above the first, and the third note falls a third below the second note.19 For example, if one begins on “g” the ta’am would be g-a-f.20 In some cases the Silluk has a bit of variation. Rather than chant a word with this ta’am as g-a-f, it could also be chanted as g-f-c.21 9 Ibid Ibid 11 Ibid 12 Ibid 13 Friedlander, 43 14 Ibid 15 Ibid 16 Idelsohn, 39 17 Jacobson, 41 18 Ibid 19 Ibid 20 Ibid 21 Ibid 10 3 One of the most complicated ta’amim is “shalshelet.”22 The sign is supposed to represent a hanging chain, which also points to the melody.23 In music terms the melody is known as a double trill.24 This ta’am is rare because of its complexity.25 It is actually found only four times in the Pentateuch: three times in Genesis, and once in Leviticus.26 For example if the word started on “f” these notes would follow: f-g-a-b-c-a-g-f-g-a-b-ca-g-f-g-a-b-c-d-c-a-g; these pitches would be sung in a continuous rhythm of an 8th note followed by two sixteenth notes.27 As one can see this ta’am can also be described “as two notes connected by an ascending chain of sound.”28 According to Arthur Friedlander, author of “Notes on Facts and Theories Relating to Jewish Music,” there is a belief that movements with fingers were used to show high and low of pitches before the written ta’amim.29 He believes there is a possible connection with the movements of fingers and Guido D’Arezzo’s “Guidonian Hand,” a method used in medieval times to help singers learn to sight sing.30 If there is a connection, then possibly Guido was of Jewish descent.31 Music History shows that this historical detail might mean that many monks were converts from Judaism.32 Therefore, it is believed that monks took some of the early Jewish musical traits, cantillation, and 22 Friedlander, 23 Ibid 24 Ibid 25 Jacobson, 60 26 Ibid 27 Ibid 28 Friedlander, 23 29 Friedlander, 23 30 Ibid 31 Ibid 32 Ibid 23 4 applied it to music of the early Catholic Church.33 In 1513 Reuchlin wrote Grammar “the earliest known printed musical interpretation of the signs” of the Pentateuch.34 He wrote it in four parts without harmony for the synagogue: descantes, altus, tenore, and bassus. 35 The composition of four-part singing in unison was also practiced in the early Catholic Church. This is another reason why researchers believe that early Christian music was adapted from Jewish cantillation.36 Music has evolved throughout the centuries of the world. As discussed above, Gregorian chant is based on modes seen in the Pentateuch mode, such as the Dorian mode.37 While much of modern day music seems to be based strictly on Gregorian chant and early Church music, due to possible monk converts, some of the earliest music is possibly drawn from cantillation of the Hebrew Bible.38 The oldest and most commonly practiced music in the synagogue is that of the Pentateuch on the Sabbath, therefore, giving the Pentateuch more than a religious history; it also has a history in music.39 While the ta’amim are still chanted today, the pitches are not identical to the original ones historically documented. Modern day ta’amim contains the basic historical outline of pitches, but with the addition of ornamentation that is special to the specific synagogue, usually orally transmitted. Still, the ta’amim are the foundation of the Hebrew Bible, and much of music found in both church and synagogue today is built from these ta’amim.40 33 Ibid Ibid 35 Ibid 36 Ibid 37 Idelsohn, 39 38 Ibid 39 Nbrody 40 Ibid 34 5 Work Cited Cantor Brody, Norman. E-mail to Jenna Daniels, 3 April 2008. Friedlander, Arthur M., “Notes on Facts and Theories Relating to Jewish Music.” The Musical Times (1, Jan 1914): 21-27. http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed April 4, 2008). Idelsohn, A.Z., Jewish Music In Its Historical Development. New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1944. Jacobson, Joshua R. Chanting the Hebrew Bible. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005. Rosowsky, Solomon., “The Music Of The Pentateuch.” Analytical Theory of Biblical Cantillations 5, Vol 60 (1934): 38-66. http://www.jstor.org/ (accessed April 4, 2008). 6