Wednesday 5 February 2014

An example of the prose cantillation rendered into music XML

Though 1 Samuel 2 is poetry, the cantillation marks are those of the 'prose' books. Here Hannah sings her joy in the birth of Samuel and in the fulfillment of her vow. This song is imitated by Mary in Luke 2. (various translations at the link). The music (with my fuzzy logic around the metheg) is reasonable in the passage using input from the Westminster Leningrad Codex provided here. (Enter 1 Samuel 2 in the box). This music is unedited and was produced automatically with the following string as input. I can now draft any section of the Old Testament in a few minutes. All that remains is to find a way to make this available to others in the cloud (and test a few more samples for unusual combinations and sequences that I haven't anticipated).


A later version in E major with translation is here.

וַתִּתְפַּלֵּ֤ל חַנָּה֙ וַתֹּאמַ֔ר
 עָלַ֤ץ לִבִּי֙ בַּֽיהוָ֔ה
רָ֥מָה קַרְנִ֖י בַּֽיהוָ֑ה
רָ֤חַב פִּי֙ עַל־א֣וֹיְבַ֔י
כִּ֥י שָׂמַ֖חְתִּי בִּישׁוּעָתֶֽךָ׃
  אֵין־קָד֥וֹשׁ כַּיהוָ֖ה
כִּ֣י אֵ֣ין בִּלְתֶּ֑ךָ
וְאֵ֥ין צ֖וּר כֵּאלֹהֵֽינוּ׃
  אַל־תַּרְבּ֤וּ תְדַבְּרוּ֙ גְּבֹהָ֣ה
גְבֹהָ֔ה יֵצֵ֥א עָתָ֖ק מִפִּיכֶ֑ם
כִּ֣י אֵ֤ל דֵּעוֹת֙ יְהוָ֔ה
ולא וְל֥וֹ נִתְכְּנ֖וּ עֲלִלֽוֹת׃
 קֶ֥שֶׁת גִּבֹּרִ֖ים חַתִּ֑ים
וְנִכְשָׁלִ֖ים אָ֥זְרוּ חָֽיִל׃ 
שְׂבֵעִ֤ים בַּלֶּ֙חֶם֙ נִשְׂכָּ֔רוּ
וּרְעֵבִ֖ים חָדֵ֑לּוּ
עַד־עֲקָרָה֙ יָלְדָ֣ה שִׁבְעָ֔ה
וְרַבַּ֥ת בָּנִ֖ים אֻמְלָֽלָה׃ 
יְהוָ֖ה מֵמִ֣ית וּמְחַיֶּ֑ה
מוֹרִ֥יד שְׁא֖וֹל וַיָּֽעַל׃


You may note the ketiv on verse 3, reproduced as a comment in the music. I have also overridden (in the code) the divine name. The mode for the prose books differs from the psalms in the prior post.

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