Oh what can ail thee, knight at arms? Well, it's that feeling that one is alone in one's enthrallment. Is there anyone out there with the time to look at Psalm 17 and its music with me? This is of course one of 150 such pieces (or 1500).Think now, is there a voice in you that seeks your contribution to an intriguing music? Maybe you play an instrument? Maybe you are in a tradition that chants things with accompaniment from sitar or lute?
What accompaniment, what assignment of voices would you give to this psalm?
I have transcribed the music from the Hebrew (and we could pick some other psalm in a trice - just give me a day for the English underlay. I will eventually do them all.)
I am not a composer or arranger though I have dabbled with such things. The music is all at this shared resource with pictures.
Here is the text of this psalm showing its patterns of verbal recurrence. There are so many fears in the world today that fit this description! What will be our ultimate satisfaction in this world of such immense richness and variety?
תְּפִלָּה לְדָוִד
שִׁמְעָה יְהוָה צֶדֶק הַקְשִׁיבָה רִנָּתִי הַאֲזִינָה תְפִלָּתִי בְּלֹא שִׂפְתֵי מִרְמָה | 1 | A prayer of David Hear יְהוָה righteousness Attend to my shout Give ear to my prayer not from lips of deceit |
מִלְּפָנֶיךָ מִשְׁפָּטִי יֵצֵא
עֵינֶיךָ תֶּחֱזֶינָה מֵישָׁרִים | 2 | From your presence emerges my judgment Your eyes gaze on uprightness |
בָּחַנְתָּ לִבִּי
פָּקַדְתָּ לַּיְלָה צְרַפְתַּנִי בַל תִּמְצָא זַמֹּתִי בַּל יַעֲבָר פִּי | 3 | You have tried my heart You have visited in the night You have refined me till nothing is found I intend that my mouth will not go beyond... |
לִפְעֻלּוֹת אָדָם
בִּדְבַר שְׂפָתֶיךָ אֲנִי שָׁמַרְתִּי אָרְחוֹת פָּרִיץ | 4 | About the works of humanity, in the word of your lips I myself kept from the paths of one who breaks open |
תָּמֹךְ אֲשֻׁרַי בְּמַעְגְּלוֹתֶיךָ
בַּל נָמוֹטּוּ פְעָמָי | 5 | Maintain my steps in your tracks my footfall does not slip |
אֲנִי קְרָאתִיךָ
כִי תַעֲנֵנִי אֵל הַט אָזְנְךָ לִי שְׁמַע אִמְרָתִי | 6 | I myself have called you because you answer, O God bend your ear to me hear my promise |
הַפְלֵה חֲסָדֶיךָ
מוֹשִׁיעַ חוֹסִים מִמִּתְקוֹמְמִים בִּימִינֶךָ | 7 | Reserve your loving-kindness you who save those who take refuge from those who arise by your right hand |
שָׁמְרֵנִי
כְּאִישׁוֹן בַּת עָיִן בְּצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ תַּסְתִּירֵנִי | 8 | keep me as the daughter imaged in an eye in the shadow of your wings hide me |
מִפְּנֵי רְשָׁעִים
זוּ שַׁדּוּנִי אֹיְבַי בְּנֶפֶשׁ יַקִּיפוּ עָלָי | 9 | from the faces of the wicked that devastate me hostile in being encompassing me |
חֶלְבָּמוֹ סָּגְרוּ
פִּימוֹ דִּבְּרוּ בְגֵאוּת | 10 | their grossness, they imprison their mouth, they speak with pride |
אַשֻּׁרֵינוּ עַתָּה
סְבָבוּנוּ עֵינֵיהֶם יָשִׁיתוּ לִנְטוֹת בָּאָרֶץ | 11 | our steps now they surround us they have their eyes set bending over the earth |
דִּמְיֹנוֹ כְּאַרְיֵה יִכְסוֹף לִטְרֹף
וְכִכְפִיר יֹשֵׁב בְּמִסְתָּרִים | 12 | its likeness like a lion that salivates to tear and like a cub sitting in hidden places |
קוּמָה יְהוָה
קַדְּמָה פָנָיו הַכְרִיעֵהוּ פַּלְּטָה נַפְשִׁי מֵרָשָׁע חַרְבֶּךָ | 13 | Arise יְהוָה confront to its face make it bow down Secure me from the wicked, your sword |
מִמְתִים יָדְךָ יְהוָה
מִמְתִים מֵחֶלֶד חֶלְקָם בַּחַיִּים וּצְפוּנְךָ תְּמַלֵּא בִטְנָם יִשְׂבְּעוּ בָנִים וְהִנִּיחוּ יִתְרָם לְעוֹלְלֵיהֶם | 14 | from men, your hand, יְהוָה from men, from transience, their share in their lives whose bellies you fill with your treasure Let them be satisfied with children and leave their surplus to their progeny |
אֲנִי בְּצֶדֶק אֶחֱזֶה פָנֶיךָ
אֶשְׂבְּעָה בְהָקִיץ תְּמוּנָתֶךָ | 15 | I in righteousness will gaze on your face I will be satisfied to awaken in your similitude |
Hebrew words: 124. Percentage of Hebrew words that recur in this psalm: 40%. Average keywords per verse: 3.3.
Selected recurring words
| Word and gloss * first usage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Vs | Root |
* תפלה a prayer
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| 1 | פלל | ||||||||||||||||
שׁמעה hear
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| 1 | שׁמע | ||||||||||||||||
צדק righteousness
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| 1 | צדק | ||||||||||||||||
* האזינה Give ear to
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| 1 | אזן | ||||||||||||||||
* תפלתי my prayer
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| 1 | פלל | ||||||||||||||||
שׂפתי lips of
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| 1 | שׂפה | ||||||||||||||||
תחזינה gaze on
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| 2 | חזה | ||||||||||||||||
* פי my mouth
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| 3 | פה | ||||||||||||||||
בדבר in the word of
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| 4 | דבר | ||||||||||||||||
שׂפתיך your lips
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| 4 | שׂפה | ||||||||||||||||
* שׁמרתי I kept
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| 4 | שׁמר | ||||||||||||||||
אשׁרי my steps
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| 5 | אשׁר | ||||||||||||||||
* הט bend
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| 6 | נטה | ||||||||||||||||
* אזנך your ear
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| 6 | אזן | ||||||||||||||||
שׁמע hear
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| 6 | שׁמע | ||||||||||||||||
ממתקוממים from those who arise
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| 7 | קום | ||||||||||||||||
* שׁמרני keep me
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| 8 | שׁמר | ||||||||||||||||
תסתירני hide me
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| 8 | סתר | ||||||||||||||||
רשׁעים the wicked
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| 9 | רשׁע | ||||||||||||||||
בנפשׁ in being
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| 9 | נפשׁ | ||||||||||||||||
* פימו their mouth
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| 10 | פה | ||||||||||||||||
דברו they speak
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| 10 | דבר | ||||||||||||||||
אשׁרינו our steps
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| 11 | אשׁר | ||||||||||||||||
* לנטות bending
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| 11 | נטה | ||||||||||||||||
במסתרים in hidden places
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| 12 | סתר | ||||||||||||||||
קומה arise
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| 13 | קום | ||||||||||||||||
נפשׁי me
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| 13 | נפשׁ | ||||||||||||||||
מרשׁע from the wicked
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| 13 | רשׁע | ||||||||||||||||
* ממתים from men
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| 14 | מת | ||||||||||||||||
* ממתים from men
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| 14 | מת | ||||||||||||||||
* ישׂבעו let them be satisfied with
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| 14 | שׂבע | ||||||||||||||||
בצדק in righteousness
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| 15 | צדק | ||||||||||||||||
אחזה will gaze on
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| 15 | חזה | ||||||||||||||||
* אשׂבעה I will be satisfied
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| 15 | שׂבע |
I might well have a look at some of them. Are you thinking of arrangements that would be relatively easy to include in church services?
ReplyDeleteIs the rhythm meant to be speech-rhythm? If so I might notate it differently; long lines of crotchets (quarter notes) on one pitch can sound a bit "notey".
Ah Kathryn - good. Thank you for your interest.
ReplyDeleteYes, long lines of crotchets are notey. I describe my feel for syllable pulse here. and make a distinction between speech rhythm (a la Anglican Chant) and syllable rhythm (a la plainchant). The choir of St Barnabas performed Psalm 32 unaccompanied on Lent 1 with considerable force. One bass thought it was a real breakthrough in understanding the prosody of the psalms. I have kept the notation to match the Hebrew thought pulse which is indicated by the dotted barlines. Also indicated I think is a slight lengthening of a syllable by their ornamentation - but not woodenly, rather with the flexibility of singing to speech.
What would be good for a book? This is a big job and I have the stated interest of a composer here, but he has been seconded to a day job! A book needs chords, chord sequences, for each mode - and one mode (4) is quite odd.- I wonder about it's singability. There are lots of examples online at 'Music of the Bible Revealed' as your search key.