Friday 28 March 2014

Alone and palely loitering

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?

17 - Satisfied with the ears and eyes of יְהוָה
תְּפִלָּה לְדָוִד
שִׁמְעָה יְהוָה צֶדֶק
הַקְשִׁיבָה רִנָּתִי
הַאֲזִינָה תְפִלָּתִי
בְּלֹא שִׂפְתֵי מִרְמָה
1A 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
2From your presence emerges my judgment
Your eyes gaze on uprightness
בָּחַנְתָּ לִבִּי
פָּקַדְתָּ לַּיְלָה
צְרַפְתַּנִי בַל תִּמְצָא
זַמֹּתִי בַּל יַעֲבָר פִּי
3You 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
4About 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
5Maintain my steps in your tracks
my footfall does not slip
אֲנִי קְרָאתִיךָ
כִי תַעֲנֵנִי אֵל
הַט אָזְנְךָ לִי
שְׁמַע אִמְרָתִי
6I myself have called you
because you answer, O God
bend your ear to me
hear my promise
הַפְלֵה חֲסָדֶיךָ
מוֹשִׁיעַ חוֹסִים
מִמִּתְקוֹמְמִים
בִּימִינֶךָ
7Reserve 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
8keep me
as the daughter imaged in an eye
in the shadow of your wings
hide me
מִפְּנֵי רְשָׁעִים
זוּ שַׁדּוּנִי
אֹיְבַי בְּנֶפֶשׁ יַקִּיפוּ עָלָי
9from the faces of the wicked
that devastate me
hostile in being encompassing me

חֶלְבָּמוֹ סָּגְרוּ
פִּימוֹ דִּבְּרוּ בְגֵאוּת
10their grossness, they imprison
their mouth, they speak with pride
אַשֻּׁרֵינוּ עַתָּה
סְבָבוּנוּ
עֵינֵיהֶם יָשִׁיתוּ
לִנְטוֹת בָּאָרֶץ
11our steps now
they surround us
they have their eyes set
bending over the earth
דִּמְיֹנוֹ כְּאַרְיֵה יִכְסוֹף לִטְרֹף
וְכִכְפִיר יֹשֵׁב בְּמִסְתָּרִים
12its 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
13Arise 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
14from 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
15I 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 usage123456789101234567VsRoot
* תפלה a prayer
1פלל
שׁמעה hear
1שׁמע
צדק righteousness
1צדק
* האזינה Give ear to
1אזן
* תפלתי my prayer
1פלל
שׂפתי lips of
1שׂפה
תחזינה gaze on
2חזה
* פי my mouth
3פה
בדבר in the word of
4דבר
שׂפתיך your lips
4שׂפה
* שׁמרתי I kept
4שׁמר
אשׁרי my steps
5אשׁר
* הט bend
6נטה
* אזנך your ear
6אזן
שׁמע hear
6שׁמע
ממתקוממים from those who arise
7קום
* שׁמרני keep me
8שׁמר
תסתירני hide me
8סתר
רשׁעים the wicked
9רשׁע
בנפשׁ in being
9נפשׁ
* פימו their mouth
10פה
דברו they speak
10דבר
אשׁרינו our steps
11אשׁר
* לנטות bending
11נטה
במסתרים in hidden places
12סתר
קומה arise
13קום
נפשׁי me
13נפשׁ
מרשׁע from the wicked
13רשׁע
* ממתים from men
14מת
* ממתים from men
14מת
* ישׂבעו let them be satisfied with
14שׂבע
בצדק in righteousness
15צדק
אחזה will gaze on
15חזה
* אשׂבעה I will be satisfied
15שׂבע
PSALMS 17
Last printed on 2014.03.28-10:53


2 comments:

  1. 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?

    Is 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".

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah Kathryn - good. Thank you for your interest.


    Yes, 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.

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