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Thursday, 27 June 2024

Names - Genesis 46

This short passage from verses 8 to 27 again illustrates what I nicknamed the backward colon, i.e. any note that starts a verse other than the tonic. The thesis is that any verse that does not start on the tonic is referring back to some earlier part of the canon. In this case each subsection of the song closes with a verse that begins with a note other than the tonic -- verse 15 [dominant, 5th note of the scale, B, munah] and verses 18, 22, 25 [sub-median, 6th note of the scale, C, mahpakh]. I have not yet found any verse that stands as a counter example to this thesis. It is this kind of result of my research that convinces me that Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura is on the right track in her deciphering of the te'amim, the cantillation symbols or accents in the Hebrew Bible. What is in the music is so much easier to hear than to see when reading.

  • Besides these sectional backward references which illustrate forms such as this section of Genesis 46, and the strophic structure of Psalms like psalm 96,
  • there are very short backward references - e.g. the attacca note beginning Psalm 115 indicating that the In exitu Israel, Psalm 114 is to be immediately followed by Psalm 115 -- Non nobis Domine. For obvious reasons -- deliverance is by grace.
  • And there are distanced backward references, like the paired narrator parts (using the prose accents) in the poetic sections of Job.
  • And there are extra long distanced references, like the books that begin with a note that is not the tonic. There are five -- Deuteronomy, commenting on the first four books of Torah, Each of the books of truth, The Psalms, David's Torah, Proverbs, and Job, mimicking Genesis, and The Song of Songs, another key to Torah.
In short, for the study of Scripture, the music is a significant aid to understanding.

Bk-Ch-Vs Getting to the Subdominant Returning to the Tonic
Gen 46:8 e pas,c e d f g# B ^A f g# e
Gen 46:9 e g# ^A f g# f e
Gen 46:10 e B rev,c d g# B ^A g# e
Gen 46:11 e g# ^A z-g,g# e
Gen 46:12 e B rev,c d g# B ^A pas,C qad,B z-q,f g# f e
Gen 46:13 e g# ^A f g# f e
Gen 46:14 e g# ^A f g# e
Gen 46:15 B B rev,pas,e C qad,B z-q,g# B ^A c d g# f e
Gen 46:16 e B z-q,f g# B ^A f e g# e
Gen 46:17 e B rev,c d f g# B ^A B z-q,g# e
Gen 46:18 C B z-q,f g# B ^A C qad,qad,z-q,f g# e
Gen 46:19 e C qad,B e z-q,g# e (no rest)
Gen 46:20 e B zar,B seg,C e qad,e z-q,f g# B ^A g# e
Gen 46:21 e B rev,C qad,qad,z-q,f g# B ^A f g# e
Gen 46:22 C B z-q,f g# ^A g# f e
Gen 46:23 e g# e (no rest)
Gen 46:24 e g# ^A f g# f e
Gen 46:25 C B z-q,f g# B ^A c d g# f e
Gen 46:26 e t-g,pas,C qad,qad,B z-q,g# B ^A g# f e
Gen 46:27 e f d f g# B ^A c e d f g# e

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