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Monday, 3 June 2024

Patterns in the music - the genealogy of Noah

In the previous post, I looked at Genesis 2:4, the first of ten times that the phrase 'These are the successions of" occurs in Genesis.

There are many patterns in the music for verses that define structure. In Genesis 1 the phrase 'and it was evening and it was morning', is clearly a musical refrain. Each one is of the form e f e g# f e. 

Genesis 1 verse 5 vihi-yrb vihi-boqr iom akd

But would there be musical motifs that operate over a book the size of Genesis? 

Here are the next 3 verses in the form alh toldot, Genesis 6:9, 10:1 and 11:10 -- Noah (nok) and his children.

אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת נֹ֔חַ נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו
אֶת־הָֽאֱלֹהִ֖ים הִֽתְהַלֶּךְ־נֹֽחַ
9 ♪C These are the successions of Noah. Noah, a righteous man, was complete in his generations.
With this God walked Noah.
T alh toldot nok nok aiw xdiq tmim hih bdorotiv
at-halohim hthlç-nok
19
10
alh tv/ld\t nk nk aiw xdiq tmm hih b/dr\tiv
at h/alh\im ht/hlc nk

Genesis 6:9 alh toldot nok

This experiment is a bit of a shot in the dark. At first glance, there is no obvious musical connection of these distant parts of Genesis. So perhaps the question needs refining or the net needs to be widened. 

According to my thesis, this verse is connected to what precedes it. In this case we could say it is connected to the prior verse where Noah is introduced. The music is, however, not similar to Genesis 2:4, nor is it similar to the next instance below, where the phrase begins a new section.

The reason is that my filter included the pair of words and chapter 5 has uniquely, the word spr preceding toldot. It doesn't quite follow the pattern I set up for the search. Chapter 5 states a genealogy and so chapter 6:9 is referring back, this sentence in chapter 6 being the completion of the genealogy begun there. 

זֶ֣ה סֵ֔פֶר תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת אָדָ֑ם
בְּי֗וֹם בְּרֹ֤א אֱלֹהִים֙ אָדָ֔ם בִּדְמ֥וּת אֱלֹהִ֖ים עָשָׂ֥ה אֹתֽוֹ
1 ♪B This is the record of the successions of Adam,
in the day of God's creating Adam in the likeness of God's constructing him.
a zh spr toldot adm
biom broa alohim adm bdmut alohim ywh aoto
7
18
zh spr tv/ld\t adm
b/ivm bra alh\im adm b/dm\vt alh\im ywh at\v
Genesis 5:1 zh spr toldot adm

So my net was too narrow to catch the book. The opening verse of chapter 5 also begins on a B showing it is connected to the prior chapter -- this is confirmed by the story -- the whole being the successions of Adam -- but ultimately leading to Noah. (I will examine these patterns in relation to others in a later post -- but think of the story and song for now and not the dryer statistics.)

וְאֵ֙לֶּה֙ תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת בְּנֵי־נֹ֔חַ שֵׁ֖ם חָ֣ם וָיָ֑פֶת
וַיִּוָּלְד֥וּ לָהֶ֛ם בָּנִ֖ים אַחַ֥ר הַמַּבּֽוּל
1 And these are the successions of the children of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japhet.
And there were born to them children after the deluge.
a valh toldot bni-nok wm km vipt
viivvldu lhm bnim akr hmbul
13
13
v/alh tv/ld\t bn\i nk wm km v/ipt
viv/ld\v l/hm bn\im akr h/mbvl
Genesis 10:1 valh toldot bni-nok wm km vipt 

Genesis 11:10 ends the genealogies from Noah. Sandwiched between them, however, is the tower of Babel. So the opening note continues chapter 10:31-32. If you check out the full PDF of Genesis, you will find that chapter 10 ends with two verses beginning on the dominant. Was the musician aware of the sandwich structure? It is likely. The first half of verse 32 is identical in shape to Genesis 2:4 that we looked at in the previous post: B c d g# ^A.

אֵ֣לֶּה בְנֵי־שֵׁ֔ם לְמִשְׁפְּחֹתָ֖ם לִלְשֹׁנֹתָ֑ם
בְּאַרְצֹתָ֖ם לְגוֹיֵהֶֽם
31 ♪B These are the children of Shem in their families, in their tongues,
in their lands, in their nations.
la alh bni-wm lmwpkotm llwonotm
barxotm lgoiihm
14
8
alh bn\i wm l/mwpk\tm l/lwn\tm
b/arx\tm l/gvi\hm
אֵ֣לֶּה מִשְׁפְּחֹ֧ת בְּנֵי־נֹ֛חַ לְתוֹלְדֹתָ֖ם בְּגוֹיֵהֶ֑ם
וּמֵאֵ֜לֶּה נִפְרְד֧וּ הַגּוֹיִ֛ם בָּאָ֖רֶץ אַחַ֥ר הַמַּבּֽוּל פ
32 ♪B These are the families of the children of Noah in their successions, in their nations,
and from these the nations were separated in the earth after the deluge.
lb alh mwpkot bni-nok ltoldotm bgoiihm
umalh nprdu hgoiim barx akr hmbul p
16
19
alh mwpk\t bn\i nk ltv/ld\tm b/gvi\hm
vm/alh n/prd\v h/gvi\m b/arx akr h/mbvl

So we have here a recognizing in the music that there is more to the successions of Noah after the insertion of the Babel story in Genesis 11:1-9. And my shot in the dark with a little extension of the net seems to have hit a target.

אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת שֵׁ֔ם שֵׁ֚ם בֶּן־מְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֔ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת־אַרְפַּכְשָׁ֑ד
שְׁנָתַ֖יִם אַחַ֥ר הַמַּבּֽוּל
10 ♪C These are the successions of Shem. Shem was a child of a hundred years and he had Arphaxad,
two years after the deluge.
i alh toldot wm wm bn-mat wnh viold at-arpcwd
wntiim akr hmbul
18
8
alh tv/ld\t wm wm bn ma\t wnh viv/ld at arpcwd
wn\tim akr h/mbvl
Genesis 11:10 alh toldot wm 

If you are unfamiliar with the accents and the music, please see the explanatory introductory chapter using Lamentations 1:1 here or the aural introduction here.

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