Successions - Genesis 36

Genesis 36 is the next set of births. What does the music tell me? It appears that Esau found rest in Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. I find it curious that the recitation stays so long on the subdominant. Ahalivamah is more low key, as is Basmat. The first five verses show little in the way of pattern.

Verse 6 is not genealogy but story. Here the music is more ornamented - the recitation is very long -- 40 syllables on the dominant. The story ends with verse 8 where the music repeats the short phrase from verse 1: he is Edom.

Verse 9 begins a repeat of the successions. Esau's children are all recited on the rest note of the subdominant. The grandchildren do not get this treatment. If there is a rest, it is very briefly sung and Amalek in particular is relegated to a recitation on the tonic.

Verse 15 refers back to the list, noting the grandchildren with the title of אַלּ֣וּף which I have rendered as captain. It's quite a celebratory read of the names.

Verse 19, again beginning on the low c rather than the tonic refers back to the lists and concludes with the same short phrase from verse 1: he is Edom.

Then there is a section on the children of the Chorites - or Horites or kori in SimHebrew for הַחֹרִ֔י, the k being used for the strong aspirate chet, ח. Which to be fair to the simulation should be spelled ket. (Aside: Changing a paradigm is no small task. aleph, bet, gimel, dalet, he, vav, zayin, ket, Tet, iod, caf, lamed, mem, nun, samec, ayin, peh, xade, qof, rew, win, taf -- no one spells the letters this way. It might solve my problem with translating / transliterating names if I used SimHebrew there also.)

אֵ֤לֶּה בְנֵֽי־שֵׂעִיר֙ הַחֹרִ֔י יֹשְׁבֵ֖י הָאָ֑רֶץ לוֹטָ֥ן וְשׁוֹבָ֖ל וְצִבְע֥וֹן וַעֲנָֽה		20 ♪C These are the children of Seir, the Chorite who inhabited the land: Lotan and Shoval and Tsivon and Anah,
c alh bni-wyir hkori iowbi harx loTn vwobl vxbyon vynh	13 11	alh bn\i wyir h/kri iwb\i h/arx lvTn v/wvbl v/xbyvn v/ynh

The music of this section is an addendum to the successions of Esau since he moved to Seir. This connection to the prior verses is signified by its beginning on the sub-median, the sixth note of the scale.

After Seir, the list of kings begins. Each of these is of the form, And when X had died, Y child of Z reigned in his stead. But the music varies, even forming a chiasm -- the middle (vs 35-36) recalls an incident.

Bk-Ch-Vs	Getting to the Subdominant	Returning to the Tonic
Gen 36:33	e g# ^A	B z-q,f g# e
Gen 36:34	e g# ^A	B z-q,g# f e
Gen 36:35	e g# ^A	pas,ger,B rev,C qad,B z-q,f g# e
Gen 36:36	e g# ^A	B z-q,g# e
Gen 36:37	e g# ^A	B z-q,g# f e
Gen 36:38	e g# ^A	B z-q,f g# e

Verse 39 is even more complex. Verses 40 to the end celebrate the final set of captains. The last phrase returning to the tonic repeats an elaboration of the short phrase - he is Edom: It is Esau the father of Edom -- so we won't forget.

Here is the whole chapter -- over 380 bars of music.