It’s almost impossible to describe music. But we have ways of writing down the music that can be described. During my lifetime as a chorister, I learned slowly over many years to read notes from a staff. There are five lines and you can put notes on the lines and in the spaces and even on ledger lines written in above or below the lines of the staff. The staff is governed by a clef. The clef determines the notes that are represented by the lines and spaces on the staff. I use the treble or g-clef. The clef is placed such that the curl in the middle surrounds the first line from the bottom and defines the place of the note we name g.
Psalm 80 verse 1 |
I have used dotted bar lines to show that the rhythm is irregular and subject to the singer. In this first verse, there are 6 bars, the first containing two notes, the second five, and so on. In the third bar, the // signifies a pause of indeterminate length. The symbol in the last bar after the last note is a rest. This allows the eye to see the end of a verse more clearly. Yes the notes are quarter notes, crotchets in the British terminology, and the rest is a quarter note rest, but there is no specific time value to any of them in this music.
Psalm 80 verse 2 |
Compare these two verses with the original hand written work by Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura. She uses a custom notation. The white notes with tails show the syllable holding the accent. Her notation is also one where no specific duration values are intended. Both standard and custom notations imply a recitative in speech rhythm for prose. Strong syllabic rhythms will be heard in most psalms.
The non-standard notation of Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura |
She also uses a different mode. There’s nothing in the Hebrew that tells us what the key signature or the mode should be. At least, there’s nothing we’ve found so far. And she uses the Letteris edition. This will result in some differences in the recitation notes. See this post for an explanation of why we should use an earlier edition of the text. The optimum text is the Aleppo codex. An electronic version is here.
Here is the text and the score!
1 For the leader. On lilies. A testimony of Asaph, a psalm. |
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א למנצ֥ח אל־ששנ֑ים עד֖ות לאס֣ף מזמֽור |
8 7 |
a lmnxk al-wownim ydut lasf mzmor |
|
2 ♪~ Shepherd of Israel give ear,
driving Joseph like a flock, sitting on the cherubim, shine. |
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ב ר֘ע֤ה ישרא֨ל האז֗ינה נה֣ג כצ֣אן יוס֑ף יש֖ב הכרוב֣ים הופֽיעה |
15 8 |
b royh iwral hazinh nohg cxan iosf
iowb hcrubim hopiyh |
The Hebrew in square text above is the actual score
as it is written in the Hebrew cantillation signs of the Westminster
Leningrad Codex. I have eliminated the vowels so the cantillation signs
stand out. You can trace exactly the impact of each sign on the score. There
are no ornaments in the setting of the inscription (verse 1), so the role of
the signs under the text is very evident. The music can be read directly
from the Hebrew once the singer can associate the reciting notes and
ornaments with each of the signs. Here is a blow by blow description --
almost as simple as Do Re Mi. Where is Julie Andrews when I need
her!
למנצ֥ח lmnxk – start on e, move to f on the
syllable xk.
אל־ששנ֑ים al-wownim – continue on f, move to the resting note A on nim.
עד֖ות ydut
– continue on A, move to g on dut.
לאס֣ף lasf
– continue on g, move to B on sf.
מזמֽור mzmor
– continue on B, close on the tonic e on the syllable mor.
Verse 2 continues with the reciting note on the tonic, but
the opening note starting on a note below the tonic connects the verse to
something that has preceded it. I did not make this idea up from thin air. It is simply an observation
based on hundreds of examples I have seen. We will see many examples of this
kind of connection. They are on every page of the music of the Bible. In
this case it may be the inscription, particularly the word wownim (lilies)
that was on the resting point in verse 1.
ר֘ע֤ה royh – ornament the first syllable (take your time and remember you
are singing on lilies). On the second syllable, move to C.
ישרא֨ל iwral
– continue on C and ornament the last syllable al.
האז֗ינה hazinh – continue on C and ornament the second syllable zi.
נה֣ג nohg
–
continue on C, move to B on hg.
כצ֣אן cxan
– continue on B, the word accent is on the second syllable - no
change in recitation pitch but the accent shows accentuation also when
needed.
יוס֑ף iosf
– continue on B, and move to A, the rest note on sf.
יש֖ב iowb
– continue on A, move to g on wb.
הכרוב֣ים hcrubim – continue on g, move to B on bim.
הופֽיעה hopiyh – continue on B, close on the tonic e for the last two
syllables piyh.
You may have noticed that there are differences between the text that
Haïk-Vantoura is using and the older Leningrad codex. She has a mark on
al-wownim that returns her to the tonic. And a similar mark in verse 2 drags
the melody to the tonic on hazinh.
These are errors in the 19th century text that she was
using. But it’s clearly the same song. We will see this technical problem and
others as we proceed.
The above description raises a question about automated transcription. It might be easier to use a recitative format and not resolve every syllable in the Hebrew. This would make easier sight reading for some audiences. Arabic hymn books make use of a right to left music staff. This technique could make for a complete right to left Hebrew rendition.
I have chosen the detailed syllabic approach for the Hebrew lyrics with additional text lines for translation below and original Hebrew above right to left by letter, and left to right by word.
I have not used every mark in the Hebrew manuscripts. In particular, Haïk-Vantoura does not consider the pesiq to be relevant to the music. It may be useful to emphasize word separation, but it has no other purpose. I keep my eye on them just in case, but many of them are additions to the MS over the last 10 centuries and I have seen none so far that have any serious impact. (More detail on the pesiq here if you want to do the research.)
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