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Music of the Bible: Development, Destruction, and Discovery
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12021 |
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Section : |
THE ARTS
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| Issue
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12 / 1987 |
2,482 Words |
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Tom Pniewski
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In addition to being one of the world's great compilations of sacred and historical literature, the Bible is one of its most important musical texts. For thousands of years it has been a source of information and inspiration, providing source material for composers and furnishing scholars with documents, tantalizing fragments of one of the oldest musical traditions on earth.
The Bible's musical documentation is fragmentary, for many reasons. It includes no musical notation (see the Appendix, however, for an interesting theory regarding the Psalms), and its descriptions of instruments and performance practices are often difficult to interpret, due to obscure or forgotten terms. But recent years have seen much archaeological and enthnomusicological activity in the Middle East, and the results of these researches, applied to biblical accounts, make possible a partial reconstruction of ancient Jewish musical practices.
A few generalizations have merged concerning music and its role in Jewish life during the biblical era:
·There was a priority given to vocal music over instrumental, to singing and chanting (even if accompanied by instruments) ver purely abstract instrumental music. This preference is found in many ancient cultures and persists to this day in parts of Asia.
·There was a highly organized oral tradition of performance and interpretation, which was preserved by a large professional organization.
·There were remnants of many ancient popular musical forms, among them war songs (boasts, laments), work songs (for builders, well-drillers), love and wedding songs, and drinking songs.
Historical and other considerations severely limited the kinds of information that survived the biblical era. Being a religious text, the Bible naturally includes less information on secular than sacred music. Just as medieval monks largely ignored the popular music of their day--and modern universities still emphasize the grand tradition of Bach and Beethoven, discounting the majority's preference for Elvis Presley and music videos--Jewish writers concentrated on sacred music when they treated music at all.
The climate and geology of the Middle East do not favor the preservation of materials; musical instruments, being largely made of organic materials, disintegrated over the years. Only fragments have been found (see Appendix), mostly of bronze cymbals and rattles, and these are often hard to identify. Moreover, the sites of greatest interest--notably the Temple of Jerusalem itself--are functioning religious shrines where major excavation is prohibited.
The greatest tragedy came with the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in AD 70 and the subsequent dispersal of the Jews. It was only at the Temple that elaborate music was performed and musicians were trained. Only the Temple had an altar and sacrifices, at which the sophisticated singing with instruments was heard; synagogues were essentially places of study and learning, and had no instrumental music. With the destruction of the Temple and the scattering of its musicians, the oral tradition was broken overnight. Understandably, the Jews went into national mourning after this calamity,
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