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MUS IC IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
US IC belongs to the inalienable r ights of man . Iti s the effort to make one’s self intell igible to his
fellow men by means of the stimulation of sounds of allkinds . Music exists wherever men are found upon theearth and everywhere they show a genuine refinement inthe discovery of means by which to originate sounds . Therei s hardly anything which can not be brought into use for
its purposes .We do not intend to lose ourselves here in speculation
upon the psychological reasons for this demoniac impulse ;we w i l l be content s imply to establ ish the fact and wil l notenter into it with regard to humanity in general
,but only
in so far as the ancient people of Israel i s concerned .
Even with relation to the O ld Testament we wil l l imitourselves to what the O ld Testament itself can tell usabout music and musical things .Many passages have proved very puzzl ing to B ible
readers . For instance when we read in the heading ofPsalm lxxx
,
“To the chief Musician upon Shoshann imEduth
,A Psalm of Asaph” ; or in the heading of Ps. lx .
,
“To the chief Musician upon Shushan-eduth ,M ichtam
of David , to teach”; or in the heading of Ps. lvi , To the
chief Music ian upon jonath-elem-rechokim,M ichtam of
David” ; or when Psalms vii i , lxxxi , and lxxxiv, bear theinscript ion “To the ch i ef Music ian upon Gitt ith ;
'
or thethree , xxx1x , lxi i , and lxxvi i
“to Jeduthun” ; we may cer
2"
MUSIC IN THE OLD TESTAMENT .
tain ly assume that we have an explanation for these hiero
glyphics in consider ing that they possess some kind of a
musical character . 2 Accordingly it will be our task to
gather together and to s ift out the information given bythe O ld Testament itsel f upon music and musical mattersand then to see whether we can unite and combine thesescattered and isolated features into one comprehensive picture or at least into a comparatively clear idea . I t i s onlyscattered and isolated features which the O ld Testamentoffers us and not very much of them nor very abundant ly .
Not perhaps because music had p layed a subord inate andinconspicuous part in the life of ancient I srael ,—on thecontrary they must have been a people of an unusuallymusical temperament whose daily nourishment was songand sound . On this point the O ld Testament itself leaves
l ittle room for doubt .Everywhere and at al l t imes were song and music to
be found in Ancient I srael . Every festival occas ion,every
climax of public or private li fe was celebrated with musicand song . Just as Homer called s inging and string music“ the consecration of the meal ,
”3 so also in ancient I sraelno ceremonial meal could be thought of without its aocompan imentof either vocal or instrumental music . Marriage ceremonies took place amid festive choruses w ithmusic and dancing, and at the bier of the dead sounded thewail of dirge and flute . The sheep were sheared and thevintage gathered to songs of joy and dancing and tambourime playing . The same was true in publ ic li fe . The
’Luther in hi s tran slat ion makes an attempt to translate these “h iero
glyphics, but the above quoted mean ingles s combinat ions o f letters from theK ing James vers ion hardly convey less s ign ifi cance to the reader of to-daythan h is sentences : “
Ez’
n Psa lm Assaphs von den Spanrosen , vorzusingen”( lxxx ) “
Ein gii lden K lez'
nod Davids, vorzusingen , von einem gii ldenen Rosenspan zu lehren
”(1x) etc . Professor Corn i ll cons iders the Engl ish translat ion
“To the ch ief Mus ic ian” as preferable to Luther’s vorzusi'ngen . The Polychrome B ible translates th i s word “
! or the Litu rgy ,
” and interprets the succeeding clauses as “the catch-word of an older song, to the tune whereof thi sPsalm was to be sung.
” Tr.“draflfiuara aat-Hi s,
M U S I C IN TH E OLD TESTAM ENT . 3
election of a king or his coronation or betrotha l were cele
brated with music ; the victor ious warriors and generalswere met upon their return home by choruses of matronsand maidens with dance and song . So M ir iam spoke fromamong the chorus of women who after the successful passage through the Red Sea went out “with t imbrels andwith dances” (Ex . xv . in the same way too, Davidwas received by matrons and ma idens after his successfulbattle with the Philistines ( 1 Sam . xvii i . 6) and upon thi scustom is founded the frightful tragedy of the story ofJephthah , whose daughter hastened in the joy of her heartto offer greeting and pra ise to her victorious father
,only
to be met by death as the fulfilment of h i s vow (Judgesxi ) .
How great a place music occupied in the worship ofancient Israel i s universally known . The enti re Psalter isnothing else than a collection of religious songs wh ich weresung in the temple worship where the priests w ith thei rtrumpets and the choruses of music-making Levites standbefore the eye of
‘
our imaginat ion . Espec ial ly by typ ica lexpress ions do we learn what a sign ificance mus ic had forthe l ife of the I sraelit ish nation . There i s in Hebrew asaying wh ich character izes what we would call being “
com
mon talk,” “ the obj ect of gossip ,
” “on everybody’s tongue,
”
in such a way as to indicate ditties sung in ridicule . TheHebrew expression neginah
“ means “ string mus ic,
” beingderived from the word nagan ,
5 “ to beat,
” “ to touch,
” withspec ial reference to instruments , as in striking the chords .In Psalm lxix . 12 , thi s word neginah i s used in a passagewhich literally reads : “ I am the lute song of drunkards
.
”
The Polychrome Bible translates the passage : “ I am thesubject of wine bibbers’ ballads . ” In the same sense theword is used in Job xxx . 9, with reference to the fr ightfulfate that had befallen him :
“And now am I their song,yea
4 fl i ‘JJ
4 MUSI C IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
I am their byword . And in Lamentat ions we find ( i i i . I 4 ,“ I was a deris ion to al l my people ; and their song
all the day . Behold their s itting down , and their r is ingup ; I am their music . Here the word translated
“
song”
and music” is the same in both instances . When Job’
sfortune changes to evi l he says (xxx . My harp also
i s turned to mourning,and my organ into the voice of
them that weep .
” The dreadful desolation of Jerusalemafter its destruction i s described in Lamentations with thewords : “The elders have ceased from the gate, the youngmen from their music” (v . I 4 ) .
Ancient I srael must have been recognized among outs ide nations as well
,as a particularly musical people whose
accomplishments in the art comprised a definite profession .
For this view we have two extremely characterist ic sourcesof evidence
,one from Assyrian monuments and one from
the O ld Testament . In his account of the unsuccessfuls iege of Jerusalem by the Assyrians in the year 70 1 B . C .
Sanherib tells us , according to the translation of HugoWinckler , that Hezekiah , king of Judah , besides all kindsof valuable art icles sent also his daughters and the womenof his palace together w ith men and women singers to thegreat king at N ineveh
,while in the touching Psalm cxxxvi i
we learn that the Babylonian tyrant demanded songs'
of theJewish exiles
,to cheer them up : “
S ing to us your beautifulsongs of ! ion .
”
Jewish tradition has given expression to the fact thatmusic belongs to the ear l iest benefits and gifts of the culture of mankind by establ ish ing Jubal as the inventor ofmusic and father of musicians as early as the seventh generation after the creation (Gen . iv . An importantinfluence on the human heart was ascribed to music and itwas employed to drive away the evil spirit of melancholywhen David played before the sick King Saul ( 1 Sam . xv i .
I t was also used as a spiritual stimulus by wh ich to
MUS I C I N THE OLD TESTAMENT . 5
acquire prophetic inspiration . In Samuel’s time companiesof prophets traversed the land to the music of psalter andharp ( 1 Sam . x . and so the Prophet El isha to whomthe Kings Jehoshaphat and Jehoram appl ied for an oraclefrom God
,sent for a lute player , saying (2 Kings i i i . 15 )
“But now bring me a minstrel . And it came to pass , whenthe minstrel played
,that the hand of the Lord came upon
him .
”
An art to which such a powerful influence was attrib
uted and to whose most famous ma-sters the greatest kingof I srael belonged
,must have been zealously practised
,and
we will now undertake to gain some idea of the cultivationof music in ancient I srael . To this end it will be mostuseful i f we will begin our investigation with what theO ld Testament says about musical instruments
,of course
with express exception of the book of Daniel wh ich in itsthird chapter mentions a large number of instruments ,using their Greek names as natural ized words ;
6 for theseprove absolutely nothing with regard to ancient Hebrewmusic which at present i s our only consideration .
We may with equal propriety exclude singing from ourinvestigation . Song is such an especially instinctive andspontaneous expression of the human soul that its presence l s established a priori . In this connection the questionmight be raised with regard to the construction of thetone system , but this can not be answered without knowledge of the instruments employed . Only I wil l not neglectto mention that as early as in the t ime of David professional male and female singers provided music during
mealtime . David wished to take with h im to Jerusalemas a reward for fidelity the faithful old Barzi lla i who hadprotected him at the time of Absalom’s rebell ion . Therehe would be the daily guest of the king ; but Barzi lla i answered (2 Sam . xix . I am th i s day fourscore years
° m7pvy£, oaufi fil m, Kt'
0apts, wax'
rfipcov, avu¢wvla ,
6 MUSI C I N TH E OLD TESTAMENT .
old ; and can I d iscern between good and evi l ? Can thyservant taste what I eat or what I drink ? Can I hear anymore the voice of singing men and singing women ? Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lordthe king ? ” Solomon
,the Preacher , also del ighted in men
s ingers and women Singers and the delights of the sons ofmen
,as musical instruments and that of al l sorts” (Eccl .
i i .
Musica l instruments are usually divided into three classes
, percusswe instruments , stringed instruments , and windinstruments
,and we shal l also follow th is divis ion . Of
these three classes the percussive instruments are the mostprimitive . They can not be said to possess any properlyarticulated tones but sounds only
,and their s ingle artistic
element i s rhythm,which however i s certainly the foun
dat ion and essent ia l characteri stic of music according tothe witty utterance of Hans von B ii low ,
“ In the beginningwas the rhythm .
”
Among percussive instruments the one most frequentlymentioned is the timbrel or tabret ( in Hebrew toph
”) wh ich
corresponds exactly to our tambourine . Often they wererichly ornamented so that they were frequently referredto as decorations . In one of the most splendid passagesof the prophet Jeremiah , we read :
“Again I will build thee ,and thou shalt be built , O virgin of Israel ; thou shalt againbe adorned with thy tabrets , and shalt go forth in thedances of them that make merry” (Jer . xxxi . Thispassage i s particularly character ist ic of the nature of thetabret in two respects ; first , it usually appears in the handsof women ( in al l passages where tabret players are expressly mentioned they are matrons and maidens ) ; andsecondly it almost a lways appears in connection with the
MUS I C I N TH E OLD TESTAMENT . 7
dance,a s being swung in the dance and marking its
rhythm . We can suppose it to have been undoubtedlyplayed by men only in connection with the music of thecompanies of prophets in Samuel’s time , for i f we read
that these prophets came down from the sacred high placewith a psaltery
,and a tabret , and a pipe, and a harp before
them I Sam . x . we would hardly think of the musi
c ians who accompanied these wild men and played the
tabrets before them,as women .
The second percussive instrument i s the famil iar cym
bal,which comes next to our mind in thinking of the music
of the O ld Testament . With regard to the nature andcharacter of this instrument we can gather al l that i s es
sential from the Bible itself . In the first place the cymbalmust have been constructed of brass
,for in the familiar
passage,I Cor . xii i . I , the Apostle Paul writes according
to the Greek text,
“Though I speak with the tongues ofmen and of angels
,and have not charity I am become as
sounding brass,or a t inkling cymbal . ” The Hebrew root
t‘
salal8 from which both words for cymbal are derived,
means clatter , to give forth a Sharp penetrating sound ;and the word most frequently used
,mets iltayim
" i s in thedual form which is never used in the Hebrew language inits purely grammatical sense
,but only in the logical sense
of things which occur in nature only in pairs . Now s incea penetrating and loud tone is repeatedly attr ibuted to thecymbals we may consider them as two metal plates to bestruck together (Fig . 4 ) that i s to say , they are the instruments which we know as cymbals and which are knownin German as B ecken and in I talian as Matti , and whichare most famil iar to us in military music in comb inationwith a bass drum .
Two other percussive instruments are ment ioned ofwhich one is st il l doubtful . The one which is undoubtedly
8 9xv i
8 MUSIC IN TH E OLD TESTAMENT .
certain, mena
‘
an‘
z’
m (2 Sam . v i . 5 ) evidently comes fromthe root nua‘
,
11 “ to shake” and corresponds exactly withthe Greek si strum12 which consists of metal crossbars uponwhich hang metal r ings that are made to produce theirtones by shaking (Fig . Accordingly in current language i t i s the Turkish bell-tree
,the cinelli , with which
we are famil iar also through German military music .
Then too an instrument called the shalish13 i s men
tioned in the hands of women together with the tabret atthe tr iumphant reception of David upon his return fromthe conquest of the giant Goliath I Sam . xvii i . Theword shalish being derived from the same root as shalosh,the number “ three, we have been accustomed to identifyi t with our modern tr iangle
,but it i s a question whether
we are justified in so doing . With this instrument wehave exhausted the number of percuss ive instruments mentioned in the O ld Testament .It might perhaps be more logical for us to follow the
percuss ive instruments at once with the wind instruments,
inasmuch as they are the most primitive next to the percussive instruments because horns of animals and reedsare nature’s own gifts to men
,while str ings made from
catgut are a purely artificial product . But as far as ancient I srael was concerned the str inged instruments wereby far the most important . I will remind my readers once
more of the proverbial application of the word stringmusic above mentioned .
Accordingly I will next consider the stringed instruments , of which the O ld Testament mentions two , thekinnor
,
“ and nebel . 15 That both were composed of stringsdrawn across wood (Fig . 8) may be proved , in so far asi t needs proof , by the fact that according to I Kings x . 12 ,
Solomon ordered certain instruments of this class intendedfor the temple serv ice to be made out of sandal wood
,
10D‘J’Jll in ‘2 e a‘
rpov13W‘BW 1‘“
1133
MUS IC I N THE OLD TESTAMENT . 9
which he had obtained during his famous vis its to Ophir .Of these two instruments the kinnor is the most important ,but I wil l begin with the nebel because we have the moredefinite tradition with regard to it . When Jerome tellsus that the nebel
,whose name became nabla16 and nablium
in Greek and Latin,possessed the form of a Greek Delta A,
we thus have the triangular pointed harp indicated asplainly as possible (Fig . I ) . The only obj ect ion that canbe brought against thi s view , namely that we repeatedlymeet this instrument in the hands of dancers and pilgrims ,i s not sound . In representations of Ancient Egypt , wealso have harps so smal l that they could eas ily be carried
(Fig. and the best commentaries have lately Shown usAssyrian representations where pointed harps with thepoints at the top and fastened with a band were l ikew i secarr ied in the hands of dancing processions (Fig . I f
the points of these Assyr ian harps were regularly at thetop
,thi s will explain to us better St . Jerome’s comparison
w ith the Greek Delta which of course has the point at thetop .
Especially noteworthy among others i s an Assyr ianrepresentat ion (Fig. 15 ) in which three prisoners are being led into exile by an Assyrian king
,and all three are
playing four-stringed harps on the march,but the harps
are so turned that the broad side i s on top . I t i s very possible that these figures may represent captive I srael ites .There must have been several varieties of nebel ( e . g . ,
Fig. A harp of ten strings (dekachord ) i s repeatedlymentioned17 in clear distinction from the usual ones whichaccordingly must have had fewer than ten str ings
,perhaps
four as in that Assyrian sketch . An instrument of s ix
strings i s the interpretation of many exeget ists of theword shushan 18 which Luther translates by Rosen in thehead ings to Psalms xlv , lx , lx ix and lxxx . When we read
Ps. xxxi i i . 2 ; xcn . 4 ; cvliv. g.
‘3“221W
in Luther’s B ible in the head ings to Psalms v i and x i i tobe rendered on eight strings
,
” 19 thi s i s hardly an accuratetranslation of a musical term with which we shall occupy
ourselves later .By far the most important str inged instrument on the
other hand,i s the kinnor . Its invention is ascribed to
Jubal,and we meet with it on every hand in the most varied
occasions . The exiles hung them on the willows by thewaters of Babylon (PS . cxxxvii . 2 ) and according to apassage in the book of I saiah , which to be sure comes froma much later date , probably the Greek period , they are usedby har lots for the public allurement of men ( I s . xxii i .For us the kinnor has indeed a conspicuous interest and
a particular significance in that it was the instrument ofKing David , by which the son of Jesse subdued the melancholy of King San ] , and which he played when dancingbefore the ark . We are particularly fortunate in possess ing an authentic copy of this instrument on an Egyptianmonument . On the tomb of Chnumhotep, the Prince ofM iddle Egypt at Beni Hassan in the time of PharaohU surtesen II of the 12th dynasty , which can not be placed laterthan 2300 B . C.
,a procession of Semitic nomads i s repre
sented which Chnumhotep i s leading into the presence ofPharaoh in order to obtain the royal permission for adwelling place in Egypt . In this procession a man whocomes immediately behind the women and children is carrying by a leather thong an instrument which we can notfai l to recogn ize as the kinnor (Fig . 3, cf . also Fig . I ti s a board w ith four rounded corners and with a soundinghole in the upper part over which eight strings arestretched . The man picks the strings with the fingers ofh i s left hand wh i le he strikes them with a so- called plec
The Polych rome B .ble here understands i n the e ighth !mode] or key.The author ized vers ion aga in resorts to a transcript ion of the Hebrew,
“On
Neginoth upon Shem in ith .
”Dr. Corn ill
’
s v iew i s given on pages 257 f. Tr.
MUS IC IN THE OLD TESTAMENT . I I
trum ,a small stick held in hi s r ight hand . That the
I sraelites also played their stringed instruments partly withtheir fingers and partly by means of such a plectrum wemight conclude from the two characterist ically differentexpressions for playing on strings : zamar,
21 “ to pluck,”
and nagan ,
22 “ to str ike .
” All antiquity was unacquaintedwith the use of bows to produce sound from stringed in
struments of any kind .
Hence the kinnor may first of al l be compared to ourz ither
,except that i t apparently had no hollow space under
neath and no special sounding board . The str inged in
struments as they are represented in countless differentvarieties on
‘ Jew ish coins (Figs . I3 and 14 ) do not corre
spond either with the nebel or the kinnor but much moreclosely resemble the G reek lyre23 and therefore have littlevalue with reference to the O ld Testament .We might also consider the gittith a str inged instru
ment where the headings to Ps . vi i i , lxxxi , and lxxxiv , read“upon Gittith .
”24 But it i s very doubtful whether the word
gittith” translates a musical instrument and not rather a
particular kind of song or melody . In either case it will bebetter not to confuse the old Israeliti sh temple orchestrawith the gittith .
We have sti ll to consider the wind instruments . One
of these whose invention is l ikewise ascribed to Jubal i scalled the Besides in Gen . iv . 2 1
,i t i s mentioned
twice in the book of Job , and once in PS . cl,in wh ich all
instruments and everything that hath breath are summoned to give praise and thanksgiving to God (Ps . cl . 4 ;Job xxi . 12 ; xxx . This ‘
agab i s most probably the9° n l fix
‘
rpov21 173? 22
13323 Mpa
“ The Polychrome Bible comments : W e do not know whether G ittithmeans ‘
belong mg to th e c ity of Gath ,’ which probably had been destroyed before the Babylon ian Ex i le , or ‘
belongmg to a w ine-p ress’ ( z Song for theor whether i t denotes a mode or key, or a mus ical instrument .” Tr .
25 11‘s“)
9° It i s translated in the authorized vers ion by organ , but in P5 . cl .
4 , in the margin , as“p ipe .” Tr .
12 MUSIC I N THE OLD TESTAMENT .
same as the bag-pipe which is of course a very primit iveand widely spread instrument famil iar to us as the nationalinstrument of the Scotch
, and best known in continentalEurope as the pifi erari of Italy . It has been customaryto translate ‘
ngab! by “ shawm”
; Luther cal ls it“p ipes
(Pfeifen ) .
The most important reed instrument , the flute , we findreferred to as khali l,
27 only in five passages : w ith thethundering music of the prophets ( 1 Sam . x . at theproclamation of Solomon as the successor of David ( 1
Kings i . twice in the book of I saiah,in connection
w ith the dinner music of the r ich gluttons and winebibbersat Jerusalem (v . and also when one goeth with thepipe to come into the mountain of the Lord” (xxx .
and finally once in the book of Jeremiah as the instrumentof mourning and lamentation , where we read (xlvi i i .“Therefore m ine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes . ”
In th i s connection we are reminded to some extent of theawakening of Jairus
’
s l ittle daughter . When Jesus reachedthe house of mourning he found there before him fluteplayers and weeping women28 (Matt . ix . 23 ; Mark v .
Of the construction of these flutes the O ld Testamenttells us noth ing and leaves nothing to be inferred
,and yet
we imagine that the khali l was not a transverse flute butprobably a sort of beaked flute , thus corresponding muchmore closely to our clar inet . We find the transverse flutesonly in very isolated cases on Egyptian monuments , wh i l eon the other hand we find the beaked flutes regularly in anoverwhelming major ity w ith the Assyrians
,and indeed
S ince thi s art icl e appeared m The Monzst Mr. Ph i l l ips Bar ry m a veryreadable article (Mom
'
st ! I ! , July, 1909, pp . 459-461 ) has po inted out thatth e trad it ional render ing of ‘
ugab as“bagp ipe, is notwel l founded , but rest s
upon an error . Just what the ‘
ugab is , however, Barry himsel f i s not able tosay.
Tran slated in the author ized vers ion by “p ipe . Tr .3’The Engl i sh vers ion speaks s imply of ‘‘m instrel s and the peop le mak ing
a noise,’ without tran slat ing the k ind of in strument used. Tr.
MUSI C I N THE OLD TESTAMENT .I 3
often composed of two tubes as was the common form
among the Greeks (Fig . But nearer than this we
can not affirm anything with regard to their use in ancient
I sraeL
We find animal horns ment ioned twice among windinstruments
,as ram’s horns
,once indeed in connection
with the theophany of S inai (Exodus xix . I3) and once
at the capture of Jericho (Josh . vi . The term“
horn ,”
qeren ,
29 for a musical instrument comes under Greek in
fluence again in the book of Daniel . On the other hand inO ld Testament times on lv the two forms shofar
30 andhatsot
‘
serah3 1 were in common use . On the tr iumphal arch
of Titus (Figs . 16 and I 7 ) and on two Jewish coins
(Fig . 18) we have esthetic representat ions of the hatsot
serah which was peculiarly the instrument of worship andwas blown by the priests . According to Num . x , two hatsotseroth ( the word always occurs in the plural in theHebrew w ith one exception ) were to be fashioned out ofs ilver by skilful handiwork and there the priests made useof them to call together the people and to announce thefeasts and new moons . That these instruments in theancient temple were indeed of si lver we learn also from anincidental notice in 2 Kings xii . I3, in the reign of KingJoash . According to many pictures they are rather longand slender and perfectly straight
,widen ing gradually in
front into a bell’
mouth,hence the very instruments which
the pictures of ancient art used to place in the hands ofangels , and which may best be compared with the so-calledclar ion of ancient music
,a kind of clarinet made of metal .
The wind instrument which i s second in importance,
the shofar, sti l l plays a part in the worship of the synagogue, but in the O ld Testament , as far as rel igious usei s concerned it i s far behind the hatsotserah . Accordingto Jerome the horn of the shofar i s bent backward in con
99m 3015 1W 3!mama
414 MUS I C IN THE OLD TESTAMENT .
trast to the straight horn of the hatsotserah . I t i s espe
c ially the instrument for sounding signals of alarm ,for
wh ich purpose it was widely used . According to lawthi s trumpet was to be sounded on the day of atonementevery forty-ninth year , the year of jubilee (Lev . xxv .
There i s a noteworthy passage in the book of I saiah wherei t says that on that day a t the sounding of the great trumpet (shofar) all the Jews scattered and exiled throughoutthe whole world shall come back to worship in the holy
mount at Jerusalem ( I s . xxvii . I3) and thi s eschatologicaland apocalyptical passage has also become significant withregard to the New Testament , for from it the ApostlePaul takes the trump of the last judgment by whose soundthe dead wil l ar i se according to I Cor . xv . 52 ,
and I Thess .iv . 16. (Cf . also Matt . xxiv . According to theprophet ! echariah the Lord of Sabaoth himself shal l blowthe trumpet (shofar) at the last judgment ( ! ech . ix .
Whether the ancient I sraelites really played melodiesor signals in the natural tones of the bugle or the signaltrumpet we do not know . We have only two characterist ically different expressions for the blowing on the shofarand hatsotserah , viz . ,
“blow”32 on the instruments and“how1”33 on them . By the first word is meant to make anoise by short sharp blasts and by the last
,by long drawn
out ringing notes . This i s what we learn from the O ldTestament about musical instruments of ancient Israeland their use .
>1<
The character of the music of ancient I srael we mustconsider in general as merry and gay, almost boisterous ,so that it seemed advisable to refrain from music in thepresence of men who were i ll-tempered or moody . In the
P roverbs of Solomon xxv . 20, we have the expressive
simi le ,“as vinegar upon nitre so is he that singeth songs
32 ppmtaka‘ 33 Iran her i 'a
I 6 MUSI C IN TH E OLD TESTAMENT .
and the hall was much too small for the number of themembers of the Congress
,which seemed to be the chronic
state of things in Algiers . Hence with my particular giftalways and everywhere to get the worst place, I waspressed against the farthest wall
,where it was necessary
in this instance to stand for two good hours wedged in a
fearfully crowded corner,and so
,greatly to my sorrow,
many occurrences escaped me .
St i l l the impression of the whole was decidedly str iking
,presumably because of the difference between male and
female singing . Never did both groups perform togetherin a mixed chorus ( just as Oriental s do not recognize adance between men and women ) but each group sang byitself . The song and music of the men was very solemnand dignified
,in slow time without a dist inct rhythm or
melodious cadence,but in a sort of recitat ive (Spreen
gesang ) which is now in vogue in the latest music . Themusic of the women was very different . In their performance al l was fire and l ife . They sang in a pronouncedmelody with sharply accentuated rhvthm in a pass ionatetempo, and they treated the instruments upon which theyaccompanied their singing with incredible expression . Notonly throat and fingers but the whole person in all its members was engaged in making music . I f we may imaginethe women who sang in ancient I srael entirely or approx imately like their modern feminine counterparts
,it i s easy
to understand how a man l ike the prophet Amos at theoutbreak of such a band in the temple at Bethel might havereceived the impression of a “variety show” in church .
And another thing occurred to me in connection with thesongs of those women
,that according to the language of
music they are all composed in minor , and indeed onlyin the two scales of D M inor and A M inor
,which with
their characteri stic intervals in the case of the so-called“church” keys have been named Doric and Aeolic
,
— so
MUSI C IN THE OLD TESTAMENT . I 7
then we see that just as a deep meaning often lies in thegames of children
,the famil iar German pun that the trum
pets of the Israelites before the walls of Jericho wereblown in the key of D M inor (D mall ) because they de
mal ished those walls , was not made entirely out of whole
cloth .
This brings us quite naturally to the question whetheror not the music of ancient I srael had a tone system anda definite scale . When even on the earliest Egypt ian andAssyrian monuments the pointed harps have strings ofconstantly diminishing length and the flutes have soundholes where the players manipulate their fingers
,i t i s ab
solutely necessary for us to investigate this question , forthese pictor ia l i llustrations testify to definite tones of varying pitch and in that case a fixed scale must have previouslyexisted .
To be sure I must at the outset abandon one means ofdetermining this scale
,and that i s accent . Besides the
vowel S igns our Hebrew texts have also so-cal led accentswhich perform a threefold function ; first as accent in itsproper s ignification to indicate the stress of voice
,then as
punctuation marks,and finally as musical notation . This
accent also denotes a definite melisma,or a definite cadence
according to which the emphasized word in the intoneddiscourse of the synagogue ( the so—called n iggun
“) was
to be recited . The learned bishop of the Moravian Brethren and counsellor of the Brandenburg consistory
,Daniel
Ernst Jablonski,in the preface to the Berlin edition of 1699
of the O ld Testament made under his patronage,under
took to rewrite these accents according to the custom ofthe S efardz
'
m, ( that i s , of the Spanish-Portuguese Jews )
in modern notes and has thus rewritten in notes one longercoherent passage in Genesis (xlvi i i . I 5 , which Isometimes have occas ion to sing to my students at col
34 11:
18 MUSI C I N TH E OLD TESTAMENT .
lege . But this n iggun ,as evidence has lately been found
to prove,i s of Christian origin
,an imitation of the so
cal led nanni es, used in the Greco-Syrian communities ofthe Orient in reciting the Gospels
,and accordingly has been
handed down from the church to the syn agogue,and so
for ancient I srael and its music has no meaning —at leastdirectly
,for the Church was essentially under Greek in
fluence, and Greek music must not be identified with thatof ancient Israel
,nor must the latter be constructed accord
ing to the former . The only trace , although an uncertainone
,in the O ld Testament itself appears in the expression
which I have however already mentioned,and which Lu
ther translates “on eight strings” (auf achtS aiten ) . Butin Hebrew the word i s shemin ith
,
36 meaning “ordinal number” so that we must not translate “on eight” but “on (orafter ) the eighth .
” Accordingly a musician can hardly dootherwise than insert thi s “ eighth” in the famil iar octave,the foundation of our tone system
,and assume that the
ancient I sraelites also had a scale of seven intervals so thatthe eighth becomes the same scale but placed an octavehigher . And thi s interpretation has also a support in theO ld Testament . Our principal source for the music ofancient I srael i s the B ibl ical book of Chronicles which has
evidently been written by a special ist,a Levitical musician
of the temple,who offers us a complete ser ies of technical
statements with regard to ancient musical culture . So weread in one of the most important passages ( 1 Chron . xv .
20,2 1 ) that a circle of temple musicians played upon the
nebel,the harp
,al alamathf
'7 l iterally translated “after themanner of maidens ,
” and another on the kinnor,the lute
,
al haslflshemin ith,38 l iterally,
“after the eighth .
” By thedes ignation “after the manner of maidens” can only bemeant the high clear voices of women
,that i s to say so
prano,and then it is of course natural to see in the “ eighth”
35 vevuara .
36 n-mv 37 1111571: by 38m ama 51:
MUSI C IN THE OLD TESTAMENT . 19
the deeper voices of the men an octave lower . I f this combination i s correct
,and it i s at least very promising, we
see clearly proven in it the existence of a scale of sevenintervals
,even if we know nothing about the particular
intervals and their relation to each other .Another characteri stic of the music of ancient I srael
i s that it does not take into account pure instrumentalmusic
,the so-called absolute music , but on the contrary
regards instruments simply as accompaniment for Singing .
The usage of the language i s s ignificant with regard tothis point . The Hebrew calls instruments kele hashshir,
39
“ instruments of song” and calls musicians s imply “ s ingers” ; for it has long been observed that in the passageswhich treat of s ingers in the proper sense a particular formof the participle i s a lways found , the so-called K al
,
4 0 whileanother participial form of the same root
,the so-called
Polel,
4 1 designates musicians in general . Accordingly I Srael considers the essential nature and the foundation ofall music to be in song
,in M elas . And what an ingenious
instinct , what an artistic del icacy of feel ing i s given utterance in this designation ! The end pursued by modernmusic is to compress the living human voice into a deadinstrument , while the great musicians of al l times haveconsidered it their task rather to let the instruments sing
,
to put a l iving human soul into the dead wood,metal
,or
Sheepgut. Such was the case with the people of I srael .Likewise the music of ancient I srael knew nothing of
polyphony which is an abomination to Oriental s in general . And to be sure must not polyphony be designated asa two-edged sword ? For counterpoint i s commonly understood to come in exactly at the point when the musician
lacks melody and conception . And what is even the mostartistic polyphony of a Richard Strauss or a Max Regercompared to the heavenly melody of the larghetto in MO
39Tan “7: 40 41mm:
20 MUS IC I N THE OLD TESTAMENT .
zart’
s clar inet quintet ! What the chronicler considers anidea l performance is stated in a characteri stic passage :“ I t came even to pass
,as the trumpeters and Singers were
as one,to make one sound to be heard in prai sing and
thanking the Lord” (2 Chron . v . Hence a singlepowerful nnisana i s the ideal of the music of ancient I srael .
The passage of Chronicles above quoted, leads us to thededication of Solomon’s temple . And since I srael i s thenation of rel igion
,and as we are moreover best informed
by the chronicler just about temple music,we shall in con
elus ion make an attempt to sketch a picture of the templemusic of ancient I srael .With regard to the orchestra of the temple
,the lack of
wooden wind- instruments is noteworthy . Even the flutei s mentioned only once in connection with a procession ofpilgrims ( I s . xxx . but never in connection with the
worship proper .S ince the trumpets were reserved for the use of the
priests in giving signals at certain definite places in ther itual
,the temple orchestra consi sted only of str inged in
struments, harps and lutes , so that the music of the templei s repeatedly cal led S imply “ stringed music ,
”neginah .
4 3
And to these stringed instruments cymbal s also maybe added . These three instruments , cymbals , harps andlutes are a lways mentioned in this order as played by the
Levites .The Levites were again divided into three groups after
David’s three singing masters , Asaph , Heman and Jeduthun ( sometimes Ethan ) . S ince these three names alwaysoccur in the same order we are led to combine the corresponding systems and to give to Asaph the cymbals
,to
The Polychrome B ible reads Joy o f heart l ike his who sets forth tothe flute to go to the mountain of ! ahveh ,
” but m the authorized vers ion theinstrument is cal led “p ipe” and not “
fl ute .” Tr.
In the head ings om salms iv, v i , l iv, lv, lx i , l xv i i , and lxxv i . Cf.also Is . xxxvi i i . 20 ; and Hab. 111. 19 .
MUS I C IN THE OLD TESTAMENT . 2 1
Heman the harp,and to Jeduthun the lute ; and for the
first and third of these combinations we have corroborativequotations : Once in 1 Chron . xvi . 5 , i t i s expressly men
tioned as a function of Asaph , that he“made a sound with
cymbals” ; and again in 1 Chron . xxv . 3, Jeduthun is men
tioned as he “who prophesied with a This shows
u s how to understand the heading of the three Psalms
xxxix,lxi i
,and lxxvi i ,
“To Jeduthun .
”4 5 These evidentlyare to be accompanied only by Jeduthun with the lute , andthis agrees with the grave and somber character of those
three psalms .This indicates that even in the most primitive beginnings
there was an art of instrumentation which took into cons ideration the timbre of the instruments , and as a modernanalogy we might point out certain priestly passages in theMagic Flute . The wonderful effect of these passages restson the fact that Mozart neglected the common usage
(which would have combined two viol ins with a tenor andbass viol in the str ing quartette ) and left out the violins ,assigning the quartette exclusively to the v iols . But justhere in this divis ion of instruments i s a point expresslyhanded down by tradition , which must appear strange tous : to Asaph who is always mentioned in the first placeand apparently acts as the first orchestra leader
,is assigned
only the ringing brass of the cymbals . But these cymbals
apparently served the purpose of a baton in the hand of amodern orchestra leader marking the rhythm w ith theirsharp penetrating tone and so holding together the whole .The trumpets of the pr iests were to serve the people as “amemorial before God” (Num . x . 9
- 10) Hence they are
The Engl ish vers ion tran s lates thi s al so as “harp . Tr .W el lhausen in his Notes to the Polychrome Ed it ion of The Book of
Psalms thus expla ins the word which he trans lates as “for ( or from ) Jeduthun .
” “J eduthun, l ike Korah and Asaph, was the name of a post-Ex i l ic gu i ld
of temple-music ians . . H ence the Psalms may have been attr ibuted to themoriginally in just the same way that many G erman hymn s are attributed to theMoravian B rethren : they belonged original ly to a private collect ion ,
and subsequently found the i r way into the common hymn-book .
” Tr .
22 MUSI C IN THE OLD TESTAMENT .
in some measure a knocking at the door of God, and ap
parently have the same function as the bell at a Cathol icmass in giving the people the sign al to fal l upon their knees
( 2 Chron . xxix . 27 The supposit ion has been expressed that the puzzling selah in the Psalms , which un
doubtedly had a musical l iturgical sense and indicated aninterruption of the singing by instruments , marked theplaces where the priests blew their trumpets—an assump
t ion which can be neither proved nor disproved .
What now i s the case with regard to the temple songwhich of course was the singing of psalms ? We learnfrom Chronicles that the later usage removed women’svoices from the service and recognized only Levitical s ing!
ers . In a remarkable passage (Psalms lxvi i i . 2 5 ) whichdescribes a procession of the second temple the women st i l lcome into prominence as “damsels playing with timbrelsbut ordinar i ly only male singers and lute players are men
tioned . But if Psalm xlvi , for instance , were sung according to its inscription ‘‘after the manner of maidens
,
”4 6 wemust assume that the men sang in a falsetto
,just as not
so very long ago when women’s voices were in the same
manner excluded from the service of the EvangelicalChurch
,falsetto . was regularly practi sed and belonged to
the art of Church music .With regard to the melodies to which the Psalms were
sung,here again , as it seems , we have the same process
as in the German Church songs . When we find ascribedto the Psalms as melodies the words To the Tune of theWinepress
,
”4 7 Psalms vi i i , lxxxi , lxxxiv ;“To the Tune
of Lil ies,
”4 8 Psalms xlv , lx , lxix, lxxx ;“To the Tune of
The Hind of the Psalm xxi i ; To the Tune of
Thi s part of the head ing to Psalm xlv i , Luther translates, ! an der
Jugend , vorzusingen” the authorized Engl ish vers ion g ives “a song uponA lamoth” and the Polychrome B ibl e says “with Elam ite instruments ’ T r.
47 111a 51: i f der ived from m w inepress .
48 w ere by49 arm-1115-11 51?
24 MUS I C I N THE OLD TESTAMENT .
and all that were present with him bowed themselves , andworsh ipped .
“Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the Lord with thewords of David , and of Asaph the seer . And they sangpraises with gladness
,and they bowed their heads and
worshipped .
And Jesus S irach says in descr ibing the installat ion ofS imon
,a contemporary
,as high priest
, (Ecclesiasticus 1.15
-2 1 )“He stretched out his hand to the cup
,and poured of
the blood of the grape,he poured out at the foot of the
altar a sweetsmelling savour unto the most high King ofallThen shouted the sons of Aaron
,and sounded the
silver trumpets,and made a great noise to be heard , for
a remembrance before the most High .
“Then all the people together hasted,and fell down to
the earth upon their faces to worship their Lord God Almighty
,the most High .
“The singers also sang praises with their voices,with
great variety of sounds was there made sweet melody .
“And the people besought the Lord,the most High
,
by prayer before him that is merci ful , ti l l the solemnityof the Lord was ended , and they had finished the service .
“Then he went down,and lifted up his hands over the
whole congregation of the children of Israel,to give the
blessing of the Lord with his l ips , and to rejoice in his name .“And they bowed themselves down to worship the sec
ond time,that they might receive a bless ing from the most
High .
”
Here we see art inserted organical ly in the whole of theservice ; music too , l ike the swallow , had found a nest onthe altar of the Lord of Hosts (Psalm lxxxiv ,From such descriptions we comprehend the enthusiastic
MUSI C IN THE OLD TESTAMENT . 25
love and devotion Of the I srael ite for his temple whereeverything that was beautiful in his eyes was consecratedand illumined by religion , where he
“might behold the
beautiful worship of the Lord ,” as Luther translates Ps.
xxvii . 4 ,incorrectly to be sure
,but most comfortingly ;
5 2
and music has contributed the richest share in makingthis “beautiful worship of the Lord .
”
Both the secular and temple music of ancient I sraelhave long since died out in s ilence . Not one tone has remained alive, not one note of her melodies do we hear , butnot in vain did it resound in days Of old . Without templemusic there would be no temple song ; without temple song,no psalms . The psalms belong to the most precious treasures among the spiritual possess ions of mankind ; these weowe to the mus ic of anc ient I srael
,and in them the temple
music Of ancient Israel continues to live to-day and w i l lendure for all time .
“ The author ized vers ion has s imply the beauty of the Lord . Tr .
FIG .
PLATE I .
FIG . EG ! PT I AN HARPS .
EG ! PT I AN HARP CARR IEDPROCE S S I ON .
FI G . 3. EG ! PT I AN P I CTURE OFB ED OU IN W ITH K INNOR .
! I G . 5 . A S SYR I AN LUTE
PLATE II
FIG . 6. S I STRUM AND OTHER AN CI ENT IN STRUMENT S .(B r i t ish M useum
FIG 7 . RELI E ! FROM SEN D SCH I RLI IN NORTHERN SYR I A .
PLATE I ! .
FIG . I O . A S SYR I AN H ARP AN D FLUTE PLAYE RS .
FIG . I I . A S SYRI AN ! UARTETTE .
FIG . 1 2 . ANCIENT ELE! EN - STRIN GED HARP BABYLON .
! I G . 13. LYRE S ON ANCI ENT’
COI N S .
(Af ter Madden
FIG . 14 . LUTE S ON ANCIENT COIN S .(Af ter M adden
PLATE ! I .
FIG . 1 6. RELIE F ON TH E ARCH OF T iTU S
Show ing the Trumpe ts (lm tsots erot/z) taken from H erod '
s Temple
! I G . 1 7 . D ETA I L FROM ! I G . 16.
! I G 18. TRUMPET S ON ANCIENT JEW I SH COIN .
(Af ter M adden . )
