The music you will hear here is the original music of The Song of Songs, preserved through the ancient system of Biblical trope, also known as cantillation marks, Biblical accents or, in Hebrew, ta'ąmei hamiqrá. The trope is a system of symbols which serve a number of purposes: they punctuates every sentence in the Bible in detail; they tell us which syllables to accent within each word; they indicate the value of each word within the sentence; they even overrule the vowels. But more than this, they turn the Scripture into music.
About the Musical Adaptation
The trope is not a set of notes. It is a musical formula which, combined with the text, provides the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic pattern for each word within each verse and each verse as a whole. For example, the trope mark Sof-Pasúq accompanies the last word of every verse in the Bible, indicating the fullest cadence, the clearest sense of ending. Other trope marks indicate varying levels of tension and release, which are the basic building blocks of music. Different Jewish communities have different melodies for the same trope patterns based on their sense of melody and harmony, tension and release, and many have different melodies for different books of Scripture and different occasions. All in all there are twenty-nine trope marks. In The Song of Songs King Solomon used only twenty of these.
My arrangement takes this formula a few steps further: first of all, alongside two traditional sets of melody I have applied it to five sets of melody of my own – I'll explain in a moment. Secondly, since all melody implies harmony, I added the implied harmonies. And thirdly, since Song – the marriage of music and words – is intrinsically rhythmic, I added the implied rhythm.
In terms of instrumentation, I used only acoustic instruments akin to those used in Biblical times. Since the story divides neatly between three main characters, three choirs and three locations I assigned each one melodic instrument, one harmonic instrument and one or more percussion instruments. The Shulamít, the heroine of the story, is represented by the violin and her friends the Daughters of Jerusalem by the harp; the Shepherd by the flute and the Shulamít's stepbrothers by the guitar; and King Solomon (Sh'lomó) by the saxophone and his men by the double-bass.
In approaching the musical adaptation of The Song of Songs I tried to let the piece speak for itself as much as possible through the formula of the trope. I let the eight chapters themselves "choose" the melodic and rhythmic modes to use, as I will now explain.
In terms of the melodic modes, I used the simple, diatonic modal system common in music, like the white notes on a piano or the keys on a simple xylophone. These scales are known by their Greek names – Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc. To explain the system in layman's terms, you can sing the ascending scale "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do" or by the same token you can sing the same eight notes starting on a different note, for instance "re-mi-fa..." These are called modal scales or simply modes. Each mode sounds different because of the difference of spacing between the notes. If we call the scale starting on "do" (Ionian) the 1 scale, the 2 scale (Dorian) would start on "re," the 3 (Phrygian) scale would start on "mi", the 4 (Lydian) on "fa," and so on through 7. 8 is a repetition of 1 in the next octave. I simply set each of the eight chapters to its corresponding scale.
In terms of rhythm, I set each chapter to its numeric counterpart; thus Chapter 2 is in the 2 scale in 2/4 time, Chapter 3 is in the 3 scale in 3/4 time, and so on. Since 1 doesn't determine a rhythm, I took it to be the same as Chapter 8, which is its repetition and closure.
Although they all contain the same set of only seven notes, each of these scales has its own unique flavor and sets its own unique mood. Setting each scale to its rhythmic counterpart gave me seven unique combinations to which I applied the formula of the trope. It is also probable that this is how music was composed and arranged in ancient times, as it makes possible a variety of moods without having to change tuning, a difficult and time-consuming task even on modern instruments.
Basing my melodic and harmonic motion on the trope and my rhythmic motion on the syllabic value of the words combined with the emphasis or de-emphasis of the trope, the chapters virtually wrote themselves. In the case of Chapters 1 and 8, being in the Ionian or 1 mode, I simply applied the traditional Ashkenazi trope for the Song, which is in the same mode. For Chapter 3 I used the traditional North African trope which is in the 3 or Phrygian mode. These accepted forms also afforded me clues as to the options of motion in the other modes. I may add that they both sound very different and much more appealing once they are put to harmony and rhythm.
The instrumental interludes you will hear are also part and parcel of the original piece. They mark the beginnings and endings of acts and the change of scenes as indicated by the "open" and "closed" division marks, which are an integral part of the original text.
As I wrote down these pieces and learned their nuances by playing them over and over, the subtle brilliance of King Solomon's writing came through like a slowly blossoming flower. Hearing the actual music revealed how phrases mirror one another, or contrast, or refer to other verses; it brought out previously hidden rhymes and rhythmic patterns; it answered many questions I had as to who was speaking and what they meant; it brought out an astonishing range of musical, lyrical and rhythmic dynamics and effects – in short, as I hoped, it brought the world's oldest known opera to life.
The trope is not a set of notes. It is a musical formula which, combined with the text, provides the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic pattern for each word within each verse and each verse as a whole. For example, the trope mark Sof-Pasúq accompanies the last word of every verse in the Bible, indicating the fullest cadence, the clearest sense of ending. Other trope marks indicate varying levels of tension and release, which are the basic building blocks of music. Different Jewish communities have different melodies for the same trope patterns based on their sense of melody and harmony, tension and release, and many have different melodies for different books of Scripture and different occasions. All in all there are twenty-nine trope marks. In The Song of Songs King Solomon used only twenty of these.
My arrangement takes this formula a few steps further: first of all, alongside two traditional sets of melody I have applied it to five sets of melody of my own – I'll explain in a moment. Secondly, since all melody implies harmony, I added the implied harmonies. And thirdly, since Song – the marriage of music and words – is intrinsically rhythmic, I added the implied rhythm.
In terms of instrumentation, I used only acoustic instruments akin to those used in Biblical times. Since the story divides neatly between three main characters, three choirs and three locations I assigned each one melodic instrument, one harmonic instrument and one or more percussion instruments. The Shulamít, the heroine of the story, is represented by the violin and her friends the Daughters of Jerusalem by the harp; the Shepherd by the flute and the Shulamít's stepbrothers by the guitar; and King Solomon (Sh'lomó) by the saxophone and his men by the double-bass.
In approaching the musical adaptation of The Song of Songs I tried to let the piece speak for itself as much as possible through the formula of the trope. I let the eight chapters themselves "choose" the melodic and rhythmic modes to use, as I will now explain.
In terms of the melodic modes, I used the simple, diatonic modal system common in music, like the white notes on a piano or the keys on a simple xylophone. These scales are known by their Greek names – Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, etc. To explain the system in layman's terms, you can sing the ascending scale "do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do" or by the same token you can sing the same eight notes starting on a different note, for instance "re-mi-fa..." These are called modal scales or simply modes. Each mode sounds different because of the difference of spacing between the notes. If we call the scale starting on "do" (Ionian) the 1 scale, the 2 scale (Dorian) would start on "re," the 3 (Phrygian) scale would start on "mi", the 4 (Lydian) on "fa," and so on through 7. 8 is a repetition of 1 in the next octave. I simply set each of the eight chapters to its corresponding scale.
In terms of rhythm, I set each chapter to its numeric counterpart; thus Chapter 2 is in the 2 scale in 2/4 time, Chapter 3 is in the 3 scale in 3/4 time, and so on. Since 1 doesn't determine a rhythm, I took it to be the same as Chapter 8, which is its repetition and closure.
Although they all contain the same set of only seven notes, each of these scales has its own unique flavor and sets its own unique mood. Setting each scale to its rhythmic counterpart gave me seven unique combinations to which I applied the formula of the trope. It is also probable that this is how music was composed and arranged in ancient times, as it makes possible a variety of moods without having to change tuning, a difficult and time-consuming task even on modern instruments.
Basing my melodic and harmonic motion on the trope and my rhythmic motion on the syllabic value of the words combined with the emphasis or de-emphasis of the trope, the chapters virtually wrote themselves. In the case of Chapters 1 and 8, being in the Ionian or 1 mode, I simply applied the traditional Ashkenazi trope for the Song, which is in the same mode. For Chapter 3 I used the traditional North African trope which is in the 3 or Phrygian mode. These accepted forms also afforded me clues as to the options of motion in the other modes. I may add that they both sound very different and much more appealing once they are put to harmony and rhythm.
The instrumental interludes you will hear are also part and parcel of the original piece. They mark the beginnings and endings of acts and the change of scenes as indicated by the "open" and "closed" division marks, which are an integral part of the original text.
As I wrote down these pieces and learned their nuances by playing them over and over, the subtle brilliance of King Solomon's writing came through like a slowly blossoming flower. Hearing the actual music revealed how phrases mirror one another, or contrast, or refer to other verses; it brought out previously hidden rhymes and rhythmic patterns; it answered many questions I had as to who was speaking and what they meant; it brought out an astonishing range of musical, lyrical and rhythmic dynamics and effects – in short, as I hoped, it brought the world's oldest known opera to life.
For "A Brief Introduction to Trope," an excerpt from the book
The Song of Songs - A Messiah's Confession
open the file below
(in regular and ebook versions)
The Song of Songs - A Messiah's Confession
open the file below
(in regular and ebook versions)
| a_brief_introduction_to_trope.pdf |
| a_brief_introduction_to_trope_-_ebook_version.pdf |
