Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/764

* HEBBEW MELODIES. 704 HEBREW MUSIC. HEBREW MELODIES. A collection of pui'iiis b}' Lord Byron which, with music by Braliam and Nathan, was published in 1815 by ^Murray, who gave £500 for them. Among them are "The Destruction of Sennacherib," "Jephtha's Daughter," and "She Walks in Beauty." HEBREW MUSIC. Our knowledge of an- lient Hebrew music is perhaps more limited and unsatisfactory tluin wluit we know of any other civilized nation of antiquity. From the Egyptian frescoes and relics, from the Greek treatises and descriptions, and from the modern Chinese in- struments and theoretical works, we gain a fairly cuiiiplete idea of the music of those nations; but, with the exception of a few reliefs on coins, practically our sole source of knowledge about Hebrew music is the Bible, which must be supple- mented by constant reference to the musical in- struments of the Assyrians and Egyptians. In view of the late redaction of those books (like Genesis) which relate to the earliest tradi- tions, great care must be exercised in using the notices about the supposed antiquity of music among the Hebrews. Sucli a notice, e.g., as is found in Gen. iv. 21, wiiere Jubal is said to be "the father of all those who handle the harp and organ" ( 'organ' being obviously a mistranslation) , has of course no historical value ; and similarly the description of lliriam dancing and singing after the deliverance of the Hebrews from Pha- raoh and his army (Exod. xv. 20-21) is probably part of the later embellishment of the e.xodus of some of the Hebrew tribes from Egypt, al- though it is quite prohalile that something of tiie kind took place under the circumstances. On the other hand, an incidental reference to "songs, drum, and lyre." in connection with friendly leave-taking, such as is found in Gen. xxxi. 27, is of decided value as pointing to a popular custom associated with a comparatively primitive form of life. The instruments themselves must have been correspondingly primitive ; and with this restriction clearly understood, there is no objec- tion to the assumption that Hebrew tribes, even during the nomadic period, had some nnisic. and, like the ancient Arabs, had their battle-songs, their songs of triumph, their songs celebrating the exploits of their favorite heroes, which they chanted or sang to the accompaniment of primi- tive forms of drums and of simple stringed in- struments, while for the purpose of calling the people together for batt'e or assembly, some .sim- ple form of wind instrument ]ierhaps existed in very early days. Through foreign influence — notably from Egypt and Babylonia, and later from Greece — thi^ simple instnunents gave way to more elaborate ones, and a large variety of per- cussion, wind, and string instruments was grad- iially introduced into Palestine. That the ear- liest use of music among the Hebrews was large- ly if not exchisively secular seems reasonably certain; but the religious bearings of events of a secular character, such as battle and victory songs, rejoicings at harvest-time and wedding festivities, lend to music even when thus em- ployed also a certain religions significance. On all the occasions named, with the exception per- haps of wedding festivities, the tribal or national deity would come in for a share at least of rec- ognition. His help was sought before proceeding to battle; to him thanks were offered for the vic- tory, and it was his favor that had blessed the fields with plenty. From such considerations it did not require many steps for the introduction of music as part of the organized worship. To what extent, however, music was introduced in the preexilic temple at Jerusalem it is difficult to say. Certainly the elaborate descriiJtion fur- nished by the chronicler (I. Chron. xv. 11-24; 11. Chron. v. 12, etc.) of the temple .service and organization in the days of David and Solomon applies to the second temple (and even here only in a measure), and not to the first. Similarly the melodies and musical directions connected with Uie Psalms belong to the later phases of post- exilic worship among the Jews, though all this does not preclude the possibility that in pre- exilic days nuisic on occasions formed part of the temple service in Jerusalem, and perhaps also in connection with some of the sanctuaries outside Jerusalem. Only a few of the musical instruments men- tioned in the Old Testament are genuinely He- braic in character. ( 1 ) Of stringed instru- ments the most common and probably the oldest was the lyre (Hebrew kimior). the form of whose sounding-board, as also the number of its strings, varied considerably. Three to six strings appeai-s to have been the ordinary num- ber, but there are lyres depicted on Jewish coins with as many as twelve strings. Next to the lyre, the harp (Hebrew nehel) is most frequently referred to ; but we must not suppose that the ordinary harp was a large affair, such as the Egyptians used. It was probably a small tri- angular instrument, consisting ordinarily of not more than ten strings. (2) The most common wind instrument among the Hebrews was the flute (Hebrew khalil), which, like the lyre, dates from very early times. It was the ordinary in- strument at weddings and funerals, and in the second temple was played before the altar on festival occasions. It is probable that the He- brews, like the Egv'ptians and the Assyrians, had both the long flute, held straight before the player, and the oblique flute, which was played by blowing into a hole at the side. The horn (Hebrew shophar) was a ram's horn, whose limited compass (never over an octave) made it unsuitable for other purposes than signals to assemble the people, to give the order to dis- perse, etc. In the Jewish ritual it Vvas retained as a solemn rite, and to this day in orthodox synagogues the ram's horn is blown during the services on New Year's Day. at the close of the Day of Atonement, on the day of the Feast of Tabernacles, and during the entire month of Elul, after the recital of the supplications. The Hebrew trumpet (l-hasoserah), of which there ia a representation on the Arch of Titus, was a very long instrument, and was used by the priests in the later temple service. (3) The chief percussion instruments were (a) the drum ( toph ), of which there were numerous forms, though ordinarily the hand drum is intended; (b) the cymbals (mcsiJtmiim). which were made of metal ; and (c) the sistnnn (menaanim), which appears to have been introduced from Egypt. Besides the above list, there are quite a number of instruments mentioned in the Old Testament (cf. especially Dan. iii. 5-10), which have not yet been identified. For example, the symphony (Dan. iii. 5. margin) may have been a species of bagpipe, while the slialishim (I. Sam. xviii. 6) appears to have 'oeen a sort of triangle. Bibliography. Breslaur, Sind originale Syna-