The music of the Bible revelead

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en français

After many years of research, Suzanne Haïk Vantoura has discovered the true musical value of the te'amim, i.e. the musical signs accompanying thebiblical text. She explains how and why this discovery is extraordinary.

 

 

Alliance - What brought you to your research on the musical meaning of the te'amim of the Biblical text ?

 

S.Haïk-Vantoura: I had noticed them in the version of the Hebrew Bible

I used to read. I had also read in a musical encyclopaedia that these

signs of cantillation dated back to antiquity and that their real

musical meaning was lost. This triggered my curiosity. I had a vague

hope that this account might contain true and beautiful musical

phrases hidden, which used to set off the Hebrew text.

 

A- Still the synagogue interpretation of this cantillation exists.

Aren't you satisfied with it?

 

S-H-V: The synagogue cantillation technique does not really constitute

music. It is composed of successive vocal formulae, without even a

single note corresponding to a pronounced stressed syllable, the other

notes constituting mere ornamentation. These vocal formulae only mark

stresses in the text without any musical logic. Moreover, these

formulae vary from one community to the other, from a book to another!

There is nothing in common between those formulas which are totally

misfit to the text and the te'amim once correctly interpreted and

established according to a determined order. Knowing that the musical

meaning of the te'amim was lost, I could not feel satisfied with this

lack of music.

 

A- Could you explain what the te'amim are and where they are found?

 

S. H.V.-: The te'amim are signs found in the text of the Bible and

placed below or above the Hebrew words among the vowel-points and the

other auxiliary signs. Here is a passage of the Decalogue : Exodus 20

in which you may find the te'amim marked in a different colour.

Here is the same passage with the te'amim but without all the other

signs

A- How can we recognise the te'amim?

 

S.H.V.: Here are the te'amim in random order: 19 supralinear and

sublinear signs. These signs appear in all the Hebrew texts of the

Bible.

 

A- In the prose texts as well as in the psalms?

 

SHV.: That's correct. There are two sign systems : the prose system

and the psalm system. The prose system comprises 8 sublinear signs.

The psalm system only comprises 7, the six first being similar to

those of the prose system. The prose system comprises 8 supralinear

signs (the psalm system comprises much less)

 

A- How did you manage to identify the te'amim?

 

S.H.V. : I worked step by step. I first observed that the sublinear

signs were never absent from the text, while entire verses are totally

deprived of supralinear signs. I deduced from that fact that the

sublinear signs had to be more important than the supralinear ones.

For instance, here is a passage of Psalm 122 where only sublinear

signs can be read. Still those signs constitute wonderful music (of

course I could not guess it at that time!)

This conclusion was crucial and greatly helped my research later. Then

I focused on the prose te'amim system only.

That system comprises 8 sublinear signs as mentioned. I quickly

thought that it could correspond to the eight degrees of a musical

scale, of a tonal scale. (The diatonic scale - C,D, E, etc,- is the

oldest).

This hypothesis seemed to me to be supported by the nearly systematic

writing of a vertical sign at the end of each verse. This sign, I

thought, could work like an ending note, and could be used to indicate

the main note of a tune... It seemed plausible, and I turned to be

right!

 

A- Still, it's only one sign out of 8!

 

S.H.V. : On the basis of this deduction and on the basis of the verbal

sentence, I tried to determine if certain sublinear signs would

reappear at the hemistich more often than others. I had in mind the

two main degrees founding the tonality, the 4th and the 5th, known

already for this function in the Antiquity, and upon which a

well-structured tonality is based while still being opened. I found

with surprise that there were two sublinear signs often mentioned at

the hemistich which seemed to fulfil this function. Difficulties

really started when I tried to find out which was the 4th degree of

the tonality and which one was the 5th. I had to work on hundreds of

verses. I finally identified the 4th degree sign and the 5th degree. I

had apparently identified three signs at that point, but nothing was

certain yet!

 

A- How did you find out the 5 other signs?

 

S.H.V. : I had to write endless tables of concording sequences, trying

out an impressive number of verse-pieces ; comparing even the shapes

of signs

I could finally discover the meaning of the 8 sublinear signs of the

prose system.

It took me more than six months of hard work! but it was not in vain!

bits and pieces of meaningful melodies emerged, sometimes

expressive... As a definite demonstration I managed to decipher the

outline of the Song of the Red Sea which lasts approximately five

minutes. The 8 sublinear signs were identified : they are the 8 notes

of a scale. What was most interesting was the fact that the key-note

is a central note of the musical scale, which is common in Antiquity.

 

A- Why isn't there a sign under each syllable?

 

SHV : Because the musicians who created and wrote the text and the

accompanying music were using an abbreviating system : any note

represented as a bottom sign is to be taken into account as long as

another bottom sign does not appear.

Let's consider again the beginning of the Song of the Red Sea : the

dashes I placed here, set off when heard, the sounds prolonged over

the syllables originally deprived of signs.

 

A- Yet I notice that in the Song of the Red Sea, the first note of the verse has no corresponding sign. Why is it so?

 

SHV: because it is precisely the key-note which usually starts a

melody. Moreover this note, marked by the sign " ", always appears at

the end of the preceding verse.

 

A- But here is a supralinear sign above the first syllable of the

verse. What does it correspond to?

 

SHV: The signs also symbolise the pitch of the notes. They do not

stand for fixed pitch (part of a given scale), but for the relative

pitch of the note in relationship to the current basic degree

represented by the preceding sublinear sign (like an ornamentation in

our present system of musical notation). I then discovered the second

principle of such a precise yet abbreviated system of notation : any

supralinear sign has an effect only over the syllable over which it is

written.

As soon as the next syllable appears, the basic degree reappears,

while the sublinear corresponding sign does not necessarily reappear.

On the basis of this definition, a supralinear sign can be set at the

beginning of the verse. Still the degree it stands for is in relation

to the key-note which is implicit at the beginning of the verse.

We may observe it in this example. Note that the exact position of a

supralinear sign at the beginning or at the end of a syllable is not

haphazard. On the contrary, it is highly important. Once the key

principle of the deciphering code is applied, the melody unveiled is

always more harmonious and expressive than if one had not taken into

account this delayed principle of notation. No one had ever before

taken into consideration this specificity of the notation.

 

The readers interested in the details linked to the code-key should

refer to the book : "Clé de Déchiffrement des Signes

Musicaux de la Bible"

 

A- I understand. Still I wish to ask you : are there any accidentals?

 

SHV: No, since accidentals did not appear in ancient notation systems.

One must mention that the modes used in the Bible were not very

numerous . One of them in particular was characteristic of Middle

Eastern music.

It is like an E minor scale with a chromatic (augmented) interval

between the second and third degrees, and is still used in Israel

today.

 

A- What about the rhythm?

 

SHV- The rhythm of the retrieved Biblical music hardly needs specific

marks. In prose, it is connected to the natural speech rhythm of

words, to the words carried by the melody, which is itself

rhythmically stressed by the very expressive accents of the words. The

length of the notes cannot be determined, and in that case it's

untranslatable. In psalmody it's the opposite case, because all the

syllables have the same length, whether this length be one or several

notes long. This is also the principle of Eastern poetry.

 

A - Nevertheless, what was the system used to tell the cantors that one syllable rather than another was sung for several notes?

 

SHV: You are right to mention this point, in particular since in the

time of David and Solomon , no less than 288 musicians-cantors would

sing the holy services. Of course the chief cantors would beat the

time with the help of percussion, like our present conductors do. Yet

one must add that the chief cantors would also direct according to

David's musical gestures, indicating as such that one syllable, more

than another, was to be continued for several notes (other more

ancient gestural system existed at that time)

That gestural system was a living replica of the notational system

called for centuries "according to David's hands".

David and Solomon's times were the Golden Age of the music of the

Hebrews.

 

A- Do you think that this very specific technique may have lasted for centuries after the upheavals and hardships endured by the Hebrews?

 

SHV: Yes, because the Levites were musicians from fathers to sons

until the very beginning of this era. Historical documents show that

the Hebrews' sacred music was of great quality until the first century

of our era, although the number of musician Levites in the holy

services had greatly diminished (we find only 12 instrumentalists and

12 cantors in the holy services at the time of Jesus).

 

A- Then how do you explain the synagogal cantillation?

 

SHV : Since the ancestral cantilation of the psalms could not be

practised outside the Temple of Jerusalem, during the exile of Babylon

and after it, worshippers became accustomed to singing in synagogues

and to reading the holy texts according to standard formulae which

would be shortened or lengthened according to the length of verses.

The te'amim disappeared progressively. They reappeared in the Biblical

texts only at the 8th century. But the value of the signs seems to

have been lost completely by then. The Massorets of Tiberias and

Babylon used them again in manuscripts, the political context of the

9th century being more favourable. (see Music of the Bible Revealed

and Complementary Data).

Although it was quite allusive, Aaron Ben Asher, who was the last

master of the Biblical reading School of Tiberias, gave an

interpretation which imposed itself for lack of any other. It is still

being used today. Yet one must admit that it is only for texts written

in prose, since the te'amim of the psalms could never be interpreted

before. And one continues to hear psalms sung in synagogues with the

help of repetitive formulae which I mentioned before. Moreover, in

most of the ritual books of synagogues, the signs of psalmody have

been taken out of the text for lack of understanding them, while the

music of palms has such a powerful expression that the whole world

should sing it to join David's faith, whose message is universal.

 

A- How long did you need to experiment on your music and on various texts before you were sure of the correctness of your discovery?

 

SHV: I first applied it to over several hundred texts, but it was

mostly the work accomplished since I published my discovery in 1976,

which makes it indubitable. More than 5000 verses are now "musically

realised" and can be performed with their music. My deciphering key

has never proved wrong. Here it is, with E as key-note.

 

A- After all these years of work and exciting discoveries, what is your conclusion?

 

SHV: For all the reasons I mentioned before, it is very sad that the

interpretation of te'amim should be ignored, denied by the Synagogue

in general.

On the other hand, I feel convinced of having relived the most

ancient musical notation ever known, which, apart from the musical

value it conveys to our modern world, gives precision on the biblical

punctuation. The Biblical authors were poet-composers who created

themselves the music of their texts. Consequently, this music

perfectly fits the meaning of the words and enhances it. I was very

sad to think that all this heritage of humanity had been lost forever.

The situation is different now with Internet and thanks to the

interest you show in my discovery, this music will finally become

integrated in our human patrimony. My wish is that it will be so, for

the good and happiness of everyone until the end of Time !

 

 

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