Music of the Hebrews.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, 1 July 1901, Page 798

Music of the Hebrews.

By W. E. Thomas, Mus. Doc, Oxon

ifjpT is not to be wondered at that the |S| Hebrews, a small branch of the great f| Chaldean race, who existed in a =4i precarious isolation as settlers amongst hostile and foreign tribes, passed their youth in the most abject slavery, escaped from that only to be brought face to face with want and misery in the desert, and enjoyed but a short space of sunshine before the sky became overcast for good and all, should by this special education have developed great men and noble aspirations ; and in the reaction of their mind agaiust the fearful unkindnesses of their surroundings, a wonderful impulse should have been given to their imagination, which is the handmaid of the spiritual life. The Hebrews, with such an exacting training, contracted blemishes with their great merits. The formev were few in comparison with the latter, but were none the less existent. Their weakness lay in an absolute deaduess to the sensuous and artistic side of life ; their merits consisted in exalting the religious side of life to such a height as we shall never possibly meet with again. They despised sculpture, and the practice of the art was even considered unlawful and wicked. Painting was also considered in the same light. Architecture was so poorly represented that Jahveh's tabernacle was for centuries little better than a tent, and Solomon had to engage a foreigner to build the temple. The Hebrews were equally wanting in dramatic genius. There was only one way that their wild emotion could find a vent, and that was by the aid of passionate outbreaks of lyric poetry, and the coincident effusion of extemporized song. It is here, then, that we must find a musical importance in the history of the Hebrews. Their instrumental

music scarcely calls for any remark. They had very few instruments, and with one exception, these were all borrowed from other peoples, and principally from the Egyptians. The drum, that most sensuous of instruments, was to the last, forever au exile in the Holy Land. There was not a drum or a dulcimer to be found from Dan to Beersheba, and flutes were seldom used. The only instrument that was at all a popular one was the harp, probably because it could be carried about easily. This instrument was more a lyre than a hai'p, for in an old Rabbinical tradition it is stated that David used to hang his harp up on a nail above his pillow when he went to bed. This little lyre was a great instrament in Israel, for it was portable and useful for accompanying the voice. The music of the Hebrews was essentially a vocal one. The voice outdid the instniment, and instrumental development stood still. The centre of interest amongst the Hebrews was the minstrel poet. This individual was an inspired seer, who was wont to utter moral precepts, or preach against the sins and vices of his day, or maybe in an ecstasy revealed the future. He was thus a preacher, a censor, and we might almost say, the chief exponent of religion itself. For to " prophesy " meant "to sing," and there is no doubt Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others uttered their prophecies in song, no less than in verse, both alike being extemporized. To such men as these music could never be an art ; it was a mere form of speech which they employed as unconsciously as we do our speech of to-day. So closely connected was it with poetry that it can be scarcely considered apart. Certainly there was no conscious separation between the two in the

minds of the minstrels themselves, any more than there is between what we say and the tone of voice we use for utterance. If we could be certain that the Hebrews were in the habit of always employing an insti'uraeut to accompany their poetic effusions, we might imagine that art had some share in their songs. This, however, is not the case, for it was only occasionally that an instrument was used. Their song, no less than their verse, was purely unpremeditated,

being, in the first instance, the same impassioned speech* which was the original song among primitive men ; but with the Hebrews the impassioned speech received a very peculiar development from the parallelism of sentences in which their language delighted. The effect of this was to divide every poetical expression into two similar or contrasted parts, and the music which accompanied the poetry naturally received the same treatment. This peculiarity of structure may still be noticed to-day in the religious chant of our churches, and while the patriarchs were living in the plains of Mesopotamia it had begun :

Ancient Hebrew Melody.

Here. in the lone waste. Het <on^ '*" ' s ra *' raile ' n '" God in the cloud ol rIo -v. t id' cv.d "h her ,tI o-.iv . A d " V 'I i. 1 1 >L-^vH^^^=^-nai. A • bra ham» God. A do na we pnise. For Thy an - gel cv et is near In the cloud to shield by day. In »h« lire by night to cheer. Pointing still our homeward wav«

" Adah and Zillah, bear my voico : yo wives of Laruech hearken unto my speech. ; For I have slain a man to my wounding : and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sovon-fold ; truly Lamech seventy and seven-fold!" It is only natural that Jubnl, the minstvol, should have been the son of Lamech, the poet, and that the minstrelsy, which arisen with such a form of poetry, should have the same peculiar stamp is only to be expected*

The tones would be rude, and rather approaching speech than Hong, on each occasion extemporized ; yet the repetition of the same form of language, verse after verse, would gradually lead to their being remembered, and the unique parallelism of parts would communicate to them that individuality which separates them even now from all other styles of musical declamation.

The result of the establishment of such a form of poetry and song would naturally lead to the division of the chorus into two parts, each responding to the other, as for instance, the men to the women, or two companies of women, or it might be a solo

singer and a chorus. Whichever way were the more usual, this very early became the recognised way of singing in chorus, and so thoroughly was it received that the Hebrews began to use the word " answer " as synonymous with " sing." The first mention of it in the Bible is immediately after the passage of the Red Sea, when "Miriam, the prophetess, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dances, and Miriam answered them : Sing ye to the, Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously : The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea." The latter half was probably the response of the women. We may imagine that the other song that immediately preceded this, sung by Moses aud the children of Israel, was treated in a similar manner, and that the parts might have been distributed thus : Moses : I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously : Chorus : The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.* Moses : The Lord is my strength and song : Chorus : And He is become my salvation. Moses : He is my God, and I will prepare Him an habitation : Chorus : My father's God, and I will exalt Him. Moses : The Lord is a man of war : Chorus : The Lord is His Name. Moses : Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea : Chorus : His chosen captains also are drowned in the Eed Sea. This practice, once stereotyped, would remain uualtered for all time. .In the services of the tabernacle, the priests formed one chorus, the Levites the other. Miriam and her women find their parallel in later times in the two choruses of women who welcomed David after his victory over Goliath, one chorus singing, " Saul hath slain 'his thousands," the other auswering " and David his ten thousands ;" and while * Handel has immortalised this song of Moses by his magnificent isetting of a double chorus in "Israel in Egypt."

Miriam and her damsels only used timbrels to accompany the voices, the women who went to raeefc David employed not only timbrels, but also other instruments of music. It is easy to imagine the arrangements in Solomon's temple, at least if we can suppose that the arrangements at the ceremony of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, in Nehemiah's time, was of the nature of the temple service, " when the chiefs of the Levites, Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel," were appointed " with their brethren over against them " to praise and give thanks according to the commandmand of David, the man of God, " ward over against ward." " Two great companies of them that gave thanks," says Nehemiah, " were appointed, whereof one went to the right hand upon the wall, and after them went Hoshaiah and half the princes of Judah." (One would imagine that the whole disposal of the ceremony was affected by the choral requirements.) A band of trumpeters also went with them ; " and the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them. So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of Grod." It would seem that we may get a very good idea of the arrangements of the temple services, and assume there were two choirs of Levites — or may be one of priests, the other of Levites — placed opposite one another at either side of the temple who sang anti-phonally the Psalms and Canticles which went to make up the services. The trumpet seems to have been the instrument that was reserved for the priests. It appeared first of all as made of rams' horns, but later was of brass and gold. There were many superstitions attached to it — the trumpet caused the walls of Jericho to fall, and had struck the Midianites with panic, and no doubt a sacred character was attached to it, which marked it out as especially the priest's instrument. We must not think that the Hebrews had any elaborate harmony in their temple services, as the Egyptians had ,iv jjtheir

performances. Music was not an art with the Hebrews, but a voice in which they poured forth their soul to Him " that inhabited the pi'aises of Israel." The relation of notes and chords were far from their earnest minds. " The singers and the trumpeters were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord." " One hundred and twenty priests blowing with trumpets " — enormous tumult of sound ! Still, harshness may be forgiven them in their enthusiasm. "For when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and the cymbals and instruments|of music, and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good ; for His mercy endureth for ever : behold then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord ; so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud : for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God." The Hebrews could not tolerate women within the precincts of the temple ; their choruses were composed entirely of men singers ; boys' voices were not used ; and the national instrument of the laud, the harp, was made to give way, in the enthusiasm of devotion, to the trumpet. The reign of David is a wonderful episode in the history of Israel, and David himself stands out in many points as a great contrast to his countrymen. The sternness of the national temper is seen much softened in him. We gain a true idea of the features which were likely to dominate their music by thinking of the prophets of old, Moses, Samuel, and Joshua ; by remembering the harshness of the Hebrew language with its abundance of aspirates, sibilants, and gutturals, its plethora of consonants and feebleness in vowels. The fact of such a language being developed in the first instance shows a want of the sense of beauty of tone, or rather it may show a preference of force to beauty ; we may suppose that the character of the language would be communicated to the music. Their Psalms, we must imagine, were intoned or recited in an elevated voice, with very little to distinguishl their [utterances from ordinary

recitation, except the monotony of the tone and the markedness of the cadences. All their enthusiasm was centred in the thought, and the form in which the thought was expressed was ontirely a secondary consideration. In this way they could dispense for a long time with the aid of regular singers in the services of the tabernacle, not through any indifference t<> the due performance of the ritual perhaps, but because they regarded tlio aesthetic element of trivial importance. During this time the Levites, who were the regular singers, were suffered to become completely disorganised, and degenerated into a half-mendicant order, wandering up and down Israel, and really dependent for their bread on the hospitality of chance entertainers ; nor was it until the time of David that they were restored to their former position. It was very natural that David, the minstrel, should b( the man to restore the Levites to their rightful position, for in David's reign there are everywhere signs of music appearing as an art. David arranged the Levites so that there were times for " on " and " off " duty in the services of tho temple; they were specially educated for their functions, and regular training commenced at twenty-one. The Psalms were- sung at the service, and even when written by the King himself, were submitted for revision or practice to the most skilled musicians of the choir. There was a great deal dono in tho way of adaptation and setting, if we may judge by those numerous psalms which remain to us, the titles of which have no connection with the subject of the Psalms themselves. From this we might infer that the title refers to the tune of the Psalm, and that therefore it was not uncommon to adopt one Psalm to the tune of another. Whether this points to the existence of traditional tunes or modes of chanting, which were even now for the first time collected and arranged, or whether such traditional tunes existed at all, may admit of conjecture. At the same period were" established the schools of the prophets, in

which music [and poetry were the leading subjects. In these schools was worked oat, in a way such as it never has been before or since, that mysterious connection between music and religious inspiration. In the case of Elisha, we have a practical illustration of this principle, for he was unable to predict the result of the war between the Kings of Judah and Israel with the King of Moab without a minstrel played to him : " And it came to pass that as the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha;" he then was able to utter the desired prediction. In the same way, sometimes earlier, contemporaneously with the establishment of these schools " a company of prophets from the school of Bethel met Saul on his way thither, and they played on the psaltery (dulcimer) and tabret, and pipe, and harp and prophesied ; and the spirit of the Lord came upon Saul, and he prophesied with them, and was turned into another man." It was likewise the custom of Saul "to prophesy in the midst of his house while David played upon the harp." The condition of a man under the ecstasy was that he was unconscious of what he said or did. " For when. the Spirit of God seizes us," says Balaam, "it uttei's whatsoever sounds and words it pleases, without any knowledge on our parts; for when it has come into us, there is nothing in us that remains our own." Hence " the prophets were often called mad or frenzied." But after the frenzy continued some time " the highest point which the inspiration reached was a song." And this was the

prophecy

To finely-strung temperaments music acts as a nervous stimulant, producing parallel effects to those of auy other stimulant, and we may well imagine that music could be capable "of inducing such effects as these, and then comes the inaction when the mind recovers its balance, and in its sublime exaltation the eyes see visions, the ears hear voices, and the tongue utters words that are beyond the powers of deliberate expression. Thus perhaps it was that Urbain Grandier

broke forth into celestial singing at the height of his torture, and the Templars sang as they wei'e fastened to the stake, and enthusiasts of all ages have uttered the beatitude of the spirit in the tone of song.

The power of music to provoke this beatitude and triumph — the making it the cause as well as the effect — is peculiarly Hebrew. In the medical uses of music iv the Bible, such as " And it came to pass that when the evil spirit was upon Saul, that David played with his hand ; and Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him," we find that music has the very opposite effect, i.e., that of calming the nervous system rather than stimulating it.

There are numerous instances of miraculous effects ascribed to the power of music by Rabbinical tradition, but to imagine that the art enjoyed a high appreciation in Israel would be to go too far. The Hebrew minstrels would never have risen to any higher status than their brethren in other lands had not the subject been the noblest that man can aspire to or sing of, and had it not been in such thorough accordance with all the noblest feelings of their nation. For those who sing of love when men are arming themselves for battle must expect an inattentive audience, and those who lisp of green trees and gurgling brooks to men who are taken up with the stern realities of life must not complain if they are treated with contempt and get neglected. But these poets of God saug His praises and His might to a nation intoxicated with Deity, and this is why the fame of the ablest Minnesinger shrinks into nothingness before the terrible Majesty of an Isaiah, wild and artless may their strains have been, and it is idle to attempt to recall the melodies that were flung into the breezes and were lost there. Their music may be lost for ever, but the noblest part remains, and in the words they sang, and the thoughts they uttered, we can see that the subject that inspired them strained every fibre of the men to the struggle of expressing it.