When, in already long ago July 1978, an important convention on Jewish Music came to a close in Jerusalem, a hypothesis took form that a true ‘Jewish music’ did not exist, but rather a genre of music ‘with Jewish characteristics’, particularly adapted for Jewish interpretation.
The eminent historian and musicologist Abraham Zevi Idelson was not of this opinion, opening his book Jewish Music: Its Historical Development with these words: “Jewish music is the song of Judaism in the mouth of the Jews; it is the expression of Jewish life and of its journey along a period of over 2,000 years. To locate this song’s origins we must research the origins of this people… The Jewish song derives its characteristics – which are unique – from the sentiments and the life of the people.”
There is no doubt that in reading the Bible we can find information about musical activity, even if it is incomplete and full of gaps. In this area, the biggest difficulties for a researcher derive from the use of an oral tradition which fatally, over time, is subject to corruptions, alterations, gaps in memory, and sometimes completely forgotten. Given the absence of musical notation in the pages of the Bible, we must seek to carefully understand the descriptions of the songs, which are of various genres: now praises to God, now songs of war; most often, as happens with the Jewish holidays, the songs are related to the changing of the seasons and to various agricultural activities.
Less frequent, though perhaps more interesting for a musicologist, are the references to the instruments that accompanied these songs. It was not possible to conceive of a public ceremony, religious or secular, without a musical accompaniment. In these occasions, essentially there were the nevel and the khinor. The first was a large harp, originally without a soundboard, which had a rich sound. The second, with a more delicate and sweet tone, was a smaller harp, similar to a lyre. The nevel and the khinor are mentioned in the Greek version of the Settanta, and in the Latin Vulgate are called “psalteries”.
Moving to the wind instruments, the place of honor certainly belongs to the shofar, in use up to our times. Its Biblical importance is well known, but not everyone knows that at the time of the second Temple different types of shofarim came in to use, according to the occasions: the curved shofar, with a silver mouthpiece, for the days of penitence and fasting; the straight shofar for the New Year observance. The shofar is the only instrument whose use it was decided to maintain during the Babylonian exile, though it was stripped of it ornaments in a sign of mourning for the destruction of the Temple.
We also find numerous references to the halil, a straight flute played even today to accompany folk songs and dances. Back then it was also used in secular festivals as well as during religious ceremonies; however, it was permitted only in certain religious occasions, such as marriage or the procession of pilgrims bringing offerings to Jerusalem, because it was not considered a sacred instrument.
Less known and completely vanished is the magrefah, a sort of panpipe formed from a box and covered with skin to which were attached ten pipes, each capable of producing ten different tones, so giving it a range of one hundred notes. The magrefah was used for signaling or for calling the Levites to their work. It had a very loud sound that “one could hear all the way to Jericho”. According to some texts, when the magrefah was played, “if you spoke you could not hear”.
Both David and Solomon were important in introducing percussion instruments, both in religious music performances and in secular. (We should not forget that dance played an important role in these performances, and the percussion kept the rhythm). In the Bible we also find mention of the tof, a primitive tambourine. It is written that King David used this during the installation of the Ark in Jerusalem. A more silvery sound and high tone was attributed to the zilzalim, copper cymbals, which were precursors of modern cymbals. Finally the maaponim should be mentioned; these were thin metal pieces sewn in to the Priests’ clothing, which when moved produced a sweet tinkling like tiny bells.
Let us try to imagine a ceremony at the Temple in Jerusalem: the Priest and his assistants, around whom hovers the sweet sound of the maaponim, intones the first verse, followed immediately by the voices of all the faithful, because their function was as the chorus. The nevel, the khinor start to play, supporting the song, the percussion establishes the rhythm… God is exalted, praising His work on a wave of music, which is the most sublime expression and purest sentiment of humanity… the hills of Jerusalem gleam under the stars and create a worthy setting for people gathered in fervent prayer.
What a shame, a shame that this music has not reached us! The only pseudo-musical notations that we find are the teamim: these are dots, apostrophes, and hyphens that serve as reminders for the cantor as to the accents and intonations to give to the verse, or indicate the ends of specific syllables. Here we recall that according to the Semitic-Eastern conception the importance of music is in the human voice, because the music is connected closely to the words and is capable of communicating thoughts and feelings.
In 586 BCE Nabuchednezzar destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, and the Jews were taken to Babylon as slaves. This was the end of the musical performances. The instruments were put away as a sign of mourning. (“How can we sing a psalm to the Eternal in a strange land?”, Psalm 137.4). Psalms were still sung, however, in the synagogues.
In 140 BCE the Temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem, and here the sacred ceremonies were transformed also in to artistic events. From post-Biblical sources we find varied mentions of musicians and of great musical performances at religious functions (Mishnah, written by Philo of Alexandrea, testimony of the adherents of the Qumran sect): the chorus numbered 24 along with 12 solo singers, often adding other voices, preferably children’s. This was accompanied by 12 instrumentalists, who played 9 khinnorot, two nevalim and a pair of cymbals. It was the Levites who were concerned with the musical part of the ceremony, but they taught their art so unwillingly that, after the destruction of the (second) Temple, this music disappeared forever, and with it the function of the Levites as well, who took with them their secrets.
We can therefore affirm that, even if a true “Jewish music” did not exist, the Jews, from the time of their birth as a people, have drawn from music one of their major expressions of spirituality, which has accompanied them in times of sadness and of joy, in times of war or in fruitful periods of peace.
Monterosa Traduzioni 