This is a translation by Dennis Weber, edited by John Wheeler and jointly published with King David's Harp, in which a noted French musicologist argues that the accentual system preserved in the Masoretic Text was originally a method of recording hand signals ("chironomy") by which temple musicians were directed in the performance of music. She explains her reconstruction of these notations which has allowed her and her students to perform haunting and beautiful music around the world using only the Hebrew text as a score. You'll need to be a musician to follow all of her discussion, but anyone interested in the Bible and the implications of a text that can be played on musical instruments will find the overall discussion fascinating.
"This book is thought-provoking and controversial." Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly
"This well-translated edition is stocked with written musical examples, photographs of cited manuscripts, and copious documentation . . . In addition, the impressive array of testimonials from experts in the field assures the uninformed reader-as well as scholars, musicians and theologians-that Haïk-Vantoura's work deserves serious consideration." Biblical Archaeologist 56:47
"This book is not easy reading. While there is a glossary of musical terms, it is hard to imagine many nonmusicians with the perseverance to plow through the technical discussions . . . [but] This takes nothing away from the importance of the work. The arguments seem scrupulously drawn, with due consideration of rejected alternatives." Interpretation 1993(July): 324
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Anti-Semitic Mistranslation:
This book contains the following mistranslation that may be deemed anti-Semitic: "(as the medieval treatises on the te'amim [italicized transliteration of the Hebrew for "cantillation signs"] state)", p. 293 of the English edition. The corresponding French text reads: ", comme nous l'apprenaient nos traites [E accute accent]," p. 304 of the 2nd French edition, on which the English translation is explicitly based. A more literal version is the following: ", as _our_ treatises have taught _us_," in... more info
A seminal, verifiable and still-underrated discovery:
The original French edition of this book, LA MUSIQUE DE LA BIBLE REVELEE, was published in 1976, along with a recording of the same title (likewise sold by Amazon.com as "The Music of the Bible Revealed"). The second edition (of which this book is a translation) appeared in 1978. I didn't encounter Mme. Haik-Vantoura's work, however, until 1982, when the Associates for Biblical Research Newsletter announced it. Since then, I have been the Corresponding Agent in the U.S. for Haik-Vantoura's Institution Roi... more info
a technical-esthetic solution to an ancient mystery:
Absolutely fascinating account of the solution to the meaning of the "te'amin" occurring in the Masoretic or traditional text of the Hebrew Bible. For centuries they have been thought to be vowels or punctuations (which purpose they may have served as they DO govern the chant),yet without clear meaning, this having been lost in the dispersions and persecutions of the Hebrew Temple hierarchy. I have heard Haik-Vantoura's decipherment/arrangement of the 'Song of Solomon' and it is a beautiful... more info
