Reading Hebrew Melodies

Because it is based upon an uncompromising East/West binary, Edward Said's Orientalism falls a bit short when considering the figure of the Jew. Hebrew Melodies, a collaborative effort by the composer Isaac Nathan and the poet Lord Byron, provides an example through which to reconsider the middle ground of Jewish Orientalism. For Nathan, the project was a means to revisit the melodies "performed by the Antient Hebrews before the destruction of the temple." For Byron, although he was initially enthusiastic, it was a passing interest, allowing him to read the East yet again as a fetish object. "They will call me a Jew next," he quipped. The act of transcription marks a further complication to both the Hebrew Melodies and the 'this or the other' mentality of another binary, a metrical one. As "the theme of choral song," much of the Hebrew Melodies itself seems to search for its own space in which words and verse and music can not only coexist but also shape how the others are understood.