Musik in Altisrael: Untersuchungen zur Musikgeschichte und Musikpraxis Altisraels anhand biblischer und auserbiblischer Texte (review)

130 SHOFAR great composer and his times but also a probing analysis of how, for Schoenberg , the Jewish God and the unity of the musical idea were essentially intertwined . Mark DeVoto Department of Music Tufts University Musik in Altisrael: Untersuchungen zur Musikgeschichte und Musikpraxis AItisraels anhand biblischer ood auserbiblischer Texte, by Hans Seidel. Frankfurt A.M.: Verlag Peter Lang, 1989. 352 pp. n.p.1. Literally hundreds of biblical references testify to the complex role music played in the life of our ancestors. "All the house of Israel played before the Lord with all manner of instruments" (2 Sam. 6:5) and "They sing to the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the pipe" (Job 21:12). The gifts of King Solomon, we are told, included a repertoire of no less than a thousand and five songs (1 Kings 5:12). When tragedy struck, we learn that "the young men (abstained) from their music" (Lament. 5:14) and the people could not "sing the Lord's song in a foreign land" (Ps. 137). A major difficulty facing musicologists and serious students of the Bible is to clearly identify such instruments as, for example, those associated with Jubal (Gen. 4:21) and Laban (Gen. 31:27). With due concern for JEPD Documentary Hypothesis and the dating of texts, one must examine the area involved, the time indicated, and the language used. Attention must be paid to customs current in neighboring lands and consideration given to possible acquisition of foreign instruments. -. While a vast multilingual literature on the subject is available, a work was needed to gather the varying views and, hopefully, separate hypothesis from fact. Hans Seidel, a member of the '(Evangelic) Theological faculty of Karl Marx University in Leipzig, Germany, has in his Musik in Altisrael succeeded in supplying fresh ideas, unvarying logic, and admirable clarity to this intriguing subject. Dividing the volume into such periods as Patriarchal, Monarchial, Babylonian exile, Reconstruction and Hellenistic-Roman, the author deals in each section with relevant biblical passages, local customs, archeological excavations , cult and worship. As expected, a considerable part of the material deals with music in worship . D. Wohlenberg, an eminent scholar frequently quoted by the author, aptly put it: "Gottesdienst im Alten Orient ist ohne musik nicht denkbar" VoLume 10, No.1 FaLL 1991 131 (the worship of God in the ancient east is inconceivable without music). The role of the Levites, male and female singers, dancers, and instrumentalists is carefully delineated. Ample discussion of the puzzling Psalm headings is provided and a judicious attempt is made to reconcile such divergent texts as 2 Sam 6:5 with 1 ehron. 13:8. Without doubt the volume deserves unmitigated praise. Among its advantages mention must be made of the surprisingly comprehensive list of authors cited. Happily, such contemporary Israeli musicologists as Avenary, Bayer, and Gerson-Kiwi are included. A valiant attempt is also made to trace Hebrew musical terms to Greek, Accadian, and U garit sources. In addition to informative copious notes the reader also receives a most welcome list citing every biblical reference to music. A bibliography of 35 pages concludes this book of competence and excellence. Max Wohlberg Cantors Institute Jewish Theological Seminary The Song of Songs: A New Translation and Interpretation, by Marcia Falk. Illustrated by Barry Moser. New York and San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990. 216 pp. $18.95. The Song of Songs, the Bible's hauntingly beautiful collection of lovelyrics , has an oral quality in the original Hebrew and formal, poetic features that none of the recent English translations has been able to capture. The King James Version has brought the Song into English as a literary masterpiece , but it treats the biblical verse like prose. Responding to the need for "a modern English translation of the Song that incorporates insights of new scholarship and analysis, yet reads like genuine poetry," Marcia Falk offers a truly lyrical version of the Song that approximates the text's original spoken quality and moving power. Beginning with the realization that "there can be no tmLy literal translation of a literary text," that any attempt to carry a work "from one culturallinguistic context to another" involves losses and gains...