Newsgroup: it.cultura.ebraica
Titolo: ebraismo e musica

Per favore, quali sono e soprattutto quali sono stati i rapporti tra
l'ebraismo e la musica cantata o suonata? Era praticata qualche forma di
improvvisazione, e che differenza c'era tra le musiche dentro e fuori le
funzioni religiose?
Vi ringrazio molto della considerazione e delle eventuali risposte, che se
non e' troppo disturbo vi chiedo di mandarmi in copia nella casella di posta
elettronica (anche link vanno benone).
Per quanto l'eventuale tempo che mi sara' dedicato non avra' un prezzo che
posso pagare, ricambio con una passo che lessi nella Bibbia giorni fa, e mi
e' piaciuto molto:
Deut. 4,27
"Il Signore vi disperdera' tra i popoli e non resterete piu' di un piccolo
numero fra le nazioni dove il Signore vi condurra' [...] Ma di la' cercherai
il Signore tuo Dio e lo troverai, se lo cercherai con tutto il cuore e tutta
l'anima."
Cordiali saluti
-- 
eno...@despammed.com
---
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http://www.e-brei.net/

 elettronica (anche link vanno benone).
Questo e' un NG, non un centro informazioni gratuito a beneficio del
singolo quindi le risposte le troverai qui dove possono trarne
giovamento tutti e non in posta dove ne beneficeresti solo tu.
EmJey
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non ne uscirai mai vivo
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 giovamento tutti e non in posta dove ne beneficeresti solo tu.
Ah, a proposito [de che?] con MacSoup come si fa a mettere quel bel
delfinotto nell'angolo?
Ciao e grazie
Tb
-- 
Alcuni di noi hanno storie di merda che fanno male. 
(il primo kiwi con tastiera incorporata)
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 delfinotto nell'angolo?
preferenze - account - selezioni l'account delle news - edit - extra
header ed aggiungi l'x-face
EmJey
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Non prendere la vita troppo sul serio...
non ne uscirai mai vivo
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 funzioni religiose?
l'argomento è troppo vasto per poter essere trattato in un post.
E' un po' come chiedere di postare qualcosa sulla filosofia tedesca ;-)
Se vorrai essere più preciso (riguardo al periodo, ad esempio, o ad altro)
posso sicuramente postare qualcosa.
Questi sono i (ponderosi) paragrafi del dizionario musicale Grove
Jewish music
I. Introduction
1. Definitions and scope.
2. The study of Jewish music.
3. Sources.
4. Music in Jewish thought.
II. Ancient Israel/Palestine
1. Introduction.
2. The Canaanite inheritance.
3. Israel and Judah in the Iron Age (c1000-586 BCE).
4. The Persian and Hellenistic/Roman periods (586 BCE-70 CE).
III. Liturgical and paraliturgical
1. Introduction.
2. Synagogue music and its development.
(i) Psalmody.
(a) The Psalter and psalmody.
(b) Verse structure and chant.
(c) Performing practice.
(ii) Biblical cantillation.
(a) The role of cantillation.
(b) The Tiberian system of 'te'amim'.
(c) Ta'amei emet.
(d) Theoretical discussions of the Tiberian systems.
(iii) Modal improvisation of prayers.
(iv) Poetry.
3. Ashkenazi.
(i) Historical background.
(ii) To the 16th century.
(iii) The 17th and 18th centuries.
(iv) Post-Emancipation.
4. Sephardi.
(i) Introduction.
(ii) Iberian roots.
(iii) North Africa (Maghribi).
(iv) Ottoman Empire.
(v) Western Europe and the Americas.
(vi) Italy.
5. Yemen.
6. Iraq (Babylonian).
7. Kurdish Jews.
8. Central and East Asia.
(i) Caucasus (Mountain Jews and Georgia).
(ii) Iran.
(iii) Afghanistan.
(iv) Tajikistan and Uzbekistan (Bukhara).
(v) India (Bene Israel, Cochini and Iraqi).
(vi) China.
9. Ethiopia (Beta Israel/Falasha).
10. Karaite.
11. 20th-century developments.
(i) Sephardi.
(ii) USA.
IV. Non-liturgical music
1. Introduction.
(i) Definitions.
(ii) Performance contexts.
2. Folksongs in Jewish languages.
(i) Judeo-Arabic.
(a) Yemen.
(b) Iraq.
(c) North Africa.
(ii) Judeo-Spanish.
(a) Judeo-Spanish languages.
(b) The Iberian period.
(c) The Sephardi diaspora.
(d) The Romancero.
(e) The copla.
(f) Lyric songs.
(g) Music in secular life.
(iii) Yiddish and central European languages.
(a) Ashkenazi Europe.
(b) Composed song and Yiddish theatre.
(iv) Central and South Asian languages.
3. Instrumental music.
(i) The Islamic world.
(ii) Klezmer.
V. Art and popular music in surrounding cultures
1. The Islamic world.
(i) To 1900.
(ii) 20th century.
2. The Christian world.
(i) Introduction.
(ii) Pre-Emancipation.
(iii) Emancipation to World War II.
(iv) The Holocaust.
(v) After World War II.
(vi) Popular music: Tin Pan Alley and Broadway.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
a: general
b: ancient israel
c: liturgical and paraliturgical
(i) General: synagogue genres
(ii) Ashkenazi
(iii) Sephardi
(iv) Yemenite
(v) Iraqi (Babylonian) and Kurdish
(vi) Central and East Asian
(vii) Ethiopian
(viii) Karaite
(ix) 20th-century developments
d: non-liturgical
(i) General
(ii) Yemen
(iii) Iraq
(iv) North Africa
(v) Judeo-Spanish
(vi) Yiddish and Central European languages
(vii) Composed song and Yiddish theatre
(viii) Central and South Asian languages
(ix) Instrumental music
e: art and popular music
(i) The Islamic world
(ii) The Christian world
Se qualcuno di questi ti interessa, è data facoltà di postare un articolo,
citandone autore e fonte.
Attendo dunque tuo input.
A


 giovamento tutti e non in posta dove ne beneficeresti solo tu.
In posta ho solo chiesto (per favore) una COPIA della risposta.
Sii piu' gentile, non togliera' valore alle tue risposte, quando ne avranno.
Cordialmente
-- 
enoslx


 (iii) Modal improvisation of prayers.
Forse questo e' cio' che cerco, perche' mi interessa il rapporto tra
l'esecuzione della musica e il progresso spirituale della persona. Vorrei
capire se lasciarsi andare, o forzare le proprie esecuzioni, ha
ripercussioni sull'animo dell'esecutore, e se e quanto si dice sia gradito a
Dio. I profeti hanno mai parlato di questo nei testi sacri, e come si
racconta fossero le cose ai tempi di Mose'? Se pensi che un altro capitolo
tra quelli che hai citato risponda meglio a questi interrogativi, postalo
pure invece di quello che ho scelto.
Grazie della tua risposta,
Enos


 pure invece di quello che ho scelto.
Questo è il capitolo da te richiesto (ovviamente non posso postare gli
esempi musicali, perchè non in formato compatibile).
E' anche un po' arduo da capire se non si sono letti i capitoli
precedenti....
iii) Modal improvisation of prayers.
In his efforts to show that Jewish music in all countries is Semitic in
character, Idelsohn (1929/R, p.26) pointed out modal improvisation as one of
the characteristics that tie all Jewish musical traditions to their origins
in the Middle East. Modal improvisation in liturgical music is probably as
old as the synagogue itself and is indeed common to all the Jewish
traditions. During the first five centuries ce the words of the prayers, as
well as their music, were improvised (Elbogen, 1993, p.4; Idelsohn, 1929/R,
pp.102-5). However, with the emergence of uniform texts and after the
canonization of the prayers in the 10th century (Hoffman, 1979, pp.160-71),
improvisation became the preserve of music alone.
The first records of improvised chants are found in central European
cantorial manuscripts of the 18th century (Adler, 1989), although references
to the practice are found much earlier. Much of the evidence concerning
cantorial improvisations in past centuries comes from the complaints of
rabbis against various cantorial abuses. A particularly common complaint was
that cantors use improvisation for self-glorification and vocal ostentation.
Others castigate the cantors for ignoring or contradicting the structure and
meaning of the texts, and for their long vocalises that make it 'impossible
to maintain true devotion' (Werner, 1976, pp.112-14). An example is the
description by the Spanish poet Judah al-Harizi (c1170-1235) of a cantor he
heard in Baghdad (Shiloah, 1992, pp.68-9):
  '. and when he finished his hymns he . stood there proudly, gesticulating,
moving his shoulders. And raised his right foot and put it down again. And
moved backward a bit and opened the hidden vaults of his wisdom. And brought
forth its treasures and began to recite poems and songs, all of them
tattered, halt and blind, following round-about paths, without rhythm or
meter, without form or content.'
The passage concludes with the congregation fleeing the synagogue because of
the utter boredom caused by the cantor's 'endless canticles'.
Despite the harsh criticism, modal improvisation was and still is one of the
most important elements of traditional synagogue chant, perhaps because it
answers some basic psychological and aesthetic needs in Jewish culture
(Yasser, 1966). But the nature of Jewish chants makes it difficult to
distinguish between common melismatic embellishments, cantilena passages
that are transmitted orally and bona fide improvisations.
In its simplest form, Jewish modal improvisation is an amplification of the
element of variation that exists in all the traditional chants. Most chants
are centonized melodies - mosaics constructed out of opening patterns,
partial cadences, pre-concluding and cadential formulae. Yet the patterns
and cadences never exist in a fixed melodic form, but are manifest in myriad
variations. Because chants were transmitted orally, each community,
synagogue and precentor sang them differently, and no two performances would
be the same (Frigyesi, 1982-3). This constant variety agrees with the nature
and aesthetic of Middle Eastern oral culture. In Jewish practice, however,
it also relieves the tedium of repeating the mandatory liturgical texts and
helps uplift the spirit of prayer. Therefore, when festivity is sought, the
cantor is expected to expand the variations artistically by embellishing the
traditional patterns. He is even allowed to deviate for a while from the
these patterns and insert some melodic innovations, on condition that he
return to the traditional chant at the end of the prayer. Frequently the
artistic and creative cantor may find his inventiveness constrained by the
simple chant patterns and would like to soar above them. In such cases he
would turn to the general modality considered by his community to be
appropriate for that particular prayer, day and service. He would then
exploit the many possibilities of the mode and frequently modulate to
related scales. The modes may be those that are an integral part of the
Jewish musical tradition of the community, or they may be foreign. In east
European Ashkenazi synagogues professional cantors combine the traditional
adonai malakh shteyger (see §III, 3(iii) below) with its European
counterpart, the major mode; in the 'Oriental' communities, the Arabic
maqamat are the main vehicle for improvisation (see Mode, §V, 2).
In certain communities the cantor is tolerated or even adored if he
introduces foreign tunes into his improvisation. Thus, again in an Ashkenazi
synagogue, a cantor may quote part of an aria in minor tonality from
Massenet's Werther while improvising in the cantorial magen avot shteyger
(similar traits are cited in Wohlberg, 1982, p.162), whereas in the
Jerusalem-Sephardi community, the cantor may quote a song by the Egyptian
popular composer Abdul Wahab.
Modal improvisations, which are based on embellishments, are intended to
enhance the beauty of the liturgical text and to glorify it. An excerpt from
Shiloah's transcription of the qeddushah (sanctification) prayer by a cantor
from Ioánnina (Yanina tradition), Greece (1992, p.97; given here as ex.6)
shows to what extremes a cantor can go in order to adorn the first word of a
revered prayer.
Old Ashkenazi prayer books provide devotional texts that are meant to be
uttered silently by the congregation while the cantor embellishes certain
prayers, such as the initial call barekhu et adonai ha-mevorakh!
Improvisations serve to elucidate the prayers by underlining important words
with emotionally charged motifs and through various means of tone painting,
such as madrigalisms. However, the music often takes precedence over the
text: words are repeated, phrases and even words are broken in order to
allow the development of a beautiful musical idea.
Embellishment and improvisation add festivity to the prayers and so increase
in proportion to the solemnity of the service or of the particular prayer.
The sanctity of certain texts, however, precludes ornamentation. As a rule,
God's name is never embellished, let alone repeated for musical purposes,
and certain important prayers, such as the shema' and, in some communities,
the first benediction of the 'amidah, are never modally improvised.
Improvisation is seldom used for the regular public reading of Scripture,
but it is expected for special texts. Thus, in some Turkish and Middle
Eastern communities of the Eastern Sephardi tradition, the Ten Commandments
are honoured with an embellished reading, and the most gifted readers render
each Commandment in a different maqam, choosing each to suit its contents
(Shiloah, 1992, p.248, n.4). Improvisation is most commonly used in singing
the piyyutim (liturgical poems) added to the mandatory prayers on special
Sabbaths, Festivals and Holy Days. In the Moroccan and Middle Eastern
communities the most important opportunities for improvisation are the
baqqashot gatherings on Sabbaths in winter before dawn (see §III, 4(iii-iv)
below). During these ceremonies, congregational piyyutim are prefaced with
cantorial recitatives in the Arabic style of muwwal. Cantors are expected to
develop a maqam, to modulate to related modes and to return to the original
one, thus leading towards the ensuing congregational song. Similar
recitatives, with instrumental accompaniment, are sung in the same
communities at various family festivities. Among the Yemenite Jews, the main
avenue of improvisation is the shir (Arabic nashid), the opening song
followed by the shir (rhythmical song with drumming and dance) and hallel (a
closing benediction) which are the essentials for celebrations in the home
(Adaqi and Sharvit, 1981, p.xxxii; Bahat, 1995, p.xlv; see §IV, 2(i)(a)
below).
In some communities, especially in Morocco, additional, nonsensical
syllables, such as a-ha-na-na or ne-ne-ne are pronounced with short melismas
and long vocalises (ex.7). Gerson-Kiwi (1967) believed that the extraneous
syllables are inspired by mystical or kabbalistic concepts. However, it
seems more plausible that they are a simple means of supporting the
vocalises. They may also serve as vocal substitutions for the missing
instrumental passages, or they are used as fillers to fit the music into the
structure of the Moroccan-Andalusian songs. Among the east European
Ashkenazim, it is common to insert syllables such as oi-yo-yoi, or oi-vei
into cantorial improvisations, in order to express deep grief and to invoke
God's compassion (Vinaver, 1995, no.19). Imitation of musical instruments
was part of the cantorial improvisation style and mannerisms in the
Ashkenazi communities during the 18th century and the early 19th. Some
cantors accompanied their improvisations with facial grimaces and body
movements.
The cyclical nature of synagogue music causes the cantor to repeat his
renditions of the prayers week after week. As years pass, cantors develop
personal patterns of improvisation within the communal tradition. These
patterns tend to stabilize with experience, and the most successful become
fixed and frozen, thus developing into compositions that are repeated from
memory (Idelsohn, 1929/R, pp.296-7; Frigyesi, 1982-3). During the 18th
century west European cantors began to write down such compositions for
their own use and for their close cantorial friends or relatives (Idelsohn,
HoM, vi, 1932/R). Such procedures generated the 'cantorial fantasia' (see
§III, 3(iii) below). From the mid-19th century onwards, many cantors learnt
their recitatives from cantorial manuals, thus the fixed improvisation of
one cantor became the standard chant for the next generation.
© Oxford University Press 2004
EDWIN SEROUSSI (I),
JOACHIM BRAUN (II),
EDWIN SEROUSSI (III, 1, 2(iv), 4, 7, 8(i-iii, v), 11(i)), ELIYAHU SCHLEIFER
(III, 2(i-iii), 3), URI SHARVIT (III, 5), SARA MANASSEH, (III, 6), THEODORE
LEVIN (III, 8(iv)), TANG YATING (III, 8(vi)), KAY KAUFMAN SHELEMAY (III, 9,
11(ii)), JEHOASH HIRSHBERG (III, 10),
PHILIP V. BOHLMAN (IV, 1(i), 2(iii)(a)), EDWIN SEROUSSI (IV, 1(ii), 2(i)(c),
2(iv), 3(i)), URI SHARVIT (IV, 2(i)(a)), SARA MANASSEH (IV, 2(i)(b)), ISRAEL
J. KATZ (IV, 2(ii)), BRET WERB (IV, 2(iii)(b)), WALTER ZEV FELDMAN (IV,
3(ii)),
EDWIN SEROUSSI (V, 1), JEHOASH HIRSHBERG (V, 2(i)), DON HARRÁN (V, 2(ii)),
ALEXANDER KNAPP (V, 2(iii, v-vi)), DAVID BLOCH, EMILY THWAITE, BRET WERB (V,
2(iv))
:'Jewish Music', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 20 november 2004),
http://www.grovemusic.com
Se vuoi qualcos'altro, fammi sapere.
Tieni conto che un dizionario difficilmente si presta a disquisizioni
filosofiche, le quali mi sembra ti interessino più della tecnica o della
storia.
Purtroppo non ho nulla da postare a riguardo.
ciao
A


 Ebraica. [...]
Grazie moltissimo,
la tua risposta riposa nel mio disco fisso in attesa di essere letta e
meditata con cura. Dopo avro' certamente cose da chiarirmi, ritornero' tra
qualche tempo a trovarvi sul newsgroup per chiedervi lumi sulle parti
non chiare.
In questi giorni leggevo i primi libri della Bibbia, mi sono chiesto se i
lunghi racconti della liberazione, dell'esodo ed il resto non siano forse
una grande metafora della vita interiore e spirituale. Comunque, una cosa
alla volta.
A presto, grazie infinite. Che ti si renda merito di cio' che mi hai dato.
Enos


 A presto, grazie infinite. Che ti si renda merito di cio' che mi hai dato.
non c'è merito.
è solo dovere.
ciao
A


 č solo dovere.
Adesso perň devi ripeterlo in arabo...
Tb
-- 
Alcuni di noi hanno storie di merda che fanno male. 
(il primo kiwi con tastiera incorporata)


 Adesso però devi ripeterlo in arabo...
no.
sennò poi finisco alla madrassa con Palmiro.
A


 una grande metafora della vita interiore e spirituale.
No.
Rav Dante Lattes z''l ha definito la Bibbia: "un noiosissimo libro (B''H) 
dove ci sono scritte due cose: la storia del popolo ebraico e le sue leggi".
Forse per questo ti sono sembrati dei "lunghi racconti". Anche a me lo 
sarebbero stati quelli relativi al popolo della Papuasia del Sud (-:
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