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The Music of the Bible Revealed: The Deciphering of a Millenary Notation

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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 David. (I was the editor and co-publisher of this English edition.)

What makes Haik-Vantoura's work so seminal -- and still so controversial? Let me explain. When the Masoretes of Tiberias (fl. 9th-10th centuries) disclosed the musical accents (TE`AMIM) now found in the Hebrew Bible (Masoretic Text), they analyzed the notation from the assumption that the Temple music (which they knew and said the accents represented) and the synagogue music of their own time had essentially the same structure and function. Thus they analyzed the notation on the premise that (like the "primitive" synagogue chant) it was primarily exegetical, secondarily musical; and they used the Hebrew verbal syntax as the "virtual bilingual" (in effect, the "Rosetta Stone") necessary to assign an exegetical function to each accent. The synagogue chants of the Ashkenazim especially have developed in accordance with this analysis.

All the other books you will find sold here on synagogue cantillation assume that the Masoretes' premise was correct. What they won't tell you is that the Masoretic paradigm doesn't explain most of the physical features of the notation or of its relationship to the words. Nor will they tell you that this paradigm was developed from tentative beginnings over several centuries, and that only after the notation itself appeared fully developed and "out of nowhere". How then can the Masoretic paradigm represent the original meaning of the accentuation?

Suzanne Haik-Vantoura's approach was the mirror-image of that of the Masoretes. Like them, she used the Hebrew verbal syntax as the "virtual bilingual" necessary to assign a function to each accent. Unlike the Masoretes, she actually believed what both Jewish tradition and musicological consensus indicate: the accents are primarily musical, secondarily exegetical. The resulting "deciphering key" is the only one possible based on that premise, and it explains all the features the Masoretic paradigm explains plus all the features it does not. (I owe to Masoretic scholar James D. Price the needed clue to correct the interpretation of one rare accent by her key. The correction is not in this book, however, but on my King David's Harp, Inc. Web site.)

The music that results does correlate with some of the oldest synagogue melodies, but unlike them it actually interweaves with the words syntactically. In effect, the Hebrew Bible was created and transmitted as "art song" (compare Psalm 119:54), and every biblical author "from Moses to Malachi (or Chronicles)" was a "poet-composer". The music theory behind the reconstructed music correlates on many levels with what we know of ancient music (including harp tuning and playing techniques), and has similarities with Gregorian chant on the one hand and Indian ragas on the other; yet it has a harmonic structure (especially in Psalms) which was not rediscovered in Western music until at least the Renaissance. Thus, thanks to Haik-Vantoura's work, we have the staggering privilege of being able to hear and perform music that sounds surprisingly modern, yet (according to Scripture) is up to 3,400 years old.

The notation itself is a transcription of a method of conducting music by means of hand- and finger-gestures (chironomy). An entire chapter of the book is devoted to the subject. After the book's publication, I set myself to reconstructing the chironomy behind the written accentuation, beginning with historical indications cited in the book. (Again, the system of chironomy is only documented online to date.)

The above results do not sit well with all rabbis, cantors, musicologists and Masoretic scholars. Yet everyone who has followed the late Haik-Vantoura's logic correctly (and there have been many) have supported her conclusions. You will find a long list of such people (and even some praise by "hostile reviewers") at the end of her book.

Haik-Vantoura herself died on Simchat Torah, October 22, 2002, after publishing or overseeing a total of eight recordings and numerous musical scores comprising some 5,000 verses (about one-fourth) of the Hebrew Bible. Most of this material is listed in the back of the book. Much of it is only available overseas (some via online sites) or is out of print. (Please note too that the contact information for King David's Harp, Inc. given in the book is outdated.)

Absolutely fascinating account of the <probable> 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 composition very clearly meant for male-female duet. Whether this is the ACTUAL system as originally used, it DOES produce beautiful music that is probably upwards of 2,500 years old.

For anyone interested in ancient music, and more specifically, cantillation of scripture, this is a must reference. This book represents a lifetime of research and is an exciting revelation of what the music of King David may well have sounded like. I've used this material in my own compositional techniques and have found it a fantastic reference work when working with the scriptures. For any composers setting Biblical text to music I would highly recommend this book.

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 this reviewer's translation (emphasis added).

Dennis Weber, the translator of the English edition, has done the following:

- deleted the 1st person plural pronoun "nous" and adjective "nos" ("us" and "our").

- inserted the adjective "medieval".

- inserted the prepositional phrase "on the te'amim".

- substituted the verb "state" for the verb "apprenaient" ("have taught"), no doubt in order to avoid using the indirect object "us".

What is interesting here is the precise meaning of "us" and "our". Who are "we"? One can infer that the translator correctly understands "we" to refer to the author (Haik-Vantoura) and her fellow Jews by his interpolation of the adjective "medieval", which does not occur in her text. Who wrote the medieval treatises on cantillation signs? Jews, as opposed to later treatises that were written by Jews and Christians alike. In grammatical terms, Haik-Vantoura's two 1st person plurals are inclusive (of Jews) or exclusive (of Christians) depending on the religion of the reader.

The English translation silently suppresses Haik-Vantoura's reference to her own religious education and cultural background. This is dishonest to its readers, disrespectful to the late Haik-Vantoura, and offensive to all Jews. This edition mentions nowhere that the author was Jewish, although the biographical note relates without comment that "her studies were interrupted by World War II". Haik-Vantoura and her family fled Vichy France for their lives. More than thirty years later she identifies herself in the disputed phrase as a Jewess writing in the context of Jewish tradition.

On the other hand, the editor's preface tells of his childhood memories of Christian Sunday School.