RE: History of Jewish Music

[ortav <ortav...>]

On Sat, 05 Oct 1996 12:22:59 -0700  moshe denburg wrote:
>On Tue, 1 Oct 1996 18:31:29 -0400 (EDT) estaylor (at) cris(dot)com wrote:
>
>>Hi Moshe and others interested,
>>
>>Does anyone care to expound on the Phyrigian scale influence on Jewish
>music and 
>>possible direct influence from the Sephardic experience in Spain and 
Spanish 
>>folk or court music? How do scholars view it? The relationship between
>Phrygian 
>>modes and Jewish music has fascinated me but I'm unaware of scholarship or 

>>precise evidence in this area,
>>
>>Scott

I would view it as a seperate line.  When Jews moved east to Poland and 
Russia in the late Middle Ages, they met a Jewish population of Asian origin 

already residing there.  This contact gave an Asiatic flavor to Ashkenazic 
synagogue chant, while most of the tunes remained intact.  At a later date, 
Jews in the BAlkans were also influenced by the music imported there by the 
Turks.  Remember, the Turks are natives of the area called Turkmen.

The word "Frigish" is also based on a misnomer, the mode sharing a lowered 
second with the Ecclesiastical Phrygian mode, but having a raised third, 
creating the characteristic augmented second interval.  

The only common roots between pre-Expulsion Sephardic music and 
Ashkenazic 
Eastern European music are to be found in synagogue chant.  
Idelsohn 
explains this quite well, and was the pioneer in the research in 
this field. 
 For example, the special melody used for chanting the Song of the 
Sea is 
identical in both traditions, really the closest paralle to be 
found.

Yossi

-------------------------------------
Yosef Zucker, General Manager
OR-TAV Music Publications
P.O. Box 1126  Kfar Sava  44110 ISRAEL
Tel./Fax. 972-9-767-9869
E-mail: ortav (at) netvision(dot)net(dot)il
Date: 10/05/96
Time: 22:20:06