Nomenclature and mechanics of some Klezmer modes

[Joshua Horowitz <horowitz...>]

Hi Lori, 

in 1992 I wrote an extensive 62 page article on the klezmer modes
(centering on the freygish mode) which was accepted by Musica Judaica
for publication of volume 13 of that journal. Lately (ahem) they have
had problems, and every year I'm told the article will come out so in
the past 7 years I haven't offered it to any other journals. In answer
to your question, I've extracted a few chapters, because I think there
is such scant info out there, that maybe only this can justify the longs
mails I've been sending. I get a few  of dissertations and masters
theses sent me every year, mostly from Germany of students writing about
klezmer music, and found that misinformation has the curious property of
multiplying. So here is a summary definition with some mechanics of the
modes. Again comments appreciated... Josh
 
THE MAIN KLEZMER MODES

Because Klezmer music has not, to date, been fully penetrated by music
theorists, the definition and nomenclature of its modes has remained
unclear. Attempts to define the modes (Yidd. Shtayger, Scarbove  or
Gusto ) in terms of their similarities to oriental modes, i.e. Turkish
and Arabic Makamat, have been made. Such connections should, perhaps,
remain comparative and not definitive in nature. Other attempts have
been made to define the Klezmer modes on the terms of Western tonality
or church modality, thereby disregarding essential differences in tonal
content and behavior between the Klezmer modes and their objects of
comparison. Klezmer modes are comprised of more than 7 notes - a fact
which alone makes them unsuited to Western heptatonic theory. A mode,
then, is more than just a scale, implying also the way the notes making
it up are used. Each mode implicitly contains a mood and a set of
motives which are specific to it, though the melodic contour of these
motives overlaps extensively from mode to mode, whereby the intervals
are the varying factor. Cantorial recitative improvisations (Yidd.
Zogachts), as well as Klezmer tunes and improvisations, utilize these
motives as their melodic basis. The basic content of a mode can be
represented as a scale, though this can only provide a partial
understanding of the mode. Therefore aach mode has it's own typical
Scaler Form, Motivic Scheme, and Typical Cadence: Forms 

AHAVA RABBOH, or FREYGISH (called Ahava Rabboh in Yiddish Cantorial
terminology and Freygish in Yiddish, from Phrygisch  in  German church
mode terminology. Beregovsky suggested the term ?Altered Phryian? due to
the replacement of the raised 3rd degree for the lowered third ). The
Hebrew form, Ahava Rabbah,  means ?Abounding Love? and refers to the
text  of the  prayer from the Shabbat Musaf service:

Ahava rabah ahavtanu...
`With abounding love hast thou loved us...´

Because of the text, it is referred to as the mode of supplication.
Ahava Rabboh is often compared with the Hijaz makam of Middle Eastern
music. It is frequently, but not exclusively found in Hassidic Klezmer
pieces. Idelsohn points out the absence of the augmented 2nd in the
biblical prayer modes and doubts, therefore, that the Ahava Rabboh mode
is of Jewish origin. Because the communities that were living in areas
which were predominantly Tartaric-Altaic showed use of this mode,
Idelsohn concludes that the mode is Tartaric. He speculates that, with
the expansion of the Tartars in Southern Russia into Hungary beginning
with the 13th Century, the Jews found favor with the mode and eventually
adopted it into the Shabbat morning ritual. He mentions that it was the
same mode with which Olympus  incited strong opposition when he
introduced it into Greece around 800 B.C.E. on the Aulos, and points out
that  Ahava Rabboh was not used in the beginning period of the creation
of Piyyutim  from 800-1000 C.E. The Jewish  composer Lazare Saminsky
(1882-1959) harshly criticized the mode. 

MI SHEBERACH (`He who blessed,´ also called the Ukrainian,  Altered
Ukrainian, Doina, Altered Dorian  or Ov Horachamim   [`Father of Mercy´]
mode.The raised 4th degree of this mode lends it its characteristic
profile. It often forms the basis of the Doina   (Roumanian and
Jewish-Roumanian improvised lament), but is commonly found in other
forms of Klezmer music as well. It has earlier been misconstrued by
certain cantors as being identical to the Dorian Church mode, and
understood as exhibiting the raised 4th degree only in the descending
form in synagogue song. The liturgical mode is comprised of a
combination of two prayers; Mi Shebarach  and Av Horachamim:

Mi shebarach avoteinu Avroham Yitzchak Yaakov 
`He who blessed our fathers Abraham, Isaak and Jacob´

 Klezmer music tends to make use of the raised 4th degree in both,
ascending and descending forms, though in  pieces where the nominal mode
is Mi Shebarach, the natural and raised 4th may often be used
interchangeably, or in alternating sections. In Romanian and Ukrainian
music, the raised and natural 4th  degree is also interchangeable, as is
the minor or major 3rd degree of the mode. Idelsohn considers these
interchangeable tones as being characteristic of non-Jewish Romanian and
Ukrainian music, though early  recordings of Romanian and Ukrainian
Jewish musicians show frequent use of it. The Mi Shebarach mode is
related to the Ahava Rabboh mode in basic pitch content, if one begins
Mi Shebarach on its 2nd degree. In  the Balkan countries, the
oscillation between the tonics on the 1st and 2nd degrees is common; in
Jewish music it is less common, though it can be found in Jewish Doinas. 

ADONOY MOLOCH (`The Lord reigns´) This mode resembles the Western
Mixolydian  mode and is a staple of the traditional Synogogue service.
Sephardic cantors call it the Tefillah (`prayer´) mode, whereas
Ashkenasi cantors simply call it Adonoy Moloch, after the beginning of
the text, which is taken from Psalm 93  and sung originally as the
opening prayer of the Friday night Shabbat service:

Adonay Malach, geut lavesh, lavesh Adonay, oz hit´azar, af-tikon tevel
bal timot...

`The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he is
girded with power; Although the world is established, it will never be
shaken.´

It occurs often in  Ahava Rabboh  or Yishtabach  Klezmer pieces as the
first sub-mode, where it  provides a contrasting lighter mood. It is
similar to the Arabic Makam, Siga:.

MOGEN OVOS (Our forebears´shield) is one of the oldest synagogue modes.
It is similar to the natural minor scale of Western music, and is found
in Klezmer music in pieces of greeting and farewell, but is also used in
dance tunes. In liturgical music, it stems from the Haftarah 
(obligatory chanting of parts of the Prophets after the Torah reading)
and begins:

Magein Avot bidvaro, mechayeh meitim bema´amaro...
`Our forbears´schield, reviver of the dead, incomparable Lord...´

It teaches the relevance of Shabbat observance, and is therefore
referred to as the Didactic  Mode. Mogen Ovos is related to the
combination of two Middle Eastern Makamat, Bayat (emphasising the 1st
degree) and Bayat-Nava  (emphasising the 4th degree).
 
YISHTABACH (`It  shall become superb´)  named after the prayer
beginning:

Yishtabach shimcha la´ad malkenu hael ha melech hagadol

`Thine name shall become superb forever, our King, the Lord, the great
Ruler´

This  mode is related to Mogen Ovos, which in turn often borrows the
melodic cadences of Yishtabach. It is characterized by frequent lowering
of the 2nd and 5th degrees. One of the earliest known mention of
Yishtabach as an independent mode is by  the cantor, Joseph Singer
(Illinik, Hungary, 1841- Vienna, 1911), though according to Singer, the
Yishtabach mode is identical to that which is now accepted as the Ahava
Rabboh mode. Pinchos Minkowsky  (Biela Tzerkow, 1859-Boston, 1924)
notates the Yishtabach mode in  ascending (Aeolian) and descending
(Phrygian) form with no further discernment. Moshe Beregovski describes
the mode as having lowered 2nd and 5th degrees. Beregovsky´s definition
corresponds to mine, and can be verified as being present in this form
in many Klezmer pieces. When Yishtabach is the nominal mode, it often
progresses to the IV Adonoy Moloch, a fact which Beregovsky observes,
although he considers this as movement to the ?relative major.?  

THE SUB-MODE SYSTEM OF THE AHAVA RABBOH MODE (Freygish)

A Sub-mode is a mode which is hierarchically secondary to the nominal
mode. The suggested criteria for determing secondary status of the
sub-mode are one or more of the following: 

        1) The sub-mode appears in a part of the tune after the nominal mode
has been established. Therefore, it usually does not appear at the very
beginning of the tune, but may appear in the first section.
        2) It usually creates contrast to the nominal mode, and often has the
character of a short detour. Often, the sub-mode uses motives which may 
create an opposite pole to the character of the nominal mode, i.e.
static-dynamic, or make an emotional contrast.
        3) It usually occupies considerably less temporal space in the piece
than the nominal mode.

Sub-modes constitute complete modes in and of themselves. It is merely
their position in the hiererarchy of the piece which relegates them to
the status of sub-modes.

The following shows the nominal mode, Ahava Rabboh, with its family of
sub-modes.  

AHAVA RABBOH in D (Nominal Mode): (B C) D Eb  F# G A Bb C D

SUB-MODES:
VII ADONOY MOLOCH: 
VII MI SHEBARACH:
VII MOGEN OVOS:
*II YISHTABACH:
*III ADONOY MOLOCH:
IV ADONOY MOLOCH:
IV MOGEN OVOS:
IV AHAVA RABBOH:
IV MI SHEBARACH:
V AHAVA RABBOH:
VI ADONOY MOLOCH:

MODAL PROGRESSIONS
The movement of one mode to another or to a sub mode can be called modal
progression, and is analagous to modulation in western theory. Those
tones of a tone group which change when a modal progression occurs, i.e.
when a new pitch group or sub-mode is achieved, can be termed
convertible tones. The converted tone often changes function in its new
context.  

There are 
SIMPLE MODAL PROGRESSION

Simple modal progression is a modal progression in which only one new
sub-mode is arrived at before the return to the nominal mode. 
TYPE I: I Ahavah Rabboh- VII Adonoy Moloch- I Ahavah Rabboh
 
COMPLEX MODAL PROGRESSION

Complex modal progression refers to a modal progression in which more
than one new sub-mode is arrived at before the return to the nominal
mode.
TYPE XII: I Ahava Rabboh- IV Adonoy Moloch- V Ahava Rabboh-
                                                                                
                                                                
MODAL INTERCHANGE

Modal interchange is the movement of one mode to another, whereby the
tonalis remains the same. This means that the pitch content changes, but
not the Tonalis. The sub-mode being interchanged need not be temporally
adjacent to the nominal mode; it is sufficient if it is found in the
same piece, even if separated by other sections. A sub-mode which is
used only at the point of cadence (usually the last 2 bars of a section)
is called cadential modal interchange. Often, however, a cadence in the
sub-mode occurs in the middle of a section, in which case it is simply
called modal interchange. Most of the cases of modal interchange involve
an exchange of Ahava Rabboh and Mogen Ovos. When the nominal mode is
Mogen Ovos, Ahava Rabboh can, in turn, function as a common mode of
interchange.
 
SEQUENTIAL PROGRESSION

Although sequential progression does not necessarily result in a change
of pitch content, and therefore cannot always be considered as movement
to a sub-mode, it can provide a shifting of the  orienting, or central
note of a mode or sub-mode within the confines of it. Melodic sequences
exist in oriental, as well as in Western music. The sequence in Klezmer
music is more a melodic phenomenon than a contrasting device, though the
emphasis of the changing central note may be fortified through the
underpinning of an accompanying bass part.There need not necessarily
even be a shifting of the central note, but  rather merely a
sequentially repeating melodic figure which gives the impression of
changing emphasis without establishing any secondary areas (see example
28). Sequences can be found in sections where progression to a sub-mode
or modes occur, and also in sections where modal interchange occurs ( in
short, all of the aspects of modal progression under  observation here
can be implemented concurrently).  The sequence usually uses 3 or more
tonal or modal areas, or at least 2 repetitions of a melodic unit.
Sequences can also occur within a sub-mode; therefore, the  analyses of
the following examples display the sequence as it relates to the mode in
which it is found, and not necessarily to the nominal mode.
 
TYPE XXV:  I Ahava Rabboh- IV Mogen Ovos ( iv-vii)- I Ahava Rabboh 

Some questions which arise during a perusal of the problem of 
*Shtaygerology* are:

1)  Can the temporal and geographic origins of a particular piece be
ascertained through its modal mechanics?

2)  Are there regional differences between the modes and their
mechanisms (i.e. a klezmer nussach?) 

3) What is the relationship of Klezmer modes to Cantorial (Chazzanut)
modes? To those of neighboring or host peoples?

4) What are the similarities and differences to Greek, Turkish and
Arabic Makamat or Persian Dastgah?

5) What are the limiting parameters of improvisation in modal Klezmer
music?

 6) Are there differences between the modal mechanics of vocal music
(i.e. Niggunim) and instrumental music?

End


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