Re: "Songs to the Invisible God" review...

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

Hi, Judah and Judy. I'd value a quick summary of Werner's thesis/theses, 
and the arguments that have developed subsequently.

There is of course a Boston Camerata CD, "The Sacred Bridge" which attempts 
to show some of the cross-fertilization between Jewish and Christian music 
using several examples. I'll try to get more information and report back.

Best,

Joel

At 03:44 PM 3/20/00 -0500, Judah Cohen wrote:

> > Please remind him of the book "The Sacred Bridge" by E Werner which showed
> > that Christian chant came from/was based upon/ Jewish chant.... (and while
> > some details of Werner's arguments may be in dispute these days),
> > nevertheless the basic premise remains: the idea of chanting came from the
> > ancient Jewish Temple and predates Christianity.
> >
>I would be lax to bring up Werner's book as authoritative in ANY context,
>save that of a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to substantiate what remains
>an unsubstantiated and speculative assumption.  The connections scholars can
>find between Jewish and Christian Chant before the 17th century are
>serendipitous at best, and often require several leaps of logic to come to
>any overarching conclusion.  Werner's work was special primarily in that he
>made these leaps of logic with great passion, self-assurance and abandon.
>
>This may initially sound surprising considering how deeply the "Sacred
>Bridge" theory sits within Jewish music studies.  But check the evidence--or
>lack thereof.  Upon some scrutiny, most arguments melt away into
>speculation--and until we can find some way to move beyond documentary
>evidence (or, until some notated "Dead Sea Scrolls" are found), it will
>probably remain that way.
>
>Be well.
>Judah Cohen.
>



Joel Bresler
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