Re: borrowed music

[Joel Bresler <jbresler...>]

Hi, Roger and others.

We discussed this fellow some while back, for those that want additional 
information, see:

http://www.shamash.org/listarchives/jewish-music/000323

I don't believe that the (Benedictine) neumes Ovadiah used are the same 
thing as the notation used for Gregorian chant. These pieces have been 
bewildering scholars for a long time. The recordings are conjectural, 
but/and interesting.

>At that time,

(early 12th Century)

>Christians knew no Hebrew and Jews knew no Gregorian Chant.

This seems a pretty broad statement. Can any other listers weigh in on 
whether this were indeed the case?

Shabbat shalom,

Joel

At 10:58 AM 5/4/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Forgive me if someone mentioned this already in the "if its borrowed,
>is it Jewish" and I missed it.
>
>Last night I had the privelge to visit the Rare Book Room at the JTS -
>not just the public exhibits.  Rather, Rabbi Jerry Schwartzbart brought
>us into the reading room and pulled some items out of the vault.
>
>One item from the Cairo Genizah was a poem written out in Hebrew.
>But there were other marks as well, which I recognized as music
>notation.  It turned out to be notation for Gregorian Chant.
>
>At a later date, the Church scholars will consider Hebrew a useful
>skill, but this scrap was from the 12th century.  At that time,
>Christians knew no Hebrew and Jews knew no Gregorian Chant.
>
>The solution to the mystery lies in the background of the one who
>wrote out the poem and its tune.   He was Ovadyah HaGer, who
>was born Johannes, the second son of a Norman lord.  Gentile rules
>of inhertance at that time gave everything to the eldest son, so
>whle his big brother went into battle as a night, Johannes got
>shipped of to the monastary to become a priest.
>
>In the midst of the Crusade, in 1102, Johannes became Ovadyah HaGer
>when he converted and moved to the area Northern Israel.
>
>There are recordings of his works.
>
>So theres a borrowing story for you!
>
>Shabbat shalom -
>roger
>
>--
>
>r l reid        ro (at) panix(dot)com
>



Joel Bresler
250 E. Emerson Rd.
Lexington, MA 02420 USA

Home Office:    781-862-4104
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