Re: Maoz Tzur & Shavuot

[Francesco Spagnolo <yuval.italia...>]

Regarding the relationship between melodies and texts in singing
"Ma'oz tzur" and "Shne zeitim", I believe that Sam has it right:

>
>That melody [i.e. the ?standard? tune] seems to have become
>customary in German synagogues about 1750 or even a little earlier.
>Yet the fact remains that meter and syllabic stress of the tune
>invariably go against the Hebrew accentuation. This would be
>unimportant if the Marcello tune had the same flaws; however, that
>version fits the Hebrew accents precisely. [Note: I find this point
>of Werner?s, repeated below, not at all convincing. -S.W.]
>Moreover, there exists another poem for Hanukkah that, in turn, is
>much better suited to the Germanic tune than is the customary Ma'oz
>Tzur. It is the old Piyut, ?Sh'ney Zeytim? (Two Olive Branches),
>which used to be chanted on the Sabbath of Hanukkah. The meter of
>that Piyut truly matches the metric structure of the Germanic tune.
>
>At this point I submit a conjecture that I cannot prove decisively:
>the original tune of Ma'oz Tzur in Minhag Ashkenaz was the one
>transmitted by Marcello, which fits the rhymes and stresses of the
>text exactly. At the same time the older Piyut, Sh'ney Zeytim for
>the Sabbath of Hanukkah was sung to the Germanic tune. When,
>however, that Piyut fell into oblivion, the cantors and
>congregations, unwilling to give up the popular tune, transferred
>this much more catchy air to the text of Ma'oz Tzur. In the United
>States, where even this text is not too familiar, the melody is
>maintained in an English paraphrase, "Rock of Ages." >>
>


It appears to me that Eric Werner's source for his assumptions is A.
Z. Idelsohn, not only in his "Jewish Music", where he mentions the
two tunes, and the two piyyutim, and links them to German folk tunes
dating back to the 15-16th centuries, but also in his "Jewish
Liturgy", Appendix IV, p. 319:

«Shne zeitim, Meora, is a poem by the above mentioned Solomon
[Shlomoh ben Yehudah of Roma, 10th century]. The author draws from
Zachariah IV:3-14. This poem is a fervent prayer for the
re-establishment of Zion, the Sanctuary, and the priestly service. It
used to be sung in a tune which is a variation of the tune of Maoz
Tzur».

Now, all this seems to be confirmed by Italian-Israeli
ethnomusicologist Leo Levi (1912-1981), as well as by my own
inquiries in the topic. Among the Ashkenazim of Gorizia, a small town
near Trieste, the distinction was kept up to this century. That is,
the "Marcello Ma'oz tzur" was the established one, whereas the
"standard tune" for Ma'oz tzur" was sung to Shne zeitim"...

As I suggested in a previous posting, the "Marcello tune" was
recorded by Levi in the 1950's in several oral variants, among the
Italian-Ashkenazi communities of Verona, Ferrara, and Casale
Monferrato. I added the Veronese version to the forthcoming CD
"Italian Jewish Musical Traditions", an anthology which also includes
two other "Marcello tunes" that were still in use among Italian
Ashkenazim in the 20th century: "Hamavdil" and "Shofet kol haaretz"...

Francesco

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