Re: Isaac Nathan

[I. Oppenheim <i.oppenheim...>]

On Mon, 14 Jan 2002, Victor Tunkel wrote:

> Dear Irwin,
>
> Thanks for your response to my suggestions about Shney Zeytim and Maoz
> Tsur.
>
> Briefly, (because the answer to most of your queries is in Werner's A
> Voice Still Heard), I was not concerned with the tune that Marcello
> notated in Venice.  I was uncertain what the Dutch Shney Zeytim tune is
> (I haven't yet got round to hearing it but hope to soon).  The Maoz Tsur
> tune evolved over the centuries, as we know from its German origins.
> On its origins Werner (1976) is superseded by later research - or rather
> earlier research, which he seems remarkably unaware of since it appeared
> in Tatzlil for 1967 page 205:  Avenary traces it back to 1474 Bohemia,
> long before Luther.  But Werner's point remains valid, that the tune
> fits Shney Zeytim well and Maoz Tsur badly.  So possibly it got
> transferred - or, I would say - shared, and then retained for Maoz Tsur
> when Shney Zeytim dropped out of the liturgy of most communities.
>
> If in Holland you have an entirely different tune for Shney Zeytim, with
> no resemblance to the Maoz Tsur tune, gey gesinte heyt!  I was merely
> querying if it might be the old Shney Zeytim tune before it evolved into
> the Maoz Tsur tune, and I cited the version of Shney Zeytim on the
> archive recording I mentioned, as an example of a primitive form of the
> Maoz Tsur tune still in use for Shney Zeytim.
>
> Isaac Nathan (Canterbury 1790 - 1864 Australia) was the provider of the
> music to which Lord Byron wrote the poems of his "Hebrew Melodies"
> (1815). Nathan used identifiable tunes from the English synagogue.  The
> Maoz Tsur tune starts "On Jordan's banks the Arab camels stray...." and
> ends "How long by tyrants shall thy land be trod?  How long thy Temple
> worshipless, O God?"  (Which only goes to prove that music should be set
> to pre-existing words, not vice-versa!)  Nathan was also the first
> person in modern times to notate the ta'amei hamiqra of the Western
> Ashkenazic tradition, in his book on the Theory of Music in 1823.  I am
> surprised that you don't know of him.
>
> Yours,  Victor Tunkel.

Dear Victor,

Thank you for your clarifying remarks!
I am myself surprised that I've never come across a reference to
Isaac Nathan. Probably I skipped a page when I read Werner's
excellent book.

Regarding the Dutch tune, see my home page
http://www.xs4all.nl/~danio/irwin/music/
for a transcription.

If you have any further suggestions,
after having seen the melody,
please share them with me!

Regards,
Irwin Oppenheim

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