Re: jewish music in bible

[Eliott Kahn <Elkahn...>]

>I studied theory for four years. Do you think that I could apply that to 
>biblical poetry, and particularly the megillot, in terms of creating a deeper 
>understanding of their composition? (i.e. meter, rhyming schemes, various 
>structures and cadences...?) 
>
>Thanks again to all of you for your thoughtful suggestions.
>
>Malka
>

One man's lifelong study of cantillation from an educated music theorist's 
perspective is THE CANTILLATION OF THE BIBLE: THE FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES by 
Solomon Rosowsky (New York: Reconstructionist Press, 1957).

I have never taken the time to delve into the book--it's very 
theory-oriented--but the author was a gifted composer and theorist educated at 
the St. Petersburg Conservatory before the Russian Revolution. He also had 
instinctive knowledge of the Lithuanian trope system from his father Boruch 
Leib Rosowsky, who was Obercantor in Riga, Latvia for forty-plus years.

Hope that's helpful.


Dr. Eliott Kahn
Music Archivist
Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
3080 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
WK: (212) 678-8076
FAX (212) 678-8998
elkahn (at) jtsa(dot)edu

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