Mallette Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 ...3400 years of music in religion in 6 sessions. At least a few here may find some interest in my Sunday School class. Seriously! No preaching, all music. Two sessions delivered and 3 up on the web so far, 3 more to go. I've had a lot of fun with this and those with an interest in the history of music and/or religion (and they are intimately tied) may find some interesting tidbits here. While there are some very fine performances and good recordings on this site, they were chosen for their relevance and not specifically for the quality. Some highlights include a performance of the oldest know music from 1400 BC (really) for which we actually have not only notation, but a clear description of the instrument and how it is to be tuned. Also, an excellent performance of the nearly impossible "Spem in Alium," Thomas Tallis virtually impossible to master 5 choir, 40 part composition. But wait, there's more! OK, check it out and let me know what you think. It's HTML5 and if you aren't up to date you may just get a "sorry Charlie" message, and I didn't have time to transcode for every oddball browser out there, but it runs great in IE and Firefox. Also, some of the videos require significant bandwidth. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 I'd really like to print this out and study it as a whole. Can I do that, or must I print it out page by page? The scholarship is really remarkable! Is it yours? My only initial comment is that the melodic lines and harmonies from the first sessions sound modern (18th - 21st century), and not like medieval or early Renaissance music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 (edited) I'm convinced that some tunes have been passed down for thousands of years. Will look on the PC; it crashed on my iPhone 4. Edited May 16, 2014 by Sancho Panza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boxx Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 I now that the basis of this song goes pretty far back.... "Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There Is a Season)", often abbreviated to "Turn! Turn! Turn!", is a song written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s. The lyrics, except for the title which is repeated throughout the song, and the final verse of the song, are adapted word-for-word from Chapter 3 of the Book of Ecclesiastes, set to music and recorded in 1962. The song was originally released as "To Everything There Is a Season" on The Limeliters' album Folk Matinee and then some months later on Seeger's own The Bitter and the Sweet.[1] The song became an international hit in late 1965 when it was covered by the American folk rock band The Byrds, bowing at #80 on October 23, 1965, before reaching #1 on the Hot 100 chart on December 4, 1965, #3 in Canada (Nov. 29, 1965), and also peaking at #26 on the UK Singles Chart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garyrc Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 (edited) I'm convinced that some tunes have been passed down for thousands of years. Probably ... Someone named Idelsonn (or close to it), in about 1910 gathered some melodies from Jewish communities that were then allowed in Iraq and in Yemen. The guardians of the tunes claimed they had been passed down from about 2,000 years ago. He found some overlap between the melodies from the two places, and concluded that the claims might be true. Later Dr. Miklos Rozsa used a short passage from at least one of the melodies in the score to the film Ben-Hur, the love theme, I believe. Also, an ancient Hurrian melody was recovered. The woman who decoded it may be named Kramer (?) Edited May 16, 2014 by Garyrc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sancho Panza Posted May 16, 2014 Share Posted May 16, 2014 (edited) wonder how old the tune Greensleeves is? Edited May 16, 2014 by Sancho Panza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 Garyrc, one of the Hurrian hymns, to Nikkal, is in there. It is very likely that that music of Ugarit we've discovered is similar if not identical to that Kind David would have composed and to which the Psalms would have been sung. One should realize that reading Psalms is, in fact, reading a hymnbook. Beautiful as they are when read they are lyrics, not prose or poetry. In all, you guys are really getting it. The continuity is amazing. Some in my group compared the early stuff to modern compositions. In Israel Exitu, the piece I set to the Herodic Temple video, is likely very accurate. Though the provenance is murky, musicologists have be able to track it through both Jewish and Christian tradition. The structure and flow is all me. Lots of uncited borrowings from here or there with apologies, but putting something together like one of those every week for six weeks makes me sympathize with JSB being expected to have a new chorale or cantata ready every Sunday! However, well worth it and, as usual in such things, I am the one who has profited the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted May 17, 2014 Author Share Posted May 17, 2014 Fixed a couple of things today, especially the title page of session 1 that had a bunch of text that wasn't showing. Just figuring out HTML5. Spent some time on the next session, baroque thru classical. Fun stuff... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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