The Music of the Bible Revealed: Psalms 1

Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura, LA MUSIQUE DE LA BIBLE REVELEE, VOLUME 3 (Alienor 1051 CD, 1993; original recording, 1986).

This is the first of a new series of videos I'm making in which the kind of photography used in the slideshow will be simple and consistent. Each video will use a graphically modified excerpt from the Leningrad Codex online as the basic background, allowing the music to speak for itself as much as possible. If all goes well I'll be able to modify all my old videos to fit the new format and create all my new ones in it as well.

Haik-Vantoura did well indeed to infer that Psalms 1 was performed by two alternating solo voices (this brings out the meaning of the words in the best possible way, given the melodic line), but I've wondered for many years why the Psalm's author intended this sort of performance. The nature of biblical meditation seems to be the answer. One "talks to himself" - in Jungian terms, the Ego and the Self have a conversation about God's law - and the idea of "meditation" conveys the idea of murmuring in an undertone. So this Psalm confirms the means by which one focuses his mind.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Biblical chant
• Hebrew Language
• Jewish music
• King David
• Music of the Bible Revealed
• Musique de la Bible révélée
• Psalm 150
• Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura
• Suzanne Haik-Vantoura
• Bible
• Cantillation
• David
• Harp
• Hebrew
• Music
• Psalm
• Psalmody
• Psalms
• Psaume
• Tanakh
• Le roi David