Psalms

The music was lost long ago, but all small group of people believe the original melodies were preserved in the teamim (the accent marks) in a certain subgroup of the Masoretic texts. They believe the melodies are original because rabbinical tradition states that particular subset preserves the "true tradition."

Suzanne Haik Vantoura, a French musicologist par excellence, worked with the signs understanding them to be musical notation and developed a key to decipher them. She gave a detailed description of her work in her book The Music of the Bible Revealed: The Deciphering of a Millenary Notation, (Bibal Press).

This was discussed some time in the past, and I revisited the discussion just recently here:

http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=44816

 

Try this link: http://www.cgmusic.com/library/musicofthebible.htm

Another musicologist Abraham Idelsohn, (1882-1938) assumed that certain musical phrases which were found in Jewish folk music from every corner of the globe (despite the prevailing cultures) were remnants of 1st - century Temple tunes.

A group called The San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble put the phrases Idelsohn indentified into original works in Middle Eastern styles on a CD called, appropriately enough, Ancient Echoes, and accompanied themselves on replicas of ancient instruments. (Note: Though their publicist billed the recording as "Music from the time of Jesus," the ensemble itself is making no such claims.

They used Haik-Vanoura's work on tracks 8 and 15 of their CD.

 

In the above link, Psalms 122 and 150 are the most impressive. Keep in mind only the melodies are contained in the texts. The harmonies inferred and the instrumental accompaniament added is mere artistic license.

 

I think you'd be suprised how many Bible verses can be sung to the melody of the Flintstones' theme. :laugh:


I think there might be a seed of truth in the idea that this melody has been around for millenia, and has supernaturally been preserved in its original form by the Flintstones' translators.