| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
BIBLICAL AND HEBREW MUSIC. 33 |
||
|
zando, extinguished, dying away." And then he gives a highly colored picture of the beauty and grace of the effects produced, though all that he proves is that he has a little stronger imagination than the others. "We must also give the curious opinion of "Wolff, who thinks that "Selah " has no sense whatever, and was only added to fill up the metre of a verse.
Several other eminent writers, including Fetis, who gives a full account of this war of opinions,* decline to hazard an opinion in so dark a matter.
Another conjectural description of the mode of singing among the ancient Hebrews, is the commentary of Herder on the song of Deborah and Barak, Judges v.; he says, "probably verses 1-11 were interrupted by the shouts of the populace ; verses 12 - 27 were a picture of the battle with a naming of the leaders with praise or blame, and mimicking each one as named; verses 28-30 were mockery of the triumph of Sissera, and the last verse was given as chorus by the whole people."
One cannot fail to observe some resemblance between this music and the slave music of some sections of the southern states: in the camp-meetings, and religious services, a tune which is well known to all is chosen, and as the spirit moves, often a whole song appropriate to the occasion ia improvised Of some such description must have been Miriam's song, after the downfall of Pharaoh's host; she probably chose a tune which wa»
•HUt. Gen. de la Mug
3 |
||