Chapter Four:

THE MELOS OF THE SONG OF SONGS

The "Lovers" in Hebrew

The melos of the Song refutes the idea that the text describes a "love triangle", or a great love lost. Two soloists -- and only two -- make their appearance in the choral/poetic structure: the Loved One (Hebrew dod) and the Dear One (Hebrew ra`ya).

"The Lover" and "the Beloved" are translations generally given by scholars (as well as the New International Version and other versions). Haïk-Vantoura uses them herself, in the liner notes of her recording. Yet the translations are misleading, for they imply that the same Hebrew root word is used by Solomon and Shulamith to describe each other. These terms also describe the relationship from a viewpoint not used by the original text of the Song of Songs.

Of course, the translations "Lover" and "Beloved" are drawn in part from the typology of Solomon and Shulamith (who represent God and His people). We love God because He first loved us (Deuteronomy 7:7-11; 1 John 4:10, 19). These translations reflect Solomon's leadership and Shulamith's "followship" in the romantic relationship.

The original Hebrew terms look at the relationship from a different angle. Most men naturally think of women in purely physical terms, and desire most to be loved physically. Most women naturally think of men in personal terms, and desire most to be loved as a person. Not understanding this is a major reason for the endless "war between the sexes".

We have already mentioned the three kinds of "love" in the Song of Songs. The Hebrew root dod has to do with caressing: physical love of various kinds. Shulamith addresses Solomon as Dodi or dodi ("my Lover" in this book) -- the one who receives (and returns) Shulamith's physical affection. The root ra`ah, by contrast, has to do with companionship. Solomon uses a special form of this root for Shulamith: ra`yati ("my Dear" in this book) -- the companion whom loves and is loved by Solomon as a person above all others.

Each of the Lovers thus calls the other by the term the other wants to hear. Ra'yati is personal; dodi is physical. Together, they imply a certain equality between the sexes: that of mutual, outgoing concern. As if to verify this, each of the Lovers deeply admires the personal and physical charms of the other -- yet in terms befitting the male and female sexual natures.

The Loved One (Solomon)

The Loved One plays a number of roles: king (or rather "heir apparent" to the throne), shepherd, husbandman, landlord, groom, lover, and young husband. No wonder commentators are confused as to his identity! Yet he is but one person: King Solomon (Song 1:5; 3:7, 9, 11; 8:12).

The Dear One (Shulamith)

The clearest voice in the Song (from the words alone, at any rate) is that of the Dear One, Shulamith. Paradoxically, most commentators have found her identity difficult to discern. Yet is is she who is the center of attention; the growth and changes in the Lovers' relationship are mostly measured by their effect on her. As we will see, Shulamith was neither a queen, a princess nor a concubine, but a commoner -- one made worthy of royal standing only through Solomon's Love (a type of the Divine) and her own personal growth in that Love (typical of the kehal ha-Elohim's "obedience of faith").

The Sons and Daughters of Jerusalem

Shulamith addresses "the Daughters of Jerusalem" frequently (Song 1:5-6; 2:7; 3:5; 5:8, 10-16; 6:2-3; 8:4). They refer to themselves in Song 3:10 (see below and Chapter 6 of this book). Who refers to them as "the daughters of Zion" in Song 3:11?

Translators consider Song 3:6-11 to be the words of a "narrator" (cf. NKJV), of the Dear One (cf. NIV), or perhaps of a single chorus. The biblical melos reveals that this passage is not sung by a soloist, or a single chorus, but by alternating male and female choruses. Each chorus consists of four singers in Haïk-Vantoura's recording. This revelation of two choruses (rather than, for example, one chorus of "Friends" as in the NIV) clears up much ambiguity in the Song.

Song 3:6 introduces us to the female chorus (which Haïk-Vantoura calls the Daughters of Jerusalem), who also appear in Song 3:9-10; 5:9; 6:1; and 8:11. Song 3:7-8 introduces the male chorus, here representing a group nowhere addressed by name in the Song: the Sons of Jerusalem. They appear also in Song 3:11; 6:8, 9b; 7:1; and 8:5a.

The most important appearance of the Sons of Jerusalem (for understanding the Song) is in Song 6:8 and 9b. The NIV (to cite but one translation) claims these verses are part of a monologue by the Loved One (Song 6:4-12). This assumption leads one to think that the "sixty queens, eighty concubines, and maidens without number" in Song 6:8 represent the harem Solomon had when he met Shulamith. (This would lend credence to the "love triangle" interpretation, or to the idea that "Shulamith" was the Queen of Sheba.) But how did Solomon have time to gather so many by his early twenties (as all other indications show was his age when he married Shulamith)?

As we will see, this assumption is without basis in the melos. In Song 6:8 and 9b, the Sons of Jerusalem make statements parallel to the questions posed to Shulamith by the Daughters of Jerusalem in Song 5:9 and 6:1. Each Lover has but one true love; that is the point of their replies to the choruses.

The Visitors

In one place (Song 6:10), the female chorus represents a group of queens and concubines visiting Jerusalem, intermingled with local "maidens" or "daughters". All these Visitors (our term) view Shulamith in some public ceremony, and are awed by her (almost literally) raidant beauty.

The Dear One's Admirers

Besides the full male chorus, there are places where only part of the male chorus sings. Song 7:1, Hebrew versification (where the full chorus sings), is followed in verse 2 by a new group, represented by two male singers: the Dear One's Admirers (another term we coin here). Their appearance is part of a melodic-verbal "play", obscure apart from the music (even if some commentators have guessed at its existence).

The Dear One's Brothers

The Dear One's Brothers appear in a "flashback" in Song 8:8-9. These verses are not sung by the "Friends" of the Dear One as the NIV indicates. Verse 8 is sung by the full chorus; verse 9a, by two of the four voices in the chorus; verse 9b, by the other two voices. The effect is one of a family conference (held before Shulamith reached puberty), first giving a statement of unified purpose, then of discussion back and forth between the brothers. (The choral structure, by the way, implies that Shulamith had at least four older brothers.)

The Two Men

The Two Men (another term we coin here) who introduce the Song (Song 1:1) are the most mysterious of all. Apart from the original melos, their existence cannot be inferred. The simple introduction, weak if performed by a soloist, becomes haunting, endowed with spiritual power, when sung by two men. The unique harmonics created by two voices in unison are largely responsible for the effect. Are the Two Men merely introducing the Song? Or do they too represent someone?1

Moses at times writes of God as if He were more than one "Person", a fact which has puzzled more than one commentator (cf. Genesis 1:26; 3:22; 11:7).2 Nevertheless, in the biblical melos God's voice is consistently represented elsewhere by a soloist, not by a duet.3 Yet would the Godhead's blessing be missing in a work so attuned to the spiritual?

We believe the Two Men most likely represent the two covering cherubim, who bestow God's benediction on the Song. We will have more to say about this when we discuss the spiritual mystery underlying marriage.

B. The Choral Structure of the Song

Figure 3 shows the Song's choral structure, by chapter and verse. The Dear One does not quite have the first word -- but she definitely has the last! (The more things change, the more they stay the same...)

The Song's verbal text gives no direct indications of the poetic or choral forms, musical modality, rhythm or tempo. In ancient music, the performer reconstructed these elements under the guidance of a master teacher. This is still the case in many cultures around the world.

The placement of the soloists and choruses, and the number of singers in each choral section (two or four), have been carefully determined by Haïk-Vantoura and her staff from an examination of the text and its accompanying melody. The piece was originally intended for intimate performances (as in the king's courts) rather than for large concerts with massed choirs (as were a number of the Psalms sung in the Temple).

C. The Modal Palette

As we saw in Chapter 2, the Song of Songs begins in a mode based on the major scale, with D as the tonic (assuming a basis in the Bb major scale):

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	Bb	C	D	Eb	F	G	A	Bb
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

This mode is similar to the mode called "Dorian" in the Greek system.4 It is found in all or part of a number of verses in the Song of Songs.

In Song 1:5-6 and 2:17b, the following mode makes a brief appearance (it is a mixture of the "major" and "diatonic minor" modes):

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	Bb	C	D	E	F#	G	A	Bb
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

In Song 1:7-10 the equivalent of the "diatonic minor" or "Hypodorian" mode is introduced (it is used in many verses of the Song):

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	Bb	C	D	E	F	G	A	Bb
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

Song 4:2 uses this variant of the same mode, one with a variable 2nd degree:

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	Bb	C	D	E(b)	F	G	A	Bb
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

Song 2:10-13 introduces this lovely mode, related to the "Hypophrygian" octave species of Greek theory (it is sometimes called the "Celtic major"):

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	B	C	D	E	F#	G	A	B
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

Song 2:8 introduces this spectacular variant, the "Hypophrygian" with an augmented 4th degree:

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	B	C	D	E	F#	G#	A	B
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

In Song 2:9 we first see another variant of the "Hypophrygian", this time with a variable 4th degree:

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	B	C	D	E	F#	G(#)	A	B
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

Song 3:1-4 (and other verses, including the awe-inspiring Song 8:6-7) use a variant of the "Hypodorian" or "diatonic minor" mode, with an augmented 4th degree:

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	Bb	C	D	E	F	G#	A	Bb
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

Song 4:1-4 uses the same variant, this time with a variable 4th degree:

Degrees of Scale:	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Notes of Scale:	Bb	C	D	E	F	G(#)	A	Bb
Degrees of Mode:	6	7	1	2	3	4	5	6

This is the entire modal palette of the Song of Songs.

Here and there the definition of the mode might be considered arbitrary; some verses considered as starting in one mode and ending in another (e.g., Song 2:9, 14; 4:2) could be defined as verses with "variable" degrees. However, we assume here that the hemistich is the smallest melodic-verbal unit that can be defined modally.

D. The Mechanics of the Melos

The Melodic-Verbal Themes

A number of specific melodic themes appear in the Song. They are interwoven with the syntax and meaning of the words they support and with the poetic form of the entire book. They are flexible, not rigid, adaptable to different verbal and modal contexts. With experience, the listener will perceive them easily; we will point out the existence of some of them in our verse-by-verse exposition of the Song.

One such melodic-verbal theme is found in Song 2:7. We find it again (with variations in both words and melody) in Song 3:5, 5:8 and 8:4. As with so many other melodic-verbal themes, we find this one distributed on both sides of the "pivot" of the Song (Song 5:1). In this case, an equal number of verses are found on either side of the "pivot". Another example is the tender theme (describing the Dear One's breasts) found in Song 4:5 and 7:4 (once again, on both sides of Song 5:1).

Yet another example is a theme introduced by the Daughters of Jerusalem in Song 3:6. When we find it again (in Song 8:5), the Sons of Jerusalem sing it (with slightly different words and melody). Finally, several melodic-verbal themes are found in parallel poetic themes (as well as elsewhere), with variations. One example is the theme "Who/what is this (mî zot)...?", described later in the book. Our citations here suffice to illustrate the principle.

The Melodic-Verbal Sections

Different commentators, different translators tack different verses together into sections based on content or presumed speaker. Here again, it is the combination of melody and words which determines the proper divisions. In our verse-by-verse exposition, we will point out the beginning and end of the sections; they are immediately evident on Haïk-Vantoura's recording and in her score. They are marked by changes of mode, melodic theme, tempo, solo/choral setting, change of pronoun suffixes, or combina-tions of the above.

The Chapter Division

The chapter division in the Hebrew text is actually slightly different from that in our English (Christian) Bibles. Chapter 6:13 in the Christian Bible is actually Chapter 7:1 in Hebrew. The melody confirms that the Hebrew chapter division is correct here. The verse is linked melodically and thematically to those which follow it, not to those which precede it.

In fact, the chapter division of the Song of Songs (for whatever reason) is not an arbitrary one; it reflects an overall melodic-verbal structure which transcends even the chiasmic structure of the poetry. Listen to Haïk-Vantoura's recording: after each chapter, there is a longer-than-usual pause in the reading. One quickly discovers that the chapter divisions actually point out major "turning points" in the Lovers' relationship (and in the thematic development of the "melody-text"). They mark the bound-aries of large-scale melodic-verbal sections, within which all the verses have a common thread. The headings of the following chapters of our book are arbitrary, but meant to point out these threads:

Chapter 7 (Song 1): The Courtship of the Lovers
Chapter 8 (Song 2): The Betrothal of the Lovers
Chapter 9 (Song 3): The Wedding of the Lovers
Chapter 10 (Song 4-5:1): The Wedding Night
Chapter 11 (Song 5:2-16): The Dear One's Devotion to the Loved One
Chapter 12 (Song 6): The Loved One's Devotion to the Dear One
Chapter 13 (Song 7): "I Am My Lover's..."
Chapter 14 (Song 8): The Strongest Thing Of All

As we proceed with our commentary, we will note these turning points and the reasons for their occurrence.5

The Instrumental Accompaniment

The Bible describes for us the instruments used for the accompaniment of the Psalms: harps, lyres, and cymbals (cf. 1 Chronicles 25:16), with the occasional addition of metal trumpets and perhaps ram or antelope horns (cf. Psalm 98:56). The use of these instruments is verified by the psalms' melodies themselves, which suggest not only a certain type of harmony, but a certain "timbre" for their accompaniment. Special instruments or ensembles are mentioned at times in the Psalm titles; the melodies of these Psalms suggest "timbres" different from that of those psalms where only the usual accompaniment is noted or assumed.

No such indication is given for the Song of Songs. There were of course other instruments available at the time, including lutes, flutes and various sorts of reed pipes (percussion instruments would be unsuitable for the Song). Reasonably, the Song would have been accompanied by stringed instruments and perhaps a flute; even today, flute-harp duets are considered both romantic and spiritual in tone.6

The melos of the Song of Songs puts rather strict conditions on what sort of stringed instruments could have been used:

1) They must have been capable of easy, subtle changes of mode, and considerably more of them than the Psalms require;
2) They must have had a rather delicate tone, one yet sweeter and more resonant than that of the harps and lyres usually used in psalmody;
3) They likely would have had a greater range of notes than the stringed instruments of the psalmists.

Perhaps the harps and lyres made of the almug or algum wood brought by the Queen of Sheba would have been suitable (cf. 1 Kings 10:12; 2 Chronicles 9:11), but these were made long after we believe the Song was written.

The reed pipes of antiquity (judging from descriptions and reconstructions of them) had a much too shrill, penetrating tone to accompany the Song of Songs. Flutes made of metal or wood, in which the column of air is set in motion by blowing into a soundhole (as in a recorder) or across one (as in a modern concert flute), would have been suitable. The sostenuto of the singers in many passages of the Song, in combination with the "melody-words" they sing, suggests that they would have been accompanied by a single, traverse or vertical flute.

Sometimes the flute would have been playing in unison with the singers; at other times, it would have created a simple harmony with them. The stringed instruments, meanwhile (if there were more than one used) would have created a delicate harmony with the singers, one composed most likely of intervals and arpeggiated chords. Flutes and harps playing in unison and in harmony are depicted on Egyptian murals far older than Solomon's time.7 While we cannot fully "reconstruct" the harmony of antiquity (one quite delicate compared to ours),8 one may "evoke" it in modern terms to the modern ear.

Haïk-Vantoura has created an accompaniment for concert harp and G-flute (alto flute) according to these indications.9 Nowhere does Haïk-Vantoura give to the Song a vocal harmony (as she does for several published choral Psalms). Soloists and choirs alike sing the melodic line as it is given in the Bible, with only instrumental harmony added. As Haïk-Vantoura notes:

As for the accompaniment [for the Song], it is all my own work (all the ancient "melos" were [sic] normally accompanied). I wrote it with the one goal of serving the melody, which in turn serves the words. I have been careful never to dominate the melody with my accompaniments. This has been my intention; I hope that I have succeeded.10

The Pitch of the Tonic Degree

What was the pitch of the tonic degree (which defined the pitches of all the others)? We have no surviving "pitch pipes" from the Temple or elsewhere which would give us a clue. The portrayals of instruments of different kinds in the art of the period (even when exact) are not to scale. They can give us a general idea of the pitch of the instruments portrayed; they cannot tell us if there was a universal pitch standard used, even locally.11

Musicologists assume that the tonic of antiquity (for mixed choirs) was about equal to our modern C#, a tonic accessible to all normal human voices. Female alto and soprano voices would place the tonic on the C# just above middle C. Male voices (tenors, baritones, basses) would obviously sing the tonic note (and melody) an octave lower. Barring further, unforeseen information, this is as close as we can come to knowing what the tonic pitch of the Song of Songs was.

Haïk-Vantoura has set the tonic note of her arrangement of the Song of Songs on D, which allows the concert harp to easily make the necessary modal changes throughout the Song. In our modern staff notation, male and female parts may use the same clef (the G-clef), yet be an octave apart in performance, just as the same ancient notation may mark melodies an octave apart. Haïk-Vantoura's choice of a D tonic (rather than the usual E) actually gives the Song more reserve than it might have otherwise. This lends warmth and romanticism to the performance -- and is at least reasonably close to whatever pitch was originally used.

The "Classical" Vocal Style

Occasionally some listeners have complained12 that the "Western classical" style of vocal performance on Haïk-Vantoura's original recording does not bring out the full flavor of the text.13

Of course the Song is ancient "classical" music, spiritual, not carnal in tone; yet the critique has merit. Prosody is not rhythmically rigid; even when sung in syllabic rather than speech rhythm (as in the Song), it needs to be more flexible in performance than psalmody. Adding this flexibility makes a clearer perception of the words and their meaning possible to both singer and audience (and makes the audition more enjoyable, interesting and expressive as well).

All the same, Haïk-Vantoura's recording succeeds in focusing the listener (from the very first notes) on the spiritual message of the Song. In that, it fulfills Solomon's and her own intent.

The Musical-Vocal Score

Haïk-Vantoura's original score of the Song of Songs is published by Editions Choudens (Paris). Thanks to programs such as Adobe PhotoDeluxe 1.1 (Business Edition) and Finale by Coda Music Software, we are able to excerpt passages of the score for the purposes of this book, and to create MIDI files which allow the reader to gain some idea of how the score should sound in performance.14

The Hebrew Base Text

Finally, we have included for comparison a copy of Haïk-Vantoura's base text: the Song of Songs as found in the Letteris Edition of the Hebrew Bible. Both the excerpt from Letteris and Haïk-Vantoura's complete musical score are found in the Insets immediately preceding Chapter 7 of this book.

FOOTNOTES

1. Notice that alternating choruses may represent angels, as Haïk-Vantoura believes is the case in Psalm 121:3-8. In effect, the human worshipper (represented by the soloist) is comforted and reassured by angel voices on his right and his left (represented by the choruses).
2. Rabbinic commentary commonly assumes the use by God of "Us, Our" in Genesis denotes God speaking to His angels. Others treat this usage as a sort of "royal We", perhaps comparable to the "We" used in the Qu'ran of Islam. Both opinions are made impossible by a careful comparison of Genesis 1:26; 3:5, 22; 11:7; and other passages in the Hebrew Bible alone. The original biblical cantillation indicates intimacy, even introspection in the phrase "let Us make man..." in Genesis 1:26 especially, as consistent with the communion between what the New Testament calls "God" and "the Word" (John 1:1) through the Holy Spirit.
3. Though Haïk-Vantoura follows the qerê reading in her score and recording of Psalm 24:4, the antiphonal structure of verses 3 and 4 (sung by solo and chorus, respectively) indicates that the ketav reading nafscho ("his soul"), not the qerê reading nafschi ("my soul"), is intended.
4. The reader is cautioned against making an exact parallel between the biblical and Greek modes, which differ greatly from each other in structure (particularly in the relationship of the tonic to the rest of the modal degrees). We are simply using here the common "Greek mode" (rather than the "church mode") names for different diatonic modes used in Western music.
5. Song 4 and 5 are correctly divided (for reasons we shall explain); but since Song 5:1 is related in subject to the preceding chapter, we include it in our analysis of Song 4.
6. Flutes and especially reed pipes had a sensual, even sexual connotation in their use; harp and lyres, a noble or spiritual one. This has to do as much with their innate musical capacities as to the philosophical, religious or magical qualities attached to them. Flutes and harps together (as they often are in the portrayed Egyptian ensembles) would have combined these opposing traits in their melos.
7. Recently at least one ancient Egyptian flute has been discovered to play a diatonic minor scale, in the "Pythagorean" tuning used to tune harps and lyres in Mesopotamia (and by necessity, given the modality of the biblical melos, in Israel's Temple).
8. However, the murals of Egyptian "chironomists" show harmony in unisons (or possibly octaves), as well as thirds, sixths and even triads (major or minor), all by harps in pentatonic tuning. Octaves and fifths are also documented by sources in Mesopotamia and elsewhere.
9. Haïk-Vantoura's accompaniments of biblical texts are meant to be "evocations", not "reconstructions" of the normal harmonic setting of the texts. The biblical authors (as she indicates) would have used adequate harmony -- but surely not according to the rules used by Western music.
10. Haïk-Vantoura, Cantique des Cantiques dans sa mélodie d'origine, musical score (Paris: Editions Choudens / Fondation Roi David, 1986), p. VII.
11. However, India and China from early times had exact pitch standards, thanks to their particular philosophies concerning music's connection with cosmic harmony. China's Imperial Office of Music was attached to the Office of Weights and Measures; a standard length determined standard pitch (cf. Curt Sachs, op. cit., pp. 111-113). Middle Eastern speculation on this point seems to have revolved around tonal relationships, not exact pitches. Nevertheless, there are direct indications of precise pitch standards in Egypt as well; why, then, not in Israel?
12. Including the famous historical harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton (Oakland, CA.), who believes that the vocal style used in the recording is a hinderance to the clear perception of the words (private correspondence).
13. Haïk-Vantoura's own assessment is not dissimilar: the performances to date of her works is "correct", but not as fully expressive as they need to be. As regarding the Song of Songs, her score has this to say: "The singing must be without vibrato. But it must be nuanced. Jesus ben Sirah wrote (Siracide [Ecclesiasticus], L, 16-18), speaking of the Levites, that 'with a vibrant sound, their voices were tender.' Vibrant, then, but without 'vibrato'" (op. cit., p. IX). The French version on page 2 says that their voices were "douces" (sweet). Actually, the Greek text refers to the vocal melos. The Sir Brenton edition of the Septuagint (p. 119, Apocrypha) translates verse 18 thus: "The singers also sang praises with their voices, with great variety of sounds was there made sweet melody" ('en pleístooi 'oíkooi 'eglukánthee mélos).
14. Of course, the best way to do so is to listen to the recording with score in hand. The MIDI files used here (thanks to the limitations of the format) can never give one a full idea of the expression that lies behind the melos.

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