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Chapter Eleven:
THE DEAR ONE'S DEVOTION |
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F. Song 5:1: The Lovers' Consummation (pages
37,
38)
A new musical section begins and ends with this, the pivotal verse of the Song of Songs. Here alone is found a particular melodic motif, the most ornate in the
Song, which expresses a vibrant joy. The
musical and poetic structure of the Song revolves around this verse. Here we find the Lovers immediately after
their consummation, happy and complete.
The Loved One has entered his garden and taken what it offers to him. Images of scent ("myrrh" and "spice",
referring again to the Dear One's vulva) and of taste ("honeycomb" and "honey", "wine"
and "milk") describe (it seems) the sensations and secretions of intercourse itself, including the climax
and ejaculation of the Loved One.16
What an experience! The Loved One's joy
can hardly be contained...and then calms of itself. After the Lovers rest, they make love again...and again, until
they are satiated: "Eat, O friends; drink and imbibe deeply (or be drunken), O lovers!"17 Far from being prudish about sex (even if delicate in its descriptions of it), the Song encourages its full expression in marriage (and especially during the honeymoon).
Who sings this latter hemistich? Most think a narrator, or the Daughters of Jerusalem. Haïk-Vantoura thinks
the Loved One sings it, apparently quoting a command to the Lovers by someone else: ultimately, God Himself. The
melos is rather transparent here, which
at least rules out the use of a chorus.
Haïk-Vantoura does, however, support the Loved One with the flute playing in unison with him. This suggests
another possibility: the Two Men (that
is, the two covering cherubim) are speaking
for God (who is definitely involved "behind the scenes" in the Song). This inference regarding the choral
structure is preferable to us (if not to Haïk-Vantoura). Either way, though, here God expresses His blessing
on the sexual union in marriage!
Note too that while there is a pause of a beat before this hemistich (which verbally is partly separate from the
preceding one), its melody completes the musical verse. Thus there is a break in the sense, yet a continuity as
well. Yet the verbs used are in the imperative plural; they tell the Lovers to enjoy unrestrained lovemaking without
guilt or shyness. Here the melody must decide -- and we believe it more suitable to two male singers than to one.18 Their part begins where the Loved One's ends:
at the break suggested by both the melody and the words.
Song 5:1 begins a new chapter, yet is a musical section all by itself. The rest of the chapter occurs some time
after the honeymoon, when the Lovers have a home of their own in Jerusalem. |
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FOOTNOTES
16. Of course, "honeycomb",
"honey", "wine" and "milk" (one could claim) refer to the Loved One's sensations
in deep kissing, as they do elsewhere. But the mouth is not the only place where such "sweet" and "intoxicating" sensations may be found!
17. "Lovers" here is Dodim; remember, "my Loved One" is Dodi, while dodim refers elsewhere in the Song to affection, touching and caresses. Here it refers to the couple
as "lovers" in the explicitly sexual sense.
18. If Haïk-Vantoura did not
see this possibility, it may have been due to theological as well as practical considerations. If the Two Men do
not represent God (in the New Testament sense, the Father and the Son) or angels, it is difficult to see what "others"
could be blessing the Lovers in their intimacy and encouraging it.
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A. Song 5:2-6: The "Lovers' Quarrel"
(pages
38,
39,
40,
41)
We find the Lovers some time after their honeymoon, after their "first love" has had time to cool. Perhaps
they have begun to take each other for granted...?
Throughout chapter 4, one man -- Solomon -- has been praising Shulamith's charms. There is no musical justification
for splitting the chapter (as at least one author has) into the shepherd's praises (4:1-7), then Solomon's (4:8-15).
Song 5, therefore, cannot refer to Shulamith and a shepherd somewhere, even if the shepherd had a house in the
city. The events described here flow out of all that has gone before. Moreover, Song 5:1-8 refers back to 3:1-5
in the overall poetic structure. Both refer to the same Loved One -- which in chapter 3 is undeniably Solomon (thanks
to the melodic links with the wedding).
It may seem strange to some that Solomon and Shulamith would have had a small home outside the palace. Remember,
Solomon was called "king" well before his sole regency, many years before he built his own palace. The
fact the Lovers are not living in the royal apartments, but in a private residence of their own, is consistent
with David's residence in the palace at this time. Solomon, it seems, could not simply move Shulamith into the
palace proper with him. Then, too, the Lovers would have wished privacy, away from court and harem life -- and
who could have blamed them?
What is described in this section is less a "quarrel" than a misunderstanding. It would be a comedy of errors if the emotions of the Dear One (as described by the music)
were not so disturbed -- or were she not hurt by those who should have protected her.
Verse 2 begins the second so-called "dream sequence". Once again, we think that only the opening verse
has anything to do with sleeping. The Dear One sleeps, but her heart is awake -- she is expecting the Loved One's
arrival. Suddenly the Loved One knocks, which does not quite awaken her (the melody is dreamy as he knocks, but not afterward)...The Loved One cries out, loudly (and at the top of the
vocal register), as if to arouse her from sleep
so she will open to him.1
The grammatical "rules" post-imposed on the te`amim would punctuate the phrase thus: kol / Dodi dofék, "the sound of / my Lover knocking" -- even though the words kol
Dodi are naturally linked grammatically (cf. Song 2:8a, where the "rules",
like the original melody, link the same words as a grammatical unit).2 Haïk-Vantoura translates kol Dodi dofék in 5:2 thus: "The voice of my beloved, he knocks (kol
Dodi / dofék)". The 5th degree on both words in kol Dodi links them together, then places a "suspensive
cadence" on Dodi. Clarity of recitation
demands a pause after Dodi of one beat,
as well as after dofék. Haïk-Vantoura
adds harmonics on the harp at these pauses (the better to suggest "knocking").
The Loved One then cries out (using an attention-getting melisma on "Open to me"). He is profuse with
his affection, calling her "my sister, my darling, my dove, my perfect one." Is he apologizing for being
late, or just eager to see (and perhaps to make love with) his wife? We think both. His agitation, his impatience, is palpable; and after all, he is drenched
with dew (and no doubt has had a long, hard day on top of it all).
The Dear One must have fallen asleep (in the nude, as some say was customary) while waiting for him. She is not
happy with being awakened and having to dress and dirty her feet on the floor. She complains to herself; her words
are underlined with a rather plaintive melody, all but bare of ornamentation (verse 3).3
In verse 4, the Loved One "removed his hand from the lattice" (Haïk-Vantoura). "Sent his hand
from the hole" would be more literal; but what does this mean? Different translations give different renderings:
putting his hand through the latch-hole, putting his hand to (or removing it from) the latch, and so on.4 The Dear One's "bowels" are "moved"
by this (Haïk-Vantoura renders this as "my feelings are aroused for him"). The melody is "pathetic"
(in the original sense of the word), reflecting
the disturbance the Loved One arouses
in his wife.
In verse 5, the Dear One rises to greet the Dear One, all irritation forgotten. Fruchtenbaum and others think the
myrrh which drips on the bolt was left there by the Loved One, as a token of his affection. (But wouldn't this
have been left on the other side of the door? If he could perfume the inside bolt, surely he could open it!) We conclude from the actual wording (as does Haïk-Vantoura) the Dear One hastily
perfumed herself before she went to the door. The myrrh drips from her fingers upon the bolt as she unlatches it.
The imagery, and the melody, of her action underlines her desire for her husband.
The Loved One is gone by the time she opens the door. The mode of verse 6 expresses her expectancy, as well as
her disappointment when she sees he is gone. Her "soul went out" when he spoke -- Haïk-Vantoura
says her soul "swooned". Different commentators give different ideas as to what this phrase means. We
think she was awakened, startled, caught unawares at his sudden arrival and his words -- but not (she realizes
too late) truly angry at him. Solomon, alas, has misunderstood. Urgently she tries to find him and apologize --
but fails.
B. Song 5:7: The Watchmen of Jerusalem
(page
41)
"The watchmen found me as they went about the city..." We saw this exact phrase earlier in Song 3:3.
In 5:7, the melody is completely different: rhythmically marked, it descends to, then rises from the very bottom
of the prosodic scale. The melody continues to rise as the watchmen strike and bruise her ("wound" is too severe a word), then take off her tunic (or outer mantle). The
melos expresses her outrage at these actions:
They beat me,
they bruised me,
they took my mantle off me --
those watchmen of the walls!
The phrase "those watchmen of the walls" is underlined by the repetition
of the tonic note three times (the first time followed by the 3rd degree).
Imagine the watchmen's surprise when they found this "adventuress" they were beating was Solomon's wife!
The Song gives us no hint of this, however. The watchmen (as the Dear One no doubt realizes in retrospect) were
only "doing their job" in discouraging adventurism. After all, why else would an unescorted woman be
out so late?
C. Song 5:8: The Dear One's Third Admonition
(pages
41,
42)
"I adjure you, O Daughters of Jerusalem..." Though the words are the same as in earlier adjurations,
the melody for these words is different. Not only the syntactical, but the emotional context of the words is different.
The Dear One now expresses her longing for the Loved One, to whom she has yet to apologize. She adjures them to
tell him "that I am sick with love" -- a verbal phrase we have seen before (with the same melody) in
Song 2:5. The emotional mood of 5:8 as a whole and 2:5 are quite similar. In both cases, she is actually weakened by the intensity of her feelings; the soft-spoken,
melodic-minor melodies confirm this.
Song 5:2-8 is parallel poetically with 3:1-5; yet the last verse of this section reminds us (melodically and verbally)
of 2:6-7. Here is one of the obvious threads which tie the Song together; it cannot be merely a collection of unconnected
songs of different ages and origins.
D. Song 5:9: The Daughters' First Inquiry (page
42)
The Daughters of Jerusalem have heard the Dear One's exhortation -- and perhaps, the story of the Lovers' quarrel.
Their question is gracious (not sarcastic as some have believed):
What is your Lover more than (any other) lover,
O (you) the most beautiful among women?...
Solomon's earlier assessment of her beauty (Song 1:8) is by no means biased. The melody
on the repetition of "What is your Lover more than (any other) lover...?" is a simple variant of that
used for the first statement of the phrase. The mode is Hypophrygian with the 4th degree augmented; in what follows, the 4th degree of the same mode will be natural (until verse 16b).
E. Song 5:10-16: The Dear One Praises the Loved One (pages
42,
43,
44,
45)
Haïk-Vantoura's score tells the singer to render Song 5:10-16 lento sostenuto (very slow and sustained), and "like a hymn". The reverence of the music matches anything in the strictly religious hymns of the Hebrew Bible. Is not
this a clear indication that the Lovers are a type of the Divine?
Even so, the Dear One's description of her Lover's charms is touchingly human. The first three verses have each
its own melodic incise; the next four verses begin with variations of a single melodic motive. (Variations of this
motive also begin verses 11b, 12b, 13b, 14b and 15b.) The motive is defined by two simple, consecutive melismatic
signs (written above the words), departing from and modified in pitch by different degrees of the mode (defined
by signs below the text). The alternation of the variations color the Dear One's descriptions. They build the hymn's
structural framework while unifying its parts.
"My Lover is white (tsah, "dazzling, glowing, clear" -- BDBG) and ruddy, outstanding (Dagoul, "looked at, conspicuous") among ten thousand" (verse 10). His overall appearance
is striking; his skin glows with health and beauty. His head is like pure gold, the Dear One says, but his hair
is "black as a raven" (verse 11).5
His eyes, too, are like "doves beside streams of water; they seemed bathed in milk, well-placed in their setting"
(Haïk-Vantoura, verse 12). They are bright, yet tender, not the least bit bloodshot (implying good vision),
and set like fine jewels in their sockets.
His "cheeks" are like balsam trees, or aromatic plants -- his breath is pleasant. His lips are like lilies,
distilling liquid myrrh -- utterly kissable
(verse 13). His hands are as well-crafted and useful (and as beautiful) as the onyx-encrusted armbands he wears
(his fingernails being likened perhaps to the inlay).6 His body is as magnificent as an ivory object d'art, inlaid with "sapphires" (or, more likely, lapis
lazuli).
His legs are like pillars of marble on pedestals of gold -- strong, slender, well-shaped. His "appearance"
-- his countenance -- is as magnificent (bahour, "choice") as Lebanon and its cedars (verse
15). His mouth is sweetness embodied, the totality of him desirability incarnate. "This is my Lover, and this
is my Friend, O Daughters of Jerusalem," says the Dear One (verse 16).
Physical affection, friendship, and (as stated by the melody) spiritual love -- this is what the Dear One feels for the Loved One. She is as enchanted by his physical charms as
he is by hers; yet her descriptive language is totally different. It emphasize his masculinity as the Loved One's
language emphasizes her femininity. Truly, the Loved One "is the image and glory of God; but (the Dear One)
is the glory of (the Loved One)" (cf. 1 Corinthians 11:7; Genesis 1:27; 5:1-3).
This section, unlike the previous one, parallels nothing before the "pivotal" verse of the Song (5:1).
It finds its poetic parallel in Song 6:8-10. Here too is a melodic-verbal thread which confirms the unity of the
Song and of its authorship.
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FOOTNOTES
1. These verses do not explicitly state
Solomon was seeking lovemaking, though his eager anxiety is portrayed by the melody. Shulamith, having fallen asleep
while waiting for him, does not share his enthusiasm. The Lovers (as many commentators note) have yet to adjust
to each other sexually!
2. Granted that Dodi dofék could be counted as a clause which must
be separated from kol (in a relative hierarchy
of punctuation), the actual syntax of the words nevertheless remains ambiguous under the arbitrary syntax defined
by the grammatical "rules" for the te`amim.
Apart from the musical meaning of the signs, there is no way of proving the correct word division by their use.
3. We (and others) can almost hear
Solomon thinking in frustration: "So why do you need to greet me with
your clothes on?"
4. A modern husband would twist
or jiggle the locked doorknob. There really is nothing new under the sun -- not even such useless impulses!
5. The Loved One is tanned, even
if his hair is not sunbleached. Here is one prince who cannot be kept indoors!
6. Men may have attractive hands
as much as women.
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Updated March 01, 2010 |
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