The Songs of Ascents

Book excerpt: Codes hidden for 3,000 years unveil the origin of the fifteen Songs of Ascents. Mysterious marks in medieval manuscripts disclose the lost temple song. Rabbinic traditions reveal the place of the ark of the covenant. And the secret message of the Book of Psalms is laid bare. Question: What do you get when you cross a period-performance Director of Music with a specialist on the Psalms? Answer: The ultimate book on the Psalms in Temple worship. In this book, I wear both my hats to show how these Psalms were sung in ancient Israel. Want to know more? It’s all here in the largest book ever written on the Songs of Ascents, with 27 pictures, 14 tables, and 29 musical examples. REVIEWS David Mitchell’s Songs of Ascents is a fresh direction in the study of the Psalms. The Psalms of Ascents, he argues, were composed not only for Solomon’s Temple but actually for its dedication; yet they represent also a coherent collection, with shared themes and a progression of thought. Drawing on his musical knowledge, he also shows how they may have been sung, here adapting and developing the theories of Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura about the meaning of the Masoretic cantillation signs. John Barton, FBA, Oriel & Lang Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, Oriel College, Oxford The Songs of Ascents establishes a long-overdue link between the worlds of Biblical Studies and Near Eastern Archaeomusicology. Mitchell addresses the issue with great competence and meticulousness. He has combined researches on both church and synagogue musical traditions, and depicts a credible picture of how the psalms would have been sung in ancient Jerusalem. Richard Dumbrill, Professor of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology, University of London David Mitchell takes just one collection of fifteen psalms to recreate a scholarly and engaging account which brings together, in an original but careful way, the disciplines of the Hebrew language, psalmody, and music. For anyone interested in how the psalms functioned as ancient Temple Songs, and how this might apply to our appreciation of them in synagogues and churches today, this book is an absolute gem. Susan Gillingham, Professor of the Hebrew Bible, Worcester College, Oxford Since the publication of Suzanne Haȉk-Vantoura’s La musique de la Bible révélée in 1976 the quest to identify a musical interpretation of the Masoretic cantillation marks in the poetic biblical books has acquired some impetus. David Mitchell, combining musical expertise and biblical scholarship, has made in this monograph a significant contribution to this on-going quest. He identifies a persuasive chain of tradition which could support the view that the cantillations are a genuine representation of a musical tradition known to the Masoretes, but subsequently lost. Building on Haȉk-Vantoura’s work, and using as a test case the Gregorian tonus peregrinus for Psalm 114 (whose melody is echoed in both Sephardic and Ashkenazi melodies for the same Psalm), he provides a musical understanding of the cantillations which transfers into explicit musical directions (which he reproduces) for each of the Psalms of Ascents. This study deserves to be taken very seriously indeed. Dr Alastair Hunter, Glasgow University. Society of Old Testament Studies Book Review 2016 David Mitchell’s book contains a broad range of explorations of these fifteen psalms, which betrays engagement with many pertinent questions about the Psalms, worship in the Jerusalem Temples, and ancient music. Mitchell’s reading is thorough and eclectic, his thinking is imaginative and novel, and his writing engaging and thought-provoking….This is an enjoyable book for a musician and Psalms scholar. Dr Megan Daffern, Chaplain, Jesus College, Oxford. Expository Times Book Review 2017 This study, in a unique combination of psalter exegesis, historical localization, and music-historical observations, reveals the thesis that Psalms 120-134 were redacted between 975 and 959 BC for the consecration of Solomon’s Temple on 15 Ethanim (Tishri) 959 BC, and that one of each of these 15 psalms was sung during the Succoth festival on the 15 steps of the Temple of Jerusalem. The author proposes that the poets of these psalms were David (for Ps. 122, 124, 131, and 133), Solomon (for Psalm 127), and, by virtue of its Aramaic coloring, Jeduthun and the Merarite Levites (Ps. 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 130, and 132). In these attributions, and in the reconstruction of the original chant, Mitchell draws on the masoretic cantillation, on rabbinic and early Christian sources on psalmody, on ancient oriental representations of musicians and instruments, and also on gematria. Professor Markus Witte, Lehrstuhl für Exegese und Literaturgeschichte des Alten Testaments, Humboldt-Universität, Berlin. Zeitschrift für die alttestamentlichen Wissenschaft Book Review, June 2017