The melody of Hurrian Hymn Text H6 was interpreted by Dr.Richard Dumbrill (one of several academic interpretations of the melody), from the ambiguous Cuneiform text of the Hurrian language in which it was written. Although discovered in modern day Syria, the Hurrians were not Syrian – they came from modern day Anatolia. The Hurrian Hymn actually dates to the very end of the Hurrian civilization (c.1400 BCE) . The origin of the Hurrian civilization dates back to at least 3000 BCE. In short, the lower part of the text which Dumbrill transcribed, gave the names of specific lyre strings, and the specific musical intervals between these strings. In other words, the notation of the Hymn was a sort of guitar tab - for lyre! Although many of the meanings of the Hurrian language are now lost in the mists of time, it can be established that the fragmentary Hurrian Hymn which has been found on these precious clay tablets are dedicated to Nikkal; the wife of the moon god. There are several such interpretations of this melody by other musicologists, but to me, the fabulous interpretation of Dr. Dumbrill just intuitively somehow sounds the most authentic. Although 29 musical texts were discovered at Ugarit, only this text, (text H6), was in a sufficient state of preservation to allow for modern academic musical reconstruction, as Richard Dubrill recently explained to me: Altogether, in the Library of the Royal Palace of Ugarit, 29 music tablets were found, all in pieces. Only one could be reconstructed, H6. This is the one I have used for my interpretation. Below is a fascinating video by Richard Dumbrill, explaining how this 3400 year old melody was finally deciphered by him:
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 01:23:34 +0000
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