Tweet
In the 1950s, a group of fragments from 29 broken clay tablets were found during excavations at the Amorite-Canaanite Royal Palace of Ugarit (at modern Ras Shamra in Syria). The tablets date to around 1400 BC and, within the group, Emmanuel Laroche identified associated fragments that represented around 36 hymns with both words and music, written in Akkadian cuneiform musical notation. They’re arranged for a nine-stringed lyre (and/or harp) known as a “sammum” and some of the tablets indicate how the instruments should be tuned. For the musically-inclined among you, the hymn arrangements equate to a heptatonic diatonic scale.
Collectively, these hymns are known today as the “Hurrian Songs” but only one of them (designated h.6 from Laroche’s original archaeological classification) is complete enough to enable it to be at least tentatively interpreted today. It’s also known as “The Hymn to Nikkal” (Nikkal was a semitic goddess of orchards) and as “A Zaluzi to the Gods”. Here’s one side of the tablet containing the notation for the hymn:
It represents the oldest known substantially complete piece of musical notation… a tune that’s almost three and a half thousand years old. Some of the other hymns indicate the original composer or arranger, but h.6 is anonymous.
Part of the difficulty in reproducing the song comes from the fact that it has both a vocal part (with instructions for the singer) and a melodic accompaniment, with the two parts needing to be read in conjunction with one another to produce harmonies rather than a single melody. The “lyrics” are less clear than the “tune”, but translate approximately to this (a simplified English translation of Hans-Jochen Thiel’s 1977 interpretation on the “Urkesh” website):
I will (bring x?) in the form of lead at the right foot (of the divine throne)
I will (purify ?) and change (the sinfulness).
(Once sins are) no longer covered and need no longer be changed,
I feel well having accomplished the sacrifice.
(Once I have) endeared (the deity), she will love me in her heart,
the offer I bring may wholly cover my sin
bringing sesame oil may work on my behalf
in awe may I ...
The sterile may they make fertile,
Grain may they bring forth.
She, the wife, will bear (children) to the father.
May she who has not yet borne children bear them.
You can hear a modern interpretation of the hymn reconstructed by Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin on the Urkesh website page linked below (you need to allow Windows Media Player to run):
http://128.97.6.202/urkeshpublic/music.htm
There are however at least four other interpretations which have yielded entirely different results. Professor Anne Draffkorn Kilmer at the University of California favours the “harmony” approach above (derived from matching the number of syllables in the text of the song with the number of notes indicated by the musical notations). The instrumental version linked below is by the musician Michael Levy (from an interpretation by the archaeomusicology expert Dr Richard Dumbrill). Levy researches and recreates ancient lyre-playing techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpxN2VXPMLc
Collectively, these hymns are known today as the “Hurrian Songs” but only one of them (designated h.6 from Laroche’s original archaeological classification) is complete enough to enable it to be at least tentatively interpreted today. It’s also known as “The Hymn to Nikkal” (Nikkal was a semitic goddess of orchards) and as “A Zaluzi to the Gods”. Here’s one side of the tablet containing the notation for the hymn:
It represents the oldest known substantially complete piece of musical notation… a tune that’s almost three and a half thousand years old. Some of the other hymns indicate the original composer or arranger, but h.6 is anonymous.
Part of the difficulty in reproducing the song comes from the fact that it has both a vocal part (with instructions for the singer) and a melodic accompaniment, with the two parts needing to be read in conjunction with one another to produce harmonies rather than a single melody. The “lyrics” are less clear than the “tune”, but translate approximately to this (a simplified English translation of Hans-Jochen Thiel’s 1977 interpretation on the “Urkesh” website):
I will (bring x?) in the form of lead at the right foot (of the divine throne)
I will (purify ?) and change (the sinfulness).
(Once sins are) no longer covered and need no longer be changed,
I feel well having accomplished the sacrifice.
(Once I have) endeared (the deity), she will love me in her heart,
the offer I bring may wholly cover my sin
bringing sesame oil may work on my behalf
in awe may I ...
The sterile may they make fertile,
Grain may they bring forth.
She, the wife, will bear (children) to the father.
May she who has not yet borne children bear them.
You can hear a modern interpretation of the hymn reconstructed by Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin on the Urkesh website page linked below (you need to allow Windows Media Player to run):
http://128.97.6.202/urkeshpublic/music.htm
There are however at least four other interpretations which have yielded entirely different results. Professor Anne Draffkorn Kilmer at the University of California favours the “harmony” approach above (derived from matching the number of syllables in the text of the song with the number of notes indicated by the musical notations). The instrumental version linked below is by the musician Michael Levy (from an interpretation by the archaeomusicology expert Dr Richard Dumbrill). Levy researches and recreates ancient lyre-playing techniques:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpxN2VXPMLc