Round Table IV: The Meeting of Christian, Jewish and Muslim Musical Cultures on the Iberian

Peninsula (Before 1492)

Author(s): Amnon Shiloah
Source: Acta Musicologica, Vol. 63, Fasc. 1 (Jan. - Apr., 1991), pp. 14-20
Published by: International Musicological Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/932879 .
Accessed: 14/01/2015 15:11
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

International Musicological Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Acta Musicologica.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

14

15thCongressof theIMS - RoundTables

come han ben rapito I questi tronchi concisi I da le comedie ispane

sciolti): <<O
I le muse italiane>>,
illuminando lati inaspettati della cultura teatrale coeva (il
vecchio 'racconto'proprio della rappresentazionetragica a scena fissa, ora avvertito come funzionale alle avventurose vicissitudini del dramma spagnolesco).
Per porre maggiormente in rilievo queste caratteristiche,pu6 essere utile il
confronto con l'altragrande area d'influenzadel teatro musicale italiano, vale a
dire quella francese, che a pidiriprese ha fornito modelli a quanti si sono proposti ipotesi di redenzione del melodramma. Fondamentalmente,essi ruotano
attorno al canone tragico assunto come norma da opporre alle irregolaritaintrodotte dagli Spagnuoli, come del resto lascia agevolmente intendere il passo
sopra citato di Martello, dove opposta alle loro produzioni drammatiche sta
affiancatada quella moderna <franzese>(un
proprio l'antica tragedia <greca>>
che
accostamento,
appare anche nelle prefazioni dell'Ottone,1694,
significativo
e dell'Ercolein cielo,1696, di GirolamoFrigimelicaRoberti).Se perci6 ovvi possono risultare i rilievi sull'accantonamentodelle unita aristoteliche mossi nel
1683 da uno spettatore occasionale come il signore di Vaumoriere,pii interessanti sarannole osservazioni di Saint-Didiersulla poverta d'intrecciorimproverata ai Francesi dagli Italiani (1680); o studiare la trasformazione in libretto
d'opera italiana di tragedie quali Alexandre le Grand (L'amante eroe di David,
1691) o Bajazet (L'Ibraimsultano di Morselli, 1692) di Racine, oppure Horace di

Corneille (Oraziodi Grimani, 1688);o perfino tentare di decifrare il significato

metodologico di affermazioni come la seguente di Pietro d'Averara relativa a
L'ingannodi Chirone(1700):<ho imitato un pensier spagnuolo, e l'ho vestito alla
francese>>.

Round Table IV:

of
The meeting
Christian, Jewish and Muslim Musical Cultures on
the Iberian Peninsula (before 1492)
CHAIRMAN:AMNON SHILOAH(JERUSALEM)

For a period extending over 700 years, i. e., from the invasion of the Muslim
armies in 710 to the fall of the last stronghold, the Nasrid kingdom in Granada
and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, the IberianPeninsula was the scene of
one of the most fascinating cases of interculturalcontacts. Indeed, a variety of
human groups, different in races, religions and social classes interactedand interfused with each other, until finally a new type of Andalusian was moulded
with a unique culturalstyle.
Soon after the conquest, the multivaried and composite image of this society
was a fact that affected even the dominating Muslim component; the latter
comprised a majority of neo-Muslims, that is to say, Hispano-Christianswho
converted to Islam, a strong element of Berbers, a significant number of Ne-

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

15thCongressof theIMS - RoundTables

15

groes and freed slaves from Eastern and Western Europe. Arabs of pure extraction constituted only a minority, but the substantial part of the aristocratic
elite. To that, must be added the other elements of the population, those who
refused to convert, namely, the Christians,who qualified as Mozarabs,and the
Jews. Both communities were allowed freedom of worship and other limited
internalprivileges. It is a well-known fact that the Mozarabscontinued to cultivate their unique rite and music whose formation antedated the Muslim conquest. According to the eminent scholar H. Angles' the Jews at that time also
had a music of their own, yet due to the lack of concrete musical documentation, we are unable to discern its precise nature. However, despite the fact that
the Jews were deeply involved in the establishment of the new Andalusian
style, they became, in the tenth century, extremely eager to demonstrate their
cultural identity. The little town of Lucena adjacent to the flourishing city of
Cordoba, grew then into the metropolis of Spanish Judaism. Consonant with
ideals that guided the Arabs of those days in moulding the image of the educated individual, the component of Hebrew literary and linguistic language
played an overwhelmingly importantrole. Music was also part of the totality of
knowledge that every intellectual was expected to acquire in all sphere of cultures.
In view of what has been said, one can conclude that in the decades following the Muslim conquest, the differentcomponents of the heterocliteIberian
society were, in one way or another,active in the process of crystalizinga social
and culturalsymbiosis, within the frameworkof which music occupied a prominent place.
The Arab minority acted energetically in this process to assess their hegemony and reach the necessary homogeneity in ways that would ensure the
prominency of old Arab values. In so doing, they probably had in mind the
model established by their ancestors after the rise of Islam. Indeed, in the process of the emerging great musical tradition, the Muslim conquerors consciously absorbed something of the music of the peoples they subdued, while
basing their artistic hegemony first and foremost on the Arabic language and
the meter, contents and values of Arab classical poetry that set the criteriaand
established the coloration of the new music. It seems that in al-Andalus, the
term which designated the Iberian peninsula, the previous process did not
repeat itself with the same efficacy and success. This was due not only to differences in time and place, but also to the presence of other types of protagonists,
including both conquerersand the conquered. After the rise of Islam, the original nucleus of Muslims were essentially Beduins who came into close contact
with highly urbanized and developed cultures, namely the Sassanids and
Byzantines.Hence Arabizationoccurred as an indispensable means to counteract the growing effect of acculturation,and to reach hegemony and homogenization. In al-Andalus, soon after the conquest, the bulk of the Muslims, let alone
the other minorities, did not feel the same commitment to, or, affinity with the
H. ANGLUS,La musiquejuive dans 'Espagnemidievale, in: Yuval 1 (Jerusalem 1968), 65-85.
p.

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

16

15thCongressof theIMS - RoundTables

old Arab values. Thus, the famous Andalusian writer, ibn Hazm (d. 1064) in
articulating the dominating feeling, wrote in the introduction to his work: Tawq
al-hamama:"May I be let off ancient Arab stories and people of remote periods;
their way is not at all ours, and the documentation concerning them has really
became plethoric".2In another example that bears directly on music, the prolific
author al-Tifashi (13th c.) tells us of the coexistence of diverse styles as follows:
"In ancient time, the song of the people of al-Andalus was either in the
Christian style, or in that of the Arab camel drivers".3
It was under the Marwanid rulers in Cordoba that the great Eastern musical
tradition made its impressive appearence in the peninsula; it reached its peak
with the arrival of the highly gifted Baghdadi musician Abu'l-Hasan ibn Nafi'
known under his nickname Ziryab, who is said to have been the founder and
moving spirit of the Andalusian musical school.
The Musical School in al-Andalus. - By 755 'Abd al-Rahman, a survivor of the
Omayyad's dynasty, landed in al-Andalus and founded in Cordoba the brilliant
Marwanid kingdom in which the arts and sciences flourished in al-Andalus.
For a while, the rulers continued importing singers from al-Madina, thus ensuring the propagation of the old Arabian musical ideals. The turning point in the
development of Andalusian style was due to the arrival in 822 of the great poetmusician Ziryab who made his way to Cordoba via Kairouan in Tunisia. His
story has been recounted in a highly colorful manner by the Maghrebian litt6rateur and biographer al-Maqarri (1591-1632). Al-Maqarri's detailed report became the basis and point of departure for all subsequent writers on Andalusian
music who reproduced it, often with further elaborations. Among the most important aspects regarding this inspired innovator were that soon after his arrival to the court of 'Abd al-Rahman II, Ziryab became the chief court musician
and was given the mandate to improve and raise to new levels all musical activities. Due to his most refined taste, this artist, who was in his early thirties,
was regarded as an authority in such matters as fashion, hairdressing, perfumes, culinary art and the like. In his realm of music, he was credited with improving the 'ud's strings, the introduction of a fifth string and the replacement
of the plectrum by an eagle's feather; the refinement or innovation of certain
musical forms and genres, namely the sequence of nashid-basit-ahzadj,and also
the compound form, the nuba, along with its related modal concept. Last but
not least, was his conception of a special educational method and the institutionalization of musical education. As a result, by his death in 857, art music in
al-Andalus had reached its peak and had become, more or less, free of bonds of
Oriental models. It was indeed well on the way to shaping a splendid local art.
This development did not, in any event, imply a divorce from the Oriental great
musical tradition that continued to be its guiding spirit.
With the patronage and active support of the Marwanid rulers and other
Histoire de l'Espagne musulmane(Paris 1950-1953), I, p. 186.
2 See E. LEVI-PROVENCAL,
La podsielyriquehispano-arabeet l'apparitionde la lyriqueromane,in: Arabica5 (1958), p. 119.
See E. GARCiA-GOMEZ,

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

15thCongressof theIMS - RoundTables

17

members of the "aristocratic" elite, art music flourished. At literary gatherings

and banquets, male and female singers, instrumentalists and dancers, whether
in solo or in group, like the sitara - the female instrumental ensemble -, performed the fruits of their talent for enthusiastic audiences. The accompanying songs
told of banqueting scenes, gardens, landscapes, fountains, wine, and songbirds.
The dances that enhanced those gatherings were performed by solo female
dancers handling scarf and sword, or by groups that displayed choreographic
scenes like the Kurradj(the hobby-horse dance) that was in great favor among
the Andalusians. All this constituted a special type of entertainment once
mentioned by the historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406).4
After the fall of the Cordoban Caliphate in 912, al-Andalus was split into a
number of petty kingdoms. This event coincided with the beginnings of the reconquista's efforts. However, amid the rivalries, wars, and political upheavals,
the arts and sciences continued to flourish under the patronage of the petty
kingdoms' rulers bringing, as we shall see, a new dimension to the local musical
style and intermingling the foundations of the great musical tradition with elements from other sources of inspiration. In al-Tifashi's work, mentioned above,
we have in this respect a significant testimonial. Extolling the musical achievements of the great Andalusian philosopher in Badjdja-Avempace (d. 1139), he
writes: "After having shut himself up for few years to work with skilled slave
(musicians), he depurated the Istihlal and 'amal' (two musical forms) in mixing
the song of the Christians and that of the Orient".i It is worthwhile to point out
that Avempace was considered by his contemporaries as an excellent musician
and great theorist whose achievement was compared to that of the great philosopher al-Farabi.
The New Poetic Genres.- It has been admitted by all specialists in Andalusian
culture that Arabic never became the sole language in use and that bilingualism
(Roman and Arabic) was rather the rule. One can even speak of trilingualism,
considering the Berber dialects practiced mainly in the rural areas. On the other
hand, the rich Andalusian poetic literature was written in classical and colloquial Arabic, as well as in Roman and a mixture of Roman and Arabic whereas
Jews wrote in Hebrew and Arabic. It seems that a kind of a common denominator had been reached when the different groups could take advantage of the
remarkable local invention of the new strophic genres: the muwashshah using
classical Arabic, and the zadjal, in the vernacular dialect.
The fundamental unit in those genres is the strophe which has two parts:
some lines which have a separate rhyme in each strophe and other lines having
a common line throughout the poem whose function is to lead up to the refrain.
The latter occurs frequently at the head of the poem as a prelude (matla'). The
intimate association of these strophic genres with music has been axiomatic for
IBN KHALDUN,al-Muqaddima,Engl. transl. by F. Rosenthal (London 1958). The chapter of the craft of music: V
(section 31).
See E. GARCiA-G6MEZ,Una extraordinariapdgina de Tifasi y una hipdtesis sobre el inventor del
zajal, in:
Ftudes
d 'orientalismedididestd la mimoirede Livi-Provenal (Paris 1962), p. 517-523.

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

15th Congressof theIMS - RoundTables

18

both ancient and present day authors including historians, linguists, specialists
of poetry, and musicologists. The famous Andalusian philosopher and commentator on Aristotle, Ibn Rushd-Averroes (d. 1198), writes in his Talkhis:"The
imitation in sung poetry pertains to three things: the harmony of notes
(melody), the rhythmical component (rhythm) and the imitating element itself
(words). Each of these three things can exist by itself, like the melody in the
sounding of the wind instruments; the rhythm in dance; and the imitative in the
verbal expression, that is to say, the unrhythmed suggestive part of the poetical
discourse. It is also possible for all of the three to be combined together as in the
case of the genre in vogue in our place, known under the name of muwashshah
and zadjal that designate the poems invented in this language (Arabic) by the
people of the peninsula".1
Referring to the actual performance practice according to which the chorus
and the soloists alternate, the eminent scholar Samuel Stern quotes in his book,
Hispano-ArabicStrophic Poetry, a description of the manner in which the muwashshah was usually performed by Egyptian Jews. The evidence that goes back to
the 14th century occurs in Tanhum Yerushalmi's glossary sub radice-Pizmon
(refrain): "...When the person singing has finished each verse, those present
answer him in choir with the matla' which is the first verse of the composition...".7 Much earlier than this testimony, and in al-Andalus itself, Rabbi Ibn
Migash (1077-1141) devoted a special Responsumto the Pizmon, concluding with
more or less the same definition. This evidence confirms the generally held
view that the two genres in question were tightly linked to music. As such, they
gained considerable popularity, not only in Spain, but in North Africa and in
the major Near-Eastern centers where they continued to thrive both in art and
folk music.
Closely related to the muwashshah was the passionate debate that followed
the discovery by Samuel Stern in 1948 of the final verses in Roman, called
khardja (clausula, exit). This astonishing separate unit at the end of the poem
gave rise to a resounding debate that went far beyond the clarification concerning the phenomen itself and the origin of the two genres extending to the
thorny question of the Arabian influence at large. The latter had been raised in
connection with the outstanding composer of zadjal Ibn Kuzman (d. 1160) by
the eminent Spanish scholar J. Ribera y Tarrago some 80 years ago." It was he
who also first suggested the Arabian influence on the Cantigas de Santa Maria.9
Few years later, the thesis of Arabian influence found an ardent supporter in
the well-known and erudite H. G. Farmer. Far from being settled, the debate is
still very much alive.
The Folk Inspiration. - E. Garcia-G6mez, who considered the invention of the
de Malaga du Xe sikcle,in: Arabica1 (1954), p. 289-293.
pontes
S. M. STERN,Hispano-ArabicStrophicPoetry (Oxford 1974), p. 16f.

Sur deux
6 See E. LUVI-PROVENQAL,

See op. cit. in fn. 3.

J. RIBERAY TARRAGO,Music in the Ancient Arabiaand Spain being La Masica de las Cantigas (Stanford 1929).

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

15thCongressof theIMS - RoundTables

19

previously mentioned two genres an "enterprise of folklorists who undoubtedly

were aristocratic Arabs, but amateurs of popular folk arts", wrote concerning
the khardjathat it "testifies to a rigorous breeding and an extremely solid bilingualism". The plebeian tendency and the effect of bilingualism have found its
fullest expression in the zadjal, written exclusively in the vernacular dialect. It is
said that Ibn Kuzman, qualified by his contemporaries as the prince of zadjal,
used at first, the classical forms and language, but, realizing his incapacity to
compete with the great poets of his time, he decided to shift to the vernacular
dialect and popular forms. Ibn Kuzman, who might have been, by his own account, of European origin, gained, with his exciting chansons, great favor with
the elite and the common folk as well. The evidence regarding the musical performances of the zadjal is considerable. One indication appears in the biographical note of Bahbado, a zadjalist who might have been of Spanish origin, saying:
"He composed zadjals in the vein of those usually sung to the accompaniment of
the buq".The following is a delightful sample of his art in which he uses the
Hispanic diminutive in the first verse, and two Roman words in the second and
the third verses respectively:'?
Wa-llahinnakmalihella
Wa-saminabahalbicella (avicella)
Wa-khafifabahalpawlela
Hin tatirli ma'a l-riyahi

By God you area young beautifulone

and stout like a young pigeon squab
and light like a butterfly
when you take wing away fromme with the blowing of the

wind.
We turn now to the buq, said to have accompanied this type of poetry. The
buq is indeed frequently mentioned in connection with folk events such as family rejoicings, processions and zambras (popular performances of songs and
dances). However, it was also part of Andalusian art music. In a passage by Ibn
Hayyan (d. 1075) quoted by Levi-Provenqal," it is said that the Emir Muhammad the First had at his service a number of buq virtuosi, and that he himself
excelled in playing on his golden ebony buq, set in precious stones. This testimony obviously indicates the participation of the buq in art music. A further
confirmation is to be found in the chapter on music included in the Muqaddima
(Prolegomena) of the great historian and sociologist Ibn Khaldun. In dealing
with the musical instruments, the buq is given a place of honour, qualifying it
"one of the best instruments of its time". In his excellent English translation, F.
Rosenthal defined it a trumpet based on Farmer's view. But the details of the
description such as: "one blows into it through a small reed", or, "it has a number of holes"12 leave no doubt that the instrument was in fact a shawm. It is true
that the presence of the buq (shawm) in Andalusian art music may appear unusual, since in Near Eastern and North African music the shawm has always
been attached to folk music exclusively. The inclusion of the shawm in art ensemble, along with a lute and a drum, is attested to in a representation on a

See fn. 6.
See fn. 2.
See fn. 4.

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

20

15thCongressof theIMS - RoundTables

small ivory safe dated 1005.13This and the other facts mentioned before, are the
basis for my assumption that Andalusian art style has been infused by folk inspiration and marked by the process of interpenetration of folk and art expression.
Against this general background there are substantial questions of which
some are of special importance: the process of fusion of different styles and the
nature of the consequent symbiosis, the possible coexistence of particular traditions along with the predominant Andalusian style, the origin and nature of the
strophic poetry and its muwashshahand zadjal genres, the thorny question of the
Arabian influence including the repertory and illustrations of the Cantigas de
Santa Maria. These are the major themes that will serve as subjects of discussion
for our round table.

Round Table V:
Musical Analysis: Systematic versus Historical Models
CHAIRMAN:KOFIAGAWU (ITHACA,NEW YORK)

1. Carolyn Abbate: "'Do I Hear the Light': Analysis Between Music and Image."
- We will start with an odd coincidence: that in two very different genres - film
and opera - the sonorous element is assumed both to have a signifying role and
to have, as it were, the last word: that is, that whatever meaning is conveyed by
music, this overrides or alters the plot being acted out in the verbal and visual
domains. Here, however, the similarity ends. For most film theorists mysticize
music, whose force is then attributed precisely to its non-representational nature; while many opera analysts, by understanding operatic music as a precise
narrative (either tracing or contradicting the stage-world), in effect argue that
music's last word is literally comparable to the force of language.
What are the implications of these professional interpretive habits? One that
has hardly been touched upon: that opera analysis automatically sexes operatic
music as a specifically male voice (an observer, an omniscient narrator) and libretto and visual narrative as a female object (commented upon by that voice)
while film theorists invert the system, secretly treating music as 6criturefeminine
(a prelinguistic sound that eschews splitting the world into object and representation).
We can investigate how this gesture has determined analysis of music in one
particular case, Salome. Here a distinctive pattern - efforts to read "cultural
meaning" or "symbolism" into the music of Strauss' opera - can be themselves
unfolded. They are less professional choices for a different, more context-oriented type of music analysis, than they are attempts to contain a disturbing image
(the Salome figure) through interpretation. Theoretical reviews of various SaH. PtRiS, La podsieandalouseen Arabeclassique(Paris 1953), p. 377.

This content downloaded from 193.140.201.95 on Wed, 14 Jan 2015 15:11:32 PM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions