A Re-examination of Ancient Near-Eastern Music-Theoretical Tablets and Notation; Concerning a Tablaturisation for the Hurrian H6 Cuneiform Tablet
Date
2021-12
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Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : The most complete and oldest illustration of an ancient Near-Eastern music notation system discovered thus far can be found inscribed on the Hurrian H6 cuneiform tablet. This three-thousand-year-old tablet has been dated to circa 1400 BCE and was excavated at Ras Shamra, ancient Ugarit in modern day Syria. It is believed to be intended for a stringed instrument, presumed to be an ancient lyre/harp, with possibly seven, nine, or more strings. Whether the system was devised for a harp/lyre tuned to a diatonic, chromatic, or another type of microtonal/quartertonal system is not known at present. Current consensus assumes it is a diatonic system based on tones and semitones.
The process of decoding this notation involves the use of closely related ancient music theoretical-lexical tablets, namely the UET VII 126 (string naming/order tablet), CBS 10996 (string pair/set tablet) and UET VII 74 with its duplicate UET VI/3 899 (re-tuning/modulation tablet). Efforts to translate the instructional notation are divided into two perspectives, with no single definitive approach to its translation. Westernalist or Occidental scholars such as Anne Draffkorn Kilmer (1971) and Martin Lichfield West (1994) use Western intervals to interpret the tablet. In strong opposition, Orientalist scholars like David Wulstan (1971), Marcelle Duchesne-Guillemin (1975, 1980, 1984) and Richard Jean Dumbrill (2005, 2014b, 2017-2020) advocate for the use of single melodic sequence/pitch set interpretations which are influenced by modern/traditional Middle-Eastern music practices. Both perspectives render their interpretations using modern Western music notation.
The main issue regarding the existing Hurrian H6 tablet interpretations is that scholars generally focus on providing performance-ready interpretations (“sheet music”) that reflect the presumed overall characteristic sound the notation is believed to represent. These interpretations, which vary depending on the choice of a Westernalist or Orientalist perspective, also include suppositions that are intended to provide or supplement information that is unknown or damaged. Theorists therefore recreate information that does not appear on the physical evidence of the tablet. In doing this, they arrange certain aspects according to their own compositional biases to subjectively reflect how they believe ancient music would have been performed and sounded. This thesis will argue and propose the need for a tablature-based interpretation of the Hurrian H6 tablet because we may only be able to translate and/or decode the ancient notation, as with most other notations, approximately and not accurately.
The most recent theory comes from Dumbrill (2005, 2014b, 2017-2020). He suggests the standard scales/modes of ancient Near-Eastern music follow an enneatonic-descending system, based on nine descending notes/pitches. Dumbrill also urges that scholars should abandon using heptatonic scales/modes (based on seven ascending notes/pitches) when interpreting the Hurrian H6 tablet.
This research will endeavor to show that the scale/mode, for lack of better terminology, is in fact an ambiguous extended seven note/pitch system which is essentially heptatonic. It will also be demonstrated that the intended scale/mode direction, believed to be hinted at on the UET VII 126 and UET VII 74 tablet, can be perceived as an interchangeable “free standing” system capable of being both ascending and descending.
The insistence on the use of a diatonic based scale/modal system in ancient music is purportedly deduced because of the use of the ancient Akkadian/Accadian term lā zakû. This term is found inscribed on the UET VII 74 (re-tuning/modulation) tablet and can be roughly translated to mean “not clear”. Scholarly consensus presumes that the translation “not clear” refers to an interval that is comparable to a tritone. The term zakû, which can be translated to mean “clear”, can also be found on this same tablet.
Reading through the re-tuning/modulation procedure and interpreting it, scholars have constructed seven diatonic ancient scales/modes by looking at the relationships between “not clear” and “clear” string pairs. In their interpretation, scholars have assumed that an interval equivalent to a modern tritone is formed between “not clear” string pairs. The theory is that these tritones can then be “cleared” to devise a new scale/mode which has its own unique “not clear” tritone.
In opposing this argument, this thesis seeks to reveal that the standard modern Western conceptions of tritones and intervals of thirds and sixths (and by extension seconds and sevenths), which seem to be hinted at on the CBS 10996 tablet, may be microtonally different to ancient conceptions. This renders current interpretations of the Hurrian H6 and the other ~68 Hurrian tablets fallible since one cannot be sure about the scale/mode type, direction, or the relative note/pitch relationships.
This thesis arguers that hasty generalisations have been made, and it seems improbable that this ancient instructional notation can be accurately translated into modern Western notation. The above reservations justify a thorough re-examination of the most important and related ancient music theory-based tablets. Re-examinations, specifically of the fundamental tablets UET VII 126, CBS 10996 and UET VII 74, serve as the focus of this research.
Description
Thesis (MMus)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.
Keywords
Musicology, Assyriology, Music archaeology, Mesopotamian Music, Cuneiform tablets, UCTD