>> What do the Dead Sea Scrolls sound like in abc?? :-)
>
>There seems an obvious musical interpretation of the apocryphal Gospel
>of Thomas (from the Nag Hammadi collection):
>
The Discourse on the Eighth and the Ninth would seem to offer more
musical cues:
"Lord, grant us a wisdom from your power that reaches us, so that we may
describe to ourselves the vision of the eighth and the ninth. We have
already advanced to the seventh, since we are pious and walk in your law."
"What is the way to sing a hymn through it?"
(silence)
"Have you become such that you cannot be spoken to?"
"I am silent, my father. I want to sing a hymn to you while I am silent."
"Then sing it, for I am Mind."
What he had finished praising, he shouted, "Father Trismegistus! What shall
I say? We have received this light. And I myself see this same vision in
you. And I see the eighth, and the souls that are in it, and the angels
singing a hymn to the ninth and its powers. And I see him who has the power
of them all, creating those <that are> in the spirit."
"It is advantageous from now on, that we keep silence in a reverent
posture. Do not speak about the vision from now on. It is proper to sing a
hymn to the father until the day to quit (the) body."
"What you sing, my father, I too want to sing."
"I am singing a hymn within myself. While you rest yourself, be active in
praise. For you have found what you seek."
"But is it proper, my father, that I praise because I am filled in my heart?"
"What is proper is your praise that you will sing to God, so that it might
be written in this imperishable book."
"I will offer up the praise in my heart, as I pray to the end of the
universe and the beginning of the beginning, to the object of man's quest,
the immortal discovery, the begetter of light and truth, the sower of
reason, the love of immortal life. No hidden word will be able to speak
about you, Lord. Therefore, my mind wants to sing a hymn to you daily. I am
the instrument of your spirit; Mind is your plectrum. And your counsel
plucks me. I see myself! I have received power from you. For your love has
reached us."
"Right, my son."
"Grace! After these things, I give thanks by singing a hymn to you. For I
have received life from you, when you made me wise. I praise you. I call
your name that is hidden within me:
a o ee o eee ooo iii oooo ooooo ooooo uuuuuu oo ooooooooo ooooooooo oo.
You are the one who exists with the spirit. I sing a hymn to you reverently."
-----------------
It's clearly in a pentatonic scale, since it uses only the five vowels.
Clearly it must use the seventh, octave and ninth, since those get
mentioned prominently in the text. Add the tonic and fifth (since it's
hard to write any tune without those) and we're in business.
How about this:
o = C
u = G
e = Bb
a = c
i = d
X:1
T: The Name of God
C: Hermes Trismegistus
M:none
K: C
c C _B2 C B3 d3 C4 C5 C5 G6 C2 C9 C9 C2 |
Phil Taylor
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