Volume 16, Number 2 - Cantors Assembly

Let us first examine the parallels between poetic and melodic
structures as regards caesuras. The poetic structure dictates the placing of
caesuras at the ends of the verses, and at the division of the verses into
hemistichs, by means of the muwassah-like rhyming. From the musical
point of view the caesura is expressed by the use of the long rhythmic
value of a semi-breve at the end of every verse, sometimes with the
addition of a pause,30 and of a breve or longa at the end of each strophe;31
but there is no systematic attempt to express the internal poetic caesura
that divides the verses into hemistichs.32
We have already mentioned that the similarity of the poetic and
musical structures is chiefly displayed in the parallels between the
cadential formula of the refrain and of the endings of the principal
strophes II-V. The poetic “heralding” function of the fixed rhyme (x)
- which, according to the muwassah-like rhyming system is common to
the end of the refrain and the end of the principal strophes - also
announces the chanting of the refrain “as an integral part of the
strophes”33 and is systematically reflected in the melodicstructure of the
tune by the cadential formula “b”. Indeed, this formula appears
regularly, with slight variations, at the end of each strophe; its special
status in the melodic texture of the piyyut is also stressed by its use in
several other places: the second hemistich of verse I 2 and II 2, and the
second hemistich of verse V 3. This melodic formula also acts as the sole
connecting link between the melody of I and that of the other strophes of
the piyyut.
A further demonstration of a significant relationship between the
poetic and melodic structures can be seen in comparing strophes II to IV
with strophc V, paying special attention to the diffcrcncc in the poetic
pattern of verses I to 3 (changing rhyme) as against verse4 (fixed rhyme),
according to the muwassah-like rhyme pattern, illustrated in Fig. 2.
30. See the ends of I I. IR I. 11 3, III 3, IV 3.
31. Notation of longa appears at the end ofstrophes IR. II.IV,andV. but(asstated
above) probably without differentiated rhythmic significance.
32. Clear examples of lack of musical caesura at the dividing point of the hemistichs
of a verse (either by recourse to a longer rhythmic value or by a pause) can be seen in
verses 1 and 2 of strophes II-IV.
33. See section II. I above, especially the passage related to note 21.
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