Bible & Music: Influences of the Old Testament on Western Music. Max Stern. 2011.

Book Review

Stern says that he is focusing on Bible-based musical compositions that are “somewhere in-between in the worlds of liturgical, concert, popular, or folk music.” He organizes his material not by composer or chronologically, but rather by the usual order of the Hebrew Bible. For most major Biblical characters or books he highlights one representative composition, lists background information concerning the text and the composer, and provides a music analysis of the work. Musical compositions analyzed range from opera and instrumental chamber music to folk songs and a pop-rock musical. A list of additional compositions appears at the end of each chapter.

The most useful parts of this book are its lists of musical works based on the Bible. This volume covers all of the books of the Hebrew Bible except for Psalms, which will be covered in a future volume, and Haggai and Nahum, for which he could find no musical compositions. An index of scriptural references points to pages where biblical texts are mentioned in the book, so it can serve as a reference book for finding music related to a specific biblical passage. An index of composer names also helps locate music written by particular composers on biblical texts.

Stern seeks to examine “music from the perspective of the Bible, while trying to comment on and elucidate the Bible, through the prism of music.” To me his comments often seemed strange, e.g., when he spoke of Einstein's formula in reference to a burst of light. His purpose is not academic, but his commentary is interesting and readable and a possible choice for some Jewish academic and synagogue libraries.

General Practice Plans

Plan A

Use this plan when you already know the piece or it is easy.



1. Look through the whole piece before playing.

--Notice dynamics and techniques.

--Notice the starting position and key for each part.

--Notice the rhythm and tempo.

2. Play the whole piece as if performing in public, no stopping.

3. Play the whole piece again, this time stopping any time you make a mistake.

--Play each spot 3 times correctly.

--After the third time, go on to the next mistake or the end of the piece.

4. Play at least one part of the piece differently than you usually play it. For example, play at least one part very slowly.



Plan B

Use this plan when you are first learning a piece or have a lot of mistakes to fix.

1. Play each part

--Very slowly, no mistakes.

--Faster, no mistakes.

--Without looking at the music, no mistakes.

2. Play the whole piece the best you can, any tempo.