The notated musical legacy of .Safiy a-d-D-1n al-Urmaw-1: a critical approach of the musical system and a transcription

Abstract

The legacy of .Safiy a-d-D-1n al-Urmaw-1 (-1294) is crucial for the knowledge of the
medieval Arab musical tradition. The purpose of this paper is to study the
instrumental and vocal corpus of the Book of Cycles, as written by al-Urmaw-1
according to an original alphabetical and numerical system of musical notation. This
small repertoire represents the only Arabic musical heritage that scripturally
outlasted after the fall of the Abbasids. The paper starts with a critical rereading of
the theoretical musical system of al-Urmaw-1, aiming at redefining its effective
intervallic structures. Then this melodic and modal hermeneutics, combined with an analysis of the rhythmic modules, is used in order to allow the paleography to
operate in the prospect of a musical transcription and a revivification that tries to
reach equilibrium between the requirements of historical musicology and those of
the live tradition.