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The Music of The Arabian Nights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

The musical interlude which adorns so many a story in The Thousand Nights and One Night is one of the most interesting features of that “wondrous treasury of Muslim folk-lore”, as Burton dubbed the Alf laila wa laila. Yet, strange to say, our translators and commentators have taken little cognizance of this fact. Indeed, beyond the brief and inadequate notices contributed by Lane to his translation of the Nights, it can safely be averred that no serious attention has been devoted to the subject. It was on this account that the present study was made.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1944

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References

page 172 note 1 Arabian Nights, Burton's, Lady edition (London, 18861887), i, p. ixGoogle Scholar.

page 172 note 2 The Thousand and One Nights (London, 1883)Google Scholar.

page 172 note 3 vi, 59.

page 172 note 4 i, 200.

page 172 note 5 History of Arabian Music, chap, ii: Music: The Priceless Jewel, sect. 3 and 4.

page 173 note 1 ii, 88 (ii, 463).

page 173 note 2 iv, 649 (vi, 124).

page 173 note 3 i, 591 (ii, 112).

page 173 note 4 i, 246 (i, 277).

page 173 note 5 i, 244 (i, 275).

page 173 note 6 Farmer, , Sources of Arabian Music, 92Google Scholar.

page 173 note 7 Farmer, , The Influence of Music, 12Google Scholar.

page 173 note 8 Ikhwān al-Ṣafā' (Bombay edit.), iii, 67: Farmer, , Sa'adyah Gaon, 6Google Scholar.

page 173 note 9 i, 304 (i, 336).

page 173 note 10 iv, 259 (v, 291).

page 173 note 11 ii, 163 (iii, 15).

page 173 note 12 iv, 541 (vi, 30).

page 174 note 1 i, 274 (i, 307).

page 174 note 2 iv, 264 (v, 296).

page 174 note 3 i, 309 (i, 341). The Arabic is much plainer.

page 174 note 4 i, 265 (i, 297).

page 174 note 5 iii, 146 (iv, 96).

page 174 note 6 Burckhardt, Arab. Prov., No. 335.

page 174 note 7 iv, 172 (v, 191).

page 174 note 8 ii, 654 (iii, 428).

page 175 note 1 i, 67 (i, 83).

page 175 note 2 i, 372 (i, 395).

page 175 note 3 i, 203 (i, 230).

page 175 note 4 i, 244 (i, 274).

page 175 note 5 ii, 179 (iii, 30).

page 175 note 6 i, 244 (i, 275).

page 175 note 7 i, 373 (i, 396).

page 175 note 8 i, 353 (i, 378).

page 175 note 9 i, 165 (i, 191).

page 175 note 10 Nuqūṭ is quite a late word. Both Payne and Burton say that the root naqaṭa means “to handsel, i.e. to mark or cross the palm of a singing-girl with silver”. Naqaṭa simply means “to let fall in drips”, hence the “drippings” or “tips” which fall into the ṭār of the songstress are called nuqūṭ.

page 175 note 11 Burckhardt, op. cit., No. 464.

page 176 note 1 i, 680 (ii, 196).

page 176 note 2 ii, 32 (ii, 413).

page 176 note 3 Encyclopædia of Islām, v, 217.

page 176 note 4 i, 95 (i, 114); iv, 528 (vi, 65).

page 176 note 5 i, 700 (ii, 202).

page 176 note 6 iii, 617 (v, 7).

page 176 note 7 ii, 282 (iv, 228).

page 176 note 8 iii, 283 (iv, 229).

page 176 note 9 iii, 298 (iv, 242). Probably “kettledrums” (kūsāt) are meant.

page 176 note 10 ii, 57 (ii, 159). Beyrout edit. “kettledrums” (kūsāt) instead of “cymbals” (kāsāt).

page 177 note 1 iv, 45 (v, 84): iii, 271 (iv, 217).

page 177 note 2 i, 559 (ii, 84).

page 177 note 3 i, 403 (i, 420).

page 177 note 4 iii, 150 (iv, 100).

page 177 note 5 iv, 616 (vi, 95).

page 177 note 6 ii, 32 (ii, 413).

page 177 note 7 i, 80 (i, 97).

page 177 note 8 ii, 96, Beyrout edit, (ii, 202).

page 177 note 9 ii, 649 (iii, 425).

page 177 note 10 ii, 656 (iii, 430).

page 177 note 11 ii, 569 (ii, 432).

page 177 note 12 ii, 569 (ii, 432).

page 177 note 13 iii, 303 (iv, 246).

page 177 note 14 iii, 293 (iv, 328). See my article in Islāmic Culture, xv, p. 240.

page 177 note 15 ii, 493 (iii, 281).

page 178 note 1 ii, 83 (ii, 485).

page 178 note 2 ii, 450 (iii, 253).

page 178 note 3 ii, 83 (ii, 485).

page 178 note 4 Sūrāt, xxi, 79; xxxiv, 10; xxxviii, 16.

page 178 note 5 Aghānī, v, 52; Sa'di, Gulistān, iii, 28.

page 178 note 6 Aghānī (Būlāq edit.), ix, 95.

page 178 note 7 Al-'iqd al-farīd (Būlāq edit., 1887–8,), iii, 198.

page 178 note 8 ii, 439 (iii, 242).

page 178 note 9 iii, 412 (iv, 344).

page 178 note 10 iv, 360 (v, 375).

page 178 note 11 ii, 88 (ii, 402).

page 178 note 12 i, 793 (ii, 291).

page 179 note 1 iv, 262 (v, 294).

page 179 note 2 Farmer, , The Influence of Music, 12: Sa'adyah Gaon, 8–9Google Scholar.

page 179 note 3 ii, 493, 523, 526 (iii, 281, 312, 316).

page 180 note 1 ii, 439 (iii, 242). I have shown in the Ency. of Islām, iii, 885, how the Arabian art form known as the nauba (suite) had its origin in this system of the court minstrels taking their “turn” at court.

page 180 note 2 i, 203. This apartment (mughanna) was still to be found in Egypt in the time of Lane, (Modern Egyptians [1860], 355)Google Scholar, but there was lattice work as a screen instead of a curtain.

page 180 note 3 iv, 559 (vi, 47).

page 180 note 4 ii, 654 (iii, 428).

page 181 note 1 ii, 439 (iii, 242); iv, 172 (v, 191).

page 181 note 2 Gulistān, iii, 28.

page 181 note 3 ii, 402 (iii, 208).

page 181 note 4 iii, 142 (iv, 97).

page 181 note 5 Poole, S. L., History of Egypt, v, 74Google Scholar.

page 181 note 6 Burton writes: “Khalif Al-Walīd,” although the story distinctly states that the incident took place in the Khalifate of Hishām.

page 182 note 1 iii, 379 (iv, 315).

page 182 note 2 The author of the Tāj al-'arūs tells us with all seriousness that this name given to the Devil, was due to the fact that his daughter's name was Murra.

page 182 note 3 iii, 388 (iv, 321).

page 182 note 4 v, 36. See also Al-Ghuzūlī, Maṣāli' al-budūr, i, 241.

page 182 note 5 iii, 411 (iv, 344).

page 182 note 6 i, 305 (i, 337)

page 182 note 7 iv, 635 (vi, 108).

page 182 note 8 ii, 298 (iii, 123).

page 182 note 9 ii, 138 (ii, 511).

page 182 note 10 The Nights, however, may be correct and history may be wrong.

page 182 note 11 ii, 149 (iii, 8). Burton (iii, 6) says that Ishaq was “the first who reduced Arab harmony [sic] to systematic rules”. See Farmer, , History of Arabian Music, 105Google Scholar.

page 183 note 1 ii, 147 (iii, 6).

page 183 note 2 v, 41.

page 183 note 3 Al- Ghuzūlī, i, 243.

page 183 note 4 Dozy edit., 272.

page 183 note 5 ii, 435 (iii, 238).

page 183 note 6 iii, 408 (iv, 341). Cf. Ency. Islām, ii, 439.

page 183 note 7 ii, 450 (iii, 252). Burton, in his usual forward way, writes Ma'abid.

page 183 note 8 iv, 573 (vi, 60). Burton wrongly identifies this wazīr with the one mentioned by Ibn Khallikān (ii, 465).

page 183 note 9 Farmer, , Hist., 158Google Scholar.

page 183 note 10 Farmer, , Hist., 96Google Scholar.

page 183 note 11 ii, 453 (iii, 255).

page 183 note 12 Cf. Lane, , Modern Egyptians (London, 1860), 355Google Scholar.

page 184 note 1 ii, 38 (ii, 419).

page 184 note 2 ii, 402 (iii, 208).

page 184 note 3 iv, 163 (v, 183).

page 184 note 4 ii, 489 (iii, 277).

page 185 note 1 ii, 493 (iii, 281). The text has which is obviously a slip for as in the Būlāq text (ii, 239).

page 185 note 2 The text has which can scarcely be correct, since the 'ulūm al-riyāḍīya, which included arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy, are already dealt with. The Bulaq text has 'ulūm al-riyāsa, which is more likely.

page 185 note 3 'ilm al-hikma.

page 185 note 4 ii, 493 (iii, 281).

page 185 note 5 Farmer, , Hist., 169Google Scholar.

page 185 note 6 xix, 132.

page 185 note 7 ii, 310 (iii, 135).

page 185 note 8 Farmer, , Hist., 162Google Scholar.