Description
Book SynopsisḤāwī l-Funūn (Encompasser of the Arts) of Ibn al-Ṭaḥḥān (d. ca. 1057) is a medieval Arabic music dictionary that complements other sources because of the practical knowledge of the author who was an accomplished singer, lutenist and composer. The first part in 80 chapters deals with compositions; voice production and characteristics, unison and duet singing, taking care of the voice; preludes, ornaments, ṭarab; the importance of tonality; approaches to teaching; musical and extra-musical behavior at the court; names of Syrian Fatimid and Ishshīdid singers. The second part in 22 chapters includes lute manufacturing, frets placement, stringing and tuning; 47 rhythmic ornaments, names and definitions of rhythmic and melodic modes; types of dances; descriptions of 12 instruments.
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Abbreviations Part 1: The Theoretical Arts Introduction Chapter 1: The Preference of Speech over Muteness Chapter 2: The Gems of Philosophers’ Aphorisms Chapter 3: On the Sophistication of Melodies Chapter 4: The Meanings of Melodies Chapter 5: Composing Melodies That Suit the Poems Chapter 6: The Definition of Singing and Its Components Chapter 7: The Definition of the Voice and Its Production Chapter 8: Poetic and Musical Divisions Chapter 9: The Origin of Arabic Singing Chapter 10: Favoring Older Poetry over the Modern Chapter 11: Favoring Older Singing over the Modern Chapter 12: The Character, Effects, and Types of Melodies Chapter 13: The Names of the First Male Singers in the Jāhiliyya Chapter 14: The Names of the First Songstresses in the Jāhiliyya Chapter 15: The Names of the First Male Singers in Early Islam Chapter 16: The Names of the First Songstresses in Early Islam in addition to the Ones I Have Already Mentioned Chapter 17: The Names of the Effeminates in Early Islam Chapter 18: The First to Notate Songs Chapter 19: The Grand, Medium, and Smaller Compositions Chapter 20: Ṭarab and Its Causes Chapter 21: The Tonalities in Singing, Their Arrangements and Types Chapter 22: Vowels and Consonants Chapter 23: Testing the Essences of the Voices Chapter 24: Tricks Used to Bring Throats in Tune with the Strings Chapter 25: The Names of Voices (ḥalq), Their Good and Bad Qualities Chapter 26: Beautiful (mulaḥ) Vocal Music, Techniques, and Qualities Chapter 27: Tricks Used in Stealing Songs and Precautions to Prevent This Chapter 28: Food and Drinks That Are Beneficial to the Throats and Those That Are Not Chapter 29: Locations That Are Beneficial for Voices and Improve Them, and Those That Diminish and Spoil Them Chapter 30: The Ranks of Boon Companions and Singers Chapter 31: Instruments That Overwhelm the Voices and Other Factors Chapter 32: The Care of Throats in General, and before and after Puberty Chapter 33: On Knowing the Reasons Musicians Get Off Rhythm Chapter 34: Approaches to Teaching and How to Apply Them Chapter 35: The Reasons for Poor Intonation and Its Characteristics Chapter 36: Planning and Determining Where and How Much to Breathe Chapter 37: Murāsala, mubāyana, and mumāthala Chapter 38: Syncopation and Guidance to It Chapter 39: Twittering and Its Derivation Chapter 40: The Definition of tarkhīm Chapter 41: Tarjīʿ and Its Characteristics Chapter 42: Nashīds and Their Types Chapter 43: What Stimulates the Singer To Be Active and What Makes Him Sluggish Chapter 44: Opening Songs in the Company of Kings Chapter 45: How to Arrange and Order the Songs in the majālis Chapter 46: Good Qualities [to Have] While Singing Chapter 47: Good and Bad Song Themes Chapter 48: Who Are Better: The Singers of Persia, India, or Byzantium Chapter 49: Mention of the Male Singers in the Umayyad Era Chapter 50: Mention of the Songstresses in the Umayyad Era Chapter 51: Mention of the Male Singers in the ʿAbbāsid Era Chapter 52: Mention of the Songstresses in the ʿAbbāsid Era Chapter 53: Mention of the Slave Singers and Songstresses in the ʿAbbāsid Era Chapter 54: Mention of the Male Singers and Songstresses in the Ikhshīdid Era in Egypt Chapter 55: Mention of the Male Singers in the ʿAlawid Era in Egypt Chapter 56: Mention of the Songstresses in the ʿAlawid Era in Egypt Chapter 57: Mention of the Male Slave Singers in the ʿAlawid Era in Egypt Chapter 58: Mention of the Male Syrian Singers Chapter 59: Mention of the Syrian Songstresses Chapter 60: Mention of the Umayyad Caliphs Who Sang Chapter 61: Mention of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphs Who Sang Chapter 62: Mention of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphs’ Sons Who Sang Chapter 63: Mention of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphs’ Daughters Who Sang Chapter 64: Mention of the Viziers, Princes, and Their Sons Who Sang Chapter 65: Mention of the Male and Female ṭunbūr Players Chapter 66: On the Proper Behavior to Praise Men and Women When They Reach a State of ṭArab Chapter 67: Mention of the One Hundred Chosen Songs Chapter 68: The Permissibility of Singing Chapter 69: The Qualities of a Skilled Singer Chapter 70: Tools to Use to Test the Person Who Pretends to Know the Science of Music Chapter 71: Bad Intonation among Men and Women Chapter 72: Higher and Lower Octaves Chapter 73: How to Choose Would-Be Singers [Girls and Boys] in Order to Teach Them Singing Chapter 74: Behavior before Kings and Their Subjects Chapter 75: Sayings and Poems of Praise about Male Singers and Songstresses in the Past Chapter 76: Satirical Poems about Male Singers and Songstresses in Earlier Times Chapter 77: Poems of Praise about Male Singers in Our Era Chapter 78: Satirical Poems about Male Singers [and Songstresses] in Our Era Chapter 79: The Compositional Output of Male Singers in Earlier Times Chapter 80: Stories about Male Singers in Earlier Times and Their Pedigree Part 2: The Practical Arts Chapter 1: The Meaning of the Word Music Chapter 2: The Inventor of the Lute and Differing Views about It Chapter 3: The Dimensions of the Lute, Its Material, Construction, and Names of Its Various Parts Chapter 4: The Frets, Their Names, Placements, Tying Them on the Finger Board, and Their Functions Chapter 5: The Strings, Their Characters, Names, Choosing Them, and Stringing Them on the Lute Chapter 6: The Names of Rhythmic Modes (ṭarīqa), Their Types (jins), Their Cycles, and Number of Attacks Chapter 7: The State of the Notes, Their Qualities, Quantities, Numbers, and Placements on the Strings of the Lute Chapter 8: The Genuses of Notes Used at the Beginning of a Piece, and Types of Movements through the Frets Chapter 9: The Rhythmic Modes in Use, [and the Player’s] Motions and Required Matters Chapter 10: The Best Person to Have Played the Persian Lute, and the Number of Persian Modes Chapter 11: The Best Person to Have Played the Arabic Lute and to Have Sung Arabic Songs Accompanying Himself Chapter 12: The Description of the Lute, Its Praise, Preferring It to All Other Instruments That Accompany Singing, What It Resembles, and Poems Composed about It Chapter 13: The Reason for Setting the zīr String at the Bottom, and the bamm at the Top Chapter 14: Tuning and Detuning the Strings Chapter 15: The Beautiful Techniques (mulaḥ) That Affect the Rhythms and Rhythmic Modes, Their Numbers and Types Chapter 16: On Dance, Its Types and Names [Ibn al-Ṭaḥḥān’s Passage Quoted by al-Tīfāshī] Chapter 17: [On the] Disagreement between [Isḥāq b.] Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī and Ibrāhīm b. al-Mahdī about the Rhythmic Modes Chapter 18: The Definitions of al-surayjī, al-mākhūrī, al-mujannab, and al-mukhālif Chapter 19: The Definitions of al-khusruwānī, al-ṭarkhānī, al-ḥumayrī, and khafīf hazaj Chapter 20: On Choosing the Proper Instrument to Fit Various Throats Chapter 21: Mention of the ṭunbūr, miʿzafa, rabāb, mizmār, ṭabl, urghun, qīthāra, sulyāq, duff, ṣalīkh, and kankala Chapter 22: On Which Particular Genuses of Modes Should be Used in Which Types of Melodies; Modes Used Plainly (sādhij) without Mixing (tamzīj) and without Moving [from One to Another] are Unpleasant and Do Not Cause ṭarab Appendix: Ibn Khurdādhbih’s Passage Quoted by al-Tīfāshī. The Number of Types of Dances, Nations, and Regions That Created Them Arabic-English Glossary Chart Bibliography Index of People and Places Index of Terms and Subjects
