Richard J. Dumbrill ( Epernay; born 1947) is a British/French archaeomusicologist and composer. He is a

relativist Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to absolute objectivity within a particular domain and assert that valuations in that domain are relative to the perspective of an observer or the context in which they are assess ...

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

who opposes Universalism and Occicentrism theories in his field. Dumbrill has studied the archaeomusicology of the

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

, especially the interpretation of

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

texts of Music Theory written in Sumerian, Babylonian and

Hurrian The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurro-Urartian language, Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria (region) ...

Career

Dumbrill's interpretation of

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

is based on his knowledge of Middle-Oriental

Musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

. He rejects (

Pythagorean Pythagorean, meaning of or pertaining to the ancient Ionian mathematician, philosopher, and music theorist Pythagoras, may refer to: Philosophy * Pythagoreanism, the esoteric and metaphysical beliefs purported to have been held by Pythagoras * Ne ...

) ditonism and heptatonism, as a model for Oriental music and particularly rejects the hypothesis of the use of dichords in the Musicology of the Ancient Near East. Dumbrill offers another interpretation of the

Hurrian songs The Hurrian songs (or Hurrian Hymns) are a collection of music inscribed in cuneiform on clay tablets excavated from the ancient Amorite-Canaanite city of Ugarit, a headland in northern Syria, which date to approximately 1400 BC.Marguerite Yon, ...

, the oldest music ever written, which was found in northwest Syria at the site of

Ugarit Ugarit (; , ''ủgrt'' /ʾUgarītu/) was an ancient port city in northern Syria about 10 kilometers north of modern Latakia. At its height it ruled an area roughly equivalent to the modern Latakia Governorate. It was discovered by accident in 19 ...

. He reconstructed the Silver

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

of Ur (at the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

), from Woolley's notes, with Myriam Marcetteau. Dumbrill also reconstructed the

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Scythic, Median, Amardian, Anshanian and Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was recorded in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite i ...

harp of the

battle of Ulai The Battle of the Ulai River (called in modern times the Kerkha or Karkheh River), also known as the Battle of Til-Tuba or the Battle of Tulliz, in c. 653 BCE, was a battle between the invading Assyrians, under their king Ashurbanipal, and the k ...

, with Margaux Bousquet. Dumbrill donated one of his harps to the Ministry of Culture in

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Drumbill is the founder, with

Irving Finkel Irving Leonard Finkel (born 1951) is an English philologist and Assyriologist. He is the Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East in the British Museum, where he specialises in ...

of the International Council of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology (ICONEA) at the

Institute of Musical Research The Institute of Musical Research is a research institution associated with the University of London. Formerly a member of the School of Advanced Study, it is since 2015 affiliated to Royal Holloway, University of London. Its focus is the facilit ...

, School of Advanced Studies,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. Dumbrill has lectured at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

and

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

and in Iraq,

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Damascus,

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

, Rotterdam, Corpus Christi (Cambridge), and Paris.

Works

Books

*''Semitic Music Theory'

*''The Musicology and Organology of the Ancient Near East'', second edition. Published thesis. Victoria, Canada.(2005) *''Idiophones of the Ancient Near East in the Collections of the British Museum'' 121 pages, Publisher: Gorgias Pr Llc (12 Jun. 2011) Language: English *''The Silver Lyre of Ur'' Copyright Richard Dumbrill ICONEA PUBLICATIONS LONDON Published 28 May 2015 *''Musical scenes on Seals and Seal Impressions of the Ancient Near East''Richard Dumbrill ICONEA PUBLICATIONS LONDON 2015 *''The Truth about Babylonian Music'' Near Eastern Musicology Online 4 6 , 2017-08, p. 91–121. *''Hurrian Song H6'', score, transcribed from the original Cuneiform text. ICONEA PUBLICATIONS - LONDON *''Elegiac Poem to Ishtar'', score, Composed by Richard Dumbrill ICONEA PUBLICATIONS - LONDON *''An Old Babylonian Lullaby''. Score. Set to music by Richard Dumbrill for the BBC. ICONEA PUBLICATIONS - LONDON *''Ashurbanipal Wisdom Song''. Score. This song was reconstructed by Richard Dumbrill after an original Wisdom poem dating from the first millennium BC. It was specially composed for the Great Ashurbanipal exhibition at the British Museum in November 2018. ICONEA PUBLICATIONS - LONDON. *''Song of Amun Re. Score''. Composed by Richard Dumbrill on request from the Smithsonian Institution. ICONEA PUBLICATIONS - LONDON

Reviews

*''Co-editor of NEMO-Online with Amine Beyhom'' *''Editor of ICONEA'' with Irving Finkel (2008) *'' Co-editor with Bryan Carr of the Ernest McClain Memorial Volume, forthcoming'' *'' Editor of Musical Traditions in the Middle-East. Proceedings of the International Conference held at Leiden University, 10–12 December 2009. Forthcoming.''

Articles

The Truth About Babylonian Music

Middle East article, Music Prehistory to 1250

New evidence for Neo-Babylonian Enneatonism in Music Theory

Four mathematical texts from the Temple Library of Nippur

Earliest Evidence of Heptatonism

Goetterzahlen and scale Structure The Uruk Lute Elements of Metrology, The Morphology of the Babylonian Scale

Is the heptagram in CBS 1766 a Dial

Commentary on the new incised scapula from Tel Kinrot

Entretiens de Musique Ancienne en Sorbonne
The Birth of Music Theory https://www.academia.edu/112552291/The_Birth_of_Music_Theory Semitic Music Theory (2600-500 BC) https://www.academia.edu/38432560/Semitic_Music_Theory_2600_500_BC_

References

External links

Babylonian Musicology