Richard J. Dumbrill ( Epernay 1947) is a British archaeomusicologist, pianist, composer and conductor. Dumbrill is a

relativist Relativism is a family of philosophical views which deny claims to 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 assessed. Ther ...

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

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

Ancient Near East The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...

, especially the interpretation of

cuneiform Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sh ...

texts of Music Theory written in Sumerian, Babylonian and

Hurrian The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Northern ...

Career

Dumbrill's interpretation of music theory is based on his knowledge of Middle-Oriental Musicology. 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, and particularly rejects the hypothesis of dichords in the Musicology of the Ancient Near East Dumbrill translated the oldest song ever written, which was found in northwest Syria at the site of

Ugarit ) , image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg , image_size=300 , alt = , caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit , map_type = Near East#Syria , map_alt = , map_size = 300 , relief=yes , location = Latakia Governorate, Syria , region = ...

. He reconstructed the Silver lyre of Ur (at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

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

Elamite Elamite, also known as Hatamtite and formerly as Susian, is an extinct language that was spoken by the ancient Elamites. It was used in what is now southwestern Iran from 2600 BC to 330 BC. Elamite works disappear from the archeological record ...

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,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

Drumbill is the founder, with

Irving Finkel Irving Leonard Finkel (born 1951) is a British 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 c ...

of the International Council of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology (ICONEA) at the Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Studies,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

,. Dumbrill has lectured at Harvard and

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and in Iraq,

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Damascus,

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

, Rotterdam, 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

References

External links

Babylonian Musicology