Richard Dumbrill (musicologist)

Richard Dumbrill
Richard Dumbrill
	Dumbrill in July 2024
Born	1947 (age 76–77); Epernay, France
Nationality	British
Known for	Study of the archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East
Academic work
Discipline	Musicology
Sub-discipline	Archaeomusicology
Institutions	University of London
Notable works	Semitic Music Theory

Richard J. Dumbrill (Epernay; born 1947) is a British/French archaeomusicologist and composer. He is a relativist musicologist who opposes Universalism and Occicentrism theories in his field.^[1]

Dumbrill has studied the archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East, especially the interpretation of cuneiform texts of Music Theory written in Sumerian, Babylonian and Hurrian.

Career

Dumbrill's interpretation of music theory is based on his knowledge of Middle-Oriental Musicology. He rejects (Pythagorean) 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 oldest music ever written, which was found in northwest Syria at the site of Ugarit. He reconstructed the Silver lyre of Ur (at the British Museum), from Woolley's notes, with Myriam Marcetteau. Dumbrill also reconstructed the Elamite harp of the battle of Ulai, with Margaux Bousquet. Dumbrill donated one of his harps to the Ministry of Culture in Iraq.

Drumbill is the founder, with Irving Finkel of the International Council of Near Eastern Archaeomusicology ^[2] (ICONEA) at the Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Studies, University of London.^[3]

Dumbrill has lectured at Harvard and Yale and in Iraq, Beirut, Damascus, Leiden, Rotterdam, Corpus Christi (Cambridge), and Paris.

Works

Books

Semitic Music Theory [1]
The Musicology and Organology of the Ancient Near East, second edition. Published thesis. Victoria, Canada.(2005) ISBN 1-4120-5538-5^[4]
Idiophones of the Ancient Near East in the Collections of the British Museum 121 pages, Publisher: Gorgias Pr Llc (12 Jun. 2011) Language: English ISBN 1611439566 ISBN 978-1611439564
The Silver Lyre of Ur Copyright Richard Dumbrill ICONEA PUBLICATIONS LONDON Published 28 May 2015 ISBN 9781326289010
Musical scenes on Seals and Seal Impressions of the Ancient Near EastRichard Dumbrill ICONEA PUBLICATIONS LONDON 2015 ISBN 9781326289324
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

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

^ "The Truth About Babylonian Music". [Dumbrill quoted Curt Sachs at the beginning of his paper, The Truth About Babylonian Music, addressing occidentalism in musicology:] 'In describing non-western music, be it oriental or primitive, one must strictly refrain from misusing incongruous concepts of western music. The terminology that has been learned in music school applies to the harmonic structure of music and is inappropriate, indeed misleading and distorting in descriptions of non-harmonic, non-western music.'
^ "ICONEA | INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MIDDLE EASTERN ARCHAEOMUSICOLOGY".
^ "Richard Dumbrill | Royal Holloway, University of London - Academia.edu". royalholloway.academia.edu.
^ Dumbrill, Richard. "The Musicology and Organology of the Ancient Near East" – via www.academia.edu. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links

Babylonian Musicology

[1] "The Truth About Babylonian Music". [Dumbrill quoted Curt Sachs at the beginning of his paper, The Truth About Babylonian Music, addressing occidentalism in musicology:] 'In describing non-western music, be it oriental or primitive, one must strictly refrain from misusing incongruous concepts of western music. The terminology that has been learned in music school applies to the harmonic structure of music and is inappropriate, indeed misleading and distorting in descriptions of non-harmonic, non-western music.'

[2] "ICONEA | INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF MIDDLE EASTERN ARCHAEOMUSICOLOGY".

[3] "Richard Dumbrill | Royal Holloway, University of London - Academia.edu". royalholloway.academia.edu.

[4] Dumbrill, Richard. "The Musicology and Organology of the Ancient Near East" – via www.academia.edu. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

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