Peyman
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kanz-al-tohaf
I think this might be of interest to oud historians:
I was recently told about a rare musical manuscript called "kanz-al-tohaf," written in the 13 - 14 th century A.C.E. (about 700 years ago), by a
scholar named Hasan Kashani. There are 4 copies of this manuscript in different museums. The book is unique for it's written in Persian and the
discourse includes a discussion of popular musical instruments of the time, including the oud and the kanun.
But it doesn't end there. The author drew pictures of these instruments, including an oud with labels for different parts of the instrument. He goes
farther to include a method for constructing these instruments. As far as I know this is a rarity in these types of manuscripts. If
anyone is interested I can scan the pages about the oud.
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Hosam
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This is very interesting please do. Do you know what are the museums having the manuscript?
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al-Halabi
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The known copies of the manuscript are in Kings College Library in Cambridge; in the British Museum in London; in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris;
and in Rijksuniversiteit Bibliotheek in Leiden, the Netherlands.
This 14th-century work is indeed unusual in that deals with the construction of musical instruments, and not just with their classification as was the
case with other medieval treatises. As far as I know the manuscript is considered to be anonymous.
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Peyman
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I didn't know about the Cambridge copy. The book I have was published 14 years ago, so another copy might have been found in the mean time. The best
and most trustable copy is in the British museum. I am not sure if they have translated it to any other language other than farsi. The copy in Paris
was amongst several other manuscripts, mostly in Turkish. The drawings in different manuscripts are somewhat different.
As for the name of the author, there are hints in the poems he included. He says he is from Kashan (city in Iran) and his first name is Hasan.
Therefore he is dubbed 'Hasaneh Kashani.'
He introduces the oud as the most complete instrument and includes a chart that has the "fingering" position for the 12 main makams. This oud is
fretted with 5 strings. I haven't finished reading it yet, but thought it would be interesting to some pople.
The other instruments he talks about are: Gheshak (kamancheh), Robab, Ghanoon, Zahneh (seems to be a santoor), Bisheh and Mezmar (wind instruments),
chang (harp), Moghani (an invented instrument that combines oud, kanun and zahneh).
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kasos
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I'm a little late picking up on this thread, but thought I'd thank Peyman and the others who posted replies. The info is of some interest to me,
since I'm still pursuing my Marco Polo/Ibn Battuta project, only, now that I've had the opportunity to read and spend more time with both of these
medieval travel accounts, I think I may give Ibn Battuta more air time, relatively speaking - simply put, Battuta's account of world travel in the
middle ages is not only more accurate, but is also better literature, much more in the way of first person narrative, the sort of stuff you can build
on theatrically....
All the best, Mark
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Peyman
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You're welcome Mark. I hope you're project is going well.
Here is the "musician's prayer" from the book. It's to the planet "Zohreh". In the book it's described as the Greek deity for music. Apprently
Persian musicians prayed to her. I am waiting for Mr. Al-Halabi for a translation  Thanks.
The chart to be drawn afterwards
Also here are pictures of the oud from the book.
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al-Halabi
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Peyman, I tried opening all three links but couldn't. I will try using another browser, but maybe you can check the links on your end, or post the
images on this thread.
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Jason
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Peyman
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Thanks Jason. I have noticed that the links go down sometimes. But they are back now and Jason posted the pictures.
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excentrik
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Its kinda crazy- one half is in Farsi and the second half is in Arabic... Beautiful words... what a trip...
tarik
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al-Halabi
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The Arabic text is an appeal to Venus (al-Zuhra) and to her creator. The language is rather repetitious, but briefly, it begins with blessings for
Venus, who is described as a noble, wise, generous, glowing, and beautiful mistress, the illumination that one yearns for, and the shaper of events
through her rotation to the longing of her sacred love. It then wishes that her sublime creator and mover continue to inspire longing and love so that
Venus can maintain her orderly and beneficial rotation and glow. Finally, it asks that the creator provide the pleader with happiness in this world
and the next, enlightenment, and blessings and protection forever. It ends with the traditional “Amin rabb al-‘alamayn.”
This appeal displays an interesting reverence for a celestial body, with which illumination (nur, ishraq), longing (shawq), love (‘ashq), and other
beneficial forces are associated. At the same time, it recognizes the supreme power of “the original creator,” and ends on a religious note as a
prayer to God.
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Peyman
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Thank you Al-Halabi. I can make out some words but don't know enough grammer to understand. This is very interesting. To the musicians (at least in
Iran) Zohreh was the symbol of musical perfection.
As the part that's in Farsi, it is said before the prayer, one should burn a mixture of: incense (oud), sugar, safron, some herbs and skin of the
puffy plant.
I haven't been able to pinpoint the chart. After the prayer is over the chart is drawn. I only noticed that all the rows and columns add to 65 but
don't if that's any significant.
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al-Halabi
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I didn't know that Venus had this musical significance in Iran. I have not encountered it in Turkey or the Arab countries, although it may have been
part of the regional culture in the medieval period, when much was written by scholars about the cosmological and planetary connections of music.
The number 65 must have some significance. It may be the total numerical value of the letters of a particular word based on the Arabic abjad, in which
each character has a numerical value. I thought of the word Allah, but it has a numerical value of 66. Maybe the text gives a clue to the meaning of
this number.
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Peyman
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Interesting. Seems like a nice puzzle. Maybe the chart itself can be counted as one and we have a 66.
I didn't find anything that would indicate a relation between music and Venus in Greko-Roman cultures.
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excentrik
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I cant wait to see this unfold- Ima take the script to some eclectic historians I know...
tarik
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Peyman
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Sounds like an idea Tarik. I was thinking about taking it up to some university professors too.
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