Terra sebv s acta mvsei sabesiensi s

L. G. Safiullina, G. I. Batyrshina 

 

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“Be recollected, my brother, David,  

young, exiled from life  

without honour, ceremonials,  

funeral feasts ... 

only God knows where he lies now.”

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Chagall made several portraits of  David in which he is inseparable 

from the mandolin.  

The idea of  being consoled by music in hardships and grief  is 

presented in the picture Loneliness. Although the melody does not “sound” 

here formally, the violin in the centre of  composition testifies to the 

curative influence of  musical art on the human soul.  

 

  

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The development of  this idea can be observed in the etching David 

sings, accompanying himself  with the harp before Saul, and relieves his sufferings, 

resurrecting a well-known Bible story about poor Saul, subject to sudden 

outbursts of  melancholy and aggression which could be alleviated only by 

music (fig. 20). The Psalmist David is one of  the Chagall’s favourite figures; 

the artist created numerous pictures of  the second king of  Israel in his early 

and middle years in his Bible lithographs and pictures (David with his Harp, 

fig. 21, A Tower of  Tsar David, fig. 22). Everywhere the hero is depicted with 

                                                 

28

 Chagall 1989. 

Fig. 20.  David sings, accompanying himself with 

the harp before Saul, and relieves his sufferings (The 

First Book of Samuel, XVI, 19-23), 1956. 

Paper, etching, 30.7/24.8 cm. Nice, National 

Museum of Marc Chagall 

Fig. 21. David with his Harp, 1956. 

Lithograph, paper, 36/26.5 cm. Nice, 

National Museum of Marc Chagall 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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Musical Images as a Reflection of the Artistic Universalism of Marc Chagall 

 

83

a harp, based on the Hebrew string instrument, the kinnor, mentioned in 

the Bible. 

King Solomon is also never parted 

from the harp (kinnor), praising the 

mighty power of  love. In the series The 

Song of  Songs, Solomon’s strains, 

“accompanying” the embraces of  lovers, 

straightforwardly express sensorially 

ecstatic feelings, showing considerable 

alignment with the wedding ceremony 

scenes that often occur in Chagall’s 

canvases. It is not without cause that the 

canonical Testament story is interpreted 

not only as tale of  the love borne by 

Solomon for the girl Shulamite, but also 

as a collection of  hymeneal songs, 

reproducing the structure of  a wedding 

rite. The use of  bright, warm, inviting 

colours with erotic hidden motifs is 

typical of  Chagall’s works in The Song of  

Songs (fig. 23) series. 

Ancient musical instruments - bells, lyres, shofars (Jewish ritual 

instrument made from a ram’s horn), Greek cymbals (crotals), flutes, pipes 

and drums

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 are integral features of  Chagall’s works on mythological and 

Bible themes, such as The Dance of  Mariam (fig. 24), A Myth about Orpheus 

(fig. 25), Orpheus, Daphnis and Chloe, Sarah and Angels, Creation, etc.  

The theme of  love and music in the Bible forms the basis for 

harpsichord cover painting, A Biblical message  (fig. 26), which graces the 

National Museum of  Marc Chagall in Nice. The painting is devoted to the 

meeting of  Isaac, Abraham’s son, and Rebecca, his future beloved wife. 

Several musicians are present here, but the most significant is the image of  

Tsar David, flying towards the enamoured couple. The rest of  the musicians 

                                                 

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 Eugene Marlow made a statistical calculation of musical instruments in Chagall’s works: 

“His 10,000 + artworks notwithstanding, a cursory analysis of several hundred of his 

artworks reveals 16 different instruments: accordion, balalaika, cello, cymbal, flute, guitar, 

harp, horn, bass drum, keyboard, mandolin, saxophone, small bell, tambourine, trumpet, 

and violin. Further, there are several graphic references to a full circus orchestra. By far, 

though, the most frequently “painted” instrument is the violin, followed by the cello, and 

the horn. Further, there are several graphic references to a full circus orchestra. By far, 

though, the most frequently “painted” instrument is the violin, followed by the cello, and 

the horn” (http://www.eugenemarlow.com/2013/09/30/the-musical-icons-of-marc-

chagall, accessed 20 June 2014). 

Fig.  22. King David’s Tower, 1968-

1971. Oil on canvas, 117/90 cm. 

Nice, National Museum of Marc 

Chagall 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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L. G. Safiullina, G. I. Batyrshina 

 

84

are placed at the bottom; their size does not exceed the figures, scattered 

across the landscape. A violinist, playing inspirationally is also depicted on 

the harpsichord’s cover. 

“Love and music are presented against moderate nameless landscape, where 

soft heavenly bluest grades into yellowness of  sands, separate small figures 

of  people and animals are seen, dilapidated houses are placed far away. The 

composition is simple and harmonious. This landscape, inspired by Music 

and Love, as if  saturated with them, dissolves them in itself.”

30

  

 

The close entwinement of  love and 

music is native to Chagall’s genre of  

biblical paintings. Music fills the scenes 

depicting lovers with deep meaning, 

showing their eternal sensual attraction 

to each other, or, on the contrary, their 

alienation. In episodes connected with wedding rites and temples, the ritual 

role of  musical art is vividly depicted. Later, the moment of  his marriage to 

Bella, described by Chagall as “the most important in [his] life,” was 

frequently revisited by Chagall in his art. It is notable, that the 

autobiography does not focus on merrymaking on the occasion of  

ceremony, but on the contrary, describes how before the ceremony, his 

fiancé was “startled, seized with quivering, stood in the crowd,”

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 and how 

after the wedding he “was sitting, like a statue, ... near my betrothed. Even 

in my coffin I could hardly have had such a statuesque and long face.”

32

 

This description, despite the ironical tone of  the narrator, shows the severe 

                                                 

30 

Maykapar 1990. 

31

 Chagall 1994. 

32

 Ibid. 

Fig. 23. A Song of Songs, 1974. Oil on 

canvas, 46/55 cm. Private collection 

Fig. 24. The Dance of Myriam, 1966. 

Paper, watercolour, 44.3/32 cm. 

Nice, National Museum of Marc 

Chagall 

www.cclbsebes.ro/muzeul-municipal-ioan-raica.html   /   www.cimec.ro

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