Sounds like a boring, arcane pursuit to anyone not already immersed in it in the world of academia. But every field has its own sense of humor, and even biblical philology can be a very funny subject when combined with the comedic style of Gilbert and Sullivan, whose works include The Pirates of Penzance.
Joshua Tyra, a PhD student in Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern history, archaeology and languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, saw parallels in Gilbert and Sullivan's song I am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General, and adapted the song to biblical philology using his talents as a composer, musical theater director, arranger, and piano accompanist.
The result is a hilarious romp through the world of biblical and linguistic scholarship set to Gilbert and Sullivan cadences.
We hope you enjoy this delightful biblical and linguistic excursion, followed with a video clip of the original song from The Pirates of Penzance.
(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS: THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS. YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)
(A tip of the kippah to Dan Mosenkis for bringing this video to our attention.)
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As a lifelong pianist and composer of some fifty years,
ReplyDeleteI always like to offer other parodists some heartfelt cheers,
this tune by Joshua Tyra, I submit as an admir'r, a-
nother like it we have not seen since the likes of Mo Shapira's!.