The Musical Passage in Ibn Ezra's "Book of the Garden"

The poet and philosopher Moses ibn Ezra was born in 1055 in Granada and died after 1135. He refers to music in many of his poems, mainly those describing wine-drinking sessions; he also deals with the theory of music in two of his books: the book on poetic art, Kitab almuhadarah wa' lmudakarah ('Book of conversations and recollections'); and the Maqdlat alhadiqah fi macni almagaz wa' lhaqlqah ('The book of the garden, on metaphor and reality'). Ibn Ezra also indirectly contributed to the development of practical music through his religious poems and penitential prayer compositions set to music, many of which are included in the Sephardi liturgy for the New Year and the Day of Atonement.