Jubal, a biblical figure, according to the Book of Genesis “he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes” (Genesis 4:21 (NIV)), son of Lamech, a descendant of Cain and Ada. Jubal’s instruments are described in the Bible with names referring to the basic types of early Jewish instruments: chordophones (kinnôr) and aerophones (‘ûgābh). In Latin music literature, beginning with Isidore of Seville (6th/7th century), Jubal appears as the “inventor of music before the flood” or as the patron saint of instrumental music. In medieval catalogues of “inventors” of music, he was often confused with Tubal – or rather Tubalcain [Tubal-Cain], his biblical half-brother – who according to the Book of Genesis (Genesis 4:22 (NIV)) was a blacksmith and master of metal work. Consequently, in some sources Jubal was identified with Pythagoras, who was said to have discovered the proportions of musical consonances by observing the sounds produced in a blacksmith’s forge (e.g., Gaffurius).
Literature: C. Engel The Music of the Most Ancient Nations, London 1864; H. Oppermann Eine Pythagoraslegende, “Bonner Jb” CXXX, 1925; P.E. Beickner The Medieval Representative of Music. Jubal or Tubalcain, Notre Dame (Indiana) 1954; C.H. Kraeling Music in the Bible, w: New Oxford History of Music, vol. 1 Ancient and Oriental Music, ed. E. Wellesz, London 1957; A. Sendrey Musik in Alt-Israel, Leipzig 1970; J. Cohen Jubal in the Middle Ages, «Yuval. Studies of the Jewish Music Research Center» III, Jerusalem 1974; J.W. Mc Kinnon Jubal vel Pythagoras. Quis sit inventor musicae, “The Musical Quarterly” LXIV, 1978; D. Daolmi Jubal, Pythagoras and the Myth of the Origin of Music. With some remarks concerning the illumination of Pit (It. 568), Philomusica on-line 16, 2017.
