CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 189I BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE MUSIC Cornell university Library ML 160.R87 ^■^ A history of njusic. 3 1924 022 304 707 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022304707 HISTORY OF MUSIC. VOL. II. A HISTORY OF MUSIC. BY JOHN FREDERICK ROWBOTHAM. IN THREE VOL UMES. VOL. II. LONDON : TRUBNER & Co., LUDGATE HILL. 1 886, (The right of translation is reserved.) CONTENTS OF VOLUME THE SECOND. BOOK II. {Continued.) THE MUSIC OF THE ELDER CIVILISATIONS AND THE MUSIC OF THE GREEKS. CHAPTER IV. THE HINDUS. Page i. CHAPTER V. THE GREEKS. Page i6. CHAPTER VI. THE GREEKS. {Continued). Page 352. vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. THE GREEKS. (Continned). Page 456. APPENDICES. EXCURSUS J. An Excursus on the Music of the Ruined Cities of Central America. PAGE 627. NOTE. A Note on an Ancient Assyrian Instrument. PAGE 627. EXCURSUS II. I'fTTo ri))' (.!Si')v. Page 628. EXCURSUS III. On the Numbers in the Timceiis, Page 629. Appendix Page 633. BOOK II. {Continued). THE MUSIC OF THE ELDER CIVILISATIONS AND THE MUSIC OF THE GREEKS. HISTORY OF MUSIC. BOOK II. {continued). THE MUSIC OF THE ELDER CIVILISATIONS AND OF THE GREEKS. THE LYRE RACES. CHAPTER IV. THE HINDUS. Now I will pursue the fortunes of Music among our Aryan ancestors, and here will be the beginning of a consecutive narrative that will reach to our own times. For hitherto we have been unable to trace the story of a regular development by the light of actual history, but since we left the half-fledged art on the vtrge of Prehistoric times, we have done little more than pass from nation to nation, and set down the condition of music in the most flourishing periods of those nations, or with the most pronounced peculiarities B 2 HISTORY OF MUSIC. which the national characters of each people impressed upon it; in so doing, taking the path which seemed easiest and most obvious, and better still, following the traditional method of treatment which great musical historians of the past have all agreed to pursue, for they have all passed freely from one to the other of those ancient nations, without endeavouring to gather up the threads of any regular tale of development, and this is likewise the method which has been pursued in the last History ot Music that has appeared— that of A. Ambros. But they have all also put off this tale of development to a comparatively recent period, not beginning to find traces of the embryology of the Modern Art of Music, which we practise at present, until at the earliest the close of the Dark Ages of Europe, or the beginning of the Middle Ages. In this way it will be seen that they have treated the Greeks as they have treated other ancient nations, regarding them as the creators of a musical art distinct from our own, without all influence on or connection with that form of Music which we practise to-day. The present writer, however, believes that the Music of the Greeks was in all strictness the rudiments or seed from which Modern Music has sprung. And he thinks it possible to push back the investigation of these rudiments to a very remote period — to a period, that is to say, long before the time of the Greeks themselves, and that he can discover the earliest traces of these rudiments among those primitive Aryans who were the Greeks' ancestors and also our own. For having learnt by examining the music of savage nations that the first branch of the musical art to be accented and developed in the world was Rhythm, and that Melody and Harmony came much later to the birth, he imagines that he is THE HINDUS. 3 face to face with a great law pervading the development of all Musics, and that the music of individual nations or individual races must necessarily pass through the same phases of growth as the Music of that general nation or race whose history we pick out from the ways and doings of modern savages, and whom we acknowledge as the Author and Creator of us all under the name of Primitive Man. And he thinks that when individual nations or races parted or separated themselves from the originally collective human stock, they did but work out over again under more complex surroundings the same problems which had been solved before in a state of simplicity, and that they solved them and still continue to solve them in much the same way as at first. In this way he believes, that had we suiificiency of materials for reconstructing the complete history of music among each of those ancient nations whom we have been considering in this Book, we should find that in each case there was a Rhythmic Period at the beginning, then a Melodic, and then a Harmonic Period, as these three periods went evenly off in that mythology of History which we call Prehistoric Times. But when we come to that particular branch of the human race to which we ourselves belong, and which was so much slower of ripening than the precocious Hamites, Semites, or Mongoloid families, and whose end is not yet, he fancies that by peering into its past, and treating the present as its bloom and lustre, he will be able to set forth the characteristics of what we may call the Rhythmic Period of Music in all its minuteness. For over and above the penchants and peculiarities of races, and the complete consummation of our three periods in the finished history of individual nations, whose life and death form separate 4 HISTORY OF MUSIC. chapters in our racial annals, the great law will be found operating on a large and magnified scale, if we set our foot on the present and take it as the climax of the united past. And the writer ventures to predict that if we examine the early days of that past by benefit of a contrast with modern times, we shall find that the centre of gravity then was on the Rhythm, as it is now on other things, and that men delighted in mere Rhythm more than we do, and looked more to find music in it. And this primitive joy in Rhythm we found exaggerated and overdone among those races we called the Pipe Races, and retained to the last as the chief subject matter of their Music, so that perhaps they represent the stand- point of stagnation ; but it passed off early, and in some cases entirely disappeared among the Lyre Races, as among the Hebrews, for instance, in whose case we see the evil effects of precociousness — for there is no merit in hastening on, if essential knowledge is slurred over by the way. And we found that, speaking broadly, the Pipe Races and the Lyre Races had each developed antagonistic styles of Music by reason of this variety of original groundwork. And now we shall find that the Aryans come between the two as mediators : who indeed are the rose of the world, for holding the two antagonistic elements in almost perfect balance, they epitomise the best features of both great wings of humanity. And seeing, as I say, that we are now at the beginning of a great order of nations, whose end is not yet, and who are all intimately connected as father to son and brother to brother, we can take up henceforth a regular historical tale, and recount the painful steps of progress, and the vicissitudes that attended the building of that beautiful art, which we see before us THE HINDUS. 5 now as a wonderfuHy organised fabric. And we can tell the tale from the earliest times. For when we first get knowledge of the Aryans, they were in much the same phase of development as that in which we left Primitive Man in the Lyre Stage ; and though when we get our first glimpse of them our own immediate ancestors had by that time separated from the main stem, and so had the Greco-Italians, yet we can well judge of the precedent conditions before the separation by studying those who remained. For these, who afterwards branched off into the two great divisions of the Persians and the Hindus, were the stay-at-home brothers, and therefore preserved better than the adventurous emigrants the original lineaments of the family character. And when we first hear of them, I say, they were on the frontiers of India,' and lived in the simplicity of the patriarchal state.^ And the musical instrument which they used was called the Been or Vina,^ It was a lute of more highly developed form than that primitive Bin or Been, which we found was the ancient national instrument of the Mediterranean Races, for the flat board had by this time been considerably curved ; yet it was not curved as the Egyptians curved it, in the form of a bow ; it was curved not longways but broadways, so that it resembled the segment of a 1 Whitney on the History of the Vedic Texts, in American Oriental Society's Journal, IV. 248. 2 Langlois' Traduction du Rig Veda, I., pref. 10, 11. 3 The Vina is mentioned several times in the Vedas. 6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. water pipe that has been cut in two. And the object of this curving was plainly to bring the strings more under the grasp of the fingers;^ for the Hindu lute players even at the present day have a great objection to stretching the hand much. Perhaps this is because they have never been taught to use the 3rd finger of the hand, which is always a difficult finger to use ; for they play their lutes with the thumb and the ist, 2nd, and 4th fingers only,^ and so the hand gets to be very much contracted. If we may imagine that we have here a hint at the ancient custom of playing, we shall see why the Vina had its board bent. And then, after the board had been bent like this, in order probably to increase the volume of the sound another similar board was attached back to back underneath, and so the frame, got to resemble a pole — thSs hollow pole furnishing an excellent sounding-board. And for a similar pur- pose two gourds were fastened, one at each end of the pole underneath, and each about as big as a football. These might seem to be much later additions; yet when we consider how many primitive forms survive in India to the present day, how the Hindu peasant uses now the selfsame wooden plough which the ancient Aryans used, the same bush harrow, the same carts and yokes, &c., and how rude and simple 1 Cf. the account given of the development of the Chinese lute, which was t)i-oba6ly an importation from the Aryans, in Amiot. VI. 52. Cf. La Borde's Essai sur la Musique, i. 140 for a more detailed account. " 2 An Extract from a letter of Francii Fowke, Esq. In Asiatic Researches, I. 2Q8. THE HINDUS. 7 are the forms of many of the musical instruments in use, for even pipes made out of uncut bones and drums out of logs have still retained their original form — it can surely be no hard matter to believe that .the Vina we find to-day is essentially the same Vina which is mentioned in the Vedas.^ And I have mentioned the gourds, and now the length of the instrument must be mentioned ; and it was about half as long again as an ordinary walking stick, and was held over the left shoulder, which supported one end, while the other end rested on the right knee.^ And there are frets for the, strings in the Modern Vina, and these may be' later additions to the primitive form ; just as the number of strings has certainly been greatly increased since those ancient times we are writing of For there was no necessity then to have a large number of strings, for the instrument was mainly confined to its original use, to be the accompaniment or prelude to recitation. And besides, there was a certain barrier of sanctity thrown around it, which would forbid much change in its form, after once that form had set. For it was the chosen instrument of the Rishis, though whether they played it themselves or had it played by some attendant minstrel may admit conjecture. And these Rishis, when we shall have described them, will remind us of the bards and minstrels of the Hebrews, though how wide is the difference in reality 1 Cf. the remarks in Adolph Pictet's Origines Indo-Eurepeennes, II. 473. 2 An Extract from a letter, &c., Asiatic Researches. I. 8 HISTORY OF MUSIC. between them ! For the Rishis were bards and poets like them, and were said to be under the special protection of Heaven. " Indra loved their songs ;" ' "Agni bethought him of their friendship."^ They were "the sons of. Agni," 3 'the associates of the gods,' 4 "they conversed 'about sacred truths with the gods of old." 5 Nay, the reverence for their calling went higher than this ; for no greater praise could be given to the gods themselves than to call them by the name of "bard." Thus Agni was a Rishi,^ and Indra was a Rishi,7 and " Varuna, who is the upholder of the worlds, and knows the secret and mysterious nature of the cows, Varuna is a rishi, and brings forth poetry, as the sky produces many forms. In him all Rishis abide, as the nave within a wheel."^ And I have said how wide is the difference between the rishis and the Hebrew bards, who at first sight seem so much alike. For they both were under the special protection of Heaven, and they both enjoyed untold reverence from the people at large. But then the difference begins ; and it is the eternal difference between the Aryan and the Semitic stocks. For the thoughts of the fiist were centred on the present, and the thoughts of the second were fixed on the future. The glory of the Semite was prophecy, but the glory of the Aryan was description. Thus the Aryans escaped that ecstasy and frenzy which some- times beset the Semitic bards, and became the I Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, III. 244. 2 lb. 3 lb. 246.- 4 lb. 245. 5 lb. 6 lb. 251. 7 lb. 8 lb. 266. THE HINDUS. 9 founders of that more tranquil form of human expression which we call Literature or Art.'^ And it is plain how this difference of ethnic spirit would affect the Music of these ancient singers. For Music in its widest sense is but the outward form of verbal expression. Each sentence that we utter has its music. And • it is plain that the artistic Aryans would be as clear and precise about the outward form of expression, as the vague, musing Semite would be negligent of it. The passion for form, which led those to revel in the beauty of visible nature, and the contempt of it, which made these pass it by and live in a spiritual world of their own conceiving, would be sure to reflect itself exactly in the style of expression which each made use of So the speech of the Semitic bards rolled out with its music vague and formless like their thoughts. But not so with the Aryan bards. And what their feelings were, we may learn from the tradition in the Vedas. " For Speech,'' says a verse in the Vedas, "was originally confused and meaning- less like the roar of the sea and undivided, till Indra divided Speech in the middle."^ It was a thing of nought to them, till it had been moulded and shaped by the power of Rhythm. In this way the power of Metre got to be exalted almost above poetry itself — the formative principle almost above the creative. And the power of Metre was not limited to human things, but was extended over nature itself. For " by the Jagati metre did Indra fix the waters in the sky."3 1 Cf. the remark of Burnouf in his Essai sarle Veda. He goes so far as to say that the Aiyans are the only literary race in humanity. 2 Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, III. 213. 3 Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, III. 276. 10 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And the knowledge of Metre was the greatest of all knowledges. For "there are a thousand times fifteen metres," says the Rig Veda, " and they extend as far as heaven and earth. A thousand times a thousand are their glorious manifestations. Speech is commensurate with devotion. And what sage knows the whole sertes of the metres? who has attained devotional speech ? "^ Yet was this multitude of metres rather surmise than actual performance, for it took centuries to bring all the hidden secrets of Metre to light, and it was reserved for the Greeks to produce myriad variety, and to apply miraculous delicacy of execution. For the metres of the ancient Hindus are to the metres of the Greeks what the Cyclopean ruins of Mycenae are to a Doric temple. They are mammoth metres, that roll on to the crack of comprehension. From 27 to 999 syllables in a line, says tradition.^ For men could not yet control the swell. And it was in this glory and bulk of metre that the Vedas were composed. And they are billows of verse twice, three times, four times, even six times as long as Hexameters. I will describe the effect of the Vedas on myself They intoxicate me with wind. Now it will be well to consider how these metres arose. And they arose as all metres do, from the Dance ; yet not from that wanton, capering dance, which is so likely to produce short, terse metres, as we have seen it so produce them among savage man. But they arose from the Slow Dance, or, as it 1 lb. 277. 2 Coldebrooke on Ancient Sanscrit & Pracrit Poetry, in Asiatic Researches, X. THE HINDUS. II has been elegantly called, the Choral Movement of the Sacrifice.^ For they arose from the bosom of religion. And this Choral Movement, in its simplest form, was the wheeling and swaying of bodies round the turf altar, where the sacrifice to the Dawn was burning, while a Hymn was being sung all the while. And it is plain how the motions of the singers would affect the run of their song, for it must have taken its rhythm entirely from their motions, which were slow and solemn, and such, that is to say, as would develop long stretches of verse, often disproportionate indeed to the length of the Hymns themselves ; for the hymns were necessarily very short, for they were sung in that short interval which goes between dawn and sunrise.^ And the Hymn to the Goddess of the Dawn was commenced when the first streaks of light began to whiten the sky, and this must end before the sun appeared ; and the Hymn to the Sun must begin when the tip of his disc showed above the horizon, and be finished when the entire circle was visible in the sky.3 In this way it is pleasing to think how Nature herself had a hand in shaping the early forms of the Aryan Music ; and perhaps the restraint of brevity which Nature thus laid on the Hymn would lead to the generating of that, which the long rolling metres would much militate against — I mean, to the growth of a rude melody running 1 This is the elegant expression of Emile Burnouf. 2 E. Burnouf s Essai sur le VSda, p. 102. 3 Le pretre s' est eveiUe avantlejour; entourfe de sa famille il s'en rendu au lieu du sacrifice ; il a prepare la ceremonie ; le feu s'allume au frottement de deux pieces de bois. Cependant le soleil nc tardera pas a paraitre : dej^ les premifires lueur,s de I'aube ont commence a blanchir le ciel vers I'Orient, &c. E. Burnouf, Essai sur le Veda, p. 71-2. 12 HISTORY OF MUSIC. through the Hymn. For the repeated recital of any words in a metrical cast will insensibly lead to a loose repetition of the tones those words are said in ; and the fewer the words, the closer in all probability will be the repetition. In a long poem there will always be unavoidable variety, but in a short one there is a chance of exactitude. Yet it would be idle to speculate too minutely on this, and it will be better to consider that what Melody there was, was always more or less extemporised, and but little attended to ; for the best praise of the singer was " when he followed the path of the ancients with metres, with ritual forms, and according to the prescribed measures, like a charioteer seizing the reins."^ Of tune or Melody we hear nothing : which indeed is but the grace and adorn- ment of music, and by no means its essential, being so to speak but the colouring or tricking up of an ante- cedent form. And it should seem that in these simple days the form alone was sufficient to satisfy all musical requirements. That which shared the honours with the Form was not the Melody, but the subjeet and substance, the words and sentiments, that is to say, of the Hymn itself For as yet the Musician was not separated from the Poet, nor does it seem that such a separation of functions was possible or even' imaginable, until the Melody began to take the pas of the Form or Rhythm, which as we shall see was not for ages yet. In the meantime, then, we must conceive musicians as artists in words rather than in tones, who expressed, as poets do, the thoughts of their time, with greater beauty and Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, III. 279. THE HINDUS. 1 3 with greater power than other men could, and whose specific musical gifts lay in moulding these words into plastic forms which delighted the ear. And it must ever amaze us to consider what great honour was paid these men, for we have seen how highly they were honoured, and how they were thought divine. And though much of this honour was due them as the composers of the hymns which formed so essential a part of the sacrifice, this alone would scarcely have sufficed to raise them above the rank of acolyths or humble attendants on the priestly function, instead of placing them immeasurably above it. And it seems that in considering this question we are on the brink of a great secret of the Aryan race, which has always been prone to set higher store on power and beauty than on holiness, and this is why those creators of beautiful forms and singers of beautiful words were placed above the saintly priests. They were divine ; but the priesthood was merely a minister on divinity.' That sensuous race, which found its ecstasy of worship in adoring the bright blue sky, or watch- ing the glittering disc of the sun as it rose from the hills in the morning, or feasting their eyes on I Their words were the direct utterances of heaven (Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, III. 252) ; sacrifices were made to them, ' offer to King Yama a most sweet oblation. Let this reverence be paid to the rishis bom of old, who were the earliest guides ' (lb. 245) ; and they were raised to saints for what they had done (F. M. Mueller, History of Sanskrit Literature, p, 57.) The same claim to divine inspiration, though by that time it was only a claim and not practically admitted, is to be found among the Greek bards. Demodocus in the Odyssey 'was taught by the Muse or by ApoUo' — jj al ys MoOff' eSlSa^E Aioc irdie V <^^ y 'AttoXXwv. ' -A God had vouchsafed him his power of song' — rijl yap pa QsoQ nepl Sukev aojSrjv. And Hesiod in the same way : — tovSe Si /IE irpwriara Qeol Trpbg pvOov EEtTrav, Movcrai 'OXv/imaSeg, Kovpai Aioc aiyi6)(pio. 14 HISTORY OF MUSIC. the sweeps of the rain clouds, the bright Maruts with their golden weapons, and all clothed in rain — those ancient Aryans, who rejoiced so in the beauties and pleasures of sheer existence, who could worship even the drink that intoxicates, for the fire and inspiration it gave them — I say, these men were from the first disposed to underrate that closing of the eyes and setting of the teeth, which are the signs of the Spiritual character, and to place on an immeasurably higher level the manifestation of strength which they found in the hero, or of beauty which they found in the artist. And of all arts or forms of expression the highest to them was the Art of Song, for Song was beautified Speech, and to Speech was due the preservation of the histories of those fair things which they adored ; which, indeed, but for the cunning of Language were dead and lifeless. Thus Speech was flung to Heaven, and was made to over- arch the Gods themselves. And hence arose the myth of the Word. And it was said how in the beginning of all things was the Word, and how the Word walked in heaven before the Gods were there. And the Word speaks, " I am with the Rudras, the Vasus, the Adityas, the Vicwadevas. I carry Mithra and Varuna, Indra and Agni, the two Acwins. I carry the redoubtable Soma. I am queen and mistress of riches. I exist in all the worlds. I am wise. I am the Mother of all the Vedas.''^ For without Speech to tell the tale, where were the secret history of Heaven ? I Bumouf s Essai sur le V6da, The goddess VSc (&\L. VoK.) ' la Sainte Parole.' THE HINDUS. 1 5 So then the holy Word in earthly form, shaped and moulded by the cunning of man, was Song. And this is why the Singers were divine. And the subtlety of a later age added a pendant to this legend : how the Word escaped from heaven and got among the trees, and how her voice was ever after heard in the lutes that were fashioned from their wood.^ But this seems an unworthy and almost trivial addition to a mighty and widespread legend, which we have seen submitted to a new and totally different interpretation in that mystical period, which followed the wedding of the Aryan and Semitic minds. Yet nevertheless we will not reject this little pendant to the great myth, for it will be an additional suggestion to us, and as it were an undesigned coincidence, which will help to bring out all the more strongly the close connection between that myth and our art of Music. So then these ancient singers, or rishis, passed among the old Aryan tribes, and were held little short of divine. And they were under the special protection <3f Indra, and received reverence and honour from all the people. And the names of the seven great Rishis of India were Gotama, Bharadvaja, Vicvamitjra, Jamadagni, Vasishtha, Kacyapa, and Atri.' 1 The story is told in Zimmer's Altindisches Leben. 2 Zimmer's Altindisches Leben, p. 347. HISTORY OF MUSIC. CHAPTER V. THE GREEKS. Very different was the estimation of the bard in those Ionian cities of Asia Minor where Homer sang. By this time many centuries had rolled by and had added sorrow and suffering to man's experience, and much destroyed that blithe conception of life which once had been. Then, too, new powers had arisen in the world and claimed men's homage ; the old era of art and song had fled before the clash of battle ; the Bardic Age had been followed by a Heroic Age, in which strength not Art was the object of man's reverence. And it was on the skirts of this Heroic Age that Homer lived, for I would willingly believe that he had seen Orchomenus before it was a ruin, and had passed through the gates of Mycenae. And he like the other minstrels of his time was poor and despised, and had to get his bread by singing at the banquets of the great, so that the complaint breaks from him, "There is nothing in all nature more miserable than a man,"^ Yet we know how he stifled and beat back this womanishness, and he hid himself in his glorious work ' ov fxiv yap ri irov ianv oiZvpwTspov ctvSpoc WUVTWV oaaa rs yalav iiri irvdu re Koi loTTEt, THE GREEKS. 17 for he had undertaken to gather up and express a whole age in his single person ; and this he did, and he proceeded a greater hero than those he sang of. He himself was the king of men, not Agamemnon. And it is a matter of tradition that the lyre to which Homer sang his poems had but four strings, and it was called the iftop/juy^ or Kidapig, and it was customary to strike a few notes on this <^6p)xij^ as a prelude to the song, but not to employ it during the song. And probably this practice of preluding on the lyre was but a graceful way of giving the note for the recitation that was to follow, for it was rather recitation than song, as we understand the term, Song, and the voice had the greatest freedom, rolling on majestic, and extemporising its tones and cadences to suit the nature of the subject. And the other minstrels of Homer's time sang short songs, or rhapsodies, as they were called, but Homer was the first who combined these short songs into one long poem. And I would willingly believe that he sang the Iliad and the Odyssey entire before he died, as we know they were sung in their entirety in later times, but with greater pomp. For in later times, as I say, the minstrels sat crowned with laurels and arrayed in gorgeous dresses, and the Iliad was sung in a red dress, and the Odyssey in a violet one. But he sang them in a beggar's gown, much like his own Demodocus. And a boy would lead him into the centre of the hall, and place him on a stool in the midst of the banqueters, and take down a lyre from a peg and place it in his hands. And he would run his fingers over the strings, and turn his sightless eyes heaven- wards, and begin to sing. Who were they that heard him ? For but to have heard his voice would render a man's name immortal, c l8( HISTORY OF MUSIC. Now the voice of Homer rolled through the majesty of the Hexameter metre. And it is probable that the Hexameter had been elaborated and perfected long before his time, and he took the musical form which he found to hand. Looking back on the history of Greek Literature, there seems to be no time when the Hexameter was not. It is like a thing that has had no beginning. Yet it must have grown up like other things, and it must have had a beginning once. And we know that there were simpler forms of verse existent during the Heroic Age itself, and before the bards who followed the Heroic Age began to sing.^ There was the lalemus, the Scephrus, the Bormus the Lityerses, the Linus,i the Threnus, the Hymenaeus,^ and other similar songs, which were sung by the husbandmen at the cutting of the corn, or were sung at weddings and other occasions, and these, as I say, were couched in simple forms of verse and were in existence during the Heroic Age, and perhaps even before the Heroic Age. And I think we may lay our finger on the particular "song among these from which the Hexameter metre was developed. And it was the oldest of them, the Linus, which is not only the oldest song of these, but is probably the oldest song in the civilised world, and may have been in being before the dispersal of the Mediterranean Races. For Herodotus heard the Linus in Egypt,^ and we have reason to believe that it is the same as the lament for Adonis, which Syrian virgins sang time out of mind in the mountains of Lebanon. And if we take the Linus to be the parent of the Hexameter, it will be in keeping with a great law in the History of I, II. XVIII. 570. 2, II. XVIII. 493. . 3. II. thp: greeks. 19 Music, according to which the growth of musical forms proceeds by doubling. For those who are familiar with Modern music will readily admit that the most recent forms of accompaniment and rhythm are simply the older forms doubled,^ while these older forms were in their turn double of still older ones, until the most primitive element of the particular form is arrived at. In this way it will be found that the Hexameter is precisely the Linus doubled. For the metre of the Linus is^\j\j — \j\u — —. and the metre of the Hexameter is \J ^ \J \J KJ \J \J \J iyXog 8' oil Svva/iat axtiv ejutteSov ouSe fxaxiirOai. And now we shall be able to understand the hard and fast law which governs the texture of the Hexameter. For in order to create a really new metre by this doubling, it was necessary not merely to repeat the Linus line twice over, but it was necessary to lock the two lines together in such a way that the ear would detect no break, but would immediately admit that it heard not two lines but one. And how was this done ? And it was done in the simplest possible way ; for by making the first line terminate in the middle of a word I. As in Piano Music for instance, which I am chiefly thinking of, the old Bass was -*- and sp on, 20 HISTORY OF MUSIC. and the second line begin with the ending of that word, it is plain that the break was most effectually bridged over. For there is no break here : — \^ \J \-/v-» — — — — — vy w oiirs Ttv e%-oiT-i-(TU) viKpov xaZi^aBai av-ui-yu. for we could never pause at \j \j \j \j — — oiirE Tiv e^-OTT-i-au) vek- which is the end of the first Linus line of the two, for we should be left hanging in mid air ; but we are compelled to hurry on to the final close, avwyu, before we can pronounce that we have heard a complete line. Now had this line been worded : — iSoTTicrti) Si t£ ViKpov fjiiv ')^aZ,t. stand for ^, we shall find that the Dactyl will go off into J J^J^ , and the Spondee into J J > and the whole Hexameter line into or I h s I I I I 1 I J ^f* ^ J J for since the Dactyl and the Spondee were in every respect equal to each other, it became the practice to admit of the freest possible interchange of them in all places of I the line, except in the last two feet, and these two preserved the fixed close of the original Linus I S N I 1. Let us then bar these notes, and since — \j \j — — in our Music we express every foot of metre by a bar | , the Hexameter barred will be — _J_//_LJ_/-J!LJ_.^'_^^IJ_JJ..J_*^_J11J_JJ and we shall find that it answers to that metre in our music which we call ^ time. And not only does the composition of the bars answer to our 2 time, but the accent in each bar is the same. For in 2 time there are two accents in each bar, a heavy one and a light one ; and so in each bar of the Hexameter there were two accents, a heavy one and 2. light one ; for each foot or bar as we call it was divided into two equal parts, the THE GREEKS. 23 Arsis and the Thesis, and the Arsis was the heavy accent and the Thesis the light. So that we will now re-write the Hexameter with the addition of the Time Mark and the accents, and we shall find it 2 ^ m >! ^ N f^l J j^ >l J M I s N| I 11] And in this, as I said, the Voice was suffered to roll, free and uncontrolled, extemporising its cadences and inflections to suit the nature of its subject. And this was Greek Music in its infancy. And we may well admire how the ear could be satisfied with naked time, and never miss the absence of a melody, for the song the Sirens sang had it no more than Homer's music had, and yet was the • magic of the world. And it should seem that the simple pleasure in listening to the natural inflections of a beautiful voice must have had much to do with it, and that there is something highly artificial in that studied arrangement of tones, which we call Melody, which the pure taste of those days led men to reject, or rather which they could never conceive. So with nothing but their- own beautiful Voices to rely upon, and their inborn powers of dramatic recital, these ancient minstrels sang. And there would doubtless be every shade of dramatic power employed in their nar- rative. And the hurry and the roar of the battle when Hector leapt the battlements and burnt the ships, would be reflected in the sweep and rush of the recitation ; and their voices would rise to a wail as they recited the lament of Andromache. Then there were dramatic pauses • at the pivot of the , interest,^ and looks and I. As an instance of these dramatic pauses, take the line in the first Odyssey ra poviwv fivr\irrripai fXidfj/Lisvog eiaiS' 'Afljjvjjv. | where there is obviously a dramatic pause at the end of the line, and almost a start on the part of the reciter as he utters the two last words of it. Here then would the 24 HISTORY OF MUSIC. gestures. But all this was like the wind sweeping the sea, or the moon bursting from clouds, as natural and unstudied as the play of the elements. What pre- meditation there was, was spent not on the tones and the cadences of the voice, but on the metrical building up of the words. And the Metre became as wax in their hands, on which they might imprint strange forms. And they moulded it and fashioned it so as to procure an eternal variety, as we do our scale to-day. And having but two forms of foot, the Dactyl and the Spondee, they applied such art to their arrangement that instead of monotony there was produced the most inexhaustible variety, and a poem of many thousand lines like the Iliad, and all in the same Hexameter measure, could become a celestial symphony. Such great effects could they produce with little means. And let us take the opening of the Iliad, and see how this variety and beauty was secured. And firstly it was secured by the graceful arrangement of the feet. For let us consider the opening in detail, and we shall find that the feet are thus arranged : — pause come at tlie pivot of the interest, that is between this Uue and the next one, j3jj B'Wvc TrpodupoLO, and such pauses as this are common in Homer. As another instance, take the introduction of Thetis and her sea nymphs in the i8th Iliad, where there is obviously a dramatic pause in the middle of the line — trutpSaXiov 8' d^n^^iv | ixKovai 8s norvia firiTrip. Abrupt changes of scene too, that is, diiTerent from this one which is only the legitimate continuation of the narrative, but such changes as the sudden change of scene in the 4th Odyssey, or those sudden charges in the later books of of the Odyssey, ^. g. the isth, would certainly necessitate a dramatic pause to precede them. I do not wish this dramatic pause to be confounded with the Rhetorical pause of which I shall speak later on. THE GREEKS. 25 _ vyv-» v^V — ^ — — y.'-' _ V7 w »-»»-/ _ ..-il _ \X/ .1:-- WW _ ,.■■•■■— \J \J — \J KJ '^ \J \J _ VJVJ — *-'^-' WW 5. VJUI _ u u> WW And in the first line the feet are so arranged in a beautiful simplicity, that from the 2nd half of the verse onwards they repeat syllable for syllable. And the second line contains a contrast to the first ; and the effect of this contrast on the ear might be expressed to the eye by drawing two triangles each of which has its vertex, on the base of the other, thus : — _ w w A — WW B And the triangle, ABC, that has its vertex down- wards, is a Dactyl Triangle, and the triangle, D E F, is a Spondee Triangle. And the ear feels much the 26 HISTORY OF MUSIC. same effect from the antithetic placing of the rhythms which the eye does from perusing the opposition of these two triangles. And in the third line the measure suddenly changes to a preponderance of spondees, for here he begins to detail the woes of the Greeks-^n-oXX«c S' 'i(l>6ifiovQ 4'^xac "AiSt irpoia^piv — and the gravity of the Spondee becomes the theme. And the trio of spondees which open this hne are made to taper off in the two following lines : — first 3, then 2, then i. and the weight which was thrown on us is thus gradually lightened — but not to be taken away altogether, for the spondee opening — so much in ac- cordance with the matter — is continued in the 6th and 7th line, and also in the 8th and 9th, which we have not quoted. And in. the 6th and 7th lines we may .observe a repetition of the same rhythmical figure which we have expressed as the two triangles, only this time it occurs in a simpler form, THE GREEKS. 27 And if we take the opening of the Odyssey in like manner we shall find similar things. And the opening of the Odyssey is as follows : — \J \J — \J KJ \J \J \J \J WW WW — — — WW WW WW — — — — WW — WW WW WW — — — WW WW WW _„w..y__., _ _____ww S- — -- — —V"'"*-' — — — WW WW _ WW WW WW WW — WW — WW — WW — WW WW — WW_WW_WW WW WW WW WW WW WW WW lO- And the nervous vigour of the ist line will be found to be in pleasing contrast to the slothful majesty of the 3rd, and the 4th line to be a repetition of the 2nd. But what our ear follows most is the play of the spondee, which occurs much less frequently here than in the Iliad opening, and stands out in strong relief from the mass of Dactyls that surround it. And if we watch it, we shall find that the spondee which has made its first entry in the 2nd place in the second line, appears in the ist place in the 3rd line, and then back again in the 2nd place in the 4th line ; and in these three lines it forms a wedge amid files of Dactyls : — WW \J \J — WW — WW _. ^_. WW — WW WW WW — WW — ww_ww 28 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And being thrown back, as 1 say, into the 2nd place in the 4th line, that is, the last of these three, the way- is prepared for a fresh weighting of the verse, which is done by throwing the spondee into the middle and latter half of the line : — \j \j wv_/ — — 5- But this is only momentary, and is done doubtless for contrast to what is to follow. For in line 6. the spondee is at the beginning again : — — — — ^^\_/ — — — \JV7 — \-i \j — — and the weight in the middle is lightened of all but one spondee. In line 7. even that spondee disappears, swept away in a torrent of dactyls which rush on without intermission to the end. And it will be seen that the close of the Iliad opening is much more staid and solemn than the close of the Odyssey opening. And we may well ask how this should be, since they both sing the destruction of men. And we shall find that the reason is this, that in the Iliad he sings the deaths of heroes, and in the Odyssey he sings the punishment of fools.^ By the arrangement of the feet then there was a plastic beauty and variety imprinted on the parts of the verse; but we have yet to consider how the grace of contour was given to the whole, for Greek verse pos- sesses a contour of sound no less beautiful and round than the contour of form we see in marble in Greek I For compare the difference : — — — — — — \J \J KJ 'U TToXXae S' 'i(j>Ldifjioog 4'^x"'^ "AVSt Trpoia\pev which gives the cue to tlie two concluding verses Hkewise ; and — ^ \J — \J \J — \J \J v^v-* v^v^ vi]iTtoi ot Kara jiovg 'YinplovoQ r)iXioio (Here Homer rouses himself, and you might almost fancy he was exulting in their doom) riaOiov.avTap 6 Toltrtv a^EtXero votrrt/iov rjjuap. THE GREEKS. 29 sculpture. And this was given it by the Rhythm. For we must now begin to distinguish between Rhythm and Metre. For Metre is concerned with the separate parts of the verse, aud Rhythm with the entirety of the whole.i Metre is occupied with feet, and Rhythm with the relations and balance of those feet. And if we have called the foot a Bar, we may say that Metre is occupied with the Bar, but Rhythm is occupied with the Phrase. So it was by their phrasing then that they secured a firm and clear outline to what would else have been a flux of ever shifting sounds. And at the time we write of, the phrasing was eminently simple, and the epic line with its bold and simple rhythm is like the torso of some heroic figure. And therefore it speaks out, with a clearness that we shall never hear again, th^ mysterious secret of all Music. For let us take the ground phrasing of Epic poetry, and we shall find that the normal line consists of two phrases of equal length : — \J 'U \J \J — — — \J \J — \J KJ Mfjvjv asiBt, dsd, rirj | Xriiaosw 'AT^tXijoc. \J 'U WW — KJ \J — \J \J — \J KJ tue S' oTiv aljiaX(^ ■ttoXd | f.i'fix^i KVfia daXatrarig. WW — WW — WW wg enrwv irvkiwv iS | iaarvro ^atSt/uoe "EktwjO. &c. ' Sia^ipeiv Si Tov pvOfiov juirpov ^arrtv a»c /J-ipoQ oXov Aristides Quintilianus, p. 49. (Meibomius.) Cf. also Marius Victorinus, 2494. Quintilian, De Inst. Orat., VI. 4. Martianus Capella, p. 190, &c., &c. 2. For the proofs of this phrasing of the Hexameter, see Westphal's Anttke Rhythmik, p. 113, 30 HISTORY OF MUSIC, This then is the normal form of the Epic line, and it consists of two phrases of equal rhythm, which stand in the relation of Question and Answer, Subject and Predicate, or better, of Antecedent and Consequent Phrase.- And herein is expressed as clear as day the grand secret of all Musical Form, that is, Duality ; which we have seen penetrating the Hexameter down to the very composi- tion of the feet, for each foot if we remember was similarly divisible, that is to say, into 2 equal parts, _ I \-» w and _ I _, and which has ever continued to be, as it ever will be, the ground principle of all Musical Form. For even the complex Musical Forms of the present day are found to be but extended sys- tems of Antecedent and Consequent Phrases, and the simpler forms are easily seen to be so. Phrases still go in pairs, the Antecedent is still followed by the Conse- quent, and strings of them make up the composition. And the great Sonata Form, which overshadowed Europe for centuries, was but a system of Antecedent and Consequent Subjects, each of the two subjects com- posed of groups of Antecedent and Consequent Phrases^ And the Fugue form which preceded it was built of Question and Reply, and had its Duality in like manner. So that we shall not be wrong if we admit that Duality is the secret principle of Music. And comparing Music with Sculpture, we shall say that the secret principle of Music is Duality. But of Sculpture it is Unity. And the harmony of Music is the harmony of Contrast, but the harmony of Sculpture is the harmony of Resemblance. And turning to the old Hexameter again, we shall be able to study the play of this principle in little. And if we ask how the Contrast between the two Phrases of the Hexameter was secured, we shall find that the possibility of it was secured by the feet of THE GREEKS. 3 1 the 1st Phrase being left open, while the feet of the 2nd Phrase were in a great measure fixed. And so though Homer sometimes writes : — — WW — Vy\_» I KJ \j \j \j _ he does not use that form so often as this other one, — \J KJ \J KJ °*' — — — secret principle of Sculpture, THE GREEKS. 33 And now let us admire Homer's freedom of treat- ment, who having these ground principles to go upon, and hard and fast laws like these to observe, yet managed to diversify and infuse as much variety into the Rhythm as he infused into the Metre by the set- ting of the feet. For it would not have done for him to nave used even the most beautiful thing to excess. And as a sculptor wrinkles up the folds of his drapery, and makes creases and puckers in it, only to make the grand sweep of the whole more striking to the eye, so does Homer break up the equal balance of the Rhythm into inequalities and ridges, so as to please the ear all the more when the sublime monotony begins again. And sometimes he breaks it into two unequal rhythms, the second a foot longer than the first :— I N I ^ \J \J \J \J \J\J — \J\J Bapartaag fxaXa elirl dEOirpomov 6,ti oiaBa. And sometimes this is reversed, and the first phrase is longer than the second : — KJ \J — KJ \J —\J\J — — 8(io-w TOt Kprfrripa rtrvyfiivov' apyvpsog Be. I N t \ KJ \J WW WW — WW ■Kcnrrtfviv S' ap itrura Kara arij^aq, uvtIku S' tyvd). And sometimes he goes further than this, and by a I I am conscious that some objection may be taken to my showing here, for it may be said that there is no reason why such lines should not still be measured by the equal rhythm. But in this as in some other cases I have let ray ear guide me, and have always found in reading the Iliad that some lines fall in my ear in broken phrases, of which these are two. And for others, cf. II. I. 161. XXm. 485. V. 729. Od. I. b. D 34 HISTORY OF MUSIC bold violation of rule, he breaks up the rhythm into 3 phrases instead of two : — ,. s ! s r— ^ \j \J \J \J \J w — v-zw — v-zv./ avTap 6 firivLt vrjvcri iraprtfievog wKviropoim. Kj \j \J \J v_; \J — \J \J — \J \J — — "EKTOpi 8' ripfioat rsvxi £T' X/>°''' ^^ ^'' /^"^ "ApJ)?- And then after this roughness of surface, how great is the pleasure of returning to equality again ! And let us take a very pronounced and extended instance of it, and feel this pleasure for ourselves : — Iliad XVII. line 91. Menelmis speaks : — / \ / N f N \J \J \J \J \J \J — WVJ oi fJ.01 iyw, il fjiv K£ X/ttw Kara TSV)(^a KoAffl I ^ I s f > , \j ^ \j \j \J \J YlarpoKKov 0'oc Kurai ifiqq bvek' ivBati rifirig, — — — \j \j \j \J \j \J — \J \J pi\ TiQ fioi Aavauiv vifieafitriTai og kev tSiirat. VJ \J — KJ \J \J \J \J \J £1 cs KEV ' EKTopt fMovvog swv Kcu Tpwol fmxojfiai ( \l \ — — \J KJ \J KJ aioiauiig, fir) irwg /xt irspigrduxr iva ttoXXoi. \J KJ \j v> — \J \j ^ ovKofiivrfv ^ fivpi 'A\aidig aXys e0ijic£v. And it will often be found that in this triple phrasing the feet in each phrase are the same. This is to make it stand out more. Od. I., 68, 9. 25, .29, 161 (where the dactyl and the spondee are inverted). IV. 4i|.8 is an admirable example of impressive Triple Rhythm. THE GREEKS. 35 I ' ^/ ^ \j \j \j \j \j \j \j \J — — Tjowac 8' EvflaSs iruvraQ ayti Kopv8aioXog "EKrwp. Let US observe the beauty and the finish with which the phrases are_ worked, off, and how gracefully they shade off into the ground form, which from hence rolls on regularly again. And perhaps this is a rhythm of hesitation and timidity, for Menelaus sees Hector approaching. And it is common for Homer to make feints at this triple rhythm and not to continue it, but to get back to the ground form by the middle of the line again : — II. xni. 2. VJ ^ \J KJ — _^V-» \J — KJ \J — \J KJ Toi/c ji*£v Eo, irapd rycri ttovov t i^ifitv kcu oit,vv. ( \ I U \J — ^ \J — \J VJ where rovg fxiv la irapa followed by r^m ttovov, so crisply as they abut against one another, make the ear expect a triple rhythm is coming through the line ; but this is broken by the solid welding together of the 4th and 5 th foots, and the rhythm proceeds a regular double one. And so those two last lines in our former example, alBsaOiig, and Tpuiag, seem as if they were about to proceed in triple rhythm 1 f N I' ~ — — \J W ( N I \J \J \J \J KJ \J KJ \J Tpwag S' svOaSe wavTac ayci KopvOaioXog "Ektoijo, but they too are only feints, and their particular object 36 HISTORY OF MUSIC. here is to cany off the Triple Rhythm easily into the Regular Form again. And this is the shading that I spoke about. Then too he has' other arts for diversifying his rhythm, and this time without breaking the equality of it. For he makes abrupt pauses in the line, VVV S' eifll $ytT|vS'" ETTEIJ) TToXv (jtipTEpOV EfTTtV. and he generally makes them in the middle of the 3rd foot, at the height of the emphasis, like a great horse rearing at the turn of the goal post. But sometimes he makes his pause at the ist foot. r N f \ — V-/ w _ \J \J KJ \J i/ i' ^ •> / V » / or take that noble one in the 1st Iliad, aXXouTiv Sri ravT ettiteXXeo, fir) yap 'ifioiji ar]fiaiv' — ■ — ov yap iywy eVj aoi irdtrtaOcu oiu). And thus he expresses the scorn of Achilles. And he plays with the Emphasis as he does with Rhythm. For, as we said, the .normal Emphasis of the Hexameter was : — " I III I ,, , or, to leave out the unemphatic accents, we may express V-'W — \J \J _ww _ov^ I These are the Rhetorical Pauses which I have alluded to in a previous note. THE GREEKS. ^-^ which we should indicate thus perhaps, by musical marks, — \J \J — \J \J — \J \J \J \J \J KJ And if we care to inquire into the reason of thi emphasis, which we have not hitherto done, we shall find that the height is reached in the 3rd foot because the Caesura occurs there. And 1 have described the law of the Caesura to be, that the 3rd foot should terminate in the middle of a word, in order to smooth over the joint between the two smaller lines of which the Hexameter was originally composed. And that this was the earliest form of the principle seems highly probable ; but from this, another and more perfect principle soon developed itself, namely, that this very word, whose middle was to come at the end of the 3rd foot, should likewise have its beginning in that foot, and particularly that its beginning should occur on the last half of that foot, so that at the very moment when the first Linus line reached its conclusion, a new word should commence, and thus wedge the 2nd Linus line into the first and dovetail them completely together. And it was to this commencing of a new word on the the second half of the third foot that the word Cassura was technically applied. And the emphasis reached its greatest volume in the first note of the 3rd foot, owing probably to the slight pause which would naturally come before the regularly recurring commencement of the new word which began on the 2nd note. , \i ^ sj \j \j \j \J \J — \J \J rv.\oq Ei5S;U»)rov | KavayjiZ,i §£ Sowpora Trvpywv. for it is impossible to read this line without an almost 38 HISTORY OF MUSIC. imperceptible pause on the first note of the 3rd foot, thus : — and it was owing to this slight pause, as I take it, that the emphasis reached its height on the J which precedes it. And in the line : — vvv S' fi/xi OfltrjvS'. iirdr) iroXv fj)ipTip6v ioriv which we quoted above, we have seen Homer take ad- vantage of this for aesthetic ends. And he plays upon this emphasis, and varies it, and produces new variety and plastic moulding inside the plastic outline of the rhythms. And sometimes he makes a Caesura in the 4th foot as well as the third, and thus prolongs the volume of the emphasis into the second phrase of the line ; and thus, instead of the exact equality of the normal line, we get : — KJ \J — KJ N,i I ov - Xo-fj.i -vri -V ri fiv -pi ^A^-ai -oig aX -yt W -r] - K£ :^=:J=j3'=.t=^4bWz S >! -JH^- izJJ: iroXXae 8' i^ - Qi -fxovg ipv - x«C 'AiS St wp-o'i wptv rip- li) - wv av -Tovg ci s - Xw - pia tev -^i^kv - v£- -,^ J !_i I SM ^i^'3^=3^*^Bt:«>^_a^:^^j=^=Jd:t Ot - til - VO£-(TI TE TTadt' Al-Of S' CTE-Xtt - E -TO jSo^J-XjJ THE GREEKS. 41 J * J» 'I' l J E^ oS 8)7 TO, irpw-Ta Si a(j - TT] • tt)v i -pi - aa-VTt \\ I I I I j II I S Is! 'Ar-jOEt 8»)C I'E O.V - aS, av - Spwv Koi oi - OQ 'A ^(XXsile. And if this seem manifold and great to us when we write it, what would it have seemed when he sung it? Oh! the heavens were open then. And there is much more to be said than this, if we would exhaust the secrets of his art. For we have not yet said how he communicates dignity and gravity to his verses by the use of a Spondee in the sth place instead of a Dactyl. This is what is called the Spondaic line, and he uses it, as I say, to communicate a solemn tone to the thought, for instance in the curse of Poseidon in the 14th Book.^ and he uses it to describe how dead heroes are dragged from the field of battle.2 And the peace of the pastoral life he expresses by • the Spondaic line, the lowing of kine by the river, and the bleating of sheep in a valley.3 1 line 142. aXX 6 juiv wc aTroXoiro, Osbg Se e aKpXwtrue. ' II. XVIII. 540. viKpovQ T aW'fiXwv spvov KaraTiOviiw.Tac- 2 lb. EV S' ayi\r}v TTOiiqcFS (Souiv opdoKpaipawv. iv KaXy j3//o-(ip fityav o'iwv apysvvdwv, &c. 42 HISTORY OF. MUSIC. And the verse seems to sleep beneath his touch. And this Spondaic line is but an intensifying of the general spirit of repose which pervades all the Homeric poetry. For a verse where the arsis of every foot is equal to the thesis must always proceed at a stately and measured pace, and there can be no hurrying where there is a perfect equality in each step. And this is what secures that majestic calm which is spread all over the Iliad, for even in moments of agony and throbs of excitement there is no faltering or change, and he goes on his way like one--nn- ruffled by the cares of men. And this spirit of repose always remained the ideal of Greek Sculpture, and we find how the music of Homer expressed it. And in another way I have often thought to myself how much his art resembled the art of Pheidias, and that is in the simplicity of the means by which variety is secured; P"or that Panathenaic procession in the frieze of the Parthenon is like Homeric music cut in stone. For it consists of long lines of figures all so much alike, and yet we can never be done gazing on them, and are often tempted to wonder why, for it seems at first that when we have seen one we have seen all. But whoever looks closely at them shall find the cause of his delight to be a simple and sublime variety," like the variety of Nature, who made the forests with not one tree the same. For first come figures with their drapery plain, and those that follow have their drapery gathered into folds, and then the legs are bared, and then the upper part of the body, and then the whole naked body comes. And the verses of the Iliad are like the Athenian horsemen in the proces- sion. They are all alike, and yet they all are different. Such then was the state of Greek music when the THE GREEKS. 43 Hexameter overarched the world. But henceforward for some Uttle time our task is an unwelcome one, for we have to trace the breaking up of the Hexameter, and to say how meretricious elements in- sinuated themselves into the primitive simplicity of Epic recital, and became the cause of the Hexameter being enfeebled, and of its ultimate decay. And first of all we find a greater attention began to be paid to that instrumental prelude, which was used to usher in the recitation and as but a graceful way of giving the note to the voice. But now this trinket or adorn- ment of the song began to have greater attention paid it. And first of all its length would be extended and the bard would hang over it more, simply because he found it pleased his hearers. For we must now think of a softer age beginning, and the exploits of heroes would not awake such sympathy as they used to do. And the women wore more gold ornaments,^ and the trappings of the banquet were more splendid, and so the ornament of the song began to glitter brighter too. And first the prelude would extend in length, and then it would increase in intricacy, for the minstrels would soon see the advantage of making a favourable impression to commence with, till- at last that which had once been of no account at all began to assume an importance as great, or even greater than the song itself. And now we see signs of a great division in the minstrel ranks, and probably on this question of the prelude. And the sterner ones set 1 The Helen of the Odyssey, who has 3 attendants to wait on her and such display of wealth in gold and silver, and Who has learnt the use of opiates in Egypt, may perhaps be drawn from some of the luxurious dames -whom Homer saw beginning to appear around him in liis later years; 44 HISTORY OF MUSIC, themselves in reaction against the spirit of the time and dispensed with the prelude and the lyre altogether; but the gentler ones followed in the swim of the age, and went on developing and enhancing the prelude. And the first order of bards attained their climax under the poet, Hesiod, and they went about, as I say, simply reciting their poems, . with no lyre, but carrying a staff or an olive branch instead. And we must not follow their history, for it belongs rather to a history of poetry than a history of music. But we must follow the fortunes of the second order instead, who took the contrary course to these, and they went on heightening the charms of their music because it pleased, and drifting along in the current of the age, till at last there came one who fathomed the possi- bilities of the times, and set himself at the head of the movement. And his name was Terpander, and he was a native of Lesbos, which was now just begin- ning to be what it afterwards became, the centre of Greek civilisation and refinement. And finding the excesses into which the prelude was running, and that it was by this time a mere wanton sport with sound, he conceived the idea of chastening it and ennobling it by setting words to it, for that the instrument could not go very much astray when it was in company with the voice. And by the xollowing means he gave the prelude a perfect raison d'etre, and impressed on it a clear artistic form : he separated the invocation of the gods, with which the recitation opened, from the body of the recitation itself, and made its words the words that were to be sung as the prelude. Than which nothing could have a more ennobling effect on the waywardness of the prelude, for while formerly it had been a mere show piece to exhibit the cunning of the player, it now THE GREEKS. 4S became a kind of grace to the recitation that was to follow. But although this reform of Terpander was a great and noble one, we must see in it signs of the break- ing up of the old Epic. For does not this separation of the invocation from the rest of the poem point clearly to such a breaking up? And if we examine into the practice of the minstrels themselves, we shall find that this breaking off of the invocation by Terpander was but an additional tribute to a disin- tegration that had already commenced. For long before his time there had been a failure of originality among the minstrels, and they no longer made their own poems, but contented themselves with reciting the verses of Homer. And what is more, only portions of Homer, and they selected such portions probably as best suited their powers, and with these carefully rehearsed and prepared they entered the lists in those contests of minstrels, which we read of at Sicyon, Epidaurus, Troezen, and other places. So that it is plain how effectually the unity of the old Epic was broken up by these means. And there is another inference we may make from this, how greatly the popular conception of the minstrel had changed since Homer's time. For the minstrel was no longer the maker of poems, but simply the reciter of them ; and by consequence it was he who had the finest voice and the best style, who now received the prize. So that it seems we have now got to an age when the sound was more considered than the thought, the form than the substance. That is to say, there was Melody in the air ; and hence we may understand the success which attended the reform of Terpander, who joined words to the prelude which the Lyre had used to play alone, and thus enabled a beautiful melody 46 PIISTORY OF MUSIC. to be sung before the commencement of the recitation. And the more the genius of the minstrel inclined him to this softness of ^expression, which is Melody, the greater pains would he bestow on the prelude. And the words of the prelude being, as we said, an invocation to some god, those whose genius lay that way would take advantage of the theme to introduce some anecdote or story about the exploits of the god, and so greatly lengthen the prelude. And it is probable that the opening which was here given en- couraged many of them to become makers and creators again, but they limited their invention to the prelude.^ And of these preludes we have many preserved to us, and some of them are short invocations of two or three lines or so, and others are much longer and contain an anecdote about the god. And probably the god that was to be invoked was determined by the place where the recitation was given, or if it were a contest, by the place where the contest was held.^' So that in an invocation to Ceres we may think of a contest of rhapsodists in Sicily, to Juno of one at Argos, to Venus in Cyprus, and so on, 1 But that they certainly exercised their invention here we may learn from Plutarch, for he says, the rhapsodists to wpbg roiie Oeovq wq BooXovTai a^oaiwaaiiivoi eig rl '0/xripov etti) /JLiTi(iriodpa iraXaioQ iari, say, Plutarch. But these two dates, as far as I remember, are the admirable calculations of Westphal. 2 " Terpander, being a maker of tunes, set tunes to his own verses and alsg to Homer's." Plutarch, II. 3, 48 HISTORY OF MUSIC. carried through and brought to oerfection that great innovation, to which all his efforts had hitherto been steadily pointing. Now for the first time we may- give him the name of the Inventor of Melody, which is a name he hardly deserved before. For his joining words to the prelude of the lyre and his melodising the verses of Homer must be thought of as little more than teaching the voice to soar in beautiful tones, more than it had used to do ; and the source whence he derived his first idea of such a thing, namely, the extemporised prelude of the lyre, will show us how nearly connected his melodising was with extemporisation, being probably nothing else than it. But now for the first time and while in the service of the Delphian temple, he conceived the idea of forming definite tunes. And probably his practice in religious music would help him greatly to such a result For the music that was used at Delphi was very slow and grave, as befitted the solemnity of the ceremonies. And the principal hymn that was sung was the Libation hymn, or Spondeiasmus, which was sung when the solemn libation was poured out to the god. And its name will give us an insight into its character. For the metrical foot called the spondee, which had probably some other name in these early ages, was afterwards called " Spondee," because it was invariably employed, to the exclusion of all others, in these solemn Libation Hymns, or Spondeiasmi, at Delphi. But the spondee of the Libation Hymn differed trom the ordinary spondee in this respect, that it was exactly double its length.' And so the Libation Hymn proceeded in this way _J_j\ ^JiJ.c^ic.jJ^''- I Aristjdes Quinctilianus, THE GREEKS. 49 instead of _J J | J J | J J I , and it was probably sung in a low, monotonous recita- tive, and it may serve as a fair type of the rest of the Delphian music. When then Terpander was put to it to compose in this grave and severe style, what effect would it have on his genius ? He would infuse the buoyancy of his melody into this slow Libation Hymn as he had formerly done into the Hexameter, but this time, he would remember the notes. The fleeting modulations of tone, which had mounted from the short spondee and the still lighter dactyl, and had been swept away in the rush of the Hexameter, would now be so protracted and so tardy in their departure, that they would fasten themselves in his mind almost against his will. In this way he was enabled to re- member the melody of the song, and he carried out the principle to its due completion, and henceforth began to compose hymns in which each .syllable had its particular tone assigned it, and the hymns he thus composed were called Nomes, (" laws "), because now for the first time the tones which should accompany the words, and which had formerly been left to the mercy and option of the singer, were now for the first time regulated and fixed syllable by syllable, so that there was no departing from them. These Nomes of Terpander then were the first actual tunes that were heard in Greece.' And they attained a celebrity I In this the writer follows common opinion. Plutarch gives us no further account of the Nomes than that they admitted no change of key nor change of rhythm. The elaborate attempt of Westphal to restore the Ter- pandian nomes from the definitions oi Julius Pollux has ended in the regions of fancy. For other explanations see Prideaux ad Marmor, Par. XX. Burette in the Memoires de I'Acaderaie des Inscriptions. X. 220. Marpurg. Kriiische Einleitung in die Geschichte der a. & n. Musilc 19. 65. &c. E 50 HISTORY OF MUSIC. that was very great indeed. And the names of the principal ones have come down to us : they were the Tetracedian, he Acute, the Cepion, and Ter- pandrian Nomes.i And the nomes of Terpander were still sung in the Delphian services so late as the days of Herodotus. Now about this time it happened that a sort of social revolution took place in the kingdom of Sparta, and it was a reaction against the cramped and one- sided development of life which had resulted from the harsh constitution of Lycurgus. For the regulations of Lycurgus were aimed at producing nothing but warriors, and as long as war lasted their imperfections were never seen. But now the Messenian wars had been brought to a glorious close, and the nation was abandoning itself to peace, and a cry arose for more air than Lycurgus granted them, and for liberal principles of thought, and for culture and refinement. And the leaders of the movement were called in derision by their sterner contemporaries, Parthenii, or " The Girls."* And we know that not many years afterwards popular feeling was too strong for them, and they were banished bodily from the country. But in the meantime " The Girls " had it, and so great was their influence among the people at large that the Ephors were tempted to make some conces- sions, and to relax the rigour of the Lycurgean discipline in favour of the new ideas. Distinguished men were invited to Sparta from other parts of Greece, sculptors, poets, musicians, architects, and, among the rest, Terpander, whose fame had doubtless reached Sparta long before, from the intimate connection that, 1 Plutarch, De Mus. 4. 2 Lit, " the effeminate,'' This seeros the best explanation, THE GREEKS. 51 existed between Sparta and Delphi. And he was invited to Sparta to reform the Spartan Music. And it is strange to find the ephors promising to sanction his innovations by law ; so that it seems as if they courted change in a city that was the most con- servative in Greece. Terpander, then, the .iEolian, coming to the centre of the Dorian civilisation, found many things that were new to him, and he was in- vited to reform the music. And among other things he found that the scale in use at Sparta was totally different to the one he was accustomed to. For it should seem that the scales, that were developed in various parts of Greece, differed from one another very much as the dialects did, and now Terpander, who had hitherto been acquainted only with the iEolian scale, found himself face to face with the Dorian scale. And these scales had grown up in- dependently of one another in different parts of the Greek world, as others had done or were doing, being strictly compasses of voice, and developing, as we have seen them develop in the primitive times of history. And they each had a compass of four notes (and this was the compass, if we remember, of Homer's lyrei) ; but the scale that Terpander had used, the yEolian scale, began on A ^ '—^^ , but the Dorian scale began on E ^' p . And this Dorian scale, I These primitive scales, bear the strongest marks of Instrumental influence, and no doubt grew up under the immediate tutelage of the Lyre, for the strings of ancient lyres were ever in " 4 " « (cf. Book I. Cap. S-). and here we have a vocal scale exactly reflecting the Lyre Scale. The purely Vocal Scales of Greece, which will be discussed hereafter, present a very difterent appear- ance. Vide Infra.. Chap. VI, 52 HISTORY OF MUSIC, as he found it in Sparta, consisted of four consecutive ^^ notes going upwards from E, And now comes the great achievement of Terpander's life. And it falls in the 3rd period of his activity. For this is the 3rd period, after he had been invited to Sparta. And the first period was while he led the life of a rhapsodist in Asia Minor. And the second period was the Delphi period, when he acted as composer of music to the temple. And the third period was now. And in it falls the great achievement of his life. For being invited to Sparta, and being entreated, as it were, to innovate, he conceived the idea of joining the Dorian scale to his own ^olian scale. And this was the innovation he effected. And the two scales joined, the Dorian, which began on E, ^' r^ and the .^olian, which began on A, ^ — ^= produced the following scale, which is known in Greek Music as the Scale of Terpander: — Dorian Scale. .ffiolian Scale. m -^ And before this time there was no Greek scale that had more than 4 notes,^ but now there was a scale with 7. So then well may he indulge in the proud boast, fifiH^ TOi TiTpayvpvv aTTOcrrip^avTEg aoiBriv iiTTarov^) ^opfwyyi viovg KsXaBriaofuv viivovg, " We have grown weary of your four note songs, and henceforth new hymns will we sing to a lyre of seven chords," for he increased the strings of the lyre agreeably to the increase of the scale, for the lyre I Or five. See Infra., p, —. 2 Terpander in Clemens, THE GREEKS. S3 accompanied the voice note for note, and therefore he was obliged to increase them. And after his time all the lyres at Sparta were made with 7 strings" And this change in the strings of the lyre, like the change in the notes of the scale, was ratified by law, and remained unaltered in Sparta for ever. In this way was the scale of the Dorians added to the scale of the .^Eolians, and if we judge it by the analogy of the dialects, we shall describe it as the grafting of a younger form of scale upon an older form. For the .^Eolic dialect- notoriously contains all the oldest forms of the Greek language, with its F, p for (T, V for X, X for S, &c., all of them forms of such antiquity that they appear in the Latin language, and . speak of having existed in that primitive epoch, which preceded the separation of the Greek and Latin Races. If then we assume the oldest forms of the Greek Music to survive in the .^Eolian Scale, as the oldest forms of its language in the ^olic dialect, we shall be led to a conclusion that may interest us. For if we look at this Mo\{a.n Scale, 7 w P -"-I — — which Terpander added to the Dorian, we shall find it to be an Isolating Scale, for there is a break between B and D, or in other words, it consists of two small scales that are not joined together. And al- though we cannot say that there is a Great Scale and a Little Scale here, for both are of the same compass, we have merely to tamper with it a little and add a G at the bottom, to convert it into the very scale which we believed was in use among men in those primitive times before history began, thus : — ■" a -«==. :^ 54 HISTORY OF MUSIC. 1 say, this is an interesting subject, and affords ample scope for those who like to pursue the inquiry, but the evidence is too small and too untrustworthy in this period of our history to enable us to consider the matter more than cursorily, and there is much surmise and theory in what we have even already said. Terpander never left Sparta again. He was now an old man, and it was time that his wanderings should come to an end. And the Spartans united to pay the old man honour. And there was a special decree passed, which gave him the right of singing first of all the minstrels in the annual contest at the Carneian festival.! And this privilege was afterwards extended to his disciples, who were known as the Sons of Terpander, and their proficiency was so great, that they carried off the prize at this festival year after year for three generations. And the last who conquered was named Periclitus, and he comes late in our history. And we have spoken of the Nomes of Terpander, and have given the names of those that we know. And there is something preserved to us of his, which looks as if it were a prelude to a Nome, for possi- bly the Nomes had preludes too,'' and from its gravity and tthe solemnity of its subject it looks as if it belonged to the Delphi period of his life, Ze5 TravTwv a.p\a, iravrwv ayaTwp, Zsv TOi (TTrlvotL) ravTav vfivwv ap^dv. ^ 1 The herald used to call out, Tig fiixa Tov Aiafdiov tjJSov ; (Suidas). 2 This is a case in whicli the projection of Julius Pollux may be talcen in evidence (IV. 9), and I cannot but thinlc that the ETTapi^a refers to a Prelude to the Nome. 3 Terpander in Clemens. Stromateis VI. 279., in Migne. I THE GREEKS. 55 which is in the double spondee measure, and was chanted thus : — J I _l Ml M I _M I I I and the occurrence of the word, (nrivSw, seems to suggest that we have here a fragment from one of the Libation Services. And the Nomos Tetraoidios has been explained to mean the Nome with four notes in the melody,' and must also date from the Delphi period, before he framed the complete scale at Sparta. And it is probable that the gravity of style, which he acquired at Delphi, he retained to the end, for of the other Nomes that have been explained to us, we are told that the Nomos Orthios was in these long feet, and so was the Nomos Trochaeu,^ the Nomos Orthios being written in semibreves and minims, and the Nomos Trochaeu in minims and semibreves, the latter being the exact converse of the former, and putting its double minims or semibreves where the other had minims, and its minims where the other had double minims or semibreves.3 Terpander by leaving Lesbos early and living most of his life at Delphi and Sparta, had escaped the influences of the city life, which was just beginning to wake into vigour in the islands and the Asiatic cities at his time, and had been able to develop his art straight on from Homer, in much of its traditional form and spirit, and amid surroundings which were eminently favourable for the preservation of that spirit. 1 This. I imagine, is the opinion of Westphal in his notes to Plutarch in the second volume of his History. 2 Aristides Quintilianus. 3 Id. L37.. 56 HISTORY OF MUSIC. For Delphi, owing to its connection with religion, was slow to modernise, and Sparta was to the last the undoubted heir of the heroic life and art. But in Asia things were taking a very different turn, and still more so in the precocious islands of the iEgcan Sea, which were now putting on their weak - woven garments of prosperity. And the old ideals were being shattered, and new ones were coming in ; and the commercial life with all its blunt levelling tendencies was encompassing men, and besides this a remarkable change was coming over the language, which was destined to have an incalculable effect on the future Music of Greece. For it should seem that language, like other things of man's creation, is smitten with its maker's instability,^ and is in constant flux of strength and weakness, even in the short history of a single nation. And the strength of a language is when it is blurted and mouthed well ; and its weakness is when it is clipped and minced. Or it is a strong period in the history of a language when it is spoken slowly and deliberately ; and it is a weak period when it is talked with great rapidity, for this is a sign that the thoughts are in excess of the means of expression, and that they crowd so for utterance that the integrity of the sound is sacrificed to their convenience. And these periods come and go in the history of a nation, but some- times their features are more marked than at others, and sometimes their duration too is longer. And when a period of weakness lasts for a very long time indeed, and seems as if it were about to become avcpsQ afj.avp6j3toi, (j){iX\wv ysvit^ irpocrofioioi, oXijodpavii^, TrXacTfiara TrriXov, (jKLod^m ^vX afiivt}va. THE GREEKS. 57 chronic, it has been customary for writers of recent years to treat it as an outbreak of Phonetic Decay. Yet we must be careful to nse this term with all reservation, since it can in strictness be only applied to the termination of a language's history. For a young, vigorous language will easily overcome these outbreaks, and right itself again, as a young man triumphs over the attacks of disease. And let us see what effect such an outbreak will have on a language, and how the language will right itself again. And first of all — and this is the leading sign — the language will be talked more rapidly, and whether this is due to the cjiuse we have mentioned above, to the excess of thought over the powers of utterance, or whether it may not indicate a dulling of the ear to the beauty of sound, or thirdly, may not be the simple consequence of an ever increasing familiarity with the vehicle of expression — may well admit conjecture. For it seems that the more centuries pass over a nation's head, the greater skill will they have in managing the machineries which make up life, and as the wheels of their government work more smoothly, and the machinery of their trafific is improved, so will their language too trip lighter off the tongue. And perhaps the lightness and celerity it acquires may be set down as one of the many forms in which a greater briskness of life shows itself, for it is principally at periods of great national activity that these symptoms of the language make their appearance. And strangely enough, what is in reality the result of an increased vitality is set down as a symtom of decay. And why it should be so, and that it is really so, we may see by looking round at the state of our own English language at the present moment, which is now spoken with much greater rapidity than it used to be, and how this 58 HISTORY OF MUSIC. rapidity has affected it. And it will be seen that we gain our rapidity by crushing our words. For in such phrases as " some water," " some wine," we do not speak the words as they stand written here, but we say " s'mwater," " s'mwine." And " perhaps " has become "praps," and "every," "evry," and "several," "sevral," and " personal," " persnal." And we may see under our eyes the long vowels of the English language passing into their corresponding short ones, and these again into other vowels which are shorter still. For the old English long o, which is properly written ozv, has by this time disappeared from most pronunciations, being replaced by the short o, as in " knowledge," " acknow- ledge/' &c., or oftener by the soft " ou," as " cow," " now," " prow." And the short o is fast passing into u, as in " money," " honey," or into the still weaker i, as in " women." And this weak short i is usurping the place of many of the ancient vowels, of the e, as in " regiment," " England," " engine," and of the short a, as in " pinafore," " separate," while the long a is sinking into e, as " any," " many," and will soon be merged in the all-engrossing short i, which is the most clipped of vowels. And it is the same crushing tendency which is at work in the dropping of the aspirate at the beginning of words — which has long been dropped in the middle and the end, as " white," " what," " borough" — and in leaving out the beginnings of words, as "them " is passing into "'em," and "because" into "'cause," and in cutting consonants in the middle, as " would," " could," should," where the 1 has long been dropped. And such a change as we see passing over the English language at present, was passing over the Greek language at the time we are writing of. And it was felt most m the centres of activity and bustle, which at that time were the islands and the cities of Asia THE GREEKS, 59 Minor, just as we remark the changes most in our centres of activity and commerce, and most particularly in the metropolis of our country. But the Dorians, whom we left a page ago, were but little affected by these changes, and the language with^ them remained but little altered. And if we turn to the Dorians of our own land, we shall be able to see how little they are affected too by our linguistic changes, and how the older and more complete forms of our language survive among them. For the Scotch are the Dorians of Britain, and in Scotland the words are still round and full-blooded, and all the varieties of vowel sounds are still retained unimpaired. And looking at the measured pronunciation which prevails in Scotland, we shall be able to sum up in one sentence the principle which is at the bottom of the entire linguistic change. For the Scotch sound every syllable of each word with almost equal emphasis, but we on the other hand single out . one, or at the utmost two syllables, and laying peculiar stress on these we let the rest of the word shift for itself So that such words as " stewardess," " actress," " committee," which become with us, " stewrdis," " dctris," " cmi'tti," are still sounded in Scotland precisely as they are spelt, with almost equal \j emphasis on every syllable, " stewardess," " actress," KJ " committee." That is to say, we pronounce our words by Accent, they pronounce them by Quantity ; and it is this growing pronunciation by accent that is at the root of all the clipping and mincing of words, which we have just been considering in detail ; for the rest of the word is invariably sacrificed to the chosen syllable, and this tendency, when carried to exaggeration ends in leaving out letters and whole syllables themselves. It is for this reason that the naturalisation of the 6o HISTORY OF MUSIC. Hexameter Measure in English Poetry has always been attended with failure, for the Hexameter measure con- sists of feet, each of two syllables, of which the second syllable is as long as the first. And Pee has well said that there are only two words in the English language, as we speak it to-day, that have their 2nd syllable equal to their first — " compound," and " complex." To which we may add two or three more, as " broad- cloth," " housemaid," and the word " Spondee," itself But the list is soon exhausted. And such a change as we see has passed or is passing over the English Language at present, was passing over the Greek language at the time we write of,i that is to say, about 600 years before Christ, when the city life was beginning to hum loud around men, and the great cities of Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Magnesia, were becoming marts for the trade of the East, and the Cyclades were in the heyday of their prosperity, and new forces were working their way up through the tossing elements of life. Three centuries or more had elapsed since the time of Homer, and the bards and minstrels had passed away into the land of dreams and legend. Even Terpander to the men of these times was like one but half emerged from fable, and his music had sunk like water in the sand at Sparta, without much influence on the great world beyond. And the heroes and their battle-shouts and deeds of war and tumult were lost in the chaffering of merchants and the creaking cordage of argosies. And now that heroic metre that had endured so I Of course I am here speaking of a very modified form of accentual pronunciation, and it is a point in other respects I would be gladly excused from pressing. THE GREEKS. 6l long — the great Hexameter fell asunder. And it had weathered many ages. For, as we have seen, it was in existence before Homer's time, and he had done little more than bring it to high perfection. And after his time it still held its own through the Epic poets that succeeded him, who are called the Cyclic Poets, and through the school of Hesiod and the school of Terpander, for except in his religious nomes, which he wrote for the temple of Delphi, Terpander always used the Hexameter measure. And the tradi- tional account of the Hexameter and its origin which the Greeks themselves give is as follows : for it was said to have been invented in Lycia in the most remote ages, before the worship of Apollo had travelled from Lycia to Greece, and that the inventor of it was a priest of Apollo, called Olen.^ And Olen brought the worship of Apollo from Lycia to Delos, and from Delos the Hexameter had travelled to the islands.^ And afterwards he brought it from Delos to Delphi, whence the Dorians got it.^ And this is the account that the Greeks give of the Hexameter. And it had come in with the Sun God, who rises above the mountains of Lycia, but is first seen in Greece when he rises from the waters behind Delos. But now under the influence of the changes which had been going on in the language all this time, the Hexameter toppled. For in the briskness of pro- nunciation and crushing in of syllables which now ^ QXjjv 8e yevsro Trpwrog "I>o^j3o(o Trpot^arag TTpCiro^ 8' ap)(ai(jiv iirewv TiKTClvaT aoiSr/v. ' £K AuKlTje i\9(i)V £7rOtr|(T£ TOUC VfJLVOVQ TOVQ ailZofdvOVQ Iv M{Ki,>. Herod. IV. 35. 3 fiavTEixratrdai wpwrov (sc. ev AeX^oic) koi aaai wpwTOv to i%afi.£Tpov. Paqsanias, p. 809. 62 HISTORY OF MUSIC. obtained, that equality of pronunciation, which was necessary to the stately repose of its measure, had completely passed away, and to recite Hexameters was to affect a slow and portentous pronunciation that was unnatural to the tongue — unless indeed one were to crush up the syllables agreeably to the speech of ordinary life, and then the reciting would be natural enough. And a native of the island of Paros, named Archilochus, conceived the idea of adapting the pronunciation of ordinary life to the Hexameters, and reciting them in this way. So he crushed up the syllables of the Hexameter, crushing grapes. Here is a specimen of Archilochus' grape-crushing : — firi-viv a ' |S_ H -8e 0E - a n»)- Xr) -ia-S'- 'Ax-t • Vrj - og fi i}- viv a- £ I -St 6s - a Uri - X ij - i'a Sew 'A^j - X ij - op and the next line o i)-XoyUE V ri V fj fill- jO£"A-x a i-oig a X -■yE' e- j) - ke In this way he evolved a new species of time in the world, for whereas the Hexameter bar, with its equal arsis and thesis, is in Common Time, Archi- lochus' bar, where the arsis is unequal to the thesis, is in Triple Time. Or more strictly the Hexameter IS in ^ time, and Archilochus' measure is in S , as we should phrase it. The Hexameter has 4 shorts in the bar, for each long was equivalent to 2 shorts, and 4 we may write it g if we choose, and Archilochus' has THE GREEKS. 63 only 3 shorts. In this way was Triple time first brought into the world, and among the Greeks it retained to the last the sign of its origin, for while we beat our Triple time with three beats in a bar, they only used two beats, but instead of beating two long, as they did in the Hexameter, they now beat one long beat and one short one. Now this tendency which reached its climax in Archilochus had been in existence, though only in embryo, long before his time, for the language was slow of changing. And in the Cyclic Poets who succeeded Homer we see the first signs of it appearing, for there is a tradition that they sometimes used dactyls which were shorter than the ordinary dactyls by one syllable — that is, they had the value of 3 shorts instead of 4. And this Cyclic dactyl, as it was called, was represented by the metricians of later times 'n the following way : _JLj_^_J_ for this is the way we mark it in our notation, ^ when three notes are to ' be recited to the time of two. And that is what the metricians tell us, that the long syllable of the Cyclic dactyl and the first of the two shorts that followed were chanted to the time of one long , while the second of the two shorts preserved its own time, thus ^ ^ . And this, as will be seen, converts the bar really into a triple bar, though it was not definitely conceived as such, and was only a momentary yielding to the influences of the language. While even Homer himself crushes up his dactyl once or twite for the sake of pungent effect, for it seems certain that such lines as ovtIic imiTa tteSovSe kuXivSeto Xaag avaiBriQ in which he seeks to represent by the language thq 64 HISTORY OF MUSIC. hopping of Sisyphus' stone down the ledges of rock ; or that line which describes the trotting of Aga- memnon's mules, TToXXa S' avavra, Karavra, irapavTO. t£, Boxfiia t ^\0ov. or the galloping of Achilles' horses, Kpanrva fiaX ivOa koX ivda SioJke^ev t^Se tpifiirrBai &c., ought rather to be read than :- ■^jyyjj^j-^ -.m hb :•!*: :^ which would make the line drag too much, and spoil the effect which he intended to produce.^ So that we may say that even Homer appreciated the possibility of such a thing as triple time.^ But he let it go again, and there the thing lay undeveloped, but gradually gathering strength by the influences of the language, till it woke into being beneath the touch of Archilochus. And Triple Time means gaiety and joy, and the age was now ripe to receive it. For we are now in the days of Scolium and the Comus, and the statuesque objectivity of the elder bards had passed quite away, .and had given way to the subjectivity of the Individual, with all his joys and sorrows, and passions and hatreds. And the scorn of man was now first heard in music and his endless love, for these things had the epic poets stifled and kept under, in the unbroken repose 1 Cf. the remarks of Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the line avTig iTrura m his De compositione verborum, 20. 2 Once or twice he has used a Trochee in the first place instead of a Spondee. II. — . but it does not seem to have been intentionally employed in tliis passage. THE GREEKS. 65 of their art. And shall we say that the Dance was insinuating itself into the sphere of Music, for Triple Time has ever been the time of the Dance ? And those short forms that it delights to turn in — those short dance measures, the Nuptial Song, the Revel Song, the Vintage Song, the Phallic Dancing Song, were filling the world again. As it was before the Hexameter began, so was it now, for the great heroic metre lay scattered in fragments on the ground. Who then is he who will build new forms out of the crumbling mass, as shepherds build their huts from the ruins of castles, or better, as he who built a palace from the ruins of a Pyramid ? Where is the Architect to come from that shall raise us our terraces again ? And the island of Paros, which gave Greece its marble, gave it likewise its musical forms. And the Architect of the Music again was Archilochus. Archilochus finding the Hexameter take this light and diminished form beneath his hands, and because it was so short and stunted — for though in theory perhaps the J^ of the new bar | J ^l^| was equivalent to the JM*> of the old IJ J^^l*"!, yet in practice it was very differ- ent, and there was a real lopping off of the last quaver, so that the new line had ended, by the time the old one had reached the middle of its Sth foot, thus, ;i : I : I ; M I ^ \J \J 'yj \J KJ \J \J — \J KJ and was in reality a full quarter of a line shorter ; for the old Hexameter contained 24 shorts, but the new line only 18, as we may easily see by resolving the longs into shorts, F 66 HISTORY OF MUSIC. \J\J\J\J\J\JKJ\JKJKJ\J\J\J\J\J\J\J\J\J\J\J\J\J^ I I I I I I Archilochus, then, seeing how short and, weak the new line was by comparison with its great original, con- ceived the idea of strengthening it and giving dignity to it, by increasing its length and making it actually as long as the Hexameter itself. And to do this he had to increase it by a quarter of its length, that is to say, he had to add on 6 more syllables to it, that is, 2 feet, \j\j \j v^ w vy. And so he constituted the _ w _ w line in 8 feet instead of 6, and now it was exactly as long as the Hexameter : — — WW — KJ \J KJ KJ KJ \J WW — ^,— W _ W,_ W,_W_ W_ W_ W I I I I I I II And in order to give body to this long slender line, and if possible to rival the majesty of the Hexameter close — for that close of the Hexameter _ w w | 1 1 is full of unutterable majesty — he resolved that the last foot of his line should consist of one sustained note J . , equal in value to the two notes which at first composed it, J J^, ^ and in this way he gained a fine close, which emulated if it did not quite come up to the close of the Hexameter. For let us consider this close and see how firm it is, J/IJ /!J /IJ J-IJ J^IJ /|7,^I and how well it apes the dignity of its pattern. I juaK|oa rpixpovog, written in Greek, J. (Anonyrai Sciiptio de Musica. THE GREEKS. 6^ J j^j^ij j^.^ij j^Jij :^^\} A^ij J ii' And in this way he finally determined the line, that is to say, that it should consist of 8 feet, and that the last foot should consist of one sustained note of the value of a full bar. And the rhythm of the line was precisely the same as that of the Hexameter, that is, it consisted of two Phrases, an Antecedent and a Conse- quent, only the Phrases consisted of 4 feet each instead of 3, because 4 feet of this new line were equivalent to 3 feet of the Hexameter, and the phrasing therefore was as follows : — And the line itself has been called by later writers on Music, the Trochaic Tetrameter, because the name that was given to this new foot, j j > was Trochee and the word. Tetrameter, was used, which means 4 bars, because it was afterwards read in 2 time instead of g , as we shall see, giving 4 bars instead of 8. But the Phrasing never altered to the end, being always the same as Archilochus had constituted it. And now Archilochus, having constituted this light tripping line as we have said, conceived the idea of forming a new and graver measure out of the same materials. And seeing that what gave this Trochaic Measure its airy buoyant character was the weight being thrown at the beginning of each foot, which gave the foot a bounce, so to speak, and made it fly along, he considered that if the weight were thrown at the end of the foot instead of the beginning, it would make the ' irpbOTif) avT({) Tu TiTpuiuTpa oTToSsSoraj. Plutarch. De Musica. 28, 68 HISTORY OF MUSIC. line drag more, and so procure the effect which he wanted. And he was led to discover how he might do this, by observing the popular songs of his time. For the popular songs, being constructed with much greater freedom than the artistic forms of music, had always allowed this licence to the poet, that he might make use of an extra syllable at the beginning of the line, whenever the necessities of his language seemed to call for it. And in this loose and free way was the Linus constructed, which we spoke of as being the nucleus of the Hexameter, for it ran thus : — — <^\J —\J\J at Alvb 1 tratn de olaiv TST — y\j _ w y • ifiivs (70t yap e CWKEV VJ : _ vj w 1 _ w v-> &c. I-- Or we may take examples from the popular songs of our own language, and we shall find the same looseness allowed, or let us take one from a celebrated poet of our country, who has imitated this freedom in one of his compositions, and see it there : — _ \j — KJ \j Sometimes with se- cure de- light \J '• \j — ^ o The \ upland hamlets will in- vite. \j — \j — \j Whe;t' the merry bells ring round. _/ v-* \j — \j o And the jocund rebecks sound. \j \ \j \j — \_» To \ many a youth and many a maid. _ \j — vv — v-» Dancing 'neath the chequered shade. \j : — ^ — \j — \j And : young and old come forth to play. _ v-» — \j \j On a sunshine holi- day. THK GREEKS. 6g And Archilochus, seeing this occasional licence used by the popular poets of his country, thought that by making it permanent he could get the effect he wanted. For he had merely to apply this extra syllabic to his Trochees, and make it an essential element in the line, to dislodge the weight effectually from the beginning of the foot to the end, and the weight being displaced in the first foot would go on shifting through all the feet, till they all got loaded at their ends instead of their beginnings, just like the first foot was. As thus : — I / t t I t r f \J \J \J \J \J _V-» \J _ Here is the original line. And if we apply a short syllable at the beginning, we shall find how the weight shifts, t t I r r I r r \J \_/ W W W \J \J \J for now it is at the end of the feet instead of at the beginning of them, and if we express this musically we shall find that the original line, has become by virtue of the short syllable J* added at the beginning, which if we wrote it in strict modern notation would bring out the added syllable into relief still more, for we should have to write it, for we can only place the accent at the beginning of our bars, but tbe Greeks could place it at the beginning or 70 HISTORY OF MUSIC. the end, just as they chose.^ And now Archilochus, finding this new line run much slower and graver than the Trochaic line, out of which he had constructed it, saw that its length need not be so great as the Trochaic either. So he cut it down from 8 feet to 6, and thus gave it the same number of feet as the original Hexameter. And it was phrased in the same way as the Hexameter was, that is to say, in two equal phrases of three bars each. In this way Archilochus constituted the Iambic. And now Archilochus, finding that this Iambic measure was most of all received with delight by the people a:nd soon attained the highest popularity everywhere — and perhaps this was because it contained that element of easiness, which up till then had been limited to the popular measured, I mean the beginning with a short syllable, for perhaps more words began with a short syllable than a long,^ and so it was easier to put them together ; at any rate we are told by historians that the Iambic measure approximated very nearly in its swing to the speech of ordinary life in those days and hence came its remarkable popularity — and Archilochus seeing this, and finding how much the people were delighted with the ease with which the numbers could be made to flow, introduced a new 1 Infra, p. — . 2 This we may judge from the analogy of the other measures, and also from the bars being constituted in g time. 3 e.g. the mliversal Augment. THE GREEKS. ^i device into his Iambics, by which he assimilated the measure still more closely to the rhythm of ordinary speech ; for it is plain that ordinary speech does not proceed, however much it may be inclined that way, in one continuous stream of shorts and longs, but there are pauses in it; and hangings on emphatic syllables, and the words, too, as we utter them, will not sort themselves in immaculate symmetry, but two and more long syllables will come out together, and two and more short ones in like manner. And so Archilochus conceived that if he allowed the licence of slight pausings in his verse, it would not take away from the harmony of the measure, and that if he made the short syllables the ones where the pauses should occur, two long syllables would then be able to come together, for a long syllable could be pronounced in the same time as a paused short one ; and so the ease of the numbers would be greatly increased. So he conceived the device of increasing the short syllables of the verse by half their length, but he did not do this all through the line, in fact only in alternate feet ; and the feet which he chose to keep intact and precisely in their perfect rhythm were the 2nd, 4th, and 6th, because he felt that the flow of the music was strongest there, but the other three feet, ^that is, the ist, 3rd, and Sth, he allowed to be lengthened by pausing, that is to say, he allowed their first, which is their short syllable, to be increased by half its length. And this increase of the short syllable we should express by a dot . thus ( J*". ), which gives exactly the value which Archilochus assigned it. And now he could use two longs together with the greatest freedom, and instead of the old form of the verse, n HISTORY OF MUSIC. \J — W _ he could write 8 h. I 1 (TE (TV/X j3 oXov TTOltV \J — a=^ =^_W. ^tzzat fitvog ^t ^airrjv yUOIV ty — — \j KV TL \J — Ki-Kap fitvog or S-j^zJ:: Tpi-ai vav £(T - 0Xjjv Koi Kvfiip vri -rriv tTO-uv. \J — V^_ \J v^ which henceforth became the common form in which Iambics were written. ^ And going at this time to the island of Thasos to the gold mines there, he was brought into connection with the merchants of Tyre, who up till now had I This dot is called the Alogia, or Supeifluous Accent we may call if, and this is the Problem of Aristoxenus which gives us the exact length of the accent:— El Xrj^^Etjjtrav Sijo nodtg 6 piv 'itrov to avw rfj7 kutw E^tiiv KOI Sicrrj/xov tKUripov, 6 Se to fiiv kutw ^luripov to Se avo) lipuTV, rplTog Se r(c Xrj^flcfij Troi/g napu tovtovc ri';v piv [iamv 'tariv uvtoXq apOTipoig e;)^(ijv ttjv St apmv piaov ptyedog e^ovtrav Twv ap(T£wv' 6 yap TOiovrog ttovc aXoyov piv 'eE,ai to avw vpor TO KUTb). Arist. Fragments. " Take two feet, and let the one have the thesis equal to the arsis, and each equal to two shorts, \J \j And let the other foot have the artis equal to two shorts, and the thesis to one short, — \j . And talie a third foot, having its arsis equal to their arsis hut its thesis half their theses added together (i.e. half 3 shorts \J \J \J = 1 short and a half ( w ,) as we may express it). Such a foot will have a superfluous accent on its second syllable \j . i.e. J J , ' That the ist, 3rd, and, sth foot of the Iambics were precisely Alogiaed Iambuses, and not Spondees, as we are taught at school, is a well known tradition among the Latin metricians. For a further discussion of the Alogia cf. infra, p, 333. THE GREEKS. 73 been the undisputed masters of the island. For ships of the PhcEnicians, scouring the sea everywhere in search of gain, had very early in history got wind of the treasures that lay beneath the soil of Thasos, and beginning at first to traffic there, as they did with our own Scilly Isles for tin, they had ended by making themselves masters of the island, and Thasos had become an appanage of the Tyrian republic. And Aichilochus, going at this time to Thasos, was brought into connection with the Tyrian merchants there, and naturally what he would most remark was the music which was in use in this colony of foreigner.';. And the Phoenician music was an offshoot of the Assyrian music^ and also contained many elements that had been introduced from Egypt, for we know that the connection between Tyre and Egypt was in the later days of the Egyptian monarchy very close indeed. ^ We are not surprised therefore to hear that when Archilochus returned to Paros again he brought a strange instrument with him, whose name reminds us strikingly of that small triangular harp which was the rage in Egypt under the later dynasties, and which we surmised had likewise been imported at an early date from Egypt into the city of Babylon. For the name of that Egyptian harp was the Sambuca, and the name of the instrument which Archilochus brought to Paros was the lambuca ; and it is probable that he had made th\s slight alteration in the name himself, for he brought it to deck his Iambics. And he had learnt in the mean- while the art of accompanying the song in a different way to that in which Terpander accompanied it. For I e.g. From the narrative of the Egyptian traveller whose impressions of Tyre &c., form one of the most interesting relics, of antiquity. 74 HISTORY OP MUSIC, Terpander accompanied the voice note for note, but Archilochus employed a separate accompaniment, different from the melody the voice sang, and strange to say, above it.' And I think here we may trace strong marks of Assyrian influence. For in speaking of the Music of Assyria, we had occasion to remark how fond the Assyrians were of high notes, how the whole weight of the music was in the soprano, and how all their instruments were high pitched. And not being able then, through deficiency of data to come at any very precise conlprehension of the manner of Assyrian Music, it seems we may fairly argue back to it now from this innovation in Greek Music, which Archilochus derived plainly from them. And we shall see the reason of their high instruments was for this, that the instrument might accompany the voice above instead of below. Which after its introduction by Archilochus remained ever after the regular method of accompaniment in Greece. And if we would gain some idea of Archi- lochus' style of accompanying, we must appeal to a passage in Plutarch for our evidence, from which it has been elegantly demonstrated not only in the character of the accompaniment, but down to the very notes which he most frequently employed. For Plutarch is speaking of the Scale in use at the time we are writing of, which had, if we remember, a break between its Sth and 6th notes, that is, between B and D, for there was no C in the Scale, for it ran from yf p - to 71): ' : and so counted 7 notes, C being omitted. And he is endeavouring to prove that this omission of C was not any organic defect in the I VTTO TTjv (j^Criv. See Excursus at end of Book. THE GREEICS. 75 Scale, but, what is indeed most improbable, a purely voluntary omission on the part of the singers for the purpose of producing a pleasing effect on the ear, which how it did so we cannot now judge. And he says by the way the following words : — " For they must have been acquainted with the note C, although they never used it in their singing, since they used it in the instrumental accompaniment to accompany the voice's F, thus r-j T— 1» — " (and in these instances the top note with the tail up represents the Instrument, and the bottom note, the note of the Voice.) "Then, too, we know as a fact that they were perfectly acquainted with the note E t-^ -^ — ' for it appears in the Scale itself But yet they never used the note E in the song, but only in the instrumental accompaniment, just like they did the C, and they used it as a harmony to the A of the Voice, thus ^ — ■ and, as a discord to the D of the Voice, thus eif And then he goes on to illustrate these uses by allusions to the other notes of the Scale, which, it should seem, were used indiscriminately both by ' the Voice and the Instrument, and, by the way, he speaks of " the note D, which was used in the Accom. I paniment as a discord to C — - |"^^" • i, a discord to I This refers strictly t& the C of the Synemmenon Tetrachord of the Pythagorean Scale, but the writer has felt it fight to strain a point and bring it in here,^ for the sake of showing off as |many possible combinations of the sample accompaniment as he could. 76 HISTORY OF MUSIC. I B ^ : i " (for the Greek ear conceived the 3rd as a discord), " a concord to A — — 0^ — , and a concord to G ^ : r : •"' So that it seems from this passage in Plutarch we may form a very clear and correct idea as to what Archilochus' accompaniment really was. And without staying to discuss that question of the C, which led Plutarch into these revelations, and which indeed if we do admit that it was used in the Accompaniment, though it was not in the Scale, we must find in it another instance of Archilochus' in- novations, since the theory that it was purposely omitted by singers to produce a pleasing effect may hardly be sustained — but without staying to discuss this, we will view the case quite generally, and argue from the r^i—f^ the bare fact of the use of sths in the harmony between the instrument and the voice, which that other juxtaposition ^4:= ^ will likewise teach us. And from QJE~^E ^^ ^^'^^ argue the use of discords of the 2nd, and from —zz 2 Plutarch De Musica. ig. THE GREEKS. TJ I of discords of the 3rd, and — —0^ the use of Aths. And bearing in mind what Plutarch says, that the high E 1^^^ was not used by the Voice, and Tl- retaining our original idea that C was not used either, we shall find that the Melody of the Songs at this time travelled through the notes S P== =^=& i|=+: and that above the song ran an instrumental accom- paniment on the Lyre, or by preference on Archi- lochus' lambuca, in 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, sths, and occasionally perhaps in unison, for this was the tradition of Terpander. And all this was at the option of the singer to vary his accompaniment and its harmonies as he chose, and though it may seem strange to us that the accompaniment should be above the song, those who have tried it will know how sweet it sounds. In this way then was the Lyre passed round at the revels, and each as his turn came sang a song, accompanying himself on the strings. And it was principally extemporisation that was practised here, and the singers sang like Mercury in Homer, UTTO KaKov aticuv and the king of the revels was Archilochus. "When rjiiTE Kovpoi rjjSijrat daXmm irapaifBoXa KspTOfilovaiv. 78 HISTORY or MUSIC. the thunder of wine is in my brains," says he, "then I am the man at a song.''^ And for that by this time his Iambics were grown so favourite a number, that men would talk them for amusement often instead of singing them, he invented a smaller and simpler instrument on the model of his lambuca, which was to serve the talkers' turn, and in this way he raised even the speaking of his Iambics to an artistic form. And this smaller and simpler instrument he called " The Thief,"^ because it stole away the melody from the verses and took it all to itself And sometimes at banquets he would use both instruments alternately. He would begin by singing his Iambics with the accompaniment of the lambuca, and then he would pass into talking them, to the twanging of the "Thief," And this mixture of Speech and Song, though it was merely an idle amuse- ment at the time, was afterwards developed into a complete artistic form, and was known as the Paraca- taloge, and subsequently became the basis on which the Athenian tragedians raised their musical forms.3 Archilochus having assimilated his Iambics so perfectly to the ease of ordinary speech, and having decked them with the beauty of Accompaniment, and given them two instruments to go out into the world with them, still continued his interest in the popular songs of the time, which indeed had given him the first suggestion that made his Iambics possible. And one of the most frequent songs, and a song that he ^ o('vt() ffvyKepavv(i)dtig pivag. (Frag. ^^ in Bergk.) 3 Plutarch. 28. hi Si raJv la/xjStiwv to to, ixiv Xiyeadai wapa rrjv Kpovtriv rd S' qSscrdai ^Ap)(lXo-^6v (jiaai KwraSti^af. THE GREEKS, jg would hear the people singing very often, was the song that was sung at the procession of the Phallus, which was called' the Ithyphallic song, and we have not its words, but its measure was this, — \j — \j — — And it seems to the writer of this narrative that the second last of the two longs was a sustained note, which we should express in music by ^ . , and that so the Ithyphallic Measure in musical notes was this : J ^IJ J'lJ. IJ II but he does not know whether this is true or not, because we have no decided information on the subject, but it seems to him that this was the true rhythm of it, from the way that Archilochus treated it. For Archilochus, as I say, hearing this Ithyphallic measure, and being struck with its terseness and crispness, began to contrive how he might make use of it. And since the swing of it so greatly resembled his own Trochaic line J «rl J w I J J I &c. hq was unable to use it in connection with his Trochees ; but on the other hand, it was exactly the inverse of his Iambics, and he thought that by com- bining it 'W|ith his Iambics, he could bring out the terseness and pertness of the Ithyphallic measure into eminent relief So he resolved to break into his Iambics, and combine them with the Ithyphallic. And this was his first step in the composition of heterogeneous metres, in which he afterwards so much excelled. And since if he was to combine the Ithyphallic with his Iambic, he must needs have parity of Rhythmic Phrasing, for that is the feature of all music, and the Iambic as it stood was 80 HISTORY OF MUSIC 6 feet, but the Ithyphallic only 4, he therefore broke off the two last feet from his Iambic, and was thus enabled to combine it with the Ithyphallic, for each now consisted of 4 feet apiece :— W — \ \J Iw Iv-/ l*^ \-/| v-zl — .1 — II But now these phrases were so dissimilar, for the first is weighted at the end of its feet, and the second at the beginning of them, that they would have bumped up against each other at the joining point, if they had been combined as we see them now, as we have only to read them as they stand to see. So he conceived the idea of silencing the last note o' his Iambic, and putting a rest of equal value in its place, in this way that collision of longs, which drags so, would be avoided, and besides there was now a tantalising pause after the comparative gravity of the Iambic, just sufficient to provoke our expectation, when all at once the dapper Ithyphallic came tripping in. And this rest the Greeks called a kevoc Csub. xpovog), or " empty beat," and they wrote it A ,^ but we will continue to use our English notation, and write it, |* . And now the complete verse of Archilochus stood as follows : — t And in the last syllable of the ist Phrase, he availed himself of the same licence which up till now had only been extended to the end of a complete line, that is to sly, he treated it as adiaphorous or common in 1 Anonymi Scriptio. p. 102. (Bellermann's Edition.) 2 Although the invention of rests is not positively attributed to Archilochus, I think Hephsestion's words (in the 15th chapter of his Encheiridionj joined to the testimony of the Asynartetes themselves, with their otherwise unaccountable adiaphorous syllable, almost sanctions the conjecture, THE GREEKS. 8 1 quantity, and would use naturally long syllables there, and make them short, as was commonly done by the poets before his time, though only at the end of the line." And having carried out his ideas of composition so successfully in this, he now proceeded to greater heights. For he woke the old Hexameter to life, and bid it take new form before him. And he rivalled Rembrandt in his light and shade. For he now combined Common and Triple Time in the same verse, and this was contrast indeed.^ For however the accent differed in the Iambic and the Ithyphallic, they were both yet in the same Triple Time of g. But the old Hexameter in its original and unper- verted form was in 5 time. And he conceived the bold idea of compounding this verse, where the Arsis and Thesis were of equal measure, with a verse where the Arsis was double of the Thesis, as it is in ^ time. And he treated the Hexameter as he had treated his Iambic, and broke off the two last feet, in order to establish equality of phrasing with the 4 foot Ithyphallic that was \o follow. But since the Hexameter's arsis always fell on the first note of each bar, that is, since the first note of its bar was accented, and not the second, like the Iambic's was, it was unnecessary for him to introduce that rest before the commencement of the Ithyphallic, since there would be now no collision of accented longs. So he could keep the 4 feet of the Hexameter un- I As the is shortened in the 2nd fragment in Hephcestion, and in the 3rd fragment. 2 Plutarch. 28. irpoac^tvpe kuI r?)v slg rovg ov\ bfioytvu<; pvBfjLOvg ivTamv. G 8.3 HISTORY OF MUSIC. impaired. And the compounded verse stood as follows : — Here is a contrast indeed ! And he permitted himself the same freedom in the last syllable of the Hexameter phrase, although there was no rest now to excuse it, as he had previously done in the last syllable of the Iambic Phrase, that is to say, he made it adiaphorous or common in quantity, making it short or long as he pleased. As in the following example : — cti (3i](T-(jaQ bp-i-wv 6v(i-iraara\ov^ oi-og fjv tw ri — —VJW — — — \J \J — \J — V-» — Here it is naturally short. ^r)C. Toi-og yap (j>i\6 -ri)-Toe t-piog vnb Kap-Sl -av i - Xva - Odg. — \J \j — \J \J — \J \j vj \j Here he has introduced the extra syllable of the popular poets at the beginning of the Hexameter, and so somewhat assimilated it to the Iambic : — ^ Plut. 28. TTpwTi^) Si avT(^ 7] rotT) jj|0(jtoD au^r)(Tic aTToStSoTai. 2 Fragment 115 in Bergk. Obviously another explanation would be to explain the last !-yllable of the Hexameter part, as a short with 0X0710 but this would not bear the remotest relation to Hephsestion's TOm'i. 3 Frag. 103 in Bergk. THE GREEKS. 83 JU^-J^u^^:^_i^^-^^=^^iJ=^'^^M £ w-6sv t-KaoTOv E7ri-v£v iv §£ (iaK-xi-\l o'tv. \j : — ^ Kj — \j \j \j \j And here there is something more to remark, for there is a rest here of a full § bar. And the Greeks called this a kevoc TErpUKig, or "empty beat of 4 times," (for they measured each bar by the number of shorts it contained, and each bar of the Hexameter contains 4 shorts), and so the strict name for that other rest, ^, was KsvoQ SixpovoQ, or " empty beat of 2 times ; " and as they expressed . the |« by A , so they expressed the KEvoe TtTp&Kig in this way a .2 And this was likewise the invention of Archilochus. And here he- uses it again, and also the extra syllable at the beginning in like manner : — r Frag. 83 in Bergk, 2 The term StYooi'OC however was not technically applied, but it was called kevoc] fXaKpOQ, or "long empty beat," which was however equivalent to the fiaKpu ii\povoQ, ^ • Of rests as of notes there were eventually 5 in number:— the kevo? j3paxvQ, A = *| ; the Ktvog fiaKpog, /\~ or T = r j the kevo? fxaKpbc; rplg /\ = r • ; the KEvoe fiaKpbg TtrpUKig, M = -—. ; and the Ktvog /uoKjOoc n-Evraicte 4'' =—-*]• (Anonymus. 102.) The MSS. write riaaapiQ instead of rerpuKig, which may be the true reading. Some MSS. write this rest '-^ , and the KEvoe rpie, L, which latter is obviously a mistake ; for L. is the sign of the fiaxpa, rpixpovog cf. supra p. — ■ 84 HISTORY OF MUSIC, aa-Twv o 01 fiiv KaTO-wiiadiv ^ -trav 01 ci ttoA - Aoi'. And now let us admire the bantering tone and the gay abandon of the measure. For. Mueller has well said, that the song with which the Athenians saluted Demetrius Poliorcetes, and it was one of these measures, "shows the character of the Athenians at that period better than all the declamations of rhetorical historians." we Ot flijKTTOt TU>V dlMV KOI (plXraTOl Ty TToXa Trapuaiv. — \j — \j — • _ The looseness, the gay abandon of those degenerate Athenians — and how the Ithyphallic line expresses it. But this verse of Mueller's is not strictly in the same measure as the compound verses of Archilochus of which we have been speaking, but is a developed form of them, which he developed later on. And this yet remains to be said, how from the combination of Hexameter and Ithyphallic, or Iambic and Ithyphallic, with equal phrases, and often with a pause or rest between, he developed another and matuier form of Verse, which has won him yet more renown. For he developed the Epode,^ which must not however be confounded with the Choral Epode, and is more properly described as the first attempts at a definite Musical Period. Which period should recur; and it is probable that his passion for the Refrain led him to I Frag. 8i in Bergk. == irpwrfj) gj ai,rft7 ra t l-ir(^)la oTToScSorat (Plutarch). tHE CiRE^kS. 8S this form. And it is best described as the fusion of two verses, so that the sound should run on beyond the limits of the line, till it attained a natural musical close at the end of both. And here are some of the Epodes of Archilochus, and we shall see that in them he uses complete verses and no longer merely fragments, or rather, the first verse is a complete verse and the second is a fragmentary verse, which brings the musical period to a close. _ %J \J KJ \J lU \J — \m» W \J \J \J — \J — \J \J \J W V^ — KJ KJ — KJ — W — Tliis form also is found And here is a very extended form, Also, \j \j \j — \j — — — \-t — \j \j \j \j — \J \J \J V^ — V-/ — W — — KJ \J — \J \J — &c. which is the way with them all, for they all run on like this. Archilochus also extended the Iambic into the PsEon Epibatus (77 row la/xjStiou ttjooc tov iirtjdarbv ttumvu tvTaaig) \j \j \j — \J — w 86 HISTORY OF MUSIC. and other innovations (Katvoro^uio) besides these, of which only the tradition remains. ' 1 The various inventions of Arcliilochus I will now state, and I must say that a great deal of the light that is able to be shed on them is due to the admirable Westphal, who is the Aristojienus of Greek Musical History and pioneer of all our knowledge. The somewhat confused account of Plutarch, therefore, he has digested in the following form, showing only too plainly that Plutarch has given us in reality two accounts mixed up together, which Westphal has thus separated : — A. I. B. I. aXX« /ifiv KOL ^A(i\i\o\OQ = 7rpwT(i) TE ai/TCi" ra •r" tTru^yoa, rriv TU)V -pifitTQiiiv pvO- Kol ra rtrpufxirpa, flOTTOLiaV TrpOO-E^tSoE. Km TO KOIfTiKOV, Koi TO TiQOnoiiaK.ov aTToStoorai, Koi 17 Tov y]0i()0v av^jjcrie, vii tvia~ov ■naiQva EvratTic, KCil ri TOV Jjii^rj^troD ijptiJou i'lC TE TO TTpoaociaKov Kai TO Kpr)TlKOV. A. III. B. III. KC(i T»ji' TrapaKa-aXoyiiv. = tTi 8e tuv lafit>iiwv to tu fiiv Xiyea-Bai li-apu -ijv Kpov- (Tiv TU S' nSiadat. A. IV. B. IV. Koi Tr)v TTEOi Tavra Koovaiv. = olovTai Se koi txiv Koovcnv Trtv vTTo Tr]v (ji>oriv tovtov irpu)- Tov sipilv- ToiiQ S' apxalov^ TTUvrag TrpoffxopSa Kpovuv. In which arrangement there are one or two things I might be inclined to object to, as the placing 77 tov ijpMOV av^rjtrtc in the ist category, when it comes much better in the second. But I think I have "Westphal with me in eliminating the Cretic and Prosodiac from the list of Archilochus' inventions, since Glaucus of Rhegium in the loth chapter s made expressly to say GuXjjrav /iSfxi/iriaOai fitv tu 'ApxiXoX"" THE GREEKS. 87 And metres grew beneath his touch, as clay in the hands of a sculptor, to express every shade of feeling. And he expressed his jibes in the Ithyphallic, oiiKid' o/iHig OaXXiig airaXov XP^"- K(jp(j>eTai yup rjor). " Your face has no bloom, my dear ; for the zvrinkles are coining already."^ And his love he expressed in the Trochaic,^ and the love of Archilochus is lit with the antique gallantry. " For Oh ! could I but touch the hand of my Neobule" says he, " how happy were I !"^ And he expressed his scorn in the Iambic. And the scorn of Archilochus — wc know but too well what it v/as. fiiXr\ ic.r.X. KOI Y[(W~)va Koi Kpt)-(icov pvd/nbv tig Tjjy fiiXo- TTOuav ivOnvai ol.g'Ap\L\oxov /in) yP')"'^'"- Befckles which we have no trace of such a rhythm in any of the fragments. As to the Paeon Epibctus we may leave that, wliicli is perhaps a later definition of a line of five dotted crotchets, N I I M |J> I I h I I l> ! I I 11 11 11 11 I This may perhaps be an explanation, or perhaps it may be half that old Terpandrian, line that Archilochus used, Zei} iravTUiv fi(>\U, as it is written by some in lines of this length, and Archilochus may really have been employing these. As to the attribution of the Cretic to Archilochus, I imagine that arose from reading the concluding passage of his Trochaic Tetrameter J «,'^| J • | aS all One bar, _ ^ _, and this would be the reason. As to the Prosodiac, I cannot tell. I had thought of alvog rig avOpw \j \j I Trojv SSe I but it will not do. 1 Fragment 100 in Bergk. 2 For the other uses of the Trochaic, e.g. oi) (j>iXio\rjv iaxiv alax^ag iXiag. (Suidas.) ^ filKpav ovaav KOt fiiXaivav, says Maximus in his 24th Disserta- tion, " Sum brevis," (Ovid) in the same way. ^ loTiK6\ ayvd /i£XXt;^o/i£i8E "^aTr^oi, Alcseus speaks of her, " S.Tppho with the dark hair ajid the kind smile," where we may well admire that such a scholar as Miiller should translate ioTrXo^e, " with violets in her hair," and Liddell and Scott translate still more strangely, "weaving violets." Where it is plain that lOirXo^^ is simply " violet haired," or " dark haired," = to7rXoKa;Uoe, as we have TrXoicoe used for irXoKafiog in Sophocles for instance, tovS' lyo) rs/ivw ttXokov, and doubtless in other writers too. 5 Atque aliae centum quas non sine crimine amavi. 90 HISTORY OF MUSIC. so strange, where women love each other.' And her dearest love was a Parian girl, called Atthis, and we have mentioned her among the others. And these things were common among the Lesbian women at that time,2 and other and rarer things too which we cannot well here describe, for they invented strange ways of gratifying their passions, and made a study of licentiousness. And Sappho excelled them all.3 And the story that she drowned herself for the love of Phaon I do not believe, but think it was one of the many fables which the Lesbians conjured up about their Queen of Womcn.^ For the story reads like our own legend of Faust. For Phaon was an old ferryman who used (lo feny people across the river Caystcr, and Venus gave him a box of magic ointment, which changed him from an old man into a young, of such surpassing beauty that every one who saw him fell in love with him, and all the women in Lesbos were after him.S But other accounts say that he had found that magical herb, called erynge or centum capita, which is not found once in a 1 Marium vices in opere cum puellis seietat, as Giraldi puts it in his Dialogue on the Histories of the poets, and in the lOth book of Turnebus' Adversaria the question, An Sappho Hermaphroditus esset, is gravely discussed. Such was the (rvvi'iOna among the members of this fair fraternity, that of one only, viz. Erinna, could it be said, r^i; ira'tpa 'Sairijiovg Koi iTiXi{iTr)iT): Trap6ivoQ. The attempt of Maximus Tyrius to make Sappho into a female Socrates, and Atthis and A nactoria into Phaedrus and Charmides, is excusable perhaps in that elegant and refined sophist, but sufficiently ludicrous in the modern Germans who have followed in his steps. 2 Lucian's Dialog. Meretric. 5. 3 Tlie usual name that Sappho was known by in Lesbian society, was 17 rpi&UQ. ^ TO iJ.t\i\p |>^w|\^ \ \J ■"■ viiLi(j>atg raiQ A- log s^- alvi- o^^w (j>a<7L nrvy- fiivaig. And all the songs in her third book were written in this measure. Or let us take that complaint which she puts in the mouth of Erinna, \j — Iw — _|v->_^i — wlw — |\_; Iw l_ y\v Ksl - a fia-Tip o\) - toi Sv - vafiai KptKuv tov ipovri'(T8t(v ETTi 8' 'AvSpo/xcSav irori. THE GREEKS. lOI horrid rivalries at times. " You were a mere chit when I knew you first," she says to Atthis on a similar occasion, or perhaps it was on this very occasion ; " and very plain too, mind that ! "^ But the following dates from a happier period, when the good relations of the fraternity were fully established again : " Tell the son of Polyanax that he needn't come here after any of us, for it's no good."^ Now what the Lesbian School of Music did for the development of the Art, briefly was this : They introduced the Systaltic Style, and of that we have spoken already. But they also developed the Musical Period to its perfection, of which we see the germs in Archilochus. And Archilochus had combined two different verses together, with no pause between them, (for the pause between comes in his earlier days, before he had conceived the idea of a regular musical period), and these two verses were in constant sequence and fused together in such a way, that the sound ran on beyond the limits of the 1st line, till it attained a natural musical close at the end of both And the Lesbian School developed this to its due completion, for they combined more than two lines in constant sequence, and generally it was four lines that they combined, so that the concluding cadence of the voice was put off for a comparatively long time, and the ear was trifled with and its expectation kept alive for that marked ascent or descent of the voice, which, when deliberately arranged and palpably ' dfxiKpd fioi TTuiQ in V-» — KJ \J V-/ — W Cadence — \j — \j — ' at a pinch, has not had his introduction or first lesson in it, and has yet to begin the alphabet of Music. In this way then, by the operation of this great law of beauty, which we shall find pervading Greek Music to its very fountain head, and which we shall come to study in detailed operation presently, the Melody proceeded unruffled and beautiful along. And now we may imagine that the graces of song would first begin to be cultivated, which, though they may scarcely seem graces to us, were yet esteemed ornaments and graces in days when simplicity was the highest beauty. And the principal grace was the Prolepsis {irpoXrixpic;), or Slur, and it consisted in singing one syllable to two notes, which must be done without making any ridges or creases in the tone, and this was harder then than it is now, for song was but newly born from Speech then, and tone and syllable rommonly THE GREEKS. 1 15 went together. And the -n-poXrixpig might occur in two ways. It might be (i.) di grado (a/xicrwc;) or (2.) di salto (l) afiiawg - -'— I -p- , where the syllable was sung ira-tTiv to two notes, the second of which was immediately (afiicTbjg) above the ist. (2) IfiniawQ ttS - aiv Tra-cTiv wa - - aw that is to say, the second note of the two was in this form of TrpoXrixpiQ a 3rd, or 4th, or a 5th above the other one. But it does not appear that a greater interval than a 5 th was ever taken in Prolepsis ; but only to separate syllables.' And perhaps at the time we are writing of no greater interval than a 5 th, except the 8ve, was ever taken either in Prolepsis or out of Prolepsis, though in later times the 6th, 7th, and 9th were freely taken, but not in Prolepsis.^ And the Greek name for "Slur" was "Hyphen" (v(j)iv), and the Hyphen was written v^, in which we may see the original of that curve ^ -^ by which we express our "slur." And when the Prolepsis occurred downwards instead 1 The Anonymous writer. 4. Bryennius gives a slightly diiFerent account of the Prolepsis, for which see the History of Gevaert, who has adopted Bryenne's by preference. 2 For examples see the Hymns of Dionysiug. I l6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. of upwards, it was called Eclepsis (iKXrixpig) and pro- ceeded in the same way, that is, I afiiawQ (() ^ -^ J 2 ifx/ifawg i :|^ :t ira m 1 J- TTa - aiv tra aiv And there was another grace of quite an opposite kind to this, which was called the Procrusis (irpoKpovcng) and this could only occur when two short syllables came before a long one, as in such words as /3ajvivai TTotf avajKaZov Kara ttjv kTrayysXlav. 2 See the whole passage in Aristides II. pp. 92 in Meibomius. THE GREEKS. 123 language, as all Solfeggios have since been, the round, stout, and sturdy w was made to stand at the beginning of the masculine Solfeggio, being assigned to zii and the vowel that was most particularly feminine was placed at the beginning of the feminine solfeggio, and i was therefore assigned to ^ 1 . And the other tJ 3 vowels ran in this order — the short o being as a matter of fact omitted, being supposed to be rolled up in the stout tx) — war}wari, till the point was reached where the feminine Solfeggio began at the middle A, when £ was inserted to break the continuity, which however was immediately restored, as if no t had been there at all. In this way :— Masculine Solfeggio. . Feminine Solfeggi o. i^ TO) ra r») tw ra rr) rw te to rrj rw ra tjj toj ra for the letter t was inserted before the vowels, in order that they might not clash in the singing, and for the use of this letter r a mystical reason was likewise given, which he who wishes to know may find in Aristides Quintilianus' Panegyric on the letter T (p. 93 in Meibomius). But irrespective of the fanciful reasons that the Greek Theorists gave for this sexing of the vowels, we may discover a very fine vein of reason running through it, for a> and o are the vowels of nearly all the masculine terminations in Greek, as much as ij though I The Anonj'mous Writer, 77. 124 HisfoRV OF MUsid. not £, is of the feminine ones. And for the use of the letter r, it is plain that that this letter was really chosen, because it runs through the whole of the commonest word in Greek, the Article, to which indeed this Solfeggio has no slight resemblance. This Solfeggio then, which wears an air of consider- able antiquity, was the vehicle by which the Greek Singers practised their scales and exercises. And if they were practising singing or sustaining separate notes, they would use the syllables as we have written or the women 1 1 1 \j / ^i^^^-«-J-^- -s=— cB ^1 1 1 1 r- 1 Tix) ra rr) ra roi ^ J: -^- V -^ J: ^ Tiii re ra ri) ra rs n -St but if they were practising intervals, they left out the T in the second note, in order not to produce any break in the interval, thus ^ — iri — ■,* — -^ — : m — ; ^ -^-^ -it, Ti a T£ And in the Staccato a v was inserted, which gave a sharp, smart, nasal sound to the note, thus ^ ^ —^-X- Tijjv- Tw rav - ra rav - ra And in the Connected Staccato the r was dropped, and the v was doubled, which like all doubled liquids almost compelled the voice to hang on the I Anonymus, sec, 4. i Id. 8. THE GREEKS. 125 the way that the connected staccato note in requires. Twvvti) TTfvvri ravva while the Teretismus, which is a combination of both Staccatos, was also a combination of their Solfeggioing W- rav Tav J: TiV TiV VE In this way we cannot be surprised that the Greek singing reached that height of perfection, which the unanimous accounts of authors invite us to believe, and that that thing was possible with them, which no art of future ages has ever been able to attain, I mean the division of the interval into a smaller limit than the Semitone. For that which we now regard as the dream of theorists, and an ideal beauty or delicacy which can never be . realised in practice, was an everyday thing with them, which great singers and little singers were alike able to do — I mean the correct intonation of quarter tones. This is what we know — but from books only — as the Enharmonic Genus And we have caught a gleam of its existence among Primitive Man, but only for a moment, for it soon vanished away, being indeed but the spangles which Speech flung off in its passage to Song, and scarce destined to outlive the transit. For directly Song began, by benefit of the Chant, from that moment I H), 2 lb. 126 HISTORY OF MUSIC. did the Diatonic Scale begin, for the Chant is the direct formulator of the Diatonic Note. And as harder things will always give way to easier ones, so did the Enharmonic, which though easy and natural in Impassioned Speech was yet difficult as a consciously cultivated form, pass away before the bold and simple Diatonic Song. And with most peoples this happened at an immeasurably remote period in their history, and almost before their music can be said properly to have begun. But with the Greeks, whose Song was so late of developing from Speech, the contrary was the case. And through the long series of bards and rhapsodists, whose form of expression was rather Speech than Song, the natural Enharmonic of Speech must have lived on a long life ; and we know that it had effected an entry even into the domain of Song itself For it had effected an entry into that most ancient form of Greek song, which grew up side by side with the rhapsodists, and of which only the tra- dition remains, I mean the Religious Chant of the Temples. And here it was admitted as an artistic form, as we may know from the following reason : the Libation Hymn of the Delphian Temple was in the Enharmonic Mode.' But with Terpander and the reforms of Terpander the Enharmonic fell into disuse, and perhaps one of the many things he did was this very establishment of the Diatonic Scale in Greek music, which we know he must have used to the exclusion of any other, since he accompanied his voice I As the name of the Enharmonic progression (Spondeiasmus) only too well implies. See the Chapter in Westphal's Geschichte der alten Musik on the Tropos Spondeiazon, Also it appears from Plutarch, 19. and elsewhere, that the Libation Hymn was in the Enharmonic genus. THE GREEKS. 127 note for note with the Lyre, and the Lyre of Ter- pander had only 7 notes ^i -?=- ^=^= 4: i which are all in the Diatonic Scale, So that when we find the Enharmonic reappearing, as we do shortly before the period of which we are now treating, we must look on it as an artistic reproduction of the antique, due to a general Renaissance of Greek Art, of which there are abundant signs at present, and more particularly due and rendered possible by the high state of perfection which Greek Singing had reached under the influence of the Lesbian School of Musicians. And the En- harmonic, as used by the singers now, was the perfection of the Portamento. And it was doubtless employed by them very much in the same passages and for the same effects as we employ the Portamento to-day.^ But how much more perfect was it! For while in our Porta- mento the Voice sweeps the Interval and blends all the tones confusedly together, they in their Portamento, which was the Enharmonic, swept the Interval indeed, but enunciated at the same time and with perfect I. It is not a little interesting to find the Portamento a most favourite figure in Modern Greek Music, which is generally brought in in such a way as to form the leading feature of the song, e.g., m that beautiful Greek song ODTOe O iCOaflOQ. ^^^m \ — I- auroe 6 Koa-fiog siv Tovp-Kia civ elvai 'Pa>-/i?)o-OTU-vr) portando la voce. &c., but it is his lover he - - - ai^' 'EX - E vj} /uou calls on, not lus country. Hellenhas lost hjs " 1 ," and Ijis.sex with it. HISTORY OF MUSIC. 1 28 clearness each tiny demitone that made it up. And the length of the Interval that was taken was limited to the distance of a 4th, and it was executed in the following way : — I =c±: -rz:-^ rj g - =^ --^ - ^- - gr- or it might be taken upwards, when it would be : =^ =S^ So that it will be seen that it is in reality a compound figure, for it consists of first an empty interval, and then a portandoed interval. And the empty interval is a Major 3rd ^ — ~^-~ , and the />or- — cJ — tandoed interval is a Minor 2nd j 3 And in being Compound it bears a resemblance to that grace, the npiTiafiog which was a compound figure, compounded of the Staccato and the Connected Staccato, =zrai — J-^a^ . And this figure that we are now considering is compounded of an empty Interval and a Portando&d Interval :=:=ir- — ^— And doubtless the object of using such a sequence was to bring the Portamento more into relief by contrast with the empty interval that precedes it, or if it were taken upwards, that follows it. And we see here the same effecting or intensifying of a beauty 2 Gaudentius, 17. Aristides, 20. sq. THE GREEkS. i 29 by contrast, which we noticed before in that figure the KOjUTntr/ioe, or Staccato, where it was the rule that the staccato note must be immediately followed by a legato one, which was probably to show off the staccato more, by virtue of the contrast with the legato, as here by contrast with the empty interval to show off the Portamento more. This we may say speaking as artists, and doubtless the Greeks so regarded it, who esteemed it the greatest beauty in their Music ; and they would have given some such explanation as this of the great pleasure they always felt in hearing it.^ So we may say this, as I say, speaking as artists ; but speaking in the language of history, we have a very different tale to tell. For in this Enharmonic, which was notoriously a revival of the antique, which makes a skip of a note every time it moves, and which is limited in its compass to the distance of a 4th, we see only too plainly the features of that ancient Greek Scale, whose compass was limited to the distance of a 4th, and which made a skip of a note every time, because it was an Isolating Scale. But if a scale, whose compass is a 4th, skips a note in its progress, the notes will be reduced to three, and they will be similarly arranged to what we found them in the scale of Primitive Man, that is to say, with a gap in them aa ?=: ^=^ But since the jEolian Scale which Terpander added to the Dorian had its break a note higher up than I Plutarch, II. 19. &c. K I30 HISTORY OF MUSIC. this, and omitted the C instead of the B, having its break, between B and D therefore, and being as follows, a^E we may conjecture that the original form of this ^olian scale was not merely -m . r F^ '~ — ^^^^^ but that in its most primitive !!• I form there was a G under the A, thus which we may without violence conjecture, since we found it to be universally so among all other nations whose most ancient scales have come down to us, and this G would be merged in the Dorian Scale, which was T?T r - ^ —I and lost there, and men knowing that two scales had been united, but without knowing what the original notes of each had been, would think that the union was one of exact divisions, and would say : The scale of 7 notes is compounded of two scales of 4 notes each. And it would have been a scale of 8 notes instead of 7, were not the middle note common to both component parts. And now we may find an explanation of this gap in the Primitive Isolating Scale, which before puzzled us how to account for it. For by benefit of the Enharmonic \ve can now discover how this old isolating scale was sung, T?T— I 1 \ ==^ THE GREEKS. 13I For if the Enharmonic sings through this very gap, in this way, it is plain that the gap between D and B was at first no gap, but merely an unsteadiness of the voice, which not taking kindly to its new fetters passed every now and then from Song into Speech, nor was it able in the beginning and immaturity of our art to preserve its steadiness for more than two or three notes together, ^ ^- ^- but a passage like this 7-1 . ' T ~ | it would "^ '"^ — execute ^- 1 I j— _pj= ^ or a passage like this r} |=^^ — I L— in this way ;^;=:p=j=— | t^zb:: that is to say, it would break down and falter after a few notes, under the artificial restraint of complete steadiness, till at last, to mend its fault in the easiest and most effectual manner, it would cease to make the effort which led to the fault, and would limit its continuous runs to two or three notes at the most, which it could easily take, contenting itself with per- forming the easy well, than attempting the difficult badly ; and so the difficulty would be left, as other similar things were, for future generations to solve. In this way the scale of these rude times would be full of gaps, because no more than two or three notes were sung in sequence, and it would be full of gaps from top to bottom, thus, 132 HISTORY OF MUSIC. I w f: -1 i -^ =^ — J — t— 1^- :^=t And this seems an explanation of that phenomenon which meets us at the threshold of the music of all nations, the Isolating Scale. Now the Enharmonic of the Greeks, then, which now comes before us as an artistic revival of an ancient and obscure form of scale, consisted, as we said, of an interval of a 3rd followed by two distinctly intoned quarter tones, and it was considered to be a marvellous beauty, and to express, more than other flexion of the voice, the refinement of sentiment, and romantic melancholy. And the honour of reviving it in Greek Music is universally attributed to Olympus, a Phrygian flute player. And if it be really the regeneration and new birth of a most ancient form, as we have assumed it to be, we may well understand how it came' from Phrygia, or how it had lingered on in Phrygia after it had fallen into disuse in the rest of the Greek world. For archaic types are preserved in the amber of religion, and in Phrygia the most ancient worship of the Hellenes, which was the wor- ship of the forces of nature, had lingered on, long after the worship of Apollo had supplanted it among the rest of the Hellenic family, and doubtless the old Enharmonic had lingered on with it. And Olympus came playing the flute, from Phrygia to Greece. And his flutes wept as he played them, by virtue of this beautiful mode. And romance and sentiment began to colour the white light of the Greek Music. And the Phrygian Satyr, Marsyas, whom Apollo had vanquished and crushed, lived again in the beautiful Olympus. flili GkEEItS. 13^ And Olympus invented the Elegy, which is the old Hexameter, but how softened ! And he played Elegies and Dirges on his flute to the people of Greece. And his flutes sobbed and wept. And he could trace his descent to the times of Marsyas himself, and show that the flute-playing that he used, was in reality the very playing of Marsyas himself For he was descended from a flute-player of long ago, called like himself Olympus, who was the darling of Marsyas, and whom Marsyas himself had taught to play the flute. And there was a lake near the town of Celsenae in Phrygia, covered all over with quantities of firm, straight reeds, and Marsyas had got his reeds from here which he made his flutes of, and Olympus got his reeds from the same place. And this lake is called Aulocrene, or " the Flute pond," to the present day. And Olympus founded a school of flute players in Greece ; and there was Pythocritus of Sicyon, and Democrates of Tenedos, and Satyrus of Thebes, and Autolycus of Thespiae in Attica, and Orthagoras, and Olympiodorus, and Antigenides,' and Midas,^ and Scopelinus, and Pronomus, who were of his school, And these; extend down to late times in our history. And contemporaneously with these, yet probably under Olympus' influence, there was an indigenous school of flute-playing that grew up in Greece. And with reason it saw light first among the shepherds of Arcadia, and its greatest master was Clonas of Tegea in Arcadia, 1 Suidas calls him an aiiX(j»S6e,biit tliis, I ima^e, only means that he was the aifXcjiSoe to Pluloxenus. 2 The EuSo^oc MiSac °f Pindar, who won the prize for flute-playing twice at the Pytliian games, and also at the Panathensea. 134 ttistORY of Music. although its reputed founder was Ardalos of Trcezen. And these men used the Enharmonic of Olympus in their flute-playing, at any rate Clonas certainly did, but probably their style was severer, and they were not so passionate, nor yet so tender as the Phrygian school of players. But this we cannot certainly tell. And Polymnestus, Sacadas, Mimnermus, Apollodotus, Evius, Echembrotus — these were the principal fluteplayers of the Arcadian School, but they did not attain so great renown, nor have so abiding an effect on Greek Art as the School of Olympus, which indeed introduced a softness and passion into the Music that were unknown before, and all the traces of this which will appear henceforth from time to time in the Greek Music, may with more or less justice be attributed to the influence of the Phrygian School of Olympus. And now let us admire what effect this dissemination of the Enharmonic would have on the make and structure of the instruments themselves. And we have seen what effect it had on the singing, and how the singers used it as a constant grace and embellishment to their song, and it became so favourite and admired that it could by no means be dispensed with, and all singers definitively used it. And now that it was firmly established in the Music, it is plain what effect it would have on the scale. For it would increase the number of its notes. And it divided every semitone into two demitones, and since there were two semitones in the scale, there would now be four demitones instead ; that is to say, the scale would be increased by 2 notes. And would accordingly stand : fei:=f=S^=^: _g_^^^ ± in the Dorian Mode, TMfi GREEltS. 135 -^—^ ?=^ in the iEoliaii Mode. And it will be plain what effect this would have on the instruments, for they must increase their stops or their strings accordingly. And the flutes were already increased, for they were all made now after the pattern of Olympus. And now the strings must be increased in like manner. And with all this, the old Lyre of Terpander, which was one string short even before, w =f2= =1= for it was short of C, fell into disuse altogether, and new and larger instruments sprang up in its room : which all had the 4 demitones of the Enharmonic, as the 'flutes had got before them, and as the singers now regularly employed. And this was an age of change, for it was in all strictness a Renaissance, being caused, as all Renaissances are, by the influx of foreign knowledge into a younger and ■ receptive people. And the scale was to receive a further change, and this time from Semitic influence. For now the knowledge and Art of Assyria, which had hitherto flowed into Greece through the gate of Phoenicia, was now pouring in a strong and steady stream through a wider and nearer channel. For the great kingdom of Lydia, which had been a dependency and tributary of Nineveh for 5 centuries past, was brought into the closest connection with the .^olian and Ionian Greeks, not long before the period we are writing of, through the friendship or policy of Alyattes. And his son, Croesus, who ultimately became their master, had made the connection a still closer one. 136 ttistoRV Of ivtOsic. And this was the age of Croesus, and of the Pactolus whose sands were gold. And Oriental influence was at its height. And the lore and wisdom of Assyria had voiced itself in the Seven Sages, and the licentiousness of Assyria had expressed itself in the person of Sappho, being indeed a Grecised Semiramis, or Astarte incarnate. And Lydia is so near Lesbos, you can see its coast from the rocks of Mytilene.^ And great must have been the traffic between the two, and the strange things from the East exposed for sale in the market - places. And that woman must have been familiar with the vices of Babylon from her childhood, and also with its music. And now we find a new Mode appear in Greek Music, of which the introduction was attributed to her,^ and it is precisely the same as the Assyrian scale. m ZSSr to which the stars were a gamut. And this is said to have been invented by Sappho, and was known afterwards as the Mixo-Lydian Mode. And Sappho also is credited with the invention of the plectrum, and it is said that up to her time the strings of the Lyre ^yere always plucked by the fingers, but that she invented the plectrum, and struck them instead.^ Yet we know that the plectrum was in common use among the Assyrians, ages before this 1 Mysia w*s Lydia at the time we are Writing of. In this, ss in many other points, the drawings of the atlases are calculated to give a wrong impression, for they according to Roman demarcations. 2 Plutarch, 16. 3 Suidas, art. Sappho. THE GREEItS. 137 time, and that it was used by them, and by them alone, in lyre-playing, and to play their yet more favourite instrument, the Dulcimer. And now let us sum up the traces of Assyrian influence that have up till now appeared in Greek Music, and how they came. And first, in remote and almost prehistoric times, Phoenician traders, like those who carried off lo, coming to the coasts of Greece to fish for the purple shell-fish, had brought the Lyre itself,' which all traditions say was first dis- covered on the sea-shore — an obvious innuendo, as I take it, at an importation by sea.^ For the semi- barbarian Greeks of those days, if we can imagine that they had developed above the Pipe Stage, would yet have used the Aryan form of String, which is the Lute. And next, the art of accompanying the Song, and the manner of accompanying it — above the Voice, — had been communicated by Phenicians to Archilochus, which in other respects bears strong signs of Assyrian paternity. And now finally, the entire Assyrian scale was brought bodily into Greece, and so was the plectrum they used to strike their strings with. And having said that the Scale of Terpander, as we may loosely call the Greek Scale, had suffered such a great change as it had by the insertion of the Enharmonic demitones, and that it received a still further change at this period, we must now say what that change was. And it was due to the t See a hint at this idea iu Curtius. Indeed 1 am not sure whether he does not actually say this. 2 Hermes found the tortoise on the seashore that he made his lyre of. The lyre of Orpheus came by sea to Lesbos. 138 ttlStOkV OF MUSIC. influence of this Assyrian Scale, which Sappho is said to have introduced. And if we remember the scientific perfection of the Assyrian scale, and how symmetrically the notes ran in it — for it was built in such a way that it was divisible into precisely equal parts from top to bottom. So that starting at B, B to E, E to A, A to D, D to G, and so on, were all equal to one another ; each comprising the interval of a Perfect Fourth, as we call it, that is two tones and a semitone. And the scale itself lay out. in symmetrical beauty, being composed of two equal groups of notes woven into one another, and posed in such a way, that the very position of the tones and semitones was in each precisely the same. That is to say, as follows : 1st group or Tetrachord. 2nd group or Tetrachord. i I €21 Semitone. Tone. Tone. Semitone. Tone. Tone. And this was effected by making the Scale begin on B, instead of any other note as C, D, E, &c., which would have rendered such symmetry impossible. And then let us consider what ease this gave the singer, and smoothness of execution, for the Voice naturally moving within the compass of a 4th., when it travelled beyond the bounds of the lower 4th in which it had first moved, and went to move in the higher, it would find the intervals succeed one another in precisely the same order again, that is, ist a Semitone, then a Tone, then another Tone. In this way the smooth- ness of water was communicated to melodies in such a scale, and it was such a smoothness that the Greeks loved. If Science admired its perfection, Art envied its ease. Accordingly we find at this period an tliE GREEltS. 13$ attertipt made to introduce the symmetry of the Assyrian Scale into the Greek Scale, and this was the change"-;: talked-.'of. And how was this to be done ? for the Scale of Terpander (writing it with the added C as it was probably used by the Lesbian singers), resembled the Assyrian Scale indeed in its lower group of 4, where there is first a semitone, then a tone, and then a tone again. Semitone. Tone. Tone. P _^__^ but in its upper group e^EEE^t it was strikingly unlike it, for the semitone does not come between the ist and 2nd, but between the 2nd and 3rd. g p^ 1 How then was this to be brought in harmony with the corresponding group of the Assyrian Scale? i > Iee^ -JSr And it is plain that if the 2nd note of the group, B, were lowered a Semitone, the whole group would be brought in harmony with it, for B being brought a semitone nearer A, would be carried a semitone further away from C, and thus its distance from A 140 HISTORY OP MUSIC, would be a semitone, but its distance from C would be two semitones, that is one tone, and so the whole group would be brought into complete harmony with the Assyrian Scale. And this accordingly was done, and we can best express this lowering of the B by our sign, the flat ^, and we will write it in this way. Se mitone . Tone. Tone. Bl =g: And the complete scale reads letter for letter the same with its original, 1st group or Tetrachord. 2nd group or Tetrachord. aL=^g=^EE^=E ,J&^ -P — ^1 =t==i Semitone. Tone. Tone. Semitone. Tone, Tone. 1st group or Tetrachord. 2nd group or Tetrachord. i q^==f: Semitone. Tone. Tone. Semitone. Tone. Tone. So then the instruments were now constructed, not on^ with the Enharmonic as an addition to their original scale, but with this B|7 as another addition. And since before the Enharmonic they had 7 notes in their scale, they now had 10, that is to say, 2. due to the Enharmonic, and one to the Bf. For these were all added notes, and the^ Bl? was not a substitution for the Bt|, but an addition to it, for the songs were sometimes sung in the new way and sometimes in the old way, and by retaining the B[j in the instruments, they could be sung in either. And the flutes were made the same as the Lyres were, and this is the fourth trace that we have discovered of Assyrian influence on Greek Music. THE GREEKS. I4I And now we will go on to discover a fifth trace. But this is not so certain, for that which we are now going to consider might well have had its origin inside Greece itself. But yet we will try and attribute it in the first place to the Assyrians. For Bactrian girls, singing under the laurel groves by the river Halys, had brought so near Greece as Lydia is that custom of singing which they had learnt from their Semitic masters, and which is universal among the Semitic nations. For they sang, and answered one another as they sang.^ And we have seen how among the ancient Hebrews the women would go out on days of victory to meet the conqueror, arid falling into t\yo parties would sing their hymns by antiphon. For first one. band would sing, and then the other would reply, and so they would continue all the time. And now was this ancient Semitic style come so near the confines of Greece ; and had the Greek Antiphony, which presently began to appear, assumed this very form, there would seem no doubt but that Assyrian influence was at work again in Greece ; or could we but imagine that the Semitic antiphony had assumed a slightly different cast among the Assyrians to what it did among the Hebrews, then again we might imagine Assyrian influence at work in Greece to produce it. For the Greek Jintiphony, as is well known, was not the antiphony of question and reply but was the antiphony of Harmony, if we may apply the term Harmony to what was but doubling in the ^ Bafj>v6(TKiov KUT a\(Toe "AXwoe iv vawaig oXKolai o!)vv BaKTJfpiac avTit^vjoie kXvo) XEOVcrae ■jrapOivovg. If my memory serves me for the author as well as the quotation, it is from Diogenes, the tragic poet. 142 HISTORY OF MUSIC. octaves Nor yet does it seem hard to imagine that the Assyrian antiphony was also this, since on the bas-reliefs we never find the singers divided into two choirs, but they always sing in one choir, which, if the Hebrew responsive antiphony had been the rule, would not have been so convenient. And then again, knowing the partiality of the Assyrians for high voices, and yet finding low voices mixed with them, men's voices with womens' and boys', and in the same choir, we might imagine that they practised this very doubling in the Octave, which we are now speaking of^ But since there seems no sufficient ground to take this conjecture as a truth, we must search for some other cause to explain the rise, of Antiphony, which now definitely began to appear in Greece. And seeing what had been the effect of the Renaissance hitherto on the forms of Music — how the musical period was doubled in length, how the feet were doubled, and so became compound feet — for we must imagine that tendency, whose commencement we studied, to have now attained its climax and completion, and the simple feet under the influence of high Rhythm to have clustered together into compounds, to which we saw them fast on the way — and seeing that the feet then were doubled, and the Period doubled by the benefit of our Renaissance, just as the line had been doubled and the scale doubled under similar conditions before — may we not see another instance of the per- vading law in the rise of Antiphony, which indeed was but the doubling of the Melody in the 8ve? 1 Theon of Smyrna, (BuUialdus' Edition) V. 77. Manuel Bryennius I ■; cf. Aristotle's Problem. XIX. 39. ' ^' 2 For these points about the Assyrians, cf. the chapter on the AssjTians, THE GREEKS. 143 And the Antiphony was of men and boys, or men and women. And the first would be sweeter than the second. And now let us admire the operations of Music, and how it grows before us. For now the Instruments doubled their strings, as the voices doubled their melody, and having 10 strings before, they now were made with 20. The Lyre vanished out of sight in Lesbos and Ionia, and a crowd of new instruments, each with 20 strings in octaves, came swarming up to fill its place. And first there was the Magadis, and we are told it had 20 strings {-ipaWo) 8' siKom xop^dlc fxayaBiv e^wv^), and that they were arranged in 8ves, for Sid nacrwv i(T\s TTjv (Tvv(jf)oiav avcpijv Ti KM TTaiSwv^ " it had the 8ve harmony of men's voices and boys' voices," which ' stood to each other," says Aristotle {Problem XIX. jg) "in the same relation that ( £> ^ — does to ^^ — — | And we also learn about the Magadis that both the Diatonic and Enharmonic Intervals were represented on its strings, since Triv (rvvioBlav £^ tt=p- #2=J- ■^- -x=^ 4=1- ■^E^EEE^B -^ be? — fls! — ^g^ — 20 notes in all.^ And now let us consider the make of the Magadis. And first we may well admire how despite all the testimony to the Magadis having 20 strings, and despite the wide-spread popularity which the Magadis soon achieved through the length and breadth of I Bockh thinks (De Metris Pindari, p. 261) that the Chromatic was used, which the present writer does not, since ro §£ 'xpw/ia on Trpitrfivrspov rrJQ apfioviag (ra^lf. Bsi yap Sr]\6voTi Kara rr/v rjjc avdpii)- TTivriQ (pvireaig 'ivrev^iv Koi xprjcriv to irpsajivTipov Xiytiv. Kara yap ai/rrjv rrjv tuiv yevHiv (j>v(nv ovk iariv 'irspov trepov irpialivTipov. This is theory. Here follow facts: 6 Se Ylayparrig aireixero rov \pwfiaTog wg iTTiroTroXv' ov S(' ayvoiav SrjXovort, aXXa Sia rrjv Trpoa'ipimv cnrd)(iTO' iZriXov yap we avTog £v^a.Q uKoinov TrriKTiSoc, the Barbitos, low, as its name implies, fiapv-fiiTOQ, deep-stringed.2 The Pectis was SixopSog, that is, it had its strings in octaves, as we may otherwise know, since avTiavatrTa te, says Sophocles, AvSfje lv(ivii wrtKTlBog (Tvyxopdia. And the Barbitos was similarly constructed, since its strings are always reckoned as lo, but in Anacreon's hand on the Vases they are only 5 in number ; but S strings with the Magadis bridge would make lo strings,^ for each string would give itself and its 8ve. And if the Barbitos had lo strings, we must imagine the Pectis to have had lo strings in like manner, that is to say, 5 strings bridged. And we will set down the ' high ' Pectis as having had the upper tetrachord of a Mode with the Enhar- 1 The Barbitos, we are expressly told, was made on the model of the Pectis, Athenasus. 635. D. 2 The writer had also thought of (iapvjiaroc. cf ^XtjSaroc &c., from (iaivu), but he imagines fiapvfiiTog is much the better of the two. Here we have the ordinary yEolic change of p. into /3. Cf fiipfipag, JEo\. f5ep(5pag. Cf also in ordinary Greek, pokuv. [5Xw xopBav apidfid^ X^^po- KajU)//(8ioi)Xov avaaTpo(j>wv raxoQ- "He was teasing a Magadis into life, running his hand up to the bridge on one string, and down again on the other, like a racehorse runs up to its goal-post, turns it, and back again^ And since irevrapajS^bf) is used here, which means that there were five strings on each side of the bridge,^ Telestes must be alluding to the small form of Magadis, not to the Great one with lo strings on each side. This was the strange style of playing that Telestes remarked, and there was something that was foreign to the Greek idea of grace and ease in it. And though the Magadis gained a temporary triumph over the Lyre in Asia Minor, it never took root in Greece Proper at all, but was always regarded as a stranger and interloper.^ And this will account for its comparative rarity in works of Greek Art. It is to be met with on the vases, but only on a few of them. I have never seen it on a sculpture, nor do I imagine it was ever represented in the round, though it may have been in bas-relief Even on the vases it was not en r/gle to represent a god with a Magadis in his hand, and when Lesbothemis, the sculptor, sculptured a Muse playing the Magadis in ' /oa/38oc poetically for /layas- ' Cf. TrrjKrie §£ MovoTD yavpiwaa |3apj3aptti, and other such passages. IS6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Mytilene, there was general remark about it in Greece. Now I will take advantage of this opportunity to give the names of other instruments, that appeared either about this time, or not long after, in various parts of Greece. Nor can we say whether the wealthy city of Sicyon, or Corinth, or the traffic of the Cyclades, or these same ^olian and Ionian cities that we have hitherto been lingering in, were the doors by which they effected their entry, but certain it is that most of them were foreign, but where there seems a doubt in favour of a native origin, we will give it. And first there was the Scindapsus. And it was a high stringed instrument^ to accompany women's voices,^ and it was a foreign instrument,^ and very possibly first appeared in Sicyon.^ And in shape it was not unlike the Lyre,^ only it was larger than the common Greek Lyre.^ And it had a willow frame, which rriade it very light to hold. And this is what we know of the Scindapsus, And next was the Enneachordon. And the Enneachordon had nine strings, as its name implies. And it also was a foreign instrument.'' And next was the Phcenix, and there was a variety of it called the Lyrophcenix.s And the Phoenix and the Lyrophoenix were plainly the ' Correcting h^vivog to o^vtovoc, which seems a necessary correction, for we are told in the same line that it was made of willow, (ek TTpofioKoio TeTvy/xivog), and it is odd if a poet would describe an instrument as made of one kind of wood at the beginning of the line, and another at the end, first of beech, then of willow. * (7Kivdmpog avtiXaKOTOio yvvaiKog. 3 sK^vXoc (Aristoxenus). 4 The reason which leads the writer to believe this will be apparent hereafter. 5 Xvpoilg. 6 (Ut-yaf. ^ ek^uXov (Aristoxenus). 8 Julius Pollux. IV. 59. THE GREEKS. 157 Phcenician Lyre,' re-introduced as a novelty from Phoenicia, now that the original importation had in the course of centuries undergone so many changes of construction. And Ibycus, the poet, has the credit of introducing the Sambuca at this period.'^ And the Sambuca was the small Egyptian triangular harp, with which we are already acquainted.^ And this Sambuca became notorious in later times as the instrument of the courtesans. And it was sometimes confounded with Sappho's Pectis, the Pectis indeed being called in later times by that very name."^ And the confusion probably arose from their similarity in pitch, for they were both high,S possibly from a similarity in timbre, and because they were used almost exclusively by women,6 and to accompany the same amorous style of song.7 Perhaps the Pectis was afterwards deflected somewhat into the triangular shape, but this we cannot tell.8 And then there was the Spadix, and the Spadix 1 virh ojv(Kwv Evptfltie, says Athenaeus too, of the Phoenix, p. 6^,7. vwo Svpiuv of the Lyrophoenix. p. 175. 2 Athenaeus. p. 175. 3 The triangular shape of the Sambuca is a question that has often been disputed, but I will bring two authorities in favour of the view. Isidore of Seville in his Origins. III. compares it to the letter Delta, A. And a better proof is an actual figuring of the Sambuca in the MuseBorbonico in Naples. It is'the instrument in the hands of the Hetaira. Vase, 51. It is also figured in Panofka's Neapel's Antike Bildwerke, 340. The shape is quite triangular. 4 Athenaeus, p. 635. s Like the vxpmXa wriKrlQ the Sambuca was d^vipdoyyoc; (Athen. 633). yUEra TroAXijc o^vrriTog, says Aristides, Sta TTjv fUKpornra tu>v \opii^v " on account of the shortness of the strings," p. loi in Meibomius. 6 Aristides in the same passage makes the Sambuca the female of the instru- ments ; and that women were its chief, perhaps only players is notorious. ^ £1? EKXvdtv vsptaysi, says Aristides of the Sambuca, where sKXvme must be taken not in its musical sense, but as fiaXuKla. » 8 We certainly have ipaXfxoii; Tpijwvov TrtiKriBwv some- where, but this may be a confusion, 158 HISTORY OF MUSIC. was such another — a woman's lyre, and had the reputation of an effeminate instrument.' And there was the Epigoneion, and this ^was a great lyre of many strings, invented by Epigonus of Sicyon, but how the strings were arranged we cannot certainly tell.^ And the Simicium was also a great lyre of many strings, but not so many as the Epigoneion had.^ And then there was the Nablas,'^ and the Ascarum,^ and the Pentachordon, which came from Scythia,^ and the Pelex, which looks like an indigenous production.7 And the Psithyra was introduced at this time from Libya,8 and the Monochordon, or one-stringed lute, from Arabia ;9 and among the rest that came floating in, what should turn up but the Primeval Bin or Kin, with the identical 4 strings, just as we left it ages ago, and it was known by its Assyrian name of Pandura,i° And the Bin now appears in Greece. And all sorts of strange stories were on foot about this funny old instrument, among others that it had 1 Julius Pollux, IV. 59. 2 Julius Poll., IV. 59. Athenaeus, 185. The term, ipakrrjpiov, which is bad Greek, or if found, only in very late writers, is applied by A thenaeus to this Epigoneion. Whereverwe find TpaXTTiptov in such authors, we are best to treat it as a general term = ' any stringed instrument that is plucked by the fingers instead of being struck by the plectrum,' and not as any specific instru- ment at all. This will reconcile nearly all the contradictions. Westphal has well brought this out in his remarks on the verb ■{LaXXELV in his Geschichte And why the Epigoneion was singled out afterwards most particularly to be a tpaXrnpiov was this, that Epigonus was the first man who dispensed with the use of the plectrum in these large instruments, and plucked them with both hands. Athen. loc. cit. If the Epigoneion was a form of Magadis as I imagine, there was good reason why his innovation should attract comment 3 Jul. Poll. IV. 59. 4 Jul. Poll. IV. 6l. A Phoenician instrument. Sophocles calls it the Sidonian Nablas. 5 Jul. Poll. loc. cit. 6 Jul. Poll., IV. 60. 7 lb. 61. 8 lb. fio. 9 lb. 10 lb. Julius Pollux makes it have 3 strings, which would point to a still more ancient form. cf. Vol, I. p— , but it is rsTpaxopSo^ in Athenseus, THE GREEKS. 159 been made by the Pigmies, who h'ved on the shores of the Red Sea, out of the laurel that grows there.' This was the tradition about that ancient instrument of our race, that it owed its creation to ' that small infantry warred on by cranes.' And next there was the Trigonus, and also the Heptagonon, both of foreign origin and foreign shape.^ And if we add to these the Sambuca and the Clepsiambus, which Archilochus had introduced in earlier times, we shall have exhausted the list of stringed instruments that were now introduced into Greece. But the lambuca had degenerated sadly from its old prestige, for it soon began to be classed with the other foreign instruments, all of which had a more or less questionable reputation, and it got to be used along with the Trigonus by fioixoi, who went about serenading women at nights. And that is what gave it its bad name.3 Now the Trigonus and the Heptagonon and the Sambuca, besides being foreign instruments, had also a foreign shape, for the Trigonus and the Sambuca were triangular, and the Heptagonon was seven-sided, being shaped like a polygon in Euclid. But all the rest of these foreign instruments had been assimilated more or less closely to the shape of the national Lyre,^ if indeed they did not resemble it to begin with, as the Phoenix and Lyrophoenix certainly would. For the Lyre was the king and sovereign in Greece, and despite this crowd of interlopers it yet held its own, and they all 1 Athenseus, p. 184. 2 Aristotle, Polit. VIII. 6. iKtpvXa opyava Aristoxenus calls Trigonuses at any rate, and the Heptagonon is still more un-Greek in form. ' vvKTepiva evfts fioixo'ig aiiaiiar iKKoktiaOai yvvdiKag i')(^ovTag lafijivKifv ts koI rpiywvov. Athenaeus p. 638. 4 With one or two exceptions, as the Ascarum and Psithyra. l6o HISTORY OF MUSIC. soon again had to give way to it, and acknowledge its absolute dominion. It was only in Lesbos and the Asiatic cities that they made any head against it ; in Greece Proper, their role was limited to the inferior and lighter styles of song, and all the higher forms of musical art were from first to last entrusted to the Lyre. Its shape had not altered nor had its strings been increased since the time of Terpander. The old gap between B and D still remained : it had not. been filled up even in Pindar's time. And we may well admire how two distinct styles of music must have existed side by side in Greece now — the national Greek style, with its scale of 7 notes with a note wanting between the Sth and 6th — this national Greek style on one hand, expounded by the Lyre, and on the other hand, the foreign style, with its scale of twenty notes, expounded par excellence by the Magadises.^ The only compliance which the Lyre had given to the tendency of innovation, was in the adoption of the plectrum to strike its strings with. This it accepted from the Magadises, and also the manner of using the plectrum. That is to say, the lyre-players held their plectrum in their right hand, but used their naked fingers with their I See a most suggestive contrast in Aristides Quinctilianus, p. loi, where the Lyre is called the Masculine instniment, and the Sambuca, which by Aristides' time might well represent the Magadises and other foreigners, is the type of the Feminine. The Lyre, deep and harsh (rjjv 7roXXi7V papvTXfra Kai rpa^vTriTa) : the Sambuca, high and sweet. These latter are the instruments that ttjooc r[^ovr\v awrdvovai roiq uKovovm twv XpwjUEvwv. To use Aristotle's words, and Siovrai x^^povp- JIKTIQ tTrt(TTr'i/ir]Q. He condemns them, and so does Plato, and all the supporters of the true Greek music, of which the Lyre was the representative. And the more oneJs acguaintance extends with Greek music, the more evidence does one find of the existence of these two styles, tlie national and the foreign, and the double treatment which is therefore forced upon a writer and which necessitates not only a double treatment in the Instrumental portion itself, but also extends to other things, e.g., scales, &c., cannot but be productive of a certain confusion, which it is hard in all cqses tg avQJd, THE GREEKS. l6l left. For both hands were used in playing the lyre^ — although there were no octaves to play, yet both were used. And probably the plectrum was used to strike the higher and tighter strings, just as it was to strike the higher 8ve in the Magadis, and bring out the tone smarter, and the left was used to strike the lower strings, which were in less tension, and therefore easier for the hand to play. And the right hand with its plectrum moved on one side of the instrument, and the left hand was on the other side. And the Lyre itself was held resting on the left shoulder, which seems to have been the traditional way of holding stringed instruments since the times of the ancient Egyptians, and is still the shoulder on which the modern harp rests to-day. And since the Lyre has so glorious a race to run, for we have yet only seen it in its childhood, and for some time back indeed it has been under a cloud in those Asiatic cities where we have been lingering, but we are now approaching Greece itself and the realms, of its glory, and in many noble scenes shall we see it before our course is ended — but since the Lyre has so glorious a race to run, and young Apollo played it, we may well pause to describe it minutely, and relate with care its every part of it. And now then we will preside at its making. And Hermes walking by the sea shore found a tortoise, and he killed it, and made the shell empty. And then he turned to some reeds that were growing near, and cut pieces off them, all of a length, and he I I need not specify particular vases for this, which is apparent on all. And of. the admirable remarks of Sir John Hawkins on the subject, I. 246, quoting Ptolemy (H?.rmonics, II. 12) and Plato. M 1 62 HISTORY OF MUSIC. drilled holes in the tortoise-shell, and put these pieces of reed through there, pushing them into the body of the shell, for they were to serve as blocks to take off the strain from the shell. And then he covered the shell with a piece of bull's hide, and got two horns, and fastened them to one end of the shell, one horn on each side. And then he took a piece of wood to be a crosspiece, and fixed it crossways from the tip of one horn to the tip of the other. And then he got 7 strings of gut, and tied them to the crosspiece, and the other ends he fastened at the bottom of the shell. In after times some additions were made to this form, and one or two variations. And the additions were pegs (koXXottec) in the crosspiece, to fasten the strings to ; and a bridge (juaya?), to prevent the strings touching the shell ; and two sound-holes (^t^eTo)^ cut in the shell, in order to add to its resonance. And the variations were in the materials of which the body of the instrument was made, for sometimes it was made of wood." And the Greek names for the various parts of the Lyre we have described above were as follows : the Strings — vevpal, xopdal, \iva, filroi, rovoi;^ the Horns, which were also called Arms — irrixui, Kspara; the Cross-piece — Suyov ; the Pegs — koXXottec ; and there was also a key to screw the pegs round with, when they wanted tuning, not unlike perhaps our tuning-hammer — XopBorovov -/^ the Bridge — (layctg ] the Belly of the frame 1 This is a conjectural emendation on Julius Pollux' TTrjYEta, which merely owe its IT to the wriyeig that occurs a moment before. 2 Jambhchus. Vita Psrthagorae, 118. 3 The strings of the Lyre were all of the same length ; and height and depth were procured by variations in their tliickness. Porphyry ad Ptol. 4 According to Jamblichus (Vit. Pyth. XXVI.) vopSorovov Would be rather the neck or crosspiece of the Lyre, THE GREEKS. 1 63 — X^^"?' X'^'^'"'' ^"'^ ^^^^ ^t^^^ called x^'^wc, or " the tortoise- shell," even when it was made of wood ; the Sound holes — rixHo. ; the little blocks or props inside the shell to carry off the strain — SovaKtc, because they were little stumps of reed. These are the Sovo? (nroXvpioc which the Frogs in Aristophanes croak about, for they boast of their great kindness to Apollo in letting the reeds grow in their marshes, of which he had the blocks of his Lyre made.' Now then these are the names of the various parts of the Lyre, and the name of the complete instru- ment was Avpa, as we know. But it also had other names, in this way : — Epic KiOapiQ ^olic, Doric, Attic \vpa. ' General Poetic (jiopfuj^ Later Poetry anS the Latins ... yQep.vpa & t^S})), which means " singers to the lyre," the players on the Cithara were called KiOapiarai, that is, ' performers on the cithara.' Now whether the Cithara did not come to Greece to begin with as a solo instrument, may well admit conjecture. ' Cithara playing did not make much way at first, for there was something in_ it opposed to the Greek spirit, nor did it make much headway in Greece, until it was taken up by the luxurious city of Sicyon. And what the Sicyonians did for the Cithara was this : they made its strings much longer, and gave it a magnificent (suoyKoc) tone.^ And Lysander, I Athen«us, 637. THE GREEKS. 167 the Sicyonian, has the credit of doing this. And then as it stood out so finely in its solo, they conceived the idea of treating it as if it had been a • man- singer singing. For they used other instruments to accompany its glorious solo, accompanying it ' above the song,' and sometimes they used the Flute to accompany it,i and sometimes the lambuca, which was thence often called the Pariambis, because it played ' alongside of the Cithara.^ And the effect of these two stringed instruments of different timbres playing together was very beautiful, so that no one but could admire the interlacing of the strains.^ But it was the Samians who gave the Cithara its Greek touch, which it could not long be in favour without receiving. For Stesander, the Samian, first began to sing to the Cithara as men sang to the Lyre, that is to say, he revived the early style which it first had before it overarched and triumphed over the voice, or, if it were from the first a solo instrument, as we indeed are willing to imagine, he gave it the Greek touch, and made it an accompaniment again.''- And he must have had a noble voice himself to have done so, for the tone of the Cithara would have drowned any ordinary voice, whence when this style of Stesander's came definitely into vogue, as it afterwards did, it was only great virtuosos and the best singers who dare venture on it, and the Lyre remained to the last the instrument of the multitude. 1 lb. Another reason was to enrich the sound. Id. 638. 2 Julius Pollux identifies the lambuca and the Pariambis, so I imagine the Pariambis was the name it had when it accompanied the Cithara. 3 KOI vwavXei v aKpoaZofiiva. 4 Athen. 638. HISTORY OF MUSIC. This then is what the Sicyonians did for the Cithara, how they increased the sonorousness of its strings, and accompanied its solo by other instruments. And the Samians on the other hand used it to be the accom- paniment of the voice. So now there were two styles of Cithara Music, and the first style was the Citharistic or Solo Cithara Style, and the second was the Citharcedic or Cithara in Accompaniment (KiOdpa & d^Bri), and this was the style of Stesander the Samian. Now then I will give engravings qf the Cithara and the Lyre, to show off the difference between them : — xu And the figure on the left is the Cithara, and the figure on the right is the Lyre. And all those horns in the cithara are hollow, and what sonorousness they would give to the strings ! And so would that broad hollow belly of the instrument. That would also give sonorousness. And the horns of the cithara, they were so broqd and big, were now called not horns but ' arms ' (ayKoJvEe). And the cithara is in shape like a great magnet, as we may see. And the Cithara was decked out with carvings and paint;2 it was one of Greece's 'sweetly sounding 1 This is Westphal's figuring, though I might have been disposed to represent the Cithara in the common form it appears in in the sculptures, that is, broader, and also squarer at the bottom. 2 Westphal's Gesehichte p. 89. THE GREEKS. 1 69 carvings.' ^ And the Cithara player was arrayed in a long flowing robe f and crowned with a garland he stood on an eminence among the people, and sang his beautiful song.3 And the long flowing robe was what Arion arrayed himself in, when he was told to prepare to die, having to cast himself in the sea in order to escape the malice of the sailors. And arraying himself in his long flowing robe, and with his cithara in his hand, he stood on the poop, and sang the Orthian song. And even those sailors retired awhile to hear him, for he was the finest cithara singer in the world. So then the Cithara was the instrument of the great and splendid singers, and it was thus the instrument of the Agon (the musical contests at the Olympian, Pythian, and the other games). But on all other occasions the Lyre was nearly universally employed ; at banquets, revels, at the gymnasiums, in domestic life ; used by women, boys, and men alike. The Lyre is in the hands of the Heroes, as Achilles, Paris ; often played by girls to each other in their chambers. Also bards the most renowned use it — it is the instrument of Orpheus, Thamyris, Musceus. Also in the hands of the Gods. Apollo, as Agonistic Citharoed, has the Cithara, but otherwise he has the Lyre, as in his wanderings among the Hyperboreans. ' TO, T iv 'EXXtjot S,6av oSu/xeX^ (Sophocles). =^ The (TKEV)). 3 Der Kitharaspieler erscheint stets in langherabwallenden Pninkgewande der agonistischen Kitharoden ; er ist bekranzt, und steht auf einem erhohten Platze, ihm zur Seite ein Kampfricliter, und eine Nike liberreicht ihm entweder vor Beginn des Kampfes die Kithara oder nach dem Siege den Preis. Westphal's Gescliichte. 89, 90. 170 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Artemis has sometimes one, sometimes the other : Satyrs, Bacchantes, generally the Lyre, seldom the Cithara : Hermes, Eros, Dionysus, ' the Lyre. And now having seen how the chastity of the Greek spirit impressed itself on the Cithara, and taught it to range its beautiful tones, which would fain have stood alone, beneath the tutelage of the voice, for though Citharistic still continued, it was much eclipsed by Citharoedic, where the voice sang, and the cithara only accompanied — and having seen this, we have now to see how that wonderful whiteness of beauty, the Greek mind, mastered and tamed a much more wilful instrument than the Cithara, and an instrument that from the first was like to revolve on a plane of its own, for the mouth that should have sung was bound in playing it, and the Voice was fettered that ought to speak. And this instrument was the Flute. And Olympus coming from Phrygia had brought the Flute from Phrygia to Greece. And he played beautiful elegies and dirges on his flute. And his flutes sighed and wept. But this tenderness of passion must not long be, or men will become women under it. And so in the south of Greece, in the Pelop- onnese it was, and in the district of Arcadia, there came a reaction against the flute-playing of Olympus, and the leader of it was Clonas of Tegea. And some say indeed that the style of Clonas had been anticipated by Ardalos of Trcezen, and that this school of Grecian flute-playing was in being before the time of Olympus. But however that may be, let us notice how these flute - players baffled the enervating tendencies of the Flute. And they did it by never playing without a singer to sing beside them. And the melting nothings of the Flute were thus tamed and taught reason. For the singer sang THE GREEKS. r^^l his words, and the flute-player accompanied him — accompanying him above the song (viravXiJv), as the Lyre did the Voice, and it was in every respect similar. And this was the style of Greek flute-playing — that is to say, never the flute without the Voice — as opposed to the foreign style of flute - playing, which was the Solo Flute. And the Greek style was called the Auloedic (alXoG & v^v), and the foreign style, Auletic, in which there was no (jjSj), or 'song'. Yet we may suppose that there were Greek repre- sentatives of Auletic, as there must have been, since the school of Olympus made so profound an impression on Greece. There were Greek flute-players of both styles, but the Auloedic was always considered the national style, and was held in most esteem. And there was another foreign style of flute - playing introduced subsequently to that Phrygian style of Olympus, and that was the Lydian style. And the Phrygian style was the style of grief, but the Lydian style was the style of love. And of this we will speak hereafter. Now though the tradition is, that the true Grecian style of flute-playing was never known without the accompaniment of a singer, is it not hard to imagine that shepherds, sitting in the fields on an idle day, did not long before take reeds and blow into them to amuse themselves with the sound, without ever thinking of a singer to accompany them, or indeed of chastity of flute-playing at all? For a flule is so easy to make. You have but to take a stalk of corn, and squeeze it near the pulpy end till it splits in two, and blow in it, to hear the tart tiny sound coming out of your little hautboy, for it is a hautboy you have made. Or if you would make a simple flute, it is easier still, for any empty reed and blowing over the top will 1^2 HISTORY OF MUSIC. give you a flute. Or taking many empty reeds, and binding them together as they did with beeswax and thread,! you shall have a syrinx— all, instruments such as an idler would invent, sitting alone on a summer's day. And did not Pan, 'whose mighty palace roof of boughs doth hang from jagged trunks and over- shadoweth Eternal whispers, glooms, the birth, life death Of unseen flowers in heavy peacefulness ' — was not he always alone who invented the Syrinx ?^^p that we may well suppose that flutes were known ^r ever the Auloedic was thought of, and that shepherds piped on the lawn in Greece, as they did in other lands, tossing out the pretty sounds through whole solitary hours, with no other object than to amuse an idle ear. And this we will ' assume, and say that flutes were played in Greece in earliest times, as they seem always to be played, that is, as solo instruments, and that when they obtained a substantial footing in Art, then but not till then they were used in constant company of the voice, in the style of the Greek Auloedic. And now since we know how to make these little pipes, we will say we know how to make pipes on the Hautboy or Double Reed principle, for this little split end of straw is the same double reed that we use in our hautboys ; and that we also know how to make pipes on the Flute principle, for the obliquely held Flute — its tube is open at one end, and the breath passes down the tube, being directed in, by the help of the lip, at right angles. But in the Syrinx it does not pass down the tube, but only beats against the Oi'iaa. Julius Pollux, IV. 69. THE GREEKS. 173 top of it. And now we will go on to see the two other Principles on which pipes may be made, and then we will cast our eye on the Greek Pipes, and try and see to which of the principles we may refer them. And the two other principles are the Single Reed or Clarionet Principle, and the Flageolet Principle. And you can make a little Clarionet out of a straw in this way: You must take a straw that has a knot at one end, but the other end must be quite open. And with your penknife cut through the straw, cutting • it an inch from the knot. Then turn the blade of the knife flat, and pass it upwards towards the knot, and in this way you will raise a long strip of the straw, and this strip will be the reed or tongue of the clarionet, and the sound will be produced by the breath setting this reed or tongue in vibration, as it passes over it into the pipe.'' And this is the Single Reed or Clarionet Principle. And the Flageolet Principle, which yet remains to consider, is made in a different way altogether, and not at all like this, for instead of cutting below your knot, you shall make a thin incision through it, if you would make a Flageolet, and then you cut a hole a short distance down, as we see in penny whistles, which slopes to a sharp edge inwards. And what makes the sound is the breath fluttering against that sharp edge. And this is the Flageolet Principle. And it is the softest and sweetest of all the Pipes, and shares the honours with the Flute. And now how shall we refer our Greek Pipes to one or other of these Principles, for we have now I Agreeably to the directions of Professor Tyndall, quoted in Chappel's History of Music, p. 260 sq. 174 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Four principles, the Double Reed, the Single Reed, the Flageolet, and the Flute principles, and how shall we refer our Grecian Pipes to one or other of these ? And it is plain that when we hear of a soft sweet pipe, we must refer it to the Flageolet or the Flute principle, and ; if it is held obliquely it will be a Flute, but a Flageolet if it is held straight down. And thus we may say that the Monaulos, which was the sweetest of all the pipes, for 'it trilled the sweetest melodies,'' and was the nightingale of the pipes, if we may take Sophocles' word for it, and this was the pipe that was played at marriages'^ — and since the Monaulos was held straight down, and not crossways, we know that the Monaulos must have been a Flageolet, which is even sweeter than a Flute. But the Photinx, which was held obliquely (TrXoyiauXoc),^ was therefore the same as our Flute, and it was held in precisely the same fashion, that is to say with the foot pointing past the right shoulder (' ad aurem pertractunt dexteram'. Apuleius). But the Gingras was a small hautboy, and we know it in this way, for there is a specimen of an actual Gingras in existence, and it was found in an Egyptian tomb, like Alcman's poems were, and it has the double reed mouthpiece the same as our hautboy,'^ But what shall we say of those Phrygian Pipes, that ' TCiQ riBlcFTag apfioviag ava/iivvptl^ii, '■" avaXajiwv uovavXov t]vXovv tov vixivaiov. Athenaeus. p. 176. avXei oi fiovavXog fiaXicna tov yafiriXiov. Jul. Pollux. IV. 75. ^ KOI TOV KoXov/iEvov (j>u)Tijya TrXayiavXov. Athen. p. It should seem that vXayiavXo^ is more a general term for any cross flute, as opposed to the fl{lte-a-bec. 4 It is in the British Museum. W. Chappell. (History of Music Vol. I.) mentions this Gingras. He seems to think that it is ratiier an Egyptian pipe. I imagine, however, it is a real Gingras. which we are expressly told was an oiiXiffKOf (Jul. Pol, IV, 75.) just like the specimen in question. THE GREEKS. 1 75 gave so plaintive and mournful a tone?' And shall we not say that then were heard for the first time the veiled melancholy notes of our own clarionet? And these were the Pipes that Olympus played, And there were deep Phrygian pipes that had a bell at the end, just as ours have,^ and the object of the bell was to lengthen the column of air, and make them deeper.3 And these would be clarionets too, but ■ their tone would be that of our lower register, while those of Olympus would be nearer the middle register f unless indeed we should prefer to make the deep Phrygian Pipes of the low hautboy order, as the Corno Inglese, &c., which may well be done. And the Lydian Pipes, which were the Pipes of Love, to what order shall we refer these? And we will say that they were of the Flageolet or Flute order. And the Lydians were so fond of the Syrinx. And when we hear of pipers keeping their mouth- pieces in boxes — for this is another way we may get at the character of the pipe — we shall say that the the pipes that these men played, who kept their mouthpieces, or reeds, we would rather call them, in boxes, were of the Hautboy order of pipe, because the double reed, which is the mouthpiece of the Hautboy, is so much more delicate than the single reed of the Clarionet, and all Hautboy players are obliged to keep their reeds in boxes, but Clarionet I Jul. Pol. IV. 75. et passim. 2 Klpof ?£ roie avXoTe (sc. rolg (ppvyloic;) avavniov irpoaiori Julius Pollux. rV. 74. 3 Porphyry (Commentary on Ptolemy, p. 217. "Wallis' Edition) says that the Phrygian pipes were the deepest of all pipes. 4 It must be said that there is no proof of ibis. It is only a surmise. 176 HISTORY OF MUSIC, players only cover them with a cap.' So then some of the Greek pipes, and fortunately the principal ones, we may well refer to one or other of our four varieties, but there are many pipes that we cannot exactly refer, and are constrained to treat them quite generally, and say that they certainly belonged to one or the other order indeed, but we can only speculate which. Though much of the doubt that hangs over them may be cleared if we are , advised how many of the terms are synonymous. For just as we talk of a violin as a fiddle, or a bowed instrument, or a stringed instrument, or speak of chamber instruments, still meaning violins, or call a clarionet the boxwood pipe, to distinguish it from a hautboy, which is not made of boxwood — the same ooseness of speaking prevailed among the Greeks, the same instruments being ' constantly called by different names, when sometimes the material it was made of, and sometimes the look of it, or the shape of it, or even the purpose for which it was employed, were variously in the mind of the writer. Thus the Monaulos was also called the Shepherd's Pipe (rirupivog),^ I The yXw(TwTiy^), was then called the Boys' Pipe, unless indeed we imagine a smaller and higher variety of them, for the Boys' Pipe usually appears in the diminutive, fiovavXiov and (pwriyyiov.^ And pipes were 1 Scaliger's Poetics. I. 2 Jul. Pollux, IV. 77. We know it was TrvKVOQ, but that is all. ^ lb. 81. olc TrapOivoi irpo(7E^6ptvov, he says in section lO of same book. '^ oTe TratSte TTpotTrjSov. lb. 5 I imagine we may well identify the Boys' Pipe with, the Flageolet or the Flute, and particularly with their small varieties, thus : The Boys' Pipe was the same as the rifiloTroc; (Ath. 182). The ^ftiowoQ was a small pipe, since rbv S' rifiloTrov, says .(Eschylus, icai tov iXatraova rax^wc 6 fiiyuQ Karawivu, therefore we may expect to find it a diminutive. It was also a tender pipe, riptvEQ iijuiWot, says Anacreon. And putting these two things together, may we not assume THE GREEKS. 1 79 called in virtue of their compasses, and there were Perfect Pipes and Extra - Perfect Pipes.' And the Perfect Pipes would perhaps go down to A ^*- and whether the Extra - Perfect Pipes went below A, may admit conjecture. Nor can we certainly tell which were the Medium Pipes (juaoKoiroi),'' or which of the pipes had holes below as well as above (vtto- rprjTot).^ And what those pipes with two holes were (dioToi),'^ I profess myself unable to understand. And the materials of which the Pipes were made were reeds, copper, lotus wood, boxwood, horn, or ivory, or laurel,^ but then it must be the laurel plant and not the tree, and a stalk of this with the pith taken out made the pipe.^ And now we may well admire a strange thing about the Greek Pipes — and that is, that many of them were double. And the Phrygian Pipes were double, being double Hautboys or Clarionets,^ and the Lydian Pipes were many of them double, being double Flageolets. that the rifiloTroc was the same as one or other of those two pipes, the (jturiyyiov and /lovavXlov, which are the only two diminutive names of pipes we have ? And if any further evidence is wanted, let us hear Athenaeus : ;)((00Jvra( rote TraiStKoTf avXoig irpoQ rag ivojxiag. But on p. 176. we hear of revels, oig irapiKuvro (j)WTiyyia koi fiovavXia. All then that remains for us to do, is to select which of the two we prefer for the Boys' Pipe, the furiyyiov or the juovovXiov, and remembering Anacreon's tejojjv, we will fix on the fjLOvavXlov. ' TiXeioi KOI VTrEjorlXetOf. Ath, 176. 2 lb. 3 lb. 4 Jul. Poll. IV. 77. 5 Jul. PoU. IV. 71. 6 Sa^vng ttjq xi/Ua^^iiXov icXaSoc rrjv ivrepiiivriv a^ripy/xivoc, lb. 7 Jul. PoU. IV. 74. et passim. l8o HISTORY OF MUSlC. These are the aiiXoi jwaiKriioi n koi avSpi'iioi of the Lydians, that Herodotus speaks about,i ' men and women pipes,' and yet we must not go to think of our Greek TratStKoi avXol and TrapOivioi avXoi, ' boy and girl pipes,' in the same breath with them, for these last were not double, but single pipes as we have seen. And it is questionable if the double pipe was indigenous in Greece, but they took it from the Phrygians and Lydians. And these Phrygian and Lydian pipes, double hautboys and double flageolets, we must hot at all imagine were like our Double Flageolet. For they were not joined as it is, but were two separate pipes, with no other bond of union than that they were always played together. I have seen a Silenus with his pipes thus, X , holding them loosely so, preparatory to playing, and then he would place them' both in his mouth, so that if you were some distance off, you would think they were indeed ioined, which were not so. And the pipes were held freely in the mouth, generally at this angle / \ but sometimes they were held wider, but not often I think nearer. By comparison then with the Greek style, the modern Double Flageolet player observes a cramped attitude. And how were these pipes played, and what was the object of the doubling ? And the object of the doubling was this, that one might accompany the other, for one played the melody and the other accompanied,^ accompanying it above the 1 Herod. I. 17. 2 Varro. De Re Rustica. I. 2. i6. Altera modonim incentiva, «ltera succeutiva. Porphyry speaks of one pipe being softer than the other. Com- mentary on Ptolemy. 2^-\. tHE GREEKS. l8l song, in the style of Archilochus, and the Right Flute, which was the deeper one, played the melody, and the Left, which was the higher one, played the light accompaniment to it' 'Les FMtes droites' writes M. Wagener, translating a fragment of Donatus, ^ exprimoient par leurs sons graves les parties sdrieuses de la concordie, tandis que les fliltes gauches en faisoient ressortir le caracUre joyeux par leiirs sons elevh! ^ For indeed the left was always the happy hand in Greece, so different to what it is now.^ And now we will go on to determine the relation of the two harmonious parts to each other. And since pipes of the same length give the same note, but half the other's length gives the 8ve, and two-thirds of the other's length gives the 5th above, but three- fourths the other's length gives the 4th above, let us decide how our Greek double pipes were related to each other, by thinking of their lengths. And I have seen pipes on the vases and the marbles the same length, and I have seen them a third as long, that is, one two-thirds the other's length, and I have seen them very nearly, but not quite equal. And what these ■ last would be I cannot pretend to say, but think that my eye must have played me false, or else, perhaps, the carver has allowed for a foreshortening, and this must have deceived me. But with the other two it is plain ; for the two equal pipes must be in the unison, and the pipes a third as long must be the shorter one a 5 th above the other. So then 1 Succinit tibia sinisti'a. lb. 2 Memoires couronnees par 1' Academic Royale de Belgique. Tom. XXXI 3 Alas ! that svwvv/iog need be a euphemism. But with the Latins will hold. l82 HISTORY OF MUSIC. the last must be playing in the genuine Archilochean style, where the accompaniment kept a Sth and less above the melody. But with the pipes in the unison, there must have been an interlacing of the strains, as we saw in the Cithara accompanied by the Pariambis. And since we are told that it was the Revel Pipes that were equal,i for the conceit was that 'in the' revel all are equal,'^ and the pipes must needs share the equality of the company ; in keeping with this, we find these equal pipes chiefly in the hands of Fauns, Satyrs, and Maenadson the marbles. And of the unequal pipes, we hear that sometimes the double pipe took the place of the sweet Monaulos at marriages, and here was the pretty conceit about it : " The Pipes are two and yet are one, and thus they are bride and bridegroom ; and they are in harmony with each other, and one is bigger and taller than the other, because the man is bigger and taller than the woman,"3 So we may well surmise that our double pipes, one a third longer than the other, are the pipes in question here ; and they would doubtless be the Lydian Love Pipe, which was a Double Flageolet, being indeed a Monaulos doubled. And the Phrygian Pipes would doubtless observe the same proportions as the Lydian, that is, one would be a 5th above the other. But then the Phrygian Pipes were the Pipes of Grief and Passion — they were low melancholy pipes, and there would be something of the boom of our bassoon in the lower pipe — while the Lydian Pipes warbled like birds. I Jul. Poll IV. 80. ^ rj7v yap IffnTTfra av/xirotrii:^ Trpbruv. lb. 3 Jul. Poll. lb, One of Plutarch's Preeecepta Conjugalia is to the same eflecL, though I forget which. THE GREEKS. 1 83 And now observe in the flesh what we never see in the marbles, or even on the vases, which are freer of admitting novelties and rarities of musical art than the marbles are — and that is a double pipe that played in 8ves, which must therefore have had one pipe not a third as long, but twice as long as the other. For this double pipe that we speak of gave at the same time — Iv TavT(^ o^iiv koI (iaphv (j>96yjov,^ being indeed iwr'K^doyyoQ, and playing in Sves like a certain prototype among the stringed instruments, to which it answered in every respect, not only in its music, but also in its name. For it was called Magadis, like its pattern,^ and the pipes played in Sves, and doubtless in the Magadising way, that is, the high pipe not accompanying the low one with Archilochean accompaniment, but playing in Sves with it. And this pipe was chiefly used, as I take it, to accompany choruses, as the Magadis itself was. So now there was a Magadis pipe, as well as a Magadis Lyre, and we may admire how the tendencies of the time had at last affected the Flutes. And we speak here of the tendencies of the age' perhaps unadvisedly, for passing as we have through many scenes since then, we have almost forgotten what the tendencies of the age were. And these tendencies were to doubling and to composition whereby the single-voiced choirs had grown into double choruses of girls and men, and instruments of the I Athenseus. p. 182. ^ Athen. loc. cit. MayaStv XaXijcrw /xiKpov a/j.a aoi Koi fityav, which shows their difference in lengths. Cf Hesychius. voc. /laya^Eig. There was a Sambuca pipe, as well as a Magadis Pipe, according to Isidore of Seville, but we have not any description of it. 1 84 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Stringed kind had had their strings increased each by its 8ve, and had become doubled too, and now the flute had taken the Magadis for its model, and followed in its tracks ; and indeed the Double Pipes themselves are a feature and another exemplification of this movement ; for depend upon it, where a wave of tendency strikes an age, it will affect every tiny tessela of which that age is pieced together. And we have seen it acting on the feet, bringing two feet together and making a double or compound foot out of them. And this is how the feet were clustering in pairs in Sappho's time. But now more so. For we must imagine that tendency, which we saw in its infancy then, to have now reached its due develop- ment and completion, and the two Iambuses to have really joined into a Diiambus, and the two Trochees into a Ditrochee, and the Iambus and Trochee into an Antispast, \j w, and so on. So that now if we would scan her beautiful line, vvix(j>atg Toig Atoc tS alyi6\w (paal TiTvy/iivaig. we will no longer scan it by Iambuses and Trochees, but by Antispasts instead, vvwpaig Talc \i \ og £^ aljL \ 6)((i) (jiacn \ riTvyfjivcug. And here in the third place we have a new compound foot, compounded of Iambus and Pyrrhic, but- in the 4th place we have a Diiambus. Now this compounding with the Pyrrhic was not limited to the Iambus alone, but other feet were also compounded with it, as the Spondee ; for taking another line of Sappho's, and scanning it by compound eet instead of simple ones, we shall see this new foot, that was made out of the Spondee and the Pyrrhic : — THE GREEKS. 185 — — v-/w| wwl _ ywl^— \J — v-fl cii-juop^o-TE-pa MvamSi -ica rag a-Tra-Aa.Q Vvpivvwg . \-/ ^^ I ^,^ ' , — WW I — w_yi a-cra-po-ri-pag ov-Sa-fia ttw 'pavva ari-Bev ru-^oT-tra. And in the last place we have a Ditrochee. And that other line of hers we will now scan : \j w|\-» — \j — I a-'i napOsivog iaaofiai. that is to say, by Ditrochees and Diiambuses. And other lines by double feet in like manner, thus : — or. or, — \j \j —J WW— Iw — 7roA.Xa ^"' ava-piOfia ttotii -pi-a. w w I WW _ — I w w Ti /iE IlavSi -ov-ig & 'pavva t(eXi6'(i) v. w w I WW I w I avTUp 6 - pii - ai (TTtrj)avr\ ttXokevv. And this tendency had by this time grown so strong, that even the 6 foot Iambus line of Archilochus was henceforth scanned by doubled feet instead of single ones, viz., by Diiambuses instead of simple Iambuses,^ w w Iw — w w w I fXiTipxofiai (TE uvpjioXov iroiivfiivog. And so wc must always scan it for the future. And ' his Trochaics in like manner, not by Trochees but by Ditrochees, J J' J J" J J^ J J^ J J" J J^ J / J . w w| w w| w w| w .11 And this is how his Trochaic line came to be called Tetrameter, because it had 4 bars (fiiTpov) in it now, instead of 8. And his Iambic line was called Trimeter for the same reason, because it had 3 bars. But the old Hexameter never gave way to these new 1 Hephaestlon scans the 1st syllable long. 2 Marius Victorinus. 2572. 1 86 HISTORY OF MUSIC. tendencies, and retained its name and its original 6 bars to the end.' And now we may well admire how the Time of the Music has altered under these new conditions, for to say that a Trochaic line was scanned by Ditrochees and with four bars, instead of by single Trochees and with 8 bars, what is it but saying that u. time had now supplanted H? And in the Iambic line it was just the same, for this was now in 2 time, which once was in 2 likewise. And those other feet that Sappho had begun to use, were not these also in S time ? And it is plain that some of them were at any rate ; but what time they each and all were severally in, we must determine by the beat. For in ^ time there are 2 beats — the first falling on the 1st note of the 6, and the 2nd on the 4th note, that is to say, on the ist note of each original g bar. And the Antispast, ^ I I * * • * , and * • • • compounded of — — \j \j v-'vy__ Spondee and Pyrrhic, in the same manner that we have beaten our Antispast, we shall not be able to do so, for when we arrive at our second beat, the voice is engaged in holding a note, and does not come down on a new note along with our beat : — I I J J -^/l or 1 1 J- J- J J J So it is plain we cannot beat them with 2 beats as we beat our Antispast, but we must beat thern with 3 beats instead, and then ,the voice will come down on a new note each time with our beat thus : — and But a bar with 3 beats in it is not in - time, but in ^ time. So that we must say that these compound feet, that are compounded of Spondee and Pyrrhic, are in ii . . 3 3 time, and this is indeed double of g time, but in a different manner. But that foot, _ v-» vj _, compounded not of Iambus and Trochee, but of Trochee and Iambus, to what category must we refer it, for plainly we might II II beat it either way, either J ^J*j'°^ J J*" J*" J ft ^ either in j± time or in ^ time, and we are at a loss on which to decide. But in this case we 'must accept 1 88 HISTORY OF MUSIC. the traditions of the Greek Theorists as our guide, who reckoned it in the same category with the Spondee-Pyrrhic feet, and not with the Antispast, and we will beat this foot, _v-»w_, accordingly by three a beats, and say it is in if time. And now we must give the names of these new feet. £1 And the feet in ^ time were called by the general name, Bacchiuses.^ because they were chiefly used, and perhaps originally, in the hymns dances to Bacchus ; £1 and justly too, for ^ time is evtT the time of revelry and love, and Bacchus was the god of both. And the compound foot in S time, \j \j, was called the Antispast, because she had torn the bars asunder to make it. And the other feet in x^ time we already know as Ditrochees and Diiambuses. And these feet we have arranged in their Times by means of our beating. And the Greek beating we have not used to determine them by, although it would have given the same results, for it presents a slight variation from our method of beating, which we should not have been accustomed to. For the Greek beating was more a vivacious than ours, and in g time, for instance, there were two beats, one to each note, where we only beat one for both,^ and of these two, one was a heavy beat and the other was a light beat, and the heavy beat was called the Arsis, -and the light one the Thesis. And in ^ time there were likewise two beats, where we also only beat one, the heavy beat, or Arsis, falling on the first note, and the light beat, or Thesis, 1 See the handbooks passim for this designation of these feet. 2 Westphal's Antike Rhythmilc. p. no. THE GREEKS. 1 89 falling on the 2nd note, or if it were 2 shorts, as in a dactyl, falling on the first of the shorts, but including the other at the same time in the limit of the beat. And this vivacity of beating, as will be seen, is much nearer to the vivacity of the dancers' feet than ours is, for in the dance each note had its step. And the names. Arsis and Thesis, are a reminiscence of this primitive source of all feet, for Arsis means " lifting up,'' and Thesis means " stamping down," although by a curious inversion of the original terms by the Latin metricians, which we have since adopted. Arsis has come to mean the heavy accent, and Thesis the light, which originally meant exactly the opposite.": But the ^ time the Greeks beat exactly as we do, that is, with three beats in the bar, one heavy beat and two light beats — one Arsis and two Theses.' And now let us examine how the Arsis and Thesis fell in the feet with which we are already acquainted. And, the Arsis or Emphasis in 2 time fell always on the first note of the bar, _ w v^ And so it did in Common Time, — , — ; . But in g time it fell some- times on the 1st note and sometimes on the 2nd note, for in the Trochee, _vj, it fell on the ist note, but in Thesis Arsis the Iambus, v-»_, it fell on the 2nd note, , . v^ And yet was the first or unaccented note not placed I The time was beaten either by the hand or foot. ' Pollicis sonore vel plausu pedis.' Terentius Maurus. 2254. cf. also Aristotle's Problems. XIX, 22, & Aristoxenus' Fragments. 99. igo HISTORY OF MUSIC. outside the bar, as we place it, but remained in the bar, although it did not receive the accent, and where we should write an Iambic line, J*| J J*| J J* I &:c., the Greeks wrote it, J^ J | ,^ J | ^ J | .' i^nd in the Diiambus, or -5 time, the Arsis followed the lines o of the simple Iambus bar, for it fell on the 2nd of the couple now, instead of on the 2nd of the single notes, thus. Thesis. Arsis. Thesis. Arsis. n I falling particularly on the last note of the 4, J^J ,0 1 .N .0 I J^J -O I And in the Ditrochee this was inverted. Arsis. Thesis. A rsis. Thesis. Arsis. Thesis. and the main accent fell on the first of the 4, thus,^ And in the — time, the Arsis, as we said, was on 4 the first note of the Spondee, and the Thesis on the rest of the foot,^ Arsis. Thesis. Arsis. Thes is. Arsis. Thes is. which in the contrary compound foot, J* J^ J J , would give a double arsis, since there was no breaking 1 Infra, p. — 2 Priscian. 1321. 3 According to Marius Victorinus, the main accent is commensurate with the Arsis— he gives them a crotchet arsis and the rest thesis. Mar, Vict. 3484. THE GREEKS. 191 up the thesis into two separated portions, but in theory at least the arsis was double : — Thesis. Arsis. Thesis. Arsis. Thesis. Arsis. -\ I — I r — i .1 — [ r ! j^^ J J IjV J J l-rj^ J J I In the latter case, however, no less than the former, there was only one main accent, which fell on the first note of the Spondee : — And in that other variety of - time, which was compounded of Trochee and Iambus in the order named, that is, _ww_, the same principle held good, and the main accent fell on the first note of the bar, thus : — 'J /-^JlJ //JIJ J^^JI and was therefore, as in the first of the Spondee- Pyrrhic feet, commensurate with the Arsis, Arsis. Thesi s. Arsis. The s is. Arsis. Thesis. n I 1 ^n I 1 rfi i > J J^J^J IJ J-J- J\J J^^NI And now there yet remains the Antispast to consider. And its main accent was on the second crotchet, thus : •N J /IJ^J -J ,^l /J 'J -^1 and its Arsis comprised the Trochee of it, and its Thesis the Iambus, Thesis. Arsis. Thesis. Arsis. Thesis. Arsis. n J I J . 1 F^ ^J J .>\ /J J J^l J- J J And it was beaten like the Diiambus and the Ditrochee, with two beats in the bar, the light beat 192 HISTORY or MUSIC. for J* J , and the heavy beat for J > , as we have said. And now various other descriptions of time were making their way into Greek Music, and new feet such as had never been heard of before. And the metrical feet we have been here considering, Dactyls, Spondees, Iambuses, Trochees, Ditrochees, Diiambuses, Antispasts, &c., were augmented by feet which would reduce themselves under none of their timings. And first there was the Pason — but I will cease to talk in the language of theory, for I must see them all live before me, and I will go to the places where the youths and maidens are dancing, and I will see the feet spring up, like violets beneath their tread. And it is to Crete we must go if we would see the dancers, for already in Homer's time the Cretans were the dancers of the world.'' And let us see the Cretans dancing in Homer's time. And youths and maidens danced in a ring, their hands on each other's wrists. And the maidens had beautiful garlands of flowers in their hair, and the youths had golden daggers flapping at their sides, hanging from silver belts. And they ran lightly round and round in a ring, like a potter makes his wheel spin round.^ ^ cf lb. XIV. 617. Mrjptovj), raxa iciv °^ ^^^ " Round," because they went round and round in it like a wheel. And this dance Theseus brought from Crete to Athens, for when he had slain the Minotaur, he brought back the Athenian youths and maidens who were captive there, and they danced this Cretan dance in the island of ,Delos, and afterwards at Athens. And what was the step in this ancient dance, for this nearly concerns us ? And it was called the x"P«oe) or the " Dancing step," for XOjOoe, or " the Round," soon got to be the general name for all dancing, so popular was this ancient Cretan dance. And the xo/u^oc (Choreius) was a long step followed by a short one, what we have in former pages called the Skip, _ vy, being the same foot which was afterwards known as a Trochee, by which name we have hitherto called it. And they danced this dance, then, holding one another by the wrist. But there grew up more complicated forms of it, as indeed those Athenian youths and maidens danced a more complicated form of it, for they imitated in their dance the mazes of 194 HISTORY OF MUSIC. the Labyrinth.^ And they no longer held each other by the wrist, but ran following each other, first a youth, then a girl, in and out, and under hands, running in and out like the mazes of the Labyrinth.^ And here perhaps the name, Trochee, might have come in, for Trochee (jpix'^) nieans " the running step." And of an opposite step to this was the Leaping Dance (Srpiafit,og. triumphus, or Iambus), for it was first a short step and then a long, \j —. And this was the great step in the Bacchic dances, and more particularly when the Leap was combined with the ordinary Dancing step (Choreius), thus, _ww_, in which form it was called the ' Double Leap,' Dithriambus {SiOpiafitiog), or the ' Dancing Leap,' Choriambus (xopm/iSoc), or more generally, the ' Bacchic step,' Baccheius (jSa/cxEtoe). And it is probable that the form of this Leaping Dance was the same simple form as that of the Round Dance, round and round, first from Right to Left and then from left to right, only when it was danced in honour of Bacchus, it was danced round a blazing altar in the middle. And those other two Bacchic steps, v-/ w, and \j \j , would also be used in this Leaping Dance, but not so commonly as the Leap or the Double Leap (Spiajuj3oe and SiflpmjujSoe). And there were other forms of dances that the Cretans used, besides these common round dances ; for sometimes the dancers would break into two ranks,3 girls on one side, youths on the other, and ^ fiifirtfia Tb)v iv t(^ Aafivplvdi!^ oie^oowv koi irepioBtov 'iv Tivi pvBfjU!^ TTipitKi^iig KOI avtXi^eig e-xpvri. Plutarch's Theseus. 21. 2 It is usual to confound this dance with Lucian's Hormus. I think Meursius set the example, which is here followed. Nevertheless if my memory serves me, Lucian mentions the ytpavo^ as a distinct dance afterwards. 3 aXXoTE 8' av 6pt^a(fK0v siri (rri-)(a^ oAXjjXotfft THE GREEKS. IpS advance and retreat, much in the style of our country dances to-day. And of this style of Dance would be the Flower Dance," for here there is plain intimation of two separate parties in the dance, and one side sang, TTov fioi TO, poca ; irov fioi to, la ; TTOv fioi ra KoXa aiXiva ; and the other side answered them, raSi ra poSa, raSi ra la, ToSi ra KoXa aiXiva. Where are my roses? And where are my violets? And where is my beautiful parsley too? Here are your roses, and here are your violets. And here is your beautiful parsley too?' So that we see two rows of dancers before us, singing and answering one another as they danced. And then there was a dance, called " Forfeits,"^ and another dance, " Here's a message for somebody,'"'- and another, " Hands forward ";5 and it should seem that the last at any rate was a two -lined dance, for we may see the dancers dancing up in two sides so as almost to meet, and challenging one another with their hands. And we shall not do wrong to refer the "Challenging foot" to this dance, \j\j\j\j, or Proceleusmatic. But those two other dances, the Forfeit Dance (xpewv htoKoiri]), and the Message Dance (ayytXtK?)), seem rather to belong to the Round Dances, for their names at any rate would point to a similarity with our village dances, and perhaps they were like our " Kiss in the ring," for it was a common thing 1 The "Avfle/tta. 2 Athenseus. 630. 3 YpEWV OTrOKCnrij. " Pay your debts," we might translate it more literally. 4 The ayyekiKri. ^ ^£ip KarairpTivrjg. It will be obvious that the dances are here only popularly described. 196 HISTORY OF MUSIC. to have single dancers in the centre, and the rest moving in a ring round them.' And we may also admire how the simple xojooe, as Homer describes it, resembled the Jing-ger-ring of our children to-day, for boys and girls holding one another by the hands still dance those simple Ring dances, which the youths and maidens did in ancient Crete. And the Dactyl dance,^ which gave us our Dactyl, was also a Round Dance, for the tradition is that it was first danced in Crete by the Corybantes, as they went circling round the infant Zeus. And the Strobiles, or Windlass Dance,^ it should seem was a developed form of the primitive round dance, not unlike the dance that Theseus led in Delos, or perhaps it was the same, being likewise called the Geranus, or Crane Dance, because the garments of the dancers flew out as they followed each other, like the wings of cranes flap and fly when they run. And a round dance also was the Pyrrhic, or " Flushed Dance " (irvppixn),^ which gives us the Pyrrhic foot, v^ \j , and it must have been a violent dance, as its name implies. And so must the Thermaustris, or " Heated Dance," have been, and this too was most probably round.^ For it should seem that the Round dances were the more violent ones, in contrast to the Line Dances, which were of a quieter and graver order. 1 Burette's De la danse des Anciens, in the Histoire de I'Acaderaie des Inscriptions. I. Also Soiw Bi Kugjtmjr^pE idivevov Kara fiia(jovQ though this is scarcely so apropos. 2 Ath. 629. 3 Id. 630. 4 Deriving it from wvppog which in Doric is Trvpptvoe. Cf. The Hygra, or " Sweating Dance." 5 I am obviously alluding to the most primitive forms of these two dances, which we may perhaps conceive to have been round. Indeed if vopbc is any clue we must imagine all the Greek dances to have been originally round. See Liddell and Scott on xopoc- That this form afterwards changed in the two we are speaking of, we Icnow, THE CkEEKS. Igj' And now we have seen these feet grow up from the dance, the Choree, or Trochee, —vj, the Iambus, vy_, the Dithriambus, or Choree Iambus, _ww_, the Proceleusmatic, kjkj\j^, the other Bacchic feet besides the Dithriambus, viz. iu\j and \j \j , the Pyrrhic, w w, the Dactyl, —^\j, and to these we may add a variety of the Choree, www, the Tribrach, and a variety of the Dactyl, w_w, the Amphibrach. And all these feet we have seen grow up in Crete. But what is the Cretic foot par excell- ence, that shall stand out amid this galaxy of feet, as Betelgeuse in the constellation of Orion ? And it was also called Traiwv or the " Striking foot ", because it differed from the Dactyl in this, that the last step was struck almost as heavily -as the first, and dwelt on as long, and it differed from the Dactyl like our Varsoviana does from the Waltz, only with us the dwelling is at the end of each figure, but there it was at the end of each foot. And this is the foot which was called par excellence the Cretic foot: _w_, or to mark it in notes, j J J I- And it speaks of dainty treading and delicate keeping of time, for it is in ^ time, which is a time hard to hit. And let us take an example of it from Greek music, and dancers singing as they danced in this beautiful measure would sing their song like this : 5 J j^ J J j^ J \j \j \j J J" J \j /la-rep S) TTOT-vi-a, k\v-6i vvfi - ^av a-jipav, Aupi KV - fJlOK-TV-WWV TJ-jOaV O-Xt - (i)V flV-\ll)V. And there were many varieties of this foot, and there were 6 varieties in all, differing much in character, but all alike in ^ time. And these were the 6 varieties : ipS UlsfoRY OF MuSW. (I)- J J* j (2)- J J" J' J" (3). / J J*^ J** (4). j^J^J jMs). j^J^jN(^)- J'J'J'J'j^ \j \j \j Nm/v-zv^ \jvyw\^vj And the first, —\j—, was the pattern after which they all were shaped, and it was known preeminently as the Cretic Foot, but the others generally as Paeons. And from these feet does the Hymn to Apollo take its name, which first was heard in Crete, and is called the Paeon, or Paean, because the singers as they sang it danced in the Cretic step.' And Apollo himself is said to have led them, fxaKpd /3i/3ae, and striking his lyre as he led the dances. And let us imagine the beautiful Apollo leading the dances. And his hair was wreathed with leaves, and twined with threads of gold ; and his arrow.s rattled on his shoulders. And now we shall cease to wonder at that expression of Simonides, for he says that the Dance is dumb Music, and Music is speaking Dancing. And the poses of the Greek dancers were glorious to look upon. For that Coan boy in Athenseus, ' and Cos is an island that breeds gods, there was such grace in all his movements, and such was the melody of his motions, that we could never gaze our fill on him. And when he turned his bright face on us, we dare not tarry longer, for fear some harm might happen to us with over-wonder.' Or the Phseacian dancers, and Odysseus gazing at their twinkling feet. Or the fair-tressed Graces and the Hours, Harmonia, and Hebe, and Aphrodite dancing I Cf. those fragments of ancient Pjeans in Aritotles, 1. ^pu(T£OKOjua "Ekote iral Aioc- 2. AoXo-yEVEC) £«T£ AwKi'av. I imagine all ancient paeons, or the Crctnn at least, employed this foot exclusively. tliE GREEltS. 199 together, their hands on each other's wrists. Or the white feet of Grecian boys in those dances of Stesi- chorus. Or the lovely poses of the Ball Dance. For Nausicaa in the Ball Dance was like Artemis herself, as she treads the heights of Taygetus, the Arrow Queen, stalking the boars and the swift-footed stags. And sometimes they would throw the ball from one to the other at short distances, and then they must use their hands alone. But at longer distances they might use their arms to fling it with, standing easily but iirmly in one spot, and arching their bodies in a thousand graceful flexions to catch the bouncing ball. And what must it have been to see the Dorian girls at play ! For their dress only reached to their knee, and their white arms were bare as high as the shoulder, and the dress was fastened at the shoulder with golden studs. And sometimes they would play it in two bands, and throw the ball swiftly from side to side, and all in time and using dancing steps, for a musician was there accompanying them with the Lyre, and they sang and danced to his music.^ And even the masters of the ball play, such as Phaeacia produced, must needs make music of their game. For those two who played with a purple ball, whom Odysseus saw, and one bent back and flung the ball so high, that it was almost lost to sight, and the other sprang up and caught it as it was descending, and he caught it with his feet off the ground, and then they changed and played the common game, and flung the ball like lightning to one another, so that it made men dizzy to look on them — and all the while Demodocus was I See Burette's charming Memoire sur la Spheristique des Anciens, in the Histoire de 1' j^cademie des Inscriptions, I. 206 ttiSToRY Of MUStC. playing, and they were treading a measure to his song. And other varieties of the Ball dance we might mention, for there was the dance with the large ball, which was an empty one, for all these were small balls that we have been speaking of, and they were made of scarlet or purple leather, and filled in the inside with flour, or feathers, or grass, or wool, or fig-seeds, or sand. And the perfection of the dancing was when all parts of the body moved in consummate symmetry, with never a discord to jar on our sight. For Rhythm has its harmony no less than Melody has ; and here it is before us. " For," says Aristides, " we must not fancy that rhythm is a thing which concerns the ear alone, for in the dance it is made manifest to the sight."^ And indeed even a statue has its rhythm, but then it is a dumb or silent rhythm.^ And the poses of the dancers would give this rhythm. And the writer has often thought, , that that Greek dance which was called, " The Graces," would turn on giving this silent rhythm alone. For it would be danced perhaps by three girls, as its name implies, and would consist solely of beautiful poses. And now then we have given the principal Cretan dances, and we must go on to give the other dances that were used in Greece. And there were the Laconian,^ the Troezenian,^ the Epizephyrian,^ the Ionian,^ the Mantinean,7 the Phrygian,8 and the 1 In a similar spirit Music is defined as TEVvrj rov ttdettovtoc iv ^tuvatc Kol Kivrifftaiv. Aristides, 6. 2 Pictures were Spoken of in the same way as ' musical ' and ' unmusical. ' Cf. Sext. Emp. adv. Math., VI. 3 Memsius' Orchestra. 4 lb. 5 lb. 5 AthenEEiis, 630. 7 Meursius. 8 Athenseus, 629. THE GREEKS. 201 Molossian dances.^ And the step of the Cretan Dances was _\-'_, or ^\j\j\j, and in striking contrast to this was the step of the Molossian dances, which consisted of three long steps, And the great step of the Laconian dances was the Dactyl, — Kj\j, and still more favourite, the Back Dactyl, or Backwards-struck Dactyl (avaTrataroe), \j\j—, and this Back Dactyl, "or Anapaest, as it was called, was also the chief step in the Locrian, or Epizephyrian dances.^ And the Ionian dancers used much those two Bacchic feet, compounded of the Spondee and the Pyrrhic, \j \j and \j \j , which now began to be called the Ionic feet in consequence. And now two new varieties of the Cretan step were invented in the dances, and they were these, \j , and *u. And then there was the Dochmius, or "sidling'' step, w ^ —, and this may perhaps have come from the Bending Dance (oKXa(T/ia)3. And lastly there was a new and mighty foot appeared in the Dorian Dances, destined to breed fine rhythms in future song, the glory of the Dorians, the Dorian Epitrite. And it was first a long step, and then a short one, and then two long onts, _w And its time was different from that of all the other feet, for it is in '7 time — 7 J J J m w And this Epitrite had four varieties, but only two were commonly used ; and this was the next commonest after the one we have given : V7_. And the 2 other varieties were \j , and \j. And these were called the ist, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Epitrite, according to the position of the short step in them, and the short 1 lb. I imagine there is a similar list in Julius PoUux. 2 Cf. the remarks on the Locrian Rhythm, infra, p. — . 3 Aristophanes' Fragments, 321. SOS HISTORY Of MUSIC. step falling in the ist place, kj , it was the ist Epitrite; and in the 2nd, _w , the 2nd Epitrite; vy_, the 3rd Epitrite; and yj, the 4th Epitrite. But the 2nd was the original and leading Epitrite, and this was the one that was called par excellence the Dorian. Now then these feet having sprung up in the dances in various parts of Greece, and each independently of the other, were in course of time collected by the assiduity of theorists, who strove to systematise them, and bring out their relations and resemblances to each other. Nor was the task so hard as at first sight it may appear. For first, there is this remarkable principle of uniformity pervading them, that they all admit of being expressed by various collocations of the two signs, _, and vy, which is but saying that in all these thousand dances there were but two steps used, a long step and a short one, or in other words, that each step was either equal to its fellow or double of it, for the long was double of the short. And now we may for a moment admire, before proceeding to the givings out of the theorists, what lustre of rhythm this must have imparted to the motion of the dancers. For in what- ever fancy patterns the steps were thrown, there would still be the most perfect equality and evenness in the tread. And in a troop of dancers, the perspective of general sway, or line of rise and fall, must have been like the swell of the open sea, where no petty wave comes to break the regularity of the heaving. For short mincing steps, as we see, were unknown. Hence, then, arose the first grand law of Greek Musical Theory, that each note in the music, in like manner, must be either equal to its fellow or double of it. And this principle, developed in the first instance in the dance, pervaded all the music, even where no dance ttlE GkEtKS. 263 accompanied the song. And this was the way in which the principle was couched in the books of the theorists : " Every note must stand to its neighbour iv \6yi^ iff({) (" in equal ratio "), or iv \6yi^ SiirXaald^ (" in double ratio "), that is, in the ratio of i : i , (Xoyof '[(Tog), or in the ratio of 2 : l or 1:2 (Xoyoe StTrXtttrtoe)." And now observe the same principle applied to the bars. For if a step in- dancing answers to a note in music, then a foot or a measure, that is, a set of steps, in dancing, will answer to a bar, that is, a set of notes, in music. And having gained this principle of ruling, in the notes, they proceeded to determine the legitimacy of the bars next by its means. So they picked out of those feet that we have given the ones where the arsis stood to the thesis, first in an equal ratio (i : i), and secondly where it stood in a double ratio (2:1 or i : 2). And they found that it stood in an equal ratio in the following feet : Arsis. Thesis. The Dactyl \J \J Arsis. Thesis The Spondee Arsis. Thesis The Pyrrhic \j wi Arsis. Thesis The Proceleusmatic w \j \j \J Thesis. Arsis. The Anapaest KJ \J — So then these feet were all grouped in one class, and were pronounced to lie iv Xoyi^ 'ioroi) And since the Dactyl is the type of the rest, the general name of Dactylic Feet was given to them, because they all observed the same ratio which the Dactyl did. And let us represent the Dactylic feet as Musical Bars, t Aristoxenus however does not admit the Pyrrliic iato his system. Vid. Aristox. Rhythm. Fragm. 302. 204 HISTORY OF MUSIC. and we will call them Dactylic Bars, and the following bars will be the Dactylic bars : — Arsis. Thesis. n. Dactylic (Proper) :^=^3^ Spondaic Arsis. Thesis. n n Pyrrhic Proceleusmatic Arsis. 'JThesis. n w^i -4 Arsis. Thesis. Anapaestic Thesis. Arsis. n And next they picked out those feet where the arsis stood in a double ratio to the Thesis (Iv Xoyej) BiirXaa'Kjf)) 2:1 or 1:2. And they found that the following feet observed the double ratio : Thesis. Arsis. The Iambus kj | _ Arsis. Thesis. The Trochee, or Choreius _ | \j Arsis. Thesis. Thesis. Arsis. The Tribrach wv7| \j or \j \ \j\j Arsis. Thesis. The Molossus _ | / Arsis. Thesis. The Choriambus... _ | v^ w_ Arsis. Thesis. The 1st Ionic, or Ionic a majore _ | _ w w Thesis. Arsis. The 2nd Ionic, or The Bacchiuses I Ionic a minore \j\j \ THE GREEKS. 205 which we may show in this way: for let \j = i, then the Iambus is 1:2, the Trochee, 2:1, the Tribrach also 2:1, the Molossus, 2 : 4, the Choriambus, 2 ; 4, the Ionic a majore, 2:4, the Ionic a minore, 2:4, all therefore observing the same relation, viz., 2:1, or I ; 2. And these feet were in like manner thrown in one class, and were pronounced to lie Iv \6y(^ SivXaat^), or in a double ratio. And since the Iambus is a type of the rest, the general name of Iambic Feet was given to them all, because they all observed the same ratio in their arsis aud thesis which the Iambus did. And let us represent these Iambic feet as Musical Bars, and we will call them Iambic Bars, and the Iambic Bars will be the following : — Thesis. Arsis. Iambic r~\ \~] J"— J Trochaic. Arsis, Thesis. Tribrach Arsis. Thesis. Molossian Arsis. Thesis. zAzrJz Choriambic Arsis. Thesis. Arsis. Thesis. Ionic a majore H Ionic a minore Thesis. Arsis. 206 HISTORY OF MUSIC. But further acquaintance with the feet of the dances showed the theorists that there were some feet which would by no means be reduced into either of these two classes ; for there was the Paeon, or Cretan foot, _ w _ > which will not admit of either the Iambic or the Dactylic Diseresis, for although the individual steps that composed it observed the orthodox relation, that every step must be equal or double of its fellow, yet the entire foot does not observe this relation in the relation of its arsis to. its thesis, for the arsis of the Paeon is —^, and its thesis is _, and so taking vj as = I, the Arsis of the Paeon is related to its Thesis neither as i : i or 2 ; i, but as 3:2. They were constrained therefore to create a new Ratio for that class of feet of which the Paeon is a type, and to legitimise the ratio of 3 : 2 accordingly. And this new Ratio, which was the third and last principal Ratio of the feet, was called the Xo-yoe i7/i(oXtoc, or the Ratio of one and a half^ And the following feet were pronounced to lie in the One and a Half Ratio, £v \6y(jf) 7)/u(oX((^ : Arsis. Thesis. The Paeon, or Cretic _ w | _ Arsis. Thesis. The 1st Paeon _ | \w» vj vj Arsis. Thesis. The 2nd Paeon \j _ | o v-» Thesis. Arsis. The 3rd Paeon v-/ v^ 1 _ w " TU)v Bt TToSwv Tojv KOI avv^xv pvOfioTro'tiav Ss^o/iEvaJV rpia jivri eoti, to te SaicrwXjKOv Koi to la/ntitKOv koX to iraiwviKOv. AaKtvXtKOv fitv ovv IctI to iv icto) Xoyw, la/iCtKov Se to Iv %m\aaii^, trauoviKov 8e to iv t<^ rjftioXtiif). Aristoxenus. p. 302. cf, Aristotle's Probleni.s. XIX. 39. THE GREEKS. 207 Thesis. Arsis. The 4th Paeon w v^ w | _ Arsis. Thesis. The Resolved Pseon \j \j \j \ \j \j Arsis. Thesis. The New Bacchius w _ I _ The Prosodiac Thesis. Arsis. - I -^ And it will be seen that these feet all observe the One and a Half Ratio, that is, either 3 : 2, or 2 : 3. For the ratio of the Great Pseon is 3 : 2, of the ist Paeon, 2:3, of the 2nd Paeon, 3 : 2, the 3rd Paeon, 2 : 3, the 4th Paeon, 3 : 2, the Resolved Paeon, 3 : 2, the New Bacchius, for this old name was afterwards extended to this foot, 3 : 2, the Prosodiac, 2 : 3. And since the Pseon was the type of the rest, the general name of Paeonic Feet was given to them, because they all observed the same ratio which the Great Pseon did. And let us represent these Pseonic feet as Musical Bars, and we will call them Paeonic Bars, and the Paeonic Bars will be the following : — Great Pseonic or Cretic 1st Pseonic 2nd Paeonic 3rd Paeonic 4th Paeonic Arsis . Thesis. 77 S m m Arsis. Thesis. '7 ih - ^ ■' S m m m Arsis. > 1 Thesis. 1 L ' S m * * Thesis. Arsis. > V '1 ^ m m m m Thesis Arsis. '> > L',1 ■ ■ d d m m 2o8 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Resolved Paeonic New Bacchiac Arsis. I- J- Thesis. 1i> L S S m m m Arsis. Thesis. 'k S'' S Thesis. Arsis. i"7i 1 ^ Prosodiac And in this way were the Three Great Orders of Bars created in Greek Music, the Dactylic, the Iambic, and the Paeonic, which observed the relations respectively of I : I, 2 : I, 3 : 2.' And now but one set of feet remain to be accounted for, and these are the Epitrites. And these will not admit any of the above diaereses, although the indi- vidual steps that composed them were studiously in keeping with the law of the steps. Yet the entire feet would not admit any of the 3 diaereses, so a separate class had to be created for them, which however always remained a subordinate class in Greek theory, nor was taken into account in general speak- ing. And the relation of the Arsis and Thesis in this class was said to stand iv Xoytj) hnr^'iTij^, " in the ratio of 3 : 4," and the ratios of the 4 Epitrites were as follows : Thesis. Arsis. 1st Epitrite '^ — I 3 • 4 _; Thesis. Arsis. 2nd (Dorian) Epitrite — v-/ | 3=4 Arsis. Thesis. 3rd Epitrite I ^ — 4=3 Arsis. Thesis. 4th Epitrite I — ^ 4^3 ' TWU ol TpiWV "yEVtiJv 01 TTptiioi TToStEC iv TOilQ £?ijc apiBfioiQ TiQ{]- that is, an Ionic a majore and a Pyrrhic bar, be ever admissible as a Phrase, because they also observe the same illegitimate ratio to eaeh other, for taking \j as i, the Ionic stands to the Pyrrhic in the ratio of 6:2, that is, 3:1, which is the same forbidden ratio. Wha;t conjunction of 8 notes then are allowable as a Phrase, for with 8 notes our Phrases begin, for we a. SI 4 ■? 5 I— have g bars, g bars, g (^) bars, — or O bars, o fi. and Y bars. But 8 notes necessarily imply a 8 coupling of bars, and therefore with 8 notes begin the Phrases. And first we must ask what diaereses 8 notes admit of. And 8 notes admit of the following diaereses : — 7 + I 1 + 7 6 + 2 2 + 6 3 + S r > — al * l 3 ^ ^ — r ^ g=iv:pr4= ^ — jy-^ d »l— — W -dr-=^ 212 HISTORY OF MUSIC. 5 + 3 4 + 4 ^^^^^ But 7 : I and 1:7 are not tppvOfioi, because they fall under neither of the 3 Xoyoi. And 6: 2, which is 3:1, is not ippvQfioQ either, nor more its opposite, 2 : 6 (1:3). Nor is 3:5, nor 5:3 tppvQfiog. But 4:4 alone is ippvdfiog, for bar stands to bar kv Xo7'<{) 'i(t(^ as i : i. So two Dactylic bars are the only collocation of 8 notes that are admissible as a Phrase, and any of the Dactylic bars may be used to make the Phrase, as : — f ^ —i^-tr~ti—)r- d -M—m- :1j J-_j^ ^=^^ 1^=^ J!C^ ■- d—d- &c. And what collocation of 9 notes are admissible as a Phrase ? And 9 admits the following diaereses : — 8 + I 7 + 2 6 + 3 S + 4 and of these only the 3rd is legitimate, for 6:3 is 2:1, that is, the Xoyoc SiTrXatrjoc. So the only possible collocation of notes in a Phrase of 9 notes, is a bar of 6 notes followed by a bar of 3 notes, that is, ( "X 1 N 1 '^ 1 r — ^ W — -d d — — ^ -^ — a Ditrochee followed by a Trochee, \ f* 1 1 THE GREEKS, a Diiambus followed by an Iambus, 213 =f==1= an Antispast followed by an Iambus or a Trochee, and of course an Iambus may follow a Ditrochee in like manner, or a Trochee, a Diiambus, although we have not marked it here : ■Ti^==t^ :at=at ^ m a Bacchius followed by a Trochee or Iambus. And the other Bacchiuses followed by a Trochee or Iambus in like manner : — and And of course in all these cases the short bar may equally well precede the longer, as =^— J— — ^— a* ^ — ^ &c., in the ratio of 3 : 6, which is the Aoyoe SiirXaaiog inverted, i : 2. And these collocations exhaust the list of the possible 9 note Phrases. And what collocation of 10 notes are admissible as a Phrase? And 10 admits the following diaereses: — 214 HISTORY OF MUSIC. 9 + I 8 + 2 7 + 3 6 + 4 5 + 5 And of these only the last two are ippvBfioi. And 6 : 4 is the Xoyoc ■nfiio'Xiog, 3 : 2, and 5 : 5 is the \6yoe I'o-oe, I : I. So the only possible collocation of notes in a Phrase of 10 notes is a bar of 6 notes followed by a bar of 4 notes, or a bar of 5 notes by a bar of 5 notes, that is, a Ditrochee or Diiambus, or one of the Baechiuses, followed by a Dactylic bar; or two Pseonic bars. And here are the possible 10 note Phrases : — =^ ^ — I 1 >^ — ^ — I - ! -1 ^^ 1 \ 1 i» » J ' J J _l S m m m S m S hd — JH^ -J — J^^- \ S * 4 S 0*0 = ^ h I — -J— I I q^^={s= — ^jr —d S S S S S - I > — I | s ^ > I — I I — 1» > | » ■ And any of the varieties of the Dactylic bars might stand in the 2nd place, although we have not thought it necessary to write them, as :^=|!c =P= J^-J«-J =: THE GREEKS. 215 I \ — J a> i» J^ — J-^^^ &c., and of course the inversion of these with the shorter bar first, 4 : 6, which is 2 : 3, will also stand. And the 2 Phonic Bars, which are the other possible collocation in the 10 note Phrases, 5:5, ev Aoyej) i(7(j), may in the same way be any of the Paeons, or the New Bacchius, or the Prosodiac : — I \ \ I I h — - -^ — I — I — ^ — 1 I — ^ - s -d — ^—^——0 » — : '■ 1 h — ^i =lvq= ?!rr=1 IjZ] 2 Pffions Paeon and. New Bacchius 2 Prosodiacs &c. And these are the possible collocations of notes in the 10 note Phrases. And what collocation of ir notes are admissible as a Phrase ? And 1 1 admits the following diaereses : — 10 + I 9 + 2 8 + 3 7 + 4 6 + 5 But none of these are in either of the three Xo-yot, so that no collocation of 1 1 notes is admissible as a Phrase. And what collocation of 12 notes is admissible as a Phrase ? , And 1 2 admits the following diaereses : — 2l6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. II + I lO + 2 9 + 3 8 + 4 7 + S 6 + 6 And of these none are admissible but 8 : 4, which is the Xo'yoe SwXacTtoc (2 : i), and 6 : 6 which is the Xo'yoe iaoQ I : I. So that the only possible collocation of notes in a Phrase of 12 notes is 8 notes followed by 4 notes, or 6 notes by 6 notes. But now since there is no metrical bar of 8 notes, it is plain that our 8 notes will be composed of 2 bars, each of 4 notes each, and these 2 bars of 4 notes followed by one bar of 4 notes — we shall see we are now in the province of Triple Phrasing, for there are 3 bars in all. But 6 and 6 will still be Double Phrasing, but 8 and 4 are Triple Phrasing, and with these we are concerned first. And these Triple Phrases will be composed of three Dactylic -bars, of which ^the first and second stand to the third in the relation of 8 : 4, or the first to the second and third in the relation of 4 : 8, as we prefer. And here are the possible 12 note phrases in the Xo'yoc StTrXao-joe, and in Triple Phrasing : 8 H with any of the Dactylic varieties, r 1 — 1 — \~~\ ^v— V >i->- 1 — r h '*"~M — « — 3^— -»i— ai— ^— *- -JT-:^--^ Ji :|5r-=^ =1^^ A Spondee and 2 Proceleusmatics ■N An Anapaest, a z Spondee and, a 3 Dactyl THE GREEKS. 217 "^ A Proceleus- ■ ^ ^ij matic, a Spondee — 'and an AnapKst etc. And here are the possible 12 note Phrases in the \6yoQ 'i(Tog, 6 : 6, and these, on the contrary, are Double phrases. And they consist of any 2 bars of time, or of SI r' a ^ time, or of ^ and t mixed, as 2 Diiambuses, a Diiambus and a Bacchius, 2 Bacchiuses, etc., 1 — h — 1 — =#-^ j*~:]~ -* — — K -* — It— « 4 9— « 1 — *~ -J- =*--H r 1 1 ~^ =s^ —=t- etc., etc. And these are the possible collocations of notes in the 12 note Phrases. And what collocations of 13 notes are admissible as Phrases? And 13 admits of the following diaereses: — 12 + I II + 2 10 + 3 9 + 4 ' 8 + S 7 + 6 But none of these fall in the 3 Xoyoi. So that no collocation of 13 notes is admissible as a Phrase. And what collocations of 14 notes are admissible as Phrases? And 14 admits of the following diaereses: — 2l8 HISTORV OP MUSIC. 13 + I 12 + 2 II + 3 10 + 4 9 + 5 8 + 6 8 + 6 is admissible as a Phrase, that 2 Epitrites, which would be 7 -\- 7, could never be knit together, but each Epitrite must stand distinct. So 7 + 7 goes out, and 8 + 6 alone remains. And 8 : 6 is in the \6'^o^ lirirpiroQ, that is, in the ratio of 4 : 3. So that we must have 2 bars of 4 notes each to make an 8, followed by one bar of 6 notes ; and this like the 12 note Phrase will be a Triple Phrase. And we may take any of the Dactylic And of these only for we have heard bars, and follows : — • any of the and 4 bars to form it, as I" . . K . "> 1 ' r r 1 r '^ 1 * r ! 1 . ! ■ 8 + which is 2 Dactyls and a Bacchius. celeusmatics and a Ditrochee, Or take 2 Pro- ( ^ 1 ■ s v- -^ ^ ' - > . . . r r P ^ 1 ^ * 1 — J-J d J- — -d—d—d — li— —d J— J -h— or an Anapaest, a Spondee, and a Diiambus, - S d d ~ =z3t=rafc= — »l— ai==3 — ai — or putting the S bar first. f — : ^ — a*! — d -d — d — —d * . — d- -m + THE GREEKS. 2l6 Any of these collocations and many others we may use of the same bars. And these are the possible collocations of notes in the 14 note Phrases. And what collocations of 15 notes are admissible as Phrases? And 15 admits of the following diaereses; — 14 + I 13 + 2 12 + 3 II + 4 10 + 5 9 + 6 8 + 7 And none of these are admissible but only 10+5 and 9 + 6; and 19 : 5 is the Xoyoc SivXaaiog, 2 : i and 9:6, is the \6yog vfiioXioc, 3 : 2, and both of them are Triple Phrases. And it is plain that the iirst, 10 : s, will consist of Pseonic Feet, and the 10 notes will be two Paeonic Bars, and they will be followed by one Pseonic Bar, which will give the 5 notes. And there willl be three bars in all. And we may use any of the Psebns we please to form our bars of, as : — -JtzMz 9—0- i^irji -fcat 1§ 10 + s 2 Cretic Paeons and the 2nd Paeon, 10 + 5 the 3rd Pseon and 2 Prosodiacs, or inverting the ratios, and placing the 5 bar first, 1 N 1 — 1 *■ — 1 q 1 i»i 1 J J 1 + 10 HISTORY OF MUSIC. 2 20 a Prosodiac, a Resolved Paeon, and the Great Paeon, &c., &c. And next to take the second admissible ratio, 9 : 6 And it is plain that the feet that compose this will be the f and ^ feet, but also the | feet will be used, and this will give us our triple Phrase. For 2 bars of 5 or - would only give us 12 notes, that is 8 4 3 notes too little, and 3 bars would give us 3 notes too much, so we must also use a bar of -, and then we shall have our 15 notes, and they will be 3 bars in all, that is, a Triple Phrase. And they may be arranged as we please, either. F^=^'^=3=^ F^=^ F^— =f=5=^^ ' it * 4. i-M. 0—Ji—*. — + or 9 + -a a or putting the ^ bar with the g. ■ d -d d ai J ■m-—d m i d ar- or inverting the ratio. + 6 —J- I h^ p j — j ^- 3=^^=^ + or ■ Ks 1 Ik 1 ■ 1 Ik Ik 1 1 tt 1 P 5 1 -J3 P 1 15 — + THE GREEKS. 221 being composed of Diiambuses, Ditrochees, Bacchiuses. Iambuses, and Simple Trochees, in any position that we like to place them. And these are the possible collocations of notes in the 15 note Phrases. And what are the possible collocations of notes in the 16 note Phrases? And 16 admits of the following diaereses : — IS + I 14 + 2 13 + 3 12 + 4 II + S 10 + 6 9 h 7 8 + 8 And none of these are possible ratios except the last, 8 : 8, which is the '\6yog 'icroQ, 1:1. So it is plain that the bars will be Dactylic bars, and each will be composed of 2 Dactylic bars of 4 notes each, so there ' will be 4 bars in all, and we have now come to Quad- ruple Phrases. And any of the Dactylic feet may be used, and 4 bars of them, either 8 + 2 Dactyls and 2 Spondees, or r ^ 1 1^ — S — 1 — T 1 :! — 1 1 f— 1 ,»« — 1^ — 1 — 1 •— Tft— W -* W W ^ ■!— *— a* 2 Anapaests a id 2 Spondees, or r -> — 1<5 — [*■■ — »-■ :::izzi=3t:=* g==>J==15:i:Js:^&=|vpi$Erls= Proceleusmatics and Dactyls. 222 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And this was the limit to Dactylic Phrasing, nor were any Dactylic Feet allowed to be combined in greater quantities than 4 bars to the Phrase.'' But the Iambic and the Pseonic Feet went higher, as we shall see. And perhaps there was a sobriety in the intona- tion of the Dactyl, compared with the lighter Iambs and Paeons, which may have led to the restriction. But this we cannot certainly say. What next was the possible collocation of 17 notes to make a Phrase? And all the diaereses of 17 are inadmissible, as will be seen, 16 + 1, 15+2, 14 + 3, 13+4, 12 + S, II +6, 10 + 7. And what collocations of 18 notes are admissible as a Phrase ? And 1 8 admits of the following diaereses : — 17 + I 16 + 2 15 + 3 14 + 4 13 + 5 12 + 6 II + 7 10 + 8 9 + 9 And of these, 12+6 and 9 + 9 are the possible ones, and 12 : 6 is in the ratio 2:1, Xoyoe StirXao-toe, and 9 :, 9 is in the Xo-yoe i'troc, i : i. But [9 : 9 goes out, because with the cessation of the Dactylic Feet there also ceases the Dactylic Phrasing, and all equal phrasing, Iv Xoyti) 'Icrcf), of whatever kind, was called Dactylic Phrasing, as we have seen, because the Dactyl I Aristoxenus' Fragments. Paris ed. 11. apxirai Se TO oaKTvXiKOv OTTO T£TjOa(r}]jUOD ajwjric ■ av^erai Se M^XP' EKKOtSsKaoTj/iou, oiorrt jivicrdai tov niyitrrov ttoSo tov kXaxioTOv TerpairXdmov, THE GREEKS. 223 was the pritnum mobile which originally created it, for the Phrase was but an extension of the Foot, and the Dactyl was an equal Foot. So that 9 : 9 goes out in consequence, and only 12 : 6 remains. And it is plain 6 % that 12 will be 2 bars of „ or - time, and 6 will be i » 4 bar. And now let us mark this 18 note phrase, for in its Iambic form it was the great and glorious phrase of the Tragedians' Music, and is eternally in their mouths : — r =^^= gg^ [-- [! >_^ ^_ And we may admire how this noble phrase has been utterly lost in subsequent music, for we look in vain through all the compositions of modern times to discover one single phrase such as this, that is, a phrase of 3 bars in ^ time.'' o Now this is the simple form of the 18 note Phrase as the Tragedians used it, but it was also used with the - feet, that is, the Bacchiuses, or with the 4 - and the 3- mixed, e.g. 4 o 12 + 12 I Westphal has discovered an approach to it in Beethoven's Adelaida, but this is the only instance he has been able to find and there the time is eommon. HISTORY OF MUSIC. 224 12 +6 a Diiamb, an Antispast, a Bacchius, &c., &c. And with this ends the Iambic phrasing, for it was not allowed to go higher than 18 notes, just as the Dactylic was limited to 16.^ And we may admire the symmetry of principle that is here apparent. For the Dactyl consisted of 4 notes, and the highest Dactylic Phrase was of 4 bars, being a Quadruple Phrase And the Iambus consisted of 3 notes, and the highest Iambic Phrase was of 3 bars, being a Triple Phrase. And now "the Pseon, which consisted of 5 notes, we shall find that its highest phrase was of 5 bars, being a Quintuple phrase, for the Paeonic Phrases were extended much further than either the Dactylic or Iambic, being extended to 25 notes in a Phrase.^ But we must first consider if any other Phrases come before it. And we have left off at phrases of 18 notes, and now 19 admits no possible diaereses. And 20 admits only the two following possible diaereses, 12 : 8 and 10 : 10. But 10 : 10 can no longer be taken into the question, for it is iv \6y(i> Uw, I : I, and we are done with all Dactylic or equal Phrases, whether Paeons or whatever foot compose the bars. And 12 : 8 is indeed in the true Paeonic relation, for it is iv \6y^> riiLuo\in>, 3 : 2, but then no Paeons, which are the only possible foot now, will make it, for they only move in fives. So this 1 Aristoxenus, loc. cit. to Se lajufiiKov yivoQ apxsTm fiiv awo rpimifxov aywyri^, avS,erai St /.d^pt OKruiKmStKacTiifiov, (otrre yivecrBai rov fdyiarov ttoSo tov iXaxipa Si Q K-edv - oi- o irep -uaa^ \\ ! N Sij _ J>^V|,J ^^^{ J J I a.Xiog 2 : 3 2:3- aXoyta TUE GREEKS. 243 (2:1 r : 2 \ - — ^-^ or '-s/'-v ), they KJ \j \j \j \j \jj felt that it had been approximated rather to the Trochee, _ \j, and when the last note had the aXoyia, Kj'u \j , , that it had been approximated to the Iambus, and so they called aXoyiaed Tribrachs, Trochaeoids and lamboids accordingly.^ And possibly that approximation of Dactyls to Paeons, and Paeons to Molossuses, &c., would have struck them in a different way to what it does us, and would have deserved another name accordingly, which our coarser ears will scarcely enable us to select. And now let us admire what perpetual vicissitudes of rhythm this crossing of the feet, what flushings and glancings of rhythm these offers at feet and coy substitutions of longs for shorts would work upon the metre ! - What miniature painting within our big frames does it not point to! And what inexhaustible variety does this and that other device, the Compression and Resolution of the feet, secure to the very simplest materia,ls ! For to take one foot alone, the Dochmius, and we will take this, because it has had the benefit of most admirable study by a very great scholar, the Dochmius alone, by benefit of these two principles, admits of at least 32 varieties. For the Dochmius, which is a compound foot, and for which, it may be remarked, owing to its not sub- scribing to the usual diaereses, a special phrasing was created, the \6yog oKrdarifioe, as in the case of the Epitrite — in its simple form (iroue Kvpioc;) is J • • * * . And by resolution (^laXvOiig) this vj _ _ w _ ' £1(71 S^ KOt aXoyOl ^OpSlOl SvO [6 /X£v] (aju€oE(ST)C oc trvvlarriKEv tic /xdKpag apatiitg /cat Svo [jipa\iiwv?} Biaewv, 6 Si rjooi^[at]oEiPijc tic ovo [j3pa])(£twv] Oiaiwv Koi fxaKpag apatui Kar avTtorpo^ijv tov irporipov. Aristides, p. 59. 244 HISTORY OF MUSIC. becomes • m m m m m S . And by resolution \J KJ \J \J \J \J \J KJ and compression (BiaXvOeig koX avvaipSuo) in its various parts : — \j \j \j — \j \j — \j ^ \j \J \J \J \J \J KJ V-» — — \J \J \J KJ \J \J _ \J \J \U \J — KJ \J \J KJ \J And by 0X0710 as follows : — /.J J /J — — \j ^ \j \j — \j — \j \j \j \j \j —. J*. J J' J' J" J j^ j^ -r J J^. J \J KJ \J — — — J^.J-S' J J*. J _ W VJ _ _ _ J- J J" J" J'. J THE GREEKS. 2S4 v/ vy _ _ J. ^ J. J. J. J». J \j \j \j \j \j — _ J*, .f* J^ -r J . — \j \j \j ^ _ •^ -^ / .^ J .^ .f^ — w vy \-» _ vy VJ /•J J J" J" J" — — — VJ w w J"- J J^J^/.^J^ — — \J \J \J \J \J J-- J' / J J' J^ J^ — W V-» \J \J \J — \J \J \J \J \J ^"d the Greater Ionic Bacchius with the Ditrochee ,' a and so in the last two instances ^ time might pass into ii, without presuming a change of measure, which was an easy deduction from the doctrine of the Epiploce of feet, agreeably to which it was demonstrated that the 5 Antispast was convertible with the 2 Bacchiuses, by the use of passages ; since taking a line of greater Ionics, aaiph) T-fjv Trpwrriv truXkatirjv cKpaipio TTjv StVTSpav _ VJ\w/ \J \J \J \J \j \j a(j)aipu) rriv rptrrjv. \j \J \j \j \j \j \j v-/^ and thus by a removal, of a syllable, time after time, from the beginning to the end, it was demonstrated that the § Antispast must be allowed convertible a with the ^ Bacchiuses — since it contains their exact 1 Bockh, De Metris Pindari, p. 90. 2 Scholiast on Heph8estion. 252 HISTORY OF MUSIC. equivalent of syllables. And therefore the g Ditrochees and Diiambuses were admitted as con- vertible in like manner.^ And the system of Lasus would comprise the doctrine of barring, and how, whether the Arsis or the Thesis opened a foot, the light accent or the heavy, the bar must always include the entire foot,^ nor any half barring admissible, as we in modern times use, who would bar such a passage as this, N J hi h I , in the following way, -J ^ l J J^l J—J^\-J -^ , but the Greek barring was different, and that short note, instead of being out of the bar, stood as the first note in it, being called the XP'^^'^^ KaOrjyov/Jitvog, or " opening note," while the second note was called the xpo""? iirojuivog, or " following note,"3 as thus : ^^' '^^ ' ^^' , ^^' without any distinction whether they were long or short, as, if a Trochee were to be barred, the J would this time be called the xpovog Kadnyovfievog and this and the J^ the xpo^oe tnofievos : '^'^ 1 '^'^ i^ # m and Iambics and Trochees alike included in complete bars. 1 The best Epiploce was of the 2 Ionics and the Choriambic. The Antis- past was not so good, and is principally supported by the Metricians. All the feet might be treated by Epiploce. Some say (Westphal. Metrilc. II. 372) that the Pseonic feet did not admit Epiploce. It is more usual to allow it. See Barbara's Prolegomena to Hephsestion. 2 This fact, which we have alluded to before, may well be seen from the locus classicus in Aristides, though countless testimony is forthcoming else- where at every step : rwv Se pv^fiHiv (Aristides uses this term both for phrases and bars. Cf. p. 35, 36. Ed. Meiboraius.) riavxalTSQOl fliv 01 ■airb S'EffeoJi' TrpoKaracfTiWovreg rrjv oiAvoiav' 01 Bi otto apaewv ry ([twvig Trjv Kpovaiv kTTKJiipovreg TETopoy/XEVot. 3 Cf. Aristides Quintilianus. otuv Svo ttoSwv Xafitavo- fiivwv 6 fuv ixy rbv fiti^ova xpovov Kad r}y ov /Xiv ov, iir 6 fisv o V Se tov iXarrova, 6 Se tvavrliDg. tHE> GREEKS. 251 a^:^:^^_^ and aba^zafzW^bL^ , and the other feet in like manner, Anapaests barred Hke Dactyls, J^l'^^^^^^ and .,U^ 'J-A'»]J-^'^^' Lesser Ionics like Great Ionics, : J^'^J -l-J^%J^-IJy<^-jl_\ ^"d s'.-at^J-iWrJISi^jn^j^l, 2nd and 3rd Paeons like 1st Paeons, --^ S^J^J^'-^J^ J^ ^ J^J-^J^ , &c. And the reason of this was that the accent did not necessarily fall on the first place in the bar, as it does with us, but niight fall on any place in it, as, in the Anapaest it fell on the last, • w w _ . vj v^ , vy vj in the 2nd Pason on the 2nd place "^ ^ \j \j > \j — \jw> in the 3rd Pseon on the 3rd \j \j — k/ y kj \j — \j and in the other feet in like manner, the general rule being that it should fall on a long note that stood in the middle of short ones, as in these Paeons, and oft the 1st of two long ones that came together, as r in the Great Ionic, ~ - ^ ^ , the lesser Ionic, S S I I •I J J J &c., &c.- And the system of Lasus V-» Am* _ would comprise the exposition of the aywyrj, or principle of timing pieces.* And there might be all ' dyuyfj dl iart pvOfUKri -xpovwv r&xos rj jSpaSurjjc. Aristides, p. 42. 252 HISTORY OF MUSIC. shades of time employed, from very fast to very slow, whatever the feet were that were used. For the time of a piece was regulated by its xpovog irpwroQ, or shortest note.' And at the opening of the piece this had a definite value awarded it=' (as we should say M.M. M.M. N = 60., or N = 92.), and the other notes took their time from it. So that a piece in Spondees need not necessarily have been double as slow as one in Proceleusmatics and Pyrrhics, for by assigning the Xpovoe Tr/owroc, v^, double the length in the Proce- leusmatic and Pyrrhic piece that it had in the Spondaic, the Spondee would take no more time in its execution than the Pyrrhic would, but precisely the same, ^ '^ And thus the Proceleusmatic in one piece would occupy the same time as 2 Spondees in the other, >-" v^ v> \-» And so on with the other feet, so that it is no guide to the time at which any piece was taken to examine whether it contains more short notes than long ones, as little as it would be in modern music, where pieces in quavers are often much slower than pieces in minims. But in each case we are at liberty to award what value we like to our shortest note, and this, be it fast or slow, will give us the time of the others. At the same time, when we find pieces written in Pyrrhics and Proceleusmatics, we are much more likely to be right if we take them to quick time, and pieces in Spondees to slow time, and generally the Ethos, or Spirit of the composition, is the best of all guides to I Aristoxenus. Rhythmic Fragments. 280. 282. 2 lb. p. 118 sq. ^ fiivovTog Toit Xoyov koO' ov Scwpitrrai ra yivr\ ret fjueyiQi] Kiviirai twv ttoSwv Sia tjjv Tjje ayoj-yijc Svva/uv Koi twv fivyeBiwr fitvovrwv avo/ioioi jivovrai 01 ttcSec. Aristox. Frag. 34. THE GREEKS. 25 3 fixing the time, and having got that, let us then determine our shortest note at an agreeable value, and the rest of the piece will run accordingly. And in the school of Lasus would Pindar have studied the com- position of passages,' or those collection of passages which appear in the handbooks, being, so to speak, contrapuntal commonplaces for acquiring skill and facility in the grouping of feet. As 1st Passages — e^ svbg ta/x6ow koi rpiuv rpo^aiwv. (a) Tpo)(cuog ano lafit>ov, \j \J — kj — \-> (j3) Tpo)(aiog avo jSokt^eTou _v-»\-/ kj — \j (y) /SaK^Eioe airo rpoxaiov \J \J kj \j (S) lo/iSoe ETTtrptroe *-» — \J — \J ^ — 2nd Passages — evo rpo;(atov rovg^iXonrovg lafi^ovg t\ovT£g. (a) ia/t6 oc airb Tpo)(alov \J \J — 'U—.\J — (/3) l'aju€oc OTTO fiaK\eiov \J kj kj — \J — (7) (iaKXiiog carb la/i& ov \j — \j \j \J — (S) rpoxaloQ hr'ixpiTog \J — m — \J >-» 3rd Passages — Siio rpoxaiovg icrovg St l&fitiovg E;)(ovrEe. (o) airXovg jiaK-)(eiOQ anb lafi&ov \J — \J — -.\J — v-» (j3) anXovg j3aK\£ioe airo rpoxaiov — \j — ^ \J — \J — (■y) fdaog ia/x6oe — \J \J — \J^ v-/ (8) fiiaog TpoxaioQ \j v.* — \J \J — ^ etc., etc., in which exercises and others like them we have ample grounds for supposing that pupils were continually practised, in order to give them the necessary freedom of treatment in the grouping of dissimilar feet. And in the school of Lasus would be taught the Construction of the Musical Period, how 1 I imagine 'passages,' or some sucli word is the best translation for Aristides' TTEOi'ooof here. It is not used in the same technical sense we have hitherto found it in. 2 Aristides. p. 37. ' 254 HISTORY OF MUSIC. it was composed of Phrases and Clauses, and how two Phrases went to the Clause, but many Clauses to the Period, and the graceful arrangement and contrast of clauses,, and the arts for diversifying their rhythms, would be learnt from such exercises as the above. These and many other things like them we must imagine came into the musical education of these days, and with particular detail and accuracy would they be acquired by the pupils of Lasus ; for Lasus was a man of the most fastidious taste. Like many great theorists who have come after him, he might be accused of an ultra-fastidiousness of taste, to which he joined an amazingly subtle intellect, and doubtless those minute and subtle discussions on" recondite points of Rhythm,! which we read in the writings of Aristoxenus, are' ta be traced finally to him. For we find such questions closely debated as this: If we say that the lettfer w, as in the interjection w, is to be taken to the time of a long, I , what will be the time of the same letter when it occurs with a con- sonant before it, as in the word tw, which is also taken to the time of a long, J ? Will not the to have less time now, since r must share part of the note, or, per contra, will the w keep the same time, and the t have a fraction of extra time, and so the lo"&) J be really lengthened by a minute fraction, which, though scarcely felt in the singing, is yet there ? Or, given the word adw, which is taken to the time of a Molossus, J J J |, it is required to calcu- I So I take the ipttrriKOvg \6yovg of Suidas. ' quibbles.' ' sophistries,' &c. THE GREEKS. 255 late the additional fractions which that Molossus will have received, when the word, dvOpwirw, is sung to it. Or, per contra, should we not rather calculate the time of the Molossus on the basis of dvOpwirw, I I 11 ^ „^, ^ I , and then make the necessary fractional av-npu-TTii) deductions for words of three vowels without any consonants intervening, since words with consonants between the vowels are much commoner than words without ? ' Such discussions as these may testify to the peculiar subtlety of Lasus' intellect, but his fastidiousness of taste is quite as remarkable. For he wrote whole poems without a single " s " occurring all the way through, because he disliked the way in which the letter was pronounced." These are the (jJSai aaiy/ioi, which his pupil, Pindar, loudly commends as triumphs of art.3 For Pindar was a devoted admirer of Lasus, and received the good and the bad from his master with equal good faith, as all great pupils have ever done. And now Pindar, who was yet a boy, began to commence poet on his own account. And he con- sulted the Theban poetess, Corinna, about the choice of a subject. And she advised him to write a poem, To the Thebans, and for the matter of the poem to use the mythology of Thebes. And accordingly Pindar produced his first poem, written on the lines that 1 These are a flavour of the discussions which open Aiistoxenus' Rhythmic Fragments. 2 It was the Doric pronunciation of " s" which Lasus disliked, for the Dorians pronounced it like a guttural "h," and all the choral music was by prescription written in the Doric Dialect. 3 Fragment 47, in Donaldson. 2S6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Corinna had laid down for him, and in the first six lines of it he had collected together the entire mythology of Thebes. He had exhausted the whole Theban mythology at one blow. " / will sing" it goes, " about Ismenus, or Melia with the golden distaff. Or Cadmus, or the men who sprang from the dragon's teeth. Or the nymph, Thebe, with the blue head-dress. Or Hercules, the patron deity of Thebes, Or the festive honours that the Thebans pay to Dionysus, Or the wedding of the white-armed Harmonia, whom Cadmus married." When he showed his poem to Corinna, she said to him, "You must sow with the hand, not with the whole sack " (t^ X*'P' ^" airupuv iiXKa firj oX£iv, Ka-yu) TToiBa 0povg ol TToiSec vniAEpov 'iva fifj KaOiZuinv kavrovg eIk^ KoX WQ eVu^E ■ eJjXoV OE StI KOI 7) fpaTTiZo. ijv aVTOlQ KOI 17 Xotirii oiaira a^poripa ' t oiovr oi ol 6 v t tg rijv iv M. a paO wv I fia xriv iv I Ktiffav . 2 Clemens. Stromateis, I. 3 T^ atiXbJv TToXvipwviq KaraKoXovdriaag irXsiorri re ^OoyyoiQ KOI StEjOjOi/x/xlvote xprtaanivog. Plut. De Mus. 29. ^ (poiviKoirelia. THE GkEEJCS. 267 music; with Simonides for the master of the Dithyramb, and next to him Bacchylides, who sang so potently the joys of drinking; and Phrynis, that rose from a cook to a courtier ; and those arch-revellers, ^schylus and Epicharmus, who drank pottle deep eternally. "There's no dithyramb," roars Epicharmus, "if you drink water." ^ And ^schylus always wrote his plays when he was drunk, so that Sophocles said of him, £1 Koi ttoieT to, Siovra aXX' ovk eiBdjg ye, " He is in blissful unconsciousness of what he's doing." These were the company that Pindar found assembled, and what with drunken Bacchylides, and drunken iEschylus, and drunken Epicharmus, there was a court-full. And they made their potations in royal wines, red, white, and yellow, the wines of Etna, or those royal wines of Sybaris, that ran in great pipes, two miles and more, from the vineyards in the country to the city. And if it was hard drinking, it was none the less musical drinking, for all the toasts were drunk to a musical accompaniment, and the toast to Good Fortune, which opened the revel,* we will particularly describe. For a great cup was filled with wine, and there was a flute-girl ready to give the sign when to begin. And when she began to play, the king of the revel raised the cup to his lips, and it was passed round from hand to hand, and so contrived that the last man should have finished it when the flute came to an end of its tune. And now not only were the toasts drunk in musical measure, but the wine and water were mixed in musical proportions.^ For the Greeks ' OVK iarri SiBCpafitot; oky' vSwp irivrjQ. 2 Plutarch's Symposiacs, VII. 8/ ? Plutarch. Symposiac Questions, III. 9. KaOdirep yap oi irepl \vpav KavoviKol twv Xoytov e oi TTEpi TOV Aiovvaov ap/jioviKot. 268 HISTORY OF MUSIC. never drank their wine pure, as we do, but always mixed with water. And the wine and water were mixed before the revel began, and they were mixed, as we said, in the musical ratios, being mixed either in the Paeonic Ratio, 3 : 2, 3 parts of water to 2 of wine (Xoyoe TjjutdXtoc), or in the Iambic Ratio, 2 : !> 2 parts of water to i of wine (Xdyoc BiirXaaiog), but never in the forbidden ratio, \6yog rpiirXamoc, 3 '• i, 3 of water to i of wine, for this was considered iSaprig, "watery stuff," and "only fit for frogs," ^arpaxoiQ olvoxoeiv. And the old song gives us these proportions, for it says : ^ TTEVTE iriveiv jj TpC jj firj riTTopOf " Drink fives or threes, but never fours." ' And the king of the revel decided the proportions beforehand, and ladled out the wine and the water from the pitchers and flagons into the bowl accord- ingly, from whence it was distributed to the company. And sometimes, if he were a sturdy toper, he would make the company suffer for his sins, for he would insist on that other Musical Ratio, the Dactylic, Q<6yoQ iaog), 2 : 2, half and half, which was considered terribly strong," and which few heads could stand, as that revel master in Athenaeus' Banquet, " that was not a revel master but a revel monster, for he made us drink 20 cups of half and half — kvuBovq irpoirivwv tiKomv iffov t — and then roared out that he was going to make it stronger still." And the revel master had the right of decreeing the proportions of the mixture, as we say, and also the manner of the drinking — whether it should be airvEuoTi, or not anvmari, that is, whether each cup should be emptied at one I Plautus, Stichus. '' iav S' Kffov ifftji Trpoir(l>ipy fiavtav ttouT. THE GREEKS. 269 draught, or whether it should be drunk at leisure. And the first was always the favourite method ; and probably there was some connection between the music and the drinking in this too, which we are not particularly informed of, for very likely the object of the airvevarl drinking was that each cup might be emptied within some given snatch of melody,^ and he who was behindhand had to pay forfeit. And the enormity of the potations may often amaze us. Alexander the Great could drink a gallon and a half at a sitting, and ^schylus, according to all accounts, was not far behind him.^ But meanwhile we must hear Bacchylides singing the joys of drinking, or that other revel song, that is more uproarious than his : " Let us drink," runs the revel song, "and souse our hearts in royal liquor. Why should we put out the light, even though the day has dawned? Bring out bigger bowls, and bigger still, and foam them up with the blood of the grape ; the day's before us, and the liquor unending ; and each fresh draught shall make us forget the one that has gone before. "3 And here is the song of Bacchylides : " Oh ! Bacchus," sings Bacchylides, "how do your swingeing draughts inflame the toper's heart ! What royal hopes and fancies run coursing through his breast! Beneath your royal empire he flings his cares to the winds. With a thought he hurls down the battlements of towns, 1 I imagine this from such passages as this, e.g., in Plutarch's Sympo- siacs, where in consequence of an agreement having been come to that each man should drink as he pleased, SiSoKTai Trjv avXrfrpiSa )(ai/0££V 'iqv. I think there is a similar passage in Plato's Erotics, but am not sure. 2 It was 2 YO£C ^^^^ Alexander could drink. I forget where I have seen this statement, and I don't think it is in Arrian. These drinking customs that prevailed at present in Greek life were probably due in a great measure to Persian influences. The Persians were great drinkers, as Darius, who was content to have for his epi'aph, HAYNAMHN KAI OINON niNEIN nOAYN KAI TOYTON «> E P E I N K A A Q S " and carry it well." 3 Seleucus in Athenseus. 270 HISTORY OF MUSIC. and in fancy he is monarch of the world. His hous glitters with gold and ivory, and corn-bearing ships come across the glancing main for him, bringing royal wealth from Egypt. So soars the heart of the drinker."' And he that would have the pedigree of the revel, let him go to drunken Epicharmus. "For first comes the Sacrifice, and the Sacrifice is the father of the banquet, and the banquet is the father of the revel, and the revel is the father of lasciviousness, etc., etc." And so he goes on mapping out the family tree of wine. And when the revel was over, they would go scouring about the streets with torch - bearers and flute-players, making the city echo to their songs. This was the riotous side of Bacchanalian Music. But there is a finer and more aesthetic side of it, which yet remains for us to consider. For the Sicilians, and particularly those of Syracuse, are well known as the inventors of that excellent Musical Game, the Cottabos, which had such a popularity in Sicily, that there were houses built like our racquet courts and fives courts for playing it in. But it was also played in private houses, and generally before the beginning of the revel, when hands were steady and brains clear, and the ear could distinguish the delicate modulations of sound, in making which the art of the play consisted. For we have heard of the music of water, and surely there can be no finer or purer sound than the rippling of a brook in the night time when all the world is still, or the plash of pebbles dropt into water in solitary places. But now we are to hear of the music of wine, for the Cottabos was a Love game, and consisted in throwing wine from a distance into a metal basin. And then I Fragment 27 in Bergk. THE GREEKS. 27I yo$ must listen to how it splashed. And he that made the fullest and purest sound with his wine against the metal basin was held to be the winner, and most likely to have success with his mistress. What delicate ears to distinguish all the faint varJiations of timbre ! And who shall say whether the Pramnian wine did not give a crisper plash than the Chian wine, or the wine of Lesbos have more body in its tone than the Thasian wine? And this is how the Cottabos was played : there was a line drawn on the floor which the players toed, and at some distance there was a large marble basin full of water, in which the small metal basin floated that was the mark, and each player held a cup of wine in his hand to throw when his turn came. And shall we catch them in the act? And it is easy to do so. For we have a whole Cottabos scene in Plato, the Comic Poet.' "All the guests have finished dinner. Come, remove the tables, and bring water for them to wash their hands in, and get the floor swept. And then we'll have the Cottabos." "Are the girls ready with the flutes, for we are about to begin to play, and they must accompany us? Come pour some perfume in the wine, and meanwhile I will gp distribute garlands among the guests." "Now the libation is over, and the Scolium has been sung, #nd everybody is ready, and the Cottabos is about| to begin. And here's the girl with her flutes strit^ing up a Carian song, and another girl will be here with a Sambuca in a moment to join her." And now the players have toed the line, and they begin throwing in turn, and as each threw, he pronounced the name of his mistress. " Here's for Glycera ! " " This one for Scione ! " " This I It is the scene, avSpsc SsSairvJjKaiTt, etc. 272 HISTORY OF ftiUSIC. for Callistium!" "Here goes for Phanostrata ! " " And how do they manage to throw it so cleverly, and how do they hold it?" asjcs the novice in Antiphanes. "Why, you must crook your fingers round the cup, like a flute-player holds his fingers round his flute ; then pour in a little wine, not much. And then let fly." "Yes, but how?" "Why, look here — this way." " Oh, Poseidon ! What a height you throw it!" And it must have been thrown to a great height, in order to make a loud ringing sound in the basin — something more than a mere splash. And the art consisted in keeping your wine well together in the air, for if it shook out into a sheet, it would obviously produce a very flat and commonplace tone in the basin, and some of it might fall over the sides into the water, which was in all cases to be avoided. And sometimes the Cottabos was played for prizes, which in their way were a sort of earnest of the favours that were held to await the winner. For the prize in Athenseus' Banquet was 3 ribbons, S apples, and 9 kisses. And kisses were the usual prize, it seems, for a guest in Cratinus, coming late to a banquet, is made to say, " Holloa ! I hear the sound of kissing, so I suppose the conqueror of the cottabos is getting his prize." Nor must we forget the humourous side of the Cottabos. For the butt in .(Eschylus says : " Eurymachus used to treat me shamefully. My head was his cottabos, at which he directed all his wine. It was for the benefit of my head that he flourished his hand and showed off" his crack throwing." These were the pleasantries and revelries and some of the graceful doings of the time, and we see how Music insinuated itself into all of them. And yet now among these revellers and cottabos-players THE GREEKS. 273 we shall find Greek music carried to its very highest point of perfection ; for, as we shall see, these were the days of its glory, and its course hereafter will be but the adaptation or reapplication under new con- ditions of the results which are now arrived at. And perhaps it was the very looseness and licence of the times that gave men new spirit in the treatment of music, and encouraged them to break through the old traditions and old forms, which, however vener- able and admirable they may be, must nevertheless be periodically broken through, if the development of the art is to continue advancing. And now although it were fair to pay equal honour to all the great choral poets of Sicily, whom the Greeks indeed rank on an equality of greatness, yet it must be by Pindar that we chiefly judge them, for his works are alone preserved to us in entire portions, who was also the greatest of them all in completeness and elaborateness of beauty, though he may have fallen short of others in the origination of forms and passion of expression. And the Music of Pindar, like that of the rest, is founded on the Dithyramb. And it now remains for us to consider what has been the effect of the Dithyramb on the Choral Style, since we last con- sidered that Style under the tutelage of Stesichorus. What has been the effect of that wild dance, with its mad motions and restless tossings of the feet, that since then has impressed its influence on the Choruses ? And it is plain that the effect of the Dithyramb on the Choral Style would be to disorder its chastity, and make it wayward and unsteady and passionate. And we found that the Choral Style was at first principally recastings of the old Hexameter. And then how other feet crept gradually in. And this intrusion of other feet is an instance of Dithryambic T 274 HISTORY OF MUSIC. influence. The introduction of the Bacchic feet plainly enough. And of the other new feet, for this reason, that the Dithyramb admitted the utmost licence of treatment, and all feet might gain an ingress, because novelty and, if we may say it, sensationalism of expression were courted and desired in the Dithyramb, while repressed and kept in rigorous check in that older and severer choral style that was founded on the Hexameter. And we must lay down this as the first instance of Dithyrambic influence, the free intro- duction of heterogeneous feet into the same piece, and even into the same line. And it is plain what the effect of this would be on the music, for many of these feet being in different time, there would necessarily ensue constant changes of time throughout the piece. Time got now to be played with as Accent had used to be by Sappho and the Lesbians, and if her forcings and changes of Accent gave the colour and distinctive characteristic to the Systaltic Style of Music, changes of Time and forcings of Time gave the characteristic to the Diastaltic Style of Music, which is the style that has now sprung up by the influence of the Dithyramb on the Choruses, and is the style which now remains for us to consider. In this way we have got to the third of the Three Styles, which we mentioned some time ago in this book. And the first was the Hesychastic, or Tranquil Style, which was the style of Homer and the bards, and endured till the time of Archilochus. And every piece was written in regular feet, and the Accent was uniform throughout. And the second was the Sys- taltic, or Thrilling Style, in which to procure passion of expression the Accent was continually forced throughout the piece, longs made to clash with longs, and shorts with shorts, and much vehemence and THE GREEKS. 275 emotion infused into musical expression by this means. And now comes the Diastaltic, or Violent Style, which was but a carrying oCit of the same principle, although it was introduced from another quarter, and the Time, not only the Accent, was forced and changed through- out the piece, as we shall presently show. And we may lay down this as perhaps the leading, or at any rate the most pronounced characteristic of the Diastaltic Style — continual and reiterated change of Time. And this is the style that had sprung from the influence of the Dithyramb on the Choruses. And this continual Change of Time that characterises it, is known in Greek Music by the name of Metabole,' and we will now give an instance of it. Strophe.2 TOVQ T£ \iv-iir - Trove KO-pouc TEK- va MoXl O -Vap KTtt-VOV 2 . K aX - I -Koc I- (ro-Ke-a-Xovg ev - i - yvi-ovg aix-o -Tt - povQ yiya- w ■ rag tv tl> e (jj ap -jv-Qi -(1). 1 For the various forms of Metabole see Bacchias Senior's Eisagoge, p. 13. BacchiuS) however, commits the error of including Sappho's Antithesis among them. 2 Fragment 6 in Bergk. - : ■ ' 276 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Antistrophe. _ w \j \J \J \J VJ _ ^ \J \J \J \J KJ \J \J -P^i,^ ^ ^::^:^ wv-y vjvj \j \j \j \j Ti-J ^*^J [| WW And this is a fragment of Ibycus that we have .given, and we shall see that in it there are 5 Metaboles in the first 5 bars, and another between the last bar and the second last. And this is by no means an exceptional instance, for often they come thicker than this, and as we advance in our acquaintance with the Diastaltic Style, we shall have need of all our knowledge of Feet, and still more of our knowledge of Phrasing, in order to clear the ground for us. For in order to be in strict Greek Musical Form, this piece ought to be phrased as well as barred, and we will now phrase it accordingly, in order that we may show its contour better. the greeks. 277 Strophe. — w — — — \j — |=l:J=n^lirj=^J^a^^:.)=r^^:-t:^ 2 KJ KJ \J \J \J \J \J \J — t : ^ > I J >_>] > N N nI J J»_>1 J J I Ig J NS J [I Antistrophe. — v> — — — \-» — gz^^.J=:i^:-zz^ _ \-» \-» — 2;8 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And the first phrase is a Trovg tirirpiroQ, or simple Epitrite bar, which indeed can never be joined with another bar to form a novg (rvvOtrog, or Real Phrase, but must always be phrased alone. And the second phrase is a irovg aavvOiTog ttokhvikoq — likewise a simple bar (aavvOiToe), and not in the present instance joined to another Bar of similar diaeresis, so as to form a TTovc (7uv0£roe, or Real Phrase. But the third phrase is a Real Phrase, being a irovg aivOeroQ SaicruXjKoe Stu- Sekoctji/xoc, or Dactylic Phrase of I3 notes, since it admits the diuresis, 6+6, J ^ j" J^ J + J* J / J. which gives the Dactylic ratio, i : i. And here it will be noticed that we have phrased a Bacchius and a Diiamb together, one in ^ time and ]the other in g.^ which we allowed to pass for a Metabole a momertt ago. But we must now correct that looseness of permission, since we learnt by the doctrine of the Epiploce of Feet that the | feet and the g feet suffer Metathesis, that is, they are convertible without the occurrence of a Metabole, and this is why we have phrased them together. Since had there been a Metabole proper, we must have used greater caution, for there are only a very few phrases, and these of rare occurrence, which admit a Metabole into , their composition.1 And the next phrase is a irovg (rvvOirog SaKTvXiKog iKKaiSeKaaii/jLog, or Dactylic Phrase of 1 6 notes, since it admits the diaeresis, 8 + 8, J , / J^l >^^^/l ^ J ,^^ IJ,J I, which gives the Dactylic ratio, i : i. And the next Phrase is the same. And the next Phrase, if we follow Ari^,tpxenus, ' Viz. the iroiig iraiwviKog BiKaarifiog and the novg TraiwviKOg TeatrapaKaiBsKarrrifiog, THE GREEKS. 279 is the same, of a different value, being a -iroiiQ avvOeroQ SoKTvXiKoe i^aarifiog, or Dactylic Phrase of 6 notes, since it admits the diaeresis, 3 + 3, JJ^+J^J' which likewise gives the Dactylic ratio, 1:1. But to call this Bacchius bar a Phrase, is peculiar to Aris- toxenus, and we shall not always do so. Most theorists would treat it as a simple bar. In this way has this passage of Ibycus been phrased. Now a little before this time it had happened, that Stesichorus, who gloried in the marshalling of mighty choruses and the evolutions of great bodies of dancers, had devised a new movement in the motions of the chorus, which was destined to take a permanent place in Greek Orchestic, and to exercise a very remark- able influence on Greek Musical Form. For whereas movements of the chorus had hitherto been limited to two in number, the Turn and the Counter-Turn {Strophe and Antistrophe), or in that majestic and martial style of dance which Stesichorus loved, we had better translate it, the March and the Counter- March, although the same terms. Strophe and Antistrophe, were used of these too, Stesichorus, I say, whose evolutions were mighty and elaborate, and whose poems were so long that they would take hours to sing, invented a new movement, or rather shall we call it a periodical halt? between each pair of evolutions, that so he. might give his dancers rest; and at the end of each Strophe and Antistrophe he contrived what he called an Epode, which was sung by the Chorus standing still. And at the end of the Epode they would March and Countermarch again, or Turn and Counterturn, and so on to the Epode again, when they would stand still and sing, preparatory to commencing the next pair of marches 28o HISTORY OF MUSIC. or turns. And this was Stesichorus' contrivance for giving regular rests to his dancers. So now there were three movements of the Chorus, if we may call a halt a movement ; there was the Strophe, the Antistrophe, and the Epode — in the first two the Chorus was in motion, in the last at rest. And in order to give variety to this last movement, which wanted it so much, he made the complexion of the song somewhat different in the Epode to what it had been in the Strophe and Antistrophe. For whereas the Antistrophe exactly repeated the Strophe, the Epode was made a variation on the Strophe, though always sufficiently near to let the hearers feel that it was in all strictness a variation, and not a new tune. So that if we take those Strophes of Stesichorus which we have given before in our book, " The sun has sunk into his golden cup" from our knowledge of the character of this innovation of his, and from the practice of succeeding poets, we may make shift to add an Epode to it, and so approximate it to the form in which it was perhaps originally sung. And the writer of this book having observed that the first line of many Epodes is a repetition of the last line of the Antistrophe, will not forget that knowledge in his construction of the following Epode. Strophe. yj \j \j \j \j \j \j \j \j \j THE GREEKS. 281 J* ;* I J ^^^^| -,^j^4^j ^^^^.^ fj-^i ***- ^ ^-J-J'g^ ^- \j J ] J j^j>] ^ — — — \j\j _ _ \-» \-» _ _ _ \J \J — \J \J __ — \J\J — \f\J ^ \J.\J — \J\J Antistrophe. V,' \j \j \J \J \J \J \J KJ \J \J \J 'U — — ■J-J^^^^^J-^J^ :^:^.^ *^J^|=,b*^^= ^4:itiP^Jz^ a _ — — _ w w _ w \-/ 2&2 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Epode. \j \j WW J l J* J* I J J* J*' J -^^J^i J -J*,M J J-i ■— W VJ v-/ w w O w vy _' J* J^ l -J J^J*\ J J^J^Ij »1 -i !*-Ss; ^^1-^ V-»W WW WW WW =J=3^»^J3^=J^^rJ=i^a^|: _ \J\J _ WW _ WW _ WW _ WW _ _ vy w _ WW _ _ _ \J\J —WW Or shall we take those Strophes of Ibycus, and furnish them with an Epode in like manner? Strophe. :53LJ^r*:| - vy w _ w _ w _ "" wwwwww WW _ _ l -^^^ V^J^J^ _WW WWWVJ — \J \J __ |9 J j^j^j (I — \J\J ^ THE GREEKS. Ant I STROPHE. 283 k^^-M ^ \J \J \J KJ > ^ \J KJ \J \J \J 284 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Now what is it that shines on us directly we stand face to face with this wonderful invention of Stesichorus ? Or what is that form 'of composition, that consists of a Period, and a Repeated Period, and Variations on that Period ? Is it not the Modern Sonata that consists of these three divisions^ — with only this dif- ference, that in the Sonata .the Variations come between the Period and its Repeat, while with Stesichorus they came after? And the Symphony, the glory of Modern Europe, precisely the same, being the same in Form as the Sonata, and reposing upon as unknown and obscur^ an original. Why, by the way we talk, ojf these pomps and prides of modern days, one , might think that they had sprung from the egg of. Qrmazd, or self-create of nothing into being. Yet here we find them fore-shadowed and foreknown in the divine art of Stesichorus. It is like indeed that Stesichorus struck out a mighty secret of musical Form, to which all Music was destined again and again to gravitate. Yet who shall say, that at the Renaissance of Modern Europe, the works of the Greek Lyric Poets, being principally constructed in the Strophe, Antistrophe, and Epode of Stesichorus,? did not insensibly operate on the thoughts of the cultivated musicians of those days, and lead men gradually to that form of writing, which no one knows whence it came, or how it got among us. And on this point the writer of this book, through want of a niinute study of Renaissance Music, can at present offer no definite opinion, but will content himself with saying, that the Sonata and Symphony Form was certainly known' to the Greeks two thousand years before it was known to us, or 1 Naturally, I am speaking of the 1st movement of the Sonata, which contains the true Sonata Form. 2 It was called the Triad of Stesichorus. THE GREEKS. 285. that the Sonata is indeed a phoenix that has risen spontaneously from its ashes, but before we gazed it, it was hatched in the Temple of the Sun, And he will go on immediately to offer far more elaborate examples of formal structure than these, from the writings of Pindar, and then the ear will better judge how undoubted is the genealogy ; but first he will endeavour to explain, why the Greek Form had its Repeated Period in the middle and its Modulations or Variations at the end, while we have our Repeated Period at the end and our Variations in the middle. And he thinks that this was the reason : for since the Variations of the Song belonged to the Rest, or Halt, and it is the Movements of a Dance that we are considering, it is plain that the Rest, or Epode, must always have come last of the three, or otherwise there would have been an end, and yet no end, and the figure of the dance would have been ungainly broken in the middle, by the Rest coming between the Strophe and the Antistrophe. And this is the reason why in the Greek times, the Variation Periodj which occupied the time of the Rest, must necessarily have come at the end of the Period and its Repeat, and not between them, as we make it do. But directly the Music was divorced from the Dancing, there was no longer any absolute necessity governing the arrangement of the Numbers, and they might fall into what arrangement they pleased. And he thinks that this is the reason of the difference. And since the Repeated Period has in modern times, at least, always observed a strict repeat in the matter of key, repeating in the same key as the opening period,'' I He is necessarily spealdn^ vaguely here, from a wish not to go into any elaborate treatment of the subject, and he does not mention the transposition. of the latter half of the. 1st Period, or its previous difference in key from the ist half, conceiving that the Opening Subject may well be taken to typify the whole Period in the ist Exposition, as in the Repeat it roles it completely. 286 HISTORY OF MUSIC. it was natural that the change of key should occur in the Variations, which thus necessarily got to come in the middle, so that the key the piece opened with might re-occur to end it. With the Greeks, on the contrary, he thinks, from certain passages of Aristotle, on which he has made a note at the end of this Book, that after the addition of the Epode the Anti- strophe began to be sung on another key to the Strophe, probably on the 4th above, on the same degree, that is, which the Lyre Accompaniment had been travelling in the Strophe. And this might very well occur, because the Antistrophe was the Middle Period of the three, and then the Epode reverted to the key of the Strophe, and so ended the complete Movement on the same key that it had begun with. And here is another analogy to our modern method of structure. But on this point, so obscure and questionable is the evidence, he will not state his opinion in its completeness, nor will he venture to intrude that opinion on the faith of the reader. i And now we will delay no longer to go to the writings of Pindar, and bring forward those of them which seem likely to show off the best results of Greek Art at the period of which we are writing, which was the Master Period of its history. And Pindar walked pure and beautiful amid the riot- ousness of his surroundings, and his music is like a stately orchard in its prime, in whose shades we may see Maenads and Bacchantes playing, but they are too far away for us to hear the noise of their riot. And the first piece we will take will be his ist Olympian, and we shall notice Dithyrambic influences in the free play of the feet, and particularly in the Metaboles towards the end. And the Rhythm is THE GREEKS. 287 ^olian, that is, it has a preponderance of Iambuses, Trochees, and the light Cyclic Dactyls. And the Dorian Lyre for the accompaniment. Strophe. 1st Period. a-piff - -rov jUEvC -Sojp 6 Se ^pv-troe al-06-fie vov Trip o-TE St - oTT-pE- - irei vvK-Ti (UT/d-voQoq i% - o-)(a irkovrov ' et S' a-E0-Xa ya-pv-ev eX-Se- - at, 0(Xov ij- Top, JUJ) -KE0' aX- i - OV OKOTTU aX-Xo S'aXirvo - rEpov ev afi - i - p(j. t^a - ivvov atr rp - ov Ipij ^oe St' al - 6i - pop. =i^=,y.J= jurjS' O - Xvfiiri - ac a - -ytjva ' (j>ipTtpov-av - Baaofitv, 6 - 6tv 6 TTO -Xw -iov fjiri - Ti - S(T - ai KeXaS-£tv 288 HISTORY OF MUSIC. ^[.-.'-J^^^^-J^^-^ Kpo-vou n-atS' EC a(j>- vi- av l-KO-fji-vovg fJUlK-a t pav I-E - - po) -voc ei-Tni (tkott-tov ev ttoXv- /iflX-Xtj) St-K£-Xi- a Spi-irwv fiiv Kopv(j>ag a-pt-rav airb Traaav ay- \a- -t- -?£ - - rat Se koL fiovai- - Koe £v a - w - rtji i oi - a Trai-Zo - - juev iXav I I This bar is a licence which the writer will sometimes take, for the salce of showing off the intimate affinity of the two bars in that favourite consecution of Trochee and Paeon which so often occurs, and which but for this device there would be no means of coupling together— for there is no phrasing them together. He will call it! a Palindochmins, and although Seidler does not notice it, he imagines it is lione the less a form of Dochmius, and will treat it as such. For a splendid example, see Sophocles' Ajax. 418. THE GREEKS. av-SpEC afi - (jn ^a - fxa rpa- -Tre-Zav. aX- Xa Aw-pi- av a - TTo 6p— fiij- ya ttoo- aa-Xov Xa/j. t>av, El Ti rot lii-aa^ te koi OEpev-i - - ko« Xfl-pie! vo-ov u - iro yXu-Ku- ra-raiQ iQ r/ - -ke (j)pov-Ti-aiv, O- TETTOp' AX-^E-((j (TV-ro'Sl^ae a- KEV -Tj) - rov Ev 'Spo-/ldi - (nVap- e-^wv fi s I S K ^f„ I IS I N J_J Kpa-TEt Si"7rp0-o-£ - /.« ?£ SEtT-TTO-rav Epode. Variations. (Imitating the last line of Antistrophe.) § S I N IS Sf I s I ^ iT'K ISf [Su-pa-KOcr- ( - ov iir -7ro-x«p- )"<"' ^«- f^'- Xij- a. Aa/x- iTEi Si ot kXI-oc U 290 HISTORY OF MUSIC. 8= I f3 I K N I f I • N is Nf« i» I •• M [iv £v av- 6 -pi Av~ Sov niX-o- ttoq aw- oi- ki- <}, 'samle " '^ 3 'T'^fM S[ ! is'f rr N^'^a T ' IS N 1 Tov fiiy- aa -Biv- hq Ifi- aa - aa -to yai a - o -xoe simile N 1 • I ^ I f3 r?ls ISF ' Nf I isf .Tissf I V,q Yloa-uSav^ijr-^ - viv Ka6-a- pov At- S-rj-rof £? -£- Xe KXit»-0(t) ' lamboids. \ IS ^ f IS I f K N IS f IX - E -^av rl ^at- St -fiov wju ' ov ice - ■koS-ju'e- ^ i&aw -/io -ra TToX- Xa, koi irou tj koi jSpo-Twv (j>a-Tiv^iV- Trip TOV a- Xa 0j) Xd-yov S£oat-oaX-;UEVoi i/zEv-SEcrt Troi-K/Xotc E^-ajr-o- tC)v-tl ftv-doi. And here what we particularly notice is the structure of the Epode. And we have said that the ist linp of the Epode is generally an imitation of the last line of the Antistrophe. But in the present case we may also regard it as an imitation of the ist line of the Strophe. For it partakes in a manner of both. For its first half is an exact repetition of the last line of the Antistrophe — though, by the way that we have THE GREEKS. 29 1 slightly altered the phrasing, it may not appear so to the eye. For it exactly repeats it all but the two last notes, and there it breaks off into a new rhythm for which reason we have been compelled to write the Dochmius bar of the Antistrophe as a Paeonic bar in the Epode, because it is not carried to its full conclusion. But let us now see how it repeats : — Last line of Antistrophe. iz^J=^^^S=ir=^-:^--i:^S:JI^:^.^:^3^^ 1st line of Epode. And now that we write the 3rd Bar of the Epode as a Dochmius bar, which we are at liberty to do, for a it contains the same elements as a 2 bar and a ^ bar, in which form we at first wrote it,' we may see how perfect is the repetition. For it repeats exactly note for note, till the last two notes of the Antistrophe line, and then it breaks off, but only to carry on the repetition more perfectly, for it repeats the whole of the Dochmius bar of the Antistrophe twice over, and thus is there most beautiful repetition. But we have said that it is also a repetition of the 1st line of the Strophe. And here we had better use the word, Imitation, instead of repetition, for the repetition is not so close as in the instance we have just been considering. And placing the ist line of the Epode and the 1st line of the Strophe side by side, we shall see that a very close repetition extends to the end of the first half of the line, but after that it is rather loose imitation : Missing Page Missing Page 294 HISTORY OF MUSIC. of treatment of the opening line. And in the 2nd Olympian it is the same : — \j \j yj — V And in the 3rd Olympian the same : — with a common syllable in the middle. And in the 2nd Pythian the same only with the Anacrusis, »^ *. ; ' *^ and also with a common syllable in the middle. And in the 5 th Pythian the same, with the Anacrusis, \j . \j I In Bockh's reading. THE GREEKS. 29 g And in the 7th Pythian the same, 1 ^ -YY V 1 ^^ 1 J — 1 1 1 1 1 V 1 J 1 with the Anacrusis and the common syllable. And the 8th. Olympian : — And the gthu Olympian, and the nth Pythianr and instances of it are too numerous to mention, all having their ist line so constructed that it may be read the same, backwards or forwards. And finding this art of construction, and also the numberless 296 HISTORY OF MUSIC. imitations, both direct and by contrary motion, in the body of the odes, we may say Greek Music is indeed the Counterpoint of Rhythm, and what the Middle Ages did for Melody, the Greeks did for Rhythm. And the applicability of such a description of the Greek Music will be more apparent, when we shall have completed our study of the works of Pindar. And now having given an example of the ^olian Rhythm in this ode we have just discussed, we will now give an example of the Lydian Rhythm, whose characteristic was a frequent use of the soft Ionic feet, that is to say, of ^ time. And we will take the 5 th Olympian as our example. And the accompaniment is here the Lydian Flute. Strophe. 2 I I [3 I h K I f I N > I J3 K I f I > I ] Yxjj - r)- \av a - ps-rav Kcii oTE^-av-oJV a- w- tov jX.v-kvv 2 I i f I N K 1 I K K F^ I ^ s I ] Twv 'O- \vfi- TTi - ^, 'ii - KE- a - vov ^0 - y.a - Tfg, q. yt 3 N h I ^ i^f i N 1 f I s I fS f ^f , I jsf I SI 4=«t3t3E=i^z»t[5=»t»tB=hat«t*J83btfa^iJzt^^ aK-a-/iovro-7ro- Sof r' aw riv-ag Sekev "iTavfU -og Se dwpa Antistrophe. 6e r«v udv TToXiv av-^wv, Ka/japi - va, \a- o-Tpn-tjtov, I For this foot cf. p. 331 note. THE GREEKS. 297 2 l -J-J-U-j^-J ^-j-J^^^ fioj-fioiig t^ St - Su- -/jLOvg iy - i pa- p£v £ - op- 8 J »'f-»i— »i-F-»i— »!— 3 . rdig 2re - wv jue - yia-raig VTTO (dovOvai- aiQ as-OX-iiivTS ttejuttt - afi-ip -oig a-iiiXkaig Epode. K K ITT-TTOte 7)/i to- VOig T£ /XOV-afl - TTV-Kl - - (} Tt. J-J^ J ^fJ >J Se kv- 80c aG-p6 -pov ' 4zJr=J=bJir3^zr:fcE4=i!: vt- Kfl - (Tate av-£0 - »)-«£, Kot ov 7ra- T£p' 'Aiipojv' ft: £ - Ktt - - pu - ^E icat rav vi - 01 - kov s'S-pav. where we may notice how charmingly he works up the phrases that he gave out in his first line in ^, §, g, and 3 time, and how he varies and scatters them through the piece, and brings them in, in beautiful sequence, in that last line of the Epode. And the Strophe opens in that same swinging and graceful measure which we have seen Praxilla use, who invented Rhyme ; and this is the typical Lydian Style And how does Pindar play with it, and makes offers at it, as in the 2nd line of the Strophe, 298 HISTORY OF MUSIC. J J I J J-J-l J /J>i which might be really Lydian feet, but he puts us off till the 4th with feints only. And thus he teases our ears with delay. And in the last line of the Epode it is the same. He again makes a feint at the Lydian measure in the second bar, but he shades off into it sooner here. And now let us take an example of the ^Eolian Rhythm once more, with its light Cyclic Dactyls, and Trochees, and its light Paeons. And this that we shall give is one of Pindar's masterpieces, for it is wonder- fully delicate and graceful, and it speaks of the lightness of women. Strophe.1 'A - va? - I -(j)6p - fuy -yc? vfi - vol, tI -va S'e - ov, riv r) - =*=:Mti«t:*=:b*z=*=:*z:*=ta!i=»t=it:3 pw - o, Tiv-a 8' av-opa KE-Xa - S^ - ao-fiiv ', S 1 f I •» S Sf I IS K s ] TOL Hi- aa filv Ai-be' 'O - Xv/t - m-a-^a S' 1 In this Ode, as I understand it, he has converted the Anacrusis to an H III .Esthetic figure, by using this g bar | J . | , which is really an ornamental Anacrusis. I have not hesitated to adept this bar - I . I (fiUKpa rpixpovoci), not only from the smoothness and elegance it pro- cures to the numbers, but also because it avoids any breaking into the Pjeons, where it occurs in the middle of the line. In the arrangement of the first line of the Strophe I have differed from Bockh, and aiso in the last of the Epode. To other differences in succeeding Odes I shall not allude, and will only say that I have never altered his arrangement of the lines, except with very great reluctance, and then not often. .,.•,,. THE GREEKS. 299 Eff - ra - atv H - paK - Xi - riQ a - Kpo -di - va iroX - i- fxov ' 077 - poj-va Se tet -pao-pi -ag e'v - e -ko vi - ko -(j)6-pov ^_ ^ ' ^ ^' ' / 1_ yE -Jul - vrj - TE - ov, o - ttiv St - Kai - bv ?e - vov, IS I I 3 S 1 I E -psKT/x 'a - Kpa -yav -toc. 3 ■ f 1 ^ 1 f IS s N I f6 ,N 1 IS J f3 J*. N Kl] Ell - w-vu-jUwv TE ira-Tspoov a-(i) - tov op - Bo-iro-Xiv, Antistrophe. + 5: l*if 1 K I [ I N| [ J N N H I >> \ ] : -J-f- w) — »i— ^-F-pi — w—al-l-^ — wi—wt-^-i-wi—wfi-wi-i KO - fiov -Teg o'l ttoX -\d Sfv - fic^ i - s -pov ia -xov ot- __ _ _ ^ I IS IS isf I N K IsF I s II Kij - jua TTOT-afj, - oil, St -ke -Xi ag t E-trav " ^ =^ > ^ " 3 I f ! *< 1 f ! > )s .sf I N Is ,s J 6^ - daX -flog al wv -r e^e-tte flop ai fiog I Or long by Ictus. Cf. the corresponding syllables in the other strophes. Although indeed this might be sl/ort, as it may well be in the Antistrophe, nd the syllables in the other strophes really have an aXoyla. 300 HISTORY OF MUSIC. ttXov -' Tov r£ Kat X^P"^ a-ywv yKi) - (T( - ate £"■' a - ps -rate aXX' iJ Kpo-vi-E wai 'Fi-ag, 'l-Sog ^O-Xv/jl-ttov vk-fuiiv a iu - Xwv TE KO pi) -^av iro -pov r' 'AX' ^e - ov, IS I I ] ,«» 1 I ] I - av - OiiQ d - 01 - SdiQ ill (j>pb)v a-pov-pav h - tl irar - pt-av a(j>L-cnv ko -fii-aov Epode. 3 J I I N 1 f3 i-j^ s sf r ^ is -,, I 1 S—^—~iR— J ^ — »'-f8~»' ' — »' f-*^ * ' »!— »i— ] Xoe - 7r(j» yE - vu tCjv oe tte - Trpay - fii - viijv •3 1 KC I IS 1 f3 ^ IS >[ I . |> I [6 I Is I h] Ev 2^ - K^ TE Ktti 7ra-pa 8i Kav a-iroi - ri-rov ovS' av 1^ S K I f3 I Is f "T _> J f IS !s N ' I f "^ K. {, 3 Xpovog 6 irav- rwv wa - rijp Svvai - to 3'e/xev Ep-ycuv te'Xoc ' I I r These phrases must be allowed on sufferance, as they have scarcely the feel of the assumed Dochmius, and yet it Is eminently necessary to sound them both together. THE GREEKS. 30I \a ■• - 6a §£ iroT-jUCji aiiv iv - Bai- fi6- vi yi • voir av ' t(T-Xwv yap V - TTo x°P" i"^" ''''^^ ""^^ i"" ^vaa- ^ ! =.^=^^tJ=.r^J=^ 8-it K6£ Va'-Xfy - KO -"tOV Sa-'*jUO(T-|'0£V. Now is not this light and graceful ? And I think we may go on to try and express its beauty and symmetry yet more clearly to the ear, by a new method of notation. For these lines, we know, must be read straight on, without any pause between, but by adhering to the use of lines we at any rate suggest pauses, though we may not actually express them. At the same time, by adhering to the use of lines, we miss occasionally some of ihe finer points of the composi- tion, as in the 2nd and 3rd lines of the above strophe, where it is plain that the 15 note and 20 note Paeonic Phrases of the ist line are really repeated in the 2nd and 3rd line, though we were unable to express them properly, but must rieeds break up the 20 note Phrase into two Phrases of 10 notes each, because we adhered to the use of lines, and could not bend the Phrase over. Now in the performance of the piece this would not be felt, but the 20 note Phrase would still be there, however it were written in the copy. Just as in our own notation, double bars, which often come in the middle of Phrases, or real bars of melody, are by no means felt in the performance of a piece, but are as if they were not there at all. In this way I think we may better express the flow of the Rhythm by writing the music straight on, as in the 302 HISTORY OF MUSIC. complete modern notation, and dropping henceforth the lise of lines. For lines, indeed, are a literary con- trivance for showing to the eye in the easiest and clearest manner the rhythm of the words : which, were the words written straight on, would be difficult to show, without a complicated and unsightly system of phrase-marks, &c., above the words. But with Music this is riot so, for it has its system of phrases and bars, &c., which are a part of itself, and these things come natural to music, so that Music can be, and is better to be written straight on, since it possesses every aid to the exposition of the rhythm, while Literature, with the exception of lines, does not possess any aid at all. And it was natural indeed for the Greeks, whose music was so knit up with Language, to employ lines in their notation. For they wrote their words in lines, and set the notes above them. But this was often productive of difficulties of reading, when in intricate music, the Musical Phrase, as it so often does, extends from one line to another, or when the phrase stopped in the .middle of a word, yet the line must needs go on to the end of that word, and so see a new phrase ' begin untimely ; because the lines must always end with the end of a word. And there was another reason why the Greeks continued to write in lines, even when the intricacy of the music had made them very unsatisfactory vehicles of expression — and that was because there was always allowed the licence of lengthening or shortening a syllable at pleasure that occurred at the end of a line, and this was a very convenient licence for poets, which they made continual use of. And if the syllable were a long one that was wanted to be made short, we may explain the licence by saying that an aXoyia, or super- fluous accent, was placed on the musical note, and so a THE GREEKS. 303 long syllable could be taken to its time. And if it were a short syllable that was wanted to be made long, in some circumstances, as in Iambic lines, the stress of the Arsis will account for it, and in other cases, we must allow that it was a pure licence that had crept in on the precedent of these other indulgences. In writing our music, then, henceforth, straight on, we must con- trive some device by which we may still show where the lines end, on this very account. And we will employ double bars to show the end of lines, and we will say that, as a syllable was adiaphorous at the end of a line, similarly is it adiaphorous when it occurs immediately before our double bar. And we shall write it long or short agreeably as the poet used it. In this way we shall be able to employ the complete modern musical notation. And now we will write this last Ode of Pindar's in the style that we have said, and it will read much easier. STROPHE. )-^:8r zii-zz-iiz zM-znii. xt, I - (pop- fity - Jig vfi - vot, t'i- va ^e- i -S — ^N — >6' DH-->--ji»: ^= ^—:-^—wi-\-mt—*—^—w>- ;:*zzr*=:ii^ir»f- - ^ — wi—^- bv, riv, tJ - jOd)- a, riv-a 8' av-opo k£ -Xa oij- ao- fiiv ; m g =jfc4= izl^z|?5zzj*<: ^—m- -ziMz^i^-^zzMz: z:3i=zx=MziK. z^:i^=^^■=:\. m Toi III- . i^-j'-3^— al: E(r - )(0v ot - KJ) -/*a TTOT-Oju - ou, St -KE- X^ - ae ■^ Itdtrir f— r =t3 'M:=MzzMt aav 6(p-da\-flbc al-wv t e- fr\ ^ m m ^ • S d -d 'd ' ^ m m Vs) ^ 1 1 tJ ■ywv T£ - Xoe ■ Xa - - 0a . Se ttot - /«{) o-i/v iv ■ i :^= bai- fio- VI ys - voir av ' ia-kwv yap v - iro ^ ^ :ai; r*— *z Xap-fid-Twv irfi'-ixa Sfva(T-Kii ira-Xiy-KO - tov Ba-fia(T-Oiv. And now we will write a very difficult ode by the help of this new notation, which is one of the most intricate, without at the same time being one of the most pleasing. And this is the 2nd Pythian. And it is a pompous and laboured ode, in which he sings the praises of Syracuse. And the rhythm is a mixture of ./Eolian and Lydian. MiyaXoTToXiiQ & Svpaicoa'at, jdaOvwoXi/iov Srp. Tifiivog "Aptog, avopwv 'iirirojv re (nSapo')(ap/ia.v Sai/ioviai Tpo Su- pa -ko- crai, ^a- lEPEF^EP=M^PEF^'Er^^: 1$!==!^ -5- ^ ^—wl— wl- 8: ■*-=Mz=.^ i«!::::^:=«t 9v- TTO - XI- flOV Tifl- EV Of "A pE - Of, Ol zSi a; ifc 1?r=1!!L- Spaiv tTT - TTwv TE (Tt-Sa - po - xp^p-fiav Sai-fiov- i- ■=\z <^ tfj 1*=^: ,^;i3^zz«t=*izi J5=:f5=4qFiI5=^ ^m Tpo-^ol, vfi- fiiv TO- Se rov Xt- 7ra-pav a- tto GijEav 3o8 HISTORY OF MUSIC. M\h: %4 ^ :_t ^— :J _l _ -^ -J— :g'-g'z :^ =i^:z*ziffi:=i 33^-^lSE ^1 SE (l>t-pwv fii-Xog ep X°A'"' "V" 7^^"' " "i' rtr-pa- L-4i a op (' ag iX- eX- i;^ do- vog, ili - ap fj.a roc J*r=l* :»t=*i::i-* 11^=1*^:4= 1!c=p!: ::SE£ :B!=t :y — M=z:Mz ti 'I i pwV iV ft Kpa- r£-(t)V T»)A au ys-triv zv==fr: av - I - oij - (TEJ' 'Op TV yi - - av im(j>-av- otf, fe-^-^^ ■5-ai — »i — ^ — »)■ TTor- a/i - ( Of fS- - oe 'Ap - Tifi- id Of, a? ^^ggJgfgSsJ EaiSEg i ^g^ j OVK a- TEp KEi - vag dy-av- al - mv Iv xtp-c sijiiilc. ^M iroi - K(X av i ovg eS u/jl a(T - (te iriI)X-ovg ?5 OT - ( 7«p I- o- xi- at- pa Trap - t/s' - voc x^" THE GREEKS. 309. -==|s=rqv;qs=^=n-3z=:]^==j-c=qSTaZ=|=:=fs==qti:]=3 pi St - 8v- fia o T iv - a - yuiv - i - oq 'Ep- V=l!r; s —s—^ S: -M-=MTi :3: i^idt .MZZltL fiac al- - yXav-Ta ri-Ort- ai Ko-afxov, ?£a-r6v o-rav SP ?g 3 =3 ^^^ =^=45= :&! flbfc tz*iii dipov sv y ap-/na-Ta ttu- .t(- ^a-Xi - va ko- Ta-Ztvy ■^ -g— gii [J4. y zag— g p^i El np g_gzj= |g _g_g_ vv - y aBivoQ "tt — TTt- ov, op - (70-rpt-oi - - vav sv- ii=iES :* L4E fc^ & pv-6^-av KoX- i a>v S'e-ov. ctX-Xoic Ss rig £T - E- Xect - (TEV ctX - Xo? d-vrjp ev - a\ i a ~» g ^ » -ft—* * *—■ d:— *■ B: lirri^zizBii jdaa -I - Xev - aiv vfi - vov, air - oiv a p£- rag. ^ 1=^!«=:^-= ii=:l*=:^*= ^=:g^^g— f5-ai — 1 — * — wi- eX - a - 8e - - ov - Tt jUEv ttju - - ^t Kt - vv-pav, 310 HISTOKY OF MUSIC. i^^i-^-fi^^ii^^^ oX-\a- KIQ (pa - - fia KvTT-pi-wv, tov 6 XP'"^^' iU. -'^—ZSs- wl:^:z:M=zji=iM-. ■^m )(ai = ra irpo- (jipo- vwe t - iX - acr 'Att - 6X- Xwv, Epode. iE^^^:^fc3=^!3E3EfiE3^^E3=^ ?5=«=»!=*=:* Bd ^^ I - e - pi - a KTi-Xov 'A0 - - po - St roe. a") tJ ;:^B:^{r^^i;JE^5J^^ 3ig^ H ol \apiQ ^iXwv TTo'i- vi-fiog av rX ep-ytuv ott- :fE=?E: l=3l=^IS 11 :=iv=:lv: tJ — J — ^j l±± - »l 7it—^- ~^- latat -^— ^—1^-^- & ■:M-=j^ iX, - Ofx- iv- a ■ (TE 8', (& Att- vo- fiev-si - 6 ttoi, t^ - KJIA, CI/ lA WV. W J W 1.^1.1. W ^LV Vt *. ■■ U.b| Z£0vp -I - a Trpo 8o-/i&)v Ao-icpte irop-0Ev-oe a- ::3=^^q=35^^gz^=^:^i ■3=3 ^M—^: ■5-^— »i— ■!- : TTV-ft, TToX-EjUl - - OJV KOjUOT-WV E? « " " fia-X&VUV 8i a TE - - dv ^vv- afi- iv Spa-KEto-' aa- faX-ic. THE GREEKS. 3" i ¥ 3^=«t :^s=:jv: zM=M=M S'E - (t)v S' i(j) - £r fjidig 'I? ov- - a (bav- l^~i: .fc^: j^rji -jiz^Mz 3-^ ji— »|- 3=:^=z=^zz?!: ■^zmtzzM—wt Ti raw- TO /3poT-oTe Xey-etv £v TTTEp-o-sv- t-gl 35=^ 3i^_aL_«li 8 3=^ ifcz:^! :*=i^zzat " rpox- tf - ra Kv\ - -IV Sofi-sv - ov ' ::6=^s:=:^=^= -8; [iEi= ::^=:^= -^ ^ a^ - 8-»- Tov £u - £p - y£ - - rav ay - av - ate aju - oi- i? =^=^ l!«=-V=Zt -ii=3i.-=z.^z 6=:1t 8E?=*= g, oie £"■ ot - \o\L-iv - one T- flat. In which we may notice one or two remarkable inversions and imitations, as the 5th and 6th lines of the Strophe are almost Strict Imitation, ^ M N ^ J •'^•'^J I J J J" J*\ J" S' J J I J^*"* J\ J •'^ •^ J 1 1 and the two last lines of the Epode are an admirable instance of Imitation by Contrary Motion, being com- I Dochmius with the 1st long resolved, and the 2nd and Sth notes in aXoyia. 312 HISTORY OF MUSIC. posed of two passages, the first, recte till the middle of the Ionic in the last line, ^ * « « I « « « « I 4< W « « I « « which from there repeats retro, as we ' may see, by setting the second passage under it, thus, 123 4 5 678 9 10 II 12 13 14 1 J J /I J /J' J I J^J J *^l J J* 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 / J J*' I J •^ *^ J I .l^ J J /I J *^ I By Metathesis. Sae p. 341. But in the following Ode^ we have much more remarkable instances of such devices, and it is a masterpiece of rhythmic counterpoint : — 'AKOvirar' " r\ yap EXtKWTTiSoe 'A^poStrae hi h I I h h S IT h h I I N I hi apoupav Jj Xaptrwv N I N I I h h h I « « « « I « « «r I avoTToXt^o^EV, 6iX(j>aXov ipit,p6fjLov S' J" J' J^J" JN J > -h / I J .^ J I , xOovoc; aivvaov irpoaoixofisvoi ' J" J" J"' I J •'* J J* I J •'^ J* J* J"^J' *^ J -"^ J ] J / J J* I J J" J" J^l h h h i-T h i" I J hi h I h h h I I The 6th Pythian. THE GREEKS 313 tTOlflOg vp.Vii)V ^ J I > J 1 J J /I J J^ I / J J /J • I J^ J / J 1 J J .^J i ^ 'Ak-ov- aar 'rj yap eX- lk-ww • tS- o? 'A0-po-Si-r ac i |Niz=|z=lv: ;g==^_■=ft.-=fq,:g-rj^::H^:^zj^^-=:J S zm-=M--M. a-pov'pay fj Xap-ir- wv dv-aTT-oX-il^ - o/x-ev, 5- =1==^= w=^^- ofifaXov Ip - t6-po -juoi) i^flovoc " -E-vav-ou 7rpo J* > but here it breaks off, and the imitation is taken up anew in the phrase of the 3rd line that immediately succeeds it, J" / J^ J^/ -N J ,^ J I carrying the ist line nearly to its end, but there breaking off into a Paeon, with another of which it ends the line. And the 4th line begins with imitating the 3rd, but breaks off into Trochees and ends with a Paeon, which is the opening of the same 3rd line inverted, hNhll hi h|l>hh| The 5th line begins with an imitation of the 3rd line from the 2nd half of its opening foot, j^.^ .N J / J I makes a feint at continuing it with another Paeon, but glances off into a Ditrochee instead, and so settles into an imitation of the 4th line, which it continues to the end, J •^ J / 1 J ^ J^ .Ml The 6th line resumes J:he imitation, of the. 3rd line, which itself was an imitation of the first line, an^ THE GREEKS. 315 this time the 3rd line is imitated from the beginning, > J- J- J^J" J" I a continuance feinted at, as in the 5th line, and ulti- mately determined to a Ditrochee and Paeon as before, J J^ J -N -r / ,^ J !i only this time the Paeon is the inversion of that in the 5 th line. The 7th line, J" J \ J" J J II which is immediately reproduced by Contrary Imitation in the 8th line, J J /I J •M and the last foot is repeated at the end, but this time in its uninverted form, « « « II And what shall we say of the last line, and how is its form determined? And the last line is determined in this way, for starting with the last bar of the preceding line, it simply repeats the notes backwards till the beginning of the 7th line, and so the piece ends with a most artful passage of Contrary Imitation, thus : 7th line I * 3 4 .^ J -r J J 1 8th line 1 N S <' 7 J J -M J 8 9 10 11 J Last line 9 10 II 8765 4321 ^ J J I / J *' J I J J .^ J 31(5 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And now we may write these things over our rotes as follows : — Lfc' *=*r=»'z >^ -^ -^ r^ ^ « ^ ^ r^ -r^ ^J — ■zw—^zzMzz^z --f^^- Mzz^—^-Mz m Imitation of 1st Line. Renewed imitation from s^Eii^^^:^^^^; the place where the last left off. Renewed imitation not sustained. j=^=l: ■5zM—MzzMz zM—wLzniz 5E3^33^[5 &-. K: S: z^zzMzzjt I Secondary imitation of Imitation of 4th 3rd line. J5=ts=l5: ■:fci^zza!=»i=i^; line. Renewed imitation of 3rd and Jst line brandling j==1^^^: ::Szj^— ^=«ti ii^g :^z:s^:fszz}i- ~\ ! W-wi—^z :1==|5-=l==p!: s—^— 1^- into imitation of 4th line with the close in Contrary motion. :l^^^c:^=:j: -PzMzz^z^ziid^ppMzit. :^-=^- ;5E*="iE£ Imitation by Contrary motion. ' I I Ditto hy Direct Imitation motion. By Direct By Contrary motion. Y&zM^m^ Ti r^ J— jj — ^—, li— — — z^zMzz^. mi :*=«t:i 2Ei^E*E THE GREEKS, 3l7 And what we must admire in these two odes is that with all the intricacy of bar structure in the iirst, and of contrapuntal device in the second, the Phrases, for it is these we would now speak of, stand out quite clear and simple much more so indeed than in the earlier odes that we examined, and more so perhaps than we are likely to light upon again. For it is exceptionally simple phrasing, and shows us well that the same pattern is still preserved as the ground form of Phrasing, which we knew to be used by Homer himself — that is to say, 2 Phrases, or, at the utmost, 3 Phrases to the line — or now that the Musical Period extends so far be- yond the limits of the single line, two Phrases we must say to the Clause, for the lines are the Clauses of the Period. And now we have seen this simple principle much violated in those earlier .^Eolian and Lydian Odes that we examined, and shall see it contradicted and infringed perhaps to the very verge of licentiousness in other odes of the same rhythms, on which the Dithy- rambic influence was always most strong. But in the Dorian Rhythm, which is one that we have not yet examined, for we have hitherto only heard .iEolian and Lydian Rhythms, it ever remained the governing principle. The Dorian Rhythm was the chastest and severest of them all, and yielded least to external influences, and the Dorian Rhythm best preserved the ancient Homeric Phrasing — two Phrases to the line, or sometimes three, Double phrasing or Triple Phrasing we have called it, and in our present method of notation it would be Two Phf-ases, or Three, to the Double Bar. But now the advance of Art had demanded a greater intricacy of beauty, which was otherwise indeed un- called for in the music of Homer. For his Period was commensurate with his line, but our Period has several lines to compose it, and men wrote under quite 3l8 HISTORY OF MUSIC. different conditions therefore now. And they must view large sweeps of sound, as he his short ones : yet could they go to no better master to learn how to treat their niateria,ls. And asking what was the Homeric principle of Phrasing, we shall remember that Homer always dovetailed his phrases into one another, by making the last note of the first of the two Phrases go to the first syllable of a new word, that so the break between the two might not be apparent to the ear, which was always likely to be apparent, owing to the original dual constitution of the Hexameter. And by this means there was a beautiful smoothness and integrity communicated to the line, which was the complete Period in those days. And now this principle of phrasing, which the Master of us all and king of all excellence and beauty had so exemplified continually, must receive a new and more artful development, and be applied to beautify that longer Period of many lines; .which was now the form in use. And as he treated his Phrases, so did the Dorians treat their Clauses, weaving them together in beautiful union and by the same contrivance ; so that the ear might never be assailed by interstices of sound, but that the complete Period might have the same integrity and unity which the Homeric line had, and its several parts be seen not as parts, but rather as blends of a graceful fusion. And let us take an example of this from one of the Dorian Rhythms of Pindar. And we will take that most Dorian of his Odes, the 3rd Olympian, in which he invokes the patron deities of the Dorians, Castor and Pollux. And we will first phrase the words, to show our case the clearer, and then the music after. And since this is the first Dorian Rhythm that we have met with, let us admire its . THE GREEKS. ^ - $IC) might and majesty, as compared to the levity of some of those we have hitherto studied. StjO. a. TuvSaptSatc te (piko^Eivoig oSeTv KoXXtirXoKfljUiii S' 'EXev^ kXhvuv ^AKpayavra yipaipwv Eii^oyuat, OripwvoQ 'OXvfiTrioviKav vfivov opOwaaig, aKayuavroirocoJV — ^ ^ ^ f "nriroiv awrov. Molua 8' oiirw (loi irapiara fioi vsoaiyaXov evpovTi rpoirov Awpi(j) (jitjovav ivapfio^ai TTESiXtti. 'Avt. a. d-yXaoKWjUov. ettei xatraiai juev Zsv^dEVTig etti arifjiavoi npaaaovTi fie tovto SeoS/xotov XP^"?' iTpvwvta6ag, ftvafta Twv OvXvfiTriag icaXXtorov adXwv. 320 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And now it will be seen that the Epode does not dovetail its clauses as the Strophe and Antistrophe do. And object of this deviation is to effect a contrast, that the original pattern may come out all the bolder, when the Strophe and Antistrophe begin again, which they do directly the Epode finishes. And Homer made use of similar contrast for a like purpose ; for in his Triple Phrasing, with which he diversifies his double Phrasing, the Phrases are generally separated phrases, as the Clauses are separated clauses in our Epode. And now we will give the Music of this Dorian Ode, and the dovetailing will be between Double bars in the Music, as it has been between lines in the Poetry. And the Accompaniment to this Dorian Ode was the Lyre and Flute.^ Strophe. Tvv-Sap - iS - aic TE fix. - o?- dv - - ote aS- dv KaX- i^m. 1*1=1^: S XiTT-XoKa/x - t^) y 'EXev ^ kXhv- av 'Aic-pay-av-ra -ytp- ^^^^^13 -j^z aip-(i)v ev\-o-ixai, Qrip wv- o? 'OX-v/x-TTt-ov i-Kav vfi-vov op - du) - aaiQ, hk- afi - av - tottoS - wv "tt- I V. 8. THE GREEKS. 321 ii^^ :^^z S l^ —i—^ —i=: z-Mz=M=Mi TTdiv a - ^wv- - av iv- ap - juo^ - ai tteS-jX - ij) Antistrophe. ay- Aa o - k(ii//-ov. ett- ei ^ai- rat 01 /.ilv Ziv\- 6iv- TEC £7r - I trriipav - ot irpcKT-aov-Ti fit. tov-to S'e- ^^^a^s^g 06- fiar - - ov xpiog, (pop - - /juyya rs iroi-KiXo - yapvv ■ — I hi — 1- |9 I h - ^T — I — h--v Kai po- av oilX - - WV ETT - £ - WV T£ 3'£(r - IV At- i l=p:t q:=:1i=T=^ eS=S S ■ T—ji — J— J — 3- V)j - (Ti^-dfi - ov wai - St (TUjU-jUi? - at irpE7r-ov-r&)c, Y 322 HISTORY OF MUSIC. tf^f^^^^^^ ■7 M S —?ri- a TE HI aa fit yty - w - viiv ' rag a -ttO ^ev -fJ-op - 01 via - crovr' hir av-9pwTr - ovg a - oi- Cai, Epode. :1t=1= :^=l5c ^= fe S iI^at^atBt - * t ^—w — ^ -~m—^r- I W- (j» riv - I Kpai-vwv £0 - £t- flag 'Hp - ok - Xe ^tzfs S — »i— »i- I£2I :*=*=at S^ »i — »|— »| - o? TrpoTEp - ac OT - p£- K7)e iic 'EX - - Xav - oS ■ Koc yXt^ap - (ov AtT - - (i)X- 6c av - ijp vi!//- o0 - £v ::ps=:^!s: :7!!zn^ ^^ S=fc aft. - (fi KOfi - ai - a vj— > vwv £v TTpao-ffOv-Tfov £(T - - av- av avTiK ay-ytX-i-av ttot- i y\v-KSi-av £0- - Xoi. aX\\ & Kpov - ov irai, og AiV- :?_-=Jt 5^- m vav EX-££e, ITT - ov av- tfi- o- ta - - aav EK-ar-oy- lt*= KS-aX-a Tv - fwv-og 6fi-t,pi - /xov, Ov - - Xv/i-iri-oviK- ^^^^^ 5: :1= SEiE«=3 av SiK-£v Xap- ^t-cuv I'k - - o - Tt tov - 0£ kw - /^lOv, Antistrophe. i;^n^^:=J5^^ ^ -fr- h : XP OV-t - W - TO ■ rov v op - £T-av. '^av-fu - oc yflp "k - - - h oX"^" HISTORY OF MUSIC. 332 ^^m itczsr I^ZSC :»=«. V, 6c eA -ai " (f v ei- r) XotTTotc sv^dic ' en - d fiiv al-vi - (1) /jaXa fiiv rpo- -*= ^~^~^ - ^^^ : -^-4m ^j^— ^ 4=^— ^^^-^ ^aTc ET - oi-fiov iTr-TTwv, xot - pov-ra te |ev-i - ate TTOv-ioK-oig Kai wpoQ aa - V - X'""'' 0iX-o7r-oX- tv Ka6-a- p^ 7V(i> - nq tet- pafi-fiiv - ov. ov ipEv-Se-'i rsy- ?(i> \6yov ■ St - a - TTEt- pa rot j3poT- wv eX - s-yxoe' Epode. T) - Ttc TLXvfiiv- -01 o Trot - 8a Aaju- vt - a-8a ■^ **-^ f" 1 ^ P r« 1 r» 1 1 R J _i J Iv J J J _, J J J J S .- m R • * • * S M S m \ yvv-at Kwv va £V £ i? /xf - ac. 5—wi m)—^- XaX-- 8'e KEOt - trt 6 £V £V - TE - (Tl VI - - KWV OpO-fJlOV THE GREEKS. 333 l^^S: :$E==»: £ - £1 - TTiV 'Yl// - - I - iruX- E^ - - ^ ;U£r - (Z (JTE0- g,jL.UJt fe j ^m av - ov L- wv' 01 Tog ty - - u) Ta\-vT - - a - ti' X£T-p£C Se koX t^ - op "i(T-ov. fv-ov - Tai Se icai vioiQ Iv av - dpaaiv ttoX-i - at Saju- a koX wa-pa tov ^ ^ - wl »l - iX I - ae \pov-ov. And it is a flush of glorious measures, and over- loaded with ornament to the verge of licentiousness. And there is not a trace of any such method of structure about it, and this is true about all its kind. And contrasting its floridness with the severity of that Dorian Rhythm, we may say that the Dorian Rhythm is the Strict Style of Greek Music, and the Lydian and .^oHan Rhythms, the Free Style. And that the essence of the Strict Style is construction in Fugal Form, while of the Free Style it is to dispense with any such severity of structure. And taking another Dorian Rhythm,^ we shall very soon see the diff'erence between the two : I 1st Pythian. 334 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Strophe, 1st Subject. 2nd Subject. fe'-TT^ ['.1 h 1 , 1 .|^_4— J^cjiFH=1^^PT=^ (^j-) ' # *> #* < ■ d S S )i_[4_i_«L«_ ZM—d -cJ- 1st Subject. Fragment of 2nd ist Subject. Subject. 2nd 1 r ES § ^=j^F "I r 1 r bZ-SEiEii ti^i la :2=di Subject. 1st Subject. ::^=^?! 3=^1 I I :^=^3r=t -Til d- zizi 1 -d—d-- - -ti=.M=:. : 2nd Subject. m d=^!5z45: 1st Subject varied. 1 r :?=t 1 zM—^- d-w - -d—d-d-\-d~d- X Ist Subject in original form. 2nd Subject. 1st. ^==t I I t»t q!5=^. :1=^=^+::^ satT^feE^ 2nd Subject.l e3 I I :^=1^=J5; — «t=at*iiit t*=it 1st. 2nd Subject. :|t=l5: :l!cr^ :2=d=: -lzz*^=Jt=Mi ^=::=M=.atzzi 1st Subject. 1 r \=v 7Z) -7 — Jl ^ ^ »!■ Antistrophe the same. THE GREEKS 335 Epode. 2nd Subject. 1st Subject. jfcJ-iU^ J=. ^4^1^^^J^HtJ ^ r 2nd Subject. 1st Subject. 2nd =^-^EE^J Subject. 1st Subject. S K^ 1st Subject varied. 2nd Subject. 1st. 1 . 1 1 Ml * h r 1 1 P 1^ _l 1 p =*-tS-it -^- .2_J_J_j_. ^S-i^-at 7-*-«^c;S=f ^ 1st Subject varied. 2nd Subject. m qvzjsrzl^:: I I s :^,=^zj^ 5==]: :Z=i=*=a!=i^zz:S- g-i^ — 1^=3- —^ — wi-w^'- -^ — #1; ^: 1st Subject. 2nd Subject. ^^^^^i^ j^^ laiziatifc =»=i 1st Subject varied. :: zM—Ttn^—wt. 2nd Subject much emphasised. |;s:=]==]v-:^r=zi=^!!=dvp^=n=:^^g>«;i: 1st Subject varied. 1 . , 1 ist Subject. 1 1 — - — ^ — 1% — 1 — 1 rV-l^-^ Vn :|=^— «-*-?- :7-J^i^-^-i I^PJ-J-J- 336 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Or that fine Dorian Rhythm, the ist Nemean, Strophe. 1st Subject. m^^^m * W 2nd Subject. 2nd Subject. simile =M'- :^a!t n r F=^=3= ^ tE^:3: 2nd Subject'much emphasised. I— ^ P ^=4=f-1 o I ^ v^ fi : :^=f5: ^.^^ simile r > I N I n — I' f* 2nd Subject. :i - ve - fii-rai' ■.z:Mzzwi=Mz: zM—Mzzatz: 1t=?»=|5f=qv:r:v ^: :|=:q!«r:?!.-=:j5: §zM=M=M=z^. z=^ —J^-^-^ . ^ TO /ZEv OT - t j3a<7-tX - ivg Id - m fxey-aX av ttoXiwv, h-zMzMzz^-=Mzii t\u (7vy-yevfjQ oipOaXfibg aiS- - 01- orar - ov yipag ^--q: -n — 1^^ — — I- -8— » — ji J :«!=:a^i ■wiz:=M:zzMi -jiz:ztt=z Ti- (j. TOV - TO fUy- VVfl - EV - OV (jipe-vi ' -' i-3^-^— 3^^ -F^S--^"^- ~^— ?-^- _;^_« — m aj — « 3 « tt m M * ^ ap 11, kXe - EV - - vae O Tl ZM=ZMZ n- :ts--=ls=^= :i^ — wi — ^z f~=\>rZZi^=f^^Z 5— ji— :«:^i!i Xoc ■'J S>} TTo - pa nv0 - £ - aS - OC iV- ^i^gf^igg^^ •5^=S — i iro(f eX-wv Se- §£? -a« tov- Se Kw- juov av - Ip-wv, 342 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Epode. 'AitoXXwv- I- ov a - - dvp-fxa, t(() cte fir) Xa-aero) 1 N 1 — 1 — iH — 1 — 1 _ IS 1 ^ 15 f5 p — :^=^,L ~^zr^- -ai^wlzz: Kv- pa - va yXu-ki/v a/x - - ^t ko - irov 'A^ - po-ci- »i — w- ^J — ji-- d^ :^=^t=fE: ^^- zM=Mz - gi — »i — *- Tap O - El- ioil - EV - ov TTOV- Tl fllV S'E - OV Ol- ?E^=^iE3^S^E§S3E ~a^ ji Liii Tt - OV VTT - £p rt SlyU- £V ■ (^l - XeT 6E K«/0- ^. :?5=^: 1fc:fc^ ^, — g'=:ftrab:iij=i § pw - rov eq "OX £T " «t- ptuv oc ov rav riTr- i-}xa\j' c. — ^^ -^-^ —^ — h ^ -j^ Fa — N -1^ -^"^-q -B-»—^—^—7^ i-M- * wizr^^ fg a- i H ' c - OQ ay - a)v 6>^ (v - o - ou S'u - ya - rt- r-75 1^^- Ik k 1 — 1 — i>."^i«. — ^^^ — 1 — 1 r 1% — k — k — 1 — 1 3::3r=3^3= 9 -^ : ■fe P — P — P — ^— pa Ilpo^acrfv. Bar - rj-Sov a(p - i - ke- to SojitODC B iSgE^^g^g^^^E^gg e ^E/i -IQ - - KpE - 6v-T(l)V ' a'XX' ap - JO- - 0ap JUO-TOV a: :15=:^ l^^qV f£t: li - Sa - r( K aa -Ta. ;X - I ae SEV W- THE GREEKS 343 :a= :^:)t =tzji zM—iizz iiEl '&zz^z^—Mz SeiC ji- pag dfi - - ^a-6aX- £ Tt- at- aiv Ko/iaic. In which we may admire the grace of the Strophe's close, and also the exuberance of the Metabole, or Change of Time, which is perhaps still more strongly marked in the following : OLYMPIAN XIII, Strophe. E^= TPISOAYM ni-0-NI-KAN tTT-at-vi- Pr-=^=^ :Jsr=^= '51=15=^ -Jtzzzwiz MzzjtzzMz - »i — w- zm.-=Mi 01 - Kov ("ju - Ep - ov d(j - rolf, %iv- oi - - m Se ^eo- g^gi^=g ■7--=jdz ^EE^^ air - ov - TO, yvoj ao - fxat TUv 6X - 6( - m. :z.zzzii!LZz1Sz m &E^EE^ ■wi—^— -S- Z^ZZMZZMZ ZMz:~mz Kop-iv - dov.^lad - fii- ov TTpo-dv-pov Dor - ii-Oa- ; i^gl^gSE:i^i gEg=^g ggii vog, dj \a- u-KOV-pov. iv ra yap Ei/ - vofi-i - a vai- ig £^j ^a =j_-^3^^^^^^ £(, Kacriy - VJf - rpf te, (iaOpov woK-i- WV da - aXiq, 344 HISTORY OF MUSIC. 2=i ^-^^d 5a=d=3^ rMznj^- =*^=P5=* Af -Ka Koi lift- 6t - - po-iroc Ei - pa - va, rufi-iai dv- J==f!= 5z3izEaEwtl ^=^=1= 11^ Antistrophe. E^=3=3^|eE:i^^ :i^^^ ^-4=*— *- £0-t'A-ov 7t S'uX-eS- £(v "Ygptv, Kdpo jxa - Ti - pa S'pao'u - - /xu- Qov. £ - ^(^(u ko - \u rt 3e q^sir: -jinzjL V k - pO - U THE GREEKS. 345 Iv d-idX-oig, iroXXaS'fv icap-Si-aic av - opwv fEaXov Epode. I^^ii^ iitns m iS^^^ ^Qi - pat ■wok-y)-uv Oi- fta ■dp-\at - a (TO-(pla- i^S^ =ip=^^ X E4i :i=t fiad' a-irav 8' eO pov -to? ep-yov, rai Ai -ov - v s^E^=i^^Si^^3=^ (TOU 7rO-0EV £? - £^ -Ol" -EV JUV /3o J) " Att ->-- 1 )- 3i=ai; ra \a- pi -tec St - dv-pdn- €(t) ; Ttr yap ITT - TTEl l'^ lu 1 ^1 . ''^ "^ . p * 1 1 p 1 1 ^ S ' m . S d * rJ S S d S oiQ £v ev rE(7 o-tK /i£ -rpa, S'E -wi' va- ^^ m Az Old -IV 01 - (O jv 13a - at Xia St - Su - fxov :7-atz*r.aE3z: tireOriK ; ev Se MoTa' a- Sutt-vo-oc, ev S' "Apijc a'l^- ^^g^ 1— =^=^ i^E3. zMZZJtL Oel vi - wv oil - Xi - ate atx " J"«(- S-pveav fiaKatpav 'lipojvog iar'tav. Olymp. I. 17. ' fiuvaiKag iv dwru) dia 7rai?ojU£v (piXav avcpcg dfitju ^afiu rpdiTiZav. lb. 22. THE GREEKS. 349 enters the hall."' And there is a sheen of gold all around, and the court of Hiero is like the court of Menelaus, fiere yap ritXiov aiyXt} tteXet' tje (TeXjjvjjc Bio/ia Kofl' v\ptpi(j)tg MivtXdov KvBaX'ifioio. And the verses of Pindar are dusted with gold, for he sings of 'gold that glitters like blazing fire in the night time,'^ and he compares his ' lovely song,'^ to a building, and himself to the architect, and he says, ' we must set golden pillars beneath the porch of our firm house, and make a glitter that will be seen afar,''^ and then he talks of ' opening the portals of the hymn,' which are these very golden ones, 'to the mule chariot that has won the crown at Olympia.' Gold is showered over his verses.s and they glitter with colours too. For look at this rainbow, a St (poiviKOKpoKov — " laying down her scarlet wove girdle and her silver urn, beneath the dark bushes she bore the godlike boy. And the babe lay amid the yellow and purple beams of beds of violets." A man must have lived among colours who could sing like this. And this was the age of the great painters no less than the great musicians, for the Art of Painting, which had begun in luxurious Sicyon, had now reached its zenith under Zeuxis, who was a native of Heraclea in Magna Grsecia. And through all the cities of Sicily and Magna Graecia ran the rage of luxury and profusion. The city of ' uSv\oyoL SI viv Xxipai iiok-rral ts yiyvwaKovn. Olymp. VI. I6i. " Xpvaog alBofitvov irvp an StaTTpeTrei vvktI. ■^ tfisprri aotojj. ■* xpvaiag viroardaavreQ evTelxei wpoOvpt^ &.C., ag\6fiivo<^ S' tpyov irpoawKov xpjj ^ifuv rriXavyig. 5 The old woman in Pausanlas to whom the ghost of Pindar dictated a poem in a dream, was at any rate consistent in employing in her transcript a remarkable golden epithet for Plutus, which Pausamas has thought worth preserving. 350 MlSTOnV. OF MUSIC. Agrigentum in Sicily sent three hundred chariots,' all with white horses, to the Olympic games". The citizens wore garments of cloth of gold, and had golden strigils to use at the bath. And even their oil flasks were of gold and silver. There were wine cellars in the houses that contained 300 vats each, cut out of the solid rock, and each vat would hold a hundred hogsheads of wine. And outside the city there was a great artificial lake, two and a half miles round, stocked with all sorts of fish for the public dinners, and covered with swans and waterfowl swimming about on the lake, and it was a charming sight to see.' And in the city of Crotona in Italy, the chief magis- trate wore purple garments, and a gold crown on his head, and white shoes on his feet. And in the city of Sybaris the luxury reached its greatest height. The Sybarites wore clothes of the finest Milesian wool, dyed of a rich purple, and their knights wore saffron- coloured vests. The boys also were all dressed in purple, and had their curls tied with threads of gold. The Sybarites had such delicate ears, that they would allow no trades in their city which made a rasping noise. They would not have blacksmiths, or carpenters, or any such trades in the city.^ And they used to banquet perpetually night and day, and they came to such a pass that they must needs teach their horses to dance to the sound of the flute during the banquets to amuse them. And in Tarentum, which was a neighbouring city, the people were yet more effeminate, for they made it a practice to rub all the hairs ofi" their body with pumice stone. They 1 See the stories in Diodorus' i.jtli book. 2 See the account in Athensus. Ta<; TrotoDo-ac t/zoi^ov ti- THE GREEKS. 35 1 also wore transparent garments, like the Coan women afterwards wore, so that the delicious spectacle of the naked body could be seen through the clothes. Such then was the state of things in Sicily and Magna Grascia, when Pythagoras came from Samos, and settled in the city of Crotona. :o:- CHAPTER VI. THE GREEKS, (contitiued.) He, coming from Samos to Crotona in Italy, told the women to leave off their gaudy apparel, and the men he exhorted to temperance and frugality of life. And having a most beautiful voice,^ and a majestic presence,^ and being at the same time the most beautiful man, they say, that any age had seen,^ he seemed like a god to those who heard him. And he was schooled in all the learning of the East, and profoundly versed in the erudition of his native land. He had shared the friendship of Anaximander, and had sat at the feet of Pherecydes. He had discussed the origin of the Universe with Thales at Miletui, and the beauty of virtue with Bias of Priene. He had spent twelve years in the temples of Babylon, studying music and arithmetic under the tuition of the Magi.4 He had been initiated into the mysteries of Adonis in Tyre and Byblus, passing among the Phoenician hierophants as one of them.s He had pene- 1 Porphyry. Vita Pythagorse. Vatican Edition, p. 15. 2 (TEjuvoirpETTEiTTaToc. Diogcncs Laertius. VIII. i. 8. 3 svfioptfioTaTog twv nwiroTt IcrropriBivTWV. Jamblichus. Vita Pythagorse. II. ^ Jamblichus. IV. apidfiwv ts kui fiovatKrig ett aKpoi" iXOwv. He learnt his Rehgion, I imagine, in Egypt ; but his Music and his Numbers rather in Babylon. 5 Jambhchus, III. THE GREEKS. 353 trated into the inmost recesses of Egyptian temples, witnessing tiiose secret ceremonies, and learning those mysteries of knowledge which were revealed to the priests alone.' He had inured himself to a life of ascetic frugality ; his sleep was short, his soul was vigilant and pure, and his body confirmed in a state of perfect and invariable health.^ And such guard did he set on himself, that he was never known to be angry, or to be overcome by any passion. ^ Nor was his face ever clouded with carc.4 And in this way then he appeared among the people of Italy. And the people said, Who is this man that has come among us, who talks so beautifully to us, and exhorts us to wisdom and virtue? And some said he was the Pythian, and others that he was the Hyperborean Apollo. And others said. No, but he is Paean, that is, the God of Healing, for he heals us of all our infirmities. Others would have it that he was one of those spirits who inhabit the moon, and some said that he came from Olympus. Thus the people united to praise him, but those of his immediate disciples would have told you that he was not indeed a god, but belonged to a third order of beings, who approach near the confines of deity. For that there were three orders of beings, first gods, then men, and then such beautiful beings as Pythagoras.^ And when he first touched the shores of Italy, he held a discourse in the open air to the people, and more than two thousand were converted on that day to his doctrines. And what he had exhorted them to do was this, that they should live in harmony and concord with one another, and have all their possessions in Id. IV, Ev TOiig dovTOig. Id, III. 3 Id. II, 4 Porphyry. 35. 5 Jamblichus. VI. AA 354 HISTORY OF MUSIC. common, since the highest virtues in humanity were friendship and love, and where these were present all other virtues were present likewise. And these people received the words of Pythagoras as if they were counsels from heaven, and dwelling in harmony and love with one another, and sharing all their possessions in common, they were called by other men, " The Blessed " ; so happy and peaceable was their life.^ And Pythagoras exhorted men particularly to respect and honour their elders, saying that in nature no less than in the affairs of men that which went before is more honourable than that which follows after ; thus is the East more honourable than the West, the morning than the evening, the beginning than the end, and to create greater than to destroy. And he said to the youths. Ye owe as much thanks to your parents, as one who is dead to him that could bring him back to life.^ And the common people of the cities of Sicily and Magna Graecia were in great slavery to the rich, and some of these cities were in slavery to one another. And Pythagoras taught men the beauty of liberty,^ and so inspired them with his ideas by means of the discourses he held in the various cities, that he is said to have restored the following cities to liberty and good government :''■ Sybaris, Catana, Rhegium, Crotona, Himera, Agrigentum, Tauromenium, and many other cities, and to some he gave new and better laws, as to the city of Catana ; and Zaleucus, who drew I Jamblichus. VI. 2 Jamblichus. VIII. ^ (jtpovi'jfiaTOQ kXevdipiov vTroirXri(TaQ. ^ avsiXtv apSriv (jrdartv, &c,, H^XP'- T'oXXiJv we idTopuTai JiViMV. THE GREEKS. 355 up the laws for the Epizephyrian Locrians, was instructed by Pythagoras.^ And When he was journeying from Sybaris to Crotona, he found some fishermen on the seashore, who were drawing in their nets which were full of fish. And Pythagoras said to them, If I am able to tell you the exact number of the fish that are in your nets, will you give me the fish to do as I please with them ? And the men laughingly said they would. And Pythagoras told them the exact number of the fish. And when the men asked him what he would do with the fish now that they were his, he ordered them to put them back into the sea again. And in this way he came to Crotona, coming like Leonardo in after days to Milan, who came playing on a horse's head made of gold, and setting the singing birds at liberty as he passed along the streets. And Pythagoras having paid the fishermen the price of the fish, went on his way to Crotona, charging them to tell no one what had occurred. But they spread the story about all the more, and having learnt his name from a little child with whom he had talked on his way, they informed the Crotonians who was coming to their city. And the Crotonians, hearing that it was indeed Pythagoras who was coming, assembled in the senate house to the number of a thousand, and when Pythagoras entered the gates of the town, they escorted him to the senate house, and desired him to unfold to them what- ever he might think profitable for the public welfare of Crotona. And he advised them first of all to build a temple to the Muses, to be an earnest that they would try and preserve concord and good order in I JamWiehus, VlJ, 3S6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. the state, For that the choir of Muses presided over Harmony, Melody, and Rhythm, which are the three principles of Music, and these principles did not end here, but were in operation throughout all life and all actions.! And the meaning of these words the people of Crotona did not understand then, but they understood them later on. And knowing that they were much given to licentiousness of living, he said : " The compact between man and wife must above all things be observed, for other compacts indeed are engraven in stone or brass, -but this is engraven in little children." And he went on to extol virtue and beautiful manners, and exhorted them to rouse them- selves from sloth and idleness, for that life meant, in one word, the taking advantage of opportunities, and there was no more than one opportunity for every action. And in this way did he proceed in his discourse, speaking what was easy to be understood, and not bewildering them with any difficult theories, and doing no more than hint, indeed, what was the means to the attainment of the highest virtue. But this means he intended to use hereafter, and it was Music which he would use for this purpose, for what he intended to do was to embody the principles on which Music reposes, and make them live and play in life before him. And the people being well pleased with what they heard, asked him the next day to speak to the boys of the town, who were ordered to assemble in the temple of the Pythian Apollo, and the women were meanwhile to assemble in the temple of Juno, and there he was to address them afterwards. And Pythagoras said to the boys : " The gods love boys I Jamblichus. IX. XV, THE GREEKS. 357 more than all the world beside, and this is the reason," said he, " that processions of boys are sent to the temples in times of drought to pray that rain may come ; because the gods would sooner grant the prayers of beautiful boys than they would of any other suppliant for all their sacrifices. And this is the reason that those gods who love men most, Apollo and Eros, are always pourtrayed as boys, for they are pourtrayed in the form they love the best. And three out of the four great games of Greece were instituted in honour of boys, for the Pythian Games were instituted in honour of young Apollo, and the Nemean in honour of Archemorus, who was a little boy that lay down by the side of a fountain to sleep, and a serpent crept up and killed him. And the Isthmian in honour of Melicerta, who was another boy, that was after- wards made a god of the sea." And so he went on to tell them, that if they would be as beautiful as these boys were, and earn as 'great renown, they must endeavour to be modest and good, for what they were in boyhood, that they would probably be all their lives long. That they must learn to listen before they can expect to speak, and must never revile, or harbour unkind thoughts against one another, but gentle words and useful actions must be their aim. And to the women he said : " If the gods are to hear your prayers, they must come from modest lips. Costly sacrifices will be no screen to impurity, nor the multitude of gifts to an immodest life. Let your sacrifices be simple and unpretending — cakes of meal, or barley bread, or honey cakes, or some such thing which your own hands have made,' and think it no shame to bring them and place them on the altars t thilostratus. De Apollonio Tyanensi. I, i. 358 HISTORY OF MUSIC. yourselves, without a train of servants to accompany you. And place no delight in adorning your person, for have not the poets fabled how three women in the olden times were content with one eye between them ? and so might ye well be content with one ornament between many, passing it from one to the other as the occasion demanded. For jewels and costly dresses are no glory to a woman, but to be spoken well of by her neighbours — that is her glory." And the women, after they had heard him, did no longer dare to wear costly dresses and jewels, but they took their most sumptuous and costly dresses, and dedicated them in the temple of Juno, as gifts to the goddess ; and there were some thousands of costly dresses lying in the temple.^ And the men of the city, who had formerly entertained great numbers of courtesans in the city, put them away, and returned to their wives, and the fidelity of the husbands to the wives in Crotona^ was soon renowned throughout all Italy. And Pythagoras said, that since the men had imitated the fidelity of Ulysses, who would not abandon Penelope for all the immortality and delights that Calypso held out to him, that so the women should, imitate the fidelity of Penelope, who amidst all her trials and temptations yet remained true to Ulysses. And very soon Crotona, from being one of the most voluptuous and licentious cities in the world, became a pure and well conducted city. And meanwhile Pythagoras went on to develop his system of Moral Education, and his principles were these : He held that all Moral Instruction must come through the senses.3 And that the Intellect was dis- I Jambliclius,_^XI. 2 Id. IX. 3 Trpwtrjv ilvai rote av9pwTroic: ttjv Si' alcrOriffiwg tTrifiBkua V THE GREEKS. 359 connected with the Moral Faculties, and had no power over them. For if the Intellect could dis- criminate between right and wrong, its abstract decisions had no influence on action, which followed, in all cases, as the unconscious, or automatic result of the Passions and Affections. In this way he distinguished between the Moral Faculties, as uncon- scious and spontaneous in their manifestations, and the Intellectual, as conscious and deliberative. And the Moral belonged to the Sensuous or unthinking part of Man, but the Intellectual to the Spiritual or reflective part. Now the Moral, ending in sensuous action, must likewise begin with sensuous impression. ^ And in this way he was led to distrust Precept, as at all an effective engine in moral education^ — although he used it, as he scarce could help, but this was only at first. For Precept, indeed, may teach the head to distinguish most nicely between right and wrong, but can never teach the heart to wish for what is right. To do this , the approach must be made through the direct avenues to the heart, which are the Senses ; and by habituating them to a familiarity with beautiful things, so will the passions and affections, which are so closely dependent on them for their tenor, be insensibly led to love what is beautiful and good, and hence virtuous action will follow.3 For virtuous action, to merit the name, must be the undisputed manifestation of the passions and affections of the heart. For what Pythagoras said of himself was this, that then only he thought he had attained to virtue, when he could follow every wish of 1 Jamblichus. XVi 2 Jamblichus. 3 Jamblichus. XVi 36o HISTORY OF MUSIC. his heart, and yet do right.^ And here, I conceive, lies the difference between the Pythagorean theory of morals and the Christian theory. For the Christian conception of virtue is as a thing which is attained by crushing and stamping on the passions, but the Pythagorean, as their very flower. The Christian ideal is reached by doing violence to our nature, but the Pythagorean by training it to climb.^ And Pythagoras held that of all the Senses which have most immediate influence on the heart, the sense of hearing was the chief And he said, that seeing beautiful sights, indeed, was a mighty means to fix the heart on beauty, but still more was hearing beautiful sounds.^ For they are so much more subtle in their texture, and may be varied to so infinite a degree, and besides are constantly at hand in every musical instrument ; while beautiful sights and forms are not so often seen. And for this reason, and also because of other reasons which we shall presently say, he chose the hearing as the sense by which he would convey beautiful impressions to the soul, and music to be the fount of those impressions.''- And first he would have the people banish the Flute from their city, for the 1 Let us compare this with that remark of Confucius, whose views are so much in accord with those of Pythagoras : " At 15," says Confucius, "my mind was bent on learning. At 30, 1 stood firm. At 40, I had no doubts. At 50, 1 knew the decrees of Heaven. At 60, my ear received truth. At 70, 1 could follow what my heart desired, without transgressing what was right." Lun jni. II. 4. This is one of the many points of similarity between the two. Others still more interesting might be quoted e.g. the Chinese doctrine of the trigrammes and Pythagoras' triad, which might well be compared by scholars. 2 Confuciusin like manner, " Wickedness is not inherett in human nature," and " Men are by nature disposed to do good." 3 Jamblichus. XV. ''■ ovTw fuv ovv 'iro\vLO(j>s\E(TraTriv KaftarriaaTO TlvOayopa^ r?jv Bia Tijc MouffiKJje rwv avBpwinV&V riQwv ■)■£ icat /3twv cTravop Owaiv, THE GREEKS. 36 1 Flute had something impudent and meretricious in its tone. For that the Flute was the courtesan of music, but the Lyre was the true wife/ and so he would have them abide by the Lyre alone. And next he composed certain divine mixtures of Diatonic, En- harmonic, and Chromatic Melodies, which were designed as antidotes to moods* ; as, he had rapid Chromatic melodies to counteract depression, and joyful melodies to assuage grief, and grave melodies, of mixed En- harmonic and Diatonic, to curb desire, and Orthian melodies to banish fear. These and other melodies did he make as antidotes to moods. And he also selected many verses of Homer and Hesiod, and set them to music, in order that the minds of the people might be familiarised with heroic sentiments.^ And he invented new and powerful rhythms to steady and strengthen the mind, and he also used the power of rhythm to produce simplicity of character.^ And he said that every morning after rising from bed, it was right, in order to clear away the lethargy and languor from the mind, to play for some time on the Lyre, either playing a piece of instrumental music, or else accompanying the Lyre with the voice.^ And in like manner he would have them in the evening, before t In the first of the 4 Epistles of Theaiio. Vatican MS. And she goes on to say, /cai Trola Koivwvia av\t^ Kai x"?^"'? ', &c. cf. Proclus' Cdmmentaiy in Alcibiad. Prior, to the same effect. 2 SaifioviwQ firixaviofiEva KspaofjiaTa rivwv jueXwv SiarovncHiv Tt KOI xpw/iaTiKuiv Koi fvupfiovlwv. Jamblichus. XV. 3 Jambliclius. XXV- 4 KOI pvduiov av rj/XEptvaJv ra0ax(i)V koI tvri^rifmTwv. ^ SisKaOaips (tvyKiicXvSaaixevov ra fojjTjKOVi 3 Porphyj-y. 32. THE GREEKS. 363 their walk and the motions of their body.^ For 1 think it was he, who first laid down how to tell the character by the walk, laying it down in this way* — that those who take long and equal steps in their walk, walk in the rhythm of the Spondee, and that you will find them as a rule possessed of well- regulated minds, and also of great strength of character ; but those who take long but yet unequal steps, walk in the rhythm of the Trochee or the Pseon, and that these have more warmth in their constitutions than is good for them ; those who take short steps, even though the steps are equal, must be held to walk in the rhythm of the Pyrrhic, and will be found to be mean and petty in their dispositions ; but those, who, besides taking short steps, take them in unequal time as well, are dissolute, good-for-nothing fellows, and next door to madmen, whom it is best on all occasions to avoid. This, I conceive, gives a fair idea of the theory of Pythagoras about walking, and why he placed so much stress on the observation of men's carriage, for he was accustomed to pay a scrupulous attention to detail, and thus was enabled to form general opinions of such depth and accuracy, that they were often accepted as divine intuitions ; as when he reconstructed a statue of Hercules, of which only the foot remained, but he did this by taking an accurate measurement of the foot, and then determining the proportions of the rest of the body agreeably to the size of the foot. And if Pythagoras was satisfied with the observations he made by such means as this on the character of him who would be his disciple, ^ Trpoas9tu>pr)a£ Se koi to ttSoc icai 1-rjv wopeiav kol Trjv 6Xj)v tov awfiaroQ Kivr\aiv &c., ^vaio^vwfiovdv avrovg &c. 2 Cf. the passage in Aristides Quinctilianus. p. 97. 364 HISTORY OF MUSIC. he then decided to admit him to the number of his disciples. And for the first three years he treated him with indifference, and even with contempt, and carefully observed how he bore himself under this ordeal. And if he stood this test, he then required him to observe a vow of silence foi: five years, during which time he was to speak to no one, not even to his most intimate friend, but was to employ all his attention in listening. And in this way his sense of hearing was cultivated to a most exalted perfection, for it was the only means of communication between him and the outer world, and, by the acuteness and excessive sensitiveness which it gained during this period of hard probation, was well prepared for that divine infusion of musical beauty, which was presently to be poured through it into the soul.^ And Pythagoras had another aim in view besides this, in imposing a vow of silence on his disciples. For he considered that the power of keeping silence was far higher and greater than the power of speaking, and was never weary of extolling EXEMY0IA, which means, "Control over the tongue." And he has finely said, That it is easier to keep from doing wrong, than to keep from reproving those we see doing it.^ This then was the great discipline and hard pro- bation of the Pythagoreans, I mean this vow of silence, which whosoever succeeded in accomplishing, was forthwith enrolled as a member of the select order. And since it is the great order of the Pythagoreans that we are here speaking of, for these disciples ■ of Pythagoras were called " The Club of Pythagoras," or, " The Brotherhood, or Fraternity of Pythagoras," 1 Jamblichus. XVII. 2 In StobiEus. 147. THE GREEKS 365 or, more generally, " The Pythagoreans," and it is this great order that we are speaking of, an order, by Zeus ! that weathered the storms of centuries, lasting for ages in unimpaired vigour after the demise of its founder,! and spreading through all the cities of Italy and Sicily, and attaining an influence and importance in the ancient world, which can only be paralleled by that of the Templars or the Jesuits in modern times, we may well therefore pause to con- sider it as closely as we can, and by so doing we may see its points of contrast or superiority over those stately fraternities of more recent times. And we will consider it as near as we can to the date of its institution. And we have accounts of it as it existed in the city of Crotona, when the disciples were 500 in number, and lived together under the immediate superintendence of Pythagoras himself, their daily actions regulated, and their education conducted accord- ing to the musical principles, which he asserted ran through Nature, and formed the spirit of its harmony. And they had all their possessions in common, and listened to his words as to divine inspirations. And they knew him as The Master, and that he said a thing was sufficient warranty to them of its truth ; and they were accustomed to say, " He has said it," auToe E^ffl, ^ Ipse dixit,' and they knew no pause between that and the performance of it. And their manner of life, as Jamblichus has described it to us, was as follows : — They all rose together at an early hour in the morning, and having assembled together, they sang many songs and hymns in chorus. I They were in existence in the days of Epaminondas, who was a pupil of Lysis, of whom, says Aristoxenus, "he was not the last, but he was one of the last." 366 HISTORY OF MUSIC. which freed their spirits from heaviness,^ and attuned them to harmony and order. This was sometimes varied by instrumental music for a chatige, without the accompaniment of singing. In which case, they each took their lyre, and played in concert melodies of Pythagoras, or the tunes of those songs and hymns they would otherwise have sung. And whether there were stated songs for certain seasons, or whether there were not even a prescribed rotation of songs for every day in the month, or of the year, something in the form of a Calendar, as there might well have been, we do not certainly know. But this we know, that in the Spring, at least, the 'method of the Morning Music was different to what it was at other times. For in the Spring, a single lyre-player used to stand in the centre of the assembly, and the chorus was ranged round him in a ring, and they sang during this season only P^ans, or Hymns to Apollo, to the accompaniment of a single lyre. And it was important during the Spring time, that the Morning Music should inspire them with joy, and impress on them the feeling of Rhythmic Motion. And perhaps this was the reason that Paeans, or Hymns to Apollo, were exclusively sung at this season, which were always joyful and triumphant in their strain, and couched in pure and beautiful rhythm. But why the single lyre-player should have been placed in the centre of a circle of singers, unless it were in allusion to the Lyre of Apollo, which in the Spring Time first begins to cheer the circus of the sky after the clouds and cold of winter — and this was possibly the reason. And after the Music was over, they went for a morning walk, and each went his walk alone, choos- ^ Trig KOiTvoJXiXiag Koi Kapov aTrijXXa'o-trovro, " got the bed off," we might translate it. THE GREEKS. 3^7 ing always such sequestered places where he might find silence and tranquillity, as in the neighbourhood of temples, or in solitary groves, or by running waters, and other such retired spots. And the reason each took his walk alone was this, that they thought it was not right to hold converse with any one, until they had first fortified their souls with good resolves, and attuned their disposition to some lasting key. I And why they walked in solitary places, was to prevent bad noises getting into their mind, and jolting it.2 And after their walk was over, they all met together in some place that had been agreed upon beforehand, and generally it was in a temple they met, or in a portico, or avenue, and there they walked and conferred together, teaching and receiving instruction from one another in music,^ arithmetic, and geometry ; and the arithmetic and geometry were designed to educate their intellect, and the Music, their passions and feelings, as we have said before. And there they m^ade, use of ineffable melodies and rhythms, not only to correct any perturbations of mind which might have arisen in spite of all their care, but also to sink deep into the soul, and subdue any lurking tendency to jealousy, pride, concupiscence, excess in appetite, angry feelings, looseness of thought, and other weaknesses of soul,'^ for all of which there were sovereign musical specifics, that Pythagoras had prepared like so many avvapfioaovrai tjjv 2 ^0QvtC>ltQ vTriiXi'i^eaav "they thought it had a jolting effect," we may translate it. Cf. to ng oxXovg wBdadai, in the same passage. 3 wpoQ TTjv Twv ridCjv £Trav6pd(i)aiv. Cf. Cap. 1 5. Jambl. ^ Xvirag Koi opyac koI Zv^ovg aroTTOvg kol ^oSove iTTiOvfiiac re iravroiag koi ^vfiovi; koi opt^HQ Kot ^avvbiasiQ Koi VTTTiOTriTag Koi (T^oSporjjraf. 368 HISTORY OF MUSIC. drugs,' and with these they cleared and purified the souls of one another. After some hours spent in this manner, they betook themselves to lawns and gardens, to exercise their bodies. And some would practise leaping, with dumb-bells in their hands, and others would practise calisthenics, and others ran races on courses marked out on the lawns, or wrestled together, all sedulously practising those exercises, which were most likely to improve and strengthen their bodies. And after some time spent in this way, they gathered together in the common hall towards noon, and had their first meal of the day, at which they used singular abstemiousness, only eating bread and honey, or a piece of honeycomb. The time after dinner was employed in transacting the business of the society.' After this a walk, but not a solitary one, as in the morning, but in twos and twos, or three together, and their talk was of the studies that they had pursued during the daytime, and they refreshed their memories by repeating portions of them. And when the evening came, they again occupied themselves with musical concerts for some hours, till it was time to retire for the night. And they slept on pure white beds with linen coverlets. And this was the manner of life they passed from day to day. And it will not be hard to see, from an examina- tion of this scheme of life, what were the principles of Music which Pythagoras had thus made incarnate before him, or how he conceived the principles of ' TovTwv (i.e. Xvvag, opyag, &c.) sKaarov Sta twv Trpoo-TjKOVTWV fitXwv WQ Old nvoiv <7WTripi(i)v (TvjKeKpafiivwv ^apjuaKbJv, etc. '■ irepi rag TrokiriKag oiKOvo/iiac KarsyivovTO. I think by a comparison with the TroXmKoi and otKovojmicol of Cap, 17. this will be found to be the correct translation of Jarablichus' words. THE GREEKS. 369 Music manifest themselves in life, when their subject matter is no longer idle sounds, but the actions of men. For leaving out that subtler question of the precise effects of Music on the soul through the medium of the senses, let us look at the general principles of his system in their Musical relations, and see how far they were musical principles. For he held that all beauty and all excellence of whatever kind in the world, were merely the principles of music manifesting themselves in that particular kind of thing, to which the beauty or the excellence belonged, though at first sight they were often not easily recognised, owing to the variety of outward form they were often compelled to assume.^: So that we may well ask what were the Musical principles on which his system of discipline was constructed, or rather, under what names did the principles of Music appear, now that they were taken from the world of sounds, and made to penetrate and inform the actions of men ? And first the essence of all Musical Sound, and difference between it and other sound which is not musical, is that its vibrations are regular, while the vibrations of other sound are fitful and irregular. And this is the reason why some vibrations of bodies end only in dull and meaningless noise, but others produce pure musical tones. Or, of two bodies of the same texture and material, why one gives out sounds that do but disturb and weary our ear, but the other ravishing melodies. And when this principle of musical sound appears incarnate in I Jamblichus XVIII. IX. Diogenes Laert. VIII. 33. Theon of Symma's Arithmetic. I. ev /JLOvaiKy ^aaiv Sec. Confucius' opinions could not have been very dissimilar. "Bells and drums," he says somewhere, " no more exhaust the connotation gf Music, thsii do geips and silks the con- notation of propriety', " B B 370 HISTORY OF MUSIC. life, it is called by a somewhat similar name, being known as Regularity, which is the first step to virtue or excellence in whatever we undertake, be it Art, or Study, or whatever it may be, and by virtue of the absence or presence of which, of two men of equal parts one will end his life, having uttered only dull and meaningless sounds, but the other will have produced celestial symphony. For Regularity is the soul of Labour, and Labour is the source of all greatness, being the petty means by which man makes head against the unkindness of nature, and carries on high purposes amid the battling confusion of life. For this reason Pythagoras trained his disciples from the first to habits of strictest regularity. And this was the first principle of' Music which he set in action before him. And we may call this the principle of Rhythm, or a form of the principle of Rhythm. But the next principle he used, which came only second to this, was the principle of Harmony. For he was never weary of asserting, that the highest of all virtues is Friendship, or Love. And he said, ^tXorrjc laorvg, to-orjjc ^(Xorrjc, ' Friendship is EquaHty, Equality is Friendship.'^ And this is what led him to that maxim, Koivd to, tCjv (j>i\wv, ' The possessions of friends are common.'^ So that he required all his disciples to have their property in common, as he had also done with others before that time, as when he first landed in Italy, and told the people who heard him discourse, that they should have all their property in common. And let us see how Love is the principle of Harmony in Music. 1 Confucius in the same wav, " Friendship is the first of the social rela- tions, and may not for one day be abandoned." 2 This expression is rightly attributed to Pythagoras by Jamblichus. cap. 19. THE GREEKS. 37 1 For in Harmony the notes no longer exist separate and apart, but side by side. And two notes cling together, when it is Harmony we are making, and are sounded together, so that .^Elian has finely said, that Harmony is like mixing honey with wine, when the honey is dissolved in the wine, and both together make one substance. Thus is Harmony a wedding of the notes, and is aptly shown in life when men love one another, and live only for one another. And this was the second principle of Music which Pythagoras made live and move before him. And the third principle was not unlike the first, so that we may say it -was but another form of the first, for I am now alluding to those exercises by which he indued his disciples with Strength, as those studies in Arithmetic and Geometry, which of all studies are the ones most calculated to brace and strengthen the mind, and those athletic exercises, which gave strength to the body. And this is the principle of Rhythm again, which is the principle of Strength."' For the power of Rhythm in Music is the power of Emphasis, as we may well know by listening to a player who has the power of Rhythm, and then to one who has it not, and we shall easily see who is the stronger of the two. / For there is a direct physical exertion in playing in high rhythm, which a strong character delights in, but a weak character shuns and flinches from it. And strength of character in life is but the power of emphasising our ideas, and thus is it near akin to the power of Labour, which is an eternal replication of emphasis, and both are expressed in Music by the principle of Rhythm. But what shall we say of the principle of Melody ? And shall we not say that this is the principle of Beauty? For the Beauty of Music lies in its Melody, as its Strength in its Rhythm, and its 372 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Unity or Love in its Harmony. And I imagine that the application of the principle of Melody by Pytha- goras, in his system of Education, lay in those ineffable melodies, which he poured into the soul through the ear, and taught it to delight in beautiful forms, and to love beautiful actions, from the constant familiarity with those beautiful shapes of sound, which were daily and hourly shed around it. This was his reliance on Melody, and this was the beautiful source from whence he drew the direct materials of his education, that were designed to steep the senses, and through them to reach the heart. Thus Melody was the most direct and patent in its application ; yet we cannot say that greater honour was paid it, or even that it was more largely used than the others, but rather that they were all most justly used. And these three principles, Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm, were the three principles of Music, which he conceived to run through nature ;^ and Rhythm is Strength, Melody Beauty, and Harmony is Love, and by the graceful co-operation of these three things was that system of life arranged for the Pythagoreans, who seem to have excelled all other communities, as much as the Art of Music itself excels all other forms of beautiful existence. And if these things are so fair and com- manding in communities and fraternities, what will they be when they appear side by side in the Individual Man? I imagine there is nothing more happy nor more fortunate than to have possession of these three things — Strength, Beauty, and Love. He then that will go into the world with these three things to follow him, shall be the loveliest sight for I Jamblichus. IX.Cf, Theon SymniKus' reiparks, particvJarly on Harmony in his Ari'binetic. I. p. 15. THE GREEKS. 373 the gods to see, and undisputed master of us all. Now over and above the general result of a beautiful and virtuous soul, which Pythagoras set before him as the end of his education, there were some other essentials, which though he did not rank so high were yet the next step to virtue, and of the last import- ance to be acquired. And these concerned rather the outward bearing, of life than its inner tenour, and we are expressly told that they were grafted on the character by rneans of musical melodies. They were EIIA^A, "Tact," SYNAPMOrA, " S avoir fairel' ESAPTSIS, " Principle," that is to say, " The sense of social touch," secondly, " The power of harmonising our actions with those of others," and lastly, " The power of adhering to preconceived Form," for so we may freely translate the Greek words, which contain a musical innuendo, that cannot be well rendered in English by one word. And I think it was the stress he laid on the acquirement of these things, and particularly the first two, which gave the Pythagoreans the social and political success which they afterwards acquired. And it seems we are here face to face with the practical side of Pythagoreanism, as opposed to the umbratile and theoretical side of it which we have hitherto considered. And meanwhile we are left to speculate, how far a delicate sense of musical touch implies that sense of social touch, which we well call " Tact," since it seems that no faculty ends in itself, but men with bright and keen eyesight will generally be found to be attentive and shrewd observers of the actions of others, or if they have a bad substratum of character, they will be inquisitive persons, and men with a powerfully developed sense of hearing will generally be found to possess retentive memories, or if they lack the necessary strength, they will incline 374 HISTORY OF MUSIC. to servility, being listeners rather than actors.^ And in the same way we might imagine that a high sense of touch implied Tact, and that' the power of harmonising musical subjects necessarily led to SYNAPMOrA in life. [But this train of thought would lead us far from our subject, and must there- fore not be pursued. And I say that these accom- plishments of education, which Pythagoras set so much store on, doubtless give us a key to the practical side of Pythagoreanism, and were justly regarded by him as the finish of education, although not absolutely necessary to virtue.^ And so glorious were the results that Pythagoras achieved by his system of education among the people of Crotona, that many wonderful stories are reported on this subject. But let us rather hear what was said about his own daughter, for this is the best, although the harshest test to put the theories of a man to, how far has he succeeded with his own children. And it was said of the daughter of Pytha- goras, that when she was a maiden she was chosen to lead the dances of girls, and after she was married, she was chosen to be the first to approach the altar.3 Nor was it only in moral excellence that the Pythagoreans surpassed their contemporaries, but also in intellectual greatness. And if we had leisure to pursue the fortunes of the order in the centuries which succeeded this time, we should find how they sustained the great reputation of Pythagoras through 1 Cluentes i.e. clients, dependents, "liiteners." Cf. also the Greek kXvo), "vvhicli means ' to hear,' and also ' to obey.' 2 In this, I imagine, Confucius went further, laying as much stress on the accomplishments as 'on the other elements of Education, for he says, ' ' "When the solid qualities are in excess of the accomplishments, we have boorishness ; and when the accomplishments are in excess of the solid qualities, we have the manners of a counter-jumper. It is only when the two are perfectly blended that we get complete virtue." 3 Jamblichus. XXX. THE GREEKS. 375 all the vicissitudes of fortune they endured. For how many wise and noble sayings are reported of them ! or how many of the greatest works in Greek Literature on Music and Philosophy were written by Pythagoreans ! as witness those works by Aristseon on Rhythm and Music, Nicomachus on Harmony and Arithmetic, Euphranor on the Art of Playing Flutes and Wind Instruments, Glaucus' History of Music, or that divine work of Philolaus on Origins, or the Pytha- gorean Empedocles his Poem on Nature. Nicetas, also, from whom Copernicus derived his theory of the revolution of the earth,": and Ecphantus, who discovered the rotation of the earth on its own axis,* were disciples of the Pythagorean order, with many others too numerous to mention. Pythagoras being in the city of Tauromenium, the following thing is reported of him : It was a little before midnight, and he happened to be astronomising at the time, when he saw a youth of the city, accompanied by a revel piper, making an uproar at the door of his mistress, whom he had caught returning from the house of a rival, and threatening to set fire to her dwelling, and even putting faggots at the door. And all this time the piper was playing to him the melody of a dithyramb, which urged him on to a state little short of madness. And Pythagoras persuaded the piper to change his melody I Copernicus admits this himselfin his letter to Pope Paul III. "Repperi apud Ciceronem primum Nicetam scripsisse terram moveri. Inde igttur occasionem nactus, ccepi et ego de terrcB mohilitate cogitare!' This passage is in Cicero's Academics, where the name is spelt ' Hicetas,' so that I imagine Nicetas was the same as Plutarch's IkItjic, whom he mentions in his Placita Philosophorum. The opinion was Pythagoras', though Copernicus derived it through Nicetas. * Kivii Tijv 717V Tp6)(ov c(Kr]v TTtpt TO 10(01' avTrjg KtVTpOV. Plut, De Placitis Philos III. 13. 576 HISTORY OF MUSIC. for that of the Libation Hymn of the Delphic Services, and in a very short time the young man was weeping at the feet of Pythagoras. Empedocles, in the same way, is reported to have appeased the rage of a youth, who rushed sword in hand against the magistrate of the city, by singing to his lyre this verse of Homer : — vriTrevdiQ t a\o\6v rs, kqkwv eiriXriOov airavTwv. "Here is a spell to banish grief and anger, and get oblivion of every ill" Pythagoras, happening one day to pass a black- smith's shop, heard the anvils making such a musical chorus that he could not but stop to listen. And he was at the moment engaged in deep meditation on a problem that had occupied him for some time past. For he had often thought to himself that he would try and invent something which should be to the ear what compasses or a foot-rule are to the eye, or what a pair of scales are to the touch.^ For by the invention of scales, the weights of objects can be determined with the utmost nicety, whereas before scales were invented, and we had to rely on our sense of touch alone, by taking the objects in our hands, we could only arrive at a very rough estimate of their weight, and often an inaccurate one. In the same way the eye could make a very poor computa- tion of distances, till rules and measuring lines were invented, but with the discovery of these it had an infallible standard to refer to, which could always pre- ^ Nicomachus. Harmon. I. 10. oiav ij fx\v 6\Pii Bia tov oia6?'jroii KOt S(a tov Kavovoc V vrj A^a Sia StoTrrpae eY'* ') §£ 00?) Std Zvyov rj Sta rije rwv /Jiirpwy imvoiac- ' THE GREEKS. 377 serve it from error. And Pythagoras had often thought if some infallible balance or measure of Sounds might not perhaps be invented, so that by it the ear might rectify its impressions of the purity or the pitch of sounds, just as the eye of distances by referring to a yard measure, or the touch of weights by testing them in a balance. And these were the thoughts that were in Pythagoras' mind, when he happened to pass the smithy that day, and heard the anvils making such a musical chorus. And he stopped to listen, and after listening some time he clearly distinguished four notes, which singled themselves out from the noise of the striking, and it was their repetition and clashing which made the musical chorus. And the four notes were these, A, B, E, and the low 8ve of E, or to write them in musical characters FS?^^^^"" '"'^' m^ m^ ^"— I and F ^ r> — •' -^""^ ^^ admired what could make this difference of sound, whether it was the anvils, or the hammers that struck them, or the force of the strokes, or what it was. And he went into the shop, and ask the men to allow him to experiment for a moment on the sounds their anvils were making. And first he asked them to strike harder blows on the anvils, and then softer, to see if the cause lay in the force of the blows. But this did not alter the sound in the slightest.^ And then he asked them to change anvils, to see if it was the bulk or texture of the anvil that made the difference. J Nicomachus. I. ii. -' aXX' ov irapd rrjv twv pai.6vrii)V (iiav. lb. 378 HISTORY OF. MUSIC. But this did not afifect the sound.^ And it was plain that the shape of the hammers had nothing to do with it either, for two hammers of the same shape gave different sounds.^ At last he asked them to change hammers, and each man now struck a different note. So it was plain that the difference of the sounds lay in the hammers alone, and since it was not in their shape, therefore it must be in their weight. And with that Pythagoras took the weights of the hammers, and went home. And the weights of the hammers were these — one was I2lb, another was 81b, another was plb, and the other was 61b. And when he got home, he took a piece of wood and fixed it from one corner of his room to the other. And then he got four strings, all of the same length, and the same thickness, and the same number of threads in each, for he was so exact, that he even counted the threads in each string,^ and he fastened these strings to the piece of wood, and hung weights on to each ; and on one he hung a I2lb weight, and on another an 81b weight, and on another a gib weight, and on the last a 61b weight. And having done this, he struck the strings, and the string that had the I2lb weight attached to it gave the note. ' ^ — And the string that had the gib weight -(=2— gave - i^—l^ — And the string with the 81b weight. * oiSt Trapa rfjv roS iXavvoliivov olk/jlovoq furadiaiv. ^ oiiSe Trapa ra vpiov. 3 Cf. the similar exactitude of the Chinese, who count all the threads that make each string of the Kin. Supra. Chapter. III. THE GREEKS. 379 ■ ^=^z =. And the 61b weight, ?n: And strik- ing them by twos and twos, he found that they har- monised with one another,' for the I2lb string with the glh string gave the interval of the 4th, and so did the 81b string with the 61b string. And again, the I2lb string with the 81b string gave the interval of the Sth, and so did the gib string with the 61b string. And the I2lb string with the 61b string gave the Octave ; and the glh string with the 81b string did not indeed give a harmony, but gave the interval of a perfect tone, P S y: 1 — p — And having made these discoveries, Pythagoras saw that he was able perfectly to express these notes by numbers instead of notes, writing 12 instead of : ^' '~ , 9 instead of 8 instead of and 6 instead of - ^: ^ — . And the 4 notes, expressed by numbers, stood thus: 12. 9. 8. 6. And first then he expressed the notes themselves in this way ; and next he expressed the intervals from note to note in a similar manner, writing pE^E^t^ and EgE^ as 12 : 9 and 8 : 6, and this was the interval of a "^ Kpoudiv ava Svo fijua vopSac ci'a'XXav The whole olNi story is almost a literal translation of Nieomachus. 38o HISTORY OF MUSIC. _^ - 4th. And p^: ^ - P^^=^ f ^^ l r* ■ which is the It interval of a Sth, as 12 : 8 and 9 : 6. And p ^: ' r'" - the interval of the 8ve, as 12 : 6. And comparing these with the ordinary mathematical ratios, as they are generally phrased, he saw that 12 : 9 and 8 : 6, are in the ratio of 4 : 3, that is, in the Epitrite ratio (Iv Aoytj) hrngiTt^ ; and 12:8 and 9 : 6 are in the ratio of 3 : 2, that is, the Hemiolian Ratio (ev Xoytf) vijuokio^) ; and i2' : 6, the Octave, in the ratio of 2 : i, which is the Double Ratio (koyog SnrXaaiog).^ So that substituting these smaller figures for the larger ones, he expressed the 4th by 4 : 3, the Sth by 3 : 2, and the 8ve by 2 : i, but the Interval of a Tone he still expressed by 9 : 8, since there are no smaller figures which will serve as an equivalent. And having done this, he went on to test the truth of his discovery in other ways, and first he transferred the results he had arrived at to his Lyre, increasing or diminishing the tension of the strings, till they coincided with the strings that had the weights attached ; so that he knew that the string which gave the 8ve must have twice as much tension as that which gave the lowest note, and the string which gave the 4th, one and a third as much, and the string which gave the 5th, one and a half as much.^ And next he tried it on Pan Pipes,-^ and here it was no longer a question of tension, but of lengths ; but still the same law held good ; for the pipe which gave the 8ve was 1 Nkomachtls, p. 12. 2 Id. 13. 3 Nicotn. loc. cit. THE GREEKS. 38 1 twice as short as the one it gave the 8ve to, (so that he saw that shortness in wind instr.uments answers to increase of tension in strings), and the pipe which gave the 4th, three-fourths as short, and the pipe which gave the 5 th, two-thirds as short. And he also tried it on Flutes,^ and found the same principle hold good, that is, not only in the lengths but in the stops, for each stop as it is uncovered shortens the column of air, and as it is covered, lengthens it, and all the stops covered give the lowest note, uncovered to | the length the 5th, to | the length, the 4th, and half the length, the Sve.^ And he also tried it on drums,^ increasing or diminishing the tension of the parchment by means of weights, and with the same results as before. And he tried it on various sonorous bodies, and always with the same result. But it was par- ticularly his experiments with Pan Pipes which were of practical service to him, for learning in this way that length has a similar effect to tension, he was led to apply this principle to strings, and he conceived an instrument of one string, so constructed that its length might be shortened or lengthened at pleasure, without disturbing the original tension. And this is the way he constructed it : he stretched a string over an oblong box from one end to the other, and fastened it tight at each end by means of pegs ; and inside the box he had a moveable or sliding bridge, which could be pushed under any part of the string, so as to divide it into whatever two parts were 1 Nicom. p. i^. 2 This fact about the Flutes is developed by Porphyry in his Commentary on Ptolemy's Harmonics. HI. 3 I imagine \tKiccg is ' tamb(Jurines ' here, or 'drums,' since koi r« TrapairXrima opyavo it is certainly a musical instrument. 382 HISTORY OF MUSIC. wanted. And when it was placed so as to divide the string into two unequal parts, of which one was twice as long as the other, then the one which was twice as long gave one note, and the other gave the 8ve to that note (2 : i); and when the two unequal parts were such that one was half longer than the other, then the one that was half longer gave one note, and the other gave the 5th to that note (3 : 2) ; and when the parts were such that one was one third longer than the other, then the one that was one third longer gave one note, and the other gave the 4th to that note (4 : 3). But when the bridge was so placed that both parts were exactly equal, they both gave the same sound, that is, the Unison (i : i). In this way did Pythagoras develop the whole of the Musical Consonances from a single string, and the instrument he had con- structed for this purpose was called the One-Stringed Instrument, or Monochord, or, as it was afterwards called. The Canon of Pythagoras, because in it he had discovered an infallible standard, or Canon, by which the ear might rectify its impressions, and which was to the ear what a balance is to the touch, or a measuring-line to the eye ; and now there was no longer any excuse for instruments incorrectly tuned, or even for voices incorrectly intoning, for there was always present in a single string the complete purity and exactitude of musical sound, by which all errors might be corrected, and the true relations at any time restored. And since it is seen that the ratio of the Unison is I : I, of the 8ve i : 2, of the 5th 2 : 3, and of the 4th 3 : 4, we may now admire the wonderful identity of the Musical Consonances with the Rhythmic Feet, whose ra;tios we have previously considered. And we found that the Rhythmic feet fell THE GREEKS 383 into 4 groups, the Dactylic, the Iambic, the Paeonic, and the Epitrite Feet, and they each had their ratios, which we gave. And now let us set down those ratios side by side with the ratios of the Musical Consonances, and we shall find that the Ratio of the Dactylic feet corresponds with the Ratio of the Unison, the Ratio of the Iambic feet with that of the 8ve, the Paeonic feet with the sth, and the Epitrite feet with the 4th, as thus^ — I : I (Xoyog i'a-oe) UnisonC^^ I : 2 (Xoyoe BtTrXamog) 8ve :^ v.— t- Dactyl. Iambus \j /3_ 2 : 3 (Xoyoe I'tfiioXiog) i, th F ^:— | rj — ...Paeon _ | w_ 3 : 4 (\6yoQ ETTtrpjroe) 4th F^:- i^r rs2= rt Epitrite What a musical nation were the Greeks, then, whose very dancing had proceeded in the relations of the Musical Consonances, ages before they knew what consonances were ! and how their poetry had plucked out the very soul of Music, and its language, by intuition, had observed the harmony which pervades the intervals of the musical scale. And now Pythagoras using these numbers, as we have here given them, to express the ratios of the 1 Tills agreement Is noticed by Porphyry in his Commentary on Ptolemy, p. 219. Ed. WaUis. 2 The Pjeon is regularly divided, \j | 3-2, but I have put this division here to show off the ratio better. 384 HISTORY OF MUSIC. greater intervals, but still retaining the figures, 8 : 9, which he called the Xoyog iiroySoog (Epogdoan or Superoctave Ratio) to express the intervals of a tone, because there were no smaller figures which would serve as their equivalent, he next went on to make these notes, E, A, B, E, the nucleus of a full scale, which he would express by figures hkewise, for he filled in the empty places of these notes, viz. from E to A, B to E, with notes of the Dorian Mode, thus : — rj= and this filled-in scale, which was 'afterwards the recognised form of the Dorian Mode, and became in its turn the nucleus of the complete Greek Musical System, he went on to express by figures likewise ; for with 8 : 9 as the equivalent of the Tone, he could write all the tones as 8 : 9, or setting it fractionally, | ; thus, IW=^= ^ ^ ^^ E^ ^E^ 9 9 £ 8 8 8 since they were all the same distance apart from one another. But now there yet remained the interval of the Semitone to be expressed in like manner, i.e. from ;^Ei and ■ g:— ig — p, — , in order to make the Arithmetical expression of the Scale complete. ^ r«c fiira^vTriTac Kara ra Siarovticov yivoQ trvvavairXmiUxrag doyyoig avaXoyoig ovrm tuv OKro^opSov &. Nicom. p. 13. THE GREEKS. 385 And this he obtained as follows : for seeing that each of these semitones forms a constituent part of a complete Tetrachord, which is comprehended within the interval of a Fourth, 3 : 4, it was but emptying the Tetrachord of its other constituent ratios, and then the ratio of the Semitone would be the residuum; so that e.g. in the Tetrachord :l^^^g since the ratio of A to G is 8:9, but of A to F it is just double that, viz. 8 X 8 : 9 X 9 ?.e. 64 : 81, then the combination of this latter ratio, which is the ratio of | of the Tetrachord, with the ratio of the complete 4th, 3 : 4, will give the residuum, 9x9x3:8x8x4 i.e. 243 : 256, which is there- fore the ratio of the remaining i, viz. the Semitone, F to E.I So that the whole scale could now be accurately expressed as follows : — 9 9 256 9 9 9 256 8 8 243 8 8 8 243 being the exact arithmetical equivalent of And it will be noticed that we have here written the scale downwards, and counted the Intervals and their ratios downwards, and this was the Greek Method,'' which we shall hold ourselves at liberty to pursue whenever it seems necessary. More particularly is it apposite whenever we are literally rendering the original Greek calculations, as we find them in the handbooks. 1 Gaudentius. Harmonica Introduct. p. 15. Cf. Ptolemy's Harmonics. I. 10. 2 Plutarch. De Musica, 16, CC 586 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Let us now add to these numbers the ratios of the other intervals, viz. the 8ve, the 5th, and 4th, and then we shall have expressed all the possible ratios to each other of the notes that compose it : — I : 2- Having therefore completed the construction of this scale, he designed it to serve as the basis of a more extended scale, which should unite and give adequate representation to the various Scales, or Modes of Notes, we must call them, which had arisen independently of one another in various parts of Greece. For various Scales and Modes of Song had sprung up, just as various Feet and various Dances had ; and as there were the Lydian Feet, the Lydian Rhythm, the Ionian Feet, the Locrian Feet, the Dorian Feet, and so on, so were there in melody the Lydian Mode, or Scale, the Dorian Mode, the Locrian Mode, the Ionian Mode, and so on, and these had sprung up like flowers in different parts of Greece, and there was no common system to unite them together ; and people indeed in one part of Greece were quite unacquainted with the Mode of notes that was used in another part of Greece, and often did not know that there was any other form of singing besides what they practised in existence. And what I mean by a Mode of notes is this : for we have only two Modes in our modern music, but it is plain there may be many. For what differentiates THE GREEKS. 387 one Mode of notes from another is not the pitch at which they are taken, but the position of the Semi- tones in each Mode. For we have only two Modes, as I say ; we have that Mode which we call the Greater, or Major Mode, in which the Semitones occur between the 3rd and 4th note, and between the 7th and 8th ; and we have also that Mode called the Lesser, or Minor Mode, in which the Semitones occur between the 2nd and 3rd notes, and between the 5th and 6th. And these are the only Modes we use. But what shall we say of those times when musical feeling was so exuberant and musical expression so varied, that Modes counted by dozens instead of being tied down to a mere two, as we have them ? For it is plain that the arrangement of the Semitones admits of nearly twenty or thirty varieties, and of these some 15 or more were in free use in various parts of Greece ; and if we acknowledge, as we do, such a vast difference of character between the Major and the Minor Modes, and all because of the difference of their placing of the Semitones, what countless and unknown delicacies of musical expression must there have existed in those days, when there were many Majors and many Minors ; or how can we even imagine that immense vocabulary, of which only two phrases have survived? And the Modes that we know of — and, doubtless, there were many more that we do not know — which were in use in Greece, were 15, as I say, in number. And they had grown up indepen- dently of one another, with all the idiosyncrasies of dialect and patois — and there was the Dorian, the Locrian, the Lydian, the .^olian, the Ionian, the Boeotian, and many more, but out of these, as we may expect, a certain few had singled themsehes out by the time of Pythagoras, whether because the people 388 HISTORY OF MUSIC. who used them were more prominent in the history of their country, or because they were really the most musical modes, and the best music was written in them, we cannot certainly say. But the ones that had become the prominent ones by the time of Pythagoras were 7 in number — the Dorian, the Lydian, the ^olian or Locrian, the Hypolydian, or low Lydian, the Phry- gian, the Hypophrygian, or low Phrygian, and the Mixolydian, or Mixed Lydian, which was the Mode of Sappho.' And all these differed from each other in the arrangement of their semitones, and also in their pitches, for this is an important thing to notice ; for although pitch is in no way a distinguishing difference of Mode from Mode, but it is the arrangement of the Semitones that makes the difference, yet in the case of these Modes, and very likely in the case of most of the otiier Greek Modes, the pitch of each differed from that of the other. And of these Modes that we have mentiojied, the ^olian, or Locrian, was the lowest, the Low Phrygian (Hypophrygian) was the next, the Hypolydian the next, the Dorian the next, next the Phrygian, above that the Lydian, and highest of all the Mixolydian, which was the Mode of Sappho. And the positions of the Semitones in each was different, as we have said. And it will be hard for us to express these Modes in their various pitches without communicating to them a modernness of colouring, and investing them with an apparent intricacy of notation, which was certainly very far from belonging to them : which had in reality a most consummate simplicity of notation, being written not in notes as we must write them, but in letters of the alphabet and signs like them, each Mode I Infra, p. THE GREEKS. s8g having its own set of letters, and each letter there- fore suggesting at once not only the Mode, but the exact pitch of the note which it represented. So that they were kept perfectly distinct, and each in its way was a Scale of Naturals. And there is another thing which will be hard to do, and that is to keep up in our notation the character of the Mode, or at least to suggest it ; for each of these Modes was credited with a peculiar character of its own, which indeed it most eminently has, as they who will test them may easily find ; the Dorian Mode being held to possess a martial and manly character, the P?»rygian (which was the great Mode of the Dithyrambs)' a violent and ecstatic character, the Lydian a softness and tenderness, and the Mixo- lydian, which was the Mode of Sappho, was the Mode of Passion and Sentiment. And how are we to preserve these in our notation? And it seems that if we keep sharps and naturals for the Martial and Violent Modes, and Flats for the Tender and Senti- mental Modes we may preserve in the look of our Music, however faintly, the characters of the original.^ So then we may write the Modes as follows : T/ie ^olian or Locrian Mode ^ (also called the Hypodorian.) '■MiEE=^-^^EEEEEB :?== ^ ^ 6 SiOvpa/jifioc o/xoXoyov/xivwQ uvai Soku (ppyyiov Aristot. Pol. VIII. 7. And cf. in the same place the stoiy how Philoxenus tried to write Dithyrambs in the Dorian Mode, but could not succeed, and had to betake himself to the Phrygian again. 2 For the character of the Modes in detail, see infra, p. — 3 For this identification of the .^olian with the Hypodorian, see in Athenjeus p. 624. 390 HISTORY Of MUSIC. The Hypophrygian Mode. -4=2- zesi :t=t A L The Hypolydian Mode. W-. i:i^q.: -3- — 2=^- ^- W The Dorian Mode. 1 1 — =P2: -^ -p^. m^ ■.-3-tt- i:3: ig= ;22: 77/^ Phrygian Mode, !rrg5 £2 :^-_ — pi — I 1 — W. --^±L The Lydian Mode. --^-- The Mixolydian Mode. ^ -2^ -S- » =* And this last mode, it will be observed, we have transposed a note lower than we wrote it when we met with it in use by Sappho, and this is in order to approximate it to the exact pitch we conceive it to have had. For now that we are considering the various Modes in their relation to each" other, we must be careful to attend to the pitch. And also THE GREEKS. 391 we have put the ^olian a note higher for a similar reason.' 1 This is an arrangement which I am led to follow, in order to bring out what often is but poorly brought out, the exact pitches of the various modes in relation to each other, which is thus precisely demonstrated in a Problem of Ptolemy's in the 2nd Book of his Harmonics :— " Take any 8 notes and let them be so arranged that the 1st is a Diatessaron higher than the 2nd, the 2nd a Diatessaron higher than the 3rd, the 3rd a Diatessaron higher than the 4th, and so on with the rest, substituting a Diapente lower for a Diatessaron higher wherever it seems convenient to do so, and in each case let the Diatessarons and Diapentes be perfect ; thus — ig=q— g=^ ■Z±L A B C D E F G Then since D is a Diatessaron higher than E and a Diapente higher than C, that will be a tone by how much E is above C. (Cf. Infra. Chapter VII. p — ). In the same way because F is a Diatessaron higher than G and a, Diapente higher than E, that also will be a Tone by how much G is higher than E. Similarly, because C is a Ditone lower than G and a Diatessaron lower than B, B to G will contain the Residuum of the Diatessaron, which is the Semitone B G. Lastly, since B to C is a Diatessaron, and likewise D to E, F to G, and A to B .•. the remainder E C is equal to the remainder D B, and E G to F D, and B G to A F. And B D and F D will both be tones, but A F will be a Semitone. Further if we take another note which is a Diapason distant from C or from A, it "is plain it must also be distant one tone from its neighbouring note, because A to C making a Double Diatessaron, there is a tone wanting to complete the 8ve. And A is in the Mixolydian Mode, F in the I.ydian, D in the Phrygian, B in the Dorian, G in the Hypolydian, E in the Hypophiygian, and C in the jEolian." Now transferrmg the Pitch of B here from p ^i - H to F©;- whicli is the traditional way of writing the Dorian Mode, we have merely to arrange the other modes in tone and tone and semitone from m- -_— — upwards and downwards as in Ptolemy's Problem ; and this is how it is done in the te.^t. Nevertheless the difficulty remains that Aristides (p. 24.) makes the Hypodorian or ^olian a 5th below the Dorian ir)stead of a 4th, and .-. an 8ve below the Mixolydian in like maimer (loc. cit.) making it come on the Proslambanomenos, which perhaps it really did, and if we imagine 2 Dorians to be alluded to indiscriminately by some writers, this would be possible in Ptolemy's way also. cf. infra p. ' 392 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And in these Modes we have marked the places where the Semitones occur with a stroke, and it will be seen that in the ^olian the Semitones occur between the 2nd and 3rd Notes and the sth and 6th, and in the Hypophrygian between the 3rd and 4th, 6th and 7th, in the Hypolydian between the 4th and 5th, 7th and Sth, in the Dorian between the 1st and 2nd, Sth and 6th, in the Phrygian between the 2nd and 3rd, 6th and 7th, in the Lydian between the 3rd and 4th, 7th and Sth, and in the Mixolydian between the ist and 2nd, 4th and 5th. And the Modes are arranged agreeably to their pitches, that is to say, the three lower Modes each a tone above the other, and the Dorian a semitone above the Hypolydian, the Phrygian a tone above the Dorian, the Lydian a tone above the Phrygian, and the Mixolydian a semitone above the Lydian. And this was the problem that lay before Pythagoras, how to reduce these modes all to one scale, or as we should phrase it, how to express them in one simple scale without the occurrence of accidentals. And how he did it was this : — He took the Dorian Mode, as he had constituted it in his mathematical construction, that is to say, in two independent tetrachords, that is, the ist from E to A, the second from B to E, and to each end of it he added two other tetrachords, namely, a tetrachord to the lower E — B to E — and a tetrachord to the upper E — E to A/ >>:-J . ^p_.p_ 2_p_p-U_ ^^=F^- :b=^i±--^-Ezzt^^=L^= F^^=^ I Nicomachus. p. 20. 2i. THE GREEKS. 393 Only this time he made the Tetraehords overlap, not standing distinct from each other, as the original ones did, for the 2 Tetraehords :z2.-^=^: =t-- are each complete in itself, but the new ones are not complete in themselves, but the low one borrows its highest note -1 — from the Tetrachord to which it is added, and similarly the high one its lowest note from the Tetrachord to which it is added, in like manner. Hence arose the terms, Conjunct and Disjunct Tetraehords, the term Conjunct, being applied to Tetraehords which over- lapped each other, as these new ones do, and the term. Disjunct, to Tetraehords which were disjoined and separate from each other, being each complete in itself, as the old ones were. And the Greeks used the term Diezeugmenon, or Diezeugmenon Te- traehords, for Disjunct Tetraehords, and Synemmenon for Conjunct Tetraehords. And now Pythagoras, having thus a Scale of Two Octaves, all but a note, before him, he took the Mixolydian Mode, and applied it to the lowest note, B, and since the Semitones of the Mixolydian Mode were between the ist and 2nd notes and the 4th and 5th notes, it will be seen that the Mixolydian Mode exactly coincides with the notes of this Great Scale from B to B. And Pythagoras called the 8ve in this great scale from B to B, the Mixolydian 8ve. And next he took the Lydian Mode, in like manner, and applied it to C, which is the second 394 HISTORY OF MUSIC. lowest note of his great scale. And since the semitones of the Lydian Mode occur between the 3rd and 4th notes, and also between the 7th and 8th, it will be seen that the Lydian Mode exactly coincides with the 8ve from C to C, as the Mixolydian had with the 8ve from B to B. And Pythagoras called the 8ve from C to C, the L.ydian 8ve. And he applied the Phrygian Mode in like manner to D, and its semitones, between the 2nd and 3rd notes, and the 6th and 7th, exactly coinciding with the semitones on the 8ve from D, that is, first with E F, secondly with B C, he called the 8ve from D to D, the Phrygian 8ve. And the Dorian Mode stood as it was. And the Hypolydian he applied to F, and its semitones coincided with B F, E F, which are the semitones on the 8ve from F, and Pythagoras called the 8ve from F to F, the Hypolydian 8ve. And applying the Hypophrygian to G, and the ^olian to A, and finding their semitones coincide in like manner, he named the 8ve from G to G, the Hypophrygian 8ve, and the 8ve from A to A, the ^olian, or Hypodorian 8ve. ' And this was the highest note in the scale he had constructed, and in this way had he contrived to represent all the Greek Modes easily and exactly on the scale he had constructed. And in order that his scale might have perfection, and not remain unfinished, which it must have done, so long as it was not rounded off by octaves, he added a note to the bottom of it, viz., A,^ which was the Bve of a, and the double 8ve of a, and this note be called the Proslambanomenos, or " Added ' Gaudentius. p. 20. " Nicomaclius. p. 22. THE GREEKS. 395 Note"; and now the complete scale by virtue of this addition ran as follows : =P2=^ i ^ =^==S=^ :^=t SE --^=.C2=. t=t :^2^: This scale, then, as we find it here, represents the Disjunct System of the Greeks {Systema Diezeiig- menon), and it was called Disjunct, because the Octave which forms its nucleus, viz., from ^ :P2:: It to chords S^. — ^ — . is composed of Two Disjunct Tetra- _ .^. .f=k. --g- " T-. P ■ r — I — I — ,^^gg^ and :t=t But there was another system, which is also ascribed to Pythagoras, though with what justice we do not know, and this is what was called the Conjunct System, and it is much simpler in its construction than the Di.sjunct System, and turns on this, that all the Tetrachords, from eEa: m upwards, should be conjunct, and not changed to Disjunct at F ^:- s — »=- X but that these two should also be conjunct, and how this was effected was by the insertion of a Flat (=f- before F] ^ | ' - thus : — m. izps- Itl lar^gi 22r And this B fe we noticed as appearing in Greek music under the auspices of the Lesbian School of 396 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Singers ; and by virtue of its insertion all the Tetra- chords were made exactly to resemble each other, each being formed of a Semitone followed by 2 Tones ; as the Tetrachord, B to E, of the Semitone, B C, and the 2 Tones, CD, DE, the Tetrachord, E to A, of the Semitone, EF, and the 2 Tones, FG, GA, and the Tetrachord, A to D (higher than which the Conjunct System did not extend), of the Semitone, ABS:, and the 2 Tones, BeC, CD. And these Tetra- chords all overlapped and dovetailed into one another, and in this dovetailing we may notice another trace of that effort after Unity or Cohesion, which seems a secret aim of all Music, and of the Greek Music more than any other form of Music. This Conjunct System, then, likewise received an A at the bottom of it, but it never was made to extend higher than :^ _Ll— , as we have said. And the Two systems together formed the complete Greek Musical system, in which everything was played or sung (iv oTc navra koi q.SiTai Kot avXtiTaL koi KiOapit^erai Koi TO (rvfiirav enruv jUEXijiSfTrat),'^ and both are ascribed to Pythagoras though with what justice we cannot say. And it is usual to write them both together, which, although somewhat confusing, is yet the tradi- tional practice, and must therefore be pursued : — Systema Synemmenon. Systema Diezeugmenon. ^- - ■ ■ « i-S-.p:&^!=E-4 ■■m^^^^E;^^=EE~mE^:^^. :=^: And now we must give che names of the Notes, for though the Greeks commonly wrote their notes 1 Gaudentius. p. i8. whose lucid expositions far excel those of the other theorists. THE GREEKS. 397 by letters, as we do, yet, in speaking of them, they used a much finer style of expression, for each separate note had its own peculiar surname, under which it was habitually designated ; and this practice of naming the notes seems far in advance of ours ; for to dub notes by letters, and speak of them by letters, is to deprive them of much of their individuality, no less than if we were to call men by numbers instead of names. For a name carries much with it that a letter or a number never can. And I think we should feel our notes much more vividly than we do, if each had its name, as colours or flowers have. For indeed a rose would lose much of its poetry, if we called it C, or a violet, to call it F, and doubtless a certain barrenness has crept into musical conception, since the notes were made to drop their names, and take mere letters instead. But the Greeks had separate names for every note in their music, not merely for one octave, as we have, for the letters we use for one octave are applied without any varia- tion to any other 8ve, and here we fail again ; but each note in their musical system had its individual name, and was always spoken of as such. Of these names, eight seem to have been given before the others, for they serve in a manner as a type or pattern for the rest, and they are the names of the middle 8ve, ^ ^. .p. :^- zan ? p which also we know to have been constituted first. Of these PS)-:— ^^ was called Hypate, or " The Highest Note," and at this name we must not wonder," for it was agreeable to the Greek style of 398 HISTORY OF MUSIC. musical expression ; for they called that " Below " (vTTo), which we call " Above," and that " Above," (virip) which we call " Below " ; and we have met with a very remarkable instance of this strange style of ex- pression before in our history, for the Accompaniment of Archilochus, which was " above " the song, they called "the Accompaniment virb rrjv (jJSt^v " ("below the song "), and other things in like manner ; whence some forgetful of the Greek musical idiom have imagined that the Accompaniment of Archilochus was really "below" the song. And this note "^'~pi:z: then, was called Hypate, 'Yttutth, which is a con- traction of 'YTTEjorarr), and = "The Highest." And in a similar manner /s y. — was called Nctc, or " The Lowest Note." And the other notes were called as :^=^= Parliypate, or " The Second Highest follows : Note;'' - ^' I — , Lichanos, or "First Finger Note," and this is a name which has evidently come from Lyre-playing, for it was the practice of Lyre-players to strike the 3rd lowest string of the Lyre with the ist finger of the left hand,^ and this is how the name, Lichanos, or " First F'inger Note," came to be applied to the 3rd lowest note in this scale. And Ffi^p-^-— was m 7rap« rov avTi)(eipa. Nicomach. Manual, p. 22. THE GREEKS. 399 called Mese, or "The Middle Note." And Eg Paramese, or "The Next to the Middle." And IE^ , Trite, or " The Third Note.." And rg.— "^z^ - #- Paranete, or " The Second Lowest Note." And W- Nete, or "The Lowest," as we have said. And the other notes were called after the pattern of these, of which ■ ^:— ^ — was called Hypate Hypaton (that is the Highest Note of the Highest Tetrachord). :g:imj~ Parhypate Hypaton (Second highest - — = — ^ note of the Highest Tetrachord). Q— p— Lichanos Hypaton. It Trite Hyperbolceon (that is, Trite r^zrcin or Third Note of the Extreme Tetrachord). :^r=:H= Paranete Hyperbolceon. 9 :r::^— - iV^^/^ Hyperbolceon. And in the Conjunct, or Synemmenon System, ^~t~ was called Trite Synemmenon, F^:— 1 Paranete Synemmenon, and : ^ , Nete Synemmenon, just as in the Diezeugmenon System the word, 400 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Diezeugmcnon, was added to Trite, Paranete, and Nete, to distinguish them from these notes of the Synemmenon ; and the word Meson to Hypate, Parhypate, and Lichanos, to show that they belonged to the Middle Tetrachord. But the bottom note of all was called Proslambanomenos, as we have said. This then being the complete Greek Musical System, we may admire by what slow steps it reached its present form. And it is founded, as we said, on the Dorian Mode, yet when wc first get news of even the ■ Dorian Mode, how very different is it to that form it had received before it became the basis of the Greek System ! For we have already met the Dorian Mode in the times of Terpander, and then it appeared as ;M=s=iE :t --t And later on we have tidings of it in this form, 2 .^^ « pt — :g- i^'. — And in each case, as will be seen, it is an Isolating Scale, that is, having breaks in it ; and in the first scale there is only one break, but in the second there are two, between F and A, and also between C and E, and the second looks the older of the two, but yet we are told that the first is the older. But 1 See Nicomachus on Teipander's Lyre. p. 20. 2 Aristides p. 22. for this notation. Cf. liis remarks on p. 20. that you may always substitute a semitone for 2 dieses, which is done in the succeeding ones also. It Is possible that some of the confusion e.g. p. 526. would be banished if we allowed 2 Dorians, one on E, and one on D, to be alluded to by the theorists indiscriminately. But this is only a suggestion. THE GREEKS. 401 when we turn to the other modes which were combined to form the Greek System, we shall be aware of a still greater incompleteness, and a much nearer approach to that ancient form of scale, which we have conceived as the first form in which such a thing as a musical scale appeared. For the forms in which we have hitherto considered them were hot their earliest forms, but there are other forms on record more ancient than these, some of which, unlike the Dorian mode, which is not a pure Isolating Scale, are of a pattern essentially primitive, and presenting an exact resemblance to the most ancient forms of Scale, as the Scale of the Chinese and other nations, who have the most ancient form of Scale. And the Phrygian indeed not so much, for this was the ancient form of the Phrygian Mode, and it is at least as complete as the Dorian : — E^-^ m^ -rgi ^=£. •But the Lydian Mode is almost precisely the same as the Scale of the Chinese; being in all respects a pure Isolating Scale. And its ancient form was this :— ^6 £ &z i -zSr which if we write in Naturals, disregarding the pitch for a moment in order to show off the resemblance better, thus, m =g= I Aristides. p, 22. 2 lb. DD 402 HISTORY OF MUSIC. we shall see that, with the exception of the 8ve of the upper note being at the bottom of the Scale, it is precisely the same as the Chinese Scale, ;^ "23: It or that other ancient Scale which we have assumed as the primitive scale of our race. s =P2= =t: But the Mixolydian Mode, in its most ancient form, is not an Isolating Scale, but an Agglutinative Scale, which was the Second form which we conceived the development of the scale passed through, namely, that the two Isolating Members, which we called the Great Scale and the Little Scale, were joined by the insertion of a middle note, yet that still the Scale lacked completeness in its upper part. And the Primitive Scale of Man under Agglutination we con- ceived as follows, s J- .(=L And the Mixolydian Mode was a— ^— ■^■— p- or, to write it in Naturals, 122: i •tr^^^r— c^ f- I Aristides loc. cit. THE GREEKS. 403 where but for the occurrence of the 8ve as the 6th note, instead of the note, G, we should have an exact parallel to the Primitive Scale of Man in its Second, or Agglutinative Form. And there are other ancient forms of Modes recorded in the handbooks, being two which Pythagoras did not take into his system ; for the ancient forms of the iEolian, the Hypophrygian, and Hypolydian, are not recorded, but only these two, which are the Ionian and the High Lydian, or Syntonolydian ; and the Ionian Mode in its most ancient form is said to have been : — P^ =?2- -^- jC2. and the Syntonolydian, 1^ or waiving the question of pitch, and writing them in Naturals, The Ionian. ;^=^=^i I IT: -■^ The Syntonolydian. ^^- ■c^ And these indeed seem fragments, and there seems no analogy to which we may refer them, but yet if we 1 Aristides p. 2?, ? It, 404 HISTORY OF MUSIC. sort the notes of the Ionian Mode, not according to their height, but according to their succession of tones, 4 . in this way, §=P =g= ■P2=m==:^:= ^^ shall see that in this respect at least they bear considerable resemblance to the pure Isolating and Agglutinative Forms, being a confusion of both. But the Syntonolydian, on the other hand, it is hard to refer to any analogy whatever. These Modes, then, dismissing the last two, which need not concern us, had grown into perfect scales of 8 notes each by the time of Pythagoras, having had their fissures and cracks filled up by the necessary complement of sounds, and in this complete form were utilised by him in the formation of his scale. And now we may discover the reason why he built with tetrachords. .For each of these modes possessed, besides the diatonic form which we have given, also an enharmonic form, agreeably to that Enharmonic style of song, which we have mentioned among Sappho and the Lesbians, and the essence of which consisted in the division of each semitone into two enharmonic demitones, as the Mixolydian Mode in its Enharmonic form would be Semitone Semitone A L ^^^^ ^^^^im . f^^^=iS^=^^^^^ the Dorian Mode Semitone Semitone -3^- :p — p =flp2= ^=i:p ^€= and the other modes in the same way, each dividing its semitones into two enharmonic demitones, as we THE GREEKS. 40$ have said, and by consequence omitting the note immediately above the second of these demitones, in order, as we may loosely say, to have no more than 8 notes in the octave, but really out of deference to that ancient form of scale of which the Enharmonic Style was a survival. Now was not this Enharmonic Style of sufficiently common occurrence in ordinary song to crave the creation of an entirely new musical system for its due exposition, but yet sufficiently common to demand that due allowance be made it in the system which he was engaged in elaborating. The object, then, of working by tetrachords was to combine both styles in one form of expression. And this, by the following considerations, through the use of tetrachords he was enabled to do : — For since there were but two semitones in every mode, and that the semitone was the only place where the Enharmonic asserted itself in opposition to the Diatonic, it is plain that certain notes in every mode were the same in both styles, and certain others were different. For where the semitone occurred there was difference, but elsewhere there was sameness. And since the action of the Enharmonic on either semitone was precisely the same, and the semitone changed and its neigh- bouring notes rerriained unchanged on precisely the the same principle in both cases, then was it most convenient to view each case as but one the repeti- tion of the other, and to regard the Mode as laid out in two petty scales, each fitted with semitone and accompanying group : of which two petty and similar scales, one therefore only need be considered. And taking this little scale, which was the Tetrachord, as the subject matter of treatment, he could isolate the action of the Enharmonic, and consider it in a pattern that would serve as a. type of all its play ; and 406 HISTORY OF MUSIC. saying that in every Tetrachord certain notes of the Diatonic were liable to change, and certain remained unchanged, he at once summed up the entire action of the disturbing element in a formula which would be applicable throughout the total system. Now could he continue to write his Tetrachord as before, in Diatonic notes, and with this proviso as to the change, the same tetrachord expressed at once and perfectly both styles of song ; and the detail of the proviso was this, that the notes subject to change were the highest note of the Tetrachord's semitone and the note immediately above it. These changed under the influence of the Enharmonic, while the other two notes of the Tetrachord, whether the style were Enharmonic or Diatonic, remained the same. That the change was the resolution of the Semitone into two enharmonic demitones was unnecessary to be expressed, being well understood ; and occurring as it did with unvarying regularity at every Semitone, might well be left to the singer to make, whenever the fancy for the Enharmonic in preference to the Diatonic, or the alternation of both came to his mind, or was enjoined in the music ; and the ordinary Tetrachord, P^ — ^n p ^ \' - . written with Pythagoras' provision, that the notes subject to change were the highest note of the Tetrachord's semitone and the note immediately above it — which we may express I by some such device as this. =l===t --"these two being, in his nomenclature, the Moveable, and the other two the Fixed — in the Diatonic style the THE GREEKS. 407 Semitone Tetrachord was sung as written, pjj^;: g^^ but in the Enharmonic (by the resolution of the Semitone Semitone mto two Enharmonic demitones), p ^ — r^~^f^ — f — F' and so on in every other case. Writing, then, the Modes in Tetrachords, and the Scale in Tetrachords, he could most easily show this application, and the divergence of the two styles ; and this, it seems, is one of the main reasons why he chose such a form of structure. For the scale written in this way, with the Moveable and Fixed notes marked, is: — j: EeE V-l^i^W=^ ^-^^ i^ ?==r P=P: Til f3 — (=» — ^—i- And the Modes will be found most easily to lie along and coincide with the contour of the Scale as here given. Since taking the Mixolydian Mode, and marking its Moveable and Fixed Notes, the Moveable, the highest note of its Tetrachords' Semitones and the note immediately above, the Fixed, the remaining two, and applying it to the Mixolydian octave, it will be found to coincide. And the Lydian in the same manner : — =^3 ==); ■^r i^^^^E^EE 4o8 HISTORY OF MUSIC. applying it to the Lydian 8ve, ^^ zTr2z r- Arid the Phrygian, -t :@ifa i=p= -x=^^ i^ to the Phrygian Octave, ¥^ ?==P= ^W=^- =t=t M= And the Dorian, r ;^=^^? z ^^&^jl to the Dorian Octave. And the others in like manner. Now then setting out the scale in Tetrachords. with an eye to all these contingencies did he work. And it will be seen that all the tetrachords as they appear in the Scale, unlike their form in the Modes, are symmetrical, for the Fixed notes are the extreme notes of each, and the Moveable notes are the interior ones. Let us then admire the symmetry which pervades all this, and also the art of Pythagoras in constituting his scale on so flexible a basis, that it would give an easy exposition to so many things. Not only will his structure by tetrachords be manifest now, but also why he made some conjunct and some disjunct ; for it was a studied arrangement to open the door to these various possibilities. But why he added an 8ve at the bottom of his scale, was to give THE GREEKS. 409 perfection to his system, as we have before remarked ; for this was the theory of Pythagoras, that the 8ve w^as the most perfect of the Intervals,^ and was always necessary to be present if completeness and perfection were to be there. For this reason, therefore^ did he round off his Scale with an octave at the bottom, A, parallel to the a at the top, and a Scale of Fifteen Notes was formed by this, as it seemed to him, necessary addition of the Octave. And as the Octave was the most perfect of the Intervals in his eyes, so it was the most perfect of the Consonances in the same manner.^' For this other subject yet remains to be touched on. What were the Consonances or Concords in Greek Music, and what was the extent of their Harmony. And the Consonances or Concords were those intervals whose numerical ratios we have before given, that is to say, the 8ve, Sth, and 4th, together with the same in 8ve position, viz. the double 8ve, the 12th, and the lith — six in all. These were the Consonances or Concords.3 But the extent of the Greek Harmony ' Ptolemy's Harmonics. I. 6. ° Ptolemy. 1. 5. 3 Manuel Bryennius. I. 5. Psellus. Synopsis Musica. Bacchius Senior. Eisagoge. 3. Into the interpretation of the late term, Paraphony, I have not gone, since it makes no difference to the question of what are the harmonious intervals. Bryenne calls the 5tli and 12th the Para- phonies, Psellus adds the 4tli and nth. The 8ve and Double 8ve were similarly called Antiphonies. But, says Theon, Antiphonies and Paraphonies are all alike included under the general term crvfKJiojvia. (!Vfi(j>(s)va TO, T£ Kar' avri^tuvov olov to cm TracroJv Koi to Sic ^M ira(jwv Koi to napcKJiuvov olov to eta nivTS to oia TiijaagijJV. (Xheo Smyrnasus. Ed. Bullialdus, I. p. 77), George Pachy- meres also to the same tune, iarl Tiva (jvfj.(j)wva, Tivd Se Stacjtwva, thus comprehending all consonant intei-vals under the general term, avfiijxjova. 4lO HIStORV OF MUSIC. went beyond the admission of Concords, for it admitted these discords, the 2nd, and the greater and lesser 3rd,i perhaps also in 8ve position, though on this point we are not certainly assured, viz. the 9th and loth.^ There are some writers, indeed, who say that the inversion of the first of these discords was also used in Greek Music, viz. the 7th, which is the inversion of the 2nd.3 And they who say this can have no alternative but to admit the inversion of the 3rd also, that is, the 6th. But since we are not positively told that the 6th and 7th were in use in Greek Music, we had best not press them, but content ourselves with assuming only those harmonies that are given in the handbooks and the histories, viz, the 2nd, and 3rd, perhaps the 9th, and loth, for the discords, arid the 8ve, Sth, 4th, double 8ve, 12th, and nth, for the concords. But even these include nearly all the discords and concords that are in use in Modern Harmony, and if we were to add the 6th and 7th they would include all. But in what respect did the Greek Harmony differ from ours in the use of these Concords and Discords ? And it differed in the following respect : For though both used the same concords and the same discords, we use more than one concord at once, as in the Common Chord we use 3 concords at once, viz. the 3rd, the sth, and the 8ve. And in the same way we frequently use more than one discord at once, as in the chord of the 9th, where we use the discords of the 9th and the 7th together. Or 1 Cf. Supia. p. — . 2 That is, if such instruments as the Pectis and Barbitos ever Used the Archilochean accompaniment instead of simple Magadising, it must have been so. 3 Westphal's Geschichte. THE GREEKS. 411 where we only use one discord, as in the chord of the 7th, &c., we combine it with concords, as the discord of the 7th with the concords of the Sth and 3rd ; and so on. But they only used one concord at a time, or one discord, and there could be no combining concords with discords, because none of their chords had more than two notes in them. That is to say, their chords were the skeletons of our chords, or they were our chords in outline only, and the progress of Har- mony since that time has been to fill these outlines in ; as, their chord of the 5 th has since been filled up by the insertion of the 3rd an d their chord of the 4th i^i^fsrz by the superposition of the 6th ^ and their chord of the 8ve p^' — to^ by the insertion of both 3rd and Sth - ^' — Yjj — and so on. Now this was one of the leading differences of the Greek Harmony from ours. But the other difference which we must next speak of goes deeper than this, and would much more affect the general complexion of the Music. For while the 5th is the great note which governs the progression of our Music, as thus, after starting a piece we proceed as soon as we can with our Bass to the Sth of the key we started on, and with our Melody to those notes which will harmonise with the S^h of the key, whence the 5th 412 HISTORY OF MUSIC. has got the name of Dominant, because it is so powerful, and governs all our Music, with the Greeks, on the other hand, the 4th was the great note, and while we proceed as soon as we can to the Sth, they proceeded in the same way to the 4th ; that is to say, our great note is the Dominant, but theirs was the Subdominant. " For the Song is no sooner started," says Aristotle, " than it proceeds at once to the 4th, returning again and again to it, and the best composers are those who use the 4th the oftenest"! And he goes on to say that as the perpetual use of the word " and " is the mark of the true Greek style of writing, so is the use of the 4th the mark of the true Greek Music. To the same effect speaks Ptolemy, and other of the ancient theorists. And now we must add the following proviso, for with us and our Dominant, it is the Bass that proceeds to the Dominant, and the Melody to those notes which will harmonise with the Dominant, but with the Greeks, on the contrary, with y/hom, we must never forget, the Melody was in the Bass, or lower part, the Melody would proceed to the Sub- dominant, but the Harmony to the notes above, which would harmonise with the Subdominant, so that there would be the same progression of the parts in both cases, the lower part to the principal or governing note of its system, the upper part to the notes that would harmonise with it, only the ear would listen differently, they listening to the lower part and dis- regarding the upper, we listening to the upper and disregarding the lower. And since what was once but an arbitrary adornment or delight of Song, I mean this progression of the lower part to the governing 1 Problem. XIX. 20. THE GREEKS. 413 note of the system, for " it is harmonious to the ear," says Aristotle, " that the song should so proceed," and "the voice moves by preference to the governing note," says Ptolemy, " because it is a medium height, which gives no strain to the singer, and is at such a pitch as the Voice delights in " " — I say, since this progres- sion of the lower part has since become a rule of Art, for there is no rule more constantly observed by us, fehan to send up the Bass to oiir governing note, which is the Dominant, as soon as it conveniently can — we may explain this rule of ours by saying that Bass is in reality old Melody, and still affects out of habit a similar favourite progression to that which it by preference observed, when it was no mere complement to the song as it is now, but the actual Melody, and the soul and centre of the Music. And this reflection will lead us to that other one, how if the Greek Melody was the Bass, and ours soars so far above it, the Art of Music, like other things in the world, has developed through gradual superposition ; for such a change as this, i -J- ^ Melody :SSiita= Melody could never come in a single night, nor by a turn of the finger, but we must imagine the elements gradually laid on, like strata in the water, and the melody each time rising little by little nearer the surface, as thus, Melody -T=i— Melody — r- ~ Melody rTj pj; — Y^ 2=^: 1 Ptolemy. Harmonics. H. 11. 414 HISTORY OF MUSIC, ^Z:^— Melody i Melody 1=^= 2=^= Melody and that this was the course of music's development, it will be our task in future volumes to show. In the meantime, many have been the fanciful comparisons that have been made between the Art of Music and the Art of Architecture, and often, I think, they have only been figuratively understood by those that made them — but here we have the dream incarnate before us. And I have often thought that if we would restore to our imagination those ancient melodies that time has long made havoc with, we cannot do so better than by listening to the Bass of our own music. In unbroken tradition, I imagine, has been preserved and lain there all this while the simple Melody of antiquity. Whatever meretriciousness has affected the other parts of the concert, the Bass has always re- mained chaste and pure — ^^fit heirloom to us from those ancient times when all was chastity and simplicity. So that when I listen to the Bass Viols impressing themselves mightily on the Orchestra, it takes me back to those ancient days when Great Harps of Egypt boomed in the palaces of Memphian kings. For that ancient Egyptian music we may well imagine was similarly constituted to what the Greek was, though in the mists of antiquity we cannot read it so clearly. And seeing now how Music is like to reflect the course of all things, in being a superposition but no destruc- tion, a gradual growth and no sudden exhibition of completeness, let us see how else it mirrors in little the goings on of the world. For it is plain that in having our Melody in the Treble, and our Harmony, THE GREEKS. 41$ or accompaniment, in the Bass, we have worked round to the exact contradiction of those ancient musics, which had their Harmony, or accompaniment, in the Treble, and their Melody in the Bass. And taking the Greek Music as our illustration, let us see if there are any other points, in which we have similarly arrived at the contradictory of the ancient style. And it will be plain there are many, and indeed in nearly all we have done so. For first, the Melody in the Treble, which then was in the Bass, as we have said ; and next, something which flows out of this, for they called that " high " (vTrarri) which we call " low," and " low " (vrirri) which we call " high " ; and similarly " above " (virtp) where we say " beneath," and " beneath " where we say " above." In a similar way, they counted their Scale downwards, we upwards ; and their intervals downwards, which we count also upwards. And the progression of the Melody (i.e. our Bass) was similarly inverse, for we are directly told that by preference it started at the 8ve of the Tonic, and descended to the 4th, which is the Jth below, == while our Bass starts at the Tonic, and ascends to the 5th above. And what is still more curious, it will be found that their common scale is simply ours read backwards, since take the scale of C, and read it backwards, and it will give the common Greek Scale, that is, the Dorian Mode, or Smaller Scale of Pythagoras, that is, the semitone will occur between the ist and 2nd notes, and Sth and 6th, precisely as it does in the Greek Scale. These are some of the points in which Music has arrived at the precise contradictory of the theory of antiquity, and more might be quoted. And without 1 And downward intervals were always considered more melodious tl;an upward ones, in the same way. (Arist. Prob. 33.) 4l6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. pausing to put forward any isolated explanation of these strange facts, we had rather regard them as part and parcel of the general movements of the human mind, and exemplifications of a law which runs through all things. For progress proceeds by contradiction ; and not only is this true of the de- velopment of the individual man, and may be seen in the history of nations, but also of large sweeps of time over and above these, in which it is no hard thing to see, that in trivial things as well as great things we naturally work round to the exact opposite of the method and thought of precedent antiquity. At first they wrote from right to left, now from left to right ; once the earth stood still and the sun moved, now the earth moves and the sun stands still ; once they worshipped many gods, now one ; once they believed in a past life, now in a future ; and so we might go on enumerating, but it is plain that the course of Music has proceeded like these other things. And now having mentioned the engrossing im- portance of the 4th, or Subdominant, in Greek Music, and how it stood in the place of our Dominant, we must briefly examine one or two more of its relations in which it served the same purpose. And we use the the Dominant, indeed, in interchange with the Tonic, to procure the necessary relief of key in strains and phrases, and they the Subdominant in like manner ; but we also employ a periodic and prolonged substitution of the Dominant for the Tonic, as the base of our Musical Forms, and all our Forms turn on this prolonged substitution, from the simple Melody to the Form of the Symphony. In the same way, their extended forms of composition turned on the prolonged substitution of the 4th, or Subdominant ; for the THE GREEKS. 417 Antistrophe, I imagine, was sung in the Subdon:iinant of the Strophe, and answered to the 2nd Subject of our Sonatas or Symphonies, or better, to the middle period of Andantes, &c.i The 4th also served the theorists as the framework on which they arranged the Modes, for they often arranged the Modes by Subdominants, as we arrange our scales by Dominants, setting, that is, each a 4th above the other, as ^Eolian, Dorian, Mixolydian &c., and the Greek name for Subdominant is Mese, and this is called the arrange- ment by Meses.'^ And I imagine that it also served as the chief means of Modulating in Greek Music, that is, passing from Mode to Mode, for this is a thing that was often done, to pass from one Mode to the other ; and we know that the Dorian and Mixolydian were freely used in the same piece together, that is, the Dorian Mode on PQ— ^— , and the Mixolydian Mode on -^ p^— ^— ■ . a 4th above, and also the .^olian with the Dorian, i=|= and the Hypophrygian with the Phrygian, and so on.3 So that it seems the Greek Modulation was principally by Subdominants, or 4ths, which will merit a more minute inquiry hereafter. And looking at this despotism of the 4th, or Subdominant, in Greek music, and its general effect on the complexion of the Music, I think it would produce a subdued tone in the Music, by ! See t'.ie Problem of Aristotle, discussed at the end of this Book. 3 e.g. Ptolepy's arrangement by Meses in his jnd Book. 3 Plutaich. De Musica, 16. E E 41 8 HISTORY OF MUSIC. contrast to ours, which also the general depth of the pitch, and the Melody running in the Bass would also concur to cause. Nor must we forget to add that the Common Chord of the Harmony was not the Tonic and Dominant, as with us, but the Tonic and is: Subdominant, not f t^—f^-— , that is to say, but [^ (only two notes being taken, as we have said), and this chord of ist and 4th has a very grave and tranquil character, and constantly occurring, as it did, would also help to subdue and tone down the general effect. This being so, then, and the 4th playing so im- portant a part in the music, we cannot wonder that Pythagoras attached .special importance to it, both as the note and the interval, and more particularly as the interval, which he regarded as second in import- ance to the 8ve alone, setting it much above the 5th, because its tone was purer, and even ranking it with the 8ve itself as one of the two Perfect Con- sonances — though necessarily the inferior one.' For the Octave was the sovereign despot, and supreme in- terval in the Pythagorean system, nor could the Fourth be in any way intrinsically compared to it, though, for the various reasons already mentioned, it might affect a superficial parallel, and even by Pythagoras himself, though at an infinitely lower level, be ranked in certain associations along with it. But these over, and the purity of the interval and its frequency in the music dismissed from the mind, how did the 1 Nicom8?lms. Hartnonics, THE GREEKS. 419 4th flutter and fall, while the 8ve grew and over- spread all the Pythagorean theory, in a way to efface or conceal every other harmony beside ! For, how could the diminutive and incomplete 4th compare with that great interval, which gave completeness and rotundity to musical concord, and was its very type and soul ? or how could the part — which was the 4th, since the 4th and 5th together make the octave — compare with the whole? evincing, in its being a part, that very incompleteness and inferiority, which it was already assumed to possess. This aggrandise- ment of the Octave, indeed, at the expense of every other interval, is one of the most curious and in- tricate chapters in the history of Pythagoreanism, and leads to results which may well amaze those who read it. The play of the interval itself, indeed, in practical music was by comparison a limited one. We have noticed its entry into harmony under the Lesbian School of Singers, and by benefit of Semitic influences, early in our history ; at which time great instruments of ten and twenty strings were con- structed for the express purpose of playing in octaves. Such were the Magadis, the Pectis, the Barbitos, and later on, the Epigoneion, the Simicium, and others. While at the same time the practice of singing in Octave Harmony — that is, Antiphony, or Magadising, as it was called — also commenced, and indeed con- tinued throughout the whole life of Greek Music, both as cultivated by Choruses and by solo singers. Thus the domain of the Octave in practical music was apparently extensive enough, though really limited. For neither did the Magadis instruments, which exhibited it, attain a popularity like to that of the Lyre, in whose harmony the 8ve merely played an equal part with the 4th, 5th, and other intervals ; 420 HISTORY OF MUSIC. nor was chorus singing as a rule so regulated, as to give a preference to Octave Harmony rather than to the simple Unison. In practical music, then, the Octave might well have mustered merely in company with the other harmonies ; but in the abstruseness of theory, and under the speculations of the Pythago- reans, it attained a rank of supremacy and indeed of omnipotence, that threw into the shade the whole musica-1 art besides, and led to results perhaps the most surprising that history has ever yet had to record. To Pythagoras the Octave was the type of all Harmony,! that is, he saw in the constitution of the Octave, as it was composed of 5th and 4th,2 the type or indeed the incarnation of the process, by which all Harmony of whatever kind was effected. For to the exhibition of a Harmony, said Pythagoras, there are always two things necessary, first. Uncon- ditioned Matter, and secondly, the Principle of Form.^ Now the Unconditioned Matter in the case of the Octave was the two intervals, the 4th and the 5th, as they existed apart and independently in music ; and the Principle of Form was the energy of the Octave Interval which should bring them together, and blending itself with their union produce the Perfect Octave as the result. And because he chose this instance for a type, where the Unconditioned Matter is represented by two components, namely, the interval of the 4th and the interval of the 5th, he would express all Unconditioned Matter by the ' Nicomachus. Harmonics. ^ apfioviUQ Se fxiyedoQ ivri avWapa koI St' 6S,Eia.v. Philolaus in Stobaeus. 462. 3 TO irepatvov Koi ra p-irupa. Cf, also Poiphyiy's Pliysics. HI. 104. THE GRfifiiCS. 421 number, 2 ;i but the Principle of Form he expressed by the number, i.^ And the process of the Har- mony consisted in the blending of the Form with the Matter, as we have said, which thus received cohesion between its parts, and in this way was the Harmony effected. As the two intervals, the 4th ■ ^= N— and the Sth -^^tE ^^^^^ ^^ ^''^^ apart in music, unconditioned, and undetermined in their relations to each other. In this state they are the number, 2. But by the introduction of the Principle of Unity or Form, i, they receive that cohesion that they lack and that conditioning that they desire, and produce =^2^ I + 2, the Octave. Now in the purely arithmetical exposition of this process the result will be the same. For the 4th expressed in numbers, is 3 : 4, and the 5th is 2:3, and the union and cohesion of the 4th and the 5 th, that is, their multiplication together, 3 + 4x2 + 3 — gives the product, 6 + 12, that is, 1 + 2, the Octave. In its purely arithmetical exposition did Pytha- goras by preference regard the process, as being easier of comprehension to the vulgar, and also because to him Music was but the sound of Numbers, or Numbers were the secret principles of Music, and both were commensurate. And since i + 2 was the completion of the ' Johannes Laurentius. De Mensibus. II. 5. - Laurentius. lb. See also Porphyry. Vita Pythagorse. 49. 422 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Octave Harmony, that is, the addition of the Principle of Form, i, to the Principle of Unconditioned Matter, 2, and the addition of i to 2 is expressed as 3, Pythagoras took 3 as the Principle of Completeness, and he said that the number 3 was the power and composer of music ;i for not only does it express the composition of the Octave, but of some- thing else beside — and now indeed shall we see the Octave grow and enlarge itself on our art in a divine manner, according to the teachings of Pythagoras — for not only does 3, that is, 1+2, express the completion of the Octave Harmony, but the com- pletion of that Harmony doth bring simultaneously into being the whole musical scale. For the Scale, as we have seen Pythagoras write it, writing it, that is to say, in the numerical equivalents of Octave, I : 2, Sth, 2 : 3, 4th, 3 : 4, and Tone, 8 : 9, which was generally written with the various numbers alone, i, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, and with the addition of their sum total, i.e., 27, at the end, and stood expressed normally in the formula, I. 2. 3. 4. 8. 9. 27. the scale, I say, which, so expressed, composed the Holy Heptad, or Septenary, which were the Seven Sacred Numbers of the Pythagoreans,^ was proved to have arisen in Music from an original completion of the Octave Harmony, i -|- 2. For since in the primeval marriage of i and 2 the immediate result was the 8ve, that is, 1 + 2, and the connection of the I and 2 is expressed by 3, then at once came fair descendants, being indeed the direct and instan- taneous brood of this royal pair, for each number contained within itself its square and its cube, and ' Porphyry. Vit. Pyth. - Hierocles in Aureum Carmen. THE GREEKS. 423 in this way did the complete scale at once flash to the light : — ^ ^Square of 2. Cube of 2. Square of 3. Cube of 3. I. 2. 3. 4 8. 9. 27. Thus was the whole Musical Scale shown to pro- ceed from the mystical union of i and 2, and the whole art of Music had developed therefrom. Now most agreeable to such a genesis was the sexing of the numbers that made it. The Number 1 was held the Father of Number,^ and the Number 2 the Mother of Number.^ From i, as from a Sire, did Music proceed, from 2, as from a Mother. And as I and 2 were considered Male and Female, so were the other numbers likewise considered and sexed accordingly, that is to say, up to 10, beyond which limit number was considered imperfect,^ since the numbers after 10 do but repeat themselves ; a special exception being made in favour of the number 27, which occurred as one of the seven numbers in the Holy Heptad. And the Odd Numbers were con- sidered Male,s because they partook of the character of the first Odd Number, which is 1,6 which was the type of Unity, and Permanence, and Identity, and likewise the Principle of Form.7 And the Even ' The Anonymous Commentator in Ptolomaei Tetrabiblon. I. Plutarch. De Procreatione Animje. cf. also De Musica. 22. 2 Cedrenus. I. 208. » lb. * Cedrenus I. p. 269. 5 Macrobius. Saturn. I. 13. « In strict Pythagorean language the Number i could not be spoken of as Odd, and the writer only does it here under reservation, to avoid an intricacy of detail, for it was virlp apiOflbv and ovSt etti apriov nvSt ETTt TOV TTSpiTTOV fuBioTarai. Some would even make it sexless in the same manner, but wrongly, since appriv on orj yovipw rarri, says Laurentius, and in another place, to ev Etrriv apptv. 7 afieprjc nai- a/xsra/BoXoe Koi avroKivriTog ' povipoQ ' tHjv ptT avrfiv alrla, &C. See also Porphyry. Vita. Pyth. 49. 424 HiSTORV OF MUSIC. Numbers Female, in like manner, because they par- took of the characteristics of the first Even Number, 2, which was the type of Change, and Difference, and Instability,! and in contrast with i, which was the Principle of Unity, 2 was taken as the type of Multiplicity.2 And the Even Numbers were consi- dered female also for this reason, that they can be divided exactly in the middle,^ but Odd Numbers cannot be so divided.'^ Thus the Even Numbers were subject to Section and Passion, but the Odd Num- bers were devoid of both,^ and agreeably to this the typical Even Number, that is, 2, passed from being a type of Change and Multiplicity to being also the type of Matter, which is the Passive and Divided element in the Universe,^ but the typical Odd Num- ber, which is I, was the principle of Unity, which acted on Matter, and gave it its Form and Cohesion. 7 And now if we would be at one with the Pythagoreans in their conception of Numbers, we must consider it in this way : — For Pythagoras said that A is indeed a triangle. But not that which falls under our eyes is the triangle. But that only awakes in our minds the idea of the Triangle,^ which is the im- palpable and eternal form of the number 3, that radiates through Nature ; and wherever we see objects that have three parts, or actions in the same way, as the beginnings, middle, and end of things, this is but 1 The Odd were voo) Koi ip^X^^ avdicwf.ia — the Even, yevicnog KOI fiSTapoXijg. (Philolaus in Stob.) HcrraTOQ Koi woXv/xiTafioXoQ says Lydus. Cf. also Porphyry, loc. cit. ■^ Laurentius. De Mensibus. II. 6 3 Nicomachus' Arithmetic. I- cap. 6. < lb. " Anon. Comment, in Ptol. Tetr. I. ^ Laurentius II. 6. ' Porphyry. Vita Pyth. » lb. THE GRESkS. 425 the number 3 working its way through to the surface.^ In a similar way, when we see change, and multiplicity, and decay, that is the number 2 expressing itself. And similarly, unity, and permanence, and tenacity are the number i. Thus is the marriage of man and woman but the momentary emergence of the number 5 to the surface of things, for 5 is the union of the Feminine 2 with the Masculine 3,2 and such events are but the shaping which we unconsciously give to the temporary predominance of that number. In a similar way. Friendship and Love are the veils behind which 8 is working. Or what is all purity and innocence of life but the radiance which 7 emits, which is the Virgin Number, and partakes most nearly of the direct essence of the Father? Or what is 6 but the androgyn, being the number of Venus, and compound of either sex, for it is the multiplication of the Feminine 2 by the Masculine 3,2 and all things that partake at once of softness and stability, of variety and yet of unity, are but the seals and soft impressions which 6 is setting on the world. Now in a strange way does the Number i differ from the other numbers, for while they only exist in impalpable essence, being but the luminous outlines and spiritual pulses of things and actions, the Number i has rendered itself incarnate. For over and above that existence of invisible energy, which the Father of Number shares with the other numbers, but to far higher perfection than they, 1 Porphyry. Vita Pyth. 51. * Hierocles in Aureum Carmen. '■> The Anonymous Theologus. Also in Laurentius. Cf. the Orphic fragment which he quotes. 426 HISTORY OF MtfSlC. existing in eternal repose and at unity with itself,'^ there have been from all eternity corporal emanations proceeding from its beatific essence, which are the ultimate atoms of which all things are composed. So there is one One, and there are many Ones, and these indeed are aptly called the Monads, as partaking of the essence of the divine and perfect Monad, which is the Number One. And like it they are indivisible, but in the immeasurable distance of emanation from the first spring and glittering source of their existence they have from the first failed to preserve more than this one tincture of the divine essence, and in every other way are they but dusky images and unreal repetitions of that pattern of excellent energy which produced them, being subject to flux, and vicissitude, and change, and instability, and passion, and suffering, being indeed the Hyle on which the other numbers work, that play in eternal beauty behind the curtain of Nature. And though the Monads be of themselves indivisible, being each in itself an ultimate atom, and so far partaking of the perfection of One, yet in their entirety they are subject to eternal division, being continually thrown into new combinations by the energy of the numbers, and divided and re-divided in their totality for ever, and for this reason, and also because they are the embodi- ment of all multiplicity, they are aptly expressed and indeed identical with the number 2, which is the principle of Change, and Instability, and Multiplicity, and Passion, and therefore synonymous with Matter, which is composed of the atoms, which are the Monads.^ And since the number 2 is a Feminine 1 6 UTTaS ETTEKEd'a fltVWV tV T^ EftUToS OlKTta KOt TTpOC, kavrov (TWiarpafinivoQ. Lauientius. II. 3. 2 These are the aiTiipa of Philolaus, as I take it. In Stobseus. 485. THE GREEKS. 427 number, therefore the totality of the Monads, which is Matter, is Feminine likewise. And these are the emanations from the Number One, and in this way does the Number One differ from all other numbers, in having effected its incarnation, though but in the ashes of its splendour. Thus not only the invisible but also the visible universe is composed of numbers, for the Monads being corporal atoms, we may see them and touch them by myriads in any of their countless combina- tions, ' for they are the matter of all bodies ; but those great Numbers that have ribbed them into form we cannot see, unless by dark proxy or filmy reper- cussion of celestial lineament, contemplating them in those forms of atoms that best repeat the invisible impression, as in a Triangle we may best see the form of the eternal 3, or in a Square the form of that divine and glorious 4, on which the Pythagoreans loved so much to dwell. For the beauty of 4 was less oppressive than that of the other numbers, and it had mirrored itself in larger outline on the masses of Nature, and so its pictures were more easily appre- 1 This is how I understand it. TCtg fiova^ag, says Aristotle (Sleta- physics. XI. 6.), v7roXaju6avouv(nQ Odav te kol ovk avdpuirivav evSi)(STai yvUxTiv^ ttXeov ya ^ on oiiK oTov t ^c ovdivi riov eovtojv koi yiy- v(i)(TKOfiiv(iiv v(p' afiojv yv(jiJ-6rifj.£v, firj VTrap^ovtraQ avrac ivroc Twv TTpayfiaTwv e? wv avviura 6 k6(t/xoq, twv te TripaiVOVTlOV kol TWV dTTiipUJV ' ETTfl 0£ TE ap)(CU VTTapYO" ovx bfioiai oiiS' 6iJ.6)/x£V, £1 nrj apfiovia ETTE-ylvEro, (jlrivt av rpoirti) tTnyi- VETO. And that this apfiovia of Philolaus was nothing more nor less than the 8ve we may well know, not only from Aristides (I. p. 17.) wapa rote iraXaio'tg to Oia TraaCiv apfiovia, but also from Philo- laus himself (in StobiEus 462.) apfioviac St fityidoq ivTi avWat>a KOI Si' o^Eiav, " Now the apfiovia is composed of a 4th and a 5th." Bockli also in his Philolaus des Pylhagoreers I.ehren expressly alludes to this fact. = Diogenes Laertius. VIII. 23. Kao apfioviav (JWiardvai to, SXa. THE GREEKS. 43 1 and the Principle of Form was the energy of the 8ve Interval, which penetrated them and gave them cohesion. But now in the Universal Octave the Uncon- ditioned Matter was the Number 2 in its physical aspect, that is, the Monads, or Atoms ; ^ and the Principle of Form was the Number One, the Divine and Primal Monad,^ from whose beatific essence they had proceeded. How then did that blending or penetration of the Number One with the Number Two take place on that larger plane which is the Universe, and thus the Universal Octave was effectu- ated, which gave its present form and smiling pattern to the things we see around us ? What shall we say of the times that were, before this frame had set to order ? and what things happened to induce its sym- metry? And this tale, which is one of the mysteries of Pythagoreanism, it will be worth our while to hear. For this is the song that Orpheus sang,3 how Har- mony was heard, when earth and heavens were blent and blotted in a heap, and then from the rocking blackness the spangled world arose."* For the Monads, ' Philolaus in Stob. ' lb. 3 I think that p.issage in Clemens, Tovro Se rot rb irav &C., cannot be read wilhout seeing in it an obvious allusion to a musical construction of the Universe in the Orphic Cosmogony, which we can only Iniow by such hints as this. Cf. also Jamblichus. 145. pr]Tiov WQ Tije livOayo^iKK Kar apidfiov dioXoyiag TrapdStiy/j.a Ivapyk tKCiTO TToic iv 'Ofx^aT. Cf. Id. 146. The 'Upog \6yog of Pythagoras we ttv EK TOV lJ.V(TTiKU)Ta,TOV a-!rr)v9i(Tf.dvov wapa 'Op^Et roTTOU 'it was culled from the most mystic flowers of Orpheus.' For other connections between Pythagoras and Orpheus, cf. Jamblichus. 28. Bryennius. Harmon. I. I. i Strabo. II. 468. Ka9' apfioviav rbv Koafiov (JWiaravai ipaaiv (i.e. ot T\vQay6pnoi) Aristotle, Metaphysics, rov oXov Qvpavov apfiuviav. 432 HISTORY OF MUSIC. which are the atoms, seethed and tossed in the ancient sea of chaos, and all was blinding hail and dirty weather, pitch blackness and crashing thunder throughout the Universe, nor any streak of grey or speck of morning light in that wild night, where no lull ever came, and midnight was never past. Each separate atom of the horrid brew struggled and tore each other, or great black things, that were misformed worlds, fell to pieces in collision. What barkings rang through the horrid vaults, as echoes took up the sound from longitude to longitude ! — and these indeed were the sighs of despair of the struggling Universe, that could never come to the birth. For there could be no union and no form, while still the matter of the Universal Octave lay void and empty of the Principle that should attune it.i But the time came at last when the Divine and Primal Monad, out of his boundless compassion for his suffering emana- tions that still struggled and tossed without hope of deliverance, being the body without the soul, or the shapeless embryo without the spirit that should form it — lifted up his energy to impregnate the awful deep, and descending from his station of celestial repose and beauty, swept right through Chaos. What heavenly harmony did then arise, when the Great Octave was made incarnate ! What flockings and gatherings together of atoms, and matching of piece with piece ! And straight does Darkness fly away, and the joy of 1 Philolaus. (cit.) tTTEi Sf Tc dpxai vwap^ov ov^ OjUoTai oiiS' 6/xu^uAo( errcrai, tjSj) a^vvarov 7iq av kol avTol^ KOa ixr]0r\fxiv, a jurj apfiovla etteyeveto. Nicomachus. Arithmetic. II. ek flaxo- fiivtov Koi ivavriti)v ctuveotjj tu oXa koi eikotojc apfioviav viTi^i^aTo. And a fxlv apfxovia eittIv dpird Kocrfiov. Hippodamus Pythagoiicus in Galli Opusc. Mjtholog. p. 664. THE GREEKS. 433 Light begins. For the first element of Music that put forth its force was the power of Rhythm, and soon Vibration begins to stir the mass. Then those im- palpable atoms, which were the spray of the turbid sea, marshalled into columns, and swept with un- utterable swiftness across the subsiding waste, and lo ! they were Light.^ Spangles and flakes of light they shed in golden rain wherever they troop their bright battalions, and the world laughs to see this foretaste of its beauty. And next the Divine and Primal Monad crept to a closer embrace with his bewildered bride,^ and on each separate atom that composed her he stamped the image of himself And henceforth shall each atom be a little octave, that is, it shall be in mignature a perfect pattern of the Universe. For let us ask what this marriage had already been, for he was i and the energy of the Octave, and she was 2, the unconditioned and un- formed matter of the Octave, and by their union was the perfect Octave produced, 1+2. But next the Divine and Primal Monad crept to a closer embrace, and on each separate atom that formed the bewildered mass he stamped the image of himself And now must each atom bear the impress of the form. For what is this terminology of 2, for un- disciplined and unconditioned Matter, or what is the energy of 2 that so expresses itself, but the energy of Discord or Repulsion, to which 2 things are 1 The only difference between Sound and Light is the rate at wliich the particles are made to vibrate. And to produce Light they must vibrate with such . swiftness that only impalpable molecules can attain the required velocity. But to produce Sound palpable moles can attain it. •■s Diligitur corpus ab anima. Claudianus Mamertus. De Anima. It. 434 HISTORY OF MUSIC. necessary, that which repels, "and that which is repelled ? Most aptly then was primordial Matter ■ conceived as 2, because this was the spirit that penetrated it. But on the other hand, as 2 was Discord, so was i Concord, 2 Hate that severs, i Love that joins. And since by the incussion of i into 2, Matter became disciplined and subdued, this is but saying that henceforth Love was grafted on the Universal Plane as the makeweight to Discord, and both must henceforth be represented there, which gave the Octave, 1+2, the mirror and Principle of all things. And now, I say, after this divine effectua- tion, or casting the shadow of these numbers in giant letters over the bosom of the Universe, must each separate atom put on the trappings of its great con- tainer, and be charged with the same storage of Attraction and Repulsion, have its Attractive and Repulsive pole,' like those two Attractive and Repulsive poles, whose balance steadies the worlds. And now the atoms, instead of eternal struggling and tearing of each other, could combine and sort themselves, now attract- ing, now repelling, hurrying hither and thither, and joining into substances. And in this way the materials of the Universe were constituted.^ And some combined in unisons, and some in octaves, and some in the harmony of the fifth, and some in twelfths, and some in 1 This is but the application of the Pytliagoreaii theory to the Modem theory of atomic texture, which attributes such a texture to every atom on the familiar illustration of the broken magnet. In the same way, that which follows is the application of the Pythagorean theoiy to the modern theory of atomic combination. 2 Quintil. De Inst. Orat. I. 10. 12. Mundum ipsum musices ratione esse compositum, quam postea sit lyra imitata. Cf. Michael Psellius. De omnifaria doctrina. p. 143. Also Athenssus. p. G22. TlvOayopaQ aTro(j>a[viTai rrjv rnv iravrbs oxKriav Sia /UoutriKijc (TvjKUfxivriv, THE GREEKS. 435 Other harmonies ; for the Great Scale of Numbers was effectuated also by the striking of the Octave, and all the harmonies were being heard. And the atoms com- bined in unisons, as those two gassy atoms, that go as I : I and form Water, or those that form Nitrous Oxide, or Ammonia, or Nitrous Gas, or Nitrous Acid, all combining in unisons to form these substances, uniting atom with atom, i : i ; in octaves, as those atoms that unite i : 2, to form Carbonic Acid, or Nitric Acid, or Nitric Oxide, or the Binoxides of Manganese and of Hydrogen, and other things, uniting i atom with 2 atoms, l : 2, on the pattern of the octave to form these things ; in 5ths, as those atoms that unite 2 : 3, on the pattern of the 5th, and form Peroxide of 1 ron, or Phosphorous Acid, or Arsenious Acid ; in I2ths, as those atoms that unite on the pattern of the 12th, 3 : i, to form Sulphuric Acid, and Oxynitrous Acid, and Hyponitrous Acid, and other things. And other musical ratios could we give, according to all of which are the substances of the Universe composed. And while the atoms were swiftly working in beautiful music to form these cunning alchemies, meantime the Divine and Primal Monad sent great sweeps of Music into the Universe, and it began to stir in masses. And Fire, which is inimical to Harmony, fled to the centre, and the other elements fled away from the central fire,i and soared in giant detachments iqto illimitable space. But he, whose soul is love and the pulse of all attraction, stayed them in mid career, and such love had they beside to one another, that further they would not go than where they could each attract the 1 Pliilolaus in Stob, 436 HISTORY OF MUSIC. other, and spread a universal harmony throughout eternal Nature. Nor are they further apart in due comparison, those worlds innumerable that crowd the endless fields of space, than is atom from atom to us in this little globe of ours, but form one continuous and golden floor, brave treading for the Eternal ! ^ And there they danced in harmonious measure all round the central fire, the Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the Stars, the Planets ; and this is the Dance of the Cosmos.* And these are the general outlines of the Universal Order, but who shall tell of the arrangement of the detail ? Or take this jewelled trinket that we call the Earth, which at a distance to those who dwell in other globes seems but a little shining ball that courses prettily about, nor can they imagine aught else about its texture, than as of some round ball of brass with a blank bright surface, that glitters in the night time. But we who sail on it — we know its tracery, and the thousand rainbow webs that wrap it in, and its stomachers of trees and rivers, and bosses of hills, and clusters of splintered peaks, and all those forms of minute loveliness, that extend in inexhaustible variety down to the petals of the tiniest flower. Who then shall tell the arrangement of this detail? ' Agreeably to the assertion of Dalton, "Each atom occupies the centre of a comparatively large sphere, and keeps itself separate and distinct from all the rest, which by their gravity or otherwise are disposed to encroach upon it." And elsewhere he speaks of a gossamer envelope surrounding eveiy atom and keeping it distinct from its fellow. So we may well say in like manner that the Stars and the Earth, &c., are the separate atoms that nialce one piece, as the atoms that form water make a sheet of water. ^ TTEpi Si TOVTO (i.e. TO -tTvp h> fiiot)/) xoptUEiv. Philol. in Stob. 448> THE GREEKS. 437 What wonderful power could in a moment invent and display these cctasies of inexhaustible variety? For to deliberate and think out is below the dignity of a deity, but he must create at once, by a fiat. And this niystery of creation I think the admirable Chladni has unravelled, and in what he has taught us, he has but approved the teachings of Pythagoras. For Chladni took a plate and sprinkled some sand on it, and then he drew a bow across the edge of the plate, and produced a musical note on it. And immediately the sand took strange forms, but all of untold symmetry. And he continued to produce varieties of notes, and each time the sand leapt to new and symmetrical forms ; and in doing this, he demonstrated that Music was the readiest source of obtaining Pattern. For had he attempted to think out those countless novelties of form which I shall presently show, he must have spent I know not how long on each of them, and been baffled and come to an end at last. Yet here they were produced, one after another, in teeming succession by a turn of the hand, by benefit of that limbeck that contained the secret. And by this discovery of Chladni's I think a new development has been given to the teachings of Pythagoras, for in saying that Music gave its Form to the Universe, Pythagoras had expressed himself in general terms, and was only understood by a few. But now can each man become a petty lord of creation for himself, and scattering Chladni's sand on a plate, he can see this little Chaos by his fiat become a Cosmos. For directly the musical note has sounded, all the sand flocks to position, and arranges itself in rapturous symmetry — from being sand, it has become suns and galaxies, What then was the potent influenge that 438 HISTORY OF MUSIC. at once reduced the Universe to order, but Music, by whatever means it came (j^rivi av rpoiro) iTrtjivtro), sweeping into the entangled elements ? For since in that dread world of night and nothingness there was no precedent type of form, nor was battling discord to be forced bit by bit to shape, nor even thought was possible what that shape might be, that only vis matrix is supposable, which could at once and spontaneously sort the elements into pattern. And here are Chladni's Fisruresi^ : — ' These are figured from TyndaU's Sound in preference to Chladni's own work, where the figuring is not so artistic, \ V, v.,„^v^ V \ \A V A \V ■^ A ""Ax THE GREEKS. 44 1 So that I imagine Music's powers as the Principle of Form in Nature must be indefinitely extended beyond limits which it passes us at present even to conceive. Since even here, in these few pictures out of an endless gallery, every shape or pattern that the eye can see through Nature stands writ in mignature before us. Do I want the pattern of a leaf? I find it here. Would I see the track the rivers flowed in ? I find it here presented to my eye. Shall 1 gaze at the vaults of blue, and wonder what has raised those heavenly arches ? And here, too, doth our sweet mistress confess, that form was hers. Or must I know how the stars would twinkle, or what was to be the shape of the drops of dew ? — If we could practise with the Universe for our plate, and Worlds for our grains of sand, we might see some fine creation. And since by the incussion of Music into the entangled elements, the Cosmos was reduced and brought to order, what shall we say of that divine energy of the Octave, that ran through and sustained the great entire ? Or what was the circumambient outline that it set on those bulging masses ? And it imprinted on them the image of itself. For this is the shape that the Octave gives to little grains of sand that lie on a plate,' 1 See the figuring of the 8ve, 5th, and 4th, in W. F. Barrett's paper in the Quarterly Journal of Science, Jan. 1870. 442 HISTORY OF MUSIC. and if there were no flat surface here, but the sand were suspended in space, the two sides would fall over and join back to back, and give the image of a sphere, which is the shape of the worlds. ^ And we might go on to give still further instances than those we have given, to show how Music is indeed no other than the Power of Form, as how, for instance, a shower of spray sweeping in a disordered sheet and fluff of scattering drops, will, at the pene- tration of a musical note into it, gather itself together into a thin and compact liquid vein, and then when the note ceases will fall to pieces in crowds of spray again, and then at the Music it will unite again ; ^ or how that element which is most inimical to Harmony, that is, Fire, will yet betray 1 Cf. Empedocles in Stob.'s Eclogues, p. 354. and Parmenides in Arist. de Xenoph. Zenon. et Gorj:. p. 978. ' See Savait's experimenls detailed in Tyndall, On Sound, p. 245. Also particularly pp. 247, 248, THE GREEKS. 443 the most potent sympathy, and throw itself into a thousand fantastic shapes beneath the influence of Music, great taU flames toppling over sideways and licking downwards, others coalescing in a long thin tongue at the sound of a long-drawn note, or quivering and twinkling at the music of a trill ; ' or how gases and air, as Hydrogen and Carbonic Acid, or air mixed with blue smoke, will all give way and form themselves in shapes and patterns as music sounds, bellying in bulging clouds, spreading in thin sheets, twining and threading in wreaths and circles, in response to the power of Melody.^ But from these minutenesses of Music's power we must pass away, and follow it rather in those larger motions that Pythagoras has set forth to us, when not fractions and puny strains, but all its power was put forth at once, to send the elements flocking to cohesion, and to toss systems into pattern, as we have seen it move its grains of sand. And all the elements fled out in rounded worlds into space, away from the central fire. And now behold them hung in the sk}'. And these are the names and orders of the bright squadron of which our globe is one, and these arc their names and orders, as they stand and dance ' See Tynda.l's Experiments on the Vowel Flame. Sound, p. 239. Also on other naked ilames. p. 284. Also Leconte in Tyndall. p. 230. " After the music commtnced, I observed that the flame exhibited pulsations, which were exactly synchronous with the audible beats. The trills of the instruments were reflected on the sheet of flame. A deaf man might have perceived the music." He goes on to prove that all this was produced by the direct result of aerial sonorous pulses on the flame, and nothing else. S Tynd. p. 241. 242. 444 HISTORY OF MUSIC. round the central fire : ' And first there was the Antichthon, or Counter-Earth, which was another world like ours, that moved between us and the central fire, and next came our Earth moving round, and then the Moon, and then the planets. Mercury and Venus, and then the Sun, all moving in concentric rings, and outside these the rings where Mars, and Jupiter, and Saturn danced, and outside these the ring where the stars danced round, in which were many mazes, and many weavings of beautiful dances, yet all in time and measure with our own, and making up together but one more harmonious round in the Dance of the Planets and the Sun, that went circling round the central fire. And as they moved, these heavenly orbs, in stately saraband, they made celestial harmony in the air, and chief among them the Sun and Moon and five Planets, that were .so nicely poised and distanced from each other, that they lay in the intervals of the Musical Scale ; for Saturn was just so far from Jupiter, and Jupiter from Mars, and Mars from the Sun, and the others in the same way, as are tone and tone and semitone from each other in the Scale. And Saturn moved in the Dorian Mode, and Jupiter in the Phrygian, and Mars in the Lydian, and the others in their order, each in its mode. This was the music that Scipio heard in his dream, for he dreamt that the shade of his ancestor, Africanus, appeared to him, and led him up through the immeasurable spaces, till he came all among the white flowers and feathers of the night. 1 In the following arrangement I have left Philolaus, and- adhered to the ordhiary Pythagorean tradition in Pliny, Censorinus, and others, with, however, the Antichthon, which some of them have omitted. Cf. Plutarch, De Placitis Philosophorum . III. 13. THE GREEKS. 44S And he saw the place where the spirits of good men go after death, which is the Milky Way. And he saw the constellations in white clusters. And he looked downwards, and in the far distance he saw the earth shining like some tiny golden star. And between the earth and the stars he saw 7 golden cressets burning in the clear night air, one above the other. And he and his guide went floating towards them. And these were the Planets and the Sun and Moon. And as they came near them Scipio said, What is this heavenly harmony that fills my ears ? And Africanus answered him, that this was the Harmony of the Spheres which he heard, and he bid him notice how all those golden fires were moving, and what were the distances between each, and said that as they swept the air they could not but make i^ieffable music, and being seven in number, and lying so far apart in exact proportion with the seven notes of the scale, they each murmured in the Mode that lay where that note came. And this was the Harmony of the Spheres which he heard in his dream, to which our Earth and its Counter-Earth do but give an added harmony, and the stars a far-off and myriad accompaniment. For although our Earth in its passage through the air may well be conceived to utter most melodious music, yet can it in no way compare with the heavenly sounds that the other planets make. For the Earth, said Pythagoras, is not the most perfect of the heavenly bodies, but on the contrary is nearer imperfection than any, except the Antichthon, which is the Counter-Earth, that comes between us and the central fire. For the greater is the perfection the farther away from the central fire. So that the Earth, coming so near the central fire, has a great 44^ HISTORY OF MUSIC. share of imperfection. Or how can it compare to the Sun, whose surface is all made of glass ?^ or to the Moon, which is inhabited by plants and animals far larger and > finer than those on the earth, and where the days and nights are fifteen times as long as our own P^ And this heavenly concert and harmony, though some might hear in visions and dreams, yet none could hear with waking ears but only Pythagoras himself. And he could hear it for ever in its total beauty, and he knew all its gradations and melodies. And well he might. For he had been Hermotimus, and his soul had soared into unknown regions of space, while his body lay in a trance at Clazomenae. He had pilgrimed those starry fields, and floated in ecstasy amidst the heavenly concert. And the memory of what he heard then, he had retained through future stages of the Metempsychosis. For that bright soul had made many wanderings, before it appeared in the radiant lustre of Pythagoras. And coming from what silver well of being we know not, first it had animated the hero, Euphorbus, and this was the first incarnation of Pythagoras. And Menelaus slew Euphorbus in the Trojan War. And the lance had pierced his soft neck, and his hair that was like the Graces' was all dyed with blood, and his curls that were tied with threads of gold and silver. It was like an olive with all its white flowers being mown down by the tempest, when Euphorbus fell. And this was the beautiful hero, that the soul of Pythagoras had first inhabited. And next it had entered Hermotimus, and there it heard the starry music. ^ vaXoeidi'ig. ' Stob.'s Eclogues. 514. THE GREEI^S. 44/^ And next it had entered Pyrrhus, a fisherman. And last of all, Pythagoras. And now could it hear with waking ears those sounds it before had heard in ecstasies and visions. And Pythagoras said that the reason men could not hear the celestial harmony, was because their ears are accustomed to it from the moment of their birth, and it is with this as with all other sounds, for sounds that we hear continually, we cease to hear at all. And this well may be. For it is known, says Cicero, that those who dwell close to the cataracts of the Nile, never hear the sound of the water, because it is always in their ears. And it is certain that we miss much beautiful, if homely music in our everyday life, from this very cause. For he that has known what a temporary deafness is, will learn when he recovers, what is the music of footfalls, and of objects struck against each other. Now these revelations of Pythagoras became in course of time the subject of philosophical speculation, and what he revealed as ultimate phenomena, science stept in to explain. And indeed that the spheres should make harmony in their aerial motions, was congenial to a musical theory, which defined Sound as ' struck air ' (a))p ■jmrXri'Yfj.ivo^), for this is the definition of the handbooks.^ And Nicomachus would have us believe, that the sound of the spheres was a whistling sound, such as a javelin, for example, makes, as it sings in its passage through the air ; and that the difference of the tones of each was due to the greater or less swiftness with which they rushed through the sky.^ But Macrobius would rather explain it as a series of clashes, * ar)p irewXriy/xivog. aipog irXriyi'i, Aristides. I. 7. ' NiGOinachus. Harmonics. I. 6. 44^ HISTORY OF MUSIC. that blent together in one tone (which, though much the same to our view, was yet held a different explanation), and that two bodies meeting, must produce a clash, and these two bodies were the star and the air ; and since in heaven all is harmony and beauty, finely says Macrobius, we must conceive no discordant clashing there, but a most soft giving way, and dulcet effusion of sound.' But we, again, living in modern days, may well regard the theory by our lights, and by benefit of the knowledge which since then has been added to our stock. And men define Sound more comprehen- sively now, for they say that Sound is caused by the vibrations of the particles of a body, which can move away from one another within certain limits, without causing the rupture of the body, and when they all vibrate together, that is musical sound.^ And shall we not say that each star is but a particle in one golden sheet, which is the Cosmos, and that their periodic motions and revolutions are but the regular vibrations of the particles that make it up, and hence a mighty Music must come ? So that to us, the Music of the Universe is well ' In coelo autem constat nihil fortuitum, nihil tumultuarium piovenire, &c. Macrobius in Somn. Scip. II. 2. The Heavenly Concert was KaruKOpsc r£ KOt Trovap/iovtov, says Nicoraachus, p. 7. where we must take KaraKOpeg in some such sense as " full," " rich," unless it may perhaps mean " unceasing." Cf. tjjv KaraKOpsararriv (TVfi(j)(i)viav, of the Octave, i.e. " the fullest of the consonances." Nicom. p. 9. " II suono 6 fonnato da vibrazioni delle particelle dei corpi. II corpo pub suddividersi in piccole particelle, e queste particelle si possono allontanare le une dalle altre entro certi limiti, senza che per cib si operi la rottura o il disgregamento del corpo. Blaserna. La teoria del suono. p. 3. THE GREEKS. 449 conceived as Periodicity, and this is the account that we will give of it. But to those who tell us, as some do, that there is no air in those heavenly- spaces to echo the music, but only blank vacuum, nor any air at all, but what constitutes the separate atmospheres of the stars themselves, and each carries round with it in its diurnal motions, we will say that we have but to apply in little what we have said of the Universe at large, and still we have our music. For in that symmetrical rotation of each heavenly orb round its poles, where there is no denying the envelope of air that encrusts and wraps it in, each particle of the great body must be in regular vibration, for each works to the common end, of which the rotation of the whole globe is the result. So that each world makes music for itself, with full complement of repeating air, and this music, I say, may we ourselves hear. For what are the sighings of the winds but the pianos of this music, and the notes of the cataract its louder passages ? And what are our concerts and symphonic choruses, but the clusterings of harmonious atoms in this great globe of ours, that breathe together for a time their little fragment of its harmony, yet we in our greatness imagine ourselves mighty music-makers ? Or what are musical instruments but the sensitive parts of the great earth's melody, and we, who make them, unconscious builders, like the coral insect that makes reefs and coral caves, and so we spread the earth with a musical trelhs ? And there is the music of Fire, and the music of Water, for flames are shown to sing in the lamp of the chemist,^ and vapour will ' Professor Tyndall can produce all the notes of the gamut from pne flame, See Tynd, Sound, p. 231. G G 4S0 HISTORY OF MUSIC. utter melodious notes, as it condenses in the stern of a thermometer.! What melody then will the heat of the day make, if we had but the wit to hear it, or the great masses of vapour as they condense into rain? And shall we not say that birds, who sing as unconsciously as the breezes play, or the leaves flutter down from the trees — what are they but the Harmonics of Nature, which expresses her strength through the gnarled oak and the iron, her fleetness through the horse, but when she would utter her blithest singing she pours it out through feathered flutes. For when Hermes has slain Argus with the hundred eyes, which is the night and all its stars, and sweeps the strings of Apollo's lyre and sets them trembling — then does the music of Nature begin. And first the lark takes up her carol in the air, and this is the morning speaking. And next the throstle and the other birds come chiming in, in most melodious chorus, and so the morning passes. And with the midday heat the insects take up their tale, and go humming in many notes through the air, and the grasshoppers chirping most melodiously, or in warmer climes, those humming- birds, that make a beautiful music by the vibration of their wings. And meanwhile all the trees are sighing and the grass waving, for the breezes go rustling in and out, and setting them all in motion. And then at evening the voices of the night begin, and chief among them the nightingale, who sits and sings beneath the light of the moon. Who that has heard this bird in the silence of midnight, when the very labourer sleeps 1 De la Rive showed that Musical Notes of great power and sweetne';s could be produced by the periodic condensation of vapour in the bulb of a glass tube. Tynd, Soi;nd, p. 225, THE GREEKS. 451 securely, has not heard with rapture her clear airs, sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, and well may fancy to himself how small and poor a residue of nature's harmony is that which we have got in keeping ? And there was a man who passed through the concert-room of Nature, with an ear not inattentive to its harmonies. And he was a poor stocking-weaver of Leicester, and passed what time he had, in wandering in the country and the woods, and listening to the music that they had to give him. He knew what notes the linnet sings on, and what is the harmony that the cricket chirps. The love songs of the wood pigeon he could tell you, or how the owl hoots at night. These were his petty orchestra and most delightful singers, and he has written down the whole concert of the groves, and he tells us that this is their chorus : — The Throstle.^ r^trsz SiS Si The Lark?- The Cuckoo? m Ji=P: -^-- 1 Gardiner's Music of Nature, p. 59. 3 Gardiner, Music pf Nature, p. 454. = id. p, 233. 452 HISTORY OF MUSIC. The Robin RedbreastJ- i --h =^S^p^ -*-w- S'^^ ly — b^ ^^-- -s»- TJie Nightingale? ir ^^ ^^Ezll^: ■^^- The Peewit? i ;&=P: =P=^ =S=5:^==^ rp==,-: l: ^S The Sparrozv^ 1* P F " y ft''v_r 1^, vl ■.^u 1 B ^^ - . ^ =1 t^ . -'+- — k- --=i^- 77^^ Blackbird? -Q-J&—- 1 1 1 n / f • ^ m 1 r • ^ « 1 tK r J- P ' -L — bT — P — ^ ~C — 1^^ — P — J—- ff — i — ^ ^ '-— -i ^ u i The Woodpigeon? tr tr =P2= Ei5 It :i«=>li :!?: ' Id. p. 140. 3 Id. p. 236. " Id. ?37' " Id. p. 226. * Id. p. 344, ° Id, 140. THE GREEKS. 453 The Canary.^ JJ^ J^ Jf fff^ ■tt-0- ^ P P i*-|g#- =t=- =J:- tr -1=2- /?-^ (m\' rt h - . ■ Ts pj. . V 1 "^ r — T *1 f — K-^ h — , ^11 ~ J 1 r "■ *-^ ^-> which is the Bass of birds. And the insects also he has not failed to report : The Cricket? The Gnatfi ^fe 122= 15= IZ2I 77^^ Fly.i ffi^iEEE^^^g 1 Id. 227. - Gardiner. Music of Nature, p. 228. ' Id. p. 250. ^ Id. p. 249. ■> Id. 248.. Porphyry is the ancient who has come most near tliis admirable interest in minute nature. See his remarics on the voices of 454 HISTORY OF MUSIC. And these notes of the fly like those of the gnat are produced by the vibrations of the wings, and the wings of the fly make 320 vibrations every second, that is, 20,000 in a minute. These are the trembling little atomies whose vibrations are sympathetic to our ears, for not all vibrations are perceptible to our dull ears,>but only up to such and such a height and down to such a depth, and these are some that fall between. What then should we say if our hearing were divinely extended, that we could hear the whole sum and possibility of vibration? We then might hear the melody of the mighty mass itself, in which every single atom is in regular vibration, in harrnony with the motion of the great whole as it swings along the sky. So that in such things as we hear, we have only the dregs and snatches of that moving melody, as he who sees the reflection of the moon in a fountain, though not even then clearly and steadily, because the shaking of the water makes the light flicker. But that other ineffable harmony, which is the Harmony of the Cosmos, whose sounding atoms are worlds, and revolutions its vibrations, this comes not in any guise to our ears at all, but may only be heard by those spirits or daemons that sail between Earth and Heaven, or by such a beautiful being as Pythagoras, who was almost one of them. For he held constant communion with the spirits of the air. He came riding on an arrow of grasshoppers and nightingales in his Commentavy on Ptolem}-. III. More commonly it took the form of professing to understand their language as ApoUonius Tyaneus who understood the language of swallows ; the Arabians who were commonly reported in antiquity to understand the language of crows; and the Tyrrhenians of eagles, in like manner. And perhaps we all might understand the language of birds, if we only had a dragon to lick out our ears. THE GREEKS. 4S5 the Hyperborean Apollo, which is a morning sunbeam He could write with letters of blood on a looking-glass, and show his writing reflected in the moon. He appeared on the same day at Metapontum and Crotona, which is a distance of 90 miles as the crow flies ; and no one knew how he travelled. He showed himself at the Olympic games with a golden thigh, and rivers and trees knew him and held converse with him, as that river Cosa in Sicily, which lifted up its voice as he was passing over it, and said. Hail ! Pythagoras. These and other wonders are recorded of him, as they have been of other divine beings, that have from time to time appeared among us, and made known to us the secret mysteries of existence. CHAPTER VII. THE GREEKS (continued). And now we may go to Athens. And how shall we enter that great and stately city ? And shall we enter it by the Northern Road that ran as far as Thebes, past Acharnse, and so on over the Cephissus, and in at the Acharnian gate to the north of the city ? Or shall we enter it by the Sacred Way, where the processions went down to Eleusis (and marble monuments lined the Way as it came near Athens), through the Ceramicus, and in by the market-place, past the Poecile Stoa on our way to the Acropolis ? or turning round at the same gate, without going so far, and re-tracing our steps a little, we should soon have come to the groves of the Academy, where we might have heard Plato discoursing on the Nature of our Music, which, like Pythagoras, he held to be the best stimulant to Virtue. And he said that Education in Music was the most important of all educations, because Rhythm and Harmony sank so deep into the soul, and touched it most strongly, carrying grace and elegance in their train, and making the man graceful and elegant who received them.': And its effect did not end here, but tCiv TrapaXioronivtov km fui KaXwc SjjyUtoup- yridevTwv — in all things would he find his Music help Plato. Rep. p. 401. THE GREEKS. 4^7 him, for in all works of art or works of nature, his Harmony would enable him to see their Harmony, his Rhythm their Rhythm, so slurring over their discords and false notes he would praise only their excellencies and beauties, and even make a diet of them for his soul to feed on, and in this way he would become beautiful and excellent himself And his Music being instilled into him when he is quite young, he is unable to see the why and the wherefore of the tastes that govern him, but when he grows up and true Reason comes, then he will embrace her for ever, from that secret sympathy with all that is good and beautiful, which this training in Music has engrafted in him.^ And Plato held but two essentials in a perfect education, Gymnastic for the body, and Music for the mind,^ and both are things calculated to produce symmetry and grace. For Gymnastic produces symmetry of motion, and Music produces symmetry of conception. And let us ask more nearly how Music produces symmetry of conception. And it produces it by fashioning the mind into sympathy with its own essence. For in the first place the essence of Music is the power of Form. And secondly, its composition is that of a Dualism, and wherever the image of this composition is imprinted, there necessarily must symmetry ensue ; for symmetry is but another term for evenness, or equality, which means the balance of two things. And a mind that has been musically educated will betray this secret dualism, as the principle of all its motions. And a Musical Mind is one that proceeds by dichotomy to its conclusions, or it is one that gains its results by comparison, and in this latter, case we may see how the 1 Plat. Rep. p. 401. - Plat. Rep. p. 376. Cf. Laws. p. 795. 458 HISTORY OF MUSIC. eternal liaison between Music and Poetry has arisen. And it is also a tolerant mind, because it can see both sides in every question, whence " 2 " was used by the Pythagoreans as the symbol of tolerance, and whence also musical epochs have always been tolerant epochs. And for a similar reason they have also been pacific and peaceful epochs, and also for that other reason, that the secret principle of Music, which unites dualisms, is the principle of Love. And for the latter reason they have been credulous epochs, because credulity is the flower of love, but scep- ticism is the offspring of hate. And all these characteristics and qualities will a musical mind evince, than which nothing nobler can be imagined. And although Plato hag not descended to particular specification of the results which Music produced on the mind, but has confined himself to a general description of its influence, yet I think we may clearly discern from things he says, that many of these results were what he directly looked for. For as one of the chief results of Music he holds to be simplicity of character,'^ which is this very noble credulity that we speak of. And as Love he conceives another, since sympathy is but another term for love, and it is sympathy for beauty and virtue which he looks to Music to awaken in the soul. And gentleness he directly intends as another result, for it was by music that he would temper the hardness of gymnastic, the exclusive pursuit of which could only render the character wild and stubborn, so that he has said somewhere, "the man that mixes music and ' tW]Btia in the good sense. THE GREEKS. 45 9 gymnastic, and offers it in best proportions to the soul, he is a finer musician and knows more of harmony, than any one who ever twanged a string." But not to press any of his doctrines, which we have said are rather general than specific in their application, let us ask why it is that he has laid such stress on Music in his system of Education. And first, I think, there was one reason which has escaped himself For in that aSoXtcrxia of Athenian life, which we can scarcely picture to ourselves now, that life of the Agora and Gymnasiums, the life of men who live at ease, with few books to read, and little care for writing, but every subject was studied by word of mouth, systems of philosophy could be developed in conversation alone, and all the wit and genius of the time was poured through the medium of speech — I say, in such a life as this, what a pre-eminence does the Voice achieve ! and what more telling than a musical voice and a beautiful delivery ! This would have a magic beyond any charms of thought, and we cannot doubt that the possession of a beautiful voice would always be envied, and that the cultivation of music was an unconscious means that was taken to produce it. So that this is one reason it seems of the eminence of Music in Greek Education, the acquisition of a Musical delivery, and this was so unconsciously acted on that it escaped Plato himself But the second reason did not escape him. For quite as important, or nearly so, as a musical delivery, was a graceful and becoming action of the body. And this is one of the results he directly looked for, from the cultivation of Music. For " Grace and awkwardness," he says, " are the infallible accompaniments of rhythm and want of 460 History of music. rhythm." ^ And with this embodiment of Music in Actions, we may well compare Pythagoras' doctrine of SYNAPMOFA, or Savoir faire, which he held as the certain result of a knowledge of harmony. And if we go a little further, we shall find Plato completely at one with him. " P'or let the masters of the lyre," he said, " who teach our boys, take especial care to familiarise the souls of the boys with rhythms and harmonies, for by so doing they will make them gentle, and rhythmic, and consistent. For every particle of human life has need of rhythm and harmony." 2 And now the immediate result of this on the boys was to produce in them an instinctive knowledge of Etiquette, " for boys so trained," he says, " will know when to be quiet in presence of their elders, when to get up and sit down according to the rules of etiquette ; they will know the respect they must pay their parents ; and in smaller things also they will be equally adept, as, for instance, in the fashion of cutting their hair, what clothes to wear, and what style of shoes to have, and they will be versed in all the mysteries of the toilette." 3 And this, I imagine, is but the detailed exposition of the general principle which he lays down elsewhere, "Music naturally shades off into the love of beauty," '^ ^ aKKa Tohi ye on ro r^e i-v(syj\\ix>isvvr\Q n koi der^rj/ioavvrjC ri^ ixjovdiii^ TE K.ai appvO/iii) (xkoXovOh Svi'aaai StiXiuOal. Rep. 400. ^ Plat. p. 326. Trac yap 6 piog tov dvOpwTTOv EvpvdfxiaQ Tt Koi evapfiOfTTiag Setrot " svapfi. perhaps " order " but see the whole passage. 3 Rep. 425. '^ Sft §£ TTOV TsXiVr^V TU flOVfflKO, £IC TO, TOV KoXoV ipWTlK^. lb. 403. THE GREEKS. 46 1 so that they are no fanciful assumptions he is here giving us, but merely the natural conclusions of that great truth, that a beautiful soul will evince its beauty in the smallest things no less than in the greatest. And let us turn for a moment from Plato to those Athenian boys themselves, and see how far they bear out the truth of his theories : whose education in music commenced when they were seven years old, and sometimes before ; and then they were taught to play the lyre, and afterwards instructed in the principles of versification, and required to commit long passages of Homer and Hesiod to memory.^ And meanwhile their bodies were developed in the exercise of Dancing, of which there were two kinds, Musical Dancing, in which they represented the actions of Musical recitation, and Calisthenics, which was designed to produce beauty of body, lightness of motion, and suppleness in their limbs. ^ And they were dressed in garments made of wool, that reached to the knees, not unlike our kilts, and their arms also were bare, and the dress was fastened at the shoulder with golden studs. And let us hear that description of the boy in Lucian : For he rises early in the morning, and gets the bed off with a bath of pure cold water, and then he wraps his cloak round his shoulders, and sallies out from the house, holding his head down like a girl, and not daring to look any one in the face that meets him. And behind him come his slaves, with books and writing tablets, or, if he is going to the music school, they carry a 1 See the account in Hase's Griecliische Alterthumskunde, » Plato's Laws. p. 795. 462 HISTORY OF MUSIC. well-tuned lyre.' And when he has carefully exercised his mind in studies during the morning, he betakes himself to the Palaestra, and under the mid-day sun he wrestles in the ring, subjugating and subduing his youth in the heat and dust, like some young colt. Or if we would follow him to these wrestling-rings, we shall get a nearer view ; for there the boys wrestled naked, and crowds of philosophers and rhetoricians are walking in the piazzas that surround the wrestling-ring.2 And there are few but will admire the beauty of the boys. And now it is the rhythm of the shoulders, or now the spread of the loins, or the dimple in the hips, that you might almost say was laughing, or the tapering of the thighs and the calf^ Such was the excellence of their training, that they were symmetry incarnate. Such were the Athenian boys that Plato saw daily around him, whose education in Music, agreeably to the laws of Solon, began in their earliest years, and was conducted, as we have said, in two branches, Playing and Singing, and Dancing, the first designed to beautify the mind, and the second to perfect the body, as we have said. And finding such admirable specimens of ^ opOpiog dvacrrUQ, Set-.., the passage is in Lucian's Erotics. Cf. the boys in Aristophanes Eira jSaSi^sv £V rdlaiv oSoTe eiiTOlKTiiiQ ilg KlOapiaTOV Sec. Also the description in .^lius Aristides his nth Oration. 2 Cf. the passage in Plutarch's Erotics. IV. TTtpi yvfivama KOl TraXai'oTjjae &c. ^ 6) fiiv T(jjv fieTa(j>piv(i}V ivpvBfiia, TTiiJc o diJ.(j>i\a(j>siQ ai XayovcQ, Ttov St toiq l(T\ioig i(Ti /T ■ , C • -^ " f~l 1*^1 H F3 1 3^-E^^_J%g=J /xwff • TO - So - Ta Aa - roue yot^s At? - Xt - e 472 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Hai - av 8v-fjLi - vuQ Trap eu - ri f.ioi. t- 1 Tfr- -^ IS- r -1 s — 1 — p- -*— "1 — — J-J '^" J — S— -* — " ^= — [— :F- r- -m- ^ — b— =N -^- U ■ ' For the additions to the style of accompaniment mentioned under Archiloclius, the best authority is the passage in Plato :— Kai TrvKVOT-^ra fiavorriTi koX ra^oc j3pa8urj?Ti kol 6^vTr}Ta popiirrjTt (TvfjKpwvov Kai dvTL(j)(i>vov ^^apt^(Oflivovc Kai twv pvu/iuv McravTbjQ iroiKiXfiaTa &c. (Laws. VII. 8i2.) In allusion to what we observed a few pages back about the archi- tectural character of music's development, we may be allowed to write the above hymn with modern harmony, as under : — m -^—(t- ii^^iBjr^rr:^ A-=^- 9? 3ta!z Ti— i.--i-it :ir# s?-i-- N ! Ml :S=S=3: ^^- lE^S E^: :p-_^- I ^ =t=bt f ;t=N: ;t=::t3^ :^^=t: Ui^-J-i:W:^ ki^ I -r3_ IKZTp- I ?=5= 1e :3=4 ^^ ■ah-*. Si I ! -J^- ^i^t-=g THE GREEKS. 473 And as it stands in the Greek Manuscript this is written : — (for the musical notes were written in letters of the alphabet by the Greeks, as we have said before) — (T Z Z (j) (j> (7 (T "AeiSe ixovua fioi (j>iXr} orvrov^ t ^ M M juoXttjic S'eju^C Karapxo^- Z Z Z E Z Z t i avpri Si (twv citt' dXcriiiiv MZN i(j,(T pM^ff iliUQ -i =t=tq 3^=^ =si^q ^ ^ --i-th -=1: —I- -^- -f =r -u 4 ^- slow. irtrz^ i=fEEj^=:fc^i^^| .1 I., -^— * P KoXXlOTTEfo' (TO(j>d ^ N 0- T (T CT Z 13 f fiovawv TTpOKadayeTi' TEpirvQv P a Xiovoj3\s(j>apov TTUTep aovg, 0MMMM (T (j, M rM jOoSoEfftrav og avTvya ttwXuv M t M p M z r z TTTavoTe vtt' ^i\yi(7 Z Z $ot/3j)£Si Tipirofiivog \vpq ' (TpM MM(Tc MM£rM yXawKft Se irapoire (rtXava \ £ M £ MM p M £ Z Z T^povov Sjpiov ajiflOViVU TS/LiZ I Ml ^ a p Mp(T Xewkcjv viro (Tvp/iam fioaxwv' a a a a a a pa p (p pM. rdvvrai 8e te oi vooq kvfuvfic: M £ Z £ M t ^ 0- p M p (T TToXvoi/iova KOfffiov sXiaawv 476 HISTORY OF MUSIC, which in modern notation becomes : — m Ses '^m mAz W-^W- :^bz^ci^ Xt - ov - o /BXe-^a - pov ira/ng a - ovq po- 60 - m -W=-W- =t2=tC =P=k=t^: ia-aav of av- rv- ya ttw i-Xwv TTTa-VOlS VTT LX' s «=?■ =P=p: :ist =fc=tc v£(7 - (Tt 81 10 - KiiQ xpv (tiaimv d - jaWofii- « . __ I* ^ /a\' • ^ 1 r 1 ^ 1 1* w - If J- 1 r > ^, r ■ 1 ' . ^ \Zyi> ' ' 1 1 ^ L> ' ■ 1 ^ u ^ I ■»^ 1 1 4. ^■ 1*^ r. u voc Ko-^iae irspl vwT-ov a ird - parov - i« ^ F r 1"^ ^ m 1 ^ c r i . f^ "■ LJ 1 1 \ 1 1 L^ l<^ 1 V V ^ ^ 1 -i-^ — 1 "^ "^ lii-joavou OK rTva tto - \vaTpo the Dorian Mese ; and so one easily slides into the other ; and the .(Eolian into the Dorian, in like manner. But what shall we say of the Modulation from Mode to Mode, when they were so dissimilar as the Dorian and the Lydian, or the Mixolydian and the Phrygian ? and these are Modulations that we hear of; and sometimes three or more Modes were taken in one piece. And how was the Modulation effected ? And it was made in the same way in which we make our modulations to-day, that is, a common note was taken, which was common to both modes, and this served for the pivot on which the change took place.^ And just as we, e.g. in 1 Manuel Bryennius. p. 391. Ed. Wallis. avw^Koiov KOjvov Tl THE GREEKS. 481 passing from Naturals to 4 sharps, let us say, select the note B, which is common to both keys, to be our pivot of change, as, ffi^ :S|i= and so in other keys ; so did the Greeks modulate in the same manner, as in passing from the Dorian to the Lydian, es -^- -<=- -s: //•>■ (n .. pj. 'Z t? vs* _^^_l___^ to ^ q=^= ---^—^—^ rcSr they would take C for their pivot, thus. ^E -P2- \ fe^ ■g=t and from the Mixolydian to the Phrygian, m ^=^^A 1=^: ^==1= q=:=t z:)—&- jC±. ra=i=2i to S?i=S^ f^=g= they would take E t, as i * S' ^ °^i ^^ =1= =1^= And this was the method of Modulation which had grown up in Greek Music, and of which we find no trace in these fragments of the Roman Period, which we have just given. And how shall we explain the absence of this and of other characteristics of the Music of the Classical period ? And it is plain that I I 482 HISTORY OF MUSIC. we must call in the aid of Phonetic Decay to account for these things, and then we shall say that the conditions of age do but repeat the conditions of youth, and if we have nothing else to admire in these Roman fragments, we at least have their chastity and simplicity to admire, in which we may see over again the character of the early days of the Greek Music. Even at its prime, indeed, such _ melodies as these would have seemed to purists, like Plato, preferable to much of the music that was in vogue. ' Take away from me,' he says, ' your modu- lations and your rhythmic metaboles : I will have none of them.'^ And then in his Ideal Common- wealth he would feed his airy burgomasters with no high-spiced meats, or ragouts a la Sicilienne^ for this is how he calls these modulations and metaboles, but with the plainest food, which should make them manly, and keep them simple-minded. And such a view as this necessarily flowed out of his ethical con- ception of Music. But because we find him inveigh- ing against these things, for that reason we must admit that they existed in the common music of his time, as they could scarcely help at the advanced state that Greek Music had now reached. Nor need we go so far with him as to condemn them as perversive of taste, for those generous spirits who aspire at ideal perfection are always apt to prefer the past to the present, and it is certain that what Sophocles could write, could never really merit such reproach as this. And for the same reason that Plato would banish > Plat. Rep. 399. cf. 404. ^ SfKfXlKIJV TTOlKeXiaV 6\pov, THE GREEKS. ' 483 Modulations and Metaboles from his Ideal Common- wealth, for the same reason he would only admit certain Modes to that nice seclusion. For each Mode had its Ethos, as we have said before, and some of these are easy to see, and some are not so easy. For the Mixolydian Mode was held the mode of passion, and this is easy to see, for its character of passion lies principally in that Superfluous Fourth between E 12 and A, I . 1 which we must imagine most freely taken and con- tinually employed in this mode, since there was a time, as we have learnt from those ancient forms of modes which we have but recently studied, when the Mixolydian Mode had no notes between the E E and A, and must needs always take this superfluous fourth each time it would ascend. And this getting to be the habit of the Mode, we may look here, I imagine, for the secret of its passion and sentiment. And the /Eolian is also easy to see, for it was the Mode of magnificence and impressiveness and solem- nity ; and it owes these characters apparently to its depth, for it was the deepest of all the Modes. But the other Modes will admit no such explanations as these, and we must look solely to the positions of the semitones in each, to account for their characters. And the Dorian and the Phrygian have them much like our Minor, the Dorian being our Minor in its upper part, and the Phrygian in its lower part, and both these modes bear characters which we ourselves find in the Minor, for the Dorian Mode was considered ' sombre,' ' grave,' ' earnest ' ; and thence 'martial,' and 'manly'; and the Phrygian Mode had 484 HISTORY OF MUSIC. that other train of Minor characteristics, ' wildness,' 'rage,' 'frenzy,' and hence was the mode of religious ecstasy and the dithyramb. Anfi the ' sweet ' Lydian as compared to these, we shall easily understand its epithet, for the Lydian Mode was the same as our Major. And now of the two remaining, the Hypo- phrygian (' severe ') is not so easy to see ; and the Hypolydian, which was the ' voluptuous ' mode, doubt- less gains its character by a similar prominence to the Superfluous 4th which the Mixolydian gives, though in a different part of the Mode.^ Now of these Modes, Plato rejecting some and retaining others, we may soon know which he rejected and which he retained ; for this last will certainly go, and the Lydian he likewise dismisses as effeminate, and the Mixolydian as querulous, and of those that remain, he makes his choice of only one. " I do not know the merits of them," he says, "what they 1 Hypodoiian, or kalian, javpov . oyx'^S^f ■ viroxawov . tSrjp- /xivov . TE0appj)K6e. (Herac. Pont.) simplex. (Apuleius.) fXsyaXoTrpewig. aTaaiflov (Aristotle.) j3apii/3po/iOv. (Lasus.) Hypophrygian. avarrjpov . o-sXrypov ("hard." Heracl. Pont.) varium. (Apuleius.) jXat^vgov (Lucian. ' smooth, elegant.') Hypolydian. £icXeXv)Uevov ("voluptuous, dissolute." Plut.) /3aK\(K:ov (Lucian) fieOvcmKOV (Aristotle.) Dorian. (TKvUpooTTOV ("sombre ")' o-^oSpov . avSpw^Ep (Herac. Pon.) bellicosum. (Apul.) crifiVQV (Pindar. Plut. Lucian.) a^tw/iOTiKOv (Plut.) /XEyaXoTrptTTte- (Arist. Herac. Pon ) (TTacnfxov (Arist.) KaraoTJi/iariKOv (" settling,'' Proclus.) Phrygian. jSoK^^tKOV . opyiaaTiKOV . TrafljjrtKOV ivBovaiaoTlKOV. (Aristotle.) evOeov. (Lucian.) religiosum. (Apuleius.) eKaraTiKOV (Proclus.) Lydian. yXviCV (Schol. Pind.) noiKiXov (Id.) "youtliful" (Aristotle.) Mixolydian. JOEpov . TraOriTiKOV (Plut.) oSuprtKOV, "touching," (TVl'EOTJJKOS' (Aristot.) THE GREEKS. 485 may be, but give me that Mode which shall express the voice and accents of a brave man, who bears the brunt of battle and tough fighting, and in the face of death, or in the teeth of fearful odds, still manfully holds up." ' In this way he selects the Dorian Mode, and this is the only one he admits to his Commonwealth, though if he could, he would have another, of character somewhat less severe, yet still speaking the same spirit, that is, not this time fortitude in adversity, but rather modesty in prosperity. And there were to be no Flutes in his Commonwealth,* nor Magadises, nor Sambucas, which, were those many-stringed instruments that Sappho ar^d the Lesbians played.^ But the only instruments he would admit were the Lyre and Cithara for towns, and the Pan Pipe for shepherds to play in the country .4 ' And then we must compel our poets and composers,' he says, 'to stamp the image of virtue on what they write, or otherwise not to compose in our commonwealth. And they and all other artists too must be stopt from introducing any touch of evil disposition, or profligacy, or meanness, or ugliness into any of their works, so that our young men may dwell in a healthy place, where beautiful music and beautiful works of art may for ever face their eyes and ears. And this will be like bracing winds to them, charged with stores of health, and so from childhood they will be led without knowing it to love, and almost to equal that eternal beauty, which is the beauty of Reason.' ^ And what he would use Music for besides in his Commonwealth 1 Plato. Rep. 399. ■■' Plato. Rep. 399. » lb. * lb. » Rep. 40O, 486 HISTORY OF MUSIC. was, as we have mentioned was his theory before, to soften the rigour of Gymnastic. But particularly now to soften the characters of the Guardians of his Commonwealth, for he had a body of men stationed over his Commonwealth to protect it, and they were a sort of soldiers, and they were like young dogs, they had been so constantly kept at violent gymnastic exercises. And it was necessary to soften these men's characters, since otherwise they would be more animals than men, and this is what he used music for ; and by means of it he would have softened them so completely, that he would have turned them into the most docile and tractable men in the state. And now this was that apt mixing of music with gymnastic which he spoke of before, and said it was the height of all knowledge of harmony. For what would those guardians have been without the proper admixture of music in their education ? But on the other hand, equally dangerous was it to cultivate exclusively music to the neglect of gymnastics, for the height of harmony, as we see, was to temper one with the other. " For the effect of Music," he says, "on the character is this, If a man lets Music run in a constant stream through his ears, as if they were some funnel or another, and passes his life in warbling and the pleasures of song, his temper is softened like iron would be, and becomes manageable and docile instead of unruly and stubborn. But if he does not put proper bounds to his music, it will go on to melt him away and sap his strength, till at last it completely unnerves him, and makes a woman of him. And if he is naturally a poor-spirited fellow, this is soon done ; but if there is any mettle about him, it takes it all out of him, and makes him a THE GREEKS. 487 fractious, peevish man, easily set in a blaze and as easily extinguished."^ So let Music be never the exclusive pursuit of a man's life, but let it be coupled with other things, and have its due subordination, or else these bad results will surely come. For we should endeavour so to live, that the delights of life may never assume so engrossing an importance in our eyes, that we give way to devoting our life to the sole pursuit of them. For what is more delightful to those that love it, than the sedulous and untiring .cultivation of this delightful Music? Who would not be a musician, if being a musician could also ensure his being a man ? But indeed it is better to spurn delights than to fall a victim to them. And he who passes his life in gathering flowers, must expect no more than withered garlands for his treasure, and faded handfuUs of silly flowers. And let us see how the Greeks may help us to a knowledge of our duty in this matter. For, says Athenaeus, the poet Alcseus, who was the best musician of his time, yet holds his bravery of far more account than his music. " My house," says Alcseus, "glitters with brass, and all my walls are hung with the implements of war. I have glittering helmets, and tall nodding crests to them ; and brazen greaves hanging on mj' walls, and breastplates, and hollow shields, that I have won as the spoils of war, and swords — " and so he goes on enumerating ; " although," says Athenseus, " it would have been much more natural, had his house been full of musical instruments." In the same way Archilochus, good 1 Plat. Rep. 411. 488 HISTORY OF MUSIC. musician as he was, yet boasts first of the battles he had fought for the state, and only second of his musical powers. I am a servant of Mars, he says, and I know the sweet gift of the Muses. In the same way .^Eschylus, excellent poet though he was, yet preferred to leave that out in his epitaph, and only let his bravery be recorded, of which the grove of Marathon could tell, and the long-haired Medes that fled before him. And since in these modern days we cannot mix the bravery of battle with our music, let us make the bravery of life to serve instead, baring and hardening our limbs in the tough labour of irksome duty, and daring all things as if to die. And then, as Achilles touched his lyre in the breathing-spaces of war, so have we too our beautiful art in all its gay perfection now to cheer us, and then when we have breathed, to the battle again ! A professional musician, says Aristotle, is the most contemptible being under the sun. He is a miserable, mercenary fellow, who would turn Music into a matter of profit. He wants pay for every note he plays. And then Aristotle ends by deciding, that to make music the business of life is unworthy of a free citizen.'^ Yet hand in hand with these opinions, we must notice the most scrupulous and reiterated injunctions that every one must be taught music, which are a commonplace in Greek political philosophy.^ And -here we may remark the difference between ancient times and our own. We nurse up a class of professional musicians, who absorb the practice of an 1 Aristotle's Politics. VIII. 7. 2 e.g. Aristotle's Politics. VIII, 6. &c. THE GREEKS. 489 art that is banished by this very fact from life at large. They spread out Music all over life, and made it common, refusing to deprive life of so dear a privilege, for the sake of hearing a few fine notes from throats and fingers that must always be pampered into dexterity. Is Music monarchical now } but then it was in its republican days. The Arcadians held it not nearly so disgraceful to be ignorant of reading and writing as to be ignorant of music' Every Arcadian must study music as the chief part of his education, and that too not only in his boyish years, but until thirty years old, we are told, these studies were continued.^ They were brought up on it from the cradle,^ says Athenasus ; it was their chief study, and also their chief pastime, and the only patch of softness in a life of most rigorous and austere discipline.'^ The Messenians in the same way made music the principal part of education, and every year they sent 35 boys to Rhegium, to compete for the singing prizes there, which it was their greatest glory to carry off.^ The Thessalians and Thebans no less celebrated than the Messenians, every man in Thebes could play the flute,^ which we have remarked before as the national instrument of Thebes, and the Thessalians equally apt at the lyre.7 The lonians and the people of Pontus took such dehght in the exercises of their children, that they would sit whole days to hear them, and to encourage them in friendly competition with one another.^ But there was one state in Greece 1 Polybius IV. cf. Athenieus. p. — ^ Athenaeus. p. 626. ^ EK vriwi(i>v Kar' avayKTjv crvvTpo(j)Ov ttoisiv aiirriv. lb. 4 raXXa rote fdioig ovrag avorrjoorarove. ^ In Pausanias. , ^ Athen. 184. ■' Athenoeus. *■ Lucian. De Saltatione. 4$0 HISTORY OP MUSIC. where the excellence of the Musical training was on all hands admitted and envied, and where that admirable mixing with gymnastic, which was Plato's ideal, had taken place in a way that will never be seen again. And this was the state of Sparta. There might he have seen his Ideal Commonwealth incarnate before him,i if he could have seen Sparta in its prime, as we may now behold it. And the constitution of Sparta was called the Cosmos, that is, the Harmony. And the citizens were divided into 3 tribes, which was the Musical division according to Pythagoras, and they called one another " The Equals," because they were all equal to one another, having the same amount of property, and the same rights and privileges, and no man having the superiority over another in any of these things. And as far as was practicable in so great a state, there was that Community of Property, which Pythagoras had laid down as the radical principle of his musical fraternity, though in Sparta it was not carried to so great a length as he carried it. But still, says Xenophon, ' they use one another's dogs, horses, servants, furniture, with the greatest freedom ' ; ^ and in other things too they had community of property,^ and also in their meals, for they all dined together in public halls, and each contributed his portion to the common stock. And this is how the citizens of Sparta lived together. And the Spartan boys began their education at five years old, and there were but two things that they 1 Indeed he hints at this himself in his Laches, ril^ OVTC Zyv ripfioa/iivog arE^vwC Swpiiiri, aXX' ouk locrri, &C. ' Xenophon. Lac. Rep. 6. ' e.g. their wives, which, though not universal, certainly obtained at Sparta. Xenoph. Lac.. Rep. Plutarch's Lycurgus. THE GREEKS. 49 1 were trained in, which were Music and Gymnastics. And Lycurgus, the founder of the Spartan constitution, in appointing this method of education, had set before himself the very objects which Plato wished to effect, for these are his words, that ' Music was to be mixed with Gymnastic, in order to produce harmony and melody of action ;^ and the Spartan boys began their gymnastic and music together at five years old. And they were taught first to sing and to play a musical instrument. And after that they were to learn Marches off by heart, and the songs of Tyrtaeus, and numerous songs by other composers ; and the words of these songs were simple and unaffected, and the matter of them was the praises of those who had lived nobly and died for the defence of Sparta.* And the songs were important for another reason, for when they grew up and joined the army, these were what they had to sing on the march, and at the commencement of the battle. For before every battle the king used to offer a sacrifice to the Muses, and then he would intone the first words of a Hymn, and all the soldiers joining in, they marched singing to the fight.3 And also in camp , it was the custom of the 1 Plutarch. Instit. Lacon. 16. 6 jap AvKovpyoQ TrapiZiv^i ry Kara ttoXe/xov ao-Kjytrsi rrjv ^iXofiovuiav, oiriog ro ayav TToiXs/UKOv T(j» ifi/xeXEi KspacrOiv (tvjx^wviav koi apfioviav 'iXV- Cf. Plato's words (Rep. 412.) rbv koWktt^ iipa fiovmiaj yvfjivcuTTiKriv Kepavvvvra Kai fiirpLwrara ry '4'^XV ""poa-^lpoiTa, rovrov opOoraT av (patfjitv riXewQ f^iovirtKWTaTOv kcu. ivapfioa- TOTOTOV TToXii /JLCiWov Jj Tov Ttt^ T^opoap aAAi/Xatc QWiaravra " he is the perfect musician and master of harmony far more than any tuner of strings can be." * Plutarch. Instit. Lac. Athenseus. 630. cf. 184. ■* Plut. Instit. Lac. 16. Id. Cleoraenes. 492 HISTORY OF MUSIC. soldiers to sing Paeans to Apollo all together, and the songs of Tyrtseus one after another in turn before retiring to rest.^ And it was to know all these, and to be proficient in them, I imagine, that the Spartan boys were made to commit so muCh music to memory. And the end of their education was Obedience, Endurance, and how to conquer or die in the fight.^ And to this end they were marshalled in troops, and made to fight mimic battles with one another, in which they used all the circumstance of real warfare, marching with pipes playing, and singing their war songs ; and there were often desperate encounters between them.3 And they were only allowed one garment in summer and winter alike, and obliged to go barefoot all the year round.'^ And as they walked through the streets, they were never allowed to speak to any one, or even to look round them, but they must keep their eyes fixed on the ground, and seem unconscious of what was going on around them. " And they might have been stones,'' says Xenophon, " for all the voice they seemed to have ; they might have been statues for all their eyes moved ; and they were as modest as girls." s And to encourage them in this exacting obedience, there were songs and rhythms, excellently tempered, and in praise of these things.^ And the rhythms themselves were so con- structed, as of themselves to instil obedience and courage without any need of precept.'' And these they were required to learn and to familiarise themselves ' Xenoph. Lac. Rep. 12. Atlienseus. 630. '' Plut. Inst. Lac. 4. 3 Plutarch's Lycurgus. * Xen. Lac. Rep. 2. s Xen. Lac. Rep. 3. " Plut. Instit. Lac. 14. * lb. 16, THE GREEKS. 493 with, as we have said, in the full belief that such results would come. And if wo may believe the most impartial of the Greeks, there was no illusion in the matter. We have heard of the dreams of philosophers, says Plutarch, about the power of Music ; but in Sparta, we have a whole nation caught philosophising. ^ And again he says, " He that knows the Spartan Music, and particularly the Spartan Marches, will soon see that the stories of the poets about Music are something more than fictions."^ And this was the confessed end and aim of all the Spartan Music, to attain the rank of a Moral Power in the State ; and all music which did not pursue this end was set down as ' ear-tickling.' and worthless stuff.3 " It is Music," said Agesilaus, " which discovers the coward from the brave." And we may very well see how this might be, for he that is filled with the spirit of Rhythm will step firmly and never falter. ' For Rhythm is Strength, and want of Rhythm is Hesita- tion. And how terribly would this want show in a Spartan Symphony ! For this was a Spartan Symphony — not the gathering together of many instruments and players sitting in a ring, and warbling sweet strains to charm the ear, but it was when their army was drawn up, and the enemy in front, ^ 6Ar)V TToXiv ov(Tav. Cf. Libanius' remarks on the universality of music and dancing at Sparta in his Pro Saltatoribus. ■^ Plut.'s Lycurgus. And Lucian, cnravra fliTCb MovaCjv TTOiovmv a-xpi Tov iroXefietv. 3 Endamidas in Plutarch's Laconic Apophthegms. When a citharist was praised very much, Endamidas said, "He is fityag KrjXriKTag Iv (XfjUKpi^ irpayfxaTi. Also Demaratus in the same way (lb.) JjoXtov aKpoiofitvog, ov kokwc, htte, faiverai juot ^XuapsTv. 494 HISTORY OF MUSIC. and the king had sacrificed a goat to the Muses. Then all the soldiers put on garlands, and the pipers struck up the Castoreian March, and the king started the Hymn, and all joirted in chorus. And all moving forward together, and singing with strong clear voices, their appearance was grand and terrific, all marching like one man to the music of their pipes, and never making a gap in their ranks. And so they marched cheerfully and calmly into the thickest of tjie fight, to the music of their hymns. And this was the Spartan Symphony. And to produce so glorious a consummation was all their Music directed, and so there was much exclusive- ness, as we may well imagine ; for all bad and meretricious music must be constantly weeded out by the diligence of the magistrates ; and they were very stern and severe in their taste, and only approved those melodies and rhythms that were chaste and pure, always preferring the ancient to the modern, and being reluctant to accept the smallest innovation. For even Terpander, the severe stylist, and prince of the ancient and simple music, the Ephors fined, and took away his lyre from him, because he had added an extra string for the sake of embellishing the accompaniment to his song. And when Timotheus was contending at the Carneian festival, one of the Ephors, taking a knife, asked him on which side of his lyre he would have the extra strings cut off, that were more in number than seven. And three times, they boasted, they had saved Music from perishing.^ And I imagine the third time was this very time ^ Kal ^aai rplg fieri (TEdWKEvat d(a^0E/pOyUEvr|v fxovcriKiiv. Athen. 6?8, THE GREEKS. 495 when the strings of Timotheus' lyre were cut by Ecprepes, the Ephor, and two strings were cut away from the lyre of Phrynis at the same time ; and Phrynis and Timotheus were virtuosos who were doing much at that period to corrupt the beauty of the Greek Music, and it was by checking them that the Spartans said they had for the third time saved Music from perishing. But the other two times were earlier in history than this was, and were, indeed, not so much preventive measures, but rather well-considered Reformations of Music, in which, after careful and mature deliberation, certain reforms were allowed to be introduced into the Music, and duly sanctioned by law ; and on both these occasions certain innovations were legalised, but only then. And this is what is meant by the Spartan Musical Catastases, that is, the Reforms or Establishments of Music at Sparta. And the First Musical Catastasis at Sparta was at the time of Terpander, when the Ephors invited him to Sparta to reform the Music.'' And what he did, and how he founded a School of Musicians there, we have said before. And it was at this time that the Nomes of Philammon, the Delphian, were introduced into Sparta,^ some of which Terpander himself is said to have adapted and arranged for the seven-stringed lyre.3 And the Second Musical Catastasis at Sparta was due to Thaletas of Gortyna, Xenodamus of Cythera, Xenocritus of Locris, Polymnestus of Colophon, and Sacadas the Argive.* And these would come about • Plutarch. De Musica. 9. ? Plut, De Mus. 5. 3 lb. t lb. 496 HISTORY OF MUSIC. sixty or seventy years after Terpander.^ And it was due to the influence of these men that the Lydian and Phrygian Modes were introduced into Sparta,^ where up till then only the Dorian Mode had been known. And Sacadas is said to have composed a Strophe in each of these three modes, the first in the Dorian, the second in the Phrygian, and the third in the Lydian^s and he taught the choruses to sing the three in one piece ; and very likely, instead of being three separate Strophes, it was a Strophe in the Dorian Mode, an Antistrophe in the Phrygian, and an Epode in the Lydian (but of this we are not told). And this Ode was called the Trimeres, or Threefold Ode, and this was the first time that the Phrygian and Lydian Modes were heard in Sparta. And Sacadas is also said to have written Elegies,'^ being a flute - player of the Argiye School, and probably much under the influence of Olympus. And these were the innovations of Sacadas the Argive. And Thaletas, Xenodamus, and Xenocritus were writers of Psans, and Polymnestus wrote Orthian Songs, that is, songs in the stately Orthian Rhythm, which was first employed by Terpander.5 And Thaletas is said to have introduced the Cretic Foot into Spartan Music,<5 and being a Cretan himself, and writing Pseans, this is very probable ; for that the Cretic was once the 1 That is, putting Terpander at the close of the 1st Messenian AVar, they would come at the close of the 2nd. In all these dates there is necessarily much confusion, and the writer of this book has necessarily preferred the chronology of the Greek musical writers. For a detailed discussion of these and other dates, see Westphal's Geschichte der Musik. The date of the 2nd Messenian War assumed in the text is the ordinary one, 685-668. "• lb. 8. 3 lb. '' Plut De Mus. 9. 5 Plut. De Mus. 9. 6 lb. 10. THE GREEKS. 497 sole rhythm of the Paean, is what we have before supposed. But we must not assume that Thaletas has the merit of introducing the Psean Hymn into Sparta, for the Psean was sung there from the earliest times, being the Hymn to Apollo, who was the national god of the Dorians ; and therefore as old as the race itself. Yet the Paean may well have been sung in some other measure, such as the Dactylic or Spondaic, and not have employed the Paeonic, or Cretic foot until the time of Thaletas. And this is how we will take it. For what renders this a probable view is that the Spartan Paean, and indeed the general Paean of the Greeks, was often sung without the accompaniment of the dance,! being sung in the evening round the camp- fires, or at the solemn prayers to Apollo, when they prayed that he would give them what was good and beautiful, for this comprised their whole desire ; so that it was often sung sitting or standing, and was rather of the nature of a Chant to them ; but only in Crete was it constantly danced to, and there was developed that beautiful Cretic, or Pasonic step, which Thaletas now for the first time introduced into the Spartan Paeans. And it was about this time, I imagine, or perhaps a little before it, that Tyrtaeus came to Sparta, who may well be considered in connection with this Musical Catastasis, and whose influence on Spartan Music was very great indeed. I say, it was perhaps a little before this time that he came, because at the time of his arrival the Spartans were in a state of great depression, owing to their ill success in the Messenian wars, and it is not at all likely that the Musical Catastasis should have taken * roil Tlaiava ori fjilv wp\svvTO, otI 6 ov. AtlieiiEeus. 631. K K 498 HISTORY OF MUSIC. place till after the conclusion of these wars. And being in great straits at their reverses, and unable to make head against the enemy, they sent to the oracle of Delphi for advice, and they were ordered to seek a general from Athens. And the Athenians in derision sent them a lame teacher of music, whose name was Tyrtaeus, and he was to be their general. But what did this man do? For he first tranquillised the commotions at Sparta itself by means of his elegy, Eunomia, in which he so extolled the beauty of good order, and had set his words to such music, that very soon good order reigned at Sparta ; and afterwards he wrote glorious Marches, and taught the soldiers to sing them as they marched against the enemy, which now they did with such spirit, by benefit of Tyrtaeus' music, that very soon they conquered the Messenians. And the rhythm which Tyrtaeus used in his Marches was the Anapaestic Rhythm, though whether he was the first to introduce it into Sparta, or whether the Spartans knew it before, and he first applied it to the Battle Marches, we cannot say. And it is such a rhythm that makes any man brave who hears it, and it remained the rhythm of the Spartan Marches ever afterwards. And here is one of Tyrtaeus' Marches, and let us notice how bold and firm it is: — i^-j^.j4-j-j-f-j-j-f-4-] ayer S> STraprae iv - av - Spov -J-i-f-J^J^J-Uh-^J- Ui-] Kovpol ?rarfp Plutarch. De Musica. 9. ^ lb. 26. THE GREEKS. 50I say, but the Gymnopjedia was certainly of this nature, being a festival which lasted for many days, in which all the arts of Music and Gymnastic were seen in harmonious play.i And it was held once a year, and in honour of Apollo. And first there was the Anapale, or Wrestling Dance,^ in which the boys danced naked to the sound of the flute, making mimic advances and retreats, and making graceful motions with their hands and arms in the manner of wrestlers,^ and exhibiting all the arts of the wrestling- ring, with their feet moving in dancing steps all the time. And then, also in musical measure, and to the accompaniment of the Flute, came the Pancratium, which was a mixture of Boxing and Wrestling. And we must ever admire how this contest could be carried on in musical time, and yet we are assured it was ; for when they have locked hand in hand, says Lucian, and have given blows and taken them, and pause a moment for breath, the flight floats off into a dance.'^ And a flute-player stood in the ring, playing his flute, and beating time with his foot.^ And next there were dances of youths in rows behind each other ; 6 and Ball Dances,^ such as we have described before, which were much practised at Sparta and Sicyon ; and then there was the Pentath- 1 See the account in Miiller's Dorians. iV. 6. ' The Anapale was strictly tlie old and simple form of dance, on which the Gymnopsedic itself was based, although it may well have survived in its original shape as an introduction to the Gymnop^dia. Cf. AthenjEus. 631. 3 Reading Kara TToXriv, or some such correction, for Kara to airaXov. "' orav yap aK^oy^u^iaafiivoi koi TraitravrEc koi TtaiaQkvTiq iv T(i> (lipu Trav(TU)VTai, ug op~)(r)(nv avroTc // dyuvla TsXtvrn^ 5 Lucian. lb- ^ Miller's Porians, IV. 6. ' lb. 502 HISTORY OF MUSIC. lum, which was one of the most beautiful of them all — 01 TrevraOXoi koXXicttoi, says Aristotle — which was always performed at this festival, and was the harmonious union of five different exercises, that were all performed in musical measure and to the accom- paniment of the flute.i And first there was the Leaping, and next the Foot Race, and next the Quoit-throwing, and then the Javelin-throwing, and then the Wrestling. And all this to the accom- paniment of the Flute, to whose tune the combatants kept step. But the Gymnopsedic dance, which was the crown of the festival, was danced by the most beautiful boys and the bravest men, and they danced in two lines, and sang, as they danced, the paeans of Thaletas and the Spartan Dionysidotus.^ And the leaders of the dance wore chaplets of palms.^ And it was a slow, measured dance, such as suited with the character of the Psean.^ And this dance was particularly sacred to Apollo.^ And it was danced in the x^po?) ^^^^ ^^' ^^^ ^^^ open space in the centre of the city, which was set apart for these ' As we know from Pausanias. VI. 14. 10. and Plutarch De Musica. 26. The assertion in a former page about the Pancratium being accompanied by Flute-playing is also mentioned by Pausanias as well as Lucian, but the writer regrets that he has lost the reference. ^ Athen. 678. There is a certain confusion about the accounts of these dances at the Gymnopsedia, which makes it difficult to separate them, e.g. by some, and if my memory serves me, by Athenseus among the number, the Gymnopsedic dance is identified with the Anapale, as it is described on preceeding page. In saften und harmonischen Bewegungen, says Manso, getanzt wurde. (Sparta. Beilagen. 210.) 3 Ath. 678. ^ As we may well judge from its being compared with the (TTTOVoaia Emmeleia. S {(TTaui TOvrac Tovg xop"^? '''V 'AttoXXwvj, says Pausanias in his Laconics, but this one especially so. THE GREEKS. S03 dances, for in most of the Dorian towns, or in those that, like Sparta, preserved the traditions of the heroic age, there were always flat open spaces left in the centre of the city, which were set apart for the public dances. And some indeed say that the name, xopof {Chorus), itself, was given to the dancers, because they danced in this x^goQ, or xogoq, which was the name by which this flat open space was called. And if we wonder why the dance was deemed of so much consequence that even the city could be arranged to suit its convenience, we must remember that this flat open space was designed not only for the exercise of the dance, but also for the drilling of the troops, or, in one word, the dance itself served at one and the same time for a dance and for military drill. " There is no difference between the Spartan dancing and the Spartan drilling that I can see,'' says one,' and this expression might have been true of most of the Dorian states of this time. And although that Gymnopaedic dance, that we have just described, that was danced with crowns of palms and in such solemn, measured time, can scarcely be considered in this light, but was on the contrary a peaceful dance, and as such is described by writers, it was none the less considered, like all other dances of its kind, as merely an introduction to the warlike dances, which were the drill of the Army ; for we are told that directly the boys attained proficiency in the Gymno- paedic Dance, they were passed on to these War Dances.2 And the great War Dance was the Pyrrhic, ' j'Soic 8' "V vvv %.Ti roiiq iipn€,ovg avTwv ov fittov opx""'^"' ^ oirXofiaxeiv fiavQavovra^. 2 Athen, 631. 504 HISTORY OF MUSIC. which was danced in full armour ^ in the square in the centre of the city. And the Pyrrhic was danced to the shrill accompaniment of pipes, and the dancers clashed their armour as they danced.^ And they made the hundred motions of an army in full engagement — there was the starting back and diving down to avoid imaginary darts, whirling up and down the shields to catch the flying arrows, poising the javelins to discharge them at the foe, bending the bows and taking aim, or making mimic rushes forward, as in the heat of victory ; 3 and these were some of the motions of the Pyrrhic, which were all done in rhythmic measure, and by all the dancers at once and in time. And the ground form of the Pyrrhic, like that of all the Spartan dances, was the Square Form (tv TSTpayiiivt^),^ that is to say, the dancers were drawn up in one compact squadron, which was the form of the Phalanx. And this Square might either incline to the column (Kara Zvyo), or to the line form (Kara (ttoixovq), that is to say, it might be deeper than its breadth, or more in front than in flank ; and in each case it was called Square (iv TiTQayMVijf)). For let us consider the composition of the Pyrrhic. And hearing that it was danced in two bodies, like the Gymnopsedic, one of youths, the other of men, we may well suppose that each of them had the numbers of a company s of a regiment, that is to say, 25 in all, or 24 rank and file, and the Captain of the company, who made the 25th; and these two companies would make 50, all told, as the total number 1 It was an ivowXiog opxi'^'C (Jul. Pollux.) 2 Dionysius Halicarnass. II. ^ piato. p. 815. * Atheii. 181. ^ ivu)fioria THE GREEKS. 50S of the dancers, which was the regular number of a Spartan Pentecostys. These companies, then, might be arranged in two ways, either Kara Kvya, three abreast and eight deep, ■wit/i the Captain of the Company, S06 HISTORY OF MUSIC. or Kara (TTolxovg, six abreast and four deep, wiiA tJie Captain of the Company, and in each case they would be described as iv Ttrpayuvio, that is, a Square. And we have chosen these depths of front and flank, because they were the usual ones that were employed when the phalanx was in action ;^ and therefore most likely also to be observed in the drill, which in every sense we must conceive the Pyrrhic to have been.^ Standing then Iv reTpajiovi^, and 50, all told, they clashed their arms, and made these mimic motions of ' Kara rpEtc. Kara e^. Xenophon. Lac. Rep. 11. eg. at the Battle of Mantinea it was Kora rpetg. See Polysenus. 2 How intimate was the connexion let us hear from Athenseus irapa Toig aWoig "EXXijo-t ovksti iragafiivu (sc. 17 irvppt\ri), Koi iKXiirovurjQ aiirije tTVfi(5ej5r)K£ roiig woXifjLOvg KoraXv- THE GREEKS. 507 battle that we have described, to the music of flutes and fifes. But this was but the ground form of the dance, for it had many others, and all of them we shall find to have been identical with the evolutions of the troops on the battle-field. For first there was the Countermarch, which was the evolution by which the File-leaders came to the front. For when the rear of the company was exposed to attack from the enemy, the Spartans did not consider it sufficient to face about ; but they must always bring the bravest men, who were the file-leaders, to the place of danger ; and this they effected by a countermarch — the file- leaders passing up between the files, and the bringers-up following from their places, while the rear rank merely faced about, when their turn came, and remained standing in their original positions. Thus the company had advanced nearer by its own length to the enemy, with the file-leaders at its head.^ Now this evolution we may well imagine was faithfully produced in the Pyrrhic, from the description we have of it ; ^ and also the Countermarch by Rank, which brought the column suddenly into line, as into line on the right by one, two, three steps to the rear respectively, and ' It is of course questionable whetlier tlie " Dancing " Countermarch, T^O|0£toe i^iXiyfib^, may not have been the form of Counter- march that appeared in the Pyrrhic, although it was Cretan not Spartan. The name is what suggests this ; and besides it was more intricate and also more showy, for not only did the file-leaders move as in the Spartan, and each afterwards in his turn tUl it came to the rear ■ rank - man, who only faced about, but the rear- ranlc-man and all the file moved with the file-leader, with the consequence that the file occupied the identical, ground at the end of the countermarch as before it. See .iElian, in the 27th Chapter of his Tactics. ^ In Apuleius. ' Decoros inerrabant ambitus,' is the parallel passage in Apuleius to the IKiXiyfihg. 508 HISTORY OF MUSIC. right face, and so march into line/ for as the Pyrrhic was being danced, all of a sudden the dancers would appear in line by a rapid Countermarch by Rank, which was done so skilfully, like all the Spartan tactics, that one could scarcely see how the line had been so suddenly formed.^ And then we hear of " Sinuous lines " 3 in the Pyrrhic, which is obviously the TmrXijfiivr) rd^ig, or ''waved line" form of attack, by which the Plsesium was encountered in the battle ; for when the enemy advanced in Plaesium, that is, in the shape of an Oval, with the archers and slingers in the centre, and the heavy-armed all round, the way to encounter them was by forming into a " waved line," which waving in and out would tempt the outside men of the Plassium to attack, because of the appearance of weakness which it gave, and so break their own ranks in doing so. And then the dancers of the Pyrrhic would suddenly form itt orbem, which may well have been this very Plaesium itself, which before they were feigning to attack.''- But I imagine it was not this so much, but rather the Menoeides, or Half Moon that is meant, which was the tactic that Ileon, the Thessalian, invented to meet a Rhomboid of horse ; for the Menoeides was the sudden formation of a Half Moon, with the horns overlapping, and was an infallible 1 See .(Elian's Tactics and the Emperor Leo's Tactics for these. Also Isocrates. Archid. where the Une one deep is mentioned, which as a matter of fact is on record elsewhere, as employed in a battle of the Spartans against the Arcadians. This is Apuleius' ' obhqua series,' as I take it. 2 "Evolutions are easy to the Laceda;monians which are difficult to other men,'' says Xenophon. Lac. Rep. ii. ^ Apuleius. loc. cit. * It was the most graceful of the battics, says .^lian ; and we can scarcely imagine it to have been singled out for omission in the Dance. THE GREEKS. S09 resistance to a charge of cavalry, and therefore naturally much employed by the Spartans, who were nearly all foot soldiers. Or in its form of Hyper- phalangisis or Hypercerasis being perhaps more familiar to Dorian warfare, though the latter of these tv/o positions was only with one side lunated. And the Embolos Phalanx, which was the formation of a wedge to resist horsemen in line, finds its reproduction in the Wedge of the Pyrrhic.^ Nor must we forget the Epistrophe, and Anastrophe, and two forms of Metabole, and the Clisis, which were the facings and wheelings, and constantly employed in these evolutions, and therefore would naturally enter into the dance ; or that wheel of the whole body, to get the rear on the left or right, when the whole body wheeled, like a ship swinging round.^ But there was one form of evolution which we must particularly notice, and that was the common one of breaking up the main body into companies ; and in the Pyrrhic, if its numbers were those of the Pentecostys, as we have assumed, it would be the breaking up of the dancers into the two companies that they were composed of; 3 and these would sometimes act together, as in a regular battle, but as often they would engage in mimic opposition, and we should have had the spectacle of two mimic armies, menacing and confronting each other, or when peace was made, falling together in square, as we had them at first. And these are some of the movements of the Pyrrhic Dance, and we have shown how they answered to the evolutions of the army. ' Cuiieati.' (Apuleius.) wdTTsp Tpiripri dvTiTrp(jf)pov. In catervze dissidium separati. Apuleius. SlO HISTORY OF MUSIC. And the tunes to which the Pyrrhic was danced were 'martial,' 'inspiring,' ' majestic, '^ and probably most of them were in the Anapaestic Metre, which was the metre of the Marches ; for although the Pyrrhic foot (wvy) was the one that was originally employed, yet we know that it was by no means the only one used, for even that slow Orthian foot of Terpander had effected an entry into the Pyrrhic dance,^ and other feet doubtless which we are not informed of ; but we will agree that the Anapaestic measure was the commonest one, because the Pyrrhic evolutions so nearly resembled the military ones, that they could scarcely help employing the marching measure most frequently. And it was the highest ambition of the citizen to stand in the front rank in the Pyrrhic dance, for this is what it naeant — for as in the battle the front-rank-men were those of unsullied bravery,^ so in the dance they were the men of spotless character who were placed, in the front rank.4 And this was the difference between peace and war — Courage for the fight, and Purity for the Dance. And the men who had committed any bad or immoral act were placed in the rear rank, like those whose bravery was suspected were similarly placed in the battle, so that the Thessalians could conceive no higher title of respect than that of " Front rank dancers," and their magistrates and chief citizens were always honored with this title.s And the movements of the hands and arms in the Pyrrhic was called x^povojuia, and constituted a study * irapo^vvTiKov, Tro/xInKOV, kvoTrXiov. (Jul. Pollux.) 2 Athenseus. 631. ' ^^lian's Tactics. 37. * Xenophon. Rep. Lac. 9. S irpoopx'JOT^pEe. Lucian's Orch. THE GREEKS. Si I in itself. And let us for a moment consider how beautiful and graceful these movements must have been, when we hear that often sculptors would first conceive them in their studios, and then teach them to the dancers. '^ And these movements being all more or less an imitation of the actions of warfare, we may say that there was an element of mimicry about them, so that some have not hesitated to call the Pyrrhic a Mimetic, or Imitative Dance, which is a term however that it scarcely seems to deserve, for, as we have seen, it was rather the drill or preparation for warfare than any conscious imitation of it, and the movements were merely such as came in the course of a training, which aimed at turning good dancers into good fighters, and so the poses and attitudes were actual lessons that had to be learnt, though in the dance they appeared in an idealised form. In this way we can scarcely call the Pyrrhic an Imitative dance, nor the Gymnopaedic either, nor indeed any of these dances that we have described, unless it be the Anapale, or Wrestling Dance, in which the actions of wrestlers were imitated. But this too has been thought not strictly to deserve the name of Imitative, but to partake, like the Pyrrhic, rather of the nature of an exercise than of direct imitation, and so very far removed from the real Imitative, or Mimetic Dances, of which several existed in Sparta and other Dorian States. And this is the third and last class of dances which yet remains for us to describe, and the name by which they were known was Hyporchemes, arid we shall see how different they were to the others, when we say that the song they were danced to, instead 1 Athenaeus. p. 629. 512 HISTORY OF MUSIC. of being a mere lyrical encomium on virtue or bravery, or some high quality like this, contained an element of narrative, and the singers imitated by their actions the goings on of the tale. And it seems that Hyporchemes were destined to come into being from the moment when Narrative Poetry passed from the exclusive possession of the rhapsodists, and became entrusted to Choruses. For to sit and recite a tale is one thing, and to dance and recite it is another. And large bodies of dancers could scarcely help indulging in imitation, in the freedom of the dance, when the limbs are lively, and the spirits raised ; and it was but waiting till the fashion of all using the same gestures should develop itself, for Hyporchemes to develop and take the form, which we now find them taking among the Dorians. And they consisted then in singing some simple narrative in verse, and imitating the actions of the story as it went along. And sometimes all the Chorus would do this, and sometimes the best dancers were chosen to give the most vivid representation of the words, while the rest contented themselves with singing the song and perhaps a few gestures here and there at the more important moments. And both forms are described to us. And favourite subjects of the Hyporchemes were the exploits of Hercules, episodes from the Trojan war, or from the Wanderings of Odysseus, the later stories of the Cyclic poets of the destruction of Troy, the Epigoni, and so on, many of which, it will be seen, offer scope for most spirited action, and there would often be mimic conflicts and mimic deaths, such as we find for instance in a still simpler form of the Hyporcheme, which has been preserved to us by Xenophon. For in this Hyporcheme that he has described to us, there was no heroic adventure to be depicted, but merely THE GREEKS. 513 the everyday life of the husbandman, and it was called the Corn Dance, and, as we shall see, it was danced by the leaders of the Chorus. And this is the way it was danced : One man pretends to be ploughing and sowing, and often turns round as if in fear of something, and another man comes dancing up to imitate a robber. And the ploughman, seeing the robber, takes up his arms, and they have a mimic fight, till at last the robber conquers, and binds the ploughman, and pretends to drive away his yoke of oxen. I And this was a very old dance, and doubtless dated from the earliest ages, when such simplicity of life prevailed ; so that even before the Hyporcheme took up heroic narratives as the theme of its action, we may assume a simple and primitive form of it, when it was occupied with such simple adventures as these. And those ancient songs that were sung at the cutting of the corn and the Harvest Home, we may well imagine to have been of the nature of the Hyporcheme, which if they were, it will explain why the Hyporcheme was sacred to Apollo,^ for he was the god of the Sun, who ripened the crops and made them yellow ; and so the Harvest songs were all sacred to him, and very likely, as we say, they were Hyporchemes. And the worship of Apollo, coming from Lycia, or the Land of Light, first appeared in Greece at Delos, or the Glittering Island, which is the place where you can first see the Sun, as it rises from the waters of the Mgean. And here had the Hexameter first been heard, which was the chant they sang in the Choral 1 Xen. Anab. VI. I. 3 Ponaldson's Pjndar, p. 356. Art. Hyporcheme, L L 514 HISTORY OF MUSIC. Movement, as they moved round the altar of Apollo, which was made of the horns of goats, and was the first altar that was built to Apollo in Greece. And in the fervour of their worship, the Delians had developed those Imitative dances that we speak of to a high degree, expressing by their gestures as they danced the tales of Apollo that they sung. And there was boxing, and wrestling, and singing, and dancing at their festivals, and chief of all, the Hyporchemes. And the girls of Delos sang the Hyporchemes and danced them. And sometimes they would sing the wanderings of Leto, and then the stories of Artemis and Apollo, And such perfection did they arrive at, that not only the action itself was clearly expressed in the dance, but they imitated in different cadences and tones the voices of the various characters they presented, and there was nothing more wonderful than this, says the poet, and it was a delight for men to listen to them.' And from Delos Apollo came to Greece. And Zeus decked him with a golden head-dress, and gave him a lyre, and a chariot that was drawn by swans ; and thus equipped he bade him go to Delphi and the streams of Castalia, to give law and oracles to the Greeks. But Apollo, mounting his chariot, bid the swans draw him ' to the land of the Hyper- boreans ; and meanwhile the Delphians were waiting for him, having a paean ready to sing, and their lyres in their hands, and a chorus of youths and hoys ' The Homeric Hymn to Apollo. 146. sq. Cf. line 162. iravTwv 8' avOpMirwv (jiuvag kol KpefijiaXia<7Tvv fiifiilfff)^ iaaaiv " (j)airi St kev avrog iKacrrog (j>di'yyiud' ■ ovTW afiv icaXrj truvapripev aotSr}. THE GREEKS. 51$ gathered round the sacred tripod, all waiting for Apollo to come. But he delayed a whole year among the Hyperboreans, and while he was there he shed tears of amber. But when the year ended, he ordered his swans to draw him to Delphi. And it was summer when he came, and so it was all a singing of summer songs and happy melodies, when Apollo came drawn in his chariot by a team of swans, that sang as they came gliding through the air, coming to Delphi from the land of the Hyper- boreans. And the nightingales, and the swallows, and the grasshoppers joined in harmonious notes to welcome Apollo to Delphi. And the fountain of Castalia, its waves turned into the purest silver, and the waters of the Cephissus ran purple to the sea. And this is the way that Apollo came to Delphi. == And the Dances of Delphi now far exceeded those of Delos, and like them they represented the adventures of Apollo. And many of them we hear of only by name, but one is particularly described to us, which is so elaborate that we must not forget to mention it. And it was a Hyporcheme, whose subject was Apollo's destruction of the Python, and his journey to Tempe to get purification for the deed, and his stay at Pherae on the way, where he remained for nine whole years, and tended the flocks of Admetus. And the Hyporcheme that presented this was so vividly con- ceived, and so elaborate, that it passes, as we shall see into a dramatic representation and religious ceremony. And there was the Python's Cave, and a boy to represent Apollo, and a band of flute-players and lyre- 1 AlcEeus in Himeiius. Orat. XIV. Cf. also Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo. 5. and the Scholiast on ApoUonius Rhodius. IV. 611. Sl6 HISTORY OF MUSIC. plaj'-ers, and a chorus of women, who led the boy into the cave, with burning torches to light them.^ And the flutes imitated the hissing of the Python. And then there was a mimic representation of a royal palace, and the women led the boy into the palace, with burning torches to light them. And after that the boy went in procession to Tempe amid troops of singers and dancers, and on his way he staid at Pherse, and imitated the servitude of Apollo to Admetus, pretending to feed sheep and to grind corn, and so from Pherse to Tempe, whence he returned amid troops of virgins, who escorted him on his way with hymns and dances, and he himself carried a laurel branch, for he was Sa(j>vr)- ayov, ek Kt^jujSaAoi) ettiov. Clemens Alexand. Cohort, ad Gent. p. 14. ^ There seems little doubt, I think, that the Pagan religion in its most esoteric form, as it appears with Pythagoras, for instance, and in the mysteries, was first organised by Orpheus. We shall never know our obligations to that celebrated man, who has passed away and left so few traces for us to know him by. It was at any rate a common opinion with the Fathers that Orpheus was the prime exponent of the Pagan faith, e.g. Gregory Nazianzen, KarapaXi Tovg TpiTTToXcfiovQ (TOU Kttt roue /ivcrriKovQ Sp&KovraQ. al(T\yvdtiTi ttote rate rov dioXoyov (tov (il(iXotQ 'Op(j>i(iig, and certain of the Orphic forgeries point in the same duection. Diogenes Laertius in his preface is one of the few that have done him justice. THE GREEKS. $25 steps of the Dithyrambic dancers in the fury of that wild dance they performed in. But there is another, and still more important development of the Dithyramb, which we must now consider. For the mimicry which the dancers indulged in, and their strange dresses, and odd gestures, grew so popular with the people, that at every festival and merry-making there was the cry for Bacchus and his goats, for it was not unlike our Jack-in-the-Green to them, or like the mummeries of the Carnivals. But particularly at the wealthy and luxurious city of Sicyon were they in great demand, and while Praxilla, the poetess, and other admirable musicians, were there to furnish excellent music to the dance, Epigenes was the first who did justice to its mimic character, and under his hands it grew from a dance into a regular performance. He would supply words and music, I imagine, to the' leaders of the dance, who henceforth would use what he gave them, instead of relying on the invention of the moment, as they had formerly done. Epigenes would very likely arrange the outline of the tale they were to mimic, and rehearse them in their parts ; and such success did he have, that in no long time a regular school of writing for these Satyric songs and dances arose in Sicyon under the, tutelage of Epigenes, which henceforth began to be known as Ti^agcdies, which means Goat Songs, being called so from the Goats, or Satyrs, that sang and danced in them. I And they were danced round the blazing 1 Here and in much that follows I have not thought it necessary to add notes, because many of the facts have been the commonplaces of scholars since the times of Bentley. In carrying the development through the Lyric Tragedy of Sicyon I am following I think the best lines, for I do not think Hermann has proved his point about it at 526 HISTORY OF MUSIC. altar of Bacchus to the accompaniment of the Flute. And this was the first reformation, which the tipsy dance of Bacchus received in that beautiful land of Greece it had travelled to. And meanwhile there had been improvements intro- duced into it in Corinth under the influence of Arion^ who had not gone so far as Epigencs indeed, but had introduced improvements in another way. For in order to tone down the revelry, he had substituted the Lyre for the Flute as the accompaniment of the dance, and what was even more telling he had introduced the figures of some of the Dorian dances into it. We are told that he Etr-rjo-E xopof, which may either mean that he introduced an Epode, -or Standing Part, between the Turn and Counter-turn (Strophe and Antistrophe), or what is more probable, that he set it in quadrangular form, iv rtrpoyaivcf), after the manner of the Dorian dances. And that this is the more probable will appear from the number of dancers he employed ; for he had SO dancers, which is the exact number of the Spartan Pentecostys, with which the all, and biiice his time the Lyrical Tragedy of Sicyon has been taken up by many scholars, and nursed into unimpeachable existence. And indeed how else conld we get over the time when juovoc 6 yopbg SttSpa- fidriZi, to quote Diogenes Laert. and the n iraXai rpaytiiSla ek ■)(OpCjv (TWEiarriKSi of Athenseus .' Let alone the rpayw^laQ evpiral piv SlKUtuvtOl, so that in any case we must begin at Sicyon. In one point has tlie writer differed much from the opinion of some, for some would treat the Dithyramb as a measured dance from the first, refusing to consider it before Arion's time at all, which seems weak. He may say that many of the succeeding facts about the development of Tragedy are directly drawn from Donaldson's admii'able " Theatre," and this will be an additional reason why he need not add notes which have been so well done by one of the greatest of English scholars. He will only add them when anything new is being advanced, which seems to require support or illustration. THE GREEKS. 527 Pyrrhic was danced. So that it is most probable that Arion's innovation had best be described as giving a square figure to the Round Dithyramb.' For now had the struggle begun in earnest between the worship of Apollo and the worship of Bacchus, so opposed as they are in all points, and in no way more pointedly so than in their typical dances that were sacred to each. For in the Round Dance, man abandons himself to the attraction of external nature, and suffers himself to be drawn in the whirl of the other atoms that constitute the universe, which are all for ever whirling round and round in the Dance of the Cosmos — and in the Round Dance he abandons himself to the universal motion. And this is the Dance of Bacchus, which is the Dance of gaiety and abandon. But in the Square Dance he sets himself in petty opposition to the motion of Nature, and carves out a form for himself And this was the Dance of Apollo, which was the Dance of heroes and Spartan warriors. And now then the dances of Apollo began to make head against the dances of Bacchus, and the Dithyramb now received the Square Form, and was danced to the Lyre instead of the Flute. And whether this change was well received in Sicyon, and had already entered there in the time of Epigenes, we cannot say. But most likely it had. For though there was an admixture of Achaean blood in the population of Sicyon, the ruling class, who led the movements of taste and fashion, were of pure Dorian race, and would readily admit Dorian forms into their ' I cannot say how far this explanation of EorrjiTE yo^ov may be justified. But we have to account for the Square form getting into the Dithyi-amb, and the suggestive coincidence of the 50 dancers seems to mark this as the most Ukely epoch. 528 HISTORY OF MUSIC. institutions. So that probably the Square form of Dance, when once it had taken shape in Corinth, was from thence passed on to Sicyon, and naturahsed there, if not in the time of Epigenes himself, at least in the time of those Sicyonian musicians who succeeded him. For there were 14 Sicyonian writers of Tragic or Goat Dances, whose names were preserved in the archives of Sicyon, and these all belonged to the school of Epigenes, and carried on his treatment of the Dithyrambic Chorus, doubtless, as we say, not without the benefit of Corinthian influence, which would bring Dorian ideas to bear more and more on Sicyonian art, and bring the dances of Bacchus ever nearer to the dances of Apollo. And now these Tragic Choruses, disseminating themselves from Sicyon, spread themselves through most cities of the Peloponnesus. We hear of them at Orchomenus : we also have tidings of them at Sparta itself The foremost poets of the day began to write them. Simonides wrote many of them, Pindar tried his hand at them, and the Choruses of Stesichorus are, many of them, not to be distinguished from the Sicyonian Tragic Choruses, who we may presume to have infused the element of the Dorian war dances still more potently into his choruses, for it was a saying that Stesichorus' dances were " all in eights." Now this was the favourite order of the Spartan company in the battle-field, files of eight with three abreast,^ and doubtless a similar order was a favourite one , of the war dances, from which presumably Stesichorus derived his idea. ' This was the Kara rpiiQ of Xenophon, which was the more favourite form (jElian's Tactics. 26. 27.) Miiller also quotes passages in his Dorians. III. 247. to the same effect. THE GREEKS. 529 In this way we have the Dithyramb martialised by Dorian influences, and the strange spectacle was seen of Bacchus' motley followers, still habited in their goatskins and grotesque adornments, but no longer moving in wild confusion in drunken dances, but instead stepping the artistic figures of the military drill, and in all respects assimilated to it, not only in the figures they danced, but also in their numbers, for they danced fifty together, which was the number of the Spartan Pentecostys, and most of the war dances were probably danced in companies of fifty. These tragic choruses of Sicyon, then, attained great popularity in the cities of the Peloponnesus. And it was about this time that Cleisthenes, the tyrant of Sicyon, had proclaimed at the Olympic games that he would give his daughter in marriage to the worthiest of the Greeks, and having selected Hippocleides, the Athenian, as the worthiest, and having been egregiously deceived in his choice — and how he was so, we have said in a former chapter^having been deceived in Hippocleides, then, he afterwards resolved to give her in marriage to Megacles, the Athenian, who was the leader of the democratic party at Athens. And to the intercourse which this brought about between the two cities we must refer what occurred in due course — namely, the arrival of the Sicyonian tragic choruses at Athens. Now at Athens the religion of Bacchus had met with little favour compared to what it had in other cities. Nor were the Athenians, being lonians, such patrons of the Choral Dance as the people of the Peloponnese. For it should seem that the genius of the lonians, following in the wake of Homer, who is the typical Ionian, was more inclined to Epic minstrelsy, and that the Dance and the Lyric Song M M 530 HISTORY OF MUSIC. were peculiarily Dorian. What then found favour at Athens, and had done so from the earliest times, was not Dances and Choruses, but the recitations of Rhapsodists, who chanted the poems of Homer and other poets, arrayed in gorgeous dresses,^ and seated in commanding positions in the centre of the assembly that stood around to hear them. The contests of the rhapsodists were to the Athenians what the Choral Dances were to the Dorians, and when we remember that Athens was bold enough to lay claim to the birthplace of Homer himself, we may well surmise that an unbroken tradition of rhapsodic recitation had maintained itself here from the earliest times, and had established itself as the soul of the Athenian music. This, too, was the music of Apollo, and perhaps a purer form of it than even the war dances of the Dorians ; and in the temple of Artemis at Brauron the Iliad was recited whole at festivals, and here doubtless some of the most famous contests took place. And if the rhapsodical contests were always in high favour at Athens, particularly were they so at present, for this was the age of Pisistratus, to which is referred the collection and publication of the poems of Homer. There was a great literary revival at this time in Athens, which spread from the upper classes to the lowest ranks of the people. What a literary age was this when political measures were justified by quotations from Homer, as Solon justified his seizure of Salamis by forging two verses in the Iliad ! and we know what an effect his recitation of some verses of Homer had on another occasion in allaying > The (TK£Ui). THE GREEKS. S3 1 the anger of the populace. It was at this period, too, that that law was passed to which we have before alluded, that every Athenian boy must commit so many verses of Homer to memory, as the chief part of his education. Solon, indeed, even more than Pisistratus, stands out as a promoter of this Epic renaissance, and we hear, among other things that he did, how he would write out selections from Homer in such a way that they could be recited by two or more rhapsodists in the form of a dialogue,^ that is, I imagine, he would omit the narrative parts, and each rhapsodist would have a speech assigned him, as one would speak the part of Agamemnon, and the other that of Achilles. And we may well suppose that they employed all the arts of dramatic recitation and gesture to give effect to their words.^ It was at this period, then, and when such feelings were abroad, that the entertainment of Bacchus and his goats came capering in tragic choruses from Sicyon ; though some would have it that it was in Attica before, but did not come into notice till just now. And the man who brought it into notice was named Thespis, and he was a native of Icarius, which was a village of Attica, and some say he was a rhapsodist 1 Apparently the pluase in Diogenes Laertius must be given up as hopeless — £? vTropoAriQ. I have not hesitated however to translate it as i»7roXaj3ovrac, which is the general rendering, though at . best uncertain. - The Athenian natural aptitude or genius for the dialogue form is a point that I think is often overlooked. We may see it appearing all through the Attic literature, in Philosophy, as Plato, in History, as Thucydides his speeches, and very emphatically in such passages as the Melian controversy at the end of the 5th book, &c. 532 HISTORY OF MUSIC. by profession/ but this we cannot certainly tell. But being bred in the land of rhapsodists, and living in an age when the taste for Epic recitation was so strong as at the present, he could not but be deeply imbued with the spirit of the rhapsody, and in this way he conceived the idea of introducing it into the Tragic Chorus. And while they, in the garb of goats and satyrs, danced round the altar of Bacchus, he would stand on the steps of the altar, and in the pauses of the dance would recite some tale in connection with the story of Bacchus, which they were singing and -mimicking ; and sometimes he would carry on a dialogue with them, and there would be question and answer, and a great deal of liveliness was thus introduced into the performance. And Thespis, in order to carry out his part better, for from narrating he soon got to assuming one of the characters in the story, used to paint his face, or stick leaves of purslain over it, and afterwards he made masks of linen, and in this way he could assume more characters than one, by changing mask after mask. And then with his company of satyrs he would go round to the village festivals, that were held at the vintage and the tapping of the wine, in honour of Bacchus, where they jumped over greased wineskins," and had drinking matches for prizes; and standing on the steps of the altar of Bacchus, with his satyrs round him, he would give his entertainment. But where there was no altar, he would make a table ' This is Donaldson's opinion. Tlie passage in Avistophanes' Wasps that he quotes in support of it is really no support at all. I think a much move suggestive point to press would be the connection of the rhapsodist, Arion, with the Dithyramb, and work it up from there. 2 The Ascoliasmus. Inter pocula Iseti. Mollibus in pratis unctos saluere per utres. THE GREEKS. 533 sei-ve instead, or a cart, for he must needs be elevated above the rest, for they were to dance about and make a thousand antic gestures, while he was to perform a graver part, and it seems that he took his own cue from the exhibitions of the rhapsodists, who occupied a commanding position in the centre of the crowd, that assembled round to hear them ; for he addressed his chorus of satyrs as if they were his audience, and they commented on what he said, and when their turn came" would relieve him of his part by an elaborate dance, in which they sang some lyric ode in connection with what he had been reciting, dancing 50 in number round the altar,i though in the square figures of the Dorian war dances, as at Sicyon. And the structure of Thespis' Tragedies, for this was the Greek name for Goat Songs, as we have said, was a very simple one, and we are particularly informed what it was. There was first the Prologue, which Thespis spoke by himself, in which he related the story that was the subject of the tragedy, and doubtless assumed the character of the chief personage in the story. And then there would be a Choral Dance and Song, the subject of which would be the adventures he had just recited. And after that would come a Dialogue between himself and the Chorus. And after that perhaps another Dance and Song by the Chorus to 1 I imagine there can be little doubt that the numbers of Thespis' chonis were identical with those of Aiion's, which was the regular number of the Chorus till well on in the time of ^schylus. See infra. p. Julius Pollux distinctly tells us that until then the Chorus was 50 in number {ro Se waXaiov 6 rpayiKO^ X^P^f wevrriKOVTa ^dav aXQl TWV 'Ev/xsvlStmv 'A((rx»''^ov. Jul. Pollux. IV. 16.) and we see no reason to doubt his assertion for a moment. The arguments of Miiller in his Eumenides are far too clever to be of any weight. 534 HISTORY OF MUSIC. conclude. And what will concern us more than the structure of the Tragedy itself was the Music it employed. And the metre which Thespis used for his part was first the dancing Trochaic metre, —\j, which doubtless he had adopted to be in keeping with the dancing and merrymaking of the chorus that acted with him. But afterwards he substituted the Iambic metre for it, which was a staider and graver metre, and probably more to the taste of the time, for there was a great deal of didactic, or Gnomic poetry written at Athens at this time, and while the Hexameter had long passed into the region of the antique, and, though still preserved and popular in the rhapsodical contests, scarcely used at all by living poets, the Iambic Metre was the fashionable Metre of the day. Solon used it ; the Megarian Theognis also, who was a favourite poet of the Athenians ; Mimnermus of Smyrna — these and other celebrated poets - had helped to render the Iambic Metre fashionable, and, as we say, it was the chief metre used at Athens by the poets of the day. It was therefore in compliance with the popular taste that Thespis substituted the Iambic Metre for the Trochaic, although the latter had the title of a long prescription in its favour, for it had been used by the leaders of the tragic choruses at Sicyon, before any regular actor took part in the performance like Thespis did, but now under Athenian influence it must give way to the Iambic. And the metre that the Chorus sang their song and danced to was that same development of the Dithyramb measure which we have already considered in the music of Pindar, which beginning with the simple Dithyrambic foot, _ww_, put on in course of time the trappings of the gayest freedom. And _ this was the metre of the Chorus Songs. But the influence THE GREEKS. 535 of the Dorian War Dances on their figures and evolutions would doubtless teach them to add the Marching or Anapaestic Measure to their list of measures ; and so we must assume them to have varied their dances and songs by the mixture of gravity and lightness which this union would give them. And having first danced to the Accompaniment of the Flute, and afterwards to that of the Lyre in Sicyon and Corinth, we find them in Attica uniting the two accompaniments, and dancing to both Flute and Lyre, for it seems as if Attica was to be the place, and this Tragedy the converging point, in which all the styles and arts of Greek Music were to meet in harmonious union. And Thespis, then, passed his life wandering in the country districts of Attica, with his waggon and his troop of mummers, among the vineyards and fruit grounds, and the olive groves with their pale yellow flower, that stretch for miles and miles along the roads, contented with the humble applause of the vintage festivals, and little knowing what a future awaited his quaint contrivances. For it would be when he was an old man, or perhaps he was by this time dead, that great political changes took place in Athens, which were of incalculable importance to the fortunes of Music. For at this time it happened that Pisistratus, having risen to the supreme power in the state, and seeking to do honour to his own tribe, succeeded in establishing their religion as the religion of the state. And his tribe was the .^gicores, or Goat Worshippers, and their religion was the religion of Bacchus. Or perhaps it may have been from a wish to humble the aristocratical party in the eyes of the people that made him do this, for the Epic and the Rhapsody were the predilection of the aristocracy, in contra- 53^ HISTORY OF MUSIC. distinction to the Satyric Dances, which were the favourite of the common people, and to play off the religion of Bacchus against the religion of Apollo and the Muses was a great political stroke on the part of Pisistratus, and that it was a direct blow at aristocratical influence we may well judge, when we find Cleisthenes of Sicyon suppressing rhapsodical contests at Sicyon avowedly for this reason, to diminish the aristocratical prestige. Which of the two explanations is the true one, or whether both may not have had their weight, the result in any case was this, that the religion of Bacchus was established as the state religion of Athens, and brought all its attendant circumstances in full force to the capital, Now had this establishment of the Bacchic religion taken place earlier in history, we may well admire how different would have been the fate of that form of musical art which lay enshrined in that religion. For without concealing the fact any further, we may freely say, that in treating of the Bacchic Tragedy we are treating of the undoubted parent of the Modern Opera,! and I say that had the religion of Bacchus attained the footing of a State religion at Athens, before its dances and mimicry had attained that maturity which they received under the tutelage of Thespis, Tragedy would have grown up in a very different form to what we shall find it did grow up in. For lacking the infusion of rhapsodical recitation, it would have been a purely choral performance from first to last, not much above in dramatic spirit the ' See the whole question discussed in Galilei's Dialogo della Musica. p. 145. sq. Florence edition. THE GREEKS. 537 Dorian Hyporchemes, or like the Tragic Choruses of Sicyon, never getting beyond a dancing spectacle. Perhaps even the Lyre might have been denied admission to its music, for the permanent establish- ment of the Lyre seems certainly due to rhapsodical influence ; for that was only a temporary entrance which Arion effected for it, since even at Sicyon we know they often went back to the Flute. So that the fate of Tragedy might have been very different, had the Religion of Bacchus come to Athens in any force earlier in history. And had it received the encourage- ment it was now to receive, before it had benefited by the infusion of Epic Art and the lessons which Thespis had taught it, it might have grown to an excellent mummery and drollery, but scarce would have influenced the future world in the astounding way we know it has done. But now then it came to Athens disciplined and refined by the influence of a higher creed, and in the set form that it had received from the influence of a great mind. The innovations of Thespis were too popular to let die. Wherever the Goats danced, there was the rhapsodist, disguised and painted and hardly recognisable, but still there, declaiming and taking his part in their performance. And in this form did Tragedy come to Athens. For the innovations of Thespis, as I say, were too popular to die, and besides he left disciples behind him. And chief among them Phrynichus, who excelled his master in the sweetness of his melodies, and his skill in devising figure-dances. And under the tutelage of Phrynichus the Satyrs almost put off their levity, for he taught them to dance with such grace, that their uncouth forms curled about like the waves that are seen in the night time, and the mazes and cotillons that they 538 HISTORY OF MUSIC. trod were as innumerable as the waves also. And the songs they sang came like honey off their tongue, and he was the bee that made it. And Phrynichus also was the first who used women's masks for the actor ; for Thespis had had all men's masks, and did not introduce any women characters at all. But Phrynichus introduced women into the story, and by a change of mask the actor was enabled to represent them. And was it in the lime of Phrynichus, or was it even so early as the days of Thespis himself, that for the sake of novelty and avoiding an oft repeated theme, the poet would sometimes use other stories besides the adventures of Bacchus, as the subject of his tragedy ; which when the people heard, they would cry out in the middle, ' What has this to do with Bacchus ? ' for they were so fond of Bacchus and his goats that they desired no other. But nevertheless this was a thing most likely to come, that the adventures of Bacchus should in course of time be worn threadbare, and that the poet should desire some newer subject to exercise his talents on. And certainly Phrynichus set himself against the popular taste in this matter, for many of his tragedies that we know by name have little or no connection with the adventures of Bacchus. While other writers, on the other hand, complied with the people's taste and kept to the original subject, of whom Choerilus was the chief, for he was called the King of the Goats or Satyrs. But in all cases, whatever the subject of the tragedy, the chorus was always composed of Goats ; and it must have been a strange spectacle to see some high adventure of the heroes declaimed and acted in various characters by the actor, while the chorus of Goats, who had no connection with the tale, joined with him in dialogue at certain parts ; as, for instance, in that play of THE GREEKS. 539 Phrynichus, the Andromeda, whepe the actor would be now Andromeda, now Perseus, or Cepheus, uttering solemn soliloquies or high-sounding prayers, and the Goats taking their part in the action when their time came, as if they were Courtiers, or Sea gods, or whatever were the appropriate company that the actor was in. But this anomaly, which lasted for some time, and doubtless was often regarded as a great oddity, was set at rest by the expedient of Pratinas, the Phliasian, one of the contemporaries of Phrynichus, who knowing how much the people liked the Goat Choruses, and that they would be unwilling to be deprived of them, if indeed the festivals would be complete without them, he devised this plan : He wrote his plays in pairs, and the first one he would have on what subject he liked, but the second he always had on the adventures of Bacchus, and in this one he had the chorus of goats.' So that by this means he got the liberty of forming the chorus in his first play of whom he liked, since the goats were always promised to follow, and he formed it as we may suppose of people who were more or less concerned in the plot of the story, but by no means intimately concerned, for we must not think that, for to the last the chorus remained true to the character in which Thespis had constituted it, namely, that of being the ideal audience whom the rhapsodist addressed. And so in his play of Alcestis he would make the chorus 1 This assertion abotit Pratinas writing Iiis plays in pairs is merely a theory. The utmost we are told of him is that he separated the Satyric Drama from the Tragedy, and made two distinct things of them. But I think we may well see here the embryo of that form which afterwards resulted in the .ffischylean Tetralogy. 540 HISTORY OF MUSIC. consist of Old Men of the city, perhaps, who might well be supposed to appear in the place, although they do not come directly into the plot of the tale at all ; in his Callisto of Maidens, and so on. But by this means he at least got a consistency of surrounding for his characters, and did away with that anomaly of a Chorus of Goats appearing in the Temple of Delphi, if the action of the play were supposed to lie there, or in the palace of King Adrastus. And these plays of Pratinas that he wrote in pairs w£re called the first the Tragedy, and the second, a Satyric Drama, and by this latter name was the goat play always known in future, for this began to be the custom of poets now. And the plays were acted at Athens, as we say, at the festivals of Bacchus, and drew crowds of people from all parts to see them. And the chorus was stationed round the altar of Bacchus, but the actor instead of a table or a cart was now provided with a wooden stage. And this is the way that the plays of Phrynichus, Choerilus, and Pratinas were all acted. And also the early plays of ^schylus. For by this time ^schylus was exhibiting. And he was the son of a vineyard keeper, and passed his boyhood in watching the grapes. And it is said that sitting idling among the vineyards he conceived the idea of devoting himself to the god of the vintage, and becoming the high priest of his worship. And there was a book that he continually read while he sat among the grapes, and this was the poems of Homer. They say that the poems of Homer first inspired him to write poetry, and he had resolved to dedicate himself to the service of Bacchus. In this way he proceeded a writer of tragedy, into which it was his constant endeavour to infuse the THE GREEKS. S4I spirit of the ancient minstrelsy. "My plays," he said in after times, "are but the shreds and scraps from the great feast of Homer." And let us see how he worked out his idea. And first we may notice it in a constant straining after colossal effect, which led him to write his plays in sets of threes, so as to give breadth and an Epic character to them, and the sets were called Trilogies, to which a Satyric Drama was always added, after the fashion of. Pratinas which made them indeed sets of four, and so called Tetralogies. And next, to give dignity to the actor, and to make him like those heroic figures he designed him to represent, he increased the height of the sole of the boot that the actor wore, and also added a high forehead to the mask, so that the actor grew to a colossus instead of a man, a bodily resemblance to those majestic figures, who move in the poems of Homer. Nor must we forget the pompous diction, and the "roaring, mouth-filling, precipice words. "^ All these were the armoury of ^schylus, and thus he set about his task to raise the tragedy which he found in Athens to be a gorgeous spectacle of gods and heroes. Now at this time it happened that during a performance of a tragedy of Pratinas, the wooden stage gave way, and caused the death of a number of people that were standing round. The idea of building a theatre to Bacchus had doubtless long been in the minds of the Athenians, but this accident seems to have determined them, and they entered on the task in a spirit of Persian pomp. And the site that was chosen for the theatre was on the South Eastern side of the Acropolis, and \L6(j>0V TT^iwV, OTOfl^aKa, Kp-q/XVOTTOlOV 542 HISTORY OF MUSIC. they chose a hill side, so that the seats . might be cut in tiers out of the hill. And they cut them to hold 30,000 people, which was three-fourths of the total number of Athenian citizens,^ for now that the travelling tragedies were to cease, and there was only to be one performance at each of the festivals of Bacchus, room must be found for all, and the Tragedy must be turned into a National spectacle. This too was the glorious dawn of Athenian liberty, when the tyrants had been expelled from Athens, and what so noble an inauguration to the coming age of liberty as this temple of a national spectacle, which all might meet in common to enjoy ? Indeed this building of the Gi'eat Theatre of Bacchus at this particular period in Athens' history, is singularly suggestive of the feelings that doubtless then filled every Athenian breast. 30,000 seats, then, were cut in tiers in the side of the hill, and in a great open space below them, not unlike the arena of our circuses, only it had wings which ours has not, was the large flat ground where the chorus was to go through its evolutions. In the centre of which rose the Altar of Bacchus, on which an aromatic gum was kept burning during the performances,^ in remembrance of those ancient times when the blazing altar was circled round by the Dithyramb. Fronting the seats, but in the far distance it would seem to the spectators, so big was that large open space where the Chorus was to dance, for it was as big as a small cricket- ' Reckoning the entire free population at 80,000 or 90,000, including women and children. " Athenseus. p. 627. This is a point that has been overlooked, especially by Mtlller, who would make the leader of the Chorus stand on the top of the Altar. THE GREEKS. 543 ground, being 130 yards across at its largest extent, which was across it 'sideways, and 60 or 70 yards across the other way, that is, towards the seats — • fronting the seats, then, and on the other side of this large open space, rose the stage, which was as high as the lowest seat of the tiers, and thus the open space was like a pit between. And behind the stage there was a large saloon for the actors and chorus, and there were property rooms to the right and left of it, and dressing rooms also. And behind all there was a large Park or lawn, set with trees, with a Portico all round it, for the chorus to rehearse their parts in, and this portico was continued all round up the hill, and enclosed .the theatre right round. I And this was the temple which ^schylus was to supply with Tragedies. And first he increased the number of actors, making two actors in the play now instead of one, that is, speaking actors, for supernumeraries he would bring on in crowds in his battle-pieces and processions.^ And next, I imagine, he invented that apparatus for increasing the volume of the voice, which was a speaking-trumpet inside the mask, by means of which the sound could carry to the farthest benches, that looked almost like specks from the stage.^ And then he padded the actors to make their size proportionate to their height, for ' Except for the break at the Eisodoi, the Eumenic Portico would have formed one piece with the upper portico. Cf. the passage in Plato's Erotics. 2 As the crowds he brings on with Agamemnon and Cassandra in the Agamemnon. 3 The attribution of the speaking-trumpet to jEschylus is a conjecture, but in keeping with his other improvements. It must obviously have been used from the first in the Great Theatre, 544 HISTORY OF MUSIC. they were walking colossuses, and he must needs .make their bulk to correspond.^ And he had chariots of griffins to bring gods riding through the air, and cradles of ropes to show them flying. And there were swings to dart an actor out suddenly from the top of the scene, as though he came from the clouds. And machines and pulleys to swing open the centre of the scene, which was generally the outside of a house, and disclose the interior to view. And he would bring in his great choruses of 50, covered with jingling bells and pieces of iron, and great Hippo- gryphs also, to produce a sensational effect among the audience. And other stories are told of him which show him in the light of a great strainer after pompous and sensational effect ; and these we shall not repeat here. So much had Tragedy grown in the interval between Thespis and ^Eschylus, by benefit of the patronage it received, after the religion of Bacchus had become the state religion of Athens, and also owing to the Cyclopean schemes of ^schylus, who has been called 1 For the appearance of the tragic actors, cf. Lucian's Orches. wg udexOig afia koX -FM— ^ ^—\ fy - yjii poQ. 7rpo(T-£ j3a yap ovk av TTOT a<7 - rt - pec ci^ - ffoc EC fi-j-, ^-a- j- >-^j-a -.^j-j ravo' afi - ai - fiuK - e - rav Kop - av, Here it shades off a little, g— J J^J^J_^[^_J^J_] ac Tpe/i- o - /xev Xly - e(v, Kat Trap - afi h fdofi - laff ao ipK - tuq, But begins here [3^1:3, K K I fg K I 1 again. Fft — wl ^- F4— a^ 1^ — aii ^— F8 — ^ »— 1 d(j> - wv - wc, dX - 6y - loe to rap £v - (j>ri - fiov (TTO - fia ^pov - ti- Soe I - iv Tsg, ra oe vvv tiv r/ - And here disappears fS | % is | fS S i f | : again. F4.— a^— J— a^— ii^-f8— a^— i^-F ^ 1 K£(v Xo- -yoe oil - Sev aZ ovO\ 2^^.l||J|l»«^!|l i| - yoi) XEi;(7 - J |3 I N K J |3 N J I And it is a 12 note phrase (ttovc StoSeKaiDj/ioc SaKTvXiKog), composed of a bar of — time and a bar of — time, only the bar of — time is broken into o o 3 3 two — bars, one at each end of the — bar. And the 8 ' 4 3 first — bar is generally found during the Opera with the 8 dXoyia at its first note, which gives it almost the value of a spondee J ||, and admits two long syllables to it. And particularly is this the case if it open a Choral Song, in which case the quaver always has the dXoyla at first ; in the present case it does not open the Song, but occurs in the middle, being rather hinted at than deliberately treated, and cautiously introduced to prepare the ear for what was to follow. For we shall find this theme appearing again and again through the opera, and furnishing the subject, or else the basis, for most of the Rhythms that will appear. And this admirable device for giving unity to the opera is a common thing in Greek tragedy, and may be found ' with greater or less apparency in most of them. ' .^Eschylus, too, takes this plan in his trilogies, as in the Trilogy of the Agamemnon the theme of the Trilogy is 1 As near as may be, which would perhaps be more exactly described as the Epitrite mixed with Dactyls and other feet, e.g. with Dactyls, as S68 HISTORY OF MUSIC. and it seems to be even more important in Trilogies than in single! plays, for a single play will hold together, but a Trilogy manifestly requires some pro- nounced bond of connection, such as a set theme running through all will give. And now we find Sophocles, who preferred single plays to Trilogies, yet using this plan to give unity to his play, and it is a practice that may be found to hold with greater or less apparency throughout Greek Tragedy. So firmly is it adhered to on occasions, as in this play for instance, that even the Ethos of the Rhythm is at times sacrificed, in order to give prominence to the theme, as in this play we have a mournful chorus and the happiest of choruses both sung to the same in lines 107. 114. 115. (these lines are quoted from Wellauer's Edition). Appearing at the end of the Epode in the same Chorus in the same form, it appears at the beginning of Strophe a with the last syllable of the Epitrite a Minim, as we have seen it in Pindar I J^ I which is kept up through that Strophe, Trochees taking the place of the Dactyls. In Strophe J 2nd Paeons are mixed with it in its original form, \J — \J \J I — 'U I _w (. The Minim Epitrite is imitated in the 2nd Chorus by Catalectic Iambuses, and this is continued all through this Chorus, congenially to the treatment of the preceding half of the line, in which Iambuses ' are substituted for Dactyls. In the latter Strophes of the same the Epitrite 'appears again. An admirable illustration of the treatment in Strophe y is found in the 3rd Chorus, line 672. sq. — VJV-' — W I _v-/ I v./w_\>y I _w l&c. The 4th Chorus brings it in again at the commencement line, 95 r., but the Trochees keep it up here. The Epitrite with the Iambic innuendo is repeated in the 1st Chorus of the Choephorae. The Catalectic imitation is repeated in the 2nd chorus, line 320., and in a few lines more the exact repetition of the 2nd Pseon and Epitrite mixed. Most close is Strophe £ of the same choras to original theme cf. line 381. Sq. but generally with only one dactyl to precede the Epitrite, &c. &c., for this is not the place to go into detail. In the Eumenides I do not iind the theme so strongly marked, for the Epitrite is here replaced by P^ons and Diianjbs. THE GREEKS. 5^9 rhythmic subject, which is the theme of the play, where we should have expected quite a different treatment. For the Ethos of the Rhythm is this, it is the reflection by the Rhythm of the sentiments of the Song, it is making the Rhythm be a mirror to the song, in which the song may see itself. For there fire Rhythms of nobility, means Socrates in Plato, /and Rhythms of courage, and Rhythms of temperance, // and Rhythms of tenderness, as also Rhythms of rage and Rhythms of violence.'' And in his Laws Plato theorises how rhythms are the imitations of good and bad characters among men,^ and Aristotle in the same manner.^ And when we remember how truly they may be said to be imitations, and how the step of the brave man differs from that of the coward, and the trepidation of the passionate man from the placidity of the hero, we shall soon understand what a large scope there was for art, in the apt choice and adjusting of the rhythms to the precise sentiment of the moment. And the tragedians came at a most favourable time for the exercise of this art, for coming near the end of the day, when all the creation and development of the musical art had been finished, and not being limited and confined by any restriction of range, as those in former days, who used continually certain rhythms which they had created themselves, without thinking much how far they were precisely suited to the subject in hand, but using them for the mere delight and joy in their novelty and beauty, like Sappho and the Lesbian School, who invented beautiful rhythms, and sang them again and 1 Plato. Pol. 400. 2 Legg. 798. 3 Aristotle's Politics. VIII. 5. S70 HISTORY OF MUSIC. again with delight, hke beautiful tunes, or those others who used their National rhythms, such as the Molossian, or the Lydian, or the Cretan, and even in Pindar's time we find an adherence to traditional rhythms, the Dorian, the Lydian, the .^olian, which sometimes would give but generally the minutenesses of pourtray- ing — but now, we say, the various rhythms being disseminated and become the common property of all Music, they were employed no longer traditionally, but sesthetically, serving now but as a treasury on which the poet might draw as he wanted, or a gamut of expressiveness for him to choose his notes from. And I have noticed that Sophocles will generally employ the Dochmius foot to express grief, which ^schylus will keep for terror.'' And it is a noble foot, and admirably expressive of powerful emotion. And what glorious use has Sophocles made of it in that scene in the Antigone, where Creon enters with Haemon dead in his arms, and he begins that solemn chant in Dochmiuses, which rises and falls unvaried through the rest of the play ! (j)piv-(iv SvT - p6v-(i)V aft - op Tr\ fxa - ra interrupted soon with the sympathising words of the Chorus, but the next moment to be renewed in greater tragedy, for a messenger enters to tell him that his wife too is dead. N 1 I N L I l> I i ■ h 1 I S— d^-J wl d — a*-]— ^ — at d J^—d—\ I - (i, Suo- - KoO- ap - Tog "Ai - Sou \ifi - rjv, ■ e.g. in the Dochmius Chorus in the 7 against Thebes. 78. &c. THE GREEKS. 57 1 Ti fi apa, Ti fi oXsKeiQ ; KUK-ay-jiX - ra fJ-oi rises again that fearful chant. And then the doors of the palace are swung open, and he sees her lying dead within, alat, alal, he mourns, J* J J J^ J ± J J J' J 8 S .m ti S m S d m dv - iir - rav J^ J J 6- j3(^. Is 1 Tl fl OVK IS 1 ovT - ai 1 IS av J R s ^ s ^ s - * * „ «' s ^ iTT - at - (7EV TiQ an ■r» i 1 «; 8 ^ - s . s S' d . m . m 1 Set - Xai oe J* J J > ' N J ! K J R #1 ■ #1 ^ • • " s s • • Sei - Xat a Se (Tuy - kek - pa\i - ai Sv - (/,. And thus it rises and falls, an awful climax, in unvarying measure till the end of the play. This powerful measure too is that in which the mad Ajax now restored to sense deplores his shame and misery to the Chorus. This too in the CEdipus Tyrannus is the measure in which CEdipus after committing the horrid deed laments and raves. And how powerfully has Sophocles made it obey the agitation of the, moment, by resolving the Dochmiuses ! For let us see what agitation this gives, for the Dochmiuses appear in quavers instead of crotchets, and with what wonderful effect ! vi'aT'ov, 572 HISTORY OF MUSIC. ao - flju - or - 6v n. koI oii(7- oil - pier - rov 6v. raves CEdipus, and in the Antistrophe that follows with a moment's pause, (Ti) fiiv ifj.- oc ETT- iir- oA-OQ ' £T - £ fxov-i/i- og ' er - I yap 1 N K^ S 1 X I I IS I I Nil \—i^—wi—JP-^ ^ — ml—\—J — wi: ^ *> . ^ — I VTT - 0/1 - iv - Etc JUE rov TV(j>-\0V KT)S EU - (i)V. It is by this device of resolving the feet that he has communicated that unspeakable agitation to the song of Antigone as she is being led to death, OK-Xaii - roe, o.(j> - iX OQ, av - vfi - iv - ai - og. it goes in the Epode, and by this device, applying it to simple spondees, does ^schylus express the rage of the Furies : * (2KKNi^|;sNNS|f«SNN|l ll» 14.-^—^—^—1^1 -^—^— 1^ — ^-ai—w—^—^-\- ^ — »i— I Xa - jSe \a- )3e \a - /3e Xa - /Be Xo-jSe Xa -jSe <}>pa-Zov. But by Spondees does Sophocles hush Philoctetes to sleep, for the chorus whisper low, as he is sinking to sleep after all his pain : — ' For a similar instance and for a similar reason see Trachinis. 94". iroTcpa irpoTipov hriaTiVb) TTOTipa jueXeo wipaiTtpw. ' For the reading here see Lachmanii. De Mensuris tragics. p. 2i, \ THE GREEKS. 573 |2 J N K I I IS N I I N N I J b J^ "Yttv 6o-iji/ - a<; aS - a Tje, "Ytt- vt S' oX -7E- wv, 1 N i>l I III III 111 I — ^ »i — ^- \—m> *i— |— »i y—\—mt wl— \—^- iv - a - i^ r)fi Xv eX - 0ote, wv - a?, £11 I II I -»i — s- v-^ »i- ai wv, ti)V a?' I N N I ' 1 I I I I K IS I N I ofi-fia- ^? ^^ =J=.^ Th h r-.^ > \ ■ m «' ~M m. • KrJ7 fxa - (Tl ■Km - ^ I I I > jilQ, oe £V ^a X- a - icaic Trap - n aiQ vE - av - I- Bog J -^ \ } ** M S S iV - vv XEV - EIC, h h J I r^> h I I Tag o' VTTEp - TTOv - Tt-oc Ev T aj-pov-fifi-oig av -XaTe' J3.?z*^JJ=J^.^:^=J_- at 0-' oiir' a0 - av - d-riov (pvK - i - fiog oi/8 - ei?, ^h > I M I 11 —wtzmi-w^z 1.1^ (ifi- ip - i- wv liT av - dp(i)-irwv ' 6 6 e^^-oiv fxifi- rjv - ev. Now let us notice the charm of this conclusion, in which I think Sophocles is always singularly happy. For what more happy and forcible conclusions can be imagined than those which end the Strophes and Antistrophes in that Chorus of prayer in the (Edipus For the freedom of the scansion and the phrasing the author must plead the effects of old habit, but though it is free he thinks it the true one. THE GREEKS. 575 Tyrannus : " If ever you have helped the city when storms were lowering over it, and have quenched and put out the fire of misery, Oh ! come now." I4=*= N ^ .J=^LJ=^ 51 WOT - £ Koi irpo - rip ag ar ag vir - ep - Op - vv - fxt - vag tto J - Xh h 11 h >| I 1^ hi 1 ^ M I f* , riv - v■"' " I h J M 1*1 I ! J J*l I ^^1 J >I_J \ —J—J- \-7i0^-i^\-^-rz\-M=:±i\— * — ^- \- ^ — *- |-Wzz Tov, S) ■I7vp-6p - uiv aa- rpa - wav Kpa - Tr\ vifi - wv, 576 HISTORY OF MUSIC. 13 I I I'* h I ^ hi ^ i i ^ i i 5l ZeU Va-TSp, VW - h (7(j) ^0((7 OV KSp- UV - Vtji. But the Epitrite is generally the Reflective foot with Sophocles, and he uses it when the Chorus moralises, in which sense how admirably does it open that Reflective chorus in the CEdipus Tyrannus, £1 fioi ^vviiri (pepovTi, and for the first two lines we have only Epitrites : — l7=^= -J^J-^-J-J^-J-J- u fiOl ^VV - i'l - 7) (pip - OV - Tl -J J J J|J J-J^-I-^J^I-J. fioi - pa rav £u - (TETT - Tov ay - vd av Xoy-wv ip ■ywv re ttuv - rtuv. And this would be an interesting way to consider the Ethos of the Rhythms, in their relation to the contrasts of the Choruses, and how the rhythms bring out these contrasts, for take a play of Sophocles, such as the Antigone, and we shall find that the choruses are so aranged and the play so arranged that each may be a foil to the other. And this is generally true of all his plays ; for there is generally a Sunny Chorus, a Martial Chorus, an Idyllic Chorus, a Religious Chorus, which often takes the form of a prayer, and sometimes a Descriptive, or Narrative Chorus. And in the Antigone, which is peculiarly fertile in Choruses, there are more than these, and first comes the Sunny Chorus, and then a Grave and Moralising Chorus, which is prophetic almost of the catastrophe of the play, and then one of THE GREEKS. 577 much the same nature, but more didactic perhaps. Then comes the Idyllic Chorus, which is that Love Chorus that we have just now quoted, next the Narrative Chorus, and after that the Religious Chorus, which takes the form of a prayer. And this, I say, will be found to hold good of all his plays with more or less variation, for sometimes there is a Dramatic Chorus, which the Martial Chorus generally is, but in the Antigone there is no Martial Chorus, and similar variations will be found in other plays. And, I say, it would be interesting to consider the contrasts of the Rhythms, in company with the contrasts of the Choruses, and see how far they bring them out. And we might do this in the play that we are particularly engaged in examining^ that is, the CEdipus at Colonus, for it hke the rest has its Martial Chorus, and its Idyllic Chorus, and Reflective Chorus. But in this play more than any I know, does the influence of the leading Theme assert itself, so much so that it often eclipses the Ethos of the Rhythms. And we have seen it already started in the opening Chorus, which we should be right to term a Dramatic Chorus, for in the separation of the Chorus into groups, as they enter to search their sacred grove, there would be scope for much dramatic evolution, as they pretend to scour the confines of the grove, and peer through the trees, for they dare not enter it, to see where its profaner was lurking. And at last they see him among the trees, and gathering together they call to him from a distance, and bid him leave the place. " Perhaps he cannot hear us," they say, " for he is far away," and they dare not enter the grove themselves. But now his daughter, Antigone, seeing them remonstrating with her father, persuades him to leave the grove, and he walks with trembling steps, leaning on her arm, P P 578 HISTORY OF MUSIC. to some rocks at the edge of the grove to sit down, there, while a dramatic dialogue takes place between him and the chorus, which is sung by both, and probably to the occasional accompaniment of the lyre, during which the voice of Antigone is heard in the notes of the Theme, cheering her father as he totters along, and telling him to lean upon her arm : — |3 1^ J" h 13 I N J* J |3 h J yep - a - ov ec Xi - pa crw fia aov TTpo-KXtv - ag iX - i av ifi - av. "Alas!" cries CEdipus, for he must needs tread among the rocks to get to the seat, and he feels his blindness now. And now the Chorus takes up the theme, l3 h I is I 1^ J* J 13 N J I b> rXa - fiujv , or - £ vvv X"-^ ' ??> I 1^ I J > 1^ M J^ I I |— aii-r-J— |— iiJ J — ^ — ^— \-—ai — gi^l av - ca - aov, tIq e(j) - vg (ipor-uv; And they are asking him who he is, and he shudders at the question. " Strangers," he says, " I am an exile ; but do not, do not ask me who I am !" But still they press him, and still he evades them, till at last their entreaties become so strong, that he is forced to speak. And in this moment of agitation the Hexameter begins to roll, and its effect is heightened by spoken words being mixed with the Music. For this shows how he falters, for he begins, and breaks off, and then begins, and breaks off again, for he cannot tell the horrid secret : THE GREEKS. 579 Sung. (Edipus. Antigone. I4 I w, Spoken (while Antigone sings the < rest of the verse). tIkvov \[l6 V ', r^U N h h N Aty' £ - TTEi - irep hr tts - ya - ra (5ai - vug. She encourages him to speak, Sung. (Edipus. Chorus. J^= :/= aXX' pw, 7«P X<^ K ar aK pv^ a V . Ml h M jUOK - pa /xiX- - Xe - rov, aX - Xa ra - X" ' ^'^■ And now he summons up courage to tell them. (Edipus. Chorus. 2 4= 2 4= N N ^ h « ji *. s m Aa - i - ou If t(7 - TE Tiv; ^ ^ 1 This is the heroic exclamation. Had he continued the verse it would have ended rl vv fioi fxriKiara yivrfrai ] ' Hermann's reading. S8o HISTORY OF MUSIC. -T-l-J^-t I -J^- TO r£ Aaj3 - Sa - Ki Sav ye voc; I J: Zsv. CEdipus. Chorus. :^U= aO 01 8t J l« M I -A^ firi Sav; Se - oe 4(7 )(e - ts I Spoken. cru 7«p oo £1 §£V - ( III - cw. Chorus. CEdipus. 2 I il: ^ h 8i^ D h T^Eiv. - op- fxog ifx - ag ;)(0o-voe ck - do - pE, » :.y=l= jLl_ l _jLi : jUIJ Tt TTE pO T(p£- Og h I I ^ I I hi E^ - 9 TToX -Et 7rpoa-a\p ^e. " But where is your promise to me ? " says (Edipus. 1 This is another of Sophocles' admirable conclusions, and but one of many that he uses to conclude those runs of 4 foot Hexameters, of which he is so fond, 582 HISTORY OF MUSIC. " For you promised me protection when I left the grove. Is this Athens, that boasts to be so hospitable to strangers? if you would turn a poor old man away, who did his crime unwittingly, as any one might have done had they been in his case." And so he entreats them to let him stay till at least the king of the country should be sent for, who would decide whether he was to go or stay, for he says that his staying there will be the greatest boon the country can have, and so at last they agree to wait. And meanwhile a diversion occurs in the plot, for Antigone sees some one approaching in the distance, whom she soon knows to be her sister, Ismene. And Ismene has travelled all the way from Thebes, to tell (Edipus that Creon, king of Thebes, is coming with a band of warriors to seize him and carry him back to Thebes, that he may die there. For the oracle had said that wherever (Edipus died, it would procure happiness and prosperity to the land. And now by the entrance of Ismene there were three actors on the stage. And this was an improvement of Sophocles in Tragedy. For there had first been only one actor, and then .(Eschylus had employed two, and Sophocles employed three. And now Ismene comes to tell him that Cr^'on is on his way to seize him, and (Edipus is eagerly waiting for the arrival of the king of the country, that he may beg his protection, and tell him of the boon which that protection will ensure to the land. " If then," says the Chorus (and here they speak, not sing), "if you boast that you will be the saviour of this land if it protects you, let us tell you what holy rites you had best perform to the goddesses of this place. First of all, get water from a pure fountain, THE GREEKS. 583 and bring it in a bowl, whose lips and handles you must twine with wool. Then bringing the water and turning to the East, you must make three libations, but for the third libation you must mix honey with the water, and empty it all on the ground. Then you must cover the ground with olive branches, and make this prayer : ' Since men call you Eunienides, and that means kind goddesses, be kind then to the suppliant who entreats your protection, and save him from those who come against him.' " In no long time, the king of the land appears, who is Theseus, king of Athens, and hearing CEdipus' tale, he bids him take heart, and that he will protect him from his enemies, and help him to attain the consummation of his life, which the oracle had promised him. And then the Chorus turning to CEdipus sing the Choral Song : — 1ST Strophe. |3 h J |3 -JUU :|i=.£=J=l iV - ITT TTOV, ?EV - f, TaCF - Se X(0 - You have come, O stranger, to the fairest place, :J=^ p«e r=£li= .LiJ-^Ji ^ :I8: TO Kpa - Tier - ra yag Eir av - Aa, That this land of fair horses can show. Tov ap 3 1 4=«t: 1^ 1^ J. tvu jri - TU KoX-oiv 6v , It is white Colonus you have lighted on, 1 Wunder's reading. 584 HISTORV OF MUSIC. t=J=^U=^..^^U^ \i - jei - a fiiv - V - pE - rat Thai rings with the carols of the nightingale, -J^J- -9 — a^ — p li=j^ 'fa/i - i - Zovaa fiaX - i - or' a - »} That sits and sings in the eventide, I tB.J=.t^ Jz Swv xK(i) - paig vTrb - fida - trate, All among the brakes of the glade. : 4— * ' a* — ^ — »'~i *' a^ Tov olv - ojir av- ix' ov - cro kkt - And she sits up perched on the ivy twigs, -J-JVI-J-.^-J--^|-J- (TOV Koi rdv aj3 - ar - ov • Oe - ov Or perched on the laurel in the shady -spots, I 4~»' »— W— [— ^ Td—-^— h f» .t:l=^i^ (^vX- \d - 8a juUjO - I - 6 - Kop - TTOV av - ^ - Xi -ov That grows with its hundreds of clustering leaves. 13 h 1 l8=it=*!l ■t^LL-t^U av - ^v - £/x - ov r£ irav - to>v Out of the sun and sheltered from the storm. iJ^dl^Jz J'S- 3 J* J 8=*:=*- X« -fill) - VdlV tV O poK - X' " '^ TOf £1 At - o vu - (Toe £ju - j3ar tv) - £t Thes? ar? the glades that Bacgh^s holds bis revels in, THE GREEKS. 585 -# > ^ _14: dt- aiQ ^.-J-JU^^ J -T \ s^ s . J ,. afJL - ^t TTO A(t)V TIU TJV - OIC- Romping with liis nurses, the Water Nymphs. 1ST Antistrophe. 3 4: da\- Xtt 8' I ov - pa - VI - ac dtt a;^ And the sweet narcissus and the crocuses r Ms ■\S~it: :J^z VUQ O KoX - Xi -/3or - pup kot' ^yU ap a ei Are the flowers that are fed by the dew. > I J J— J— a 3 1"* I 8 ~g — * - vap -Ki(T - (roe, fJ'iJ- aX - atv 06 - aiv And these they take for the coronets, :j; -J-J^ ^4 That they weave for the terrible Eumenides. J t_h I XPV' "v " ynQ Kp6-K0Q' 01)6 a - V Sleepless streams murmur everywhere. 1^ |2 J _^_ ± :i: TTVOl KOrjV ai fuv - vd - OV - m. Spreading from Cephissus' wave. -J^^l-^ "z^. Kri ^VV Ofl /3pti> Of the great broad bosom of the earth. i ^ #' # •■ 3 J 1^ ^ I zM:=^=zMz 3 h 8=1^= OTEp - VOV - ^OV ^do-VOQ' OV - Bs Mou - This is the land that the Muses love, I 1^ 12 I ^ ^ |3 ! 1^ (rav ^op • o'l viv dir ecr - ru yrjo- - av, oi/8' a And Aphrodite is its patroness, Xpv!T 2 J z,tziii=i; av - t - oe 'A^ - po - Str - a. With the golden reins to her chariot. 2ND Strophe. =fe=!5= '^ ta - Ttv o' ol-ov iy-(i) jag 'A—it iizzM=zm=^ >? ^jj - fxa fiiy- la ' TOV, A - nr -ttov, A - ttw Xov, :3=d= *=;*zijt tZ3t=.1^ iv - Qa-\aaaov. w Trot Kpo-vou, (ru yap I'tv le l!E^E^^aE=?E=^- r^s=\:=^ z^=Mzzw. S: :*— ^ \B-- roS' eltr - ae av--)(rifjL, av-aS, Hoa- ei-Sav, 'iir- Trot - i q*!=j!= :^=h= ^^m *=*!=■!; =«tz«!=«t & 5= (T(v TOV aK-E(7 - rjj -pa x'^^^ ' ^^^ irpuTai