244- THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



lar mental mood ; or at least presenting some recognizable sequential 

 psychologic progression. Yet nevertheless, they have compositions 

 intended to describe scenes, as if music to them conveyed definite 

 intelligible ideas. Thus, one composition (although to us almost ludi- 

 crous from its awkwardness, shortness, and want of coherence) appears 

 to have simulated for them the progress of a battle, being marked at 

 various points, " The proclamation of the general," " His warriors pre- 

 paring their fighting-men," " The general gives his orders," etc., end- 

 ing with " Repose after victory," 



The absence of harmony not only makes all these specimens unat- 

 tractive, but the fact that they were conceived entirely free from the 

 influence of harmonic design renders them foreign to our thoughts. 

 We may whistle or hum a Strauss waltz or little Verdi tune with satis- 

 faction, because these melodies were produced under the bias or domin- 

 ion of harmonies, which are generally so simple and natural that we 

 commonly say that they are implied in the melodic shape. For this 

 reason an accompaniment may be extemporized or imagined. And the 

 modern system of chords tending to create a desire for a constant re- 

 turn to the key-note, whenever a satisfactory termination is required, 

 the absence of this acknowledged sound in Chinese melodies seems to 

 make a cadence, in our sense of the word, impossible to them. 



The Chinese language being monosyllabic, it lends itself readily to 

 the Canto-Fermo style of song that is employed in ancestral worship, 

 and which greatly resembles the style of the old Lutheran chorals, 

 except that the melody of the former makes more skips upward and 

 downward. 



The lines of the poetry being four syllables in length in every 

 strophe (as " See hoang sien tsow " of the " Ancestral Hymn "), and the 

 notes being long and of equal length, a rhythmic uniformity is secured. 

 But this is merely accidental, for in the secular melodies no evidence 

 of a symmetrical rhythmic order or plan is observable, which also 

 makes a definite rhythmic termination on a strong and anticipated 

 accent as impossible as the definite tonal termination already noticed. 

 The Chinese do not even appear to understand stress or accent, for in 

 the orchestral score of the above hymn the instruments of percussion 

 mark off groups of notes, not by greater stress, but by an increased 

 number of instruments. 



Turning to their neighbors, the Hindoos, on the contrary, we find 

 extremely elaborate rhythmic designs (musical feet), and also phrases 

 so symmetrical and compact that they are at once acceptable, and so 

 coherent and consistent in their succession as to suggest words indica- 

 tive of well-known moods. In this respect they present no difficulties, 

 and are more easily supplied with accompaniments than those of the 

 Chinese. 



Our immediate acceptance of Indian music attests our Aryan fel- 

 lowship. 



