382 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



is also thought that at the Crusades, when we learned so much from 

 the Arabians, in mathematics, etc., we also acquired their musical 

 systems, which are marvels of ingenuity and complexity ; but these 

 were utterly rejected, and the Arabians, on their part, refused to 

 admire the little we could then accomplish with the new science of 

 harmony. So little did our music take its rise in the East (although 

 all our instruments originally came from thence), that the Irish harps 

 and harpers were sent to Italy, where they gained the praises of Dante 

 and Galileo. The Italians subsequently sent their sons westward, to 

 learn counterpoint, as Americans now study in Europe. 



In early times music was much more troublesome to learn than it 

 is now. The instruments were difficult to tune, and keep in tune ; and 

 the notes had to be identified by the ear. Now, a deaf or ignorant 

 performer may provide himself with the tonal system ready-made and 

 symmetrically laid out as on a piano-forte finger-board. The complex 

 nature of the new art demanded such a simplification, and some ar- 

 rangement by which an executant might operate many notes at the 

 same time. The advances made in the physical sciences generally, and 

 especially in pneumatics, hydraulics, electricity, and acoustics, aided in 

 the improvement of organs. 



The mere act of reducing the musical dream to positive statement 

 in writing marks a mental advance, especially when it is remembered 

 that this notation has proved capable of recording conveniently the 

 most highly elaborated forms of modern compositions. It is far 

 simpler than the Chinese notation, and more direct than tablature, 

 which gave directions how to find the notes, instead of indicating 

 them directly by letters that form a kind of algebra. With this nota- 

 tion the musician has been able to avail himself of the printing-press, 

 and thus to spread his apparently indescribable imaginings broadcast 

 throughout Christendom. Singularly enough, his harmonies are still 

 unappreciated elsewhere. 



The study of comparative psychology has been followed up. 

 Hence we now find in the works of Chopin an ideal reflection of the 

 sorrows of the Polish people, long suffering from quarrels not of their 

 own making ; and, in the passionate music of the Italian, a marked 

 contrast with the deeper-felt expressions of his Teutonic neighbor. 

 Modern introspection, as in Byron's " Manfred " and Goethe's " Faust," 

 finds its counterpart in the overtures of Schumann and Wagner, whose 

 " Faust Overture " is acknowledged to be a portraiture of a definite 

 soul-state. 



Although the drama has declined, modern music has become pre- 

 eminently dramatic. A symphony by Beethoven is an idealized form 

 of the Shakespearean drama, rather than that of the Greeks ; for it has 

 not a mere trio of parts, but many ; and a complex scheme of plots 

 and counter-plots, incidental passages, etc. Its voices are persons (in 

 the sense of personare, "to sound through"), and they are heard 



