l899-] ALDRICII — IDIOMS OF MUSICAL EXPRESSION. 277 



The altitudes ~ of the water planes in feet above ocean may be 

 generalized as follows for Central New York : Warren, 880 ; Dana, 

 700 ; Iroquois, 440. 



Niagara river did not come into existence until the falling lake 

 waters succeeding Lake Warren dropped below the lowest point in 

 the rim of the Erie basin, so as to separate the Erie waters from the 

 Ontario waters. The present elevation of Lake Erie is 572 feet. 

 Probably the Erie basin waters were separated and the Niagara river 

 flow initiated when the hyper- Iroquois waters were outflowing by the 

 great railroad channel at the southeast edge of Syracuse. The alti- 

 tude of the bottom of this channel is 540 feet. 



At first, as pointed out by G. K. Gilbert, the Erie waters had 

 two places of overflow, one at Lockport and the other at Lewiston ; 

 but the latter spillway prevailed and robbed the former. 



February 28, 1899. 



The meeting was held at Anderson Hall; President Fairchild 

 in the chair ; seventy-eight persons present. 



Mr. Perley Dunn Aldrich read a paper entitled : 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE IDIOMS OF MUSICAL 



EXPRESSION. 



Mr. Aldrich explained that music is a language in which 

 the thought and feeling of the great composers finds expression. 

 These idioms of expression, which the composers of music have 

 developed, have changed greatly since part music was first attempted. 

 The speaker described the formation of the various scales on which 

 music was founded, and then explained the meaning of organum, 

 counterpoint, fugue and canon, and showed their development. He 

 then took up the invention of opera and what is known as the mono- 

 phonic school of composition, and from that went on to explain some 

 of the most remarkable of the modern harmonies and the sonata form. 

 His remarks were illustrated by selections from various composers 

 both known and unknown, and included a sarabande by Handel, a 

 canary by Lully, Lady's Carey' Dump, a minuet by Jeremy Clark, 

 an old pavan, and a movement from one of Beethoven's sonatas, the 

 latter played by Mr. George Fisher. 



