A HISTORY OF VOCAL MUSIC. 579 



time permit. It has a history and tonahty entirely its own, 

 neither being affected to any great extent by, nor perhaps 

 having much influence — certainly not a lasting one — on, the 

 music of the people outside its own churches. We know the 

 Eiver Jordan flows through the Sea of Galilee without mixing 

 with its waters, and that those of the lake have no influence 

 .on the river. 



Of course, I do not mean to say that the Gregorian system 

 had no effect on the tastes of the people. For several hundred 

 years it was the system taught in the schools, and during that 

 time it was supported and patronised by the most despotic 

 and powerful organization the world ever saw. It was thus 

 bound to command careful attention and respectful study ; but, 

 being confined to the sphere of sacred music only, its effect 

 could but be narrow and limited, and when the sixteenth 

 century saw the power of the people equal to, if not greater 

 than, that of the Church itself, it was only natural that a new 

 tonality should spring up — a new school, in fact — more in accord- 

 ance with the tastes and ideas of the people, who were hence- 

 forth to have a voice in the matter of Church ritual. 



In the ninth century Charles the Great was a supporter of 

 the Gregorian system, and he founded music-schools in France 

 'and Germany. Our own Alfred the Great is also supposed to 

 have established a music-school at Oxford about the same 

 time. 



Arriving at the tenth century in our history, we find that 

 music as a study had spread in earnest all over civilised 

 Europe, and yet it is an almost incredible fact that harmony — 

 that is, the combination of two or more notes in a chord — was 

 almost unknown. 



Music at different periods of its history has undergone 

 various reforms, and these reforms I may call the landmarks of 

 its history, and such reforms may, I think, be emphasized and 

 more clearly brought before you this evening by studying the 

 works of the men by whom they were created. 



Singers became tired of nothing but melody, and no doubt 

 at times they tried to improve matters by adding a second part 

 by ear ; but it required a genius to be bold enough to step 

 forward and lay down some fixed rules by which vocalists 

 might sing in harmony. 



Such a reformer appeared in the year 900 in the person 

 of Hucbald, a monk of Flanders, who not only invented a 

 system for writing down music more clearly (a system not 

 used after his death, although it possessed much merit, as our 

 illustration will show), but also wrote a work on harmony, 

 in which most original progressions and combinations were 

 suggested. I give an illustration of one of his examples, but 

 it is impossible to produce the effect its performance nmst have 



