580 KEPOKT— 1891. 



had in Hucbald's time, the system of tuning being so different 

 from our own. Those progressions of fourths are to us intoler- 

 able — we should like to see thirds or sixths in their places; but 

 our ideas would have been equally intolerable to Hucbald. 

 The second illustration strikes us as better ; it was, indeed, 

 a step towards modern counterpoint, although the idea of 

 counterpoint had not occurred to Hucbald, or any other musi- 

 cian of his time. Hucbald died about 950. Musical culture 

 no doubt made some progress after his death, but it was not 

 until about the year 1000 that the second great reformer, 

 Gnido, an Italian monk, appeared. 



I find historians differ as to Guido's true position as an 

 inventor. I use the word " inventor," because the word " com- 

 poser "had hardly been thought of at this time. Music was- 

 still looked upon as a species of mathematics. 



Guido's writings are very numerous, and they give us a very 

 good idea of the state of music in his time, but he himself was 

 so modest that he sometimes does not claim credit for new 

 ideas that subsequent reseai'ch has proved conclusively to have 

 been his own. Time will not permit me to enter very deeply 

 into his personal history, although it would be very interesting. 

 His fame and popularity during his lifetime were immense, 

 chiefly owing to his then wonderful method of singing ; and at 

 the present day his works, which consist of many volumes on 

 the art of music, are amongst the most valuable records of 

 musical history. 



I cannot refrain from relating one important event in his 

 life which must have had great influence for good on the cause 

 of music. I quote from an article by an eminent writer, Mr. 

 Eockstro. " About the year 1022, Pope Benedict VIII., hear- 

 ing that a learned monk of the Benedictine monastery of Arezzo 

 had invented a new method of singing, invited him to Kome, 

 and, during the time that he remained there, treated him with 

 marked honour and deference. Guido, however, was of so 

 retmng a disposition that he took the earliest opportunity of 

 retiring to the solitude of his beloved monastery ; and it was 

 not until he had received reiterated invitations from the suc- 

 ceeding Pope, John XIX., that he consented to visit the Eternal 

 City a second time. This second visit was, indeed, a memo- 

 rable one. It marks a momentous epoch not only in the 

 personal history of Guido himself, but in the annals of the art 

 he practised. He took with him a copy of his then newly- 

 completed and now most celebrated ' Antiphonarium,' con- 

 structed upon the principle of the system he had invented; 

 and the merits of the work made so deep an impression on the 

 Pontifl"s mind that, at his first interview with its author, he 

 refused to let him leave his presence until he had himself so- 

 far mastered the difficulties of the method as to be able to sing 



