MUSHROOM 



MUSIC 



357 



being taken up in the vicinity of the larger pro- 

 vincial towns. In Paris the catacombs are utilised 

 for the growing of mushrooms, as are caves in all 

 parts of France ; and in Edinburgh the disused 

 Scotland Street tunnel was acquired in 1886 fur the 

 same purpose. The principles of the culture of 

 mushrooms are very simple, though considerable 

 attention ami skill are required in working out 

 the practical details. For these, see W. Robinson's 

 Mushroom Culture (1880). 



Music* European music is by no means a 

 spontaneous expression of ideas and sentiments, 

 and it is only in a poetical sense that we can talk 

 of the ' music ' or ' melody ' made, for example, by 

 birds. Music is an art, aod in order to make an 

 impression on our minds it must take as its founda- 

 tion the succession of sounds embodied in the scales 

 we have chosen, and to which we are accustomed ; 

 it must also conform to the rules which have liecome 

 the canon of music. We must look for its birth in 

 Egypt, but it would serve no purpose here to occupy 

 any space with the little that IB known of Egyptian, 

 or its offspring Greek music. 



It is not improbable that the Israelites took with 

 them to Palestine some songs they had learned in 

 Egypt : and that many of the hymns of the early 

 Christian church were identical with Temple 

 melodies. As from these hymns was formulated 

 the first authoritative musical system, we may say 

 that in a double sense we are indebted to Kg\ pt 

 for the beginning of the modern art. It was St 

 Ambrose towards the close of the 4th century, 

 and Gregory the Great two centuries afterwards, 





(t flret fufweof m6 inxtxC ttt vf 

 Nenme Notation of the Tenth Century . 



who selected eight scales or 'modes' (the 'Gre- 

 gorian') as pro|>er for use in church music (see 

 HARMONY), and till about 1600 A.D. the legitimate 

 development of music was in the hands of the 

 clergy. At first a rude system of dots and scratches 

 (//'mil's) al>ove the syllables in the Rubric served 

 to indicate approximately when and how far the 

 voice should l>e raised or lowered in pitch. This 

 could only have been an aid to memory. The rela- 

 tive pitch of the notes was more definitely shown 

 when a line of normal pitch was drawn through 

 these ill-nines ; and to this line was added three 

 others in order to attain a more exact definition of 

 intervals. The key or clef (davit) was given to 



this stave of lines by a sign usually jf or |^ p 

 on the line which represented that note (C) ; some- 

 times F (p *)'). Later the G (<) clef came 



into nse, of which our treble or violin Clef (q.v.) 

 is a corruption. With the idea of singing in 

 parts instead of unison came the necessity for indi- 

 cating the relative duration of notes as well as 

 their pitch, and for this purpose different shapes 

 were given to the [A T o<a] Lunga (2) the Maxima 



( 1 ) being twice as 

 ' . t . l on g an ,j to t| ie 



[ 1 n C3 ^ A Brerit (3) with ite 



I supplementary Semi- 

 brevit (4). A very 



short note was added the Minima (5). When 

 music came to lie printed these signs were made 

 open, and convenience in writing substituted 

 the round form for the square or diamond. The 

 semibreve (o) is now our longest note, although 

 the breve U still to be met in church music, and in 



the indication of the measure 'two semibreves to 

 the bar' (Alia Breve). In order to avoid a certain 

 false relation of sound called the tritonus, which 

 the pious old theorists called ' the very devil ' ( ' Mi 

 contra fa diabolus est in musica'), some of the 

 church modes used 15? instead of B. This was the 

 only 'license' allowed, ami was indicated by the 

 'B rotundum' (b) instead of the '15 quadratum' 

 ( b ). These signs are the origin of our ' acci- 

 dentals ' the flat (b), which lowers the pitch of 

 a note one semitone, and the natural (jjj), which 

 restores it. The sharp (), which raises the pitch, 

 is also a development of ihe ' B quadratum. See 

 also GUIDO ARETINUS. 



Counterpoint (1400-1600 A.D. ). Such were the 

 materials with which Johannes Ockenheim or 

 Okeghem (c. 1420-1513) and Josquin des Pres 

 (c. 1450-1521) laid the foundation of Counterpoint 

 (pmetvt cotitra punctiim, ' note against note '), the 

 art of combining one or more melodic parts with a 

 principal melody called the ' Canto Fermo,' or fixed 

 song. Counterpoint was the workshop in which 

 were made many of the best tools used by great 

 musicians of modem times. The art attained its 

 perfection under Orlando di Lasso and Palestrina 

 at the end of the 16th century, just when a new 

 departure by Monteverde became the inauguration 

 of the new school of harmony which was to super- 

 sede the old contrapuntal school by assimilating 

 all that was good therein. Other influences which 

 helped to break the monopoly of church counterpoint 

 were the growing popularity and secularity of 

 Madrigals (q.v.), at first distinguishable only by 

 their words from church music ; the improvement 

 in organ-building and organ -play ing, which en- 

 couraged freer part- writing and bolder melodic pro- 

 gressions than the limitations of unsupported 

 human voices allowed ; and doubtless also the 

 natural warmth of musical feeling which had found 

 expression among the troubadours of France and 

 the minnesingers of Germany, and in the rude 

 popular songs of these early ages. 



Florence Academy. Most potent factor of all in 

 this new birth of music was the invention (in 1594- 

 1600) of recitative music and the introduction of 

 the dramatic principle by the Florence Academy 

 a group of literati and artists who met in the 

 house of Count Bardi, a Florentine nobleman. 

 Their aim and ambition was to restore the ancient 

 accompanied Greek play ; and by making use of 

 all the slender resources which harmony could then 

 put at their disposal they stumbled, as it were by 

 accident, on the form of recitative, or, as they 

 called it, 'Stilo rappresentativo. ' The develop- 

 ment of opera and oratorio, with all the various 

 forms of aria, &c., was a natural consequent, a 

 particular account of which will be found under 

 their proper headings. 



Muiitevertle. The great landmark which separates 

 the old school of counterpoint from the new is 

 the compositions of Monteverde, whose importance 

 is explained in the article on Harmony. It was 

 only gradually that the new leaven spread through 

 the schools of Europe, and nearly one hundred 

 years elapsed lietween the setting of Palestrina's 

 sun and tlie ap|>earance of the twin morning-stars 

 of modern music Bach and Handel. The time, 

 however, was well occupied. In vocal music greater 

 freedom in the use of established forms was gradu- 

 ally attained, and new forms were invented, chief 

 among which was the Aria introduced by Ales- 

 snndro Scarlatti (1659-1725). He first used the 

 'second part," which, followed by a da capo or 

 repetition of the first strain, summarised for vocal 

 music the tendency which was dominating all 

 musical development. 



The French Grand Opera school, founded by 

 the Florentine Lully (1633-87), studied the art of 



