682 



MUSIC. 



sweetness from those which are failed chords,* so 

 periphrasis," &c. (Chap. 28.) He could hardly 

 have used language referring more plainly to har- 

 monious sounds ; and what can be made of those 

 few words, unless his ear and those of his readers 

 were accustomed to harmony? 



There is also a passage of Tertulliiui, quoted 

 by Mujer, of which the following is a translation. 



" Look at the prodigious richness of Archimedes. 

 I speak of the hydraulic organ ; so many members, 

 BO many parts, so many contrivances, so many pas- 

 sages and combinations of sound, so many changes 

 of mode, a whole army of pipes, and all this one 

 mass 1" 



Who could better describe the modern organ ? 

 Was Archimedes, then, ignorant of harmony? And 

 those who listened to his instrument, were they 

 unacquainted with its effects? 



Consider for a moment the construction of the 

 ancient theatrical chorus. It is well known that 

 the Greek dramas were sung; that they were in 

 fact what we call operas ; and that the chorus was 

 composed, as in modern times, of all the four parts 

 into which the voice is divisible. Here is a de- 

 scription of it by Seneca. " Do you not see of 

 how many voices the chorus consists ? Some are 

 shrill, some deep, some intermediate. The tones 

 of woman are joined to those of man ; instruments 

 are added; and individual voices are merged in the 

 union of the whole." Had the man who wrote 

 this sentence no conception of music, except that 

 derived from melody? The idea seems prepos- 

 terous. It is not contended, that the ancients were 

 familiar with counterpoint in all its modern extent 

 and expansibility; but it is impossible to believe, 

 that their knowledge of music reached no farther 

 than to the production of melody or unison, after 

 a due consideration of the passages quoted. No- 

 thing arrives at perfection suddenly ; and, though 

 we are very much in the habit of thinking ourselves 

 perfect, and that the science of musical composi- 

 tion has in our day reached its ne plus ultra, yet 

 constant experience demonstrates a constant im- 

 provement ; and perhaps our children will express 

 as much wonder and pity at our music as we feel 

 for the more imperfect attainments of our fathers. 

 Indeed, if we consider for a single moment the 

 number of changes that may be produced by a few 

 notes, we shall be convinced that the varieties of 

 musical composition are indeed infinite. In an oc- 

 tave there are twelve semitones, and upon any in- 

 strument, however simple, containing these twelve 

 sounds, there may be produced four hundred and 

 seventy-nine million, one thousand, six hundred 

 changes. Multiply these by the number of octaves, 

 and the number of instruments now in use, and we 

 have a variety as inconceivable as it is inexhaus- 

 tible. We are still far from perfection, then, and 

 why should we suppose the ancients to have made 

 no progress in an art, which we practise but in- 

 completely ourselves, and the first elements of 

 which are easily attained? 



Another point, which strikes us quite as strangely 

 as this, and which runs through almost all writers 

 on ancient music, is, that the Greeks composed all 

 their music in the minor mode. One might as well 

 imagine all their poetry was elegiac, all their ora- 

 tions funereal, and alV their songs death-songs. 

 The earliest music of all countries is generally, like 



* n(>titpatai is a word which nobody translates, but which, 

 if its etymolozy maybe trusted, is equivalent to the Latin 

 camonia and the English chord. 



the music of the nursery, of a plaintive character, 

 and in a minor key; but", whenever and wherever 

 music has been cultivated as an art, it has m-vei 

 rested in that primitive and simple condition, so 

 far as is really known; and, in the actual state ol 

 our knowledge, or rather of our ignorance of an- 

 cient music, it seems to us the very height of pre- 

 sumption to assert, that the ingenious Greeks never 

 got beyond the threshold of musical composition. 

 If any thing can be said to be known of the 

 Athenians, it is, that they were a lively, witty, ima- 

 ginative race, more resembling the modern Pari- 

 sians than any other people of the present day; and 

 it would be about as probable, that all French 

 music should be minor, as that all Greek music 

 was. It is a point which, of course, may be esta- 

 blished by sufficient evidence ; but such evidence 

 has not yet been presented to us. 



Of the effect of music upon the character of a 

 people, as well as on that of individuals, a striking 

 example is referred to by Burney and others, the 

 authority for which is no less than Polybius, the 

 judicious and careful historian. The Arcadians 

 were generally distinguished for their mild charac 

 ter and amiable virtues, whilst the inhabitants of 

 Cynsetha, one of the cities of Arcadia, were as re- 

 markable for the ferocity and quarrelsome barbarity 

 of their dispositions. This is ascribed by the his- 

 torian to the neglect of the Arcadian institutions 

 of music; and it is a suggestion, which by no means 

 deserves to be lightly regarded. It is not easy 

 to limit the effect of constant causes; and, if 

 music had been the favourite entertainment of 

 England, instead of bull baitings, cock-fights, and 

 sparring-matches, it is no very strained infer- 

 ence, that there might have been less of crime on 

 the records of its couits, and less of harshness in 

 the national manners. Certainly the kindred blood 

 of Germany is favourably operated on by the pre- 

 vailing fondness for music; and it is not easy to 

 believe, that one who is really devoted to so re- 

 fined and refining a pursuit, can be the victim ot 

 the coarser and more violent passions of our na- 

 ture. 



The unbounded variety of expression, of which 

 music is susceptible, renders it easily applicable to 

 all circumstances and situations where emotion of 

 any kind is called forth ; and it is a necessary ap- 

 pendage to all public celebrations of events or cere- 

 monies, in which any deep interest is felt. Its 

 connection with the religious observances from 

 which human nature cannot refrain, has in all ages 

 been most intimate, and must continue to be so as 

 long as we seek to express in the strongest manner 

 the deep emotions which are excited by religious 

 subjects. The earliest recorded song is one of 

 praise to Jehovah ; and, as we trace the history of 

 music down through the periods of Greek and Ro- 

 man cultivation, we find it always associated with 

 religious rites. No sacrifice could be acceptable', 

 no pomp could be imposing, if not accompanied by 

 the beautiful or the sublime of musical intonation. 

 Their dramas, too, were originally very much of 

 the nature of religious services. Founded on some 

 tale of their mythology, they were made the vehi- 

 cles of such religious and moral instruction as the 

 wisest of the ancients could convey; and Livy in- 

 forms us, that the first introduction of theatrical 

 representations into Rome was expressly for a reli- 

 gious purpose, namely, as a means of averting a 

 pestilence which was attributed to the anger of the 

 gods. 



