38 THOUGHTS UPON THE MUSICAL SENSE [X. 



music of the savage with the highest achievements of our own 

 art. 



When Europeans first visited the islands of the Pacific, all 

 the natives were found to practise some sort of music. The 

 song of the New Zealanders made a profound impression upon 

 Cook, and Chamisso found the song of the Hawaians and 

 Tahit ans extremely pleasant, although often accompanied b}' 

 an orchestra of noisy instruments, such as drums, hollow tubes 

 which were struck violentl}^ against the ground, and wooden 

 sticks which were knocked together. 



The ' music ' was confined within the limits of a very few 

 notes, lying between E and G (or, in the case of Tahiti, between 

 C and F), although, at the same time, not only semitones but 

 quarter-tones (or ' semi-semitones ') were employed. 



The song was pure, and when a hundred sang together, the 

 sound was like that of a single voice. In spite of the limited 

 compass of their scale, they had a rather large repertory of 

 different melodies and themes, which however were alwaj^s 

 characterized by monotony and unceasing repetition : some of 

 these were used as the accompaniment of work, others for 

 rowing, dancing, marching to battle, and mourning the dead. 



We must however remember that the Polynesians are not in 

 a very low state of civilization. Their poetry is by itself suffi- 

 cient to prove this, for it is full of feeling and abounds in 

 beautiful similes. Hence we can scarcely look upon their 

 music as primitive if this expression implies the lowest form 

 of musical art. 



And yet, what an enormous difference, when we compare 

 this with one of the great musical works of our own time, such 

 as Bach's Passion music in all its depth and magnificence, 

 Mozart's G-minor S3'mphony, or one of the nine ' Revelations ' 

 (so to name them) of Beethoven. One would almost hesitate 

 to apply the term ' music ' to the primitive successions of notes 

 made use of by ' savages,' so monstrous does the difference 

 between the two entities appear. Yet our own music must 

 have developed itself from similar beginnings, — there is no 

 other way. And, in fact, we find similar elements in both ; 

 notes of definite pitch, separated by definite intervals and held 

 for diverse lengths of time, that is to saj^, distinguished b}' 

 differences of rhythm. So that, in this manner, we arrive 



