GREEK MUSIC. 



bounds of th;; fcLile ; in the fame manticr, as, w-ith us, the 

 notes above D Ih the treble are faid to be in all. This te- 

 trachord includes the founds E /ami, Y fa ut, G f'jl re iit, 

 and A la mi re, or 





The ancients uffd likewife four different monofyllables 

 ending with different vowels, by way ol jhlmijalion, fur tlie 

 exercife of the voice in finginjj ; like our mi, fa, fol, hi. 

 Thefe were, for the lirfl note of each tctrachord, li, for the 

 fecond xr, for the third rf, and for the fourth, if it did not 

 ferve as the firfl of the adjoining and relative telrachord, 

 T£ ; but if it began a new tetrachord, it was called by the 

 firit name, tsT. 



The repetition of thcfe monofyllables is a further proof 

 that the fourth in the ancient muiic ferved as a boundary to 

 a fyllem of four found?, in the fame manner as a hexachord 

 did in the Guido Icule, and as an octave does for eight founds 

 in the more modern pmctice. 



Any interval between the terms of which one or more 

 founds intervened, was by the ancients called zjv/lem : EG, 

 for example, conilituted a fyftem of a third minor ; EA, of 

 a fourth ; EB, of a fifth, &c, 



Thefe fmaller fylle:'.is were of different fpccies ; thus 

 there were three kinds of tetrachords, that differed in me- 

 lody by the poiition of the femitone, which was fometimes at 

 the beginning, fometimes at the end, and fometimes in the 

 middle ; as in the following example, where the black notes 

 are femitones, and the white, tones. 



Wz 



"•--^ 



;-e— air 



m 



-ft.-- 



As the Greeks ufed all the four and twenty letters of 

 their alphabet for mufical characters, or fymbols of found ; 

 and as their moil extenlive fyflem or fcale did not exceed 

 two oftaves, or fifteen founds, it fhould feem as if their fim- 

 ple alphabet was more than fufiicient to exprefs them ; for 

 their raulic b-jing at firfl only a notation of their poetry, the 

 rhythm, or air, mull have been determined by the metre of 

 the verfes, without the aflillance of figiis of proportion 

 pecidiar to muiic. But fuppoiing it was neccHary for them 

 to have different characters to exprefs the differeat feet of 

 the verfe, it is certain that vocal mufic was in no want of 

 them ; and inilrumental being chiefly vocal mufic played by 

 inflruments, had likewife no need of them, wlien the words 

 were written, or the player knew them by heart. 



However, in order to multiply theft- chi,ra6lers, the letters 

 of their alphabet weve fometii'.ies written in capitals, and 

 fometimes fmall ; fome were entire, fome n-.utilated, feme 

 doubled, and fome lengthened ; and btfidcs thefe diiliiiclions 

 in the form of the letters, they had others of fittir.tion, fome- 

 timesturning them to the right, fomctimestothe left; f.)n>;times 

 inverting, and fometimes placing them horizontalh ; for in- 

 flance, the letter ^amma, by thefe expedients, ferved to ex- 

 prefs feven different founds : PLT. b ti T: ^^. Some 

 of the letters were alfo barred, or accented, in order 

 to change their fymbolical import ; and thefe flill not fuf- 

 ficing, tfiey made the common grave and acute accents ferve 

 as fppcific mufical notes. 



It is a matter that has been long difputed among the 

 learned, whether accents were originally mufical (karaders, 

 3 



or marks oi profoily. It is \h vain to fet about determining a 

 qutflion concerning which the proofs on both fides are fo 

 numerous. (Sec Gaily and Spelman agninJI accinti, and Pri- 

 matt and Forfter in defence of tlicm ) Mr. W.-ft is firmly 

 of opinion "that accents were originallv mu/ualnolet.kloseT 

 words to dir.ct the feveral tones and inflcJiions «f the voicf, 

 requifite to give the wh(jle fentencc its proper harmony and 

 cadence" (Find. vol. ii.) And the abbe du Bos, who 

 frequently by a peremptory decifion culs the knot of 

 fuch difHcuhies as he is unable to untie, afT^rf;, without 

 fufficient proof, that as poets originally k-t tliclr own vrrfes, 

 they placed for tiiis purpofe a figure.'or accent, over each 

 fyllablc. So that, according to this writer, we are at 

 prefent not only in pofTefTion of the poetry of Homer, 

 Pindar, Anacreon, and Sippho, but their' mufc. Whv 

 then do we complain of the total lofs of Greek muiic'? 

 (See Reflex. Critique, c. iii. p. 85.) But as mufic had cha- 

 racters different from accents fo early as the time of Ter- 

 pnndcr, to wliom the invention is given by the Oxford 

 Marbles, which place this event about fix hundred and 

 feventy years before Chriil ; and as accents for profody are 

 hkewife proved to be of high antiquity, it feeii.s .?« if there 

 could have been no nccelFity for the ancients to ufe one for 

 the other. 



But it has already been remarked that the letters of the 

 alphabet, though turned, dillorted, and mutilated, fo many 

 different ways, were infufficicnt to exprefs the founds of all 

 the modes in the three genera ; fo that recourfe w.is kad 

 to accents, as the fcale became more extended, in order 10 

 augment tiie number of charaders. And Alypius, in the 

 enumeration of the notes in the enharmonic genus, tells u>, 

 that trite fynemmenon is reprefeuted by beta and the acute 

 accent ; and farancte fynemmenon eiuirmonios by alpha, and the 

 grave accent. 



This is a proof that the accents were kno^m at the 

 time of Alypius, and v.ere then ufed chiefly for profi>dy, 

 not mufic, for which dicy were only called in cccafionally. 

 Indeed they are mentioned as accentual m.irks by writers of 

 much liigher antiquity than Alypius ; for not onlv Cicero 

 and Plutarch, but Arillotle and Plato, fpeak of' them as 

 merely regarding the elevation and deprelfion of the voice in 

 fpeech. However, in the early Greek and komsn miffals, 

 as will be fliewn heriaf;er, tlie mufical charadcrs ufed in canto 

 fermo, feem to have been only l-.ngthen-d accents. 



Thefe various modifications of letters and accents in the 

 Greek notation compofed in all one hundnd and twenty 

 different character.., which were ftiil coniidtr.iLlv multiplied in 

 practice ; for each of thefe characters iVrving many purpofcs 

 in the vocal as wi 11 as inilrumental lablature or gammut, 

 and being changed and varied aceoi-ding to ti.e different modes 

 and genera, as the names of our notes arc changi-d by diffe- 

 rent cleffs and keys, the one hundred and twenty Greek 

 charadtersproducedoncthoufandfixhundrcdandtwenty notes! 

 Two rows of tl-.efe characterj were ufiially placed over 

 the words of a lyric poen: ; the upper row fcrving for the 

 voice, and the lower forinilrumeuts. 



If we had not tlie teftimony of all the Greek writers who 

 have mentioned thefe characters, for their ufe and dellinrition, 

 it would be natur;d to fuppofc th.it the double row of dif- 

 ferent letters jjlaced over each other, and above the words 

 of a poem, were ii. tended to exprefs Sffc rent parts, with re- 

 fpett to harmony ; as with us, in modern n.ufic, the treble 

 notes are written over the bafe, and the firll treble over the 

 fecond ; but Alypius, who is extremely minute in his in. 

 IlruAions concerning the ufe of thefe charadcrs, in all thcfe 

 modes, tells us, in exprefs terms, that the upper fine of the 

 notes is for the words, and the lower for the lyre, ^^'.^.^ta ^j. 



