Music and Some Highly Musical People Part 2

Music is as old as the world itself. In some form or other, it has always existed. Ere man learned to give vent to his emotions in tuneful voice, Nature, animate and inanimate, under the hand of the Great Master, sang his praises. Of this we learn in the sacred writings; while all about us, in the songs of birds, the musical sighing of the winds, the fall of waters, and the many forms of the music of Nature, we have palpable evidence of its present existence, and a.s.surances of its most remote antiquity.

It would seem that not long after "G.o.d breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life, and he became a living soul," he learned to express the joys and yearnings of his soul in song first, and then with some sort of musical instrument. And to man it was given, commencing with the early ages, to develop the simple e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns or melodies of a praise-giving soul into a beautiful, a n.o.ble art, replete at times with harmonic intricacies, and again with melodies grand in their very simplicity; into a beneficent science, divine from its inception, which has ever had as votaries many of earth's greatest minds, and has become a fountain of delight to all mankind.

The history of the music of antiquity--that is, in an art-form--is nearly, if indeed not quite, enveloped in mystery; and it were futile to profess to give an historical presentation of an art from its birth, when doc.u.mentary evidence of the same is lost.

We may, however, very reasonably suppose of music generally, that it must have been gradually developed, having had its infancy, childhood, and youth; and that it grew slowly into present scientific form with the advance of the centuries.

From all we can gather in regard to the early history of music as a system, it would appear that it had its infancy in ancient Greece; although it is supposed by some that the Grecian method was founded upon that of the still more ancient one of the Egyptians. Dr. Burgh, a learned musical writer states that, of "the time before Christ, music was most cultivated and was most progressive in Greece." The verses of the Greek poet Homer, who was himself a musician, abound in beautiful allusions to and descriptions of this charming science; while in mythology are recounted the wonderful musical achievements of the G.o.d Orpheus, who is said to have been so skilled in music that the very rocks and trees followed in his wake of harmony.

The first artificial music of which the Bible speaks was that which was sung or played in praise of the Creator,--sacred music. In fact, this n.o.ble quality of the soul was very rarely called into exercise, save in the wors.h.i.+p of the Deity, until many centuries had pa.s.sed. Of music before the Christian era, both vocal and instrumental, the books of the Old Testament often speak. As to its exact character, we are left to conjecture, being, as before intimated, without materials from which to form a judgment; but, in some form or other, there was, during that period, abundance of what was called music.

The first mention of music, either vocal or instrumental, in the Scriptures, is made in Gen. iv. 21: "Jubal was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." Jubal was only seventh in descent from Adam; and from this pa.s.sage it is thought by some that he was the inventor of instrumental music. In the year B.C. 1739, in Gen. x.x.xi.

27, Laban says to Jacob, "Wherefore didst thou flee away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp?" This is the first mention in the Bible of vocal music. King David, who has been called "the sweet singer of Israel," is said to have been a skilful performer on the harp. By his magical touch upon its strings at a certain time, he produced sounds so sweetly soothing as to drive away the "evil spirit"

from Saul.

The poet Byron pays an elevated, glowing tribute to this "monarch minstrel" in the following lines:--

"The harp the monarch minstrel swept, The king of men, the loved of Heaven, Which Music hallowed while she wept O'er tones her heart of hearts had given,-- Redoubled be her tears; its chords are riven.

It softened men of iron mould; It gave them virtues not their own: No ear so dull, no soul so cold, That felt not, fired not, to the tone; Till David's lyre grew mightier than his throne.

It told the triumphs of our King; It wafted glory to our G.o.d; It made our gladdened valleys ring, The cedars bow, the mountains nod: Its sound aspired to heaven, and there abode.

Since then, though heard on earth no more, Devotion, and her daughter Love, Still bid the bursting spirit soar To sounds that seem as from above, In dreams that day's broad light cannot remove."

And here I append from the First of Chronicles, xiii. 8, a description of the music of the "house of Israel:" "And David and all Israel played before G.o.d with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets."

Josephus, the learned Jewish historian, states that the Egyptians had two hundred thousand musicians playing at the dedication of the Temple of Solomon. This structure was of most wonderfully immense dimensions: and it may have been that this enormous body of performers played in _detachments_ about the building; otherwise the statement would seem apocryphal.

The Egyptian musical instruments, it appears, were mostly of very rude construction: performance upon them would not now, probably, be tolerated even in circles of the least musical culture.

Of these ancient instruments the Boston "Folio" thus speaks:--

"The Egyptian flute was only a cow's-horn, with three or four holes in it; and their harp, or lyre, had only three strings. The Grecian lyre had only seven strings, and was very small, being held in one hand. The Jewish trumpets that made the walls of Jericho fall down were only rams'-horns: their flute was the same as the Egyptian. They had no other instrumental music but by percussion, of which the greatest boast was made of the psaltery,--a small triangular harp, or lyre, with wire strings, and struck with an iron needle or stick. Their sackbut was something like a bagpipe; the timbrel was a tambourine; and the dulcimer, a horizontal harp with wire strings, and struck with a stick like the psaltery."

The following interesting and able summary of the history of ancient Roman music is taken from a recent number of "The Vox Humana:"--

"Art love was not a distinguished characteristic of the ancient Romans; and we are not astonished, therefore, to find them borrowing music from Etruria, Greece, and Egypt; originating nothing, and (although the study was pursued by the emperors) never finding any thing higher in its practice than a sensuous gratification.

"In the earliest days of Rome, the inhabitants were exclusively farmers or warriors; and their first temples were raised to Ceres or to Mars.

"The priests of Ceres came originally from Asia Minor, and were called the Arval Brotherhood. Flute-playing was a prominent feature in their rites, and they were all proficient upon that instrument. Their number was limited to twelve.

"The wors.h.i.+p of Mars was conducted by the Salian priests, whom Numa summoned to Rome from Etruria. These also used the flute as an accessory to their sacrificial rites. In these primitive days of Rome, much was borrowed from the Etruscans in style and instruments of music.

"The earliest songs of Rome were in praise of Romulus, and told the story of the twin-brothers and the divine origin of the city. They were sung by choruses of boys. Similar songs were sung during meals by the elders, with an accompaniment of flutes; these latter songs being especially directed to the young men, and inciting them to be worthy of the deeds of their ancestors.

"Under the rule of the emperors, all these worthy compositions went to decay, and were replaced by a much more degrading school of music. At no time, however, was music considered a necessary part of the education of Roman youth.

"There existed in the latter days of ancient Rome some music-schools; but the study was far less universally pursued than in Greece at the same epoch. The musical course has been given by Quintilian as follows:--

"Theoretical: first, arithmetic, physics; second, harmony, rhythm, metrics.

"Practical: composition, rhythm, melody, poetry.

"Execution: playing instruments, singing, dramatic action; which makes a rather formidable array, even to modern eyes.

"Among the Roman musical instruments, the flute was the most popular, and essentially national. We have already stated that it was used in the wors.h.i.+p of their two chief deities: it was in secular use to a yet greater extent.

"This flute (_tibia_) was hooped with bra.s.s bands, and had an immense resonance. It was used by both s.e.xes; but, on public and on most religious occasions, was played by men.

"The frequency with which it was used made the art of playing it a most remunerative one; and the flute-players soon formed themselves into a guild, or protective society.

This guild had many privileges accorded to it, and existed for a period of some centuries. The 'Guild of Dionysian Artists' was a society of later date, and was a musical conservatory, academy, and agency, all in one. It flourished greatly under the patronage of various Roman emperors, and for a long time supplied singers and actors to the Roman world.

"Valerius Maximus has given an anecdote which shows how powerful and exacting the guild of flute-players could afford to be.

"They were one day excluded from the Temple of Jupiter, where they had been allowed, by ancient custom, to take their meals; upon which the entire guild left Rome, and went to the village of Tibur near by. This caused great embarra.s.sment: no religious services could be held, and scarce any state ceremony properly conducted. The senate thereupon sent an emba.s.sy to induce them to return,--in vain: the angry musicians were inflexible. The wily amba.s.sadors then called the inhabitants of Tibur to their aid, and these pretended to give a great feast to welcome the flute-players. At this feast the musicians were all made very drunk; and, while asleep from the effects of their liquor, they were bundled into chariots, and driven back to Rome, where all their old privileges were restored, and newer and greater ones added.

"They received the right to give public representations and spectacles in Rome; but at these they were all masked, the reason being their shame at the manner of their inglorious return to the city.

"Flutes were used at funerals; and it appears, at one time, the luxury and pomp of Roman obsequies grew so excessive, that a law was pa.s.sed limiting the number of flute-players on such occasions to ten.

"Only at one time did the flute disappear from any public wors.h.i.+p, and that was when the wors.h.i.+p of Bacchus was introduced into Rome. To this rite the kithara was used; but this wors.h.i.+p, which was somewhat refined, though jovial, among the Greeks, became among the Romans so debauched and uxorious, that it was soon prohibited by law.

"The flute was used in combination with other instruments at times. Apuleius speaks of a concert of flutes, kitharas, and chorus, and mentions its deliciously sweet effect. It was also used as a pitch-pipe, to give orators a guide in modulating their voices when addressing an a.s.sembly: thus Caius Gracchus always on such occasions had a slave behind him, whose duty it was to aid him to commence his orations in a proper pitch, and when his voice sank too low, or became too shrill, to call him to a better intonation by the sounds of the flute.

"Although the flute was the favorite Roman instrument, it was by no means the only one. Trumpets were used to a great extent. A one-toned trumpet, of very loud voice, was used for battle-signals. These were of very large size, usually of bra.s.s; and their sound is described as 'terrible.' There was also a smaller (shepherd's) trumpet of mellower tone.

"Another much-used instrument, of different character, was the _sumphonium_, which did not differ materially from the modern bagpipe.

"Instruments of percussion were few, and not indigenous to the Romans: such as were used came from the East, and were chiefly used in the wors.h.i.+p of Eastern deities at Rome. When the wors.h.i.+p of Bacchus was prohibited, they pa.s.sed away with that licentious rite. The most complicated instrument of the ancient world appeared in Rome during the first century of our era. It was an _organ_, not, as in the scriptural days, a mere syrinx, or Pan's pipes, but an undoubted organ, somewhat similar in effect to our modern instrument.

"The instrument is said to have been invented by Ctesbius of Alexandria in Egypt, who lived about 250 B.C. It did not appear extensively in Rome, however, until nearly three hundred years later. This organ has given rise to much fruitless discussion. In the field of musical history especially, 'a little' knowledge has proved 'a dangerous thing;' for, where slight descriptions exist of instruments of music, lat.i.tude is left for every writer to form his own theory, to fight for it, and denunciate those who differ from it.

"We have seen what a battle was fought over the three little ma.n.u.scripts of Greek music; what a host of differing opinions were held about the scriptural word 'Selah:' and now, about this hydraulic organ, each writer mounts his hobby-horse, and careers over the field of conjecture.

Vitruvius has given a full description of the instrument from personal inspection; but as his technical terms have lost all significance to modern readers, and have been translated in various ways, and as his work contained no diagrams or ill.u.s.trations of the various parts, it is useless.

"Some writers imagine the organ to have had seven or eight stops,--that is, so many different _kinds_ of tones,--which would place them nearly on a par with our own. Others think that they possessed seven or eight _keys_; that is, so many _tones_ only. It has been a point of dispute as to what function the water performed in working it. Vitruvius is rather hazy on this point, saying only that it is 'suspended' in the instrument. The water, when the organ was played, was in a state of agitation, as if boiling.

"There are medals still in existence which were awarded to victors in organ contests, on which this instrument is represented with two boys blowing or pumping; but the representation is too small to clear up any doubtful points."

But, without devoting further s.p.a.ce to the music that was in vogue prior to the Christian era, I proceed to notice that our first reliable account of it, as a system, commences with the fourth century; at which time St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, arranged the sacred chants that bear his name, and which were to be sung in the cathedrals.

In the year 600 St. Gregory improved upon these chants, inventing the scale of eight notes. His system is the basis of our modern music.

From the close of the eleventh to the commencement of the fourteenth century, minstrels, _jongleurs_, or troubadours, were the princ.i.p.al devotees of music. They seem to have been its custodians, so to speak; and to their guild many of the knights belonged. Some of the kings and n.o.bles of the time were also, in a sense, troubadours; such as, for instance, Thibault of Navarre, and William the Ninth of Poitou.