Chapter 11 of 12 · 3994 words · ~20 min read

Part 11

these non-diatonic scales. And we have the decisive fact that of the six scales of the cithara given by Ptolemy (see p. 85) not one is diatonic in the modern sense of the word. It may be alleged on the other side that the ideal scale in the _Timaeus_ of Plato is purely diatonic, and exhibits the strictest Pythagorean division. But that scale is primarily a framework of mathematical ratios, and could not take notice of intervals which had not yet been identified with ratios. It is not certain when the discovery of Pythagoras was extended to the non-diatonic scales. Even in the _Sectio Canonis_ of Euclid there is no trace of knowledge that any intervals except those of the Pythagorean diatonic scale had a numerical or (as we should say) physical basis[1].

[Footnote 1: In Euclid's _Sectio Canonis_ the Pythagorean division is assumed, and there is no hint of any other ratio than those which Pythagoras discovered. Prop. xvii shows how to find the Enharmonic Lichanos and Paranêtê by means of the Fourth and Fifth. Prop. xviii proves against Aristoxenus (of course without naming him), that a [Greek: pyknon] cannot be divided into two equal intervals; but there is no attempt to explain the nature of the Enharmonic diesis. It is worth notice that in these propositions the Lichanos and Paranêtê of the Enharmonic scale are called [Greek: lichanos] and [Greek: paranêtê] simply, as though the Enharmonic were the only genus--a usage which agrees with that of the Aristotelian _Problems_ (supra, p. 33).

According to Ptolemy (i. 13) the Pythagorean philosopher Archytas was the author of a new division of the tetrachord for each of the three genera. In it the natural Major Third (5: 4) was given for the large interval of the Enharmonic, in place of the Pythagorean ditone (81: 64); and the Diatonic was the same as the Middle Soft Diatonic of Ptolemy. But, as Westphal long ago pointed out (_Harmonik und Melopöie_, p. 230, ed. 1863), this scheme is probably the work of the later Pythagorean school. It seems to be unknown to Plato and Aristoxenus,--the latter wrote a life of Archytas--and also to Euclid, as we have seen. The next scheme of musical ratios is that of Eratosthenes, who makes no use of the natural Major Third.]

In Plato's time, as we can see from a well-known passage of the _Republic_ (quoted on p. 53), the Enharmonic and Chromatic scales were the object of much zealous study and experiment on the part of musicians of different schools,--some seeking to measure and compare the intervals directly by the ear, others to find numbers in the consonances which they heard, and both, from the Platonic point of view, 'setting ears above intelligence,' and therefore labouring in vain[1].

The multiplicity of intervals, then, which surprises us in the doctrine of the _genera_ and 'colours' was not an accident or excrescence. And although some of the finer varieties, such as the Enharmonic, belong only to the early or classical period, there is enough to show that it continued to be characteristic of the Greek musical system, at least until the revival of Hellenism in the age of the Antonines. The grounds of this peculiarity may be sought partly in the Greek temperament. We can hardly deny the Greeks the credit of a fineness of sensibility upon which civilisation, to say the least, has made no advance. We may note further how entirely it is in accordance with the analogies of Greek art to find a series of artistic types created by subtle variations within certain well-defined limits. For the present purpose, however, it will be enough to consider how the phenomenon is connected with other known characteristics of Greek music,--its limited compass and probably imperfect tonality, the thin and passionless quality of its chief instrument, on the other hand the keen sense of differences of pitch, the finely constructed rhythm, and finally the natural adaptation, on which we have already dwelt, between the musical form and the language. The last is perhaps the feature of greatest significance, especially in a comparison of the ancient and modern types of the art. The beauty and even the persuasive effect of a voice depend, as we are more or less aware, in the first place upon the pitch or key in which it is set, and in the second place upon subtle variations of pitch, which give emphasis, or light and shade. Answering to the first of these elements ancient music, if the main contention of this essay is right, has its system of Modes or keys. Answering to the second it has a series of scales in which the delicacy and variety of the intervals still fill us with wonder. In both these points modern music shows diminished resources. We have in the Keys the same or even a greater command of degrees of pitch: but we seem to have lost the close relation which once obtained between a note as the result of physical facts and the same note as an index of temper or emotion. A change of key affects us, generally speaking, like a change of colour or of movement--not as the heightening or soothing of a state of feeling. In respect of the second element of vocal expression, the rise and fall of the pitch, Greek music possessed in the multiplicity of its scales a range of expression to which there is no modern parallel. The nearest analogue may be found in the use of modulation from a Major to a Minor key, or the reverse. But the changes of genus and 'colour' at the disposal of an ancient musician must have been acoustically more striking, and must have come nearer to reproducing, in an idealised form, the tones and inflexions of the speaking voice. The tendency of music that is based upon harmony is to treat the voice as one of a number of instruments, and accordingly to curtail the use of it as the great source of dramatic and emotional effect. The consequence is twofold. On the one hand we lose sight of the direct influence exerted by sound of certain degrees of pitch on the human sensibility, and thus ultimately on character. On the other hand the music becomes an independent creation. It may still be a vehicle of the deepest feeling: but it no longer seeks the aid of language, or reaches its aim through the channels by which language influences the mind of man.

[Footnote 1: The two schools distinguished by Plato seem to be those which were afterwards known as the [Greek: harmonikoi] or Aristoxeneans, and the [Greek: mathêmatikoi], who carried on the tradition of Pythagoras. The [Greek: harmonikoi] regarded a musical interval as a quantity which could be measured directly by the ear, without reference to the numerical ratio upon which it might be based. They practically adopted the system of equal temperament. The [Greek: mathêmatikoi] sought for ratios, but by experiment 'among the consonances which are heard,' as Plato says. Hence they failed equally with those whose method never rose above the facts of sense.]

* * * * *

APPENDIX

TABLE I. _Scales of the seven oldest Keys, with the species of the same name._ [Music: Mixo-lydian. _b_-species.] [Music: Lydian. _c_-species.] [Music: Phrygian. _d_-species.] [Music: Dorian. _e_-species.] [Music: Hypo-lydian. _f_-species.] [Music: Hypo-phrygian. _g_-species.] [Music: Hypo-dorian. _a_-species.]

TABLE II. _The fifteen Keys._ Mesê. [Music: Hyper-lydian.] [Music: Hyper-aeolian.] [Music: Hyper-phrygian.] [Music: Hyper-ionian.] [Music: Mixo-lydian.] [Music: Lydian.] [Music: Aeolian.] [Music: Phrygian.] [Music: Ionian.] Mesê. [Music: Dorian.] [Music: Hypo-lydian.] [Music: Hypo-aeolian.] [Music: Hypo-phrygian.] [Music: Hypo-ionian.] [Music: Hypo-dorian.]

The moveable notes ([Greek: phthongoi kinoumenoi]) are distinguished by being printed as crotchets.

The two highest of these keys--the Hyper-lydian and the Hyper-aeolian--appear to have been added in the time of the Empire. The remaining thirteen are attributed to Aristoxenus in the pseudo-Euclidean _Introductio_ (p. 19, l. 30), and by Aristides Quintilianus (p. 22, l. 30): but there is no mention of them in the extant _Harmonics_. It may be gathered, however, from the criticism of Heraclides Ponticus (see the passage discussed on pp. 9-12) that the list of keys was being considerably enlarged in his time, and Aristoxenus, though not named, is doubtless aimed at there. Music of the 'Orestes' of Euripides (ll. 338-344).

[Symbols: II P C. P? 40 n] [Greek: katoloPHYROMAIZMATEROS haima sas]

[Symbols: Z (?)..1' "Z E E (?)] [Greek: ho s' anab AKCHEUEIZOMEGAS olbos ou]

[Symbols:-ii P C. I' Z] [Greek: monimoSEMBROTOISZANA de laiphos]

[Symbols: C P-A C p-i?. c,] [Greek: hôs tiSAKATOUTHOASTINAxas dai-]

[Symbols:] [Greek: môn KATEKLYSEN deinôn]

[Symbols: Z re. z?] [Greek: ponôN[Symbols:???]ÔÔSPONT ou]

[Symbols: I C: C: Pvl(?) 40(?)] [Greek: olethrIoiSIN en kymasin]

[Music: Restoration proposed by Dr. Crusius.

[Greek: kat-o-lo-phu-ro-mai ma-te-ros ai-ma sas o s ana-bak-cheu-ei. o me-gas ol-bos ou mon-i-mos en Bro-tois a-na de lai-phos hôs tis a-ka-tou tho-as ti-na-xas dai-môn kat-ek-ly-sen dei-nôn po-nôn hôs pon-tou lab-rois o-leth-ri-oi-sin en ky-ma-sin]

]

The metre is dochmiac, each dochmius consisting of an iambus followed by a cretic, [Symbols: u--u-]. The points which seem to mark the ictus, or rhythmical accent, are found on the first syllable of each of these two feet. If we assume that the first syllable of the iambus has the chief accent, the dochmius will be correctly expressed as a musical bar of the form--

[Music]

If the first syllable of the cretic is accented, the dochmius is divided between two bars, and becomes--

[Music]

The accompaniment or [Greek: krousis], consisting of notes interposed between the phrases of the melody, is found by Dr. Wessely and Dr. Crusius in the following characters:

1. The character [Symbols:] appears at the end of every dochmius shown by the papyrus. After the first, third and fifth it is written in the same line with the text. After the seventh it is written above that line, between two vocal notes. Dr. Crusius takes it to be the instrumental [Symbols: Z], explaining the difference of shape as due to the necessity or convenience of distinguishing it from the vocal [Symbols: Z]. If that were so the form [Symbols: 1.] would surely have been permanent, and would have been given in the schemes of Alypius and Aristides Quintilianus. I venture to suggest that it is a mark intended to show the end of the dochmius or bar.

2. The group [Symbols: 21 D] occurs twice, before and after the words [Greek: deinôn ponôn]. There is a difficulty about the sign [Symbols: 2], which Dr. Crusius takes to be a _Vortragszeichen_. The other two characters may be instrumental notes.

The double [Greek: ô] of [Greek: hôs] (written [Greek: ÔÔS]) is interesting because it shows that when more than one note went with a syllable, the vowel or diphthong was repeated. This agrees with the well-known [Greek: hei-ei-ei-ei-ei-eilissete] of Aristophanes (_Ran._ 1314), and is amply confirmed by the newly discovered hymn to Apollo (p. 134). _Musical part of the Seikelos inscription._

[Symbols: C Z Z KIZ I] [Greek: OSONZÊSPHAINOU]

[Symbols: K I Z IK O] [Greek: MÊDENOLÔSSY]

[Symbols: E., C O i; C K Z] [Greek: LYPOUPOSOLI]

[Symbols: I IC I K C OZ] [Greek: GONESTITOZÊN]

[Symbols: C K O i [.Z]] [Greek: TOTELOSOCHRO]

[Symbols: K C [=C] C [.=X]] [Greek: NOSAPAITEI]

The inscription of which these lines form part was discovered by Mr. W. M. Ramsay, and was first published by him in the _Bulletin de correspondance hellénique_ for 1883, p. 277. It professes to be the work of a certain [Greek: Seikelos]. The discovery that the smaller letters between the lines are musical notes was made by Dr. Wessely.

The Seikelos inscription, as Dr. O. Crusius has shown (_Philologus_ for 1893, LII. p. 161), is especially valuable for the light which it throws upon ancient rhythm. The quantity of the syllables and the place of the _ictus_ is marked in every case, and we are able therefore to divide the melody into bars, which may be represented as follows:

[Symbols: " \s 10 V1/4.0,? V? V V Lo V V V L.? I/4.?] [Greek: gon esti to | zên; to telos | ho chronos apai-| tei.] _The hymns recently discovered at Delphi._

Since these sheets were in type the materials for the study of ancient Greek music have received a notable accession. The French archaeologists who are now excavating on the site of Delphi have found several important fragments of lyrical poetry, some of them with the music noted over the words, as in the examples already known. The two largest of these fragments have been shown to belong to a single inscription, containing a hymn to Apollo, which dates in all probability from the early part of the third century B.C. Of the other fragments the most considerable is plausibly referred to the first century B.C. These inscriptions have been published in the _Bulletin de correspondance hellénique_ (viii-xii. pp. 569-610), with two valuable commentaries by M. Henri Weil and M. Théodore Reinach. The former scholar deals with the text, the latter chiefly with the music.

The music of the hymn to Apollo is written in the vocal notation. The metre is the cretic or paeonic ([Symbols:]), and the key, as M. Reinach has shown, is the Phrygian--the scale of C minor, with the conjunct tetrachord _c--d[Symbol: flat]--d--f_.

In the following transcription I have followed M. Reinach except in a few minor points. When two notes are sung to the same syllable the vowel or diphthong is repeated, as in the fragment of the Orestes (p. 132): but I have thought it best to adhere to the modern method.

[Music: A [Symbols: o r 4] [Greek: [Ton kithari]sei kly-ton pai-da me-ga-lou [Dios a-]]

[Symbols: oruh.u4r] [Greek: eidete pa]r' a-kro-ni-phê ton-de pa-gon, am[broth' hos]]]

[Music: [Symbols: #1? ZS A rty r M Y M] [Greek: pa-si thna-tois pro-phai-neis [logia, tr]i-po-da man-]

[Symbols: 1M I O r O 4ruh.0] [Greek: tei-on hôs hei[les, echthros hon e-phr]ou-rei dra-kôn;]

[Symbols: 4:I U!or 4 u] [Greek: ho-te te[oisi belesin e-tr]ê-sas ai-o-lon he-lik-tan[]

[Symbols: I omio r 4] [Greek:] sy-rig-math' hi-eis a-thô-pe[ut' eba;] [Symbols: U ior.t. U]

[Greek: nyn] de Ga-la-tan a-rês..n epe-ras' a-sep-t[os

[Symbols:] [Greek: sal-li-ô](?) [Greek: gen-nan..n thalos phi-lon]

[Symbols:] [Greek: da-moi-o lo....rôn e-phor..]

[Symbols:] [Greek: te-on k.. e-nai k..]]

(about 12 bars wanting.)] [Music: B [Symbols: I M G M Th I M] [Greek: Helik]ôna ba-thy-den-dron hai la[chete Dios eri]bro-mou]

[Symbols: I M U M Th Th I M I] [Greek: thy-ga-tres eu-ô-le[noi] mo-le[te] syn-o-mai-mon hi-na]

[Symbols: M U M U M W Th G W] [Greek: Phoi-bon ô-dai-si mel-psê-te chry-se-o-ko-man;]

[Symbols: Th Ô Ps Ô Th Ô Th I M Th] [Greek: hos a-na di-ko-ry-ni-a Par-nas-si-dos tas-de pet-]

[Symbols: I M U M U M I Th I Th G Ô Ps G] [Greek:-ras he-dra-na [me]ta kly-tais Del-phi-sin Kas-ta-li-dos]

[Symbols: Ô Ps Ô Th G L M] [Greek: eu-u-drou na-mat' e-pi-ni-se-tai, Del-phon a-na]

[Symbols: G M I Th I M Ph G] [Greek: [pr]ô-na man-tei-on e-phe-pôn pa-gon. [ithi] klyta]] [Music: [Symbols:] [Greek: me-ga-lo-po-lis Ath-this, eu-chai-si phe-ro-ploi-o nai-]

[Symbols:] [Greek:-ou-sa Tri-tô-ni-dos da[ped]on a-thrauston, ha-gi-]

[Symbols:] [Greek:-ois de bô-moi-sin Ha-phais-tos ai-thei ne-ôn]

[Symbols:] [Greek: mê-ra tau-rôn; ho-mou de nin A-raps at-mos es Y-

[Symbols:] [Greek:-lym-pon a-na-kid-na-tai; li-gy de lô-tos bre-môn]

[Symbols:] [Greek: ai-o-lois [me]le-sin ô-dan kre-kei; chry-sea d']

[Symbols:] [Greek: ha-dy-throu[s ki]-tha-ris hym-noi-sin a-na-mel-pe-tai;]

[Symbols:] [Greek: ho de [the]-ô-rôn pro-pas es-mos Ath-thi-da lach[ôn]]] The notes employed in this piece of music cover about an octave and a half, viz. from Parypatê Hypatôn to the Chromatic Lichanos Hyperbolaiôn. In two of the tetrachords, viz. Synemmenôn and Hyperbolaiôn, the intervals employed are Chromatic (or possibly Enharmonic): in the tetrachord Diezeugmenôn they are Diatonic, while in the tetrachord Mesôn the Lichanos, which would distinguish the genus, is wanting. On the other hand there are two notes which do not belong to the Phrygian key as hitherto known, viz. [Symbol: O], a semitone below Mesê, and [Symbol: B], a semitone below Nêtê Diezeugmenôn. If we assume that we have before us Chromatic of the standard kind ([Greek: chrôma toniaion]), the complete scale is--

[Music: [Symbols:]]

If the intervals are Enharmonic, or Chromatic of a different variety, the moveable notes (in this case [Symbols: A K] and [Symbols: 4 3E]) will be somewhat flatter.

M. Reinach is particularly happy in tracing the successive changes of genus and key in the course of the poem. The opening passage, as he shows, is Diatonic. With the mention of the Gaulish invasion ([Greek: Galatan arês]) we come upon the group [Symbols: U 4] (_g--a[Symbol: b]--a_) of the Chromatic tetrachord Hyperbolaiôn. At the beginning of the second fragment the intervals are again Diatonic, up to the point where the poet turns to address the Attic procession ([Greek: ithi, klyta megalopolis Aththis, k.t.l.]). From this point the melody lies chiefly in the Chromatic tetrachord Synemmenôn [Symbols: M AK r] (_c--d[Symbol: o]--d--f_)--a modulation into the key of the sub-dominant as well as a change of genus. At the end of the fragment the poet returns to the Diatonic and the original key. With regard to the _mode_--the question which mainly concerns us at present--M. Reinach's exposition is clear and convincing. He appeals to three criteria,--(1) the impression which the music makes on a modern ear; (2) the endings of the several phrases and divisions; and (3) the note which recurs most frequently. All these criteria point to a Minor mode. The general impression made by the Diatonic parts of the melody is that of the key of _C_ minor: the rhythmical periods end on one or other of the notes _c-e[Symbol: flat]-g_, which form the chord of that key: and the note _c_ distinctly predominates. This conclusion, it need hardly be said, is in entire agreement with the main thesis of the preceding pages.

The symbols [Symbol: O] and [Symbol: B], which do not belong to the Phrygian scale, are explained by M. Reinach in a way that is in a high degree plausible and suggestive. In other keys, he observes, the symbol [Symbol: O] stands for the note _b_ (natural). Thus it holds the place of 'leading-note' (_note sensible_) to the keynote, _c_. It has hitherto been supposed that the standard scale of Greek music, the octave _a-a_, differed from the modern Minor in the want of a leading note. Here, however, we find evidence that such a note was known in practice, if not as a matter of theory, to Greek musicians. If this is so, it strongly confirms the view that _c_ was in fact the key-note of the Phrygian scale. The symbol [Symbol: B], which occurs only once, answers to our _g_[Symbol: flat], and may be similarly explained as a leading note to _g_, the dominant of the key. We infer, with M. Reinach, that the scale employed in the hymn is not only like, but identical with, the scale of our Minor.

The fragment marked C by M. Weil resembles the hymn to Apollo in subject, and also in metre, but cannot belong to the same work. The melody is written in the Lydian key, with the notation which we have hitherto known as the instrumental, but which is now shown to have been used, occasionally at least, for vocal music. The fragment is as follows:[Music: [Symbols]

[Greek: t' e-pi tê-les-ko-pon tan[de] di-ko-ry-phon klei-tyn hym[in] Pi-erides ai ni-pho-bo-lous mel-pe-te de Py-thi-on Phoi-bon on e-tik-te L[a-tô]]

M. Reinach connects this fragment with a shorter one, also in the Lydian key, but not in paeonic metre, viz.--

[Music: [Symbols]

[Greek:.. thon es-che ma ... thê-ra kat-ek-ta.... syrigm' a-per..]]

M. Reinach thinks that the mode may be the so-called Hypo-lydian (the octave _f - f_). The materials are surely too scanty for any conclusion as to this.

The fragment D, the only remaining piece which M. Reinach has found it worth while to transcribe, is also written in the instrumental notation of the Lydian key. The metre is the glyconic. The fragment is as follows:--

[Music: [Symbols]

[Greek: ton man-to-sy[na klyton] ô-leth' hy-gra ch ... despoti Krê-siôn.. ai nae-tas Delphôn]] [Music: [Symbols]

[Greek: ...in ap-tais-tous Bak-chou [thiasous] ...te prospolois]]

[Symbols] [Greek: tan te do[u]ri[klytôn ar-chan au-xet' a-gê-ra-tô thal ...]]

This piece also is referred by M. Reinach to the Hypo-lydian mode. It may surely be objected that of three places in which we may fairly suppose that we have the end of a metrical division, viz. those which end with the words [Greek: Delphôn, prospolois] and [Greek: agêratô], two present us with cadences on the Mesê (_d_), and one on the Hypatê (_a_). This seems to point strongly to the Minor Mode.

On the whole it would seem that the only _mode_ (in the modern sense of the word) of which the new discoveries tell us anything is a mode practically identical with the modern Minor. I venture to think this a confirmation, as signal as it was unexpected, of the main contention of this treatise.

It does not seem to have been observed by M. Weil or M. Reinach that in all these pieces of music there is the same remarkable correspondence between the melody and the accentuation that has been pointed out in the case of the Seikelos inscription (pp. 90, 91). It cannot indeed be said that every acute accent coincides with a rise of pitch: but the note of an accented syllable is almost always followed by a note of lower pitch. Exceptions are, [Greek: aiolon, hina] (which may have practically lost its accent, cp. the Modern Greek [Greek: na]), and [Greek: molete] (if rightly restored). The fall of pitch in the two notes of a circumflexed syllable is exemplified in [Greek: manteion, heilen, Galatan, Phoibon, ôdaisi, klytais, bômoisin, homou]: the opposite case occurs only once, in [Greek: thnatois]. The observation holds not only of the chief hymn, but of all the fragments.

INDEX OF PASSAGES DISCUSSED OR REFERRED TO.

AUTHOR PAGE

_Anonymi Scriptio de Musica_, § 28 (the modes employed on different instruments), 27 §§ 63-64 ([Greek: topoi tês phônês]), 64

Aristides Quintilianus (ed. Meib.): p. 10 (Lichanos), 31 p. 13 (ethos of music), 63, 66 p. 15 ([Greek: kata dieseis harmonia]), 53, 98 p. 21 (Modes in Plato's _Republic_), 94-100 p. 28 ([Greek: topoi tês phônês]), 63

Aristophanes, _Eq._ 985-996 (Dorian Mode), 7, 42

Aristotle: _Metaphysics_, iv. 11, p. 1018 _b_ 26 ([Greek: archê]), 46 Politics, iv. 3, p. 1290 a 20 (Dorian and Phrygian), 105 viii. 5-7, pp. 1340-1342 (ethos of music), 9, 12, 13, 107 viii. 7, p. 1342 _a_ 32 (Phrygian Mode), 12, 13, 107 Problems, xix. 20, p. 919 a 13 (Mesê), 43, 82, 102, 107 26, p. 919 _b_ 21 ([Greek: harmonia]=System), 55 33, p. 920 _a_ 19 (Hypatê), 44 36, p. 920 _b_ 7 (Mesê), 44 47, p. 922 _b_ 3 (heptachord scales), 33 48, p. 922 _b_ 10 (modes used by chorus), 14 49, p. 922 _b_ 31 (high and low pitch), 15

_Rhetoric_, iii. 1, p. 1403 b 27 ([Greek: tonos] and [Greek: harmonia]), 15 Aristoxenus (ed. Meib.): _Harm._ p. 2, l. 15 (diagrams of [Greek: harmoniai]), 49 p. 3 (melody of speech), 115 p. 6 (nomenclature by [Greek: thesis] or position), 81 p. 6, l. 20 (species of the Octave), 50 p. 8 (speaking and singing), 115 p. 8, l. 12 (perfect System), 36 p. 18 (melody of speech), 90, 115 p. 23 (Chromatic and Enharmonic), 110 p. 26, l. 14 (Lichanos indefinite), 110 p. 27, l. 34 (diagrams), 52 p. 36, l. 29 (seven [Greek: harmoniai]), 51, 54 p. 37 ([Greek: tonoi] or keys), 17-19 p. 48, l. 13 (Lichanos indefinite), 110 p. 69, l. 6 (nomenclature by position), 81 _ibid._ (indefinite element in music), 111

Bacchius (ed. Meib.), p. 11 (topoi tês phônês), 65 p. 19 (theseis tetrachordôn), 82

Dionysius Hal.: c. 11, p. 58 Reisk. (accent and melody), 90, 115 c. 11, p. 64 Reisk. (rhythm and quantity), 115