VI

One of the most ancient musical controversies was that regarding the respective merits of wind and string instruments. How it resulted in a most important victory for the latter is revealed in the partly mythical story of Marsyas, a Phrygian satyr. According to this legend Marsyas found upon the banks of a stream a flute, probably the double flute, which Athena had thrown away because she feared that blowing upon it would injure her beauty. Being a satyr, and therefore not so sensitive upon the point of personal attractions as the goddess, Marsyas set himself to learn the use of the instrument, and, in course of time, grew so proficient that he challenged Apollo to a contest, the god to use the lyre, the satyr the pipe. Apollo played a simple melody, but Marsyas, following, executed a number of variations upon this tune which compelled the judge to admit that in the first test victory belonged to the satyr. Apollo then played again, accompanying himself with the voice, and this Marsyas could not surpass; he objected, however, on the ground that the voice and the lyre were two instruments, while he was using only one. Apollo retorted that Marsyas used both mouth and fingers for his pipe, hence he had the right to use his mouth as well. The judges agreed with Apollo and the second test was awarded to the god. But when the third test came Apollo scorned to use the voice, and burst out in such a strain of melody as even Mount Olympus had never heard before, the music of the immortals which no satyr could hope to compass. Marsyas was flayed alive by Apollo as a sufficient declaration of his defeat.

Thus the myth. It has its reflection in fact. For the ancient national music of the lyre prevailed in Greece over the foreign Phrygian double flute and the latter was regarded as a barbarian instrument, finding its place only in vintage festivals, bacchanalian orgies, and, finally, into the chorus of the tragic drama.

The lyre and the aulos, then, are the arch-types of the two great classes of instruments—string and wind—which the Greeks used. That there were a great number of varieties we gather from their representation on monuments, vases, etc., and from the writings of classic authors. Taking the string instruments as the oldest—for mythical references to these go farthest back into antiquity—we find first the lyre, and then its more graceful sister, the kithara (or phorminx), which were in common use in the north, on the islands and the coast of Asia Minor. The lyre, originally made of the shell of a tortoise, had an arched soundbox, while the kithara’s was flat; the latter’s body was larger and more angular in shape. Both had originally four, subsequently seven, strings, which were added to in later periods till eleven was reached. These were fastened in a base at the lower end of the instrument and ran across a ‘bridge’ to the cross-piece connecting the two arms, which acted also as tuning peg. The sounding board had in the centre a resonance opening.

The Contest between Apollo and Marysas.

Ancient Greek frieze after Baumeister.

The Asiatic form of kithara became popular throughout Greece as a consequence of the work of Terpander’s school and attained the leading rank as the Greek concert instrument, employed by professional players exclusively, while the primitive lyre was relegated to the use of amateurs and domestic purposes. With its full complement of strings music in all the modes could be played upon it without especially tuning the individual strings. The relative pitch of the string was based on the Dorian mode in the middle octave (e to e´), but for greater brilliancy of effect virtuosi preferred the higher transpositions, so that finally the instrument was accordingly tuned as follows:

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By special technical practice the higher octave (flageolet) could also be produced. The manner of playing was probably as follows: The left arm held the instrument close to the body by means of a sling, while the right, by means of a plectrum with arrow-shaped ends, plucked the strings from the outside. This left the fingers of the left hand free to touch the strings from the body side. It is thought that this was done as accompaniment (in unison) to the voice, while the right played the solo selections, interludes, etc.

Most prominent among other forms of string instruments was the magadis, a larger harp-like instrument with twenty strings, which was played without plectrum, and, if we read ancient writers correctly, in octaves.[42] Likewise the barbiton (similar to the kithara), the harp-like pectis, simikion, and epigoneion, and the lute-like pandura and nabla (of archaic origin), were played without plectrum, as indeed the lyre and kithara were also played in earliest times. The harp, though known to the Greeks, was not used by them. There only remains to mention the monochord, an instrument of one string stretched over a soundbox, which could be arbitrarily divided by a movable ‘bridge.’ It was used purely for experimental purposes, as we have already seen. Later it was constructed with several strings in order to demonstrate the consonance of intervals; in modern times it became the basis from which the clavichord, and finally the piano, was evolved.

The chief Greek wind instrument, as already indicated, was the aulos, or flute—not, however, a flute in the modern sense, but a reed instrument resembling an oboe, and having a double reed. It was often used in pairs, of equal intonation, but of different size, the larger instrument playing the soli, the smaller the accompaniment. The aulos had as many as fifteen or sixteen holes, but not sufficient to produce all the chromatic degrees of the scale, which, as well as the different genera, were produced by half stops and similar technical manipulations. There were also rings attached near the holes, by the turning of which the pitch could be altered. Overblowing was also practised, by means of a small hole (syrinx) near the mouthpiece. There was a whole family of auloi corresponding to the varying ranges of the human voice. The entire compass from the lowest note of the bass aulos to the highest of the soprano was three octaves. It is recorded that auloi were tuned differently according to the various modes, and that players were usually equipped with an entire set of seven.

Other wind instruments used by the Greeks were the Libyan flute (played sideways), the elymos, and the syrinx—the familiar ‘pipes of Pan’—consisting of a number of rush reeds of different lengths fastened together with wax. Trumpets, straight (sapinx) and crooked horn-like (keras), were also common as instruments of war and priestly ceremony. The former variety even attained the rank of a contest (agonistic) instrument. A female exponent of Sapinx playing is recorded in the person of Aglais, the daughter of Megalocles.

A few words will suffice to indicate the nature of Greek musical notation. Instrumental notation differed from vocal and was of earlier origin. Characters of archaic form (Phœnician) were used to indicate the notes, though not in a definite alphabetic order. They are also used in inverted or distorted forms to indicate minute variations, i. e., the three notes of a Pyknon (the short step of the tetrachord) were indicated by a certain sign in different positions, thus:

,

, and

. In vocal notation the regular Greek alphabet was employed from Α to Ω to represent the notes of the middle octave (including every step necessary to the production of the various modes and genera.) The higher octave was indicated by an ‘octava sign.’

Rhythm was usually not noted, being determined by the metre of the verse, but a code which determined the proportion of sound duration was sometimes used. The norm or unit in that system was denoted by the absence of any sign, its double by

, its triple by

, quadruple by

, and quintuple by

. Rests were indicated thus:

. All of these signs were, like our modern notes, set over the text. While the system was thoroughly worked out in its technical details, its cumbersomeness would suggest that in practice it was of less use than in theoretical exposition. No wonder, then, that few compositions were, as far as we know, actually written down, and of those only six are preserved to us. These are as follows:

1. The beginning of the first Pythic ode of Pindar.

2. Three hymns of Mesomedes (‘To the Muse,’ ‘To Helios,’ and ‘To Nemesis’) discovered by Vincenzo Galilei (see Chap. IX).

3. Some small instrumental exercises, analyzed by Bellermann (1841).

4. The Epitaph of Seikilos (discovered 1883).

5. Two complete Apollo Hymns of the second century B. C., found chiselled in stone in the Athenian treasury at Delphi.

6. A Fragment of the first Stasimon from Euripides’ ‘Orestes’ (found 1892).

The Hymn to the Muse by Mesomedes (No. 2) is reproduced at the end of this article.

This necessarily brief sketch will have acquainted the reader with the most salient facts concerning Greek music—lost as an art, but perpetuated as a science. Many volumes have been written upon the subject, but much more than these facts cannot possibly be adduced except by long and arduous study. For our present purpose may it suffice to convey to the reader that here for the first time music has attained the dignity of an art, with all its æsthetic, emotional and moral significance, with its complicated theory, its sophisticated technique, consciously employed to give pleasure and to uplift the mind of man. Mechanical limitations and peculiar conditions prevented the development of this art in the modern sense, but its theory has without doubt given a definite direction to modern music. Not only the musical teaching of the early church fathers, but the speculations of theorists down to comparatively modern times, and the principles of the Renaissance masters were based on those of the Greeks, however much misunderstood. Perhaps it is not out of place to recall, in conclusion, how modern composers have been inspired by the stories of classic antiquity and beguiled by the music of Greek poetry. Modern music, disconnected from all that may have been the music of the older nations of antiquity, is a lineal descendant of the music of the Greeks.

Hymn to the Muse by Mesomedes.

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Άειδε Μούσά μοι φίλη,
μολπής δ’ εμής κατάρχου,
αύρη δε σων απ’ άλσεων
εμάς φρένας δονείτω.
Καλλιόπεια σοφά,
Μουσών προκαθαγέτι τερπνών,
και σοφέ Μυστοδότα,
Λατούς γόνε, Δήλιε, Παιάν,
ευμενείς πάρεστέ μοι.

C. S.

FOOTNOTES:

[32] Imitation ([Greek: monsikhê]) is a term commonly applied to the fine arts.

[33] Harmony here does not mean polyphony or heterophony, as will be seen hereafter.

[34] These poet-singers, indeed, chanted their verses—perhaps not to fixed melodies, but according to a recognized style of cantilation which varied according to the different species of poetry, and was emulated by the readers or singers other than the bards themselves.

[35] The word harmony ([Greek: harmonia]) was used by the Greeks in the sense of melody and was the name given to the so-called octave species or modes of which we shall speak hereafter. (Cf. Aristotle’s ‘Harmonics.’)

[36] The statement of Aristotle, that certain low-pitched modes suited the failing voices of old men, is misleading, as it assumes a fixed pitch for the modes, which at least in classic times they had not, and which was not their essential quality. It may be that in Aristotle’s time the ethical conception of modes had been lost and that they had all become practically transposition scales. But the theory advanced by H. S. Macran in ‘Grove’s Dictionary,’ which gives each mode an ‘intrinsic’ pitch character according to the high or low position of its mese, or tonic, is interesting. According to the laws of Greek music, this ‘tonic’ must be the predominating or constantly recurring note in every melody.

[37] The b♭ is known to have been the first chromatic string added to the kithara, or lyre, thus enabling players to use several modes without tuning the instrument especially for them.

[38] The distinction of an older and younger Olympus which was made by Pratinas, the Greek poet and historian, is no longer credited. At any rate, the older (whom Pratinas places before the Trojan War) is the one to whom the chief merits accrue, and therefore the only one to be considered here.

[39] During the first auletic contest in connection with these festivals, which took place in 586 B. C., a certain Sakadas was awarded the victor’s wreath for the performance of another Nomos Pythicos, composed by himself, which, from all accounts, may be looked upon as a sort of program music, describing the event in realistic manner.

[40] The word Pæan (Gr. [Greek: paian]) originally signified physician. It was the name given to a choral address, usually of thanksgiving, to Apollo or Diana.

[41] Dithyrambic composition continued, of course, to flourish beside the drama, as did also the writing of nomes, but both were corrupted by the introduction of solo interpolations (in the case of the former) and choral numbers (in the latter), so that they finally approached each other in a sort of cantata form.

[42] Hence the expression ‘magadizing’ for singing in octaves.

CHAPTER V
THE AGE OF PLAIN-SONG

Music in the Roman empire—Sources of early Christian music; the hymns of St. Ambrose—Hebrew traditions—Psalmody, responses, antiphons; the liturgy; the Gregorian tradition; the antiphonary and the gradual; sequences and tropes—Ecclesiastical modes; early notation.