XVI. I have acknowledged, that this objection is specious, but deny that it is conclusive. In the first place, the parts of Plutarch’s works, as well as those of other authors, from whence they pretend to have collected this system of antient music, are so complicated and obscure, that nothing can with certainty be determined on the credit of them; hence it comes to pass, that writers, in their reasonings and disquisitions on this subject, are much divided in their opinions.

XVII. In the second place, I do not assent, that music, on account of its being somewhat the more simple, is the less delicious or pathetic. I acknowledge, that the variety in that, as in all other things, contributes to the delight of it; but then the variety ought to be confined within certain limits, for that, like every other thing, has two vicious extremes, the one of which is incurred by excess, the other by deficiency. If the variety is very small, you soon grow tired of it, and it seems rather surfeiting. If it is excessive, the soul is disturbed and bewildered by the many parts of the object, and by being tossed and hurried from one to the other, is not allowed, nor has it leisure, for that extatic suspension, in which the most intense part of the pleasure consists. I have seen an infinite number of people, much more regaled by hearing a good voice, accompanied by a guittar just scraped, than by hearing a concert of many voices and instruments; and I have sometimes seen a person of very good talents shed tears of delight and tenderness, on hearing a guittar played pointedly, and with expression; which never would have happened to him, by hearing a symphony of various instruments, although he should have attended such performances ever so often. The musicians of these times boast exceedingly of the improvements they have made in their profession, and of having, from an insipid, heavy, coarse harmony, advanced to a sweet, airy, and delicate music; and many of them have been brought to conjecture, that the practice of this faculty in the present age has been carried to as high a degree of perfection, as it is capable of attaining. In my Discourse on Music in the first volume of the Theatrico Critico, I made a comparison between antient and modern music; but what seems of the most importance to examine here is, whether the music of the last and present century is so much improved, as to intitle it to be considered as greatly superior to that which was practised by the Greeks twenty centuries ago. The author of the Dialogues of Theagenes and Callimachus, printed at Paris in 1725, treats this point most learnedly; and affirms, that the antient musicians excelled the modern in expression, delicacy, and variety; and also in the fineness of their execution; and our great expositor of the scripture, father Don Augustin in Calmet, is of the same opinion; as he is likewise, with regard to the antient music being more excellent than the modern taken in general. In the first volume of his work, intitled Dissertationes Biblicas, page 403, where he approves and confirms my sentiment and taste with respect to music, as expressed in my before-mentioned discourse, he speaks thus: Many look upon the simplicity of the antient music as rudeness and imperfection; but I consider it as an argument of its excellence, for an art is reputed by so much the more perfect, by so much the nearer it approaches to Nature; and who can deny, but simple music is the most natural, and best suited, to imitate the voice and passions of man? It rises, or glides easier from the interior part of the breast, and has a more certain effect to cheer the heart, and stir the affections; besides, the opinion which is generally entertained of the simplicity of antient music, is erroneous. It is true, that it was exceedingly simple, but notwithstanding that, it was very copious also; for the antients had many instruments, which we are strangers to; and on the other hand, their music was not wanting in concord and harmony. To this we may add, that it had the advantage of ours in another respect, for it was a part of the excellence of the antient music, that the sound of the instruments did not confound or interrupt the words of the song, but rather enforced or gave energy to them; so that at the same time the ear was delighted with the sweetness of the voice, the mind tasted the elegance and nervous expression of the verse. We ought not therefore to wonder at the prodigious effects which we are told were produced by the music of the antients; because it possessed, joined together and united, all those excellencies, which are contained in ours, only single or divided. Calmet also, in his Dictionario Biblico, gives us a sheet of engraving, containing twenty different instruments which were in use among the Hebrews; and it is very probable, that among the Greeks, who were a more polished people, and greater lovers of music than the others, they had many more; neither have we any great reason to value ourselves upon our invention in contriving musical instruments being greater or better than that of the antients; for there has never yet appeared among us an hydraulic organ, which was in use among the antients, and of which Ctesibius, a mathematician of Alexandria, was supposed to be the author, a hundred years prior to the christian æra; and Vossius says, they have often tried and laboured since, but without effect, to restore it. It is also proper to observe, that some instruments, which we reckon the invention of latter ages, were in use among the antients; such as the violincello, and violin; whose antiquity the author of the Dialogue of Theagenes and Callimachus proves, by a medal which is described by Vignete, and a statue of Orpheus, which is at Rome.

XVIII. In the third place, I do not assent, that the antient music was so simple as it is pretended to have been; but am rather inclined to think, that in the essential it was more complicated than the modern. My reason for this opinion is, that over and above the Diatonic and Chromatic species which is contained in our music, and which is common to both, they, in the division of the octave, made use of the Enharmonic also, which our music does not possess or partake of. The Enharmonic consists in the introduction of the tenths, which are intervals of no more than the quarter part of a tone, or of two comas, and the quarter part of another. It is true, that the moderns give the name of tenth to the minor semi-tone; but in the music of antiquity, tenths had the signification which I have here assigned to them.

XIX. This, as I said before, creates a very essential variety in a music, and different from that which consists purely in running the composition through two, three, or more octaves; and which may be called accidentals, because the points of one octave are little more than a mere repetition of the correspondent ones of another; and I not only judge this variety of the antient music essential in itself, but think it is likewise so with respect to the effects of it; for it must necessarily produce a greater, and very probably a much more lively variation of the affections. So that by mixing the Harmonic species with the other two, the same advantages will accrue as arose by mixing the Diatonic with the Chromatic; and the music, in consequence of doing it, will be as much benefited, as it was by joining those two together, which made it infinitely preferable to what it was when they used each singly, and by itself.

I have now stated to you the arguments and reasonings on both sides of the question, with respect to the competition between antient and modern music; and methinks I already hear you say, to which shall we give the preference? To this I shall only answer, that I have sent you all the pleadings and documents in the cause, and must beg you to pronounce the sentence, for I must confess, for my own part, that I am undecided.

The End of the Second Volume.

ERRATA.

Pag. line.
123 [9]read favourite’s house,
140 [1]strike out and
283 [23]read her knowledge

Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.