Music and Its Masters

by O. B. Boise

Now we come to the climax of our first era. Such a true conception of beauty, such perfect symmetry, and such far-reaching imagination and lofty aspiration as are present in, and have made ancient Greek art and literature luminous for all time, bespeak conditions that would have carried music to fruition during their continuance had she not been so intangible, and therefore necessarily slow in developing. Had her nature been less coy, we might have ancient Greek music as monumental as the Iliad or the Parthenon.

The Greeks were quick to recognize the virtues of Egyptian learning, and Greece soon became great Egypt's greater pupil. Still, we should accord Egypt first place among the factors that built up modern civilization and led to the formulation of musical art, for she originated the vital impulse.

That period of Greek culture supremacy dispensed no laurels to its mothers, wives, and daughters. Woman was regarded as an inferior being, and she took no honorable part in intellectual social life. Boys were exhaustively educated, while girls were neglected. This was the one blot on the glory of those times, and we, besides deprecating the injustice it involved, must regret that these ancient art-workers denied themselves that highest earthly source of inspiration, intercourse with the delicate enthusiasm, the keen perceptions, and art instinct of educated and loved womanhood; for to what heights might their achievements have attained but for this misconception of woman's nature and capacities!

One would think that Sappho's lyrics, which induced Plato to call her the "Tenth Muse," would have suggested the existence, in woman's purer and more sensitive nature, of a subtle vein of beautiful intellectuality, but such was not the case. Judging from what we have seen of early Aryan family life, this unpractical and debasing idea of suppressing woman must have been imbibed with Egyptian learning.

Music was taught in the Greek schools, and youths were thus fitted to join in the sacred choruses, and to appreciate the significance of poetry. The immortal bards sang their creations, and they often remained unwritten for generations. The drama developed from songs and dances. Music was a prominent feature of their symposiums, the lyre being passed from guest to guest, each contributing of his best to the intellectual feast. Banquets were brought to a close by singing hymns. Music pervaded each function of Hellenic life.

Their choruses were unisons, and their instrumental accompaniments were either purely rhythmic (regardless of pitch) or they followed the voice, for the Greeks had no discoverable conception of harmony. In contemplating the marvellous erudition and the poetic sense of ancient Greece, and the important rôle played by music in the period of her glory, I can but feel that the failure to chronicle her melodies is a misfortune. They may not have been rich in variety of tone succession or in rhythm, but they doubtless were vigorous, expressive, and logically rounded, and they therefore mark the brightest point reached in the first era.

Greece succeeded Egypt as the world's teacher, and her precepts gain significance as advancing culture enables us to better comprehend the fine adjustment of imagination to nature which they embody. Her sculpture, architecture, and literature are the highest models that we have, and those of our architects who appreciate the import of monumental buildings look to ancient Greece for appropriate inspiration.

Is it not reasonable and logical to assume that the spirit of Greece's unwritten musical forms has been preserved, passed from nation to nation, and from generation to generation, and that it underlies our present classical school? I say spirit in speaking of musical transmission, for music's resources and outward forms were, in the Homeric period, and still are, in course of development.

It would be a waste of space to discuss the musical doings of other European nations during this period. Those that did least to prepare the way have been most active since our art took shape. As great as Italy's services have been since the sixteenth century (A.D.), she did little for music previous to that time. St. Ambrose, of Milan (384 A.D.), and St. Gregory, of Rome (590 A.D.), ordained rituals, prayers, music, etc., but there is no detailed record of their achievements, therefore no authentic Gregorian chants.