Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/47

 As commonly stated, the scale in characteristically Mohammedan lands involves a primary division of the octave into seven steps, derived from a theoretical division into seventeen, each equal to about one-third of a whole step. The exact method of determining these latter is disputed. There are some eighteen seven-tone scales, differing in the location of the shorter steps. The practical effects are not obviously akin to our modes, as they often emphasize tones that are irrational to us. But, even more than in Hindu song, exactness of interval and fixity of mode are disturbed by incessant slides, turns, grace-notes, shakes, and the like.

The rhythms and metric patterns are derived from those of poetry, and vary greatly. Harmony is not cultivated, except in the rudest form. Only a bare beginning of a notation in letters has been made.

Several attempts have been made to imitate or embody Arab melodies in modern composition—the most famous being Félicien David's symphonic ode Le Désert (1844).

What are called Arab instruments have interest in several instances because they were the prototypes of European forms in the Middle Ages. In general, the Mohammedans in the Middle Ages were the intermediaries between Europe and the East, and what they introduced was called Arab without distinction.

—Persian Guitar.

Foremost in interest is the ''ud,' a lute with a broad, pear-shaped body, a rather short neck bent back at the head, and four or more strings. This was introduced into Europe by 800 at least, became popular, was imitated in manifold lutes (the word 'lute' being taken from el'ud), and still survives in the mandolin. (See Fig. 54.) Another similar type was the 'tambura,' with a smaller body, a longer neck, and only a few strings. Of viols, the 'rebab' and the 'kemangeh' are important, because probably influencing the evolution of the viol and the violin.

Many so-called Arab instruments are probably Persian. One of these is the 'santir,' a dulcimer or zither with many strings, akin to the 'kanoon' now found in Egypt and adjacent countries. (Concerning mediæval Arabic literature about music, see sec. 36.)