Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/57

 melody or by adding some tones to it. But evidently there was some independent development of lyre- and flute-playing, as performers are often mentioned with honor and there was a special notation for instrumental music.

The stringed instruments were conspicuous, including the characteristic 'lyra,' consisting of a resonance-box (sometimes a tortoise-shell), a U-shaped frame with a crosspiece, and 4-18 sinew strings; the 'kithara' or 'kitharis' (also called 'phorminx'), apparently the older form of the lyre, but later distinguished from it by having the strings carried partly over the body instead of being attached to its upper edge; the 'magadis,' an Oriental harp of varying shape and with perhaps 20 strings; and the 'barbitos' and 'trigon,' many-stringed harps of special form. All of these were played either by the finger-tips or with a plectrum. The shape and ornamentation of the lyres were ingeniously varied.

The other principal class was the wind instruments, including especially the 'aulos,' a direct flute of cane or bored wood, with a detachable mouth-piece and from two to several finger-holes, in which, in later times at least, were little movable stopples whereby the pitch could be slightly modified. Auloi were often made double, either to give greater power or a wider range. The player often wore a capistrum or cheek-strap to keep the instrument in place and to support the cheeks. Sometimes auloi were attached to a distensible bag, making a bagpipe. The 'salpinx' was a straight, tapering trumpet of bronze, apparently without finger-*holes. The 'syrinx' or Pan's-pipe was a series of graduated tubes sounded by blowing across the open ends—peculiarly a pastoral instrument.

A rudimentary form of organ invented at Alexandria by the mechanician Ktesibios about 175, passed into vogue among the wealthy in different parts of the Roman Empire and was thus handed over to Christian use. The details of the first construction are unknown, but in Roman times, as we know from various sources, including a remarkable clay model of the 2d century found at Carthage, there were often 2-3 sets of pipes mounted on a wind-chest, a simple keyboard or set of valve-levers, and an ingenious device to supply compressed air by a pair of pumps partially filled with water—whence the Latin name 'hydraulus' or 'water-organ.'

20. Acoustical and Theoretical Research.—This side of Greek music is far better known than any other, since most of the literature that we have treats of it extensively. From as early as the 7th century the physical analysis of tones and their relations was undertaken, with studies in the formal definition of scales.

Pythagoras, the famous philosopher and social leader—born in Samos in 582, educated by long residence in Egypt and extensive travel, and finally teaching in southern Italy—was the chief pioneer. He laid the foundation of musical acoustics as a science, and started a school of inves-*