Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/269

* GREEK MUSIC. 235 GREEK MUSIC. on the one hand, the limited compass, imperfect tonality, the tliin, weak quality of their princi- pal instruiiient (the lyre), anil, on the other hand, perleet unison of musical form and language, a keen sense of diU'erenee in pitch, and splendid, delicate rliytluns. But, as has been said, they had no conception of chords, and at its hest their music must have been colorless. Their system was the opposite of that used in modern music, for instead of taking the major ascending scale as a foundation, they used the minor descending scale, which was based, not on an octave and its repetition, but on a fourth and its repetition. Originally there were three scales — Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian — named after the countries in which they sprang up. It would seem that at first these scales consisted of seven tones; but from the earliest times of which we have record they had eight tones, named from the strings of the lyre. The names of these tones were: Nete (lowest, this corresponded to our highest), parani'tO (next to netO), trite (third), paramese (next to me.se), mesO (middle) , lichanos (forefinger string), parln'pate (next to the top), hypate (topmost). The scale as thus formed was composed of two tetrachords, disjoined by a 'diazeutic tone' (so called because it cut the scale in two). The three original scales were approximately as follows: }i Dorian. J^ "the semi-tone above the highest note of the middle tetrachord was used ; and hence was fuimcd a special conjunct tetrachord (d' — c' — l|ji-a), in apposition to the disjunct one" {Kie- mann). The names of the tones in the Perfect iSystem were derived from those of the original octave. The niese was the tonic of tliis system, and was regarded as the central and most im- portant note. But (hough the Perfect System contained all the essential elements, tlu're were certain defects to be remedied. Chief of these was the incom- ]dcteness of their cliromatic degrees. As wa liave seen, their scales contained certain semi- tones ; but to get a complete set of sharps and ilats, they had recourse to traHSi)osing scales. The dill'erence of their scales lay in the position of the semi-tone ; so if, for example, we substi- tute in the original Phrygian scale a conjoined tetrachord in place of a disjoined one, and by so doing change the position of the semi-tone, we will have changed the scale to the Hypo- Dorian form. But although the position of the semitone is the same in both scales, the compass of this transposed Phr.ygian scale differs from the compass of the Hypo-Dorian. To all pur- poses, then, we have a new scale whose fompass is Phrygian and whose form is Hypo-Dorian. This is called the transposed Phrj-gian scale. By Phi-^'gian. % Lydian. The diazeutic tone intervals were respectively b — a, a — g, g — f. To these scales were added the Hj-po-Dorian, Hypo-Phrygian, and Hypo-Lydian. each a fifth below its original, and still later three more, the Hyper-Dorian, Hyper-Phrygian, and Hyper-Lydian, each of the latter being a fifth above its original scale. These additional scales were composed of conjoined tetrachords, the so-called 'diazeutic tone' following the other notes in the case of the 'hypo' scales, and preced- ing them in the case of the 'hyper' scales. The number of scales was ultimately increased to fifteen ; but the above-mentioned nine were the important ones, and from them was developed the Perfect Si/stem, which became the basis of mediae- val music. See Diazeutic Tone ; Gamut ; Plain Chant; Modeis. How the Perfect System became a standard we cannot tell ; it probably grew slowly, as the compass of the various instruments increased. It compris.^d two octaves, a' — A. The foundation was the Dorian scale., and to this were added two conjoined tetrachords. one at either end of the scale. This arrangement gaA'e a compass of two octaves, lacking one note, and to complete the full octaves an extra note (called Proslam- bnno-menos. the acquired tone) was sulllxed. Baker gives the following arrangement of the Perfect Svstem : Hitrhest Tetrachord. Disjoined Tetrachord, this system of transposed scales the Greeks final- ly acquired a complete series of sharps and flats. The musical notaiion of the Greeks was very complicated. They used a double .set of char- acters, one for the singer and one for the player. At first there were fifteen characters (correspond- ing to the notes of the diatonic scale), taken from the letters of the old Ionic alphabet. Other notes were made by changing slightly or invert- ing these original characters. The musical in- struments were few and simple. The lyre (q.v.), the cithara (q.v.), and the magadis, or harp, with from 20 to 40 strings, were the most impor- tant stringed instruments; while the anlos, a flute, and the syrinx, a shepherd's pipe, W'cre the .sole wind instruments. Our examples of ancient Greek music are few. The oldest is a jiapyrus fragment of si.x lines of a choru.s in the Orestes of Euripides. The fragment was written in the time of .Augustus, but the music is much earlier. Two hymns to Apollo, composed in the second century B.C., were found at Dclnhi in 1893, en- graved on the marble walls of the Treasury of the Athenians. These have been specially studied by Reinach, Weil, and Crusius. Another inscrip- tion from Asia Minor has preserved .a short song with the musical notation. The other remnants arc three hymns, two of which were composed in the time of Hadrian, and a few specimens of in- ProslambancJ- Middle Tetrachord. Lowest Tetrachord. tnent.s. Dorian ic^le. It will be seen that, as in the original Dorian strumental music. It is of passing interest to scale, the two middle tetrachords were disjoined, note that in ISOO a concert of ancient (Jreek For modulations to the key of the lower quint, music was given in Bremen. Consult: Gevaert, Vol. IX.— 16.