Mikes Music Room – Music Articles

The musical history of the Greeks may be divided into two great periods, the mythological, and the historical. The first period covers the entire range of traditions and legends, and extends up to the time when the Greeks began to reckon by Olympiads, or periods of four years, the date of the first Olympiad being 776 B.C. From 776 B.C. to 161 A.D. is the historical period.

To the first period belong the stories of Orpheus and Eurydice, perhaps the noblest and most beautiful of all the fairy-tales of art; the building of Thebes and Cadmea by Amphion, who by his playing caused the rocks and stones to move spontaneously; the contest between Apollo and Marsyas; the myth of the Sirens, and numberless other stories and traditions with which the Hellenic mind loved to surround, as with many garlands, the art of music.

Homer provides us with a link between the traditional and historical periods; and in the ” Iliad ” and the ” Odyssey ” are to be found both legend and exact information.

Coming to the historical period proper of Greek music, we cannot fail to be impressed with the broadly moral significance which music possessed for the Greeks. Among the Assyrians,, it is to be imagined, music was more or less sensuous in character; among the Egyptians it apparently partook of the nature of an occult philosophy; among the Israelites music was primarily an act of worship; and it is, therefore, to the Greeks that the credit of being the first to recognise the educative value of music is due. Although not yet an independent art, music probably gained very nearly as much as it lost in this respect, by being made an essential part in the grandest manifestations of the literary and dramatic genius of Greece. Thus the Greek play resembled more an opera than a play, the word being used in its modern acceptation

From the music of the Israelites and the Greeks, widely removed in character from each other as they were, originated the highly-developed musical art of modern times. Culture, and spirituality, using the word in its broadest and most abstract sense, are the guiding stars of music, as of all true art; and of this culture is Greek, and spirituality is Hebrew.

Of the music of the Israelites we possess a wider, although less definite, knowledge than of that of Assyria and Egypt. Beyond doubt the music and musical instruments of Israel must have closely resembled those of Assyria, a land peopled by a closely-allied race; and in the same way it may reasonably be assumed that when the national music of the Israelites departed from the manner of their Assyrian kinsmen, it only the more closely resembled that of the Egyptians, a supposition which a glance at the map will do much to confirm.

Proceeding on this hypothesis, the numerous allusions to music and musical instruments contained in the Scriptures may well be translated, as it were, into the pictorial representations of musicians and their instruments to be found in the sculptures of Assyria and Egypt. The same principle of elucidation may also be made use of in the reverse way, the Scriptural allusions to music being employed to illustrate the attitude towards music of the nations outside the borders of the Chosen People.

Of the musical system of the Israelites we can only judge by inference; and the only instruments of which authentic representations exist are the silver trumpets, taken from the burning Temple by the Roman soldiery, and the Temple horn, or schofar. The trumpets, as figured on the Arch of Titus at Rome, are long, and perfectly straight; the schofar, as still in use in the synagogues, is curved, and about eighteen inches long. The trumpets were of great size, and were supported upon a frame or rest. They were intended to be used in summoning the entire nation together

In the sculptures, wall-paintings, and papyri of the Egyptians, we are furnished with another glimpse into the obscurity of early musical history. Among the ancient Egyptians we find music at a somewhat similar pitch of development to that already observed among the Assyrians, technically, that is, but imbued with a far loftier spirit; at least so one would imagine by comparing such memorials as exist of the musical life of the two peoples.

The Egyptians regarded music as of sacred origin, they employed it largely

In the sculptures found in what are conjectured to be the ruins of Nineveh are many representations of musicians and musical instruments. The latter appear to have been of very finished workmanship, and to have reached that stage of development where beauty and essential fitness meet on an equal footing; in fact, within their limits, the instruments of the Assyrians may be said to be artistically perfect.

Most of the sculpture-work discovered at Nineveh is now in the British Museum, and repro

Musical instruments are divided into three great classes