MUSIC AND DANCING.
Stringed Instruments--The Lyre--The Cithara--Wind Instruments--The
Flute--Trumpets, Tambourines, and other Instruments--Dancing as a
Popular Amusement--The Dance in Religious Ceremonies.
We do not intend in this place to discuss the history and theory of
ancient music, but only to supplement what has been said already about
the musical instruction of youth, by indicating the most important
branches of music which were studied in Greece and describing the
instruments in use. We shall pass over vocal music entirely, since it
played no great part in antiquity apart from instrumental accompaniment,
and its chief purpose was for song and the drama.
The commonest instruments in ordinary use were stringed. These were well
suited for solo-playing as well as for accompanying songs, and the
singer could accompany himself with them, which would have been
impossible in the case of wind instruments. The stringed instruments
used in Greece were all played by striking or thrumming, and not by
means of a bow; in fact, it is a disputed point whether the ancients,
and in particular the Egyptians, were at all acquainted with the bow; in
any case we do not find it in classical antiquity. Among the various
kinds of stringed instruments which had either existed in Greece since
the oldest times or been introduced from foreign countries, especially
from the East or from Egypt, there were only two which were of special
importance for educational and ordinary purposes. These were the lyre
and the cithara, which were closely related to one another, and only
distinguished by the effect of the sound. Of these the simpler, and
probably also the older, was the lyre, which, according to a Greek
legend, was an invention of Hermes, who constructed the first lyre out
of a tortoise, which he used as a sounding-board, stretching cords
across it. Even in later times tortoise-shells seem to have been
actually used in the construction of lyres, and on works of art,
especially vase pictures (compare the “Bowl of Duris,” which represents
school teaching in Attica, Fig. 75), we can plainly distinguish the
markings of the tortoise on the outer side of the instrument. It must,
however, have been more usual to construct the sounding-board of wood,
and only adorn it externally with tortoise-shell or other decorative
materials; the writers mention boxwood and ilex as the principal
materials for lyres, as well as ivory, which last was probably used for
decorative purposes. In the Homeric hymn to Hermes, in which the
invention of the lyre by the god is described in detail, Hermes cuts
little stems of reed, which he fastens into the shell in gridiron
fashion and covers with ox-skin, and by this means obtains the necessary
covering for the sounding-board. In later times the proceeding was
probably different, since the usual material for the sounding-board was
undoubtedly wood, and the covering was, no doubt, made of wood also. But
the shape of the sounding-board always remained the same; the outer side
was a good deal raised, while the inner side on which the strings were
attached was a level surface. Into this sounding-board two arms were
fixed, which are almost always represented on Greek monuments as merely
curved pieces of wood fastened on the inner side of the sounding-board;
but the custom which in later times, especially in the Alexandrine and
Roman periods, became very common, of not merely constructing these arms
in the shape of horns, but even making them of real horns of chamois or
gazelles, no doubt existed even in the ancient Greek period.
At their upper ends the two arms, which might be called horns, were
fastened together by a cross-piece, called the yoke, which was usually
constructed of hard wood, and on to this the strings, constructed of
sheep-guts, were stretched. Of these the lyre usually had seven, all of
equal length, which was also the case in the cithara. These strings, as
we can clearly see in the lyres of the above-mentioned bowl (Fig. 75),
passed downwards over a bridge consisting of a piece of reed fixed on
the flat covering of the sounding-board, and were then fastened singly,
probably to a little square board, such as we see on the lyre hanging on
the wall in Fig. 75. Probably this little board could be taken out, and
thus, if a string were to break, the injury could be easily repaired.
Occasionally the strings were merely tied to the yoke; but, as this
primitive method would make it impossible to tune them, we must assume
that there was usually some other contrivance, though neither writers
nor monuments give us sufficient information about it. On the lyres in
Fig. 75, and also in other pictures of stringed instruments, we perceive
at the upper ends of the strings, longish rolls which in other places
are shaped more like rings or discs, and are probably set at an angle to
the stretched strings. An hypothesis has been set up by Von Jan, who
infers, from ancient writers, after comparing similar contrivances in
Nubian stringed instruments, that these rolls were constructed of thick
skin or hide, taken from the backs of oxen or sheep; the strings were
fastened into these adhesive covers and twisted along with them round
the yoke of the lyre until they attained the right tune, and they were
then fastened into their proper position by strongly pressing down these
rolls of hide. Still, this rough mode of fastening which could only
permit of very superficial tuning of the strings, does not appear very
satisfactory; indeed, Von Jan himself calls attention to a far more
artistic contrivance observed in some of the pictures which has not yet,
however, been satisfactorily explained. There seems also to have been a
third mode of fastening; sometimes the whole yoke was divided into as
many little pulleys connected by pegs as there were strings, so that
each string had, as it were, its own yoke, by the tightening of which it
could be tuned without the other strings being affected. We have no
further details about this construction.
On the vase painting represented in Fig. 136, which presents a number of
women with musical instruments, perhaps Muses, one is leaning back
comfortably in her easy-chair, and playing on the lyre, here represented
with six strings; the woman standing in front of her seems about to tune
the strings of her cithara. The cithara differed from the lyre chiefly
in the form and structure of the sounding-board. This was constructed of
wood, often artistically decorated and adorned with valuable materials,
precious stones, etc., and was much larger and more arched than the
sounding-board of the lyre. It usually had a straight base, and
sometimes sounding holes, which was less often the case with the lyre,
and its arms were far wider and squarer, and, being also hollow, seem to
have helped to strengthen the sound. On some
[Illustration:
PL. LXXXVI
FIG. 136.]
instruments it is clear that the sounding-board and the arms which rise
out of it were constructed out of a single piece, and that,
consequently, the cavities are in connection; on some the arms are of a
different colour from the sounding-board, usually white, which would
suggest ivory; still, we must not on this account conclude that they
were constructed separately, since it is possible that the different
colouring was only an external ornamentation or veneer for the arms, and
need not lead us to assume a different material for the whole structure.
The arms were usually slightly curved outwards, but turned inwards again
at the top. The instrument in Fig. 136 is one of the simplest, since the
arms are quite plain; on other examples we often see elaborate carving.
The bridge which unites the two arms is either a perfectly simple rod,
as in the case of the lyre (compare Fig. 136), or else the arms have at
their projecting ends solid handles or crooks, which probably assisted
the tuning. The number of strings was originally limited in the cithara;
seven was at first the usual number, and this number was even fixed by
law at Sparta, but in other places nine, ten, or eleven strings were
used. The writers and pictures give us no more accurate information
about the mode in which these strings were fastened to the yoke and to
the sounding-board than they do about the lyre; the pictures dating from
the Roman period are much clearer in that respect, but we cannot safely
use them as authorities.
The lyre was generally played sitting. This instrument, which was a
light one, was held close to the left side, as we see in Figs. 75 and
136, and supported by the seat of the chair. The cithara was played
standing, and it was therefore necessary, on account of the considerable
weight of the instrument, to suspend it by a band over the shoulders.
This band is seldom represented in works of art, but it must always be
assumed to be there, since the mode in which the stringed instruments
were played would not leave a hand free for holding it. Both lyre and
cithara were played in such a manner that the strings were thrummed from
without by the left hand, but struck from within by an instrument called
_plectrum_, held in the right hand, and constructed of wood, ivory, or
some half-precious stone. This plectrum was fastened by a string to the
instrument (compare again Fig. 75). There were, however, exceptions to
this mode of playing; thus, a woman in Fig. 136 apparently does not use
the plectrum, but thrums the strings of the lyre with both hands, and at
other times it seems as though the left hand and the plectrum, which was
held in the right, were not used at the same time, but in turns. Thus,
in Fig. 75, both teacher and pupil are only thrumming the instrument
with their left hand, and leaving the plectrum at rest. The practical
object of fastening the plectrum to the instrument was that it enabled
the player at any moment to pass from the use of the plectrum to the
fingers of the right hand, and _vice versa_. An hypothesis based on
works of art, and apparently very plausible, has been made by Von Jan,
who supposes that musicians, as a rule, accompanied their song with the
play of the left hand, and only used the plectrum in the pauses.
Besides the lyres and citharae, among which we must certainly include
the Homeric _Phorminx_, of which we find various kinds but all with the
same main features, there are several other stringed instruments, to
which we can, as a rule, assign the ancient names with some certainty,
though we find a very great number of designations for these instruments
in different writers, and apparently most of them were introduced into
Greece from the East and from Egypt. One of the safest identifications
relates to a large, many-stringed instrument, of a shape which closely
resembles our modern harp (Fig. 136). This is played by the third woman
in the centre, and is also found elsewhere (compare the vase painting,
Fig. 137). We almost always find this instrument in the hands of women;
they play it seated, resting the horizontal base on their laps, while
the broader sounding-board which joins this at an angle, rests against
the upper part of their body; they strike the short strings near them
with the right hand, without a plectrum, and with the left hand the
long strings which are further from them. The pictures sometimes show
contrivances for tuning, shortening, or lengthening the strings; the
number of strings varies. As the shape is usually triangular, we may
probably assume that this instrument is the one called _Trigonon_.
Possibly some of the examples may be instances of the _Sambuca_, since
this, too, had a triangular form.
[Illustration: FIG. 137.]
We also hear of many other stringed instruments, of which we know only
the names, some with a small number of strings--three or four, others
with a large number--thirty to forty; but we know little or nothing
about their shape, and, therefore, will not enter into details
concerning them, especially as their use must have been very rare as
compared with that of the instruments already described. We must just
mention the _Barbiton_, since it seems probable that an instrument which
appears very often on ancient monuments, very narrow and long, with a
sounding-board closely resembling the lyre, but smaller, and with a very
few strings, which was played with the hand and the plectrum, may have
been the barbiton which was popular at festive gatherings, and for
accompanying love-songs.
[Illustration: FIG. 138.]
Among wind instruments we must, in the first instance, consider the
flute. Although for a time this was not popular in the most fashionable
circles at Athens, still it was much in use in Boeotia, and also in the
rest of Greece, even among amateurs, and at all times was of great
importance, especially for choruses
[Illustration: FIG. 139.]
and festive performances, for entertainments during meals, dancing, and
other such occasions. The form of this instrument which is commonest on
the monuments is the double flute. The ancient flute (ἀὐλός) differed in
shape and use from that which bears the name at the present day, since
the players did not blow into it at the side, but made use of a
mouthpiece like that of a clarinet. This mouthpiece, which was usually
of the same material as the flute proper, has an easily vibrating tongue
cut in its upper part, which vibrates within the mouth, as the greater
part of the mouthpiece is taken right into the mouth by the player. The
principal part of the flute, the pipe, which is either of the same
thickness throughout, or else somewhat widened at the lower end, was
sometimes formed of a single piece and sometimes of several component
parts. Various notes were produced by the holes of which there were at
first only three or four, but afterwards a larger number; there were
also holes at the side, which helped to increase the compass of the
flute, and various other helps, such as valves on the side, rings which
in turning either opened or closed the holes, etc. In spite of the very
numerous practical attempts instituted during the present century to
procure some notion of the mode of playing and the effect of the ancient
flute, it does not seem possible to obtain any proper conception of it.
The pipe seems never to have been used singly in Greece, but only as the
double flute, as we see on so many representations, and, as a rule, the
flutes are both of equal length. In order to facilitate the playing on
two instruments at the same time or in quick succession, and perhaps
also to prevent the escape of air, they often, though not always, made
use of a cheek-piece round the mouth. The bronze statue of a flute
player, of which both sides are represented in Figs. 138 and 139, shows
very plainly the mode in which this bandage was fastened by two leathern
thongs passed round the head; we can also recognise it in the flute
player in Fig. 140, a vase painting which undoubtedly, as the pedestal
on which he stands indicates, represents a flute player at a public
contest; this is also suggested by his curious costume--the long festive
robe and short jacket without sleeves.
In the vase painting represented in Fig. 127, the flute player, who
accompanies the gymnastic exercises, is also playing the double flute
with the mouth bandage; over his arm hangs the flute case, which was
usually made of skin, and with which the case for the mouthpieces, of
which they had several, was connected. On the other hand, the youth in
Fig. 75 has no bandage; nor yet the two women in Fig. 126, or the seated
hetaera in Fig. 142, nor the youth who
[Illustration: FIG. 140.]
in the vase painting represented in Fig. 141, with a double flute in his
hand, mounts the pedestal from which he intends to perform to the
audience who are
[Illustration: FIG. 141.]
seated close by. On the Greek monuments of the pre-Roman period we
always find two similar flutes connected together, but afterwards, and
especially in pictures connected with the worship of Cybele, one of the
flutes very often has a curved horn, which seems to have been a special
peculiarity of the Phrygian flute. This was apparently not known to the
Greeks in ancient times.
[Illustration: FIG. 142.]
The other wooden wind instruments are of no special importance for
music or art. The _Syrinx_, or pan-pipe, constructed of a number of
reeds fastened together, which in one kind of syrinx were all of equal
length, but in others varied from short to long, was used by the
shepherds, and is often seen in pictures, especially of Pan and other
forest and field divinities, but played no part in actual music. Still
more is this the case with the _Plagiaulos_, answering to the modern
_Flûte traversière_, which originated in Egypt, and with various other
kinds of single flutes which have been described to us.
Metal wind instruments, or trumpets (σάλπυγξ), were only used for
military and religious purposes. They were usually made of bronze, with
a bone mouthpiece, were of a longish shape, with a very broad mouth.
Among other musical instruments in use among the Greeks we must mention
tambourines (τύμπανα), cymbals, and castanets (κρόταλα), which were used
in the worship of Dionysus and Cybele, and in dances of an orgiastic
character; in Fig. 142 a girl, dancing to the sound of a flute, holds
castanets in her hands. But, in spite of the frequency with which these
instruments are represented on works of art, especially those which are
connected with Dionysus, their use in daily life must have been very
rare, except for the dancing girls who appeared at the symposia, and who
marked the time of their motions with them.
There is very little to say about dancing among the Greeks; in spite of
its importance in religious observances and plays or choruses, it was of
little account in daily life. We do not find it mentioned among the
usual subjects of instruction, except, indeed, at Sparta. Dancing was a
popular amusement, especially as an entertainment during banquets and
drinking feasts; but the guests did not dance themselves, but contented
themselves with looking on at professional performers. Still, no doubt,
it sometimes happened that when the revellers had drunk a good deal of
wine, they felt inspired to join the dance; there were certainly
opportunities for learning it, since we are expressly told that Socrates
took lessons in dancing at an advanced age. It is almost always solo
dancing that is in question; this consisted chiefly in rhythmic
movements of hands and feet in a variety of well-chosen postures, and
was essentially connected with gymnastics, in which the training in
dancing was sometimes included. Dancing together by people of different
sexes, such as is customary with us, was unknown in the social life of
antiquity, and would in any case have been impossible in Greece, owing
to the separation which existed in ordinary life between men and women.
The chief use of the dance was for religious purposes. In the most
ancient times solemn dances were always a part of worship; merry dances
were part of the service of Dionysus; and sometimes both sexes took part
in these choric dances, but even here there was no question of round
dancing, but only of a series of movements regulated by music, and of a
dignified and rhythmical character. The dances in armour which were
popular in the Doric states, and were, of course, only performed by men,
were of a livelier character. The dancers were equipped with helmet,
shield, and sword, and went through a number of choregraphic evolutions;
the dances at country festivals, which very often had a pantomimic
character, were also of a lively nature. Here, as well as in the solemn
religious dances, it was very common for the dancers to sing as they
danced, and sometimes even accompany themselves on some instrument; in
fact, this distinction holds good between dancing in ancient and in
modern times, that in antiquity it was not an object in itself, but was
always closely connected with the other musical arts. The ancient dance
attained its highest development and perfection in the drama, where
dancing, music, and pantomime were most perfectly combined; but we shall
have occasion to refer to this later on, in discussing the theatre of
the Greeks.