MUSIC OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
We now resume the chronological chain of musical history, from the
termination of “Ancient Greek music;” for the music of the Christian
church took its rise, from the melodies of Ancient Greece. Yet it is
probable that the earliest Christian melodies were not according to the
classical Grecian type, but rather conformed to the popular in style.
This has always been the case in the rise of a new sect with sagacious
leaders. The Jews on leaving Egypt, yet sang the popular melodies dear
to their hearts, by association of childhood and youth; only at a later
period, only when these songs were no longer so endeared to them did
David introduce such reforms, as gave to the Hebrew music a distinctive
style. So, also, it was with the Christian church in its earliest days;
it would have been positively injudicious, at first, to have attempted a
reform; and therefore, the old popular melodies of Greece and Rome, were
set to new words and exerted a new influence.
Music has been, with every religion, the most powerful accessory of the
Faith; but with none more than with Christianity. It had the additional
advantage, of being in an advancing state (under the charge of able
directors, who fully saw the power of the art when made popular) while
the music of the Pagan church was greatly declining. The great emperor
Julian, foresaw the result, and used great efforts to secure a better
class of music for the Roman sacrifices, but without avail.
With regard to the Christian music of the time of the apostles, we have
only tradition, but these traditions have so much probability, that they
acquire some degree of authority.
Eusebius assures us that St. Mark taught the first Egyptian Christians
how to chant their prayers: St. John Chrysostom affirms (in his sixth
homily) that the Apostles wrote the first hymn. In Rome (according to
Tertullian) the chants were given in a deep tone, and not in a sustained
manner, at one part of the service, and with strong accents, and
flexible voice at another. The Fathers of the church almost all bear
testimony that the music of the service generally partook of the
habitual style of singing of each nation.
Kiesewetter, one of the most careful of the students of Ancient Greek
music, maintains that, while the early Christians borrowed much from
Greece, yet from the first, the tendency was rather away from, than in
the path of the Greek style. Brendel in his essays coincides with this
opinion.[229]
The cause of this, so far as Rome and Greece are concerned, is very
apparent. The apostles and their followers, started unencumbered in the
musical field. The theory of Greek music was a most difficult one to
master, and the converts were at first almost wholly among the humbler
classes. It would have been impossible to have trained them in the
elaborate Hellenic school, therefore, the more ear-catching melodies
were at first used, combined probably with a simple chant. The same
cause operated in the foundation of a newer and simpler theory of music;
hence, although our modern music is the child of the ancient Greek
school, yet it did not go in the same course, or arrive at the same goal
which would have resulted, had the old Greek civilization been continued
two thousand years longer.
We hold that the Greeks were too much devoted to the plastic arts, ever
to have brought music deeply into the inner life.
Before the liturgy had been well established, improvisation was much
employed; a result always to be anticipated when uncultivated persons
become musical. At the evening meal, the twenty-third Psalm was usually
chanted.[230] Other passages of scripture were also used, such as Exodus
XV., and Daniel III.
When the water was passed around for the washing of hands, each one of
the company was asked in turn to praise God in song, and the selection
might either be taken from Scripture, or improvised, according to the
taste or ability of the performer.[231] Some of the best of these
effusions were unquestionably preserved and possibly even admitted into
the regular service of the church. The songs may have been rough and
uncouth, but they were given with a fervor which compensated for any
short-comings. They were unaccompanied, for two reasons; first, it would
have been difficult to have formed an instrumental accompaniment to such
variable and primitive songs, (sometimes a mere intonation of the voice,
scarcely to be called music or even chanting); and second, because all
the instruments of the heathen were in daily use at the sacrifices and
theatres; and it would have seemed sacrilegious to have used them in the
celebration of a Christian festival.[232]
The summing up of the legends, surmises, and few statements concerning
the music of the earliest Christians, are well expressed in Ambros.[233]
We can conclude regarding the music of the earliest Christian times,
that it was at first a species of Folk-song, founded upon the school of
music then in vogue, but elevated and impregnated with a new religious
spirit. But this simplicity soon was changed: profiting by the
experience of the Romans in uniting all art and beauty in their
theatres, (whereby the theatre grew, and the church declined;) the early
Christians soon found it wise to unite every art, in the service of
their church. It is also probable that much of the music was borrowed
from that of the Hebrews. This is more natural when we reflect that
Christianity was at first a continuation (or reorganization) of Hebrew
rites and the apostles were all well acquainted with the ceremonies of
the Jewish church.
The chanting of the scriptures which took place in the latter worship,
was undoubtedly transplanted into the Christian service.[234] Many of
the early psalms and canticles were sung in caves and subterranean
retreats in which places the proscribed and persecuted worshippers were
obliged to seek refuge, and where they still kept, up with undeviating
regularity the practice of their ceremonies.
Pliny the younger on being made pro-consul of Bithynia was especially
charged by the emperor Trajan, to find accusations against the
Christians there, the number of whom was augmenting daily. A letter of
his, supposed to have been written in the third year of the second
century of our era,[235] contains the following regarding the new
religion.
“They affirm that their fault, and errors have only consisted of
this;—they convene at stated days, before sunrise, and sing, each in
turn, verses in praise of Christ, as of a God; they engage themselves,
by oath, not to do any crime, but never to commit theft, robbery, or
adultery, never to break faith, or betray a trust. After this they
separate and afterwards reassemble to eat together innocent and
innocuous dishes.”[236]
At a later period (the fourth century) all proselytes and new converts
were not admitted to sing in the church with the baptized. The new
converts presented themselves before the hierarch, (a dignitary who was
charged with the duty of classifying the catechumens in different
orders) and expressed to him the desire of joining the church. If the
questions of the priests were satisfactorily answered, he placed his
hand on the head of the applicant and gave him the benediction with the
sign of the cross, and afterwards inscribed his name among the number of
candidates for baptism. The catechumen had not the right to enter the
church. He might linger around the porticos, but was on no account
allowed to join in the prayers, except in a low voice, and in the hymns
not at all, until he had received the rite of baptism.
The candidates for baptism were divided into various classes. Even after
baptism there were three orders of Christians, and those who had fallen
into disgrace with the church, were sometimes disciplined by being
reduced for a few years to the rank of auditors at the services. These
were not allowed to join in the congregational singing, and were
sometimes not even admitted to the body of the church edifice unless
called there.
It is presumable that the right to join in the singing was, during the
first two or three centuries, highly prized.
Little by little the spirit of improvement crept into the unskilled but
soul-felt music of the early Christian church. It seems rather strange
to find in the very germs of the religion, a silent, yet real contest
between congregational and paid singing; and to find the same evils
creeping in with the employment of singers in those early times, that we
see in the present days of quartette choirs. In the days of Origen
(about the middle of the second century) all the congregation sang
together.
St. John Chrysostom says,—
“The psalms which we sing united all the voices in one, and the
canticles arise harmoniously in unison. Young and old, rich and poor,
women, men, slaves and citizens, all of us have formed but one melody
together.”[237]
A better picture of the full congregational singing of the primitive
Christians cannot be given. The custom of allowing both sexes to sing
together, was abolished by the Synod of Antioch in A. D. 379, and it was
then decided that the men only should be allowed to sing the psalms.
In A. D. 481, the council of Laodicea ordained that the clerks only
(called canonical singers “_Canonicos Cantores_,”) should be allowed to
sing during the service.[238] The abuses which accompany paid singing,
appeared even in the second century. Singers found themselves sought
after in proportion to their talents, and therefore (in the absence of
an exact method of notation) sought to make those talents more
conspicuous by an introduction of florid ornaments and cadenzas into
their music; they gradually forgot, or disregarded the old traditional
style of singing, and sought only to excite the admiration of the masses
by exhibiting to the best advantage the power and agility of their
voices.
It was, without doubt, to remedy this abuse that Pope Sylvester I, who
occupied the pontifical chair, A. D. 320, founded a school in Rome for
the formation of singers.[239] At this time also, the choir had its own
gallery or place in the church assigned to it, and every art was called
into play to impress and enthrall the worshipper. Sculpture, Painting,
Architecture and Music combined, as they had previously done for Pagan
theatres and amusements, to render the church a beautiful as well as
holy resort. Charity combined in some instances with policy; for we
learn that a singing school founded in A. D. 350, by pope Hilary, was
called an orphan asylum (orphanotrophia), and here the education of
clerks for the church, was commenced at a very tender age.[240]
These schools did much to re-establish a dignified and worthy style of
sacred singing. Yet there was great need of a sweeping reform; for as
there existed no really fixed system, the differences in singing were
almost as numerous as the various existing churches. Before speaking of
this reform, we will briefly outline the progress of music in Christian
communities outside of Rome.
GREEK CHURCH.
The Greek church, from the very beginning, paid great attention to music
in all its details. The first institution of the mass, is attributed to
St. James the lesser, first bishop of Jerusalem, who died a martyr in A.
D. 62. This mass is still in existence. There are also existing, masses
by the two great luminaries of the Greek Church, Sts. John Chrysostom
and Basilius, who flourished in the last half of the fourth century.
Although there are doubts expressed as to whether St. John Chrysostom
wrote the one attributed to him, yet it is certain that the mass was
used in Constantinople (of which city he was the Patriarch) as long ago
as the end of the fourth century, and was not materially changed until
the eighth century. It is entitled “The mystery of the divine
Eucharist.”[241]
The _hymns_, which at first were not used at all in the Roman church,
were one of the brightest ornaments of the Greek. The verses and ancient
tunes of these hymns were at first well adapted to each other; but, by
the constant introduction of embellishments, shakes, and cadenzas, the
connection was soon lost.
This taste for ornamentation in sacred music was driven to far greater
excess in the Greek church, than even in Rome; the taste _fioritura_ is
to-day, and always has been, a characteristic of most Eastern nations.
This is driven to such excess in the Greek church, that (in the churches
of the Orient, at least), the hymns are executed by two singers, one of
whom sings the hymns, while the other sustains the key note or principal
tone only.
This note the singer gives out with regularity and monotony, its only
object being to keep the principal singer in bounds and to prevent him
from straying away from the key on account of the numerous trills and
_fiorituri_ which he is expected to introduce into the song.
It may be well to mention here, as we shall not recur to the music of
the Eastern Greek church again, that its style of notation, and singing
has altered very little, in the course of centuries; it is totally
different from that of all other countries, and consists wholly of
signs, which are not in any manner measured off into bars, but somewhat
resemble the chants of the Catholic church. The notes are only relative
in value, and the scale on which the melodies are founded, may be
represented thus,—
Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do, Re.
Pa, Bou, Ga, Di, Ke, Zô, Ne, Pa.
Every embellishment is represented by a character; rising and falling
inflections by others, and comparative length of notes by yet others.
It will therefore be seen that although the notation is decidedly
complicated, there is a comprehensible system followed, by consulting
which, we attain certain information as to one branch of the early
church.[242]
The works found in the old monasteries of the Orient are almost
invaluable to the musical antiquary. We believe that many more will yet
be discovered among the monks of Mt. Athos, those strange and illiterate
custodians of some of the rarest manuscripts in existence, relative to
this subject.[243]
We are sorry that a thorough description of this subject (though full of
interest) would demand much space and many engravings. The effect of the
singing of this church in its oriental branches is very similar to that
of the Hebrews in their services of the present day.
SYRIAN CHURCH.
We now turn to the early Christian church of Syria, founded by the
Apostles Paul and Barnabas.
One of the earliest in existence, the church of Antioch soon became the
metropolis of Syrian Christianity. Yet it was in this church also that
the first heresy took place, by the rise of the Gnostics (disciples of
science); one of this sect, named Bardesanes, founded a separate
denomination of these, and was the first who composed hymns in the
native tongue, and adapted them to melodies. He composed one hundred and
fifty psalms in imitation of David.
But greatest of all the musicians of the Orthodox Christian church of
Syria, was Ephraem Syrus. He is still called “Harp of the Holy Spirit”
in many churches who yet honor him and celebrate his feast.
He was a monk of Syria, born of poor parents, in a village of
Mesopotamia. At eighteen years of age he was converted and baptized, and
soon retired to a desert spot to practice penitence and piety. It was in
this retreat that he composed his voluminous sermons, hymns, etc., all
of which have much poetic beauty and oriental imagery.[244] He wrote
fifteen hymns on the “Nativity,” fifteen on “Paradise,” fifty-two on
“Faith,” and “The Church,” fifty-one on “The Virginity,” eighty-seven
against “Heresy,” and “The Arians,” eighty-five “Mortuary,” fifteen
moral hymns, etc. His writings on the _Peshito_ or Syriac version of the
scriptures are still of use to the theological student.
He arranged the music to his hymns, and he himself speaks of having
arranged sixty-six of them in the style of Bardesanes.
Many of the songs and prayers in the Syrian liturgy, ascribed to St.
Ephraem are spurious. It is related that at the first interview between
him and St. Basilius, the former was endowed by the Holy Ghost with
sudden power to speak Greek, and the latter Syriac, thus giving them a
choice of languages in which to converse.
It is impossible to give a thorough account of the music of the Syrian
Church, as although the first instruments mentioned in the Bible (the
taboret, a tambourine held in one hand and struck with the other, and
Kinnor, a seven stringed triangular harp) are Syrian, yet the people
have never, from time immemorial, written down their melodies, but
always handed them down orally, father to son, or teacher to pupil.
The mass in Syrian liturgy, is very different in its form, from the
Catholic: there is neither _Kyrie Eleison_, _Gloria_, nor _Epistle_,
contained in it.
There are two distinct sects in the Syrian church; the first
Ephraemitic, or followers of the Orthodox saint; the second, heretical
and followers of Jacob Baradaeus, a Syrian monk of the sixth century.
These are called Jacobites, and hold Eutychian doctrines.
The music of the latter is ornamented to excess; that of the Ephraemitic
rite nobler and plainer.
THE ARMENIAN CHURCH.
The rise of Christianity among the Armenians, goes back to the third
century, but they early developed the doctrines of Eutychius, and the
Monophysites. At times, portions of the Armenian church have adhered to
the Western church, but in its rites it far more resembles the Eastern
Greek church. The language is well adapted for song.
Their most ancient religious songs were written by _Sahac_, the great
_Katholicos_, or patriarch of the church; the psalms were sung by them
to popular melodies.
THE CHURCHES OF AFRICA.
St. Mark is considered as the Apostle of Egypt and founder of the church
of Alexandria; the liturgy used by this church is said to have been
written by him; but many manuscripts exist which point to St. Basilius
as its author, and it bears internal evidence that St. Mark could not
have written it, for among the prayers for the dead, it names many
saints, martyrs, bishops, etc., _including St. Mark_.
The songs of the early Christians here, as throughout the Orient, were
hymns, psalms, and anthems of which the melodies were taken from the
popular music of the day.
The Coptic church in its liturgy entirely resembled the Greek church of
Egypt, and in looking over its ritual, one continually meets with
translations of the liturgies of St. Basil, St. Cyrille, or St. Gregory
Nazianzen. In the National Library, of Paris there is also a Coptic
translation of the Liturgy of St. Mark.
The music of the Coptic church is very much embellished, and of
inordinate length; for, owing to the practice of the singers to vocalise
upon one syllable sometimes to the length of _several minutes_[245] the
vespers alone, often attain the length of _four or five hours_.
As the rules of worship of the Copts do not allow them either to kneel
or to sit down during services, they are obliged to support themselves
by placing under their arm-pits, a long crutch, in order not to drop
from fatigue.
This race is degenerating fast, and will soon disappear under the
despotic sway of the Arabs. Their number is about one hundred and fifty
thousand. Few of them understand the Coptic language, and although part
of the service is sung in that tongue, it is usually afterwards
explained in Arabic. Their modulations in singing are very bold,
constant, and fatiguing; so much so, that long before the end of the
song, all remembrance of any key-note, is lost.
All writers agree in speaking of their music, as tiresome in the
extreme. This proceeds from three causes;—their extraordinary length,
their insignificant melody, and the constant repetition of the syllables
and vowels of a single word, whereby it is made almost impossible to
follow the sense of the text. This fault is not confined to the Coptic
sect only, but is largely found in the Greek church throughout the
Orient. Fetis gives a strong example of one case, taken from an Eastern
Hymnal, it runs as follows,—
Aga-a-a-a-a-a-aate-e-e-e-e mara ky-y-y-ri-i-i-i-i-ou.
Each of the vowels is given separate from the others, and the effect is
ludicrous in the extreme. The Copts do worse than this; after mincing a
word into such minute fragments, they go back and re-mutilate the first
syllable, then again the second, then perhaps the first two, and so on
for a long time before they give the word complete like the Syrians.
The Copts have no musical notation whatever, and it is a most curious
fact in music, that they should be able to recollect such lengthy songs,
devoid of any apparent melody, or sequence, and hand them down
traditionally, from generation to generation; they must possess either
phenomenal memories, or an insight to a connection of ideas in their
songs, which has escaped European perception. These remarkable
descendants of the ancient Egyptians, hate other Christian sects with
much more fervor than they do the Mohammedans.
Of the Abyssinian Church we have already spoken, (see chapters on
“African Music”);—there is little more to add. They have different modes
of singing for different grades of sacred festivals. Responses made by
the people or the choir, enter largely into their mass. The number of
choristers is from eight to twelve, and they have all powerful voices;
this is in fact a prime necessity, as at the door of the church, during
service, a constant din of drums, cymbals, and sistrums is kept up.
On certain days, the priests and people have a grand religious dance, to
the sound of these instruments, while the chorus sing a litany and all
mark the time by a clapping of hands.
GENERAL SYNOPSIS OF EARLY CHRISTIAN MUSIC.
That the art of music was esteemed among the more educated of the early
Christians is very strongly shown by a fresco in the cemetery of
Domitilla (in Rome). This painting which seems to be of the first or
second century of our era, represents Christ as Orpheus, charming all
nature by his music.[246] It is probably only an allegorical figure,
representing his divine gifts, but the figure must be a shock to all who
are accustomed to see the face of Jesus, as drawn by the Leonardo da
Vinci. Instead of the meek and beautiful form, we see here a lank
loosely-built young man, sitting in a very uncomfortable attitude, on a
rock, and twanging away at a four-stringed lyre.
Regarding the origin of the present pictures of Christ (although not
strictly belonging to our subject) we are tempted to make the following
remarks.
It is believed by some scholars that the head of Christ was first copied
from the statue of Jupiter (or the Greek Zeus), which was, in the early
centuries regarded as the most perfect model of manly beauty. It is
scarcely to be doubted that the general model of the Pagan sculptures
was followed in the early representations of the Saviour. But the style
of portraits was altered in consonance with the description handed down
by good authorities.
A brass medal with a head of Christ on one side, was discovered in 1702,
in some Druidical ruins, at Aberfraw, Wales, which although of a later
era than that assigned to it, is of great antiquity, and coincides with
the pictures of to-day.
There exists a letter ascribed to Publius Lentulus and directed to the
emperor Tiberius, which describes Jesus. Although it is apocryphal, yet
it was certainly written in the days of the primitive Christians. It is
translated as follows,—[247]
“There hath appeared in these, our days, a man of great virtue, named
Jesus Christ, who is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles, is
accepted as a prophet, but his disciples call him the Son of God. He
raiseth the dead, and cures all manner of diseases; a man of stature
somewhat tall and comely, with very reverend countenance, such as the
beholders both love and fear; his hair the color of chestnut, full ripe,
plain to his ears, whence downward it is more orient, curling and waving
about his shoulders.”
“In the midst of his head is a seam or partition of the hair, after the
manner of the Nazarites; his forehead plain and very delicate; his face
without a spot or wrinkle, beautified with the most lovely red; his nose
and mouth so formed that nothing can be reprehended; his beard thickish,
in color like his hair, not very long but forked; his look innocent and
mature, his eyes gray, clear, and quick. In reproving he is terrible; in
admonishing, courteous and fair spoken; pleasant in conversation mixed
with gravity.”
“It cannot be remarked that any one saw him laugh, but many have seen
him weep. In proportion of body, most excellent; his hands and arms most
delicate to behold. In speaking, very temperate, moderate and wise. A
man for his singular beauty, surpassing the children of men.”
From this letter of the predecessor of Pontius Pilate (?) the two
earliest known portraits of Christ (in the Calixtine and Pontine
catacombs at Rome) were probably sketched and the model has been
followed up to our day.
But there is another description, by St. John of Damascus, which is much
more in keeping with the Jewish type, of which he supposes the Saviour
probably may have had some trait.
According to him, Christ had beautiful eyes, but the eyebrows meeting; a
regular nose, flowing locks, a black beard, and a straw colored
complexion, like his mother.