(Continued from page 124.)
Some Historians affirm that music was first known in Egypt, and by
comparing the accounts of Didorus Siculus, and of Plato, there is reason
to suppose, that in very ancient times the study of music in Egypt, was
confined to the Priesthood, who used it only on religious and solemn
occasions; that, as well as sculpture, it was circumscribed by law: that
it was esteemed sacred, and forbidden to be employed on light or common
occasions; and that innovation in it was prohibited; but what the style
or relative excellence of this very ancient music was, there are no
traces by which we can form any accurate judgment. After the reigns of
the Pharoahs, the Egyptians fell by turns under the dominion of the
Ethiopians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. By such
revolutions, the manners and amusements of the people, as well as their
form of government, must have been changed. In the age of the Ptolemies,
the musical games and contests instituted by these monarchs were of
Greek origin, and the musicians who performed were chiefly Greeks. The
most ancient monuments of human art and industry, at present extant at
Rome, are the obelisks brought there from Egypt, two of which are said
to have been erected by Sesostris at Heliopolis, about 400 years before
the siege of Troy. These were by the order of Augustus brought to Rome
after the conquest of Egypt. One of them called _guglia rotta_, or the
broken pillar, which during the sacking of the City in 1527 was thrown
down and broke, still lays in the Campus Martius. On it is seen the
figure of a musical instrument of two strings and with a neck. It
resembles much the calascione still used in the kingdom of Naples.
This curious relict of antiquity is mentioned, because it affords better
evidence than, on the subject of ancient music, is usually to be met
with, that the Egyptians at so very early a period of their history, had
advanced to a considerable degree of excellence in the cultivation of
the arts. By means of its neck, this instrument was capable, with only
two strings, of producing a great number of notes.
These two strings if tuned fourths to each other, would furnish that
series of sounds which the ancients call _heptichord_, which consist of
a conjunct tetrachord as B. C. D. E; E. F. G. A; if tuned in fifths;
they would produce an octave, or two disjunct tetrachords. The annals of
no other nation than Egypt, for many ages after the period of the
obelisk at Heliopolis, exhibit the vestige of any contrivance to shorten
strings during performance by a neck or finger board. Father Montfaucon
observes, that after examining 500 ancient lyres, harps, and citheras,
he could discover no such thing.