Up to this, our study of music in the Christian Era has traced the
development of the art as fostered by the Christian Church, and mainly
among the people of Southern Europe, in whom there was a strong
admixture of the Latin blood and spirit. Before going farther on this
line we will look into the record of music among the races of Northern
Europe.
=Music of the Gauls=.—Roman writers give us some account of the
character of the music of the Gauls, which differed much from the
Greco-Latin songs. Roman historians make mention of the songs of the
Gallic bards, who were poets and musicians as well, composing both
religious hymns and songs in honor of their heroes. According to
Diodorus of Sicily, the Gauls practiced the musical art long before
the Christian Era, having regular schools for the instruction of the
younger bards. The instrument used in accompanying their songs was a
sort of lyre, judging from representations on some gold medals made in
the time of Julius Cæsar. Charlemagne ordered a collection of the early
Gallic songs to be made, but the work has not survived.
=The Celtic Bards=.—The Breton bards made use of an instrument the
name of which is variously spelled Crouth, Crowd, Chrotta, Crwth,
played with a bow, with an opening in the upper part through which
the performer placed the left hand in order to press the strings, the
number of which varied from three to six. The crouth of the Welsh
bards differed in some respects from those that were made use of by
the Breton bards. With them, however, a form of the harp became the
national instrument. The early history of Celtic music in Wales in
particular, is mingled with myth. We have only the names of bards,
Fingal, Fergus and Ossian, no authentic music. What is of importance to
us is the secular organization of the bards. One class included poets,
historians and those skilled in the science of heraldry; another class
comprehended musical bards, harp players bearing the title of doctors
of music, players of the six stringed crouth and singers, who must have
been skilled men, since nine years’ study was exacted of them.
[Illustration: BRETON CROUTH. LYRE (9TH CENT).]
[Illustration: IRISH HARP. ENGLISH HARP.]
=Ireland=.—The traditionary bard of Ireland is Fergus, whose songs
were of war and heroes. When St. Patrick introduced Christianity
into Ireland in the 5th century, learning and skill in the arts of
poetry and music grew to be cultivated as extensively as in more
favored lands. In the 10th century, the famous musician was the King
O’Brien Boru, whose harp is still shown in the Dublin Museum. This has
twenty-eight strings, and the sounding board, in which there are four
holes, is very large at the base. After Ireland was conquered by the
English its culture declined, owing to continuous wars and internal
strife.
=Scotland=.—The music of the Scotch, like the other Celtic races just
mentioned, is characteristic. Their harp was similar in form to the
Irish; their favorite instrument was the bagpipe. King James I is
credited with having done much to stimulate an interest in music among
his subjects. Having been a captive in England for a period of eighteen
years, he had acquired great skill in music, which was the solace
of his weary hours. According to a contemporary historian, the king
played a great many of the instruments in use in his day: the bagpipe,
psaltery, organ, harp, lute, flute and dulcimer. The music of Scotland
makes great use of the pentatonic scales, and it is likely that the
original form of many of the old Scottish folk-melodies was pentatonic.
A characteristic feature of Scottish music is the so-called “Scotch
snap,” illustrated in the short notes in the familiar air “Comin’ Thro’
the Rye,” and in the following dance tune:
[Music: STRATHSPEY]
An instrument of so marked characteristics as those displayed by the
bagpipe will naturally develop a characteristic style of music. The
pipers gave extraordinary study to the mastery of their instrument and
noted players acquired wonderful skill.[8]
=England=.—Until the time of the conquest of England by William of
Normandy (1066), music among the Anglo-Saxons was practiced by the
scalds or bards, minstrels (also called gleemen), and the monks in
the monasteries. Poetry and music were much encouraged by some of the
kings and Alfred the Great (849-901) was widely famed for his skill in
playing the harp and as a singer. In the manuscripts belonging to these
early days in England we read of such instruments as the psaltery, the
rota, little harps of eleven strings, viols, called fiddles, citharas,
cornets, trumpets, etc.
[Illustration: SCANDINAVIAN LUDR.]
=Scandinavia=.—The Runic style of writing,—which has numerous analogies
to the neumes,—used by the northern people, presents many difficulties
in the matter of translation, so that we have little chance to form
an opinion as to the early music of the Scandinavian races. They have
their national poems, a presentation of their myths in the Edda, and
the deeds of their great heroes in the Sagas, songs which inspired
both poets and musicians, an office most generally found united in one
person, called a scald, (equivalent to the Saxon bard). The sagas were
sung or chanted by the scalds to the accompaniment of a small harp. In
1639 and again in 1734, in the duchy of Schleswig, horns of pure gold
were found which had been used in the worship of Odin, covered with
Runic inscriptions, which have not yet been satisfactorily deciphered.
Other instruments belonging to this period that have been discovered
and preserved in museums are bronze horns somewhat curious in shape,
called lüdr. These instruments have been tested by experienced horn
players and give forth a fine, resonant tone. Up to the present nothing
has been discovered to indicate that the northern races had a system
of musical notation; melodies were undoubtedly transmitted by oral
communication.
=Finland=.—The people of Finland are intensely musical and have many
beautiful folk-songs. Their national epic is called the “Kalevala,” and
gives the history of the hero, Wainœmonien, god of music, who by the
exercise of his art, became the master of the universe, analogous to
the Greek myth of Orpheus. The Finnish bards used an instrument called
Kantèle or Harpu, a sort of psaltery with five strings forming the
first five notes of the minor scale, G fourth space, bass staff, to D
above.
=Progress in Southern Europe=.—As may be gathered from the hasty survey
of music among the nations in the west and north of Europe, they did
not contribute to its growth during the centuries under consideration.
It was in the south of Europe that the forces were forming, and not in
the Church as heretofore, but outside, among the people. We cannot say
who composed the songs of the people, so different in character from
the songs of the Church; they seemed to spring up spontaneously and
were passed from one to another orally. The _music of the Church lacked
measure_ or rhythm, as we may say, while the _music of the people_,
closely associated with dancing, was _rhythmic_. In fact, the scholarly
musicians of that period condemned the music of the people because
of its marked rhythmic character. On account of the crudeness of the
early instruments, often the lack of them and of competent players,
the people were accustomed to sing to their dancing, a custom still
followed in certain places. The next step was an easy one, that of
making new verses to familiar airs. Another factor in spreading music
among the people appears in the _traveling minstrels_. Without a fixed
residence, owing allegiance to no lord, by law, in many cases, out of
the pale of society, these free sons of art, who began to come into
prominence in the 11th century, roved from place to place, resting for
the night in castle, monastery, inn or wayside camp. In return for the
hospitality freely given, they sang the songs they learned from each
other and in the various lands they visited. Their accomplishments in
the music line were varied. One, Robert le Mains, said: “I can play
the lute, the violin, the pipe, the bagpipe, the syrinx, the harp, the
gigue, the gittern, the symphony, the psaltery, the organistrum, the
regals, the tabor and the rote. I can sing a song well and make tales
and fables.”
=Trouvères=.—Another influence was also at work, one that was greatly
to affect music, raising it from the level of common entertainment to
an art patronized by the highest social circles. The Crusades left a
permanent influence upon the people of Europe and upon the institution
of Chivalry, the knightly singers (trouvères) vying with each other
in verse and song, as well as in arms. Education took a higher place
and schools became more numerous (12th and 13th centuries), and music
was given recognition; this was the case not only in schools connected
with monasteries, but also in the newly established universities, such
as that at Paris. Secular music also had schools, so to speak, for,
during Lent, when all gay songs were forbidden, the trouvères and
minstrels would stop at some convenient point and teach their songs to
all who would learn; hither the great lords would send the minstrels
in their pay to renew their repertoires and learn the songs that were
most favored by the polite world. It was not possible that much advance
could be made in musical education, from a scientific side, for there
was _no_ general _system_ of _convenient notation_. Airs were taught by
playing them over, the singer with the ready ear having the advantage.
Still the efforts and studies made in the monasteries and schools were
not fruitless, although the systems evolved were very complicated,
making the reading of music a difficult matter.
=The Music of the Period=.—It is a fortunate thing for the investigator
of the history of music that, at the present time, a number of
collections of the airs of the 12th and 13th centuries are still in
existence; for example, in the National Library, Paris, which possesses
a number of magnificent manuscripts, containing songs noted down by
the French trouvères; also in the Library of the Medical School of
Montpelier there is a collection of nearly four hundred songs, secular
and religious, for two, three or four voices. The _melodic ideas_ of
this period, as indicated by these manuscripts, were _vague_ and the
_rhythms uncertain_. Yet this music, barbarous as it appears to us,
was not the product of chance, as we may think; it had its rules, just
like the music of today, the art of composing being called Discant,
referred to in Lesson VI. Sometimes these singers of the 12th and 13th
centuries tried to invent original airs, very frequently they would
take several familiar airs, two, three or four and combine them in
what seems to us a crude way, yet in a manner that was pleasing to the
hearers of their time. The style of the songs in use varied greatly, in
spite of the poverty of musical resources. In general, a song for one
voice was used only in setting the _Chansons des Gestes_, _Romances_,
_Pastourelles_, _Serventois_, _Lais_ and _Jeux Partis_. The discant
style was used in _Motets_, _Rondeaux_, _Conduits_; according as these
latter compositions were for two, three, four or five voices, they were
called _duplum_, _triplum_, _quadruplum_, and _quintuplum_.
=Troubadours=.—The cradle of the French troubadours was in Provence,
the south of France. They usually belonged to the nobility, and,
instead of performing their own pieces, had them performed by the
_jongleurs_, only occasionally consenting to sing for some company
of high-born nobles and ladies. We mention a few of those who were
counted among the troubadours: Richard the Lion-Hearted, of England,
Count William of Poitiers, Rambout, Count of Orange, Pierre d’Auvergne,
Pierre Ramon de Toulouse, Pierre Vidal, Pons de Capdueil, poet,
singer and violinist, Aimeric de Pequilain, Blagobres, a virtuoso on
all instruments, Blondel de Nesle, the Chatelain de Coucy, Thibault,
King of Navarre. Clement, the French historian, gives a list of 28
trouvères of the 13th century, less prominent socially than those
already mentioned. The most celebrated of them and the most important
from the historian’s standpoint is =Adam de La Hale= or =Halle=, born
1240. He wrote many pieces, of which we have thirty-three songs, some
rondeaux, six motets, some _Jeux Partis_, among the latter being a work
which is regarded as a sort of comic opera, sometimes called the “first
opera”: “Robin and Marion”; it consists of dialogue and airs.
[Music: AIR FROM ROBIN AND MARION.]
[Illustration: INSTRUMENTS OF THE MINNESINGERS.]
=Minnesingers=.—While the trouvères and troubadours were singing
in Provence and in France, an analogous association was forming in
Germany, to which the name Minnesingers (_Minne_, old German, “love”)
was given. A list of names belonging to the 13th century includes
162 men, among whom are several occupying thrones. Names that have
interest for us are Klingsor, Wolfram von Eschenbach (author of a poem
on “Parcival”), Gottfried of Strassburg (author of a poem “Tristan and
Isolde”), =Walter von der Vogelweide=, the =Chevalier Tannhaeuser= and
Heinrich Meissen, called Frauenlob. Richard Wagner has introduced some
of these men in his operas. The versification of the Minnesingers has
been much admired by critics; it was filled with art as well as beauty.
Their love themes differed from those of the Provençal singers in that
while the poetry of the latter declared love as a gallant sentiment,
the Germans gave it a loftier tone by mingling it with the Madonna
sentiment.
=Folk-Song=.—While the German nobles were employing themselves in the
service of art, the people were not idle. They had their tunes and
their verses. The _Locheimer Liederbuch_ (1452), contains a number of
songs, some of which are undoubtedly very old; they are melodious,
varied in rhythm and full of naïve simplicity. Some of them are
arranged in the popular _three-voice_ style, and show correct part
leading, the inclination being _toward our major and minor modes_
instead of the Church Modes.
[Illustration: HANS SACHS.]
=Mastersingers=.—The most noted musical organization among the people
was that of the Mastersingers (celebrated in Richard Wagner’s opera);
Nuremberg, Mayence, Strassburg and Frankfort were their centres. The
members were organized into a Guild, just as was the case in trade
affairs; they had a charter from the Emperor Charles IV. Their poetry
and music were not elevated, for the members of the Guild were not of
a standing and an education to give them real skill in the fine arts.
The records of the Mastersingers show that the members were principally
tradesmen, such as farriers, armorers, locksmiths, tailors, cobblers;
yet there were some members who could lay claims to culture and higher
standing, as engravers, physicians and a few gentlemen of leisure.
The most conspicuous of them all was =Hans Sachs=, the cobbler-poet
of Nuremberg. Their works were marked by _monotonous melody_, (for
the pitch is but little varied) and a heavy, clumsy rhythm. To make
up for the lack of real artistic idea they were _pedantic_ to an
extreme; composition was hedged about by a multitude of rules, to
which composers must give exact obedience. These rules were given in a
code called Tablatura. They held contests in which the members vied in
producing works exemplifying the principles of the organization.