disjunct
Aeolian. [G: a'] +- A. Nete, or highest. ---+
Hypophrygian. +-| G. Paranete, next highest. |
Hypolydian. +-| | F. Trite, third. |
Dorian. +-| | | E. Nete, highest. ---+ conjunct
Phrygian. +-| | | | D. Paranete, next highest. ---+ ---+
Lydian. +-| | | | | C. Trite, third. | |
Mixolydian. +-| | | | | | B. Paramese, next to central tone | |
| | | | | | +- A. Mese, central tone. ---+ ===+
| | | | | +--- G. Lichanos, index finger. |
| | | | +----- F. Parhypate, next to lowest. |
| | | +------- E. Hypate, lowest. ===+
| | +--------- D. Lichanos, index. |
| +----------- C. Parhypate, next to lowest. |
+------------- B. Hypate, lowest. ---+
[F: a,] A. Proslambanomenos, added tone.
To go into detailed explanation of the Greek enharmonic
and chromatic pitch will scarcely be worth while, and I will
therefore merely add that the instruments were sometimes tuned
differently, either to relieve the inevitable monotony of this
purely diatonic scale or for purposes of modulation. A Dorian
tetrachord is composed of semitone, tone, tone; to make it
chromatic, it was changed as follows: [G: e' f' g-' a'] the
_lichanos_, or index finger string, being lowered a semitone.
The enharmonic pitch consisted of tuning the _lichanos_ down
still further, almost a quarter-tone below the second string,
or _parhypate_, thus making the tetrachord run quarter-tone,
quarter-tone, two tones. Besides this, even in the diatonic,
the Greeks used what they called soft intervals; for example,
when the tetrachord, instead of proceeding by semitone, tone,
tone (which system was called the hard diatonic), was tuned
to semitone, three-quarter-tone, and tone and a quarter. The
chromatic pitch also had several forms, necessitating the use
of small fractional tones as well as semitones.
Our knowledge of the musical notation of the Greeks rests
entirely on the authority of Alypius, and dates from about the
fourth century A.D. That we could not be absolutely sure of
the readings of ancient Greek melodies, even if we possessed
any, is evident from the fact that these note characters,
which at first were derived from the signs of the zodiac,
and later from the letters of the alphabet, indicate only the
relative pitch of the sounds; the rhythm is left entirely to
the metrical value of the words in the lines to be sung. Two
sets of signs were used for musical notation, the vocal system
consisting of writing the letters of the alphabet in different
positions, upside down, sideways, etc.
Of the instrumental system but little is known, and that
not trustworthy.
[05] The fundamental doctrine of the Pythagorean philosophy
was that the essence of all things rests upon musical
relations, that numbers are the principle of all that
exists, and that the world subsists by the rhythmical
order of its elements. The doctrine of the "Harmony of
the spheres" was based on the idea that the celestial
spheres were separated from each other by intervals
corresponding with the relative length of strings
arranged so as to produce harmonious tones.
[06] Dionysus, the same as the Roman Bacchus.