1. The word _Music_, in its modern application, has reference to the
science which treats of the combination of sounds. It is founded upon
the law of our nature, that every leading passion has its peculiar
tone or note of expression understood by all human beings. Music,
therefore, may be supposed to have been practised in the earliest
ages; although it must have been a long time before it arose to the
importance of a science.
2. According to the Mosaic records, Jubal, one of the descendants of
Cain, played upon musical instruments, many hundred years before the
flood. In the early period of the nations of antiquity, and in fact
among all semi-barbarous people of later periods, the character of
poet and singer were united in the same individual; and the voice was
frequently accompanied by musical instruments. The oldest song which
has descended to our times, and which is stated to have been exhibited
in this manner, was that sung by Miriam, the sister of Moses, on the
occasion of the passage of the Red Sea by the children of Israel.
3. The Hebrews employed music in their celebration of religious
worship, which consisted, in part, in chanting solemn psalms with
instrumental accompaniments. It was also used by them on the occasion
of entertainments, as well as in the family circle. It reached its
greatest perfection amongst the Jews, in the days of David and
Solomon. It is supposed, that the priests of Egypt were versed in
music, before the settlement of the family of Jacob in that country;
but how far the Israelites were indebted to them for a knowledge of
this pleasing art, is altogether uncertain.
4. Music was held in very high estimation among the Greeks, who
attributed to it incredible effects. They even assure us that it is
the chief amusement of the gods, and the principal employment of the
blessed in heaven. Many of their laws, and the information relative to
the gods and heroes, as well as exhortations to virtue, were written
in verse, and sung publicly in chorus to the sound of instruments.
5. It was the opinion of the philosophers of Greece, that music was
necessary to mould the character of a nation to virtue; and Plato
asserts, that the music of his countrymen could not be altered,
without affecting the constitution of the state itself. But in his
time and afterwards, complaints were made of the degeneracy in this
art, and a deterioration of national manners through its influence.
The degeneracy probably consisted in its application to the
expression of the tender passions; it having been previously applied,
in most cases, to awaken patriotic and religious feeling.
6. The invention of music and of musical instruments, as in the cases
of most of the arts and sciences among the Greeks, was attributed by
the poets to some of the gods, or else to individuals of their own
nation. It appears, however, from their traditions, that they received
this art, or at least great improvements in its execution, from
Phoenicia or Asia Minor. It began to be cultivated scientifically in
Greece about 600 years before the advent of Christ.
7. The Romans seem to have derived the music which they employed in
religious services from the Etruscans, but that used in war and on the
stage from the Greeks. At an early period of their history, it was a
great impediment to the progress of the art, that it was practised
only by slaves.
8. The Roman orators pitched their voice, and regulated the different
intonations through their speech, by the sound of instruments; and on
the stage, the song, as well as part of the play itself, was
accompanied with flutes. Wind-instruments of various kinds, comprised
under the general name of _tibiæ_, and sometimes the cythera and harp,
accompanied the chorus. In all these applications of music, the Romans
had been preceded by the Greeks.
9. The Hebrews employed accents to express musical tones, but most
other nations of antiquity used letters of the alphabet for this
purpose; and, as they had not yet conceived the idea of the octave or
parallel lines, to express a variety of tones in a similar manner by
the aid of a key, they required a number of notes that must have been
exceedingly perplexing.
10. The Greeks are said to have had about one thousand notes, half of
which were for vocal, and the other half, for instrumental music. All
these were expressed by placing the letters of their alphabet, or
parts of them, in different positions. Accents were also used, partly
by themselves, and in connexion with the letters.
11. The lines of a poem, set to music, were placed under the letters
expressing the tones. The letters for the instrumental part were
placed first, and under them those for the voice. The notes of the
Greeks and Romans were not required to indicate the time in which they
were to be pronounced, since in general the syllables of their
language had a natural and distinct quantity. In the cases in which
there was a liability to mistake, the syllables were marked with A, if
long, and with B, if short.
12. The Romans expressed the fifteen chief tones of the Greeks with
the fifteen first letters of the Latin alphabet; and these were
reduced to seven, by Pope Gregory I., towards the end of the sixth
century; so that the first seven capital letters were used for the
first octave, the small letters for the higher octave, and the small
letters doubled, for the highest octave. Parallel lines were soon
after invented, on which the letters were written.
13. Musical sounds were expressed in this manner until the year 1024,
when, according to some authors, Guido Aretine, a monk of Arezzo,
invented points and rhombuses. He also introduced the use of five
parallel lines, upon and between which his notes were written. The
seven letters which had formerly been used as notes, now became clefs.
14. Still, however, the means of determining the duration of sound
belonging to each note, without consulting the quantity of syllables
in the verses to be sung, were yet to be provided. This desideratum
was supplied by one Franco, a German of Cologne, who lived towards the
end of the eleventh century. Some, however, attribute this improvement
to John de Murs. The division of one note into others of less value
was invented, in the sixteenth century, by Jean Mouton, chapel-master
to King Francis I. of France.
15. The knowledge of music, as a science, was preserved in Europe,
after the overthrow of the Western empire, through the influence of
the Church. The apostles, and Hebrew converts generally, had been
accustomed to the sacred music of the Jews; and, on this account, it
was easy to continue the use of the same psalms and hymns in the
Christian Church.
16. Many of the Grecian and Roman melodies were also set to words
adapted to Christian worship. In regard to the manner of singing, in
the early days of the Church, it was sometimes in _solo_, sometimes in
_alternate strains_, and at other times in _chorus_; in which the
whole assembly joined, repeating what had been before sung or read. In
the fourth century, with the view of securing the proper execution of
this part of divine worship, _precentors_ were instituted, who were
considered regular officers of the Church.
17. Pope Gregory I., surnamed the Great, distinguished himself by
establishing a new singing-school, which became a model for many
others, in the western division of the Church. In consequence of these
schools, the singing became more artificial; and this, together with
the circumstance that the hymns were in Latin, which had become
obsolete, at length excluded the people from any participation in this
part of the public worship.
18. Gregory also made a selection of the existing songs of the Church,
and introduced a _chant_, which, through his influence, and that of
his successors, was at length extended throughout Europe. It received
the appellation of the _Gregorian chant_ from his name. It was also
called the _choral song_, because it was sung by a choir. This chant
is said to be the foundation of our present church-music.
19. Music, in distinct parts, was not known until after the
introduction of the improved method of writing music, invented, as
before stated, by Guido Aretine and Franco. The development of
harmony, in four parts, was assisted by the _choral_; but it was more
particularly advanced by musical instruments, and especially by the
organ. In the fifteenth century, music began again to be treated
scientifically.
20. The Reformation produced great changes in the character of sacred
music. Before that event took place, this part of religious worship
was confined to a few fixed forms of texts, as in the mass, and this
is still the case in the Roman Catholic Church; but the Protestants
allow great variety both in the poetry and music. Luther's agency in
the production of these changes was very considerable. During the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, church music became continually
more brilliant, and always more corrupted, by the intermixture of
profane music.
21. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, there grew up, at the
courts of the European monarchs, the free chamber style, from which
arose that which was afterwards used in the theatre. The opera, which
originated with three young noblemen at Florence in 1594, has
contributed especially to the splendor and variety of modern vocal
music, the advancement of which is claimed particularly by the
Italians, as that of the instrumental kind is claimed by the Germans
and French.
22. The composition of music, and its execution either vocally or
instrumentally, as well as the business of imparting a knowledge of it
to others, are embraced in the employment of the musician; although it
is seldom, that all these branches are practised by one and the same
individual. Music is one of the fine arts, and, during the middle
ages, was one of the branches of what was then considered a learned
education.
23. Since the scientific revival of music, the art has had so many
distinguished professors, that we will not even attempt to give a list
of their names. Their number was increased, and the art greatly
perfected, by the singing-schools, called _conservatories_,
established especially in Italy, either at the public expense, or by
the liberality of individuals.