_Elements of Criticism_, in which I found great entertainment. I
only wished you had examined more fully the subject of music, and
demonstrated that the pleasure artists feel in hearing much of that
composed in the modern taste, is not the natural pleasure arising
from melody or harmony of sounds, but of the same kind with the
pleasure we feel on seeing the surprising feats of tumblers and
rope-dancers, who execute difficult things. For my part I take this
to be really the case, and suppose it the reason why those who
are unpractised in music, and therefore unacquainted with those
difficulties, have little or no pleasure in hearing this music. Many
pieces of it are mere compositions of tricks. I have sometimes, at a
concert, attended by a common audience, placed myself so as to see
all their faces, and observed no signs of pleasure in them during
the performance of a great part that was admired by the performers
themselves; while a plain old Scotch tune, which they disdained, and
could scarcely be prevailed on to play, gave manifest and general
delight. Give me leave, on this occasion, to extend a little the
sense of your position, that "melody and harmony are separately
agreeable, and in union delightful," and to give it as my opinion,
that the reason why the Scotch tunes have lived so long, and will
probably live for ever (if they escape being stifled in modern
affected ornament) is merely this, that they are really compositions
of melody and harmony united, or rather that their melody is harmony.
I mean the simple tunes sung by a single voice. As this will appear
paradoxical, I must explain my meaning. In common acceptation,
indeed, only an agreeable _succession_ of sounds is called _melody_,
and only the _co-existence_ of agreeable sounds, _harmony_. But since
the memory is capable of retaining for some moments a perfect idea of
the pitch of a past sound, so as to compare with it the pitch of a
succeeding sound, and judge truly of their agreement or disagreement,
there may and does arise from thence a sense of harmony between the
present and past sounds, equally pleasing with that between two
present sounds. Now the construction of the old Scotch tunes is this,
that almost every succeeding emphatical note is a third, a fifth, an
octave, or in short some note that is in concord with the preceding
note. Thirds are chiefly used, which are very pleasing concords. I
use the word _emphatical_ to distinguish those notes which have a
stress laid on them in singing the tune, from the lighter connecting
notes, that serve merely, like grammar articles in common speech, to
tack the whole together.
That we have a most perfect idea of a sound just past, I might appeal
to all acquainted with music, who know how easy it is to repeat a
sound in the same pitch with one just heard. In tuning an instrument,
a good ear can as easily determine that two strings are in unison
by sounding them separately, as by sounding them together; their
disagreement is also as easily, I believe I may say more easily and
better distinguished, when sounded separately; for when sounded
together, though you know by the beating that one is higher than the
other, you cannot tell which it is. I have ascribed to memory the
ability of comparing the pitch of a present tone with that of one
past. But if there should be, as possibly there may be, something
in the ear, similar to what we find in the eye, that ability would
not be entirely owing to memory. Possibly the vibrations given to
the auditory nerves by a particular sound may actually continue some
time after the cause of those vibrations is past, and the agreement
or disagreement of a subsequent sound become by comparison with them
more discernible. For the impression made on the visual nerves by a
luminous object will continue for twenty or thirty seconds. Sitting
in a room, look earnestly at the middle of a window a little while
when the day is bright, and then shut your eyes; the figure of the
window will still remain in the eye, and so distinct that you may
count the panes. A remarkable circumstance attending this experiment,
is, that the impression of forms is better retained than that of
colours; for after the eyes are shut, when you first discern the
image of the window, the panes appear dark, and the cross bars of the
sashes, with the window frames and walls, appear white or bright;
but if you still add to the darkness in the eyes by covering them
with your hand, the reverse instantly takes place, the panes appear
luminous and the cross bars dark. And by removing the hand they are
again reversed. This I know not how to account for.--Nor for the
following; that after looking long through green spectacles, the
white paper of a book will on first taking them off appear to have a
blush of red; and after long looking through red glasses, a greenish
cast; this seems to intimate a relation between green and red not
yet explained. Farther, when we consider by whom these ancient tunes
were composed, and how they were first performed, we shall see that
such harmonical successions of sounds was natural and even necessary
in their construction. They were composed by the minstrels of those
days to be played on the harp accompanied by the voice. The harp was
strung with wire, which gives a sound of long continuance, and had
no contrivance like that in the modern harpsichord, by which the
sound of the preceding could be stopt, the moment a succeeding note
began. To avoid actual discord, it was therefore necessary that the
succeeding emphatic note should be a chord with the preceding, as
their sounds must exist at the same time. Hence arose that beauty
in those tunes that has so long pleased, and will please for ever,
though men scarce know why. That they were originally composed for
the harp, and of the most simple kind, I mean a harp without any
half notes but those in the natural scale, and with no more than
two octaves of strings, from C to C, I conjecture from another
circumstance, which is, that not one of those tunes, really ancient,
has a single artificial half note in it, and that in tunes where it
was most convenient for the voice to use the middle notes of the
harp, and place the key in F, there the B, which if used should be
a B flat, is always omitted, by passing over it with a third. The
connoisseurs in modern music will say, I have no taste, but I cannot
help adding, that I believe our ancestors, in hearing a good song,
distinctly articulated, sung to one of those tunes, and accompanied
by the harp, felt more real pleasure than is communicated by the
generality of modern operas, exclusive of that arising from the
scenery and dancing. Most tunes of late composition, not having
this natural harmony united with their melody, have recourse to the
artificial harmony of a bass, and other accompanying parts.[64] This
support, in my opinion, the old tunes do not need, and are rather
confused than aided by it. Whoever has heard James Oswald play them
on his violoncello, will be less inclined to dispute this with me.
I have more than once seen tears of pleasure in the eyes of his
auditors; and yet, I think, even _his_ playing those tunes would
please more, if he gave them less modern ornament.
I am, &c.
B. FRANKLIN.
FOOTNOTE:
[64] The celebrated Rousseau in his Dictionnaire de Musique, printed
1768, appears to have similar sentiments of our modern harmony, viz.
"M. Rameau prétend que les dessus d'une certaine simplicité suggerènt
naturellement leur basse, & qu'un homme ayant l'oreille juste & non
exercée, entonnera naturellement cette basse. C'est-là un préjugé
de musicien, démenti par toute expérience. Non seulement celui qui
n'aura jamais entendu ni basse ni harmonie, ne trouvera, de lui-même,
ni cette harmonie ni cette basse; mais elles lui déplairont si on les
lui fait entendre, & il aimera beaucoup mieux le simple unisson.
Quand on songe que, de tous les peuples de la terre, qui tous ont
une musique & un chant, les Européens sont les seuls qui aient une
harmonie des accords, & qui trouvent ce mélange agréable; quand
on songe que le monde a duré tant de siècles, sans que, de toutes
les nations qui ont cultivé les beaux arts, aucune ait connu cette
harmonie; qu'aucun animal, qu'aucun oiseau, qu'aucan être dans la
nature ne produit d'autre accord que l'unisson, ni d'autre musique
que la mélodie; que les langues orientales, si sonores, si musicales;
que les oreilles Grecques, si délicates, si sensibles, exercées avec
tant d'art, n'ont jamais guidé ces peuples voluptueax & passionnés
vers notre harmonie; que, sans elle, leur musique avoits des effets
si prodigieux: qu'avec elle la nôtre en a de si foibles: qu'entin
il étoit réservé à des peuples du Nord, dont les organes durs &
grossiers sont plus touchés de l'éclat & du bruit des voix, que de la
douceur des accens, & de la mélodie des inflexions, de faire cette
grande découverte, & de la donner pour principe à toutes les régles
de l'art; quand, dis-je, on fait attention à tout cela, il est bien
difficile de ne pas soupçonner que toute notre harmonie n'est qu'une
invention gothique & barbare, dont nous ne nous fussions jamais
avisés, si nous fussions été plus sensibles aux véritables beautés de
l'art, & à la musique vraiment naturelle."
TO MR. PETER FRANKLIN, NEWPORT, NEW ENGLAND.
_On the Defects of Modern Music._
[No date.]
DEAR BROTHER,
**** I like your ballad, and think it well adapted for your purpose
of discountenancing expensive foppery, and encouraging industry and
frugality. If you can get it generally sung in your country, it may
probably have a good deal of the effect you hope and expect from it.
But as you aimed at making it general, I wonder you chose so uncommon
a measure in poetry, that none of the tunes in common use will suit
it. Had you fitted it to an old one, well known, it must have spread
much faster than I doubt it will do from the best new tune we can
get composed for it. I think too, that if you had given it to some
country girl in the heart of the Massachusets, who has never heard
any other than psalm tunes, or _Chevy Chace_, the _Children in the
Wood_, the _Spanish Lady_, and such old simple ditties, but has
naturally a good ear, she might more probably have made a pleasing
popular tune for you, than any of our masters here, and more proper
for your purpose, which would best be answered, if every word could
as it is sung be understood by all that hear it, and if the emphasis
you intend for particular words could be given by the singer as
well as by the reader; much of the force and impression of the song
depending on those circumstances. I will however get it as well done
for you as I can.
Do not imagine that I mean to depreciate the skill of our composers
of music here; they are admirable at pleasing _practised_ ears, and
know how to delight _one another_; but, in composing for songs, the
reigning taste seems to be quite out of nature, or rather the reverse
of nature, and yet like a torrent, hurries them all away with it; one
or two perhaps only excepted.
You, in the spirit of some ancient legislators, would influence the
manners of your country by the united powers of poetry and music. By
what I can learn of _their_ songs, the music was simple, conformed
itself to the usual pronunciation of words, as to measure, cadence or
emphasis, &c. never disguised and confounded the language by making
a long syllable short, or a short one long when sung; their singing
was only a more pleasing, because a melodious manner of speaking;
it was capable of all the graces of prose oratory, while it added
the pleasure of harmony. A modern song, on the contrary, neglects
all the proprieties and beauties of common speech, and in their
place introduces its _defects_ and _absurdities_ as so many graces.
I am afraid you will hardly take my word for this, and therefore I
must endeavour to support it by proof. Here is the first song I lay
my hand on. It happens to be a composition of one of our greatest
masters, the ever-famous Handel. It is not one of his juvenile
performances, before his taste could be improved and formed: it
appeared when his reputation was at the highest, is greatly admired
by all his admirers, and is really excellent in its kind. It is
called, "The additional favourite song in Judas Maccabeus." Now I
reckon among the defects and improprieties of common speech, the
following, viz.
1. _Wrong placing the accent or emphasis_, by laying it on words of
no importance, or on wrong syllables.
2. _Drawling_; or extending the sound of words or syllables beyond
their natural length.
3. _Stuttering_; or making many syllables of one.
4. _Unintelligibleness_; the result of the three foregoing united.
5. _Tautology_; and
6. _Screaming_, without cause.
For the _wrong placing of the accent, or emphasis_, see it on the
word _their_ instead of being on the word _vain_.
[Illustration (music): with _their_ vain my-ste-rious Art]
And on the word _from_, and the wrong syllable _like_.
[Illustration (music): God _like_ wisdom _from_ a-bove.]
For the _drawling_, see the last syllable of the word _wounded_.
[Illustration (music): Nor can heal the wound_ed_ heart]
And in the syllable _wis_, and the word _from_, and syllable _bove_
[Illustration (music): God-like _wis_dom _from_ a-_bove_]
For the _stuttering_, see the words _ne'er relieve_, in
[Illustration (music): Ma-gick charms can _ne'er_ _re-lieve_ you]
Here are four syllables made of one, and eight of three; but this
is moderate. I have seen in another song that I cannot now find,
seventeen syllables made of three, and sixteen of one: the latter I
remember was the word _charms_; viz. _cha, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,
a, a, a, a, a, a, arms_. Stammering with a witness!
For the _unintelligibleness_; give this whole song to any taught
singer, and let her sing it to any company that have never heard it;
you shall find they will not understand three words in ten. It is
therefore, that at the oratorios and operas one sees with books in
their hands all those who desire to understand what they hear sung by
even our best performers.
For the _tautology_; you have, _with their vain mysterious art_,
twice repeated; _magic charms can ne'er relieve you_, three times.
_Nor can heal the wounded heart_, three times. _Godlike wisdom from
above_, twice; and, _this alone can deceive you_, two or three times.
But this is reasonable when compared with _the Monster Polypheme, the
Monster Polypheme_, a hundred times over and over, in his admired
_Acis and Galatea_.
As to the _screaming_; perhaps I cannot find a fair instance in this
song; but whoever has frequented our operas will remember many. And
yet here methinks the words _no_ and _e'er_, when sung to these
notes, have a little of the air of _screaming_, and would actually be
screamed by some singers.
[Illustration (music): _No_ magic charms can _e'er_ re-lieve you.]
I send you inclosed the song with its music at length. Read the words
without the repetitions. Observe how few they are, and what a shower
of notes attend them: you will then perhaps be inclined to think with
me, that though the words might be the principal part of an ancient
song, they are of small importance in a modern one; they are in short
only _a pretence for singing_.
I am, as ever,
Your affectionate brother,
B. FRANKLIN.
P. S. I might have mentioned _inarticulation_ among the defects in
common speech that are assumed as beauties in modern singing. But
as that seems more the fault of the singer than of the composer, I
omitted it in what related merely to the composition. The fine singer
in the present mode, stifles all the hard consonants, and polishes
away all the rougher parts of words that serve to distinguish them
one from another; so that you hear nothing but an admirable pipe, and
understand no more of the song, than you would from its tune played
on any other instrument. If ever it was the ambition of musicians to
make instruments that should imitate the human voice, that ambition
seems now reversed, the voice aiming to be like an instrument. Thus
wigs were first made to imitate a good natural head of hair;--but
when they became fashionable, though in unnatural forms, we have seen
natural hair dressed to look like wigs.
_Description of the Process to be observed in making large Sheets
of Paper in the Chinese Manner, with one smooth surface._[65]
In Europe to have a large surface of paper connected together and
smooth on one side, the following operations are performed.
1. A number of small sheets are to be made separately.
2. These are to be couched, one by one, between blankets.
3. When a heap is formed it must be put under a strong press, to
force out the water.
4. Then the blankets are to be taken away, one by one, and the sheets
hung up to dry.
5. When dry they are to be again pressed, or if to be sized, they
must be dipped into size made of warm water, in which glue and alum
are dissolved.
6. They must then be pressed again to force out the superfluous size.
7. They must then be hung up a second time to dry, which, if the air
happens to be damp, requires some days.
8. They must then be taken down, laid together, and again pressed.
9. They must be pasted together at their edges.
10. The whole must be glazed by labour, with a flint.
In China, if they would make sheets, suppose of four and a half ells
long and one and a half ells wide, they have two large vats, each
five ells long and two ells wide, made of brick, lined with a plaster
that holds water. In these the stuff is mixed ready to work.
Between these vats is built a kiln or stove, with two inclining
sides; each side something larger than the sheet of paper; they are
covered with a fine stucco that takes a polish, and are so contrived
as to be well heated by a small fire circulating in the walls.
The mould is made with thin but deep sides, that it may be both
light and stiff: it is suspended at each end with cords that pass
over pullies fastened to the cieling, their ends connected with a
counterpoise nearly equal the weight of the mould.
Two men, one at each end of the mould, lifting it out of the water
by the help of the counterpoise, turn it and apply it with the stuff
to the smooth surface of the stove, against which they press it, to
force out great part of the water through the wires. The heat of the
wall soon evaporates the rest, and a boy takes off the dried sheet by
rolling it up. The side next the stove receives the even polish of
the stucco, and is thereby better fitted to receive the impression of
fine prints. If a degree of sizing is required, a decoction of rice
is mixed with the stuff in the vat.
Thus the great sheet is obtained, smooth and sized, and a number of
the European operations saved.
As the stove has two polished sides, and there are two vats, the same
operation is at the same time performed by two other men at the other
vat; and one fire serves.
FOOTNOTE:
[65] Communicated by Dr. Franklin to the American Philosophical
Society, in which it was read, June 20, 1788. _Editor._
TO NOAH WEBSTER, JUN. ESQ. AT HARTFORD[66].
_On Modern Innovations in the English Language and in Printing._
_Philadelphia, Dec_.26, 1789.
DEAR SIR,
I received, some time since, your _Dissertations on the English
Language_. It is an excellent work, and will be greatly useful in
turning the thoughts of our countrymen to correct writing. Please to
accept my thanks for it, as well as for the great honour you have
done me in its dedication. I ought to have made this acknowledgment
sooner, but much indisposition prevented me.
I cannot but applaud your zeal for preserving the purity of our
language both in its expression and pronunciation, and in correcting
the popular errors several of our states are continually falling
into with respect to both. Give me leave to mention some of them,
though possibly they may already have occurred to you. I wish,
however, that in some future publication of yours, you would set a
discountenancing mark upon them. The first I remember, is the word
_improved_. When I left New England in the year 1723, this word had
never been used among us, as far as I know, but in the sense of
_ameliorated_, or _made better_, except once in a very old book of
Dr. Mather's, entitled _Remarkable Providences_. As that man wrote a
very obscure hand, I remember that when I read that word in his book
used instead of the word _employed_, I conjectured that it was an
error of the printer, who had mistaken a short _l_ in the writing for
an _r_, and a _y_ with too short a tail for a _v_, whereby _employed_
was converted into _improved_: but when I returned to Boston in
1733, I found this change had obtained favour, and was then become
common; for I met with it often in perusing the newspapers, where it
frequently made an appearance rather ridiculous. Such, for instance,
as the advertisement of a country house to be sold, which had been
many years _improved_ as a tavern; and in the character of a deceased
country gentleman, that he had been, for more than thirty years,
_improved_ as a justice of the peace. This use of the word _improve_
is peculiar to New England, and not to be met with among any other
speakers of English, either on this or the other side of the water.
During my late absence in France, I find that several other new
words have been introduced into our parliamentary language. For
example, I find a verb from the substantive _notice_. _I should
not have_ noticed _this, were it not that the gentleman_, &c. Also
another verb, from the substantive _advocate_; _The gentleman who_
advocates, _or who has_ advocated _that motion_,&c. Another from
the substantive _progress_, the most awkward and abominable of the
three: _the committee having_ progressed, _resolved to adjourn_. The
word _opposed_, though not a new word, I find used in a new manner,
as, _the gentlemen who are_ opposed _to this measure, to which I
have also myself always been_ opposed. If you should happen to be
of my opinion with respect to these innovations, you will use your
authority in reprobating them.
The Latin language, long the vehicle used in distributing knowledge
among the different nations of Europe, is daily more and more
neglected; and one of the modern tongues, viz. French, seems, in
point of universality, to have supplied its place. It is spoken in
all the courts of Europe; and most of the literati, those even who
do not speak it, have acquired enough knowledge of it, to enable
them easily to read the books, that are written in it. This gives
a considerable advantage to that nation. It enables its authors
to inculcate and spread through other nations, such sentiments
and opinions, on important points, as are most conducive to its
interests, or which may contribute to its reputation, by promoting
the common interests of mankind. It is, perhaps, owing to its being
written in French, that Voltaire's Treatise on Toleration has had so
sudden and so great an effect on the bigotry of Europe, as almost
entirely to disarm it. The general use of the French language has
likewise a very advantageous effect on the profits of the bookselling
branch of commerce, it being well known, that the more copies can
be sold, that are struck off from one composition of types, the
profits increase in a much greater proportion, than they do in
making a greater number of pieces in any other kind of manufacture.
And at present there is no capital town in Europe without a French
bookseller's shop corresponding with Paris. Our English bids fair
to obtain the second place. The great body of excellent printed
sermons in our language, and the freedom of our writings on political
subjects, have induced a great dumber of divines of different sects
and nations, as well as gentlemen concerned in public affairs, to
study it, so far at least as to read it. And if we were to endeavour
the facilitating its progress, the study of our tongue might become
much more general. Those, who have employed some part of their time
in learning a new language, must have frequently observed, that while
their acquaintance with it was imperfect, difficulties, small in
themselves, operated as great ones in obstructing their progress. A
book, for example, ill printed, or a pronunciation in speaking, not
well articulated, would render a sentence unintelligible, which, from
a clear print, or a distinct speaker, would have been immediately
comprehended. If, therefore, we would have the benefit of seeing our
language more generally known among mankind, we should endeavour
to remove all the difficulties, however small, that discourage the
learning of it. But I am sorry to observe, that, of late years, those
difficulties, instead of being diminished, have been augmented.