THE MOST ANCIENT CIVILIZED NATIONS
Conjecture and authority--The Assyrians and Babylonians; instruments;
scales--The Hebrews--The Egyptians; social aspects; Plato’s
testimony; instruments--Egyptian influence on Greek culture and its
musical significance.
The researches and discoveries of the past fifty years in the valley of
the Nile and among the deeply buried ruins of Babylon and Nineveh have
thrown light on much that was hitherto obscure in the history of the
ancient cultured nations of the East. Yet, even to-day, our knowledge
of that history is at best fragmentary and largely conjectural. Out of
the mass of fragments and conjectures at our command we can pick very
little that will fit into the structure of an authoritative musical
history.
We know definitely that the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, and
Hebrews possessed in their heyday an advanced civilization and a large
amount of æsthetic culture. From analogy with other old civilizations
of which we have more accurate knowledge, however, we have no reason
to suppose that their musical culture kept pace with their advance in
other arts. From the plastic to the pictorial and last to the musical
seems to have been the historical order of advance in the evolution
of artistic expression. Music, to quote John Addington Symonds, 'is
the essentially modern art.’ Nevertheless, even in default of any more
specific evidence, we could safely assume that musical culture among
the ancient civilized nations had advanced considerably beyond the
stage reached by primitive peoples.
I
In support of this assumption we have an amount of definite evidence;
which indeed goes very little beyond a corroboration of our beliefs.
In the case of the Assyrians and Egyptians this testimony consists of
bas-reliefs and mural paintings representing musical instruments, and
a few actual instruments which have been discovered in the ruins of
Nineveh and in the tombs of Egyptian kings. These sculptures show a
wide variety of instruments, the general construction of which would
indicate considerable musical knowledge, and they testify clearly that
among the Assyrians and Egyptians music was an indispensable adjunct to
all affairs of ceremony, and consequently, in all likelihood, a subject
for serious cultivation.
The Assyrian bas-reliefs represent chiefly historical events, religious
ceremonies, and royal entertainments. We have no means of knowing
whether the musical instruments shown thereon were the only ones in
use among the Assyrians, or whether there were not other instruments
in widely popular use which the priestly conventions excluded from
all ceremonial observances. The instruments represented, however, are
numerous and interesting. Judged by the frequency of its appearance
on the monuments, the favorite instrument of the Assyrians seems to
have been the _asor_, which consisted of a square or triangular frame
mounted with six to ten strings of silk or catgut and was played with a
plectrum. It was carried in front of the performer by means of a strap
slung over his shoulder, and both hands were used in playing it--the
right with the plectrum and the left either to twang the strings or to
stop any unnecessary vibration. The number of strings on this or on
any other Assyrian instrument can only be conjectured. Apparently the
artist was never at pains to secure fidelity of detail, for sometimes
there are more strings than tuning-pegs and sometimes the reverse.
After the _asor_ the harp seems to have come next in popular
estimation. The Assyrian harp was an imposing instrument, about four
feet high, and was carried in ceremonial processions before the breast
of the performer, much as a side-drum is carried in a military band.
It was furnished with tuning-pegs and with about twenty strings,
probably of silk, but possibly of catgut. The most essential point of
differentiation between the Assyrian harp and the modern instrument was
the lack of a front pillar. This would argue a rather weak and harsh
tone; though if the frame were made of metal or ivory--as in the case
of the later Egyptian harps--it would allow of sufficient tension to
secure a tone not necessarily very inferior to that of our own harp.
Besides the _asor_ and the harp the representations of Assyrian
stringed instruments included the lyre, dulcimer, and tamboura or lute.
The Assyrian lyre strongly resembled the Nubian _kissar_ of to-day.
It carried from four to ten strings tied around the upper bar, which
was raised or lowered to change the pitch, and it was probably played
with a plectrum. The tamboura was an instrument resembling the banjo
or guitar and was the prototype of the instrument which may be found
all over the East at the present day. The dulcimer contained about ten
strings and was played with a plectrum.
Of wind instruments the Assyrians possessed only pipes and trumpets.
Their trumpet was a small instrument, either straight or slightly
curved, and was probably made of horn. Presumably it suffered from
severe limitations musically. The nature of their pipes, however,
indicates that the Assyrians had done some successful experimenting
in musical effects and must have constructed a definite scale system
of some sort. In the museum of the Royal Asiatic Society in London
there is a small Assyrian pipe of baked clay in a very good state of
preservation. It is about three inches long and has two holes equally
distant from the end. The fixed notes on this pipe are a tonic, third,
and fifth. The closing of the left finger-hole produces a note about
a quarter tone lower than the right, and it is possible that this was
intended for a minor third. Of a later development than the single pipe
was the double pipe, which consisted of two pipes, sometimes of equal,
sometimes of unequal length, held one in each hand, with the playing
ends of both in the mouth. Probably one of the pipes gave a sort of
droning accompaniment to the other and the general effect must have
been something like that of the bagpipe. The syrinx, or pipes of Pan,
was doubtless known to the Assyrians as well as to the Hebrews, and may
be the instrument whose invention is ascribed to Jubal in Genesis.
The Assyrians seem to have been well provided with instruments of
percussion, including tambourines and cymbals. Their drums were usually
covered only at one end, but they also had barrel-shaped drums covered
at both ends and beaten at both ends like a tom-tom. All their drums,
apparently, were beaten with the hands. Bells were presumably in high
favor among them, as we learn from the Bible, and there have been
discovered a number of Assyrian bells of various sizes, all open at the
top, like Chinese bells, and indicating that the first use of chimes
antedates by a long time their introduction into India and China.
The habit peculiar to ancient artists of depicting the part for the
whole, or two to mean many, makes it impossible for us to determine
from the reliefs whether the Assyrians used regularly any definite
number of musical instruments in their performances. We know,
however, that they employed various combinations of instruments. On
the Assyrian bas-reliefs in the British Museum (some of which are
fragments) we find such combinations as harp and drum; lyre, harp
and double pipe; two _asors_ and drum; three lyres; two trumpets;
seven harps, one dulcimer; two double pipes, a drum and chorus.
The predominance of strings over instruments of percussion in all
representations of Assyrian concerts prompts the supposition that
the music was of a soft, suave character. Rhythm seems to have been
marked chiefly by the clapping of hands, and musical performances were
probably accompanied usually, if not always, by singing and dancing.
The evidence of the bas-reliefs on this point is supplemented by
the Bible accounts of ceremonial observances among the Hebrews, who
must have been profoundly influenced by Babylonian culture. Dancing
was undoubtedly an integral part of all ceremonial observances and
triumphal processions among the ancient nations of the East, and it
would seem that as a rule it was accompanied by vocal as well as
instrumental music. The Bible is replete with illuminative references
on the subject.
On the Assyrian bas-relief above mentioned, showing the instrumental
band and chorus, the women of the chorus are represented with their
hands to their throats and are evidently performing that peculiar
shrilling which constitutes the Hebrew _Allelujah_, and which may
still be heard in Syria, Arabia, and Persia. This strange style
of singing--if it may be so called--was a feature of triumphal
processions, and was always performed by women. Various references to
this custom may be found in the Bible--for instance, David’s reception
by the women after his victory over the Philistines and Jephthah’s
reception by his daughter and her companions after the battle against
the children of Ammon. We can only guess as to the nature of the choral
singing at Assyrian religious festivals. Probably it was in unison
or octaves, and it may have been antiphonal, as it was among the
Hebrews.[20]
The constant employment of chorus with well-developed musical
instruments of different tone quality would seem to have suggested
to the Assyrians at least some elementary harmonic effects. But that
is entirely a matter of conjecture. As far as we know, they did not
possess any system of musical notation, and, lacking that, they could
not have developed an harmonic system that was anything but very
crude or very haphazard. It is the opinion of Engel[21] that they
'produced together different notes which appeared to them agreeable
in concord,’ but that their instruments were too incomplete for a
systematic combination of a fixed number of different parts. A scale
system of some sort they must have had, but what it was we are at
a loss to determine. Engel, pointing out the analogies between the
various old musical systems of Oriental countries, concludes that the
Assyrians probably used a pentatonic series consisting of the tonic,
second, third, fifth, and sixth. Such a scale is found in China, Japan,
India, Burmah, Siam, and Java, and is supposedly of high antiquity in
those countries. The deduction that it was also used by the Assyrians
is based on the assumption, which Engel supports by much plausible
evidence, that there was a common fountain-head of all Asiatic musical
art. It is also pointed out as a significant fact that the Nubian
_kissar_, which so closely resembles the Assyrian lyre, is tuned in
that scale. On the other hand, from the construction of the Assyrian
instruments, and from comparison with the music of other peoples, even
those in a more primitive state of musical development, it may be
inferred that the Assyrians were acquainted with other effects and may
have used other scales.
II
The decree which forbade the Hebrews the making of graven images,
salutary as it may have been as a theological safeguard, must always
prove a source of regret to the archæologist and historian. Because of
it we cannot now visually reconstruct the life of the chosen people
in Biblical times with the same satisfactory vividness as we can that
of the Assyrians and Egyptians. We are thus deprived of what has been
our chief source of information in considering the state of musical
culture among the other civilized nations of the ancient East. A few
illustrations of what may have been Hebrew musical instruments have,
it is true, come down to us; but they are very doubtful and far from
enlightening. There is an Egyptian painting of the time of Osirtasen II
(about 1800 B. C.), discovered in a tomb at Beni-Hassan, which shows
three men--obviously captives--playing on lyres. The hieroglyphics
refer to these men as 'strangers,’ and it is the opinion of Sir
Gardner Wilkinson that they were Jews. We also possess some coins of
the time of Simon Maccabæus (second century B. C.), on some of which
are pictured lyres of different shapes and sizes, while on others are
shown a couple of small figures which may represent trumpets or drums.
Possibly the musical instruments carved on the Arch of Titus were exact
copies of Hebrew originals, but, for all we know to the contrary, the
sculptor of the arch may never even have seen a Hebrew instrument.
Apart from these scanty and problematical remains, pictorial evidence
of the musical culture of the ancient Hebrews is, as far as we know,
non-existent.
The documentary evidence in our possession is fuller but not at all
definite. It consists chiefly of the Bible and the rabbinical records;
and upon the accuracy of the information obtainable from these sources
we cannot implicitly rely. This statement is made in due reverence
and without any suggested denial of the spiritual truths embodied
in writings which millions of men regard as sacred. The peculiar
figurativeness which lends such charm to the language of the Bible
makes it impossible for us to be quite sure of its literal meaning, and
this obscurity is intensified by the fact that the identification of
many names of things in the original text has been the purest guesswork
on the part of translators. The identification of the names of musical
instruments, especially, has been a stumbling block to scholars. For
instance, it has never been determined which of the many names of
stringed instruments occurring in the Bible refers to the harp--an
instrument which was undoubtedly known to the ancient Hebrews. On the
other hand, the _ugab_, mentioned in Genesis as the invention of Jubal,
has invariably been translated _organ_--an instrument which just as
certainly was not known to them. Nor are the rabbinical records any
more trustworthy. On many points they contradict the Bible--which
raises an indeterminable question of veracity between them--while on
other points their statements are irresistibly provocative of doubt in
the mind of the judicious reader. It must always be remembered that
the Bible and the rabbinical records are, in the main, history written
by unscientific historians concerning the past of their own race, and
the tendency in such cases to drape an attractive garb of fiction over
the bare bones of fact has in all ages been an ineradicable trait of
human psychology. The old historians, while in a preferential position
compared with us in regard to time, suffered obviously either from
lack of knowledge or superfluity of imagination. Josephus, the most
authoritative of them, tells us seriously that there were prepared
for the dedication of the Temple a band and chorus consisting of
200,000 trumpets, 40,000 stringed instruments, and 200,000 Levite
singers--truly a Brobdignagian ensemble!
In spite of the paucity of our information, however, we are able to
form a general idea of the state of musical culture among the ancient
Hebrews. Except for inevitable local differences, Hebrew music must
have resembled closely that of the Assyrians and Egyptians--probably
more the former than the latter, if indeed there was any radical
dissimilarity between them. The Hebrew and Assyro-Babylonian people
sprang from the same Semitic stock. Abraham, we learn, 'came out of
Ur of the Chaldees,’ and up to the time of the exile to Egypt it is
probable that Hebrew and Babylonian culture were almost identical. The
long sojourn of the Jews in Egypt, however, must have had a profound
influence upon them. It is important to remember that they were not
really captives in Egypt; they were not restricted in their activities;
they were not socially ostracised. The daughter of a Pharaoh married
a Hebrew, and it is reasonable to suppose that such intermarriage was
common. At the period of the Exodus, therefore, there must have been
little to distinguish the culture of the Hebrews from that of the
other people of Egypt. Moses, we know, 'was learned in the wisdom of
the Egyptians,’ and in that respect he probably differed little from
his followers. Later we shall advert to the complementary influence
of Hebrew culture on the Egyptians as well as to the probability of
Babylonian influence on the latter. Consequently the culture which
the Jews brought out of Egypt must still have remained Babylonian in
essence. Subsequently we see a renascence of Babylonian influence which
becomes particularly noticeable after the captivity in Babylon. All the
names of musical instruments given in Daniel are Chaldean. Max Müller
observes that several of the apocryphal books were written originally
in Chaldee, not in Hebrew, and points out that Ezra contains fragments
of Chaldee contemporaneous with the cuneiform inscriptions of Darius
and Xerxes.
The rabbinical records mention thirty-six musical instruments in use
among the ancient Hebrews, while the Bible contains references to about
half that number. As has been said, the names of these instruments
have never been exactly identified and it is possible that several
different names may refer to the same instrument. The Hebrews almost
certainly possessed the harp, though we do not know what they called
it. The _psanterin_, mentioned in Daniel, was perhaps a dulcimer. The
Arab dulcimer of the present day is called _santir_. We may assume from
the representation of the lyre on the coins of the high-priest Simon
Maccabæus that the Hebrews employed that instrument, and it may have
been the _kinnor_ of King David. The _minnim_, _machalath_, and _nebel_
were perhaps instruments of the guitar or lute type. The _chalil_
and _nekeb_ were names of pipes or flutes, while the _mishrokitha_,
mentioned in Daniel, is supposed to have been a double pipe. It is
likely that the _ugab_, which is translated as 'organ’ in the English
authorized version of the Bible, was the syrinx or Pandean pipes.
Forkel and other historians are of the opinion that the _sumphonia_,
mentioned in Daniel, was a bagpipe, basing their conclusion apparently
on the fact that the Italian peasants call the bagpipe _zampogna_.
The _magrepha_ was probably also a sort of bagpipe. Three kinds of
trumpets were used by the ancient Hebrews--the _keven_, _shophar_,
and _chatzozerah_. The last-named was a straight trumpet, about two
feet long, and was sometimes made of silver; the others were curved
trumpets probably made of horn. The _shophar_ is still found in Jewish
synagogues. Presumably the Hebrews used a number of drums. Of these
we know only the _toph_, which has been translated timbrel or tabret,
and was probably a sort of tambourine. There still exists in the East
a small hand-drum, called by the Arabs _doff_ or _adufe_. According
to Saalschütz and other historians, the _menaaneim_, referred to in
Samuel, and translated cymbals, was the sistrum.[22] The _tzeltzelim_,
_metzilloth_, and _metzilthaim_ may have been cymbals. The _phaamon_
(Exod. xxxviii and xxxix) were little bells on the robe of a priest,
and we still find them in Jewish synagogues attached to the 'rolls of
law’ containing the Pentateuch.
There is abundance of evidence that music played a very important part
in the lives of the ancient Hebrews and that musical performances
were carefully, often elaborately, organized. As with other ancient
nations of the East, the most important function of music was to lend
solemnity and effect to religious ceremonial. King David, who seems
to have filled in the development of Hebrew liturgical music the same
rôle traditionally ascribed to St. Gregory in the history of the
Christian liturgy, employed in the service of the Temple no fewer than
4,000 musicians, of whom two hundred and eighty-eight were virtuosi,
and the remainder assistants and pupils (1 Chron. xxiii and xxv). In
the introduction to the _Psautier polyglotte_ of L’Abbé Vigouroux,
the following historical sketch is given of the musical organization
of the ancient Jewish cult:[23] 'When David ascended the throne he
organized sacred music which comprised instrumentalists and singers;
and the institution expressly maintained by Ezekiah and Nehemiah
continued until the ruin of the Temple. In a first group there were
three choir leaders: Hamon, Asaph, and Ethan; in a second, fourteen
Levites distributed in three choirs according to the instruments they
played--the first comprising three chiefs who had cymbals to direct the
singers and instrumentalists, the second composed of eight musicians
who played the _nebel_, and the third composed of musicians who played
the _kinnor_. Later Daniel completed this work. Among the descendants
of Levi four thousand were chosen “to praise God with instruments of
music.” The singers, like the priests, were divided into twenty-four
classes, the chiefs of which were the sons of Asaph (four), Jeduthun
(six), and Hamon (fourteen). These chiefs have under their orders two
hundred and eighty-eight masters charged with instructing the others.
This musical organization, established by David and conserved by
Solomon, was altered more or less under their idolatrous successors;
but the reformer kings, Ezekiah and Josiah, took pains to revive it. In
the fifth century, under Nehemiah, they sang and played 'in the manner
of David.’[24]
Apart from its importance in religious service, music had a deep
significance in the lives of the ancient Hebrews. They attributed
to it peculiar curative and inspirational powers. We know how David
used it to relieve the illness of Saul, and even Elias employed it
to stimulate the spirit of prophecy. It was the accompaniment of all
important occasions, both sad and joyful. There is frequent mention in
the Bible of triumphal songs and of the use of trumpets in war. Bridal
processions were accompanied by music (Jer. vii), and it also seems to
have been commonly employed at funerals (2 Chron. xxxv _et al._). Love
songs were not unknown to the Hebrews (Isaiah v; Psalm xiv), nor were
they lacking in songs of a convivial and lightly popular nature. They
welcomed itinerant musicians as warmly as the courts of Europe in the
chivalric period welcomed the Troubadours. Indeed, from what we know of
them, they seem to have been an intensely music-loving people, and this
fact can but add to our regret that we are unable to determine the
exact nature of their music or what the proportions were to which they
had developed it as an art.
III
Regarding Egyptian music, the evidence at our disposal is fuller and
more suggestive, though the deductions to be drawn from it are hardly
less conjectural. It consists mainly of monumental sculptures, mural
paintings, and fragments and nearly preserved specimens of actual
instruments. There are also many fugitive references to Egyptian music
in the works of Herodotus, Plato, Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and other
Greek writers. Between the earliest representations of Egyptian musical
instruments and the visits to Egypt of Herodotus and Plato stretches a
period of nearly two thousand years--time enough for such a complete
revolution to have taken place as to render valueless the references of
the Greek writers as throwing light on Egyptian musical culture at the
noontide of Egypt’s greatness. Yet such a revolution almost certainly
did not take place. During two thousand years, as we may see from the
monuments, Egyptian art stood practically still.
The system of hereditary castes was an impermeable barrier to the
advance of culture. Caste conventions were elevated to the dignity
of sacred laws and innovations were regarded almost as sacrilege.
Herodotus, who lived in Egypt, tells us that the musical profession
was strictly hereditary and had been so for uncounted centuries. No
one, for instance, who was not of a family of professional singers, he
asserts, could adopt the profession of a singer. Considering the rarity
of good voices, even where such restrictions do not exist, one can
easily imagine that vocal performances in Egypt were not stimulating.
Nor could Egyptian music be very rich in inspiration, if we are to
accept the following admiring tribute of Plato, who had lived thirteen
years in Egypt, and who, like other Greek philosophers, was himself a
musical scholar.
'The plan which we have been laying down for the education of youth,’
he says in one of his dialogues,[25] 'was known long ago to the
Egyptians, that nothing but beautiful forms and fine music should be
permitted to enter into the assemblies of young people. Having settled
what those forms and what that music should be, they exhibited them in
their temples; nor was it allowable for painters and other imitative
artists to innovate or invent any forms different from what were
established. Nor is it now lawful, either in painting, statuary, or
any of the branches of music, to make any alteration. Upon examining,
therefore, you will find that the pictures and statues made two
thousand years ago are in no one particular better than what they make
at the present day.’
As further evidence of the unchanging antiquity of Egyptian music
Plato quotes the tradition that 'the music which has been so long
preserved was composed by Isis.’ The fact that, as Strabo says, music,
both vocal and instrumental, was an integral part of the ritual in the
worship of all the gods, except Osiris, tended to conserve still more
strictly that rigidity of system to which Plato so admiringly refers.
The priestly caste in Egypt was the perfect embodiment of petrified
conservatism and its influence was all-pervading and absolute.
Egyptian music must eventually have come to be a lifeless, colorless,
meaningless thing--the dry and chalky skeleton of an art--and we are
not surprised to learn from Diodorus (60 B. C.) that the Egyptians of
his time despised it and looked upon its cultivation as an effeminate
and undesirable occupation.
Comparative studies of Egyptian and Assyrian culture lead George
Rawlinson[26] to the conclusion that the former has been vastly
overrated. While Assyrian art flourished apace, he asserts, art in
Egypt remained a stunted growth. The inference that musical art among
the Egyptians lagged behind that of the Assyrians is not borne out by
the evidence of the monuments and mural paintings. From these we may
see that Egyptian musical instruments were much superior in design
and construction to those pictured on the Assyrian bas-reliefs. This,
of course, may be explained by the superior mechanical talent of the
Egyptians, which is apparent in their architecture, and cannot be taken
as conclusive evidence of a higher æsthetic development. The whole
question of the comparative culture of Egypt and Assyria is a very
doubtful one. Whether Egypt was influenced by Assyrian culture or the
reverse, and to what extent, is a moot point. There are evidences of
similar influences in the art of both countries. The fact seems to be
that Egypt and Assyria interacted on each other closely and borrowed
from each other or from a common source. Their musical instruments show
striking resemblances and seem to have been used in much the same way
and in connection with similar ceremonies.
There are, however, important points of divergence. The _asor_, which
was apparently the favorite instrument of the Assyrians, is not found
represented on any Egyptian monuments that have come down to us. In
its stead the harp obviously held the place of honor. The Egyptian
harp was much superior to the Assyrian instrument, both in design and
construction; indeed, except for the lack of a front pillar, pedals,
and double strings, it must have been little inferior to our own harp,
even in musical quality, while in beauty of design it could hold its
own with the best we are able to show. This is all the more remarkable
in view of the fact that it was brought to perfection at least three
thousand years ago. The two ornate and beautifully modelled harps
found by the English traveller Bruce, painted in fresco on the walls
of the Tomb of the Kings at Thebes, are attributed to the period
of Rameses II (about 1250 B. C.) and, whatever they may have been
musically, they are perfect models of grace and finished workmanship.
Most of the harps on the Egyptian monuments are highly ornamented and
were obviously constructed with an eye to decorative effect. The harp
seems to have been the instrument _de luxe_ in Egypt--the necessary
finishing touch to the furniture of every well-appointed home--the
Egyptian counterpart of our piano. It varied in size to suit the taste,
or perhaps the pocket-book, of its owner. The largest harps were almost
as tall as a man and were equipped with twenty or more strings, the
smallest ones had four strings and were easily carried about. In regard
to the number of strings, however, the fidelity to numerical truth of
the ancient artists cannot unquestionably be assumed. It is the opinion
of Carl Engel that the Egyptian harp was tuned in the same diatonic
series of intervals as the Greeks obtained by two conjunct tetrachords.
He bases his opinion on the apparent number of strings. Probably it was
tuned in a diatonic series of some sort; but opinions on the subject
are the purest guesswork.
A favorite instrument among the Egyptians was the _trigonon_ or
triangular harp--referred to as a Phrygian instrument by Sophocles.
It was small and easily carried, and its tone must have approximated
somewhat that of the lyre. The latter instrument is represented
frequently on Egyptian monuments and apparently varied very much in
size and shape. It seems to have been much more powerful than the Greek
lyre, but was not so symmetrical in design. Several well-preserved
specimens of Egyptian lyres may be seen in the museums of Berlin and
Leyden. One end of the top bar is higher than the other, and the
instrument obviously was tuned by sliding the strings up and down
the bar. On the whole, the Egyptian lyre must have been a somewhat
crude and ungainly instrument. It does not seem to have been nearly
so esteemed as the harp, nor did it apparently hold the same place
in popular regard as the tamboura or _nofre_. The latter is found
represented in various shapes, and it seems likely that it was,
above all others, the instrument of the people. Instruments closely
resembling it are popular in many Oriental countries to the present
day. These usually contain three strings, which are tuned in the tonic,
fifth, and octave. It would be assuming too much to declare that the
Egyptian _nofre_ was similarly tuned. There is in the British Museum
a small Egyptian terra-cotta vase upon which is depicted a tamboura
with frets distinctly marked over the whole neck, and we may reasonably
argue from this that the _nofre_ players used habitually a number
of strictly defined intervals. Besides the long-necked _nofre_ the
Egyptians possessed a short-necked tamboura strongly resembling the
Arabian _oud_. They had also a peculiar instrument with four or five
strings, which was carried on the shoulder; a kind of lyre which was
placed on a stand and played by both hands, and a primitive variety of
harmonicon.
By far the most interesting and instructive relics of Egyptian musical
instruments that have come down to us are a number of pipes and flutes,
many well-preserved specimens of which may be seen in the British and
Leyden museums. They contain from three to five--usually four--holes,
and in many of them pieces of thick straw or other similar material are
found inserted in the playing ends. There does not appear to have been
any restriction as to the number of holes. In the British Museum there
is an Egyptian pipe about twelve inches long, with seven holes burned
in the sides. Two straws of about the same length as the pipe were
found with it. Straw reeds have also been found with Egyptian flutes.
The latter were very long instruments, reaching from the player’s mouth
to beyond the length of his arm. The most interesting and perfectly
preserved specimens of those that have yet come to light are a pair
of reed flutes, eighteen inches long and three-sixteenths of an inch
in diameter, which were discovered by the distinguished Egyptologist
Flinders Petrie in a rock-hewn sepulchre at Kahan--the town inhabited
by workers employed in building the pyramid of Userteen II. On these
flutes were elicited the following notes:
[Illustration: THREE HOLES.]
[Illustration: FOUR HOLES.]
The testing of facsimiles produced between the flutes the following
scale:
[Illustration: Music]
By varying the pressure, a fifth and an octave higher were obtained,
and by the same means was elicited from the three-holed flute the
complete diatonic scale of C. Allowance must, of course, be made for
the possible differences between the facsimiles of these old flutes
and the original instruments, as they were in the time of Userteen
II. There is also to be considered a probably wide divergence in
method between modern European and ancient Egyptian flute players. The
experiments, however, suggest interesting speculations.
The double-pipes are represented frequently on Egyptian monuments;
the trumpet less frequently. Trumpets apparently were not very
popular in Egypt. They seem to have been made of wood--though brass
may have been used. The scarcity of trumpets is peculiar, because
the Egyptians obviously did not affect a soft, suave style of music,
as the Assyrians did. Some of their dances look almost riotous, and
they must have had a strong sense of rhythm. They had a partiality
for drums, of which they possessed a variety. Besides drums, their
instruments of percussion included _sistra_, _crotola_, bells, cymbals,
and tambourines. The _sistrum_ or _seshesh_ was a peculiar instrument,
almost identical with the _sarasel_ used to-day by the priests of
a Christian sect in Abyssinia, and seems to have been employed
exclusively in religious ceremonies. The _crotola_ were two balls or
knobs of wood or metal, with handles, and were used apparently in the
same way and with the same effect as castanets.
The representations of Egyptian musical performances furnish a wide
and fascinating field for speculation; but beyond the testimony that
music played a very important part in the lives of the Egyptians they
supply us with little definite information. The contention of Rawlinson
that the Assyrians were more advanced æsthetically is supported to
some extent by the apparent fondness of the Egyptians for barbaric
rhythmical effects. The same line of reasoning, however, would place
the music of Wagner and Strauss lower in the scale of evolution than
that of Mendelssohn and John Field. Between the Assyrians and the
Egyptians a difference in musical taste is obvious; a difference in
musical development is decidedly questionable. There are always to
be taken into consideration dissimilarities in national character.
It is the opinion of some ethnologists that, about 5000 B. C., there
came into the valley of the Nile a Semitic people from East Africa or
South Arabia who mingled with the aboriginal Hamites and produced the
historic Egyptians. These immigrants, it is contended, had been under
the influence of the culture which had already grown up on the plains
of Babylonia, and introduced into Egypt elements of art which were
unknown to the ruder Hamitic stock. These elements the Egyptians may
have developed to greater perfection in certain technical aspects than
the Babylonians, owing partly to their superior industry and partly to
the fact that, in comparison with the Assyrio-Babylonian people, their
history was peaceful, and favorable to the development of the arts and
crafts.
[Illustration: PROCESSION OF EGYPTIAN MUSICIANS.]
_From a temple and a hypogeum at Gourah and Karnak (Thebes)._
This theory would explain the appearance of a common source of the
art of both nations. It is probable, too, that Babylonian culture
exercised a continuous, though perhaps slight, influence throughout
the whole course of Egyptian history. That there was close intercourse
between the two nations at various times is evident from many known
facts in the history of both. Syria, which was saturated with
Babylonian culture, was an Egyptian province; nor can the possibility
be overlooked that the Hebrews, during their long sojourn in Egypt,
brought to Egyptian art some of the influence of a culture that had its
genesis in Babylonia. These speculations are given here because there
is a general tendency to assume readily that Egypt was predominantly
the influential factor in the growth of ancient culture, and because
the representations of Egyptian and Assyrian musical performances show
similarities which indicate that either may have strongly influenced
the other.
Herodotus tells us of an Egyptian musical performance at which women
beat on drums and men played on flutes, while a chorus sang and clapped
their hands at the same time. This performance, it seems, was typical.
The suggested effect is barbaric; but the monuments bear evidence that
the Egyptians enjoyed musical performances of a much more refined
character. We find represented, for example, such combinations as harp,
two tambouras and double-pipe, and lyre, harp, double-pipe and chorus.
In an interesting work on Egyptian antiquities edited by Lepsius[27]
there is an illustration of an extraordinary concert of eight flutes.
The players are divided into two sets. One man, differently dressed
from the others, stands facing the group, and holds his flute as if he
had either just finished playing or was just about to begin. Presumably
he was either the conductor or a solo player. The illustration is
taken from a tomb in the Pyramid of Gizeh and dates from the Fifth
Dynasty, or before 2000 B. C. The Egyptians, obviously, adapted their
music to the occasion, using different combinations of instruments for
religious ceremonies, public celebrations, private entertainments, and
military parades. There has been preserved on an imperfect fragment a
representation of a military band consisting of a trumpet, a drum, some
large instrument which is too much obliterated to be distinguished, and
two _crotola_.
Dancing, an important feature of Egyptian life, formed a part both of
ceremonial observances and private entertainments. The Egyptians seem
to have developed dancing into a much more sophisticated art than the
Assyrians, and, unlike the latter, they showed a partiality for dances
of a lively, spirited nature. These were usually performed by men, who,
to judge from the monuments, were equipped with all the semi-acrobatic
technique of the modern ballet-dancer--even to the pirouette. The
slower dances were rendered by women and were, as a rule, languorous
and erotic in character.
Much has been said of the influence of Egyptian music on the Greeks,
and more than due importance, perhaps, has been attached to the
supposition that Pythagoras (571-497 B. C.) learned music in Egypt. _A
posteriori_ inferences have been drawn as to the nature of Egyptian
music which are hardly warranted by the evidence. Greek literature is
not lacking in references to Egyptian influence. 'The Greeks,’ says
Burney,[28] 'who lost no merit by neglecting to claim it, confess that
most of their ancient musical instruments were of Egyptian invention.’
Greek notions of the origin of their ancient musical instruments,
however, cannot be taken very seriously. The evidence inherent in the
instruments themselves is more valuable and tends rather to contradict
the supposition that they were of Egyptian origin. The beautifully
proportioned and graceful Greek lyre is so markedly different from
the clumsy and crude Egyptian instrument as to suggest an absolutely
independent development. Significant, too, is the absence of the harp
from all except one of the specimens of Greek art that have come down
to us; though the beauty and grace of the Egyptian harp must have
appealed strongly to Greek artists had they been at all familiar
with it. The one exception is the representation of Polyhymnia with
a harp, on a Greek vase in the Berlin Museum, and the harp in this
case resembles more the Assyrian than the Egyptian instrument. It may
be pointed out, however, that this vase belongs to the later period
of Greek art, after the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander
had exposed the classical civilization of Greece to the full force
of Oriental influence. But the case for Asiatic influence does not
depend upon this vase. There is significance in the fact that most of
the famous Greek musicians were from Asia Minor or adjacent islands.
Marsyas was a Phrygian; Terpander, Arion, and Sappho hailed from
Lesbos; Olympus, the supposed inventor of the old enharmonic scale,
was a native of Mysias. Strabo,[29] too, speaks of the derivation
of Greek stringed instruments from Asia. On the other hand, we are
informed by the ubiquitous and omniscient Herodotus that the Dorians
came originally from Egypt. The statements of Herodotus, however,
must be taken with a large amount of reservation. 'The net result of
Oriental research,’ Prof. Sayce warns us, 'in its bearing on Herodotus
is to show that the greater part of what he professes to tell us of
the history of Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia is really a collection of
_Märchen_, or popular stories, current among the Greek loungers and
half-caste dragomen on the skirts of the Persian empire.’[30] As a
matter of fact, the statements of all Greek historians, except as to
contemporary events, are totally untrustworthy. Excellent reporters
they undoubtedly were; but they lacked the historical sense and were
but scantily informed. There seems to have been in Greece a peculiar
admiration for things Egyptian and a corresponding contempt for things
Asiatic--the latter bred probably of the constant wars between Hellas
and Persia that began with the conquest of the Lydian kingdom by Cyrus
the Great. In default, therefore, of any more specific evidence the
statements of Greek writers on the origins of Greek music are of little
value; nor does the intrinsic evidence lead us to any more definite
conclusion than the conjecture that Greek music was influenced somewhat
by both Egyptian and Assyrian music, though to what extent and in what
proportions it is impossible to determine.
We are equally ignorant of the nature of the Egyptian musical system.
A well-defined system they had, without doubt--they systematized
everything. The evidence seems to point to the fact that they used a
diatonic scale, and the representations of their musical performances
would indicate that they were acquainted with harmonic effects. A
concert of eight flutes, for instance, in unison, or even in octaves,
without other instruments of any sort to vary the monotony, would
hardly have appealed to a taste as cultivated as theirs must have
been. Fétis is of the opinion that the Egyptians possessed a system of
musical notation, and sees in the resemblance to demotic characters of
the musical notation used by the modern Greek Church evidence of the
fact that it belonged to ancient Egypt.[31] The presence of a system
of musical notation is no proof of the coincidence of an harmonic
system, but it is _prima facie_ evidence of a stage of artistic
development which included a sense of something more than primitive and
haphazard concords. Such a stage of development we may probably credit
with safety to the ancient Egyptians, and, whatever their music may
have been, we can surely conclude that it had acquired at least the
elementary proportions of an art.
W. D. D.
FOOTNOTES:
[20] Antiphonal is here used in the sense that one part of the chorus
answered the other.
[21] Carl Engel: 'Music of the Most Ancient Nations.’
[22] A sort of rattle.
[23] Translated from a summary by Jules Combarieu In his _Histoire de
la musique_, Vol. V, Chap. XIV.
[24] Concerning the influence of the temple and synagogue on the
liturgical music of the early Christian church, see Chapter V, p. 157
ff.
[25] 'Laws,’ Book II.
[26] 'The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient World.’ (1862-67.)
[27] _Denkmäler aus Ägypten und Ethiopien._
[28] Chas. Burney: 'History of Music.’
[29] Book X, Chap. 3.
[30] 'Records of the Past.’
[31] F. J. Fétis: _Biographie universelle des musiciens et
bibliographie générale de la musique_.