which the wise monarch Nezahualcoyotl founded in Tezcuco. This
institution was not intended exclusively for promoting the cultivation
of music; its aim comprised the advancement of various arts, and of
sciences such as history, astronomy, etc. In fact, it was an academy
for general education. Probably no better evidence could be cited
testifying to the remarkable intellectual attainments of the Mexican
Indians before the discovery of America than this council of music.
Although in some respects it appears to have resembled the board of
music of the Chinese, it was planned on a more enlightened and more
comprehensive principle. The Chinese “board of music,” called _Yoh
Pu_, is an office connected with the _Li Pu_ or “board of rites,”
established by the imperial government at Peking. The principal object
of the board of rites is to regulate the ceremonies on occasions of
sacrifices offered to the gods; of festivals and certain court
solemnities; of military reviews; of presentations, congratulations,
marriages, deaths, burials――in short, concerning almost every possible
event in social and public life.
The reader is probably aware that in one of the various hypotheses
which have been advanced respecting the Asiatic origin of the American
Indians China is assigned to them as their ancient home. Some
historians suppose them to be emigrants from Mongolia, Thibet, or
Hindustan; others maintain that they are the offspring of Phœnician
colonists who settled in Central America. Even more curious are the
arguments of certain inquirers who have no doubt whatever that the
ancestors of the American Indians were the lost ten tribes of Israel,
of whom since about the time of the Babylonian captivity history is
silent. Whatever may be thought as to which particular one of these
speculations hits the truth, they certainly have all proved useful, in
so far as they have made ethnologists more exactly acquainted with the
habits and predilections of the American aborigines than would
otherwise have been the case. For, as the advocates of each hypothesis
have carefully collected and adduced every evidence they were able to
obtain tending to support their views, the result is that (so to say)
no stone has been left unturned. Nevertheless, any such hints as
suggest themselves from an examination of musical instruments have
hitherto remained unheeded. It may therefore perhaps interest the
reader to have his attention drawn to a few suggestive similarities
occurring between instruments of the American Indians and of certain
nations inhabiting the eastern hemisphere.
We have seen that the Mexican pipe and the Peruvian syrinx were
purposely constructed so as to produce the intervals of the pentatonic
scale only. There are some additional indications of this scale having
been at one time in use with the American Indians. For instance, the
music of the Peruvian dance _cachua_ is described as having been very
similar to some Scotch national dances; and the most conspicuous
characteristics of the Scotch tunes are occasioned by the frequently
exclusive employment of intervals appertaining to the pentatonic
scale. We find precisely the same series of intervals adopted on
certain Chinese instruments, and evidences are not wanting of the
pentatonic scale having been popular among various races in Asia at a
remote period. The series of intervals appertaining to the Chiriqui
pipe, mentioned on p. 60, consisted of a semitone and two whole tones,
like the _tetrachord_ of the ancient Greeks.
In the Peruvian _huayra-puhura_ made of soapstone some of the pipes
possess lateral holes. This contrivance, which is rather unusual,
occurs on the Chinese _shêng_. The _chayna_, mentioned on p. 62, seems
to have been provided with a reed, like the oboe: and in Hindustan we
find a species of oboe called _shehna_. The _turé_ of the Indian
tribes on the Amazon, mentioned on p. 67, reminds us of the trumpets
_turi_, or _tuturi_, of the Hindus. The name appears to have been
known also to the Arabs; but there is no indication whatever of its
having been transmitted to the peninsula by the Moors, and afterwards
to South America by the Portuguese and Spaniards.
The wooden tongues in the drum _teponaztli_ may be considered as a
contrivance exclusively of the ancient American Indians. Nevertheless
a construction nearly akin to it may be observed in certain drums of
the Tonga and Fiji islanders, and of the natives of some islands in
Torres Strait. Likewise some negro tribes in Western and Central
Africa have certain instruments of percussion which are constructed on
a principle somewhat reminding us of the _teponaztli_. The method of
bracing the drum by means of cords, as exhibited in the _huehuetl_ of
the Mexican Indians, is evidently of very high antiquity in the East.
It was known to the ancient Egyptians.
Rattles, Pandean pipes made of reed, and conch trumpets, are found
almost all over the world, wherever the materials of which they are
constructed are easily obtainable. Still, it may be noteworthy that
the Mexicans employed the conch trumpet in their religious observances
apparently in much the same way as it is used in the Buddhist worship
of the Tibetans and Kalmuks.
As regards the sonorous metal in the great temple at Tezcuco some
inquirers are sure that it was a gong: but it must be borne in mind
that these inquirers detect everywhere traces proving an invasion of
the Mongols, which they maintain to have happened about six hundred
years ago. Had they been acquainted with the little Peruvian bell they
would have had more tangible musical evidence in support of their
theory than the supposed gong; for this bell certainly bears a
suggestive resemblance to the little hand-bell which the Buddhists use
in their religious ceremonies.
The Peruvians interpolated certain songs, especially those which they
were in the habit of singing while cultivating the fields, with the
word _hailli_ which signified “Triumph.” As the subject of these
compositions was principally the glorification of the Inca, the burden
_hailli_ is perhaps all the more likely to remind Europeans of the
Hebrew _hallelujah_. Moreover, Adair, who lived among the Indians of
North America during a period of about forty years, speaks of some
other words which he found used as burdens in hymns sung on solemn
occasions, and which appeared to him to correspond with certain Hebrew
words of a sacred import.
As regards the musical accomplishments of the Indian tribes at the
present day they are far below the standard which we have found among
their ancestors. A period of three hundred years of oppression has
evidently had the effect of subduing the melodious expressions of
happiness and contentedness which in former times appear to have been
quite as prevalent with the Indians as they generally are with
independent and flourishing nations. The innate talent for music
evinced by those of the North American Indians who were converted to
Christianity soon after the emigration of the Puritans to New England
is very favourably commented on by some old writers. In the year 1661
John Elliot published a translation of the psalms into Indian verse.
The singing of these metrical psalms by the Indian converts in their
places of worship appears to have been actually superior to the sacred
vocal performances of their Christian brethren from Europe; for we
find it described by several witnesses as “excellent” and “most
ravishing.”
In other parts of America the priests from Spain did not neglect to
turn to account the susceptibility of the Indians for music. Thus, in
central America the Dominicans composed as early as in the middle of
the sixteenth century a sacred poem in the Guatemalian dialect
containing a narrative of the most important events recorded in the
Bible. This production they sang to the natives, and to enhance the
effect they accompanied the singing with musical instruments. The
alluring music soon captivated the heart of a powerful cazique, who
was thus induced to adopt the doctrines embodied in the composition,
and to diffuse them among his subjects, who likewise delighted in the
performances. In Peru a similar experiment, resorted to by the priests
who accompanied Pizarro’s expedition, proved equally successful. They
dramatised certain scenes in the life of Christ and represented them
with music, which so greatly fascinated the Indians that many of them
readily embraced the new faith. Nor are these entertainments dispensed
with even at the present day by the Indian Christians, especially in
the village churches of the Sierra in Peru; and as several religious
ceremonies have been retained by these people from their heathen
forefathers, it may be conjectured that their sacred musical
performances also retain much of their ancient heathen character.
Most of the musical instruments found among the American Indians at
the present day are evidently genuine old Indian contrivances as they
existed long before the discovery of America. Take, for example, the
peculiarly-shaped rattles, drums, flutes, and whistles of the North
American Indians, of which some specimens in the Museum are described
in the large catalogue. A few African instruments, introduced by the
negro slaves, are now occasionally found in the hands of the Indians,
and have been by some travellers erroneously described as genuine
Indian inventions. This is the case with the African _marimba_, which
has become rather popular with the natives of Guatemala in central
America; but such adaptations are very easily discernible.
VII.
EUROPEAN INSTRUMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
Many representations of musical instruments of the middle ages have
been preserved in manuscripts, as well as in sculptures and paintings
forming ornamental portions of churches and other buildings. Valuable
facts and hints are obtainable from these evidences, provided they are
judiciously selected and carefully examined. The subject is, however,
so large that only a few observations on the most interesting
instruments can be offered here. Unfortunately there still prevails
much uncertainty respecting several of the earliest representations as
to the precise century from which they date, and there is reason to
believe that in some instances the archæological zeal of musical
investigators has assigned a higher antiquity to such discoveries than
can be satisfactorily proved.
It appears certain that the most ancient European instruments known to
us were in form and construction more like the Asiatic than was the
case with later ones. Before a nation has attained to a fairly high
degree of civilisation its progress in the cultivation of music, as an
art, is very slow indeed. The instruments found at the present day in
Asia are scarcely superior to those which were in use among oriental
nations about three thousand years ago. It is, therefore, perhaps not
surprising that no material improvement is perceptible in the
construction of the instruments of European countries during the lapse
of nearly a thousand years. True, evidences to be relied on referring
to the first five or six centuries of the Christian era are but
scanty; although indications are not wanting which may help the
reflecting musician.
There are some early monuments of Christian art dating from the fourth
century in which the lyre is represented. In one of them Christ is
depicted as Apollo touching the lyre. This instrument occurs at an
early period in western Europe as used in popular pastimes. In an
Anglo-Saxon manuscript of the ninth century in the British Museum
(Cleopatra C. VIII.) are the figures of two gleemen, one playing the
lyre and the other a double-pipe. M. de Coussemaker has published in
the “Annales Archéologiques” the figure of a crowned personage playing
the lyre, which he found in a manuscript of the ninth or tenth century
in the library at Angers. The player twangs the strings with his
fingers, while the Anglo-Saxon gleeman before mentioned uses a
plectrum.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.――CITHARA. From a 9th century MS. formerly
in the monastery of St. Blasius in the Black Forest.]
_Cithara_ was a name applied to several stringed instruments greatly
varying in form, power of sound, and compass. The illustration (Fig.
23) represents a cithara from a manuscript of the ninth century,
formerly in the library of the great monastery of St. Blasius in the
Black Forest. When in the year 1768 the monastery was destroyed by
fire, this valuable book perished in the flames; fortunately the
celebrated Abbot Gerbert possessed tracings of the illustrations,
which were saved from destruction. He published them, in the year
1774, in his work “De cantu et musica sacra.” As the older works on
music were generally written in Latin we do not learn from them the
popular names of the instruments; the writers merely adopted such
Latin names as they thought the most appropriate. Thus, for instance,
a very simple stringed instrument of a triangular shape, and a
somewhat similar one of a square shape (Fig. 24), were designated by
the name of _psalterium_.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.――PSALTERIUM. From a MS. of the 9th century,
formerly in the monastery of St. Blasius in the
Black Forest.]
[Illustration: FIG. 25.――CITHARA. From a MS. of the 9th century,
formerly in the monastery of St. Blasius in the Black
Forest.]
The _cithara_ here illustrated (Fig. 25) is evidently an improvement
upon the triangular psalterium (Fig. 26), because it has a sort of
small sound-board at the top. Scarcely better, with regard to
acoustics, appears to have been the instrument designated as _nablum_,
which is engraved (Fig. 27) from a manuscript of the ninth century at
Angers.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.――KING PLAYING PSALTERY. After an engraving
in N. X. Willemin’s _Monuments Français Inédits_,
Vol. I., pl. 19, taken from _Hortus Deliciarum_, a
MS. of the 12th century.]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.――NABLUM. From a 9th century MS. at Angers.]
[Illustration: FIG. 28.――Female playing a species of CITOLE. From a
9th century MS. formerly in the monastery of St.
Blasius, in the Black Forest.]
A small psalterium with strings placed over a sound-board was
apparently the prototype of the _citole_, a kind of dulcimer which was
played with the fingers (Fig. 28). The names were not only often
vaguely applied by the mediæval writers, but they changed also in
almost every century. The psalterium, or psalterion (Italian
_salterio_, English _psaltery_), of the fourteenth century and later
had the trapezium shape of the dulcimer.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.――HARP. From a 9th century MS. formerly in
the monastery of St. Blasius in the Black Forest.]
The Anglo-Saxons frequently accompanied their vocal effusions with a
harp, more or less triangular in shape, an instrument which may be
considered rather as constituting the transition of the lyre into the
harp. The harp was especially popular in central and northern Europe,
and was the favourite instrument of the German and Celtic bards and of
the Scandinavian skalds. In the next illustration (Fig. 29) from the
manuscript of the monastery of St. Blasius twelve strings and two
sound-holes are given to it. A harp similar in form and size, but
without the front pillar, was known to the ancient Egyptians. Perhaps
the addition was also non-existent in the earliest specimens
appertaining to European nations; and a sculptured figure of a small
harp constructed like the ancient eastern harp has been discovered in
the old church of Ullard in the county of Kilkenny. This curious
relic, which is said to date from a period anterior to the year 800,
is illustrated in Bunting’s “Ancient Music of Ireland.” As Bunting was
the first who drew attention to this sculpture his account of it may
interest the reader. “The drawing,” he says, “is taken from one of the
ornamental compartments of a sculptured cross, at the old church of
Ullard. From the style of the workmanship, as well as from the worn
condition of the cross, it seems older than the similar monument at
Monasterboice which is known to have been set up before the year 830.
The sculpture is rude; the circular rim which binds the arms of the
cross together is not pierced in the quadrants, and many of the
figures originally in relievo are now wholly abraded. It is difficult
to determine whether the number of strings represented is six or
seven; but, as has been already remarked, accuracy in this respect
cannot be expected either in sculptures or in many picturesque
drawings.” The Finns had a harp (_harpu_, _kantele_) with a similar
frame, devoid of a front pillar, still in use until the commencement
of the last century.
One of the most interesting stringed instruments of the middle ages is
the _rotta_ (German, _Rotte_; English, _rote_). It was sounded by
twanging the strings, and also by the application of the bow. The
first method was, of course, the elder one. There can hardly be a
doubt that when the bow came into use it was applied to certain
popular instruments which previously had been treated like the
_cithara_ or the _psalterium_. The Hindus at the present day use their
_suroda_ sometimes as a lute and sometimes as a fiddle. In some
measure we do the same with the violin by playing occasionally
_pizzicato_. The rotta from the manuscript of St. Blasius is called in
Gerbert’s work _cithara teutonica_, while the harp is called _cithara
anglica_; from which it would appear that the former was regarded as
pre-eminently a German instrument. Possibly its name may have been
originally _chrotta_ and the continental nations may have adopted it
from the Celtic races of the British isles, dropping the guttural
sound. This hypothesis is, however, one of those which have been
advanced by some musical historians without any satisfactory evidence.
In the _rotta_ the ancient Asiatic lyre is easily to be recognized. An
illumination of king David playing the _rotta_ forms the frontispiece
of a manuscript of the eighth century preserved in the cathedral
library of Durham; it is musically interesting inasmuch as it
represents a _rotta_ of an oblong square shape like that just noticed
and resembling the Welsh _crwth_. It has only five strings which the
performer twangs with his fingers. Again, a very interesting
representation of the Psalmist with a kind of _rotta_ occurs in a
manuscript of the tenth century, in the British Museum (Vitellius
F.XI.). The manuscript was much injured by a fire in the year 1731;
but Professor Westwood has succeeded, with great care, and with the
aid of a magnifying glass, in making out the lines of the figure. As
it has been ascertained that the psalter is written in the Irish
semiuncial character it is highly probable that the kind of _rotta_
represents the Irish _cionar cruit_, which was played by twanging the
strings and also by the application of a bow. Unfortunately we possess
no well-authenticated representation of the Welsh _crwth_ of an early
period; otherwise we should in all probability find it played with the
fingers, or with a plectrum. Venantius Fortunatus, an Italian who
lived in the second half of the sixth century, mentions in a poem the
“Chrotta Britanna.” He does not, however, allude to the bow, and there
is no reason to suppose that it existed in England. Howbeit, the Welsh
_crwth_ (Anglo-Saxon, _crudh_; English, _crowd_) is only known as a
species of fiddle closely resembling the _rotta_, but having a
fingerboard in the middle of the open frame and being strung with only
a few strings; while the _rotta_ had sometimes above twenty strings.
As it may interest the reader to examine the form of the modern
_crwth_ we give an illustration of it (Fig. 30). Edward Jones, in his
“Musical and poetical relicks of the Welsh bards,” records that the
Welsh had before this kind of _crwth_ a three-stringed one called
“Crwth Trithant,” which was, he says, “a sort of violin, or more
properly a rebeck.” The three-stringed _crwth_ was chiefly used by the
inferior class of bards; and was probably the Moorish fiddle which is
still the favourite instrument of the itinerant bards of the Bretons
in France, who call it _rébek_. The Bretons, it will be remembered,
are close kinsmen of the Welsh.
A player on the _crwth_ or _crowd_ (a crowder) from a bas-relief on
the under part of the seats of the choir in Worcester cathedral dates
from the latter part of the fourteenth century.[5] It was probably
identical with the _rotta_ of the same century on the continent.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.――CRWTH. Welsh. 13th century. L. 22 in.,
W. 9½ in. No. 175-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
An interesting drawing of an Anglo-Saxon fiddle――or _fithele_, as it
was called――is given in a manuscript of the eleventh century in the
British Museum (Cotton, Tiberius, c. 6). The instrument is of a pear
shape, with four strings, and the bridge is not indicated. A German
fiddle of the ninth century, called _lyra_, copied by Gerbert from the
manuscripts of St. Blasius, has only one string. Other records of the
employment of the fiddle-bow in Germany in the twelfth and thirteenth
centuries are not wanting. For instance, in the famous “Nibelungenlied”
Volker is described as wielding the fiddle-bow not less dexterously
than the sword. And in “Chronicon picturatum Brunswicense” of the year
1203, the following miraculous sign is recorded as having occurred in
the village of Ossemer: “On Wednesday in Whitsunweek, while the parson
was fiddling to his peasants who were dancing, there came a flash of
lightning and struck the parson’s arm which held the fiddle-bow, and
killed twenty-four people on the spot.”
Among the oldest representations of performers on instruments of the
violin kind found in England those deserve to be noticed which are
painted on the interior of the roof of Peterborough Cathedral. They
are said to date from the twelfth century. One of these figures is
particularly interesting on account of the surprising resemblance
which his instrument bears to our present violin. Not only the
incurvations on the sides of the body but also the two sound-holes are
nearly identical in shape with those made at the present day.
Respecting the reliance to be placed on such evidence, it is necessary
to state that the roof, originally constructed between the years 1177
and 1194, was thoroughly repaired in the year 1835. Although we find
it asserted that “the greatest care was taken to retain every part, or
to restore it to its original state, so that the figures, even where
retouched, are in effect the same as when first painted,” it
nevertheless remains a debatable question whether the restorers have
not admitted some slight alterations, and have thereby somewhat
modernised the appearance of the instruments. A slight touch with the
brush at the sound-holes, the screws, or the curvatures would suffice
to produce modifications which might to the artist appear as being
only a renovation of the original representation, but which to the
musical investigator greatly impair the value of the evidence.
Sculptures are, therefore, more to be relied upon in evidence than
frescoes.
VIII.
EUROPEAN INSTRUMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. (_Continued._)