Critical and Historical Essays / Lectures delivered at Columbia University

rd vividness of impression rather than poignancy and vitality of expression, then we have the invariable sign of that decadence which inevitably drifts into revolution of one kind

n many of his odes we find intricate metrical devices; for instance, the first line of most of the odes is so arranged metrically that the same order of accents is maintained whether the line be read backward or forward, the short and long syllables falling into exactly the same places in either case. The line "He

ill in onomatopoetic 7 verse. His comedies called for many more actors than the tragedies had required, and the chorus was increased from fifteen to twenty-four. Pur

in the centre of the audience. Dressed in long, feminine, saffron-coloured robes, with veiled faces, and straps round their cheeks to support the muscles of the mouth, they exhibited the most startling feats of technical skill. Even women became flute players, although this was considered disgraceful. The Athe

was to fall, a downward stroke was placed above the syllable; when the voice was to be raised, an upward stroke indicated it; and when the voice was to rise and fall, the sign was , which has become our accent in music. These three signs are found in the French language, in the accent aigu,

to cover by wonderful execution. The mania for flute playing, for instance, seemed to spread all over the world; later

ns of gestures and dancing. (2) Another which called for a band of instrumental musicians on the stage to furnish an accompaniment to the acting of the pantomimist. (3) The chorus pantomime, in which the chorus and the orchestra were placed on the stage, supplementing the gestures of the actors by singing a narrative of the plot of the p

upon the stage with the actors. The bagpipe now appears for the first time in musical history, although there is some question as to whether it was not known to the Assyrians. It represents, perhaps, the only remnant of Roman

pantomime itself was of such a brutal nature that the degradation of art may be said to have been complete. As the decay of art

d triple porticos a mile in length, and enclosed a lake surrounded by buildings which had the appearance of a city. Within its area were corn fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods containing many animals, both wild and tame. In other parts it was entirely overlaid with gold, and adorned with jewels and moth

te by means of a kind of water pump operated by iron keys. It was undoubtedly the direct ancestor of our modern organ. Nero intended to introduce these instruments into the Roman theatre. In planning for his expedition against Vindex, his first care was to provide carriages for his musical instrumen

e custom for a singer to lie on his back, with a sheet of lead upon his breast, to correct unsteadiness in breathing, and to abstain from food for two days together to clear his voice, often denying himself fruit and sweet pastry.

, as well as Pliny the Younger, speaks of the Christians as accompanying their songs with gestures, and with steps forward and backward. This Greek influence is still further implied by the order of one of the earliest of the Church fathers, Clement of Alexandria (about 300 A.D.), who forbade the use of the chromatic style in the hymns, as tending too much toward paganism. Some writers even go so far as to id

note that until now music had either been the servant of ignoble masters, looked upon as a mathematical problem to be solved scientifically, or used according to methods p

es. He recommended that every morning, after rising, they should play on the lyre and sing, in order to clear the mind. It was inevitable that this half mathematical, half psychologically medicinal manner of treating music would, in falling into the hands of Euclid (300 B.C.) and his school, degenerate into a mere peg on which to hang mathematical theorems. On the other hand, when we think of Greek dances, we seem to pass into the bright, warm sunshine. We see graceful figures holding one another by the wrist, dancing in a circle around some altar to Dionysus, and singing to the strange lilt of those unequal measures. We can im

one end, on which the magistrate sat when in office. There were steps up to it, and on these steps the clergy stood. The rest of the hall was called the "nave" (ship), for the simile of "storm-tossed mariners" was always dear to the early Christian church. In the centre of the nave stood the reader of the Scriptures, and on each side of him, ranged along

t from chanting, which is merely intoned speech. The disputes of the Arians and the Athanasians also affected the

c into a regular system was attempted by Pope Sylvester, in 314 A.D., when he

declamation, thus following the Greek tradition of usin

inst which the Christians had revolted. It was the effort to keep the music of the church pure and undefiled that

major and minor being as yet unknown. In the course of time the ancient modes had become corrupted, and the modes that Ambrose took for his hymns were therefore different from those known in Greece under the same names. His Dorian is what the ancients called Ph

four more modes, which were called Plagal or side

an, domi

gian, do

an, domi

lydian, d

tance. Still later two more modes were added to this list, the Ionic, dominant, G, which corresponded to the ancient Greek Lydian; and the ?olian, dominant, E, which, strange to say, was the only one of these newe

MM

Key. D

ian

orian

gian

hrygi

ian

ydian

ydian

ixolyd

ian

olian

ian

onian

ny degree of the scale would invariably return to the same tonic or keynote. They differed from the authentic modes, inasmuch as in the latter a melody might end either on the upper or lower tonic or keynote

y stood as given above. The Greek names were definitely accepted in the eleventh century, or thereabouts; previo

ase of his contemporary, Francis of Cologne-were "all for sweetness and melodious sound"; and St. Augustine (354–430 A.D.), speaks of them with ecstasy. The words in these hymns were used in connection with small groups of notes; consequently they could be understood as they were sung, thus returning in a measure to the character of the music o

on of the Roman theatres; he also had a chorus of women singers, who, as Eusebius tells us, sang not the Christian hymns, but pagan tunes. Later, in Constantinople, even this luxury and pomp increased; the churches had domes of burnished gold, and had become gigantic palaces, lit by thousands of lamps. The choir, dressed in glittering robes, was placed in the middle of the church, and these singers began to show the same fatal sign of decadence that we saw before in Rome and Greece. According to St. Chrysostom (347–407 A.D.), they used unguents on their throats in order to make the voice flexible, for by this time the singing had become a mere vehicle for vir

e connection between the music of the church and that of the pagan world before it. Casting aside the declamation and rhythm, which up to now had always dominated p

d merely of a rising and falling of the voice for the spa

he following; and we must also bear in mind that the Ambrosian chants were ver

of Europe by Pope Adrian I, Charlemagne, in 774, caused all the chant and hymn books of the Ambrosian system throughout Italy to be burned. So completely was this accomplished that only one Ambrosian missal was found (by St. Eugenius at Milan), and

thing signified. Poe's "Raven

, short; c., shortest;