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Title: Musical Instruments
Author: Engel, Carl
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Musical Instruments" ***
[Illustration: FIG. 1.――MUSIC. After an oil painting attributed to
Melozzo da Forlì (1438-1494).
National Gallery.]
BOARD OF EDUCATION, SOUTH KENSINGTON,
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM.
MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS
BY
CARL ENGEL
_WITH SEVENTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS_
[Illustration: logo]
REVISED EDITION.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR HIS MAJESTY’S STATIONERY OFFICE,
By WYMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, 109, FETTER LANE, E.C.
And to be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from
WYMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, 109, FETTER LANE, FLEET STREET, E.C. or
OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT, EDINBURGH; or
E. PONSONBY, 116, GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN.
1908.
_Price_ 1_s._ 6_d._; _in Cloth_, 2_s._ 3_d._
NOTE.
In the preparation of the revised edition of the late Dr. Engel’s
handbook, first published in 1875, care has been taken to make as few
alterations as possible and to express no views from which he might
have dissented.
The greatly enlarged chapter relating to post-mediæval instruments has
been chiefly compiled from Dr. Engel’s Descriptive Catalogue of the
musical instruments in the Museum, published in 1874.
The pages relating to the Ancient Egyptians have been revised by Dr.
W. M. Flinders Petrie, those dealing with the Greeks, Etruscans and
Romans by Dr. Cecil H. Smith, and the description of Chinese and
Japanese instruments by Dr. Stephen W. Bushell. The thanks of the
Board are due to these gentlemen for their valuable co-operation.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
NOTE iii
LIST OF CONTENTS v
“ ” ILLUSTRATIONS vii
CHAPTER I.――Introduction 1
“ II.――Pre-Historic Relics and Ancient Egyptian 9
“ III.――Assyrian and Hebrew 16
“ IV.――Greek, Etruscan and Roman 27
“ V.――Oriental 37
“ VI.――American Indian 58
“ VII.――European Instruments of the Middle Ages 83
“ VIII.――European Instruments of the Middle Ages 92
“ IX.――European Instruments of the Middle Ages 99
“ X.――Post-Mediæval Instruments 104
APPENDIX 135
INDEX 139
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. PAGE.
1.――MUSIC, after an oil painting attributed to Melozzo da
Forlì (1438-1494) _Frontispiece_
2.――PAINTED WOODEN HARP. Ancient Egyptian. XVIIIth
dynasty (B.C. 1450) _Facing_ 10
3.――BRONZE AND REED FLUTES. Ancient Egyptian. B.C. 600,
or later _Facing_ 12
4.――BRONZE SISTRA. Ancient Egyptian. XXIInd-XXVIth
dynasty (B.C. 1000-600) _Facing_ 14
5.――SERIES OF BELLS. Ancient Egyptian. Late Period 15
6.――A MUSE WITH A HARP, AND TWO OTHERS WITH LYRES.
From a Greek vase 29
7.――PAIR OF BRONZE FLUTES, with mouthpiece in the form of a
bust of a Mænad holding a bunch of grapes.
Greek _Facing_ 30
8.――A MUSE PLAYING THE DIAULOS. Greek 31
9.――WALL PAINTING of a youth wearing a myrtle wreath and
playing on the DOUBLE PIPES. Said to have been found
in a columbarium in the Vigna Ammendola on the Appian
Way near Rome, about 1823. British Museum _Facing_ 34
10.――TUBA, CORNU AND LITUUS. Roman 35
11.――HSÜAN. Chinese 42
12.――(_a_) CH’IN (a species of Lute). Modern Chinese
(_b_) SHÊNG (Mouth Organ). Chinese. 19th century
(_c_) YUEH-CH’IN (Moon Guitar). Chinese. 19th century
_Facing_ 42
13.――(_a_) KOTO (a species of Lute). Japanese. 19th century
(_b_) BIWA (a species of Guitar). Modern Japanese
(_c_) SÂMISEN. Japanese _Facing_ 44
14.――(_a_) SÂRINDA AND BOW. Indian (Bengal). 19th century
(_b_) RUDRA VINA. Southern Indian (Madras). 19th century
(_c_) SÂRANGI AND BOW. Southern Indian. 19th century
_Facing_ 48
15.――(_a_) KEMÁNGEH OR SITÂRA OR FIDDLE. Persian. About 1800
(_b_) NUY (Flute). Persian. 19th century
(_c_) SANTIR (Dulcimer) CASE. Persian _Facing_ 54
16.――POTTERY WHISTLES, with finger-holes. Ancient Mexican 59
17.――POTTERY FLAGEOLETS, with finger-holes. (_a_) and (_c_)
Ancient Mexican; (_b_) from the Island of Sacrificios
_Facing_ 60
18.――BONE FLUTES. Ancient Peruvian, (_a_) and (_b_) Truxillo;
(_c_) Lima _Facing_ 60
19.――HUAYRA-PUHURA, discovered in a Peruvian tomb 64
20.――WOODEN TRUMPET. Used by Indians near the Orinoco 65
21.――JURUPARIS, with and without cover. South American 66
22.――BOTUTO. Used by Indians near the Orinoco 68
23.――CITHARA. From a 9th century MS. formerly in the
monastery of St. Blasius in the Black Forest 84
24.――PSALTERIUM. From a 9th century MS. formerly in the
monastery of St. Blasius in the Black Forest 85
25.――CITHARA. From a 9th century MS. formerly in the monastery
of St. Blasius in the Black Forest 85
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 86
27.――NABLUM. From a 9th century MS. at Angers 86
28.――FEMALE PLAYING A SPECIES OF CITOLE. From a 9th
century MS. formerly in the monastery of St. Blasius
in the Black Forest 86
29.――HARP. From a 9th century MS. formerly in the monastery
of St. Blasius in the Black Forest 87
30.――CRWTH. Welsh. 18th century _Facing_ 90
31.――ORGANISTRUM 93
32.――SACKBUT 94
33.――ORGAN. From a 12th century psalter in the library of
Trinity College, Cambridge 95
34.――ORGAN (Grand Orgue). After an engraving in N. X.
Willemin’s _Monuments Français Inédits_ 96
35.――BAS-RELIEF, representing a group of musicians, formerly
at the abbey of St. Georges de Boscherville. Late
11th century (?). After an engraving in N. X.
Willemin’s _Monuments Français Inédits_ _Facing_ 98
36.――HURDY-GURDY (Vielle). With arms of France and crowned
monogram of Henry II. on back and front. About
1550 _Facing_ 100
37.――TYMPANUM of the Glory Gate of the Cathedral of Santiago
de Compostella. Dated 1188. From a plaster cast in
the Victoria and Albert Museum _Facing_ 100
38.――MINSTREL GALLERY, Exeter Cathedral. 14th century.
From a plaster cast in the Victoria and Albert
Museum _Facing_ 102
39.――LUTE. Italian (Venetian). Beginning of the 17th century
_Facing_ 104
40.――ANGEL PLAYING A LUTE. After an oil painting by
Ambrogio da Predis. Late 15th century _Facing_ 104
41.――ARCHLUTE. Inscribed “Rauche in Chandos Street,
London, 1762” _Facing_ 104
42.――CHITARRONE. Italian. Made by Buchenberg in Rome,
anno 1614 _Facing_ 106
43.――PANDURINA. French. Second half of 16th century
_Facing_ 108
44.――GUITAR. French (?). 17th century _Facing_ 108
45.――QUINTERNA, OR CHITERNA. German. Dated 1539 _Facing_ 108
46.――CITHER. German. End of 17th century _Facing_ 108
47.――HARP THEORBO. Made by Harley. English. About 1800
_Facing_ 110
48.――HARP VENTURA. English. Early 19th century _Facing_ 110
49.――BANDURIA. English. Early 19th century _Facing_ 110
50.――HARP. Old Irish _Facing_ 110
51.――HARP. French. About 1770 _Facing_ 112
52.――VIOLIN. Said to have belonged to James I. English.
Early 17th century _Facing_ 112
53.――ANGEL PLAYING A VIOL. After an oil painting by
Ambrogio da Predis. Late 15th century _Facing_ 104
54.――VIOLA DA GAMBA. Italian. About 1600 _Facing_ 114
55.――VIOLA DA GAMBA. Italian. 17th century _Facing_ 114
56.――VIOLA DI BARDONE, OR BARITON, WITH BOW. German.
17th century _Facing_ 114
57.――VIOLA D’AMORE. Probably English. Late 17th century
_Facing_ 116
58.――DOUBLE-BASS, WITH BOW. Known as “The Giant.”
Italian. 17th century _Facing_ 116
59.――SORDINO, OR POCHETTE. Probably German. Late 17th
or early 18th century _Facing_ 118
60.――BÛCHE, OR SCHEITHOLZ. Made by Fleurot, of the Val
d’Ajol in the Vosges Mountains. Early 19th
century _Facing_ 118
61.――VIRGINAL. Formerly belonging to Queen Elizabeth.
Italian. Second half of 16th century _Facing_ 118
62.――VIRGINAL. Flemish. Second half of 16th century
_Facing_ 118
63.――SPINET. Made by Annibale dei Rossi of Milan. Italian.
Dated 1577 _Facing_ 120
64.――SPINET. Signed “Johannes Player fecit” English.
About 1700 _Facing_ 120
65.――CLAVICHORD. Inscribed “Barthold Fritz fecit, Braunschweig,
anno 1751.” German. 18th century _Facing_ 120
66.――CLAVICEMBALO. Signed “Joanes Antonius Baffo,
Venetus.” Italian. Dated 1574 _Facing_ 122
67.――CLAVECIN. Made by Pascal Taskin of Paris. French.
Dated 1786 _Facing_ 124
68.――ORGAN-HARPSICHORD, OR CLAVIORGANUM. Formerly in
the chapel of Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks, Kent.
Probably English _Facing_ 124
69.――TRIPLE FLAGEOLET. Italian. About 1820 _Facing_ 124
70.――FLAUTO DOLCE, OR FLUTE. Ivory. Inscribed “Anciuti
a Milan, 1740” _Facing_ 124
71.――FLAGEOLET. Italian. Middle of 18th century _Facing_ 126
72.――OBOE. Made by Anciuti of Milan. Formerly in the
possession of the composer Rossini. Latter half
of 18th century _Facing_ 126
73.――BASSOON, species of. English. Late 18th, or early 19th
century _Facing_ 128
74.――THE SERPENT. Made by Gerock Wolf, in London.
English. Early 19th century _Facing_ 128
75.――SERINETTE OR BIRD ORGAN. French. Period of Louis XIV.
_Facing_ 128
76.――ORGAN (Positive). German. Dated 1627 _Facing_ 128
77.――BAGPIPES. English. 18th century _Facing_ 130
78.――HANDEL’S HARPSICHORD. Made by Andreas Ruckers, of
Antwerp, 1651 _Facing_ 134
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
I.
INTRODUCTION.
Music, in however primitive a stage of development it may be with some
nations, is universally appreciated as one of the Fine Arts. The
origin of vocal music may have been coeval with that of language; and
the construction of musical instruments evidently dates with the
earliest inventions which suggested themselves to human ingenuity.
There exist even at the present day some savage tribes in Australia
and South America who, although they have no more than the five first
numerals in their language and are thereby unable to count the fingers
of both hands together, nevertheless possess musical instruments of
their own contrivance, with which they accompany their songs and
dances.
Wood, metal, and the hide of animals are the most common substances
used in the construction of musical instruments. In tropical countries
bamboo or some similar kind of cane and gourds are especially made use
of for this purpose. The ingenuity of man has contrived to employ in
producing music, horn, bone, glass, pottery, slabs of sonorous
stone――in fact, almost all vibrating matter. The strings of
instruments have been made of the hair of animals, of silk, the
runners of creeping plants, the fibrous roots of certain trees, of
cane, catgut (which, absurdly referred to the cat, is from the sheep,
goat, lamb, camel, and some other animals), metal, etc.
The mode in which individual nations or tribes are in the habit of
embellishing their musical instruments is sometimes as characteristic
as it is singular. The negroes in several districts of Western Africa
affix to their drums human skulls. A war-trumpet of the king of
Ashantee which was brought to England is surrounded by human jawbones.
The Maoris in New Zealand carve around the mouth-hole of their
trumpets a figure intended, it is said, to represent female lips. The
materials for ornamentation chiefly employed by savages are bright
colours, beads, shells, grasses, the bark of trees, feathers, stones,
gilding, pieces of looking-glass inlaid like mosaic, etc. Uncivilised
nations are sure to consider anything which is bright and glittering
ornamental, especially if it is also scarce. Captain Tuckey saw in
Congo a negro instrument which was ornamented with part of the broken
frame of a looking-glass, to which were affixed in a semicircle a
number of brass buttons with the head of Louis XVI. on them,――perhaps
a relic of some French sailor drowned near the coast years ago.
Again, musical instruments are not infrequently formed in the shape of
certain animals. Thus, a kind of harmonicon of the Chinese represents
the figure of a crouching tiger. The Burmese possess a stringed
instrument in the shape of an alligator. Even more grotesque are the
imitations of various beasts adopted by the Javanese. The natives of
New Guinea have a singularly shaped drum, terminating in the head of a
reptile. A wooden rattle like a bird is a favourite instrument of the
Indians of Nootka Sound. In short, not only the inner construction of
the instruments and their peculiar quality of sound exhibit in most
nations certain distinctive characteristics, but it is also in great
measure true as to their outward appearance.
An arrangement of the various kinds of musical instruments in a
regular order, beginning with that kind which is the most universally
known, and progressing gradually to the least usual, gives the
following results. Instruments of percussion of indefinite
sonorousness or, in other words, pulsatile instruments which have not
a sound of a fixed pitch, as the drum, rattle, castanets, etc., are
most universal. Wind instruments of the flute kind――including pipes,
whistles, flutes, Pandean pipes, etc.――are also to be found almost
everywhere.
Much the same is the case with wind instruments of the trumpet kind.
These are often made of the horns, bones, and tusks of animals;
frequently of vegetable substances and of metal. Instruments of
percussion of definite sonorousness are chiefly met with in China,
Japan, Burmah, Siam, and Java. They not infrequently contain a series
of tones produced by slabs of wood or metal, which are beaten with a
sort of hammer, as our harmonicon is played.
Stringed instruments without a finger board, or any similar
contrivance which enables the performer to produce a number of
different tones on one string, are generally found among nations whose
musical accomplishments have emerged from the earliest state of
infancy. The strings are twanged with the fingers or with a piece of
wood, horn, metal, or any other suitable substance serving as a
_plectrum_; or are made to vibrate by being beaten with a hammer, as
our dulcimer. Stringed instruments provided with a finger-board on
which different tones are producible on one string by the performer
shortening it more or less――as on the guitar and violin――are met with
almost exclusively among nations in a somewhat advanced stage of
musical progress. Such as are played with a bow are the least common;
they are, however, known to the Chinese, Japanese, Hindus, Persians,
Arabs, and a few other nations, besides those of Europe and their
descendants in other countries.
Wind instruments of the organ kind――_i.e._, such as are constructed of
a number of tubes which can be sounded together by means of a common
mouthpiece or some similar contrivance, and upon which therefore
chords and combinations of chords, or harmony, can be produced――are
comparatively of rare occurrence. Some interesting specimens of them
exist in China, Japan, Laos, and Siam.
Besides these various kinds of sound-producing means employed in
musical performances, a few others less widely diffused could be
pointed out, which are of a construction not represented in any of our
well-known European specimens. For instance, some nations have
peculiar instruments of friction, which can hardly be classed with our
instruments of percussion. Again, there are contrivances in which a
number of strings are caused to vibrate by a current of air much as is
the case with the Æolian harp; which might with equal propriety be
considered either as stringed instruments or as wind instruments. In
short, our usual classification of all the various species into three
distinct divisions, viz., _Stringed Instruments_, _Wind Instruments_,
and _Instruments of Percussion_, is not tenable if we extend our
researches over the whole globe.
The collection at South Kensington contains several foreign
instruments which cannot fail to prove interesting to the musician.
Recent investigations have more and more elicited the fact that the
music of every nation exhibits some distinctive characteristics which
may afford valuable hints to a composer or performer. A familiarity
with the popular songs of different countries is advisable on account
of the remarkable originality of the airs; these mostly spring from
the heart. Hence the natural and true expression, the delightful
health and vigour by which they are generally distinguished. Our more
artificial compositions are, on the other hand, not infrequently
deficient in these charms, because they often emanate from the lingers
or the pen rather than from the heart. Howbeit, the predominance of
expressive melody and effective rhythm over harmonious combinations,
so usual in the popular compositions of various nations, would alone
suffice to recommend them to the careful attention of our modern
musicians. The same may be said with regard to the surprising variety
in construction and in manner of expression prevailing in the popular
songs and dance-tunes of different countries. Indeed, every nation’s
musical effusions exhibit a character peculiarly their own, with which
the musician would find it advantageous to familiarise himself.
Now, it will easily be understood that an acquaintance with the
musical instruments of a nation conveys a more correct idea than could
otherwise be obtained of the characteristic features of the nation’s
musical compositions. Furthermore, in many instances the construction
of the instruments reveals to us the nature of the musical intervals,
scales, modulations, and suchlike noteworthy facts. True, inquiries
like these have hitherto not received from musicians the attention
which they deserve. The adepts in most other arts are in this respect
in advance. They are convinced that useful information may be gathered
by investigating the productions even of uncivilised nations, and by
thus tracing the gradual progress of an art from its primitive infancy
to its highest degree of development.
Again, from an examination of the musical instruments of foreign
nations we may derive valuable hints for the improvement of our own;
or even for the invention of new. Several principles of construction
have thus been adopted by us from eastern nations. For instance, the
_free reed_ used in the harmonium is an importation from China. The
organ builder Kratzenstein, who lived in St. Petersburg during the
reign of Catherine II., happened to see the Chinese instrument
_cheng_, which is of this construction, and it suggested to him, about
the end of the 18th century, to apply the _free reed_ to certain organ
stops. At the present day instruments of the harmonium class have
become such universal favourites in western Europe as almost to
compete with the pianoforte.
Several other well-authenticated instances could be cited in which one
instrument has suggested the construction of another of a superior
kind. The prototype of our pianoforte was evidently the dulcimer,
known at an early time to the Arabs and Persians, who call it
_santir_. One of the old names given to the dulcimer by European
nations is _cimbal_. The Poles at the present day call it _cymbaly_,
and the Magyars in Hungary _cimbalom_. The _clavicembalo_, the
predecessor of the pianoforte, was in fact nothing but a _cembalo_
with a key board attached to it; and some of the old _clavicembali_
still preserved, exhibit the trapezium shape, the round hole in the
middle of the sound-board, and other peculiarities of the first
dulcimer. Again, the gradual development of the dulcimer from a rude
contrivance, consisting merely of a wooden board across which a few
strings are stretched, is distinctly traceable by a reference to the
musical instruments of nations in different stages of civilisation.
The same is the case with our highly perfected harp, of which curious
specimens, representing the instrument in its most primitive
condition, are still to be found among several barbarous tribes. We
might perhaps infer from its shape that it originally consisted of
nothing more than an elastic stick bent by a string. The Damaras, a
native tribe of South-western Africa, actually use their bow
occasionally as a musical instrument when they are not engaged in war
or in the chase. They tighten the string nearly in the middle by means
of a leathern thong, whereby they obtain two distinct sounds, which,
for want of a sound board, are of course very weak and scarcely
audible to anyone but the performer. Some neighbouring tribes,
however, possess a musical instrument very similar in appearance to
the bow, to which they attach a gourd, hollowed and open at the top,
which serves as a sound-board. Again, other African tribes have a
similar instrument, superior in construction only inasmuch as it
contains more than one string, and is provided with a sound-board
consisting of a suitable piece of sonorous wood. In short, the more
improved we find these contrivances the closer they approach our harp.
And it could be shown, if this were requisite for our present purpose,
that much the same gradual progress towards perfection, which we
observe in the African harp, is traceable in the harps of several
nations in different parts of the world.
Moreover, a collection of musical instruments deserves the attention
of the ethnologist as much as of the musician. Indeed, this may be
asserted of national music in general; for it gives us an insight into
the heart of man, reveals to us the feelings and predilections of
different races on the globe, and affords us a clue to the natural
affinity which exists between different families of men. Again, a
collection must prove interesting in a historical point of view.
Scholars will find among old instruments specimens which were in
common use in England at the time of Queen Elizabeth, and which are
not unfrequently mentioned in the literature of that period. In many
instances the passages in which allusion is made to them can hardly be
understood, if we are unacquainted with the shape and construction of
the instruments. Furthermore, these relics of bygone times bring
before our eyes the manners and customs of our forefathers, and assist
us in understanding them correctly.
It will be seen that the modification which our orchestra has
undergone, in the course of scarcely more than a century, is great
indeed. Most of the instruments which were highly popular about a
hundred years ago have either fallen into disuse or are now so much
altered that they may almost be considered as new inventions. Among
Asiatic nations, on the other hand, we meet with several instruments
which have retained unchanged through many centuries their old
construction and outward appearance. At South Kensington may be seen
instruments still in use in Egypt and western Asia, precisely like
specimens represented on monuments dating from a period of three
thousand years ago. By a reference to the Eastern instruments of the
present time we obtain therefore a key for investigating the earlier
Egyptian and Assyrian representations of musical performances; and
likewise, for appreciating more exactly the biblical records
respecting the music of the Hebrews. Perhaps these evidences will
convey to some inquirers a less high opinion than they have hitherto
entertained, regarding the musical accomplishments of the Hebrew bands
in the solemn processions of King David or in Solomon’s temple; but
the opinion will be all the nearer to the truth.
There is another point of interest about such collections, and
especially that at South Kensington, which must not be left unnoticed.
Several instruments are remarkable on account of their elegant shape
and tasteful ornamentation. This is particularly the case with some
specimens from Asiatic countries. The beautiful designs with which
they are embellished may afford valuable patterns for study and for
adoption in works of art.
II.
PRE-HISTORIC RELICS AND ANCIENT EGYPTIAN.
A really complete account of all the musical instruments from the
earliest time known to us would require much more space than can here
be afforded. We can attempt only a concise historical survey. We
venture to hope that the illustrations interspersed throughout the
text will to the intelligent reader elucidate many facts which, for
the reason stated, are touched upon but cursorily.
PRE-HISTORIC RELICS.
A musical relic has been exhumed in the department of Dordogne in
France, which was constructed in an age when the fauna of France
included the reindeer, the rhinoceros and the mammoth, the hyæna, the
bear, and the cave-lion. It is a small bone somewhat less than two
inches in length, in which is a hole, evidently bored by means of one
of the little flint knives which men used before acquaintance with the
employment of metal for tools and weapons.[1] Many of these flints
were found in the same place with the bones. Only about half a dozen
of the bones, of which a considerable number have been exhumed,
possess the artificial hole.
M. Lartet surmises the perforated bone to have been used as a whistle
in hunting animals. It is the first digital phalanx of a ruminant,
drilled to a certain depth by a smooth cylindrical bore on its lower
surface near the expanded upper articulation. On applying it to the
lower lip and blowing into it a shrill sound is yielded. Three of
these phalanges are of reindeer, one is of chamois. Again, among the
relics which have been brought to light from the cave of Lombrive, in
the department of Ariège, occur several eye-teeth of the dog, which
have a hole drilled into them near the root. Probably they also yield
sounds, like those reindeer bones, or like the tube of a key. Another
whistle――or rather a pipe, for it has three finger-holes by means of
which different tones could be produced――was found in a burying-place,
dating from the stone period, in the vicinity of Poitiers in France;
it is rudely constructed from a fragment of stag’s horn. It is blown
at the end, like a _flûte à bec_, and the three-finger holes are
placed equidistantly. Four distinct tones must have been easily
obtainable on it: the lowest, when all the finger-holes were covered;
the other three, by opening the finger-holes successively. From the
character of the stone utensils and weapons discovered with this pipe
it is conjectured that the burying-place from which it was exhumed
dates from the latest time of the stone age. Therefore, however old it
may be, it is a more recent contrivance than the reindeer-bone whistle
from the cavern of the Dordogne.
THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.
The most ancient nations historically known possessed musical
instruments which, though in acoustic construction greatly inferior to
our own, exhibit a degree of perfection which could have been attained
only after a long period of cultivation. Many tribes of the present
day have not yet reached this stage of musical progress.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.――PAINTED WOODEN HARP. Ancient Egyptian, XVIIIth
dynasty (B.C. 1450).
British Museum.]
As regards the instruments of the ancient Egyptians we now possess
perhaps more detailed information than of those appertaining to any
other nation of antiquity. This information we owe especially to the
exactness with which the instruments are depicted in sculptures and
paintings[2]. Whoever has examined these interesting monuments with
even ordinary care cannot but be convinced that the representations
which they exhibit are faithful transcripts from life. Moreover, if
there remained any doubt respecting the accuracy of the representations
of the musical instruments it might be dispelled by existing evidence.
Several specimens have been discovered in tombs, preserved in a more
or less perfect condition.
The Egyptians possessed various kinds of harps, some of which were
elegantly shaped and tastefully ornamented. The largest were about 6½
feet high; and the small ones frequently had some sort of stand which
enabled the performer to play upon the instrument while standing. The
name of the harp was _bene_. Its frame had no front pillar; the
tension of the strings therefore cannot have been anything like so
strong as on our present harp. (Fig. 2.)
The Egyptian harps most remarkable for elegance of form and elaborate
decoration are the two which were first noticed by Bruce who found
them painted in fresco on the walls of a sepulchre at Thebes, supposed
to be the tomb of Rameses III. who reigned about 1170 B.C. Bruce’s
discovery created a sensation among musicians. The fact that at so
remote an age the Egyptians should have possessed harps which vie with
our own in elegance and beauty of form appeared to some so incredible
that the correctness of Bruce’s representations, as engraved in his
“Travels,” was greatly doubted. Sketches of the same harps, taken
subsequently and at different times from the frescoes, have since been
published, but they differ more or less from each other in appearance
and in the number of strings. A kind of triangular harp of the
Egyptians was discovered in a well-preserved condition and is now
deposited in the Louvre. It has twenty-one strings; a greater number
than is generally represented on the monuments. All these instruments,
however much they differed from each other in form, had one
peculiarity in common, namely the absence of the fore pillar.
The _nefer_, a kind of guitar, was almost identical in construction
with the Tamboura at the present day in use among several eastern
nations. It was evidently a great favourite with the ancient
Egyptians, and occurs in representations of concerts dating earlier
than from B.C. 1500. The _nefer_ affords the best proof that the
Egyptians had made considerable progress in music at a very early age;
since it shows that they understood how to produce on a few strings,
by means of the finger-board, a greater number of notes than were
obtainable even on their harps. The instrument had two or four
strings, was played with a plectrum and appears to have been
sometimes, if not always, provided with frets. In the British Museum
is a fragment of a fresco obtained from a tomb at Thebes, on which two
female performers on the _nefer_ are represented. The painter has
distinctly indicated the frets.
Small pipes or flutes of the Egyptians have been discovered, made of
reed, with three, four, five, or more finger-holes. There are some
interesting examples in the British Museum; one of which has seven
holes burnt in at the side (Fig. 3). Two straws were found with it of
nearly the same length as the pipe, which is about one foot long. In
some other pipes pieces of a kind of thick straw have also been found
inserted into the tube, obviously serving for a similar purpose as the
_reed_ in our oboe or clarionet.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.――BRONZE AND REED FLUTES. Ancient Egyptian.
B.C. 600 or later.
British Museum.]
The _sebȧ_, a single flute, was of considerable length, and the
performer appears to have been obliged to extend his arms almost at
full length in order to reach the furthest finger-hole. As _sebȧ_
is also the name of the leg-bone (like the Latin _tibia_) it may be
supposed that the Egyptian flute was originally made of bone. Those,
however, which have been found are of wood or reed.
A flute-concert is painted on one of the tombs in the pyramids of
Gizeh and dates, according to Lepsius, from an age earlier than B.C.
2000. Eight musicians are performing on flutes. Three of them, one
behind the other, are kneeling and holding their flutes in exactly the
same manner. Facing these are three others, in a precisely similar
position. A seventh is sitting on the ground to the left of the six,
with his back turned towards them, but also in the act of blowing his
flute, like the others. An eighth is standing at the right side of the
group with his face turned towards them, holding his flute before him
with both hands, as if he were going to put it to his mouth, or had
just left off playing. He is clothed, while the others have only a
narrow girdle round their loins. Perhaps he is the director of this
singular band, or the _solo_ performer who is waiting for the
termination of the _tutti_ before renewing his part of the
performance. The division of the players into two sets, facing each
other, suggests the possibility that the instruments were classed
somewhat like the first and second violins, or the _flauto primo_ and
_flauto secondo_ of our orchestras. The occasional employment of the
interval of the third, or the fifth, as accompaniment to the melody,
is not unusual even with nations less advanced in music than were the
ancient Egyptians.
The Double-Pipe, called _mam_, appears to have been a very popular
instrument, if we judge from the frequency of its occurrence in the
representations of musical performances. Furthermore, the Egyptians
had, as far as is known to us, two kinds of trumpets; three kinds of
tambourines, or little hand drums; three kinds of drums, chiefly
barrel-shaped; and various kinds of gongs, bells, cymbals, and
castanets. The trumpet appears to have been usually of brass. A
peculiar wind-instrument, somewhat the shape of a champagne bottle and
perhaps made of pottery or wood, also occurs in the representations
transmitted to us.
The Egyptian drum was from two to three feet in length, covered with
parchment at both ends and braced by cords. The performer carried it
before him, generally by means of a band over his shoulder, while he
was heating it with his hands on both ends. Of another kind of drum an
actual specimen has been found in the excavations made in the year
1823 at Thebes. It was 1½ feet high and 2 feet broad, and had cords
for bracing it. A piece of catgut encircled each end of the drum,
being wound round each cord, by means of which the cords could be
tightened or slackened at pleasure by pushing the two hands of catgut
towards or from each other. It was beaten with two drumsticks slightly
bent. The Egyptians had also straight drumsticks with a handle, and a
knob at the end. The Berlin museum possesses some of these. The third
kind of drum was almost identical with the _darabuka_ of the modern
Egyptians. The Tambourine was either round, like that which is at the
present time in use in Europe as well as in the east; or it was of an
oblong square shape, slightly incurved on the four sides.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.――BRONZE SISTRA. Ancient Egyptian.
XXIInd-XXVIth dynasty (B.C. 1000-600).
The Sistrum consisted of a frame of bronze into which three or four
metal bars were loosely inserted, so as to produce a jingling noise
when the instrument was shaken. (Fig. 4.) The bars were often made in
the form of snakes, or they terminated in the head of a goose. Not
unfrequently a few metal rings were strung on the bars, to increase
the noise. The frame was sometimes ornamented with the figure of a
cat. The largest sistra which have been found are about eighteen
inches in length, and the smallest about nine inches. The sistrum was
principally used by females in religious performances. Its Egyptian
name was _seshesh_.
The Egyptian cymbals closely resembled our own in shape. There are
several pairs of them in the British museum. One pair was found in a
coffin enclosing the mummy of a sacred musician, and is deposited in
the same case with the mummy and coffin. Among the Egyptian
antiquities in the British museum are also several small bells of
bronze (Fig. 5). The largest is 2¼ inches in height, and the smallest
three-quarters of an inch. Some of them have a hole at the side near
the top wherein the clapper was fastened.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.――SERIES OF BELLS. Ancient Egyptian. Late
Period. The smaller examples were sewn on wearing
apparel.
British Museum.]
III.
ASSYRIAN AND HEBREW.
THE ASSYRIANS.
Our acquaintance with the Assyrian instruments has been derived almost
entirely from the famous bas-reliefs which have been excavated from
the mounds of Nimroud, Khorsabad, and Kouyunjik (the site of the
ancient Nineveh), situated near the river Tigris in the vicinity of
the town of Mosul in Asiatic Turkey.
The Assyrian harp was about four feet high, and appears of larger size
than it actually was on account of the ornamental appendages which
were affixed to the lower part of its frame. It must have been but
light in weight, since we find it not unfrequently represented in the
hands of persons who are playing upon it while they are dancing. Like
all the Oriental harps, modern as well as ancient, it was not provided
with a front pillar. The upper portion of the frame contained the
sound-holes, somewhat in the shape of an hourglass. Below them were
the screws, or tuning-pegs, arranged in regular order. The strings
were perhaps made of silk, like those which the Burmese use at the
present time on their harps; or they may have been of catgut, which
was used by the ancient Egyptians.
The largest assemblage of Assyrian musicians which has been discovered
on any monument consists of eleven performers upon instruments,
besides a chorus of singers. The first musician――probably the leader
of the band, as he marches alone at the head of the procession――is
playing upon a harp. Behind him are two men; one with a dulcimer and
the other with a double-pipe; then follow two men with harps. Next
come six female musicians, four of whom are playing upon harps, while
one is blowing a double-pipe and another is beating a small hand-drum
covered only at the top. Close behind the instrumental performers are
the singers, consisting of a chorus of females and children. They are
clapping their hands in time with the music, and some of the musicians
are dancing to the measure. One of the female singers is holding her
hand to her throat in the same manner as the women in Syria, Arabia,
and Persia are in the habit of doing at the present day when
producing, on festive occasions, those peculiarly shrill sounds of
rejoicing which have been repeatedly noticed by travellers.
The dulcimer is in too imperfect a state on the bas-relief to
familiarize us with its construction. The slab representing the
procession in which it occurs has been injured; the defect which
extended over a portion of the dulcimer has been repaired, and it
cannot be said that in repairing it much musical knowledge has been
evinced.
The instrument of the Trigonon species was held horizontally, and was
twanged with a rather long plectrum slightly bent at the end at which
it was held by the performer. It is of frequent occurrence on the
bas-reliefs. A number of them appear to have been generally played
together. At any rate, we find almost invariably on the monuments two
together, evidently implying “more than one,” “a number.” The left
hand of the performer seems to have been occupied in checking the
vibration of the strings when its discontinuance was required. From
the position of the strings the performer could not have struck them
as those of the dulcimer are struck. If he did not twang them, he may
have drawn the plectrum across them. Indeed, for twanging, a short
plectrum would have been more practical, considering that the strings
are placed horizontally one above the other at regular distances. It
is therefore by no means improbable that we have here a rude prototype
of the violin bow.
The lyre occurs in three different forms, and is held horizontally in
playing, or at least nearly so. Its front bar was generally either
oblique or slightly curved. The strings were tied round the bar so as
to allow of their being pushed upwards or downwards. In the former
case the tension of the strings increases, and the notes become
therefore higher; on the other hand, if the strings are pushed lower
down the pitch of the notes must become deeper. The lyre was played
with a small plectrum as well as with the fingers.
The Assyrian trumpet was very similar to the Egyptian. Furthermore, we
meet with three kinds of drums, of which one is especially noteworthy
on account of its odd shape, somewhat resembling a sugar loaf; with
the tambourine; with two kinds of cymbals; and with bells, of which a
considerable number have been found in the mound of Nimroud. These
bells, which have greatly withstood the devastation of time, are but
small in size, the largest of them being only 3¼ inches in height and
2½ inches in diameter. Most of them have a hole at the top, in which
probably the clapper was fastened. They are made of copper mixed with
14 per cent. of tin.
Instrumental music was used by the Assyrians and Babylonians in their
religious observances. This is obvious from the sculptures, and is to
some extent confirmed by the mode of worship paid by command of king
Nebuchadnezzar to the golden image; “Then an herald cried aloud, To
you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, that at what
time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden
image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up.” The kings appear to
have maintained at their courts musical bands, whose office it was to
perform secular music at certain times of the day or on fixed
occasions. Of king Darius we are told that, when he had cast Daniel
into the den of lions, he “went to his palace, and passed the night
fasting, neither were instruments of musick brought before him;” from
which we may conclude that his band was in the habit of playing before
him in the evening. A similar custom prevailed also at the court of
Jerusalem, at least in the time of David and Solomon; both of whom
appear to have had their royal private bands, besides a large number
of singers and instrumental performers of sacred music who were
engaged in the Temple.
THE HEBREWS.
As regards the musical instruments of the Hebrews, we are from
biblical records acquainted with the names of many of them; but
representations to be trusted are still wanting, and it is chiefly
from an examination of the ancient Egyptian and Assyrian instruments
that we can conjecture almost to a certainty their construction and
capabilities. From various indications, which it would be too
circumstantial here to point out, we believe the Hebrews to have
possessed the following instruments:
THE HARP.――There can be no doubt that the Hebrews possessed the harp,
seeing that it was a common instrument among the Egyptians and
Assyrians. But it is uncertain which of the Hebrew names of the
stringed instruments occurring in the Bible really designates the
harp.
THE DULCIMER.――Some writers on Hebrew music consider the _nevel_ to
have been a kind of dulcimer; others conjecture the same of the
_psanterin_ mentioned in the hook of Daniel,――a name which appears to
be synonymous with the _psalterion_ of the Greeks, and from which also
the present oriental dulcimer, _santir_, may have been derived. Some
of the instruments mentioned in the book of Daniel may have been
synonymous with some which occur in other parts of the Bible under
Hebrew names; the names given in Daniel being Chaldæan. The _asor_ was
a ten-stringed instrument played with a plectrum, and is supposed to
have borne some resemblance to the _nevel_.
THE LYRE.――This instrument is represented on some Hebrew coins
generally ascribed to Judas Maccabæus, who lived in the second century
before the Christian era. There are several of them in the British
Museum; some are of silver, and the others of copper. On three of them
are lyres with three strings, another has one with five, and another
one with six strings. The two sides of the frame appear to have been
made of the horns of animals, or they may have been of wood formed in
imitation of two horns which originally were used. Lyres thus
constructed are still found in Abyssinia. The Hebrew square-shaped
lyre of the time of Simon Maccabæus is probably identical with the
_psalterion_. The _kinnor_, the favourite instrument of king David,
was most likely a lyre if not a small triangular harp. The lyre was
evidently an universally known and favoured instrument among ancient
eastern nations. Being more simple in construction than most other
stringed instruments it undoubtedly preceded them in antiquity. The
_kinnor_ is mentioned in the Bible as the oldest stringed instrument,
and as the invention of Jubal. Even if the name of one particular
stringed instrument is here used for stringed instruments in general,
which may possibly be the case, it is only reasonable to suppose that
the oldest and most universally known stringed instrument would be
mentioned as a representative of the whole class rather than any
other. Besides, the _kinnor_ was a light and easily portable
instrument; king David, according to the Rabbinic records, used to
suspend it during the night over his pillow. All its uses mentioned in
the Bible are especially applicable to the lyre. And the resemblance
of the word _kinnor_ to _kithara_, _kissar_, and similar names known
to denote the lyre, also tends to confirm the supposition that it
refers to this instrument. It is, however, not likely that the
instruments of the Hebrews――indeed their music altogether――should have
remained entirely unchanged during a period of many centuries. Some
modifications were likely to occur even from accidental causes; such,
for instance, as the influence of neighbouring nations when the
Hebrews came into closer contact with them. Thus may be explained why
the accounts of the Hebrew instruments given by Josephus, who lived in
the first century of the Christian era, are not in exact accordance
with those in the Bible. The lyres at the time of Simon Maccabæus may
probably be different from those which were in use about a thousand
years earlier, or at the time of David and Solomon, when the art of
music with the Hebrews was at its zenith.
There appears to be a probability that a Hebrew lyre of the time of
Joseph (about 1700 B.C.) is represented on an ancient Egyptian
painting[3] discovered in a tomb at Beni Hassan――which is the name of
certain grottoes on the eastern bank of the Nile. Sir Gardner
Wilkinson, in his “Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,”
observes: “If, when we become better acquainted with the
interpretation of hieroglyphics, the ‘strangers’ at Beni Hassan should
prove to be the arrival of Jacob’s family in Egypt, we may examine the
Jewish lyre drawn by an Egyptian artist. That this event took place
about the period when the inmate of the tomb lived is highly
probable――at least, if I am correct in considering Usertsen I. to be
the Pharaoh who was the patron of Joseph; and it remains for us to
decide whether the disagreement in the number of persons here
introduced, thirty-seven being written over them in hieroglyphics, is
a sufficient objection to their identity. It will not be foreign to
the present subject to introduce those figures, which are curious, if
only considered as illustrative of ancient customs at that early
period, and which will be looked upon with unbounded interest should
they ever be found to refer to the Jews. The first figure is an
Egyptian scribe, who presents an account of their arrival to a person
seated, the owner of the tomb, and one of the principal officers of
the reigning Pharaoh. The next, also an Egyptian, ushers them into his
presence; and two advance bringing presents, the wild goat or ibex and
the gazelle, the productions of their country. Four men, carrying bows
and clubs, follow, leading an ass on which two children are placed in
panniers, accompanied by a boy and four women; and, last of all,
another ass laden, and two men――one holding a bow and club, the other
a lyre, which he plays with the plectrum. All the men have beards,
contrary to the custom of the Egyptians, but very general in the East
at that period, and noticed as a peculiarity of foreign uncivilized
nations throughout their sculptures. The men have sandals, the women a
sort of boot reaching to the ankle, both which were worn by many
Asiatic people. The lyre is rude, and differs in form from those
generally used in Egypt.” In the engraving the lyre-player, another
man, and some strange animals from this group, are represented.
THE TAMBOURA.――_Minnim_, _machalath_, and _nevel_ are usually supposed
to be the names of instruments of the lute or guitar kind. _Minnim_,
however, appears more likely to imply stringed instruments in general
than any particular instrument.
THE SINGLE PIPE.――_Chalil_ and _nekeb_ were the names of the Hebrew
pipes or flutes.
THE DOUBLE PIPE.――Probably the _mishrokitha_ mentioned in Daniel. The
_mishrokitha_ is represented in the drawings of our histories of music
as a small organ, consisting of seven pipes placed in a box with a
mouthpiece for blowing. But the shape of the pipes and of the box as
well as the row of keys for the fingers exhibited in the
representation of the _mishrokitha_ have too much of the European type
not to suggest that they are probably a product of the imagination.
Respecting the illustrations of Hebrew instruments which usually
accompany historical treatises on music and commentaries on the Bible,
it ought to be borne in mind that most of them are merely the
offspring of conjectures founded on some obscure hints in the Bible,
or vague accounts by the Rabbins.
THE SYRINX OR PANDEAN PIPE.――Probably the _ugab_, which in the English
authorised version of the Bible is rendered “organ.”
THE BAGPIPE.――The word _sumphonia_, which occurs in the book of
Daniel, is, by Forkel and others, supposed to denote a bagpipe. It is
remarkable that at the present day the bagpipe is called by the
Italian peasantry Zampogna. Another Hebrew instrument, the _magrepha_,
generally described as an organ, was more likely only a kind of
bagpipe. The _magrepha_ is not mentioned in the Bible but is described
in the Talmud. In tract Erachin it is recorded to have been a powerful
organ which stood in the temple at Jerusalem, and consisted of a case
or wind-chest, with ten holes, containing ten pipes. Each pipe was
capable of emitting ten different sounds, by means of finger-holes or
some similar contrivance: thus one hundred different sounds could be
produced on this instrument. Further, the _magrepha_ is said to have
been provided with two pairs of bellows and with ten keys, by means of
which it was played with the fingers. Its tone was, according to the
Rabbinic accounts, so loud that it could be heard at an incredibly
long distance from the temple. Authorities so widely differ that we
must leave it uncertain whether the much-lauded _magrepha_ was a
bagpipe, an organ, or a kettle-drum.
THE TRUMPET.――Three kinds are mentioned in the Bible, viz., the
_keren_, the _shophar_, and the _chatzozerah_. The first two were more
or less curved and might properly be considered as horns. Most
commentators are of opinion that the _keren_――made of ram’s horn――was
almost identical with the _shophar_, the only difference being that
the latter was more curved than the former. The _shophar_ is
especially remarkable as being the only Hebrew musical instrument
which has been preserved to the present day in the religious services
of the Jews. It is still blown in the synagogue, as in time of old, at
the Jewish new-year’s festival, according to the command of Moses
(Numb. xxix. 1). The _chatzozerah_ was a straight trumpet, about two
feet in length, and was sometimes made of silver. Two of these
straight trumpets are shown in the famous triumphal procession after
the fall of Jerusalem on the arch of Titus.
THE DRUM.――There can be no doubt that the Hebrews had several kinds of
drums. We know, however, only of the _toph_, which appears to have
been a tambourine or a small hand-drum like the Egyptian darabuka. In
the English version of the Bible the word is rendered _timbrel_ or
_tabret_. This instrument was especially used in processions on
occasions of rejoicing, and also frequently by females. We find it in
the hands of Miriam, when she was celebrating with the Israelitish
women in songs of joy the destruction of Pharaoh’s host; and in the
hands of Jephtha’s daughter, when she went out to welcome her father.
There exists at the present day in the East a small hand-drum called
_doff_, _diff_, or _adufe_――a name which appears to be synonymous with
the Hebrew _toph_.
THE SISTRUM.――Winer, Saalschütz, and several other commentators are of
opinion that the _menaaneim_, mentioned in 2 Sam. vi. 5, denotes the
sistrum. In the English Bible the original is translated _cymbals_.
CYMBALS.――The _tzeltzelim_, _metzilloth_, and _metzilthaim_, appear to
have been cymbals or similar metallic instruments of percussion,
differing in shape and sound.
BELLS.――The little bells on the vestments of the high-priest were
called _phaamon_. Small golden bells were attached to the lower part
of the robes of the high-priest in his sacred ministrations. The Jews
have, at the present day, in their synagogues small bells fastened to
the rolls of the Law containing the Pentateuch: a kind of
ornamentation which is supposed to have been in use from time
immemorial.
Besides the names of Hebrew instruments already given there occur
several others in the Old Testament, upon the real meaning of which
much diversity of opinion prevails. _Jobel_ is by some commentators
classed with the trumpets, but it is by others believed to designate a
loud and cheerful blast of the trumpet, used on particular occasions.
If _Jobel_ (from which _jubilare_ is supposed to be derived) is
identical with the name _Jubal_, the inventor of musical instruments,
it would appear that the Hebrews appreciated pre-eminently the
exhilarating power of music. _Shalisbim_ is supposed to denote a
triangle. _Nechiloth_, _gittith_, and _machalath_, which occur in the
headings of some psalms, are also by commentators supposed to be
musical instruments. _Nechiloth_ is said to have been a flute, and
_gittith_ and _machalath_ to have been stringed instruments, and
_machol_ a kind of flute. Again, others maintain that the words denote
peculiar modes of performance or certain favourite melodies to which
the psalms were directed to be sung, or chanted. According to the
records of the Rabbins, the Hebrews in the time of David and Solomon
possessed thirty-six different musical instruments. In the Bible only
about half that number are mentioned.
Most nations of antiquity ascribed the invention of their musical
instruments to their gods, or to certain superhuman beings. The
Hebrews attributed it to man; Jubal is mentioned in Genesis as “the
father of all such as handle the harp and organ” (_i.e._, performers
on stringed instruments and wind instruments). As instruments of
percussion are almost invariably in use long before people are led to
construct stringed and wind instruments it might perhaps be surmised
that Jubal was not regarded as the inventor of all the Hebrew
instruments, but rather as the first professional cultivator of
instrumental music.
IV.
GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN.
THE GREEKS.
Many musical instruments of the ancient Greeks are known to us by
name; but respecting their exact construction and capabilities there
still prevails almost as much diversity of opinion as is the case with
those of the Hebrews.
It is generally believed that the Greeks derived their musical system
from the Egyptians. Pythagoras and other philosophers are said to have
studied music in Egypt. It would, however, appear that the Egyptian
influence upon Greece, as far as regards this art, has been overrated.
Not only have the more perfect Egyptian instruments――such as the
larger harps, the tamboura――never been much in favour with the Greeks,
but almost all the stringed instruments which the Greeks possessed are
stated to have been originally derived from Asia. Strabo says: “Those
who regard the whole of Asia, as far as India, as consecrated to
Bacchus, point to that country as the origin of a great portion of the
present music. One author speaks of ‘striking forcibly the Asiatic
kithara,’ another calls the pipes Berecynthian and Phrygian. Some of
the instruments also have foreign names, as Nablas, Sambyke, Barbitos,
Magadis, and many others.”
We know at present little more of these instruments than that they
were in use in Greece. The Magadis is described as having twenty
strings. The other three are known to have been stringed instruments.
But they cannot have been anything like such universal favourites as
the lyre, because this instrument and perhaps the _trigonon_ are
almost the only stringed instruments represented in the Greek
paintings on pottery and other monumental records. If, as might
perhaps be suggested, their taste for beauty of form induced the
Greeks to represent the elegant lyre in preference to other stringed
instruments, we might at least expect to meet with the harp; an
instrument which equals if it does not surpass the lyre in elegance of
form.
The representation of a Muse with a harp, depicted on a splendid Greek
vase now in the Munich Museum (_Mun. Vase Cat. No. 805_), may be noted
as an exceptional instance. This valuable relic dates from the end of
the fifth century B.C. The instrument resembles in construction as
well as in shape the Assyrian harp, and has fifteen strings. The Muse
is touching them with both hands, using the right hand for the treble
and the left for the bass. She is seated, holding the instrument in
her lap. The little tuning-pegs, which in number are not in accordance
with the strings, are placed on the sound-board at the upper part of
the frame, exactly as on the Assyrian harp. If we have here the Greek
harp, it was more likely an importation from Asia than from Egypt. In
short, as far as can be ascertained, the most complete of the Greek
instruments appear to be of Asiatic origin. Especially from the
nations who inhabited Asia Minor the Greeks are stated to have adopted
several of the most popular. Thus we may read of the short and
shrill-sounding pipes of the Carians; of the Phrygian pastoral flute;
of the three-stringed _kithara_ of the Lydians; and so on.
The Greeks had lyres of various kinds, more or less differing in
construction, form, and size, and distinguished by different names;
such as _lyra_, _kithara_, _chelys_, _phorminx_, etc. _Lyra_ appears
to have implied instruments of this class in general, and also the
lyre with a body oval at the base and held in the arms of the
performer; while the _kithara_ had a square base and was held against
the side by a sash around it. The _chelys_ was a small lyre with the
body made of the shell of a tortoise, or of wood in imitation of the
tortoise. The _phorminx_ was a large lyre, and, like the _kithara_,
was used at an early period singly, for accompanying recitations. It
is recorded that the _kithara_ was employed for solo performances as
early as B.C. 700.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.――A Muse with a HARP, and two others with LYRES.
From a Greek vase in the Munich Museum.]
The design on the Greek vase at Munich (already alluded to) represents
the nine Muses, of whom three are given in the engraving (Fig. 6),
viz., one with the harp, and two others with lyres. Some of the lyres
were provided with a bridge, while others were without it. The largest
was held probably on or between the knees, or were attached to the
left arm by means of a band, to enable the performer to use his hands
without impediment. The strings, made of catgut or sinew, were more
usually twanged with a _plektron_ than merely with the fingers. The
_plektron_ was a short stem of ivory or metal pointed at both ends.
A fragment of a Greek lyre which was found in a tomb near Athens is
deposited in the British Museum. The two pieces constituting its frame
are of wood. Their length is about 18 inches, and the length of the
cross-bar at the top is about 9 inches. The instrument is unhappily in
a condition too dilapidated and imperfect to be of any essential use
to the musical inquirer.
The _trigonon_ consisted originally of an angular frame, to which the
strings were affixed. In the course of time a third bar was added to
resist the tension of the strings, and its triangular frame resembled
in shape the Greek delta. Subsequently it was still further improved,
the upper bar of the frame being made slightly curved, whereby the
instrument obtained greater strength and more elegance of form.
The _magadis_, also called _pektis_, had twenty strings which were
tuned in octaves, and therefore produced only ten tones. It appears to
have been some sort of dulcimer, but information respecting its
construction is still wanting. There appears to have been also a kind
of bagpipe in use called _magadis_, of which nothing certain is known.
Possibly, the same name may have been applied to two different
instruments.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.――PAIR OF BRONZE FLUTES, with mouthpiece in
the form of the bust of a Mænad holding a bunch of
grapes. Greek.
British Museum.]
The _barbitos_ was likewise a stringed instrument of this kind. The
_sambyke_ is traditionally said to have been invented by Ibykos, about
560 B.C. The _simikon_ had thirty-five strings, and derived its name
from its inventor, Simos, who lived about 600 B.C. It was perhaps a
kind of dulcimer. The _nabla_ had ten, or according to Josephus,
twelve strings, and probably resembled the _nevel_ of the Hebrews, of
which but little is known with certainty. The _pandoura_ is supposed
to have been a kind of lute with three strings. Several of the
instruments just noticed were used in Greece, chiefly by musicians who
had immigrated from Asia; they can therefore hardly be considered as
national musical instruments of the Greeks. The _monochord_ had (as
its name implies) only a single string, and was used as a tuning
string.
The _aulos_, of which there were many varieties, was a highly popular
instrument, and differed in construction from the flutes and pipes of
the ancient Egyptians. Instead of being blown through a hole at the
side near the top it was held like a flageolet, and a vibrating reed
was inserted into the mouth-piece, so that it might be more properly
described as a kind of oboe or clarinet. The Greeks were accustomed to
designate by the name of _aulos_ all wind instruments of the flute and
oboe kind, some of which were constructed like the flageolet or like
our antiquated _flûte à bec_. The single flute was called _monaulos_
(Fig. 7), and the double one _diaulos_ (Fig. 8). A _diaulos_, which
was found in a tomb at Athens, is in the British Museum. The wood of
which it is made seems to be cedar, and the tubes are fifteen inches
in length. Each tube has a separate mouth-piece and six finger-holes,
five of which are at the upper side and one is underneath.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.――A Muse playing the DIAULOS.]
The _syrinx_, or Pandean pipe, had from three to nine tubes, but seven
was the usual number. The straight trumpet, _salpinx_, and the curved
horn, _keras_, made of brass, were used exclusively in war. The small
hand-drum, called _tympanon_, resembled in shape our tambourine, and
was covered with parchment at the back as well as at the front. The
_kymbala_ were made of metal, and resembled our small cymbals. The
_krotala_ were almost identical with our castanets, and were made of
wood or metal.
THE ETRUSCANS AND ROMANS.
The Romans are recorded to have derived some of their most popular
instruments originally from the Etruscans, a people which at an early
period excelled all other Italian nations in the cultivation of the
arts as well as in social refinement, and which possessed musical
instruments similar to those of the Greeks. It must, however, be
remembered that many of the vases and other specimens of art which
have been found in Etruscan tombs, and on which delineations of lyres
and other instruments occur, are supposed to be productions of Greek
artists whose works were obtained from Greece by the Etruscans, or who
were induced to settle in Etruria.
The flutes of the Etruscans were not unfrequently made of ivory; those
used in religious sacrifices were of box-wood, of a species of the
lotus, of ass’ bone, bronze and silver. A bronze flute, somewhat
resembling our flageolet, has been found in a tomb; likewise a huge
trumpet of bronze. An Etruscan _cornu_ is deposited in the British
Museum, and measures about four feet in length.
To the Etruscans is also attributed by some the invention of the
hydraulic organ. The Greeks possessed a somewhat similar contrivance
which they called _hydraulis_, _i.e._, water-flute and which probably
was identical with the _organum_ _hydraulicum_ of the Romans. The
instrument ought more properly to be regarded as a pneumatic organ,
for the sound was produced by the current of air through the pipes;
the water applied serving merely to give the necessary pressure to the
bellows and to regulate their action. The pipes were probably caused
to sound by means of stops, perhaps resembling those on our organ,
which were drawn out or pushed in. The construction was evidently but
a primitive contrivance, contained in a case which could be carried by
one or two persons and which was placed on a table. The highest degree
of perfection which the hydraulic organ obtained with the ancients is
perhaps shown in a representation on a coin of the Emperor Nero, in
the British Museum. Only ten pipes are given to it, and there is no
indication of any keyboard, which would probably have been shown had
it existed. The man standing at the side and holding a laurel leaf in
his hand is surmised to represent a victor in the exhibitions of the
circus or the amphitheatre. The hydraulic organ probably was played on
such occasions; and the medal containing an impression of it may have
been bestowed upon the victor.
During the time of the Republic, and especially subsequently under the
reign of the Emperors, the Romans adopted many new instruments from
Greece, Egypt, and even from western Asia; without essentially
improving any of their importations.
Their most favourite stringed instrument was the lyre, of which they
had various kinds, called, according to their form and arrangement of
strings, _lyra_, _cithara_, _chelys_, _testudo_, and _fidis_ (or
_fides_). The name _cornu_ was given to the lyre when the sides of the
frame terminated at the top in the shape of two horns. The _barbitos_
was a kind of lyre with a large body, which gave the instrument
somewhat the shape of the Welsh _crwth_. The _psalterium_ was a kind
of lyre of an oblong square shape. Like most of the Roman lyres, it
was played with a rather large plectrum. The _trigonum_ was the same
as the Greek _trigonon_. It is recorded that a certain musician of the
name of Alexander Alexandrinus was so admirable a performer upon it
that when exhibiting his skill in Rome he created the greatest
_furore_. Less common, and derived from Asia, were the _sambuca_ and
_nablia_, the exact construction of which is unknown.
The flute, _tibia_, was originally made of the shin bone, and had a
mouth-hole and four finger-holes. Its shape was retained even when, at
a later period, it was constructed of other substances than bone. The
_tibia gingrina_ consisted of a long and thin tube of reed with a
mouth-hole at the side of one end. The _tibia obliqua_ and _tibia
vasca_ were provided with mouth-pieces affixed at a right angle to the
tube; a contrivance somewhat similar to that on our bassoon. The
_tibia longa_ was especially used in religious worship. The _tibia
curva_ was curved at its broadest end. The _tibia ligula_ appears to
have resembled our flageolet. The _calamus_ was nothing more than a
simple pipe cut off the kind of reed which the ancients used as a pen
for writing.
The Romans had double flutes as well as single flutes. The double
flute consisted of two tubes united, either so as to have a
mouth-piece in common or to have each a separate mouth-piece. If the
tubes were exactly alike the double flute was called _tibiæ pares_; if
they were different from each other, _tibiæ impares_. Little plugs, or
stoppers, were inserted into the finger-holes to regulate the order of
intervals. The _tibia_ was made in various shapes. The _tibia dextra_
was usually constructed of the upper and thinner part of a reed; and
the _tibia sinistra_, of the lower and broader part. The performers
used also the _capistrum_,――a bandage round the cheeks identical with
the _phorbeia_ of the Greeks.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.――WALL PAINTING of a youth wearing a myrtle
wreath and playing on the Double Pipes. Restored in
places. Said to have been found in a columbarium in
the Vigna Ammendola on the Appian Way near Rome,
about 1823.
British Museum.]
The British Museum contains a wall painting (Fig. 9) representing a
Roman youth playing the double pipes, which is stated to have been
disinterred in the year 1823 on the Via Appia. Here the _holmos_ or
mouth-piece, somewhat resembling the reed of our oboe, is distinctly
shown. The finger-holes, probably four, are not indicated, although
they undoubtedly existed on the instrument.
Furthermore, the Romans had two kinds of Pandean pipes viz., the
_syrinx_ and the _fistula_. The bagpipe, _tibia utricularis_, is said
to have been a favourite instrument of the Emperor Nero.
The _cornu_ was a large horn of bronze, curved. The performer held it
under his arm with the broad end upwards over his shoulder. It is
represented in the engraving (Fig. 10), with the _tuba_ and the
_lituus_.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.――TUBA CORNU and LITUUS.]
The _tuba_ was a straight trumpet. Both the _cornu_ and the _tuba_
were employed in war to convey signals. The same was the case with the
_buccina_,――originally perhaps a conch shell, and afterwards a simple
horn of an animal,――and the _lituus_, which was bent at the broad end
but otherwise straight. The _tympanum_ resembled the tambourine, and
was beaten like the latter with the hands. Among the Roman instruments
of percussion the _scabellum_, which consisted of two plates combined
by means of a sort of hinge, deserves to be noticed; it was fastened
under the foot and trodden in time, to produce certain rhythmical
effects in musical performances. The _cymbalum_ consisted of two metal
plates similar to our cymbals. The _crotala_ and the _crusmata_ were
kinds of castanets, the former being oblong and of a larger size than
the latter. The Romans had also a _triangulum_, which resembled the
triangle occasionally used in our orchestra. The _sistrum_ they
derived from Egypt with the introduction of the worship of Isis. Metal
bells, arranged according to a regular order of intervals and placed
in a frame, were called _tintinnabula_. The _crepitaculum_ appears to
have been a somewhat similar contrivance on a hoop with a handle.
Through the Greeks and Romans we have the first well-authenticated
proof of musical instruments having been introduced into Europe from
Asia. The Romans in their conquests undoubtedly made their musical
instruments known, to some extent, also in western Europe. But the
Greeks and Romans are not the only nations which introduced Eastern
instruments into Europe. The Phœnicians at an early period colonized
Sardinia, and traces of them are still to be found on that island.
Among these is a peculiarly constructed double-pipe, called _lionedda_
or _launedda_. Again, at a much later period the Arabs introduced
several of their instruments into Spain, from which country they
became known in France, Germany, and England. Also the crusaders,
during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, may have helped to
familiarize the western European nations with instruments of the East.
V.
ORIENTAL.
THE CHINESE.
Allowing for any exaggeration as to chronology, natural to the lively
imagination of Asiatics, there is no reason to doubt that the Chinese
possessed long before our Christian era musical instruments to which
they attribute a fabulously high antiquity. There is an ancient
tradition, according to which they obtained their musical scale from a
miraculous bird, called _fêng-huang_, which appears to have been a
sort of phœnix. When Confucius, who lived about B.C. 551-479, happened
to hear on a certain occasion some Chinese music, he is said to have
become so greatly enraptured that he could not take any food for three
months afterwards. The sounds which produced this effect were those of
K’uei, the Orpheus of the Chinese, whose performance on the
_ch’ing_――a kind of harmonicon constructed of slabs of sonorous
stone――would draw wild animals around him and make them subservient to
his will. As regards the invention of musical instruments the Chinese
have other traditions. In one of these we are told that the origin of
some of their most popular instruments dates from the period when
China was under the dominion of heavenly spirits, called Ch’i. Another
assigns the invention of several stringed instruments to the great
Fu-hsi who was the founder of the empire and who lived about B.C.
3000, which was long after the dominion of the Ch’i, or spirits.
Again, another tradition holds that the most important instruments and
systematic arrangements of sounds are an invention of Nü-wa, sister
and successor of Fu-hsi.
According to their records, the Chinese possessed their much-esteemed
_ch’ing_ 2200 years before our Christian era, and employed it for
accompanying songs of praise. It was regarded as a sacred instrument.
During religious observances at the solemn moment when the _ch’ing_
was sounded sticks of incense were burnt. It was likewise played
before the emperor early in the morning when he awoke. The Chinese
have long since constructed various kinds of the _ch’ing_, by using
different species of stones. Their most famous stone selected for this
purpose is called _yü_. _Yü_ includes the two varieties of jade,
nephrite and jadeite. It is not only very sonorous but also beautiful
in appearance. It is found in mountain streams and crevices of rocks.
The largest known specimens measure from two to three feet in
diameter, but examples of this size rarely occur. The _yü_ is very
hard and heavy. Some European mineralogists, to whom the missionaries
transmitted specimens for examination, pronounce it to be a species of
agate (_ma-nao_). It is found of different colours, and the Chinese
appear to have preferred in different centuries particular colours for
the _ch’ing_.
The Chinese consider the _yü_ especially valuable for musical
purposes, because it always retains exactly the same pitch. All other
musical instruments, they say, are in this respect doubtful; but the
tone of the _yü_ is influenced neither by cold nor heat, nor by
humidity, nor dryness.
The stones used for the _ch’ing_ have been cut from time to time in
various grotesque shapes. Some represent animals: as, for instance, a
bat with outstretched wings; or two fishes placed side by side: others
are in the shape of an ancient Chinese bell. The angular shape appears
to be the oldest form and is still retained in the ornamental stones
of the _pien-ch’ing_, which is a more modern instrument than the
_ch’ing_. The tones of the _pien-ch’ing_ are attuned according to the
Chinese intervals called _lü_, of which there are twelve in the
compass of an octave. The same is the case with the other Chinese
instruments of this class. They vary, however, in pitch. The pitch of
the _sung-ch’ing_, for instance, is four intervals lower than that of
the _pien-ch’ing_.
Sonorous stones have always been used by the Chinese also singly, as
rhythmical instruments. Such a single stone is called _t’ê-ch’ing_.
The ancient Chinese had several kinds of bells, frequently arranged in
sets so as to constitute a musical scale. The Chinese name for the
bell is _chung_. At an early period they had a somewhat square-shaped
bell called _t’ê-chung_. Like other ancient Chinese bells it was made
of copper alloyed with tin, the proportion being one part of tin to
six of copper. The _t’ê-chung_, which is also known by the name of
_piao_, was principally used to indicate the time and divisions in
musical performances. It had a fixed pitch of sound, and several of
these bells attuned to a certain order of intervals were not
unfrequently ranged in a regular succession, thus forming a musical
instrument which was called _pien-chung_. The musical scale of the
sixteen bells which the _pien-chung_ contained was the same as that of
the _ch’ing_ before mentioned.
The _hsüan-chung_ was, according to popular tradition, included with
the antique instruments at the time of Confucius, and came into
popular use during the Han dynasty (from B.C. 200 until A.D. 200). It
was of a peculiar oval shape and had nearly the same quaint
ornamentation as the _t’ê-chung_; this consisted of symbolical
figures, in four divisions, each containing nine mammals. The mouth
was crescent-shaped. Every figure had a deep meaning referring to the
seasons and to the mysteries of the Buddhist religion. The largest
_hsüan-chung_ was about twenty inches in length; and, like the
_t’ê-chung_, was sounded by means of a small wooden mallet with an
oval knob. None of the bells of this description had a clapper. It
would, however, appear that the Chinese had at an early period some
kind of bell provided with a wooden tongue: this was used for military
purposes as well as for calling the people together when an imperial
messenger promulgated his sovereign’s commands. An expression of
Confucius is recorded to the effect that he wished to be “A
wooden-tongued bell of Heaven,” _i.e._, a herald of heaven to proclaim
the divine purposes to the multitude.
The _fang-hsiang_ was a kind of wood-harmonicon. It contained sixteen
wooden slabs of an oblong square shape, suspended in a wooden frame
elegantly decorated. The slabs were arranged in two tiers, one above
the other, and were all of equal length and breadth but differed in
thickness. The _ch’un-tu_ consisted of twelve slips of bamboo, and was
used for beating time and for rhythmical purposes. The slips being
banded together at one end could be expanded somewhat like a fan. The
Chinese state that they used the _ch’un-tu_ for writing upon before
they invented paper.
The _yü_, likewise an ancient Chinese instrument of percussion and
still in use, is made of wood in the shape of a crouching tiger. It is
hollow, and along its back are about twenty small pieces of metal,
pointed, and in appearance not unlike the teeth of a saw. The
performer strikes them with a sort of plectrum resembling a brush, or
with a small stick called _chên_. Occasionally the _yü_ is made with
pieces of metal shaped like reeds.
The ancient _yü_ was constructed with only six tones which were
attuned thus――_f_, _g_, _a_, _c_, _d_, _f_. The instrument appears to
have deteriorated in the course of time; for, although it has
gradually acquired as many as twenty-seven pieces of metal, it
evidently serves at the present day more for the production of
rhythmical noise than for the execution of any melody. The modern _yü_
is made of a species of wood called _k’iu_ or _ch’iu_; and the tiger
rests generally on a hollow wooden pedestal about three feet six
inches long, which serves as a sound-board.
The _chu_, likewise an instrument of percussion, was made of the wood
of a tree called _ch’iu-mu_, the stem of which resembles that of the
pine and whose foliage is much like that of the cypress. It was
constructed of boards about three-quarters of an inch in thickness. In
the middle of one of the sides was an aperture into which the hand was
passed for the purpose of holding the handle of a wooden hammer, the
end of which entered into a hole situated in the bottom of the _chu_.
The handle was kept in its place by means of a wooden pin, on which it
moved right and left when the instrument was struck with a hammer. The
Chinese ascribe to the _chu_ a very high antiquity, as they almost
invariably do with any of their inventions when the date of its origin
is unknown to them.
The _po-fu_ was a drum, about one foot four inches in length, and
seven inches in diameter. It had a parchment at each end, which was
prepared in a peculiar way by being boiled in water. The _po-fu_ used
to be partly filled with a preparation made from the husk of rice, in
order to mellow the sound. The Chinese name for the drum is _ku_.
The _chin-ku_, a large drum fixed on a pedestal which raises it above
six feet from the ground, is embellished with symbolical designs. A
similar drum on which natural phenomena are depicted is called
_lei-ku_; and another of the kind, with figures of certain birds and
beasts which are regarded as symbols of long life, is called
_ying-ku_, and also _tsu-ku_.
The flutes, _ti_, _yüeh_, and _ch’ih_ were generally made of bamboo.
The _kuan-tzŭ_ was a Pandean pipe containing twelve tubes of bamboo.
The _hsiao_, likewise a Pandean pipe, contained sixteen tubes. The
_p’ai-hsiao_ differed from the _hsiao_ inasmuch as the tubes were
inserted into an oddly-shaped case highly ornamented with grotesque
designs and silken appendages.
The Chinese are known to have constructed at an early period a curious
wind-instrument, called _hsüan_ (the “Chinese ocarina”) (Fig. 11). It
was made of baked clay and had five finger-holes, three of which were
placed on one side and two on the opposite side, as in the cut. Its
tones were in conformity with the pentatonic scale. The reader
unacquainted with the pentatonic scale may ascertain its character by
playing on the pianoforte the scale of C major with the omission of
_f_ and _b_ (the _fourth_ and _seventh_); or by striking the black
keys in regular succession from _f_-sharp to the next _f_-sharp above
or below.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.――HSÜAN.]
The _shêng_ (Fig. 12_b_) is one of the oldest instruments of the
Chinese still in use, and may be regarded as the most ancient species
of organ with which we are exactly acquainted. Formerly it had either
thirteen, nineteen, or twenty-four tubes placed in a calabash; and a
long curved tube served as a mouth-piece. A similarly-constructed
instrument, though different in outward appearance, is the _ken_ of
Siam and Burmah. The Siamese call the _ken_ “The Laos organ,” and it
is principally used by the inhabitants of the Laos states. Moreover,
there deserves to be noticed another Chinese instrument of this kind,
simple in construction, which probably represents the _shêng_ in its
most primitive condition. It is to be found among the Miao-tsze, or
mountaineers, who are supposed to be the aboriginal inhabitants of
China. They call it _sang_. This species has no bowl, or air-chest; it
rather resembles the Panpipe, but is sounded by means of a common
mouthpiece consisting of a tube, which is placed at a right angle
across the pipes. The Chinese assert that the _shêng_ was used in
olden time in the religious rites performed in honour of Confucius.
Tradescant Lay, in his account of the Chinese, calls it “Jubal’s
organ,” and remarks, “this seems to be the embryo of our multiform and
magnificent organ.”
[Illustration: FIG. 12.――_a._ CH’IN (a species of Lute). Modern
Chinese. No. 9-’70. L. 38½ in., W. 8½ in.
_b._ SHÊNG (Mouth Organ). Chinese, 19th century.
No. 977-’72. L. 17 in., W. 4¼ in.
_c._ YUEH-CH’IN (Moon Guitar). Chinese. 19th Century.
No. 256-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The ancient stringed instruments, the _ch’in_ (Fig. 12_a_) and _sê_,
were of the dulcimer kind, they are still in use, and specimens of
them are in the Museum.
The _yueh-ch’in_ (Fig. 12_c_) is a favourite instrument of the
Chinese. The Canton pronunciation of _yueh-ch’in_ is _yuet-kum_, and
this may be the reason why some European travellers in China have
called the instrument _gut-komm_. The wood of which it is made is
called by the Chinese _shwan-che_. The strings are twanged with a
plectrum, or with the nails, which, it will be remembered, are grown
by the Chinese to an extravagant length.
The Buddhists introduced from Tibet into China their god of music, who
is represented as a rather jovial-looking man with a moustache and an
imperial, playing the _p’i-p’a_, a kind of lute with four silken
strings. Perhaps some interesting information respecting the ancient
Chinese musical instruments may be gathered from the famous ruins of
the Buddhist temples _Angcor-Wat_ and _Angcor-Thom_, in Cambodia.
These splendid ruins are supposed to be above two thousand years old:
and, at any rate, the circumstance of their age not being known to the
Cambodians suggests a high antiquity. On the bas-reliefs with which
the temples were enriched are figured musical instruments, which
European travellers describe as “flutes, organs, trumpets, and drums,
resembling those of the Chinese.” Faithful sketches of these
representations, might, very likely, afford valuable hints to the
student of musical history.
THE JAPANESE.
The Japanese musical instruments are in the main derived from those of
China, and their names consequently represent the Japanese
pronunciation of the Chinese sounds.
The _biwa_ (Fig. 13_b_) is almost identical with the Chinese
_p’i-p’a_. The example illustrated is of wood, lacquered black and
ornamented with a band of Japanese design in gold lacquer. It has four
silken strings, and two very small sound holes.
The _samisen_ (the Chinese _san-hsien_ or “three-stringed guitar”) is
played especially by the Japanese ladies, and is as great a favourite
with them as the lute was formerly with us. An example in the Museum
(Fig. 13_c_) has three strings of silk. Both the _biwa_ and the
_samisen_ are played with a wooden plectrum. The _ko-kiū_ is the
Japanese violin, and resembles a small _samisen_, but has four
strings. It is held head upwards and played with a loose-strung bow.
The Japanese have several instruments of the dulcimer class, called
_koto_ (the Chinese _ch’in_) (Fig. 13_a_). Some species of the _koto_
are played with _plectra_ affixed to the fingers; and there are
different successions of intervals adopted in the tuning of the
several species.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.――_a._ KOTO (a species of Lute). Japanese.
19th century. L. 75⅜ in., W. 9½ in. No. 439-’91.
_b._ BIWA (a species of Guitar). Modern Japanese.
H. 32½ in., diam. 11 in. No. 838-’6c.
_c._ SAMISEN. Japanese. L. 37½ in. No. 229-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The _ikuta-goto_ is provided with thirteen movable bridges, by means
of which the pitch of the strings is regulated. The bridges are of
wood, and about 2½ inches in height. The _ikuta-goto_ is learnt
chiefly by Japanese ladies moving in the upper circles of society. It
is a rather expensive instrument, and requires much practice. The
performer places it on the floor, and, sitting in the usual Japanese
attitude, bends over it and twangs the strings with her fingers, the
tips of which are encased in _plectra_, resembling thimbles, which
terminate in a little projecting piece of ivory in size and form like
the finger nail.
Of wind instruments the Japanese use three principal kinds:――(1) The
_fuye_, like our flute, with six or seven finger-holes; (2) the
_hichiriki_, a reed-flageolet, with seven finger-holes and two
thumb-holes; (3) the _shakuhachi_, a bamboo pipe 20 inches high.
The _shêng_ (described on p. 42) is also popular in Japan. The
Japanese name for it is _shō_. The general name in Japanese for the
drum is _taiko_ (= Chinese _ta ku_, “large drum”). The Japanese have a
great variety of drums, some of which are used at religious ceremonies
in the temples. The _shime-daiko_ is a shallow drum hung obliquely
before the player in a low wooden frame. It is beaten with two plain
sticks, and is used to accompany singers. The _tsudzumi_ is a small
hand-drum with hour-glass-shaped body.
The Japanese have different kinds of gongs (_dora_ = Chinese
_t’ung-lo_, “copper gong”), which are used in the service of the
temple, in processions, at funerals, and on several other solemn
occasions. The _dōhachi_ (= Chinese _t’ung po_, “copper bowl”)
resembles a copper basin. Another consists of two metal basins
suspended by cords on a frame composed of a pole and two cross-sticks.
The Japanese, as well as the Chinese, possess superbly ornamented
gongs (_kei_) raised on a stand. Those of the former are perhaps the
more magnificent.
The Japanese employ large bells (_kane_ or _tsuri-gane_ = Chinese
_chung_) in their Buddhist worship. There is a famous bell, richly
decorated, near the Daibutsu at Kiōto, which is struck, at different
hours of the day, with a heavy wooden mallet; and its sound is said to
be particularly sonorous, mellow, and far-reaching. Another celebrated
Japanese bell is placed on a high hill near the town of Nara. It is
suspended in a wooden shed, close to the Tōdaiji Temple. A thick pole,
affixed to the rafters, is drawn backwards, and then, by being let
loose, is made to rebound so as to hit the bell sideways in the usual
manner. This bell is admired throughout the country, and pictures
representing it are sold on the spot to the visitors, who have to
ascend a long flight of narrow steps before they reach its station on
the summit of the hill. Small bells (_rin_) are used by the Buddhist
priests in Japan while officiating in the temple, just as is the case
in China, Thibet and other districts of the Asiatic continent.
THE HINDUS.
In the Brahmin mythology of the Hindus the demi-god Nareda is the
inventor of the _vina_, the principal national instrument of
Hindustan. His mother, Saraswati, the consort of Brahma, may be
regarded as the Minerva of the Hindus. She is the goddess of music as
well as of speech. To her is attributed the invention of the
systematic arrangement of the sounds into a musical scale. She is
represented seated on a peacock and playing either on the southern
_vina_ or the _bîn_, stringed instruments of the lute kind. Brahma
himself we occasionally find depicted as a vigorous man with four
handsome heads, beating with his hands upon a small drum; and Vishnu,
in his incarnation as Krishna, is represented as a beautiful youth
playing upon a flute. The Hindus construct a peculiar kind of flute,
the _bansi_, which they consider as the favourite instrument of
Krishna.
The _sankha_, or conch-shell trumpet of victory, one of the important
attributes of Vishnu the preserver, and his consort Lakshmi, is
occasionally represented in the possession of Siva, and other deities.
Siva the destroyer, and his consort Parvati, also carry the
_budbudika_, or _damaru_, a rattle-drum shaped like an hour-glass.
It is a suggestive fact that we find among several nations in
different parts of the world an ancient tradition, according to which
their most popular stringed instrument was originally derived from the
water. Thus with Nareda and the _vina_, the latter has also the name
_kach’-hapi_, signifying a tortoise (_testudo_), whilst _nara_ denotes
in Sanskrit water, and _narada_, or _nareda_, the giver of water. Like
Nareda, Nereus and his fifty daughters, the Nereïdes, were much
renowned for their musical accomplishments; and Hermes (it will be
remembered) made his lyre, the _chelys_, of a tortoise-shell. The
Scandinavian god Odin, the originator of magic songs, is mentioned as
the ruler of the sea, and as such he had the name of _Nikarr_. In the
depth of the sea he played the harp with his subordinate spirits, who
occasionally came up to the surface of the water to teach some
favoured human being their wonderful instrument. Wäinämöinen, the
divine player on the Finnish _kantele_ (according to the Kalewala, the
old national epic of the Finns) constructed his instrument of
fish-bones. The frame he made out of the bones of the pike; and the
teeth of the pike he used for the tuning-pegs.
Jacob Grimm in his work on German mythology points out an old
tradition, preserved in Swedish and Scotch national ballads, of a
skilful harper who constructs his instrument out of the bones of a
young girl drowned by a wicked woman. Her fingers he uses for the
tuning screws, and her golden hair for the strings. The harper plays,
and his music kills the murderess. A similar story is told in the old
Icelandic national songs; and the same tradition has been preserved in
the Faroe islands, as well as in Norway and Denmark.
May not the agreeable impression produced by the rhythmical flow of
the waves and the soothing murmur of running water have led various
nations, independently of each other, to the widespread conception
that they obtained their favourite instrument of music from the water?
Or is the notion traceable to a common source dating from a
pre-historic age, perhaps from the early period when the Aryan race is
surmised to have diffused its lore through various countries? Or did
it originate in the old belief that the world, with all its charms and
delights, arose from a chaos in which water constituted the
predominant element?
Howbeit, Nareda, the giver of water, was the offspring of Brahma the
creator; and Odin had his throne in the skies. Indeed, many of the
musical water-spirits appear to have been originally considered as
rain deities. Their music may, therefore, be regarded as derived from
the clouds rather than from the sea. In short, the traditions
respecting spirits and water are not in contradiction to the opinion
of the ancient Hindus that music is of heavenly origin, but rather
tend to support it.
The earliest musical instruments of the Hindus on record have, almost
all of them, remained in popular use until the present day scarcely
altered. Besides these, the Hindus possess several Arabic and Persian
instruments which are of comparatively modern date in Hindustan:
evidently having been introduced into that country scarcely 1,000
years ago, at the time of the Muhammadan irruption. There are several
treatises on music extant, written in Sanskrit, which contain
descriptions of the ancient instruments.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.――_a._ SÂRINDA AND BOW. Indian (Bengal).
19th century. L. 25 in.; bow 15¾ in. No. 180. 180ᵃ-’82.
_b._ RUDRA VINA. Southern Indian (Madras). 19th century.
L. 45 in. No. 02130. I.S.
_c._ SÂRANGI AND BOW. Southern Indian. 19th century.
L. 22 in. No. 02118. I.S.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Of these the Bhârata Nâtya S’astra by Bhârata Muni (period: B.C. 200
to A.D. 100), and the Sangita Ratnâkara, are probably the oldest and
most valuable. The latter, according to information supplied by the
late Major C. R. Day, is an exhaustive work, consisting of seven
ādhyayas, compiled by Sarnga Deva, son of Sotala Deva, King of
Karnata, and grandson of Bhaskara, a Kashmirian (period: so far
undetermined).
The _vina_ is undoubtedly of high antiquity. It has seven wire
strings, and movable frets which are generally fastened with wax.
Gourds, often tastefully ornamented, are affixed for the purpose of
increasing the sonorousness. There are several kinds of the _vina_ in
different districts.
Concerning the two principal present-day derivations from the ancient
vina, the following abbreviated descriptions of the _rudra vina_ of
Southern India and the _bîn_ or _mahati vina_ of Northern India, are
obtained from “The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India,”
by the late Major C. R. Day (London, 1891).
The _rudra vina_ (_see_ Fig. 14_b_) is composed of a pear-shaped body
of thin wood, hollowed out of the solid; wooden belly; four principal
metal strings passing over twenty-four frets and three shorter wires
placed at the side of the finger-board; also a single detachable
_burra_, or hollow gourd, fastened to the under-side of the neck, near
the head, to increase the volume of sound. In the method of playing it
differs from that of other Indian musical instruments, the left hand
being employed to stop the strings on the frets, whilst the fingers,
or rather the finger-nails, of the right hand are used, without
plectra, for striking. The _bîn_, or _mahali vina_, differs from the
_rudra vina_ in shape and in method of playing. Two large
gourd-resonators replace the wooden body with its small _burra_; the
side strings are placed two on the left side and one upon the right;
the frets vary from nineteen to twenty-two in number; and in playing,
the two first fingers of the right hand are armed with wire plectra.
The _sârangi_, or the common fiddle of Southern India (Fig. 14_c_) has
a wooden body hollowed out of a single block, a parchment belly, three
strings of thick gut, and usually fifteen sympathetic strings of wire,
tuned chromatically. Sometimes a fourth principal string of wire,
called _luruj_, is added. It is played with a bow, the instrument
being held vertically, head uppermost; the tone resembling that of the
viola. The _sârangi_ of Northern India, usually carved with a
conventional swan-shaped head, has a rounded body, and possesses a
lesser number of sympathetic wires.
The _sârinda_, or Bengal fiddle (Fig. 14_a_), another of the few bowed
instruments of India, consists of a hollow wooden body, usually
decorated with carving, a curious parchment belly covering only the
lower half of the body, and three strings either of gut or silk.
The Hindus divided their musical scale into several intervals smaller
than our modern semitones. They adopted twenty-two intervals called
_s’ruti_ in the compass of an octave, which may therefore be compared
to our chromatic intervals. As the frets of the _vina_ are movable the
performer can easily regulate them according to the scale, or mode,
which he requires for his music.
The harp has long been obsolete. If some Hindu drawings of it can be
relied upon, it had at an early time a triangular frame and was in
construction as well as in shape and size almost identical with the
Assyrian harp.
The Hindus claim to have invented the violin bow. They maintain that
the _ravanastra_, one of their old instruments played with the bow,
was invented about 5,000 years ago by Ravana, a mighty king of Ceylon.
However this may be, there is a great probability that the fiddle-bow
originated in Hindustan; because Sanskrit scholars inform us that
there are names for it in works which cannot be less than from 1,500
to 2,000 years old. The non-occurrence of any instrument played with a
bow on the monuments of the nations of antiquity is by no means so
sure a proof as has generally been supposed, that the bow was unknown.
The fiddle in its primitive condition must have been a poor
contrivance. It probably was despised by players who could produce
better tones with greater facility by twanging the strings with their
fingers, or with a plectrum. Thus it may have remained through many
centuries without experiencing any material improvement. It must also
be borne in mind that the monuments transmitted to us chiefly
represent historical events, religious ceremonies, and royal
entertainments. On such occasions instruments of a certain kind only
were used, and these we find represented; while others, which may have
been even more common, never occur. In 2,000 years’ time people will
possibly maintain that some highly perfected instrument popular with
them was entirely unknown to us, because it is at present in so
primitive a condition that no one hardly notices it.
“What the _ravanastra_, or _râbanastra_, was like is rather doubtful,
but at the present time there exists in Ceylon a primitive instrument
played with a bow, called _vinavah_, which has two strings of
different kinds, one made of a species of flax, and the other of
horsehair, which is the material also of the string of the bow…. The
hollow part of this instrument is half a cocoa-nut shell polished,
covered with the dried skin of a lizard, and perforated below.” (Day,
p. 102.)
This instrument again is almost identical with the Chinese fiddle
called _ur-heen_, which also has two strings, and a body consisting of
a small block of wood, hollowed out and covered with the skin of a
serpent. The _ur-heen_ has not been mentioned among the most ancient
instruments of the Chinese, since there is no evidence of its having
been known in China before the introduction of the Buddhist religion
into that country. From indications, which to point out would lead too
far here, it would appear that several instruments found in China
originated in Hindustan. They seem to have been gradually diffused
from Hindustan and Thibet, more or less altered in the course of time,
through the East as far as Japan.
Another curious Hindu instrument, probably of very high antiquity, is
the _pungi_, or _jinagovi_, also called _toumrie_ and _magoudi_. It
consists of a gourd or of the _cuddos_ nut, hollowed, into which two
reed-pipes are inserted. The _pungi_ therefore, somewhat resembles in
appearance a bagpipe. It is generally used by the _saperá_ or
snake-charmer, who plays upon it when exhibiting the antics of the
cobra. The name _magoudi_, given in certain districts to this
instrument, rather tends to corroborate the opinion of some musical
historians that the _magadis_ of the ancient Greeks was a sort of
double-pipe, or bagpipe.
Many instruments of Hindustan are known by different names in
different districts, and there are many varieties. On the whole, the
Hindus possess about fifty instruments. To describe them properly
would fill a volume. Some, which are in the Museum, will be found well
described and illustrated in the previously mentioned work by the late
Major C. R. Day, which, in addition to affording much valuable
information to the student and collector, contains a lengthy
bibliography of Indian music and musical instruments.
THE PERSIANS AND ARABS.
Of the musical instruments of the ancient Persians, before the
Christian era, scarcely anything is known. It may be surmised that
they closely resembled those of the Assyrians, and probably also those
of the Hebrews.
The harp, _chang_, in olden time a favourite instrument of the
Persians, has gradually fallen into desuetude. A small harp is
represented in the celebrated sculptures which exist on a stupendous
rock, called Tak-i-Bostan, in the vicinity of the town of Kermanshah.
These sculptures are said to have been executed during the lifetime of
the Persian monarch Chosroes II. (591-628). They form the ornaments of
two lofty arches, and consist of representations of field sports and
aquatic amusements. In one of the boats is seated a man in an
ornamental dress, with a halo round his head, who is receiving an
arrow from one of his attendants; while a female, who is sitting near
him, plays on a Trigonon. Towards the top of the bas-relief is
represented a stage, on which are performers on small straight
trumpets and little hand drums; six harpers; and four other musicians,
apparently females――the first of whom plays a flute; the second, a
sort of Pandean pipe; the third, an instrument which is too much
defaced to be recognisable; and the fourth, a bagpipe. Two harps of a
peculiar shape were copied by Sir Gore Ousely from Persian manuscripts
about four hundred years old, resembling, in the principle on which
they are constructed, all other oriental harps. There existed
evidently various kinds of the _chang_. It may be remarked here that
the instrument _tschenk_ (or _chang_) in use at the present day in
Persia, is more like a dulcimer than a harp. The Arabs adopted the
harp from the Persians, and called it _junk_.
The Persians appear to have adopted, at an early period, smaller
musical intervals than semitones. When the Arabs conquered Persia
(A.D. 641) the Persians had already attained a higher degree of
civilisation than their conquerors. The latter found in Persia the
cultivation of music considerably in advance of their own, and the
musical instruments superior also. They soon adopted the Persian
instruments, and there can be no doubt that the musical system
exhibited by the earliest Arab writers whose works on the theory of
music have been preserved was based upon an older system of the
Persians. In these works the octave is divided in seventeen
_one-third-tones_――intervals which are still made use of in the East.
Some of the Arabian instruments are constructed so as to enable the
performer to produce the intervals with exactness. The frets on the
lute and tamboura, for instance, are regulated with a view to this
object.
The Arabs had to some extent become acquainted with many of the
Persian instruments before the time of their conquest of Persia. An
Arab musician of the name of Nadr Ben el-Hares Ben Kelde is recorded
as having been sent to the Persian King Chosroes II., in the sixth
century, for the purpose of learning Persian singing and performing on
the lute. Through him, it is said, the lute was brought to Mekka. Saib
Chatir, the son of a Persian, is spoken of as the first performer on
the lute in Medina, A.D. 682; and of an Arab lutist, Ebn Soreidsch
from Mekka, A.D. 683, it is especially mentioned that he played in the
Persian style; evidently the superior one. The lute, _el-ood_, had
before the tenth century only four strings, or four pairs producing
four tones, each tone having two strings tuned in unison. About the
tenth century a string for a fifth tone was added. The strings were
made of silk neatly twisted. The neck of the instrument was provided
with frets of string, which were carefully regulated according to the
system of seventeen intervals in the compass of an octave before
mentioned. Other favourite stringed instruments were the _tamboura_, a
kind of lute with a long neck, and the _quanūn_, a kind of dulcimer
strung with lamb’s gut strings (generally three in unison for each
tone) and played upon with two little plectra which the performer had
fastened to his fingers. The _quanūn_ is likewise still in use in
countries inhabited by Muhammadans. The Persian _santir_, the
prototype of our dulcimer, is mounted with wire strings and played
with two slightly curved sticks. The musician depicted in the
left-hand corner of Fig. 15_c_ is playing a _santir_.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.――_a._ KEMÁNGEII, SITÂRA OR FIDDLE.
Persian. About 1800. No. 939-’73. L. 36½ in.;
diam. 8 in.
_b._ NUY (Flute). Persian. 19th century. L. 17⅜ in.
No. 959-’86.
_c._ SANTIR (Dulcimer) CASE. Persian. L. 33 in.;
W. 11½ in. No. 779-’76.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Al-Farabi, one of the earliest Arabian musical theorists known, who
lived in the beginning of the tenth century, does not allude to the
fiddle-bow. This is noteworthy inasmuch as it seems in some measure to
support the opinion maintained by some historians that the bow
originated in England or Wales. Unfortunately we possess no exact
descriptions of the Persian and Arabian instruments between the tenth
and fourteenth centuries, otherwise we should probably have earlier
accounts of some instrument of the violin kind in Persia.
Ash-shakandi, who lived in Spain about A.D. 1200, mentions the
_rabôb_, which may have been in use for centuries without having been
thought worthy of notice on account of its rudeness. Persian writers
of the fourteenth century speak of two instruments of the violin
class, viz., the _rabôb_ and the _kemángeh_. As regards the
_kemángeh_, the Arabs themselves assert that they obtained it from
Persia, and their statement appears all the more worthy of belief from
the fact that both names, _rabôb_ and _kemángeh_, are originally
Persian.
The _nuy_, a flute (Fig. 15_b_), and the _surnai_, a species of oboe,
are still popular in the East.
The _sitâra_ is a Persian three stringed instrument with a wooden body
and a parchment belly (Fig. 15_a_).
The Arabs must have been indefatigable constructors of musical
instruments. Kiesewetter gives a list of above two hundred names of
Arabian instruments, and this does not include many known to us
through Spanish historians. A careful investigation of the musical
instruments of the Arabs during their sojourn in Spain is particularly
interesting to the student of mediæval music, inasmuch as it reveals
the Eastern origin of many instruments which are generally regarded as
European inventions. Introduced into Spain by the Saracens and the
Moors they were gradually diffused towards northern Europe. The
English, for instance, adopted not only the Moorish dance (morris
dance) but also the _kuitra_ (gittern), the _el-ood_ (lute), the
_rabôb_ (rebec), the _naḳḳárah_ (naker), and several others. In
an old Cornish sacred drama, supposed to date from the fourteenth
century, we have in an enumeration of musical instruments the
_nakrys_, designating “kettle-drums.” It must be remembered that the
Cornish language, which has now become obsolete, was nearly akin to
the Welsh. Indeed, names of musical instruments derived from the Moors
in Spain occur in almost every European language.
Not a few fanciful stories are traditionally preserved among the Arabs
testifying to the wonderful effects they ascribed to the power of
their instrumental performances. One example will suffice. Al-Farabi
had acquired his proficiency in Spain, in one of the schools at
Cordova which flourished as early as towards the end of the ninth
century, and his reputation became so great that ultimately it
extended to Asia. The mighty Caliph of Bagdad himself desired to hear
the celebrated musician, and sent messengers to Spain with
instructions to offer rich presents to him and to convey him to the
court. But Al-Farabi feared that if he went he should be retained in
Asia, and should never again see the home to which he felt deeply
attached. At last he resolved to disguise himself, and ventured to
undertake the journey which promised him a rich harvest. Dressed in a
mean costume, he made his appearance at the court just at the time
when the caliph was being entertained with his daily concert.
Al-Farabi, unknown to everyone, was permitted to exhibit his skill on
the lute. Scarcely had he commenced his performance in a certain
musical mode when he set all his audience laughing aloud,
notwithstanding the efforts of the courtiers to suppress so unbecoming
an exhibition of mirth in the royal presence. In truth, even the
caliph himself was compelled to burst out into a fit of laughter.
Presently the performer changed to another mode, and the effect was
that immediately all his hearers began to sigh, and soon tears of
sadness replaced the previous tears of mirth. Again he played in
another mode, which excited his audience to such a rage that they
would have fought each other if he, seeing the danger, had not
directly gone over to an appeasing mode. After this wonderful
exhibition of his skill Al-Farabi concluded in a mode which had the
effect of making his listeners fall into a profound sleep, during
which he took his departure.
It will be seen that this incident is almost identical with one
recorded as having happened about twelve hundred years earlier at the
court of Alexander the Great, and which forms the subject of Dryden’s
“Alexander’s Feast.” The distinguished flutist Timotheus successively
aroused and subdued different passions by changing the musical modes
during his performance, exactly in the same way as did Al-Farabi.
VI.
AMERICAN INDIAN.
If the preserved antiquities of the American Indians, dating from a
period anterior to our discovery of the western hemisphere, possess an
extraordinary interest because they afford trustworthy evidence of the
degree of progress which the aborigines had attained in the
cultivation of the arts and in their social condition before they came
in contact with Europeans, it must be admitted that the ancient
musical instruments of the American Indians are also worthy of
examination. Several of them are constructed in a manner which, in
some degree, reveals the characteristics of the musical system
prevalent among the people who used the instruments. And although most
of these interesting relics, which have been obtained from tombs and
other hiding-places, may not be of great antiquity, it has been
satisfactorily ascertained that they are genuine contrivances of the
Indians before they were influenced by European civilisation.
Some account of these relics is therefore likely to prove of interest
also to the ethnologist, especially as several facts may perhaps be
found of assistance in elucidating the still unsolved problem as to
the probable original connection of the American with Asiatic races.
Among the instruments of the Aztecs in Mexico and of the Peruvians
none have been found so frequently, and have been preserved in their
former condition so unaltered, as pipes and flutes. They are generally
made of pottery or of bone, substances which are unsuitable for the
construction of most other instruments, but which are remarkably well
qualified to withstand the decaying influence of time. There is,
therefore, no reason to conclude from the frequent occurrence of such
instruments that they were more common than other kinds of which
specimens have rarely been discovered.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.――POTTERY WHISTLES. Ancient Mexican.
British Museum.]
The Mexicans possessed a small whistle formed of baked clay, a
considerable number of which have been found. Some specimens (Fig. 16)
are singularly grotesque in shape, representing caricatures of the
human face and figure, birds, beasts, and flowers. Some were provided
at the top with a finger-hole which, when closed, altered the pitch of
the sound, so that two different tones were producible on the
instrument. Others had a little ball of baked clay lying loose inside
the air-chamber. When the instrument was blown the current of air set
the ball in a vibrating motion, thereby causing a shrill and whirring
sound. A similar contrivance is sometimes made use of by Englishmen
for conveying signals. The Mexican whistle most likely served
principally the same purpose, but it may possibly have been used also
in musical entertainments. In the Russian horn band each musician is
restricted to a single tone; and similar combinations of
performers――only, of course, much more rude――have been witnessed by
travellers among some tribes in Africa and America.
Rather more complete than the above specimens are some of the whistles
and small pipes which have been found in graves of the Indians of
Chiriqui in Central America.
The pipe of the Aztecs, which is called by the Mexican Spaniards
_pito_, somewhat resembled our flageolet: the material was a reddish
pottery, and it was provided with four linger holes. Although among
about half a dozen specimens which the writer has examined some are
considerably larger than others, they all have, singularly enough, the
same pitch of sound. The smallest is about six inches in length, and
the largest about nine inches. Several _pitos_ have been found in a
remarkably well-preserved condition. They are easy to blow, and their
order of intervals is in conformity with the pentatonic scale, thus:
[Music: treble clef, quarter notes A B C# E F#] The usual shape of the
_pito_ is that here represented (Fig. 17_a_ & _c_). A specimen of a
less common shape, is given in Fig. 17_b_. They are all in the British
Museum. Indications suggestive of the popular estimation in which the
flute (or perhaps, more strictly speaking, the pipe) was held by the
Aztecs are not wanting. It was played in religious observances, and we
find it referred to allegorically in orations delivered on solemn
occasions. For instance, at the religious festival which was held in
honour of Tezcatlepoca――a divinity depicted as a handsome youth, and
considered second only to the supreme being――a young man was
sacrificed who, in preparation for the ceremony, had been instructed
in the art of playing the flute. Twenty days before his death four
young girls, named after the principal goddesses, were given to him as
companions; and when the hour arrived in which he was to be sacrificed
he observed the established symbolical rite of breaking a flute on
each of the steps, as he ascended the temple.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.――PITOS (flageolets of pottery). _a._ and
_c._ Ancient Mexican.
_b._ From the Island of Sacrificios.
British Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 18.――BONE FLUTES. Ancient Peruvian.
_a._ and _b._ Truxillo. _c._ Lima.
British Museum.]
Again, at the public ceremonies which took place on the accession of a
prince to the throne the new monarch addressed a prayer to the god, in
which occurred the following allegorical expression:――“I am thy flute;
reveal to me thy will; breathe into me thy breath like into a flute,
as thou hast done to my predecessors on the throne. As thou hast
opened their eyes, their ears, and their mouth to utter what is good,
so likewise do to me. I resign myself entirely to thy guidance.”
Similar sentences occur in the orations addressed to the monarch. In
reading them one can hardly fail to be reminded of Hamlet’s
reflections addressed to Guildenstern, when the servile courtier
expresses his inability to “govern the ventages” of the pipe and to
make the instrument “discourse most eloquent music,” which the prince
bids him to do.
M. de Castelnau, in his “Expédition dans l’Amérique,” gives among the
illustrations of objects discovered in ancient Peruvian tombs a flute
made of a human bone. It has four finger holes at its upper surface
and appears to have been blown into at one end. Two bone flutes (Figs.
18_b_ & _c_), in appearance similar to the engraving given by M. de
Castelnau, which have been disinterred at Truxillo, are deposited in
the British Museum. They are about six inches in length, and each is
provided with five finger holes. One of these has all the holes at its
upper side, and one of the holes is considerably smaller than the
rest. The specimen which we illustrate (Fig. 18_a_) is ornamented with
some simple designs in black.
The other has four holes at its upper side and one underneath, the
latter being placed near to the end at which the instrument evidently
was blown. In the aperture of this end some remains of a hardened
paste, or resinous substance, are still preserved. This substance
probably was inserted for the purpose of narrowing the end of the
tube, in order to facilitate the producing of the sounds. The same
contrivance is still resorted to in the construction of the bone
flutes by some Indian tribes in Guiana. The bones of slain enemies
appear to have been considered especially appropriate for such flutes.
The Araucanians having killed a prisoner, made flutes of his bones,
and danced and “thundered out their dreadful war songs, accompanied by
the mournful sounds of these horrid instruments.” Alonso de Ovalle
says of the Indians in Chili: “Their flutes, which they play upon in
their dances, are made of the bones of the Spaniards and other enemies
whom they have overcome in war. This they do by way of triumph and
glory for their victory. They make them likewise of bones of animals;
but the warriors dance only to the flutes made of their enemies.” The
Mexicans and Peruvians obviously possessed a great variety of pipes
and flutes, some of which are still in use among certain Indian
tribes. Those which were found in the famous ruins at Palenque are
deposited in the museum in Mexico. They are:――The _cuyvi_, a pipe on
which only five tones were producible; the _huayllaca_, a sort of
flageolet; the _pincullu_, a flute; and the _chayna_, which is
described as “a flute whose lugubrious and melancholy tones filled the
heart with indescribable sadness, and brought involuntary tears into
the eyes.” It was perhaps a kind of oboe.
The Peruvians had the syrinx, which they called _huayra-puhura_. Some
clue to the proper meaning of this name may perhaps be gathered from
the word _huayra_, which signifies “air.” The _huayra-puhura_ was made
of cane, and also of stone. Sometimes an embroidery of needlework was
attached to it as an ornament. One specimen which has been disinterred
is adorned with twelve figures precisely resembling Maltese crosses.
The cross is a figure which may readily be supposed to suggest itself
very naturally; and it is therefore not so surprising, as it may
appear at a first glance, that the American Indians used it not
unfrequently in designs and sculptures before they came in contact
with Christians.
The British Museum possesses a _huayra-puhura_ consisting of fourteen
reed pipes of a brownish colour, tied together in two rows by means of
thread, so as to form a double set of seven reeds. Both sets are
almost exactly of the same dimensions and are placed side by side. The
shortest of these reeds measure three inches, and the longest six and
a half. In one set they are open at the bottom, and in the other they
are closed. Consequently octaves are produced. The reader is probably
aware that the closing of a pipe at the end raises its pitch an
octave. Thus, in our organ, the so-called stopped diapason, a set of
closed pipes, requires tubes of only half the length of those which
constitute the open diapason, although both these stops produce tones
in the same pitch; the only difference between them being the quality
of sound, which in the former is less bright than in the latter.
The tones yielded by the _huayra-puhura_ in question are as follows:
[Music: Treble clef, ascending quarter note octaves: A C D E G A
C] The highest octave is indistinct, owing to some injury done to
the shortest tubes; but sufficient evidence remains to show that
the intervals were purposely arranged according to the pentatonic
scale. This interesting relic was brought to light from a tomb at
Arica.
Another _huayra-puhura_ (Fig. 19), likewise still yielding sounds, was
discovered placed over a corpse in a Peruvian tomb, and was procured
by the French general, Paroissien. This instrument is made of
soapstone, and contains eight pipes. It now belongs to the Rev. Canon
J. H. Rawdon.[4] In the Museum may be seen a good plaster cast taken
from this curious relic. The height is five and three-quarter inches,
and its width six and a quarter inches. Four of the tubes have small
lateral finger-holes, which, when closed, lower the pitch a semitone.
These holes are on the second, fourth, six, and seventh pipe, as shown
in the engraving. When the holes are open, the tones are: [Music:
Treble clef, quarter notes F# A C# F♮] and when they are closed:
[Music: Treble clef, quarter notes F♮ A♭ C♮ E] The other tubes have
unalterable tones. The following notation exhibits all the tones
producible on the instrument: [Music: Treble clef, quarter notes E F
F# G G# A C C# D E F A]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.――HUAYRA-PUHURA, discovered in a Peruvian
tomb.
The property of the Rev. Canon Rawdon.]
The musician is likely to speculate what could have induced the
Peruvians to adopt so strange a series of intervals: it seems rather
arbitrary than premeditated.
If (and this seems not to be improbable) the Peruvians considered
those tones which are produced by closing the lateral holes as
additional intervals only, a variety of scales or kinds of _modes_ may
have been contrived by the admission of one or other of these tones
among the essential ones. If we may conjecture from some remarks of
Garcilasso de la Vega, and other historians, the Peruvians appear to
have used different orders of intervals for different kinds of tunes,
in a way similar to what we find to be the case with certain Asiatic
nations. We are told, for instance, “Each poem, or song, had its
appropriate tune, and they could not put two different songs to one
tune; and this was why the enamoured gallant, making music at night on
his flute, with the tune which belonged to it, told the lady and all
the world the joy or sorrow of his soul, the favour or ill-will which
he possessed; so that it might be said that he spoke by the flute.”
Thus also the Hindus have certain tunes for certain seasons and fixed
occasions, and likewise a number of different modes or scales used for
particular kinds of songs.
[Illustration: FIG. 20. WOODEN TRUMPET, used by Indians near the
Orinoco.]
Trumpets are often mentioned by writers who have recorded the manners
and customs of the Indians at the time of the discovery of America.
There are, however, scarcely any illustrations to be relied on of
these instruments transmitted to us. The Conch was frequently used as
a trumpet for conveying signals in war.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.――JURUPARIS, with and without cover, used by
Indians on the Rio Haupés.
In the Museum at Kew Gardens.]
Fig. 20 represents a kind of trumpet made of wood, and nearly seven
feet in length, which Gumilla found among the Indians in the vicinity
of the Orinoco. It somewhat resembles the _juruparis_ (Fig. 21), a
mysterious instrument of the Indians on the Rio Haupés, a tributary of
the Rio Negro, South America. The _juruparis_ is regarded as an object
of great veneration. Women are never permitted to see it. So stringent
is this law that any woman obtaining a sight of it is put to
death――usually by poison. No youths are allowed to see it until they
have been subjected to a series of initiatory fastings and scourgings.
The _juruparis_ is usually kept hidden in the bed of some stream, deep
in the forest; and no one dares to drink out of that sanctified
stream, or to bathe in its water. At feasts the _juruparis_ is brought
out during the night, and is blown outside the houses of
entertainment. The inner portion of the instrument consists of a tube
made of slips of the Paxiaba palm (_Triartea exorrhiza_). When the
Indians are about to use the instrument they nearly close the upper
end of the tube with clay, and also tie above the oblong square hole
(shown in the engraving) a portion of the leaf of the Uaruma, one of
the arrow-root family. Round the tube are wrapped long strips of the
tough bark of the Jébaru (_Parivoa grandiflora_). This covering
descends in folds below the tube. The length of the instrument is from
four to five feet. The illustration (Fig. 21), which exhibits the
_juruparis_ with its cover and without it, has been taken from a
specimen in the museum at Kew gardens. The mysteries connected with
this trumpet are evidently founded on an old tradition from
prehistoric Indian ancestors. _Jurupari_ means “demon”; and with
several Indian tribes on the Amazon customs and ceremonies still
prevail in honour of Jurupari.
The Caroados, an Indian tribe in Brazil, have a war trumpet which
closely resembles the _juruparis_. With this people it is the custom
for the chief to give on his war trumpet the signal for battle, and to
continue blowing as long as he wishes the battle to last. The trumpet
is made of wood, and its sound is described by travellers as very deep
but rather pleasant. The sound is easily produced, and its continuance
does not require much exertion; but a peculiar vibration of the lips
is necessary which requires practice. Another trumpet, the _turé_, is
common with many Indian tribes on the Amazon who use it chiefly in
war. It is made of a long and thick bamboo, and there is a split reed
in the mouthpiece. It therefore partakes rather of the character of an
oboe or clarinet. Its tone is described as loud and harsh. The _turé_
is especially used by the sentinels of predatory hordes, who, mounted
on a lofty tree, give the signal of attack to their comrades.
Again, the aborigines in Mexico had a curious contrivance of this
kind, the _acocotl_, now more usually called _clarin_. The former word
is its old Indian name, and the latter appears to have been first
given to the instrument by the Spaniards. The _acocotl_ consists of a
very thin tube from eight to ten feet in length, and generally not
quite straight but with some irregular curves. This tube, which is
often not thicker than a couple of inches in diameter, terminates at
one end in a sort of bell, and has at the other end a small mouthpiece
resembling in shape that of a clarinet. The tube is made of the dry
stalk of a plant which is common in Mexico, and which likewise the
Indians call _acocotl_. The most singular characteristic of the
instrument is that the performer does not blow into it, but inhales
the air through it; or rather, he produces the sound by sucking the
mouthpiece. It is said to require strong lungs to perform on the
_acocotl_ effectively according to Indian notions of taste.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.――BOTUTO, used by Indians near the Orinoco.]
The _botuto_, which Gumilla saw used by some tribes near the river
Orinoco (Fig. 22), was evidently an ancient Indian contrivance, but
appears to have fallen almost into oblivion during the last two
centuries. It was made of baked clay and was commonly from three to
four feet long; but some trumpets of this kind were of enormous size.
The _botuto_ with two bellies was usually made thicker than that with
three bellies and emitted a deeper sound, which is described as having
been really terrific. These trumpets were used on occasions of
mourning and funeral dances. Alexander von Humboldt saw the _botuto_
among some Indian tribes near the river Orinoco.
Besides those which have been noticed, other antique wind instruments
of the Indians are mentioned by historians; but the descriptions given
of them are too superficial to convey a distinct notion as to their
form and purport. Several of these barbarous contrivances scarcely
deserve to be classed with musical instruments. This may, for
instance, be said of certain musical jars or earthen vessels producing
sounds, which the Peruvians constructed for their amusement. These
vessels were made double; and the sounds imitated the cries of animals
or birds. A similar contrivance of the Indians in Chili, preserved in
the museum at Santiago, is described by the traveller S. S. Hill as
follows:――“It consists of two earthen vessels in the form of our
india-rubber bottles, but somewhat larger, with a flat tube from four
to six inches in length, uniting their necks near the top and slightly
curved upwards, and with a small hole on the upper side one third of
the length of the tube from one side of the necks. To produce the
sounds the bottles were filled with water and suspended to the bough
of a tree, or to a beam, by a string attached to the middle of the
curved tube, and then swung backwards and forwards in such a manner as
to cause each end to be alternately the highest and lowest, so that
the water might pass backwards and forwards from one bottle to the
other through the tube between them. By this means soothing sounds
were produced which, it is said, were employed to lull to repose the
drowsy chiefs who usually slept away the hottest hours of the day. In
the meantime, as the bottles were porous, the water within them
diminished by evaporation, and the sound died gradually away.”
As regards instruments of percussion, a kind of drum deserves special
notice on account of the ingenuity evinced in its construction. The
Mexicans called it _teponaztli_. They generally made it of a single
block of very hard wood, somewhat oblong square in shape, which they
hollowed, leaving at each end a solid piece about three or four inches
in thickness, and at its upper side a kind of sound-board about a
quarter of an inch in thickness. In this sound-board, if it may be
called so, they made three incisions; namely, two running parallel
some distance lengthwise of the drum, and a third running across from
one of these to the other just in the centre. By this means they
obtained two vibrating tongues of wood which, when beaten with a
stick, produced sounds as clearly defined as are those of our kettle
drums. By making one of the tongues thinner than the other they
ensured two different sounds, the pitch of which they were enabled to
regulate by shaving off more or less of the wood. The bottom of the
drum they cut almost entirely open. The traveller, M. Nebel, was told
by archæologists in Mexico that these instruments always contained the
interval of a third, but on examining several specimens which he saw
in museums he found some in which the two sounds stood towards each
other in the relation of a fourth; while in others they constituted a
fifth, in others a sixth, and in some even an octave. This is
noteworthy in so far as it points to a conformity with our diatonic
series of intervals, excepting the seventh.
The _teponaztli_ was generally carved with various fanciful and
ingenious designs. It was beaten with two drumsticks covered at the
end with an elastic gum, called _ule_, which was obtained from the
milky juice extracted from the ule-tree. Some of these drums were
small enough to be carried on a string or strap suspended round the
neck of the player; others, again, measured upwards of 5 feet in
length, and their sound was so powerful that it could be heard at a
distance of three miles. In some rare instances a specimen of the
_teponaztli_ is still preserved by the Indians in Mexico, especially
among tribes who have been comparatively but little affected by
intercourse with their European aggressors. Herr Heller saw such an
instrument in the hands of the Indians of Huatusco――a village near
Mirador in the Tierra Templada, or temperate region, occupying the
slopes of the Cordilleras. Its sound is described as so very loud as
to be distinctly audible at an incredibly great distance. This
circumstance, which has been noticed by several travellers, may
perhaps be owing in some measure to the condition of the atmosphere in
Mexico.
Instruments of percussion constructed on a principle more or less
similar to the _teponaztli_ were in use in several other parts of
America, as well as in Mexico.
The largest kind of Mexican _teponaztli_ appears to have been
generally of a cylindrical shape. Clavigero gives a drawing of such an
instrument. Drums, also constructed of skin or parchment in
combination with wood were not unknown to the Indians. Of this
description was, for instance, the _huehuetl_ of the Aztecs in Mexico,
which consisted, according to Clavigero, of a wooden cylinder somewhat
above 3 feet in height, curiously carved and painted and covered at
the top with carefully prepared deer-skin. And, what appears the most
remarkable, the parchment (we are told) could be tightened or
slackened by means of cords in nearly the same way as with our own
drum. The _huehuetl_ was not beaten with drumsticks but merely struck
with the fingers, and much dexterity was required to strike it in the
proper manner. Oviedo states that the Indians in Cuba had drums which
were stretched with human skin. And Bernal Diaz relates that when he
was with Cortés in Mexico they ascended together the _Teocalli_
(“House of God”), a large temple in which human sacrifices were
offered by the aborigines; and there the Spanish visitors saw a large
drum which was made, Diaz tells us, with skins of great serpents. This
“hellish instrument,” as he calls it, produced, when struck, a doleful
sound which was so loud that it could be heard at a distance of two
leagues.
The name of the Peruvian drum was _huanca_; they had also an
instrument of percussion, called _chhilchiles_, which appears to have
been a sort of tambourine.
The rattle was likewise popular with the Indians before the discovery
of America. The Mexicans called it _ajacaxtli_. In construction it was
similar to the rattle at the present day commonly used by the Indians.
It was oval or round in shape, and appears to have been usually made
of a gourd into which holes were pierced, and to which a wooden handle
was affixed. A number of little pebbles were enclosed in the hollowed
gourd. They were also made of pottery. The little balls in the
_ajacaxtli_ of pottery, enclosed as they are, may at a first glance
appear a puzzle. Probably, when the rattle was being formed they were
attached to the inside as slightly as possible; and after the clay had
been baked they were detached by means of an implement passed through
the holes.
The Tezcucans (or Acolhuans) belonged to the same race as the Aztecs,
whom they greatly surpassed in knowledge and social refinement.
Nezahualcoyotl, a wise monarch of the Tezcucans, abhorred human
sacrifices, and erected a large temple which he dedicated to “The
unknown god, the cause of causes.” This edifice had a tower nine
storeys high, on the top of which were placed a number of musical
instruments of various kinds which were used to summon the worshippers
to prayer. Respecting these instruments especial mention is made of a
sonorous metal which was struck with a mallet. This is stated in a
historical essay written by Ixtlilxochitl, a native of Mexico and of
royal descent, who lived in the beginning of the seventeenth century,
and who may be supposed to have been familiar with the musical
practices of his countrymen. But whether the sonorous metal alluded to
was a gong or a bell is not clear from the vague record transmitted to
us. That the bell was known to the Peruvians appears to be no longer
doubtful, since a small copper specimen has been found in one of the
old Peruvian tombs. This interesting relic is now deposited in the
museum at Lima. M. de Castelnau has published a drawing of it. The
Peruvians called their bells _chanrares_; but it remains questionable
whether this name did not designate rather the so-called horse bells,
which were certainly known to the Mexicans, who called them _yotl_. It
is noteworthy that these _yotl_ are found figured in the
picture-writings representing the various objects which the Aztecs
used to pay as tribute to their sovereigns. The collection of Mexican
antiquities in the British Museum contains a cluster of yotl-bells.
Being nearly round, they closely resemble the _Schellen_ which the
Germans are in the habit of affixing to their horses, particularly in
the winter when they are driving their noiseless sledges.
Again, in South America sonorous stones are not unknown, and were used
in olden time for musical purposes. The traveller G. T. Vigne saw
among the Indian antiquities preserved in the town of Cuzco, in Peru,
“a musical instrument of green sonorous stone, about a foot long, and
an inch and a half wide, flat-sided, pointed at both ends, and arched
at the back, where it was about a quarter of an inch thick, whence it
diminished to an edge, like the blade of a knife…. In the middle of
the back was a small hole, through which a piece of string was passed;
and when suspended and struck by any hard substance a singularly
musical note was produced.” Humboldt mentions the Amazon-stone, which
on being struck by a hard substance yields a metallic sound. It was
formerly cut by the American Indians into very thin plates, perforated
in the centre and suspended by a string. These plates were remarkably
sonorous. This kind of stone is not, as might be conjectured from its
name, found exclusively near the Amazon. The name was given to it as
well as to the river by the first European visitors to America, in
allusion to the female warriors respecting whom strange stories are
told. The natives pretending, according to an ancient tradition, that
the stone came from the country of “Women without husbands,” or “Women
living alone.”
As regards the ancient stringed instruments of the American Indians
our information is indeed but scanty. Clavigero says that the Mexicans
were entirely unacquainted with stringed instruments; a statement the
correctness of which is questionable, considering the stage of
civilisation to which these people had attained. At any rate, we
generally find one or other kind of such instruments with nations
whose intellectual progress and social condition are decidedly
inferior. The Aztecs had many claims to the character of a civilised
community and (as before said) the Tezcucans were even more advanced
in the cultivation of the arts and sciences than the Aztecs. “The best
histories,” Prescott observes, “the best poems, the best code of laws,
the purest dialect, were all allowed to be Tezcucan. The Aztecs
rivalled their neighbours in splendour of living, and even in the
magnificence of their structures. They displayed a pomp and
ostentatious pageantry, truly Asiatic.” Unfortunately historians are
sometimes not sufficiently discerning in their communications
respecting musical questions. J. Ranking, in describing the grandeur
of the establishment maintained by Montezuma, says that during the
repasts of this monarch “there was music of fiddle, flute,
snail-shell, a kettle-drum, and other strange instruments.” But as
this waiter does not indicate the source whence he drew his
information respecting Montezuma’s orchestra including the fiddle, the
assertion deserves scarcely a passing notice.
The Peruvians possessed a stringed instrument, called _tinya_, which
was provided with five or seven strings. To conjecture from the
unsatisfactory account of it transmitted to us, the _tinya_ appears to
have been a kind of guitar. Considering the fragility of the materials
of which such instruments are generally constructed, it is perhaps not
surprising that we do not meet with any specimens of them in the
museums of American antiquities.
A few remarks will not be out of place here referring to the musical
performances of the ancient Indians, since an acquaintance with the
nature of the performances is likely to afford additional assistance
in appreciating the characteristics of the instruments. In Peru, where
the military system was carefully organised, each division of the army
had its trumpeters, called _cqueppacamayo_, and its drummers, called
_huancarcamayo_. When the Inca returned with his troops victorious
from battle his first act was to repair to the temple of the Sun in
order to offer up thanksgiving; and after the conclusion of this
ceremony the people celebrated the event with festivities, of which
music and dancing constituted a principal part. Musical performances
appear to have been considered indispensable on occasions of public
celebrations; and frequent mention is made of them by historians who
have described the festivals annually observed by the Peruvians.
About the month of October the Peruvians celebrated a solemn feast in
honour of the dead, at which ceremony they executed lugubrious songs
and plaintive instrumental music. Compositions of a similar character
were performed on occasion of the decease of a monarch. As soon as it
was made known to the people that their Inca had been “called home to
the mansions of his father the sun” they prepared to celebrate his
obsequies with becoming solemnity. Prescott, in his graphic
description of these observances, says: “At stated intervals, for a
year, the people assembled to renew the expressions of their sorrow;
processions were made displaying the banner of the departed monarch;
bards and minstrels were appointed to chronicle his achievements, and
their songs continued to be rehearsed at high festivals in the
presence of the reigning monarch――thus stimulating the living by the
glorious example of the dead.” The Peruvians had also particular
agricultural songs, which they were in the habit of singing while
engaged in tilling the lands of the Inca; a duty which devolved upon
the whole nation. The subject of these songs, or rather hymns,
referred especially to the noble deeds and glorious achievements of
the Inca and his dynasty. While thus singing, the labourers regulated
their work to the rhythm of the music, thereby ensuring a pleasant
excitement and a stimulant in their occupation, like soldiers
regulating their steps to the music of the military band. These hymns
pleased the Spanish invaders so greatly that they not only adopted
several of them but also composed some in a similar form and style.
This appears, however, to have been the case rather with the poetry
than with the music.
The name of the Peruvian elegiac songs was _haravi_. Some tunes of
these songs, pronounced to be genuine specimens, have been published
in recent works; but their genuineness is questionable. At all events
they must have been much tampered with, as they exhibit exactly the
form of the Spanish _bolero_. Even allowing that the melodies of these
compositions have been derived from Peruvian _harivaris_, it is
impossible to determine with any degree of certainty how much in them
has been retained of the original tunes, and how much has been
supplied besides the harmony, which is entirely an addition of the
European arranger. The Peruvians had minstrels, called _haravecs_
(_i.e._, “inventors”), whose occupation it was to compose and to
recite the _haravis_.
The Mexicans possessed a class of songs which served as a record of
historical events. Furthermore they had war-songs, love-songs, and
other secular vocal compositions, as well as sacred chants, in the
practice of which boys were instructed by the priests in order that
they might assist in the musical performances of the temple. It
appertained to the office of the priests to burn incense, and to
perform music in the temple at stated times of the day. The
commencement of the religious observances which took place regularly
at sunrise, at mid-day, at sunset, and at midnight, was announced by
signals blown on trumpets and pipes. Persons of high position retained
in their service professional musicians whose duty it was to compose
ballads, and to perform vocal music with instrumental accompaniment.
The nobles themselves, and occasionally even the monarch, not
infrequently delighted in composing ballads and odes.
Especially to be noticed is the institution termed “Council of music,”
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._)
The construction of the _organistrum_ (Fig. 31) requires but little
explanation. A glance at the finger-board reveals at once that the
different tones were obtained by raising the keys placed on the neck
under the strings, and that the keys were raised by means of the
handles at the side of the neck. Of the two bridges shown on the body,
the one situated nearest the middle was formed by a wheel in the
inside, which projected through the sound-board. The wheel which
slightly touched the strings vibrated them by friction when turned by
the handle at the end. The order of intervals was _c_, _d_, _e_, _f_,
_g_, _a_, _b-flat_, _b-natural_, _c_, and were obtainable on the
highest string. There is reason to suppose that the other two strings
were generally tuned a fifth and an octave below the highest. The
_organistrum_ may be regarded as the predecessor of the hurdy-gurdy,
and was rather a cumbrous contrivance. Two persons seem to have been
required to sound it, one to turn the handle and the other to manage
the keys. Thus it is generally represented in mediæval concerts.
The _monochord_ was mounted with a single string stretched over two
bridges which were fixed on an oblong box. The string could be
tightened or slackened by means of a turning screw inserted into one
end of the box. The intervals of the scale were marked on the side,
and were regulated by a sort of movable bridge placed beneath the
string when required. As might be expected, the _monochord_ was
chiefly used by theorists; for any musical performance it was but
little suitable. About a thousand years ago when this monochord was in
use the musical scale was diatonic, with the exception of the interval
of the seventh, which was chromatic inasmuch as both _b-flat_ and
_b-natural_ formed part of the scale.
This ought to be borne in mind in examining the representations of
musical instruments transmitted to us from that period.
As regards the wind instruments popular during the Middle Ages, some
were of quaint form as well as of rude construction.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.――ORGANISTRUM.]
The _chorus_, or _choron_, had either one or two tubes. There were
several varieties of this instrument; sometimes it was constructed
with a bladder into which the tube is inserted; this kind of _chorus_
resembled the bagpipe; another kind resembled the _pungi_ of the
Hindus, mentioned on page 52. The name _chorus_ was also applied to
certain stringed instruments. One of these had much the form of the
_cithara_, page 84. It appears, however, probable that _chorus_ or
_choron_ originally designated a horn (Hebrew, _keren_; Greek,
_keras_; Latin, _cornu_).
The flutes of the Middle Ages were blown at the end, like the
flageolet. Of the _syrinx_ there are extant some illustrations of the
ninth and tenth centuries, which exhibit the instrument with a number
of tubes tied together, just like the Pandean pipe still in use. In
one specimen,[6] from a manuscript of the eleventh century, the tubes
were inserted into a bowl-shaped box. This is probably the _frestele_,
_fretel_, or _fretian_, which in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
was in favour with the French ménétriers.
Some large Anglo-Saxon trumpets may be seen in a manuscript of the
eighth century in the British Museum. The largest kind of trumpet was
placed on a stand when blown. Of the _oliphant_, or hunting horn, some
fine specimens are in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection. The
_sackbut_ (Fig. 32), probably made of metal, could be drawn out to
alter the pitch of sound. The sackbut of the ninth century had,
however, a very different shape to that in use about three centuries
ago, and much more resembled the present _trombone_. The name
_sackbut_ is supposed to be a corruption of _sambuca_. The French,
about the fifteenth century, called it _sacqueboute_ and _saquebutte_.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.――SACKBUT.]
The most important wind instrument――in fact, the king of all the
musical instruments――is the organ.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.――ORGAN. From a 12th century psalter in the
Library of Trinity College, Cambridge.]
The _pneumatic organ_ is sculptured on the base of an obelisk which
was erected in Constantinople under Theodosius the Great towards the
end of the fourth century. The bellows were pressed by men standing on
them. This interesting monument also exhibits performers on the double
flute. The _hydraulic organ_, which is recorded to have been already
known about two hundred years before the Christian era, was according
to some statements occasionally employed in churches during the
earlier centuries of the Middle Ages. Probably it was more frequently
heard in secular entertainments, for which it was more suitable; and
at the beginning of the fourteenth century it appears to have been
entirely supplanted by the pneumatic organ. The earliest organs had
only about a dozen pipes. The largest, which were made about nine
hundred years ago, had only three octaves, in which the chromatic
intervals did not occur. Some progress in the construction of the
organ is shewn in a psalter of Eadwine, in the library of Trinity
College, Cambridge (Fig. 33). The instrument has ten pipes, or perhaps
fourteen, as four of them appear to be double pipes. It required four
men exerting all their power to produce the necessary wind, and two
men to play the instrument. Moreover, both players seem also to be
busily engaged in directing the blowers about the proper supply of
wind. Six men and only fourteen pipes!
Another illustration is given of an organ of the 14th century (Fig.
34).
[Illustration: FIG. 34.――ORGAN (Grand Orgue), after an engraving in
N. X. Willemin’s _Monuments Français Inédits_, Vol.
I., pl. 133, taken from a psalter of the 14th
century.]
The pedal is generally believed to have been invented by Bernhard, a
German, who lived in Venice about the year 1470. There are, however,
indications extant pointing to an earlier date of its invention.
Perhaps Bernhard was the first who, by adopting a more practicable
construction, made the pedal more generally known. On the earliest
organs the keys of the finger-board were of enormous size, compared
with those of the present day; so that a finger-board with only nine
keys had a breadth of from four to five feet. The organist struck the
keys down with his fist, as is done in playing the _carillon_ still in
use on the Continent, of which presently some account will be given.
Of the little portable organ, known as the _regal_ or _regals_, often
tastefully shaped and embellished, some interesting sculptured
representations are still extant in the old ecclesiastical edifices of
England and Scotland. There is, for instance, in Beverley Minster a
figure of a man playing on a single regal, or a regal provided with
only one set of pipes; and in Melrose Abbey the figure of an angel
holding in his arms a double regal, the pipes of which are in two
sets. The regal generally had keys like those of the organ but
smaller. A painting in the National Gallery, attributed to Melozzo da
Forlì (1438-1494) contains a regal which has keys of a peculiar shape,
rather resembling the pistons of certain brass instruments. (Fig. 1,
_Frontispiece_.) To avoid misapprehension, it is necessary to mention
that the name _regal_ (or _regals_, _rigols_) was also applied to an
instrument of percussion with sonorous slabs of wood. This contrivance
was, in short, a kind of harmonica, resembling in shape as well as in
the principle of its construction the little glass harmonica, a mere
toy, in which slips of glass are arranged according to our musical
scale. In England it appears to have been still known in the beginning
of the eighteenth century. Grassineau describes the “Rigols” as “a
kind of musical instrument consisting of several sticks bound
together, only separated by beads. It makes a tolerable harmony, being
well struck with a ball at the end of a stick.” In the earlier
centuries of the Middle Ages there appear to have been some
instruments of percussion in favour, to which Grassineau’s expression
“a tolerable harmony” would scarcely have been applicable. Drums, of
course, were known; and their rhythmical noise must have been soft
music, compared with the shrill sounds of the _cymbalum_ (a
contrivance consisting of a number of metal plates suspended on cords,
so that they would be clashed together simultaneously) or with the
clangour of the _cymbalum_ constructed with bells instead of plates;
or with the piercing noise of the _bunibulum_, or _bombulom_; an
instrument which consisted of an angular frame to which were loosely
attached metal plates of various shapes and sizes. The lower part of
the frame constituted the handle; and to produce the noise it
evidently was shaken somewhat like the sistrum of the ancient
Egyptians.[7]
The _triangle_ nearly resembled the instrument of this name in use at
the present day; it was more elegant in shape and had some metal
ornamentation in the middle.
The _tintinnabulum_ consisted of a number of bells arranged in regular
order and suspended in a frame.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.――BAS RELIEF, representing a group of
Musicians, formerly at the Abbey of St. Georges de
Boscherville. Late 11th century(?). After an
engraving in N.N. Willemin’s _Monuments Français
Inédits_, Vol. I., pl. 52.
Museum of Rouen.]
IX.
EUROPEAN INSTRUMENTS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. (_Continued_).
Respecting the orchestras, or musical bands, represented on monuments
of the Middle Ages, there can hardly be a doubt that the artists who
sculptured them were not unfrequently led by their imagination rather
than by an adherence to actual fact. It is, however, not likely that
they introduced into such representations instruments that were never
admitted in the orchestras, and which would have appeared
inappropriate to the contemporaries of the artists. An examination of
one or two of the orchestras may therefore find a place here,
especially as they throw some additional light upon the characteristics
of the instrumental music of mediæval time.
A very interesting group of music performers, dating, it is said, from
the end of the eleventh century, is preserved in a bas-relief which
formerly ornamented the abbey of St. Georges de Boscherville and which
is now removed to the museum of Rouen (Fig. 35). The orchestra
comprises twelve performers, most of whom wear a crown. The first of
them plays upon a viol, which he holds between his knees as the
violoncello is held. His instrument is scarcely as large as the
smallest viola da gamba. By his side are a royal lady and her
attendant, the former playing on an _organistrum_ of which the latter
is turning the wheel. Next to these is represented a performer on a
_syrinx_; and next to him a performer on a stringed instrument
resembling a lute, which, however, is too much dilapidated to be
recognisable. Then we have a musician with a small stringed instrument
resembling the _nablum_ (_see_ p. 86). The next musician, also
represented as a royal personage, plays on a small species of harp.
Then follows a crowned musician playing the _viol_ which he holds in
almost precisely the same manner as the violin is held. Again,
another, likewise crowned, plays upon a harp, using with the right
hand a plectrum and with the left hand merely his fingers. The last
two performers, apparently a gentleman and a gentlewoman, are engaged
in striking the _tintinnabulum_――a set of bells in a frame.
In this group of crowned minstrels the sculptor has introduced a
tumbler standing on his head, perhaps the vocalist of the company, as
he has no instrument to play upon. Possibly the sculptor desired to
symbolise the hilarious effects which music is capable of producing,
as well as its elevating influence upon the devotional feelings.
The two positions in which we find the _viol_ held is worthy of
notice, inasmuch as it refers the inquirer further back than might be
expected for the origin of our peculiar method of holding the violin,
and the violoncello, in playing. There were several kinds of the
_viol_ in use, differing in size and in compass of sound. The most
common number of strings was five, and it was tuned in various ways.
One kind had a string tuned to the note [Music: Bass clef, quarter
note D] running at the side of the finger-board instead of over it;
this string was, therefore, only capable of producing a single tone.
The four other strings were tuned thus: [Music: Bass clef, quarter
notes G (low) G (high) Treble clef, quarter notes D (low) D (low)] Two
other species, on which all the strings were placed over the
finger-board, were tuned: [Music: Bass clef, quarter notes D G (low) G
(high) Treble clef, quarter notes D (low) G] and: [Music: Bass clef,
quarter notes G (low) C G (high) Treble clef, quarter notes D (low) G]
A very beautiful _vielle_ is represented in Fig. 36. It is of French
workmanship of about 1550, with monograms of Henri II., and is
preserved in the Museum.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.――HURDY-GURDY (Vielle). With arms of France
and crowned monogram of Henry II. on back and front.
Near the handle are monograms of Catherine de
Médicis. About 1550. L. 22½ in., W. 8¼ in. No.
220-’66.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 37.――TYMPANUM of the Glory Gate of the Cathedral
of Santiago de Compostella. Dated 1188.
From a plaster cast in the Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The contrivance of placing a string or two at the side of the
finger-board is evidently very old, and was also gradually adopted on
other instruments of the violin class of a somewhat later period than
that of the _vielle_; for instance, on the _lira di braccio_ of the
Italians. It was likewise adopted on the lute, to obtain a fuller
power in the bass; and hence arose the _theorbo_, the _archlute_, and
other varieties of the old lute.
A grand assemblage of musical performers is represented on the Portico
della Gloria of the famous pilgrimage church of Santiago de
Compostella, in Spain. This triple portal, which is stated by an
inscription on the lintel to have been executed in the year 1188,
consists of a large semi-circular arch with a smaller arch on either
side. The central arch is filled by a tympanum, round which are
twenty-four life-sized seated figures, in high relief, representing
the twenty-four elders seen by St. John in the Apocalypse, each with
an instrument of music. These instruments are carefully represented,
and are of great interest as showing those in use in Spain about the
twelfth century. A cast of this sculpture is in the Museum (Fig. 37).
In examining the group of musicians on this sculpture the reader will
probably recognise several instruments in their hands which are
identical with those already described in the preceding pages. The
_organistrum_, played by two persons, is placed in the centre of the
group, perhaps owing to its being the largest of the instruments
rather than that it was distinguished by any superiority in sound or
musical effect. Besides the small harp seen in the hands of the eighth
and nineteenth musicians (in form nearly identical with the
Anglo-Saxon harp) we find a small triangular harp, without a
front-pillar, held on the lap by the fifth and eighteenth musicians.
The _salterio_ on the lap of the tenth and seventeenth musicians
resembles the dulcimer, but seems to be played with the fingers
instead of with hammers. The most interesting instrument in this
orchestra is the _vihuela_, or Spanish viol, of the twelfth century.
The first, second, third, sixth, seventh, ninth, twentieth,
twenty-second, twenty-third, and twenty-fourth musicians are depicted
with a _vihuela_ which bears a close resemblance to the _rebec_. The
instrument is represented with three strings, although in one or two
instances five tuning-pegs are indicated. A large species of _vihuela_
is given to the eleventh, fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
musicians. This instrument differs from the _rebec_ in so far as its
body is broader and has incurvations at the sides. Also the
sound-holes are different in form and position. The bow does not occur
with any of these viols. But, as will be observed, the musicians are
not represented in the act of playing; they are tuning and preparing
for the performance, and the second of them is adjusting the bridge of
his instrument.
The minstrel gallery of Exeter Cathedral (Fig. 38) dates from the
fourteenth century. The front is divided into twelve niches, each of
which contains a winged figure or an angel playing on an instrument of
music. There is a cast also of this famous sculpture at South
Kensington. The instruments are so much dilapidated that some of them
cannot be clearly recognised; but, as far as may be ascertained, they
appear to be as follows:――(1) The _lute_ or possibly _cittern_; (2)
the _bagpipe_; (3) the _clarion_ or the _shalm_; (4) the _rebec_; (5)
the _psaltery_ or the _harp_; (6) the _jew’s harp_ (?); (7) the
_sackbut_ or the _clarion_; (8) the _regals_; (9) the _gittern_, a
small guitar strung with catgut; (10) the _shalm_ (?); (11) the
_timbrel_, resembling our present tambourine, with a double row of
gingles; (12) _cymbals_. Most of these instruments have been already
noticed in the preceding pages. The _shalm_, or _shawm_, was a pipe
with a reed in the mouth-hole. The _wait_ was an English wind
instrument of the same construction. If it differed in any respect
from the _shalm_, the difference consisted probably in the size only.
The _wait_ obtained its name from being used principally by watchmen,
or _waights_, to proclaim the time of night. Such were the poor
ancestors of our fine oboe and clarinet.
[Illustration: FIG 38.――MINSTREL GALLERY, Exeter Cathedral. 14th
century.
From a plaster cast in the Victoria and Albert Museum.]
X.
POST-MEDIÆVAL INSTRUMENTS.
Attention must now be drawn to some instruments which originated
during the Middle Ages, but which attained their highest popularity at
a somewhat later period.
About 300 years ago the _lute_ (Fig. 39) was almost as popular as is
the pianoforte at the present day. Originally it had eight thin catgut
strings arranged in four pairs, each pair being tuned in unison; so
that its open strings produced four tones; but in the course of time
more strings were added. Until the sixteenth century twelve was the
largest number, or rather, six pairs. Eleven appears for some
centuries to have been the most usual number of strings; these
produced six tones, since they were arranged in five pairs and a
single string. The latter, called the _chanterelle_, was the highest.
According to Thomas Mace, the English lute in common use during the
seventeenth century had twenty-four strings, arranged in twelve pairs,
of which six pairs ran over the finger-board and the other six by the
side of it. This lute was therefore, more properly speaking, a
theorbo. The neck of the lute, and also of the theorbo, had frets
consisting of catgut strings tightly fastened round it at the proper
distances required for ensuring a chromatic succession of intervals.
The illustration (Fig. 40) represents a lute-player of the late
fifteenth century. The order of tones adopted for the open strings
varied in different centuries and countries; and this was also the
case with the notation of lute music. The most common practice was to
write the music on six lines, the upper line representing the first
string; the second line, the second string, etc., and to mark with
letters on the lines the frets at which the fingers ought to be
placed――_a_ indicating the open string, _b_ the first fret, _c_ the
second fret, and so on.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.――LUTE. Italian (Venetian). Beginning of 17th
century. L. 32½ in., W. 12 in. No. 1125-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 40.――Angel playing a Lute, after an oil painting
by Ambrogio da Predis. Late 15th century.
National Gallery.]
[Illustration: FIG. 41.――ARCHLUTE. Inscribed “Rauche in Chandos
Street, London, 1762.” L. 49½ in., W. 14½ in.
No. 9-’71.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The lute was made of various sizes, according to the purpose for which
it was intended in performance. The treble-lute was of the smallest
dimensions, and the bass-lute of the largest. The _theorbo_, or
double-necked lute which appears to have come into use during the
sixteenth century, had in addition to the strings situated over the
finger-board a number of others running at the left side of the
finger-board which could not be shortened by the fingers, and which
produced the bass tones.
The _archlute_ is a large theorbo with a peculiar arrangement of the
strings (Fig. 41). Several of them were doubled, the additional string
being tuned an octave higher than the other. The process of tuning
such instruments was evidently troublesome and tedious. Mattheson, the
quaint contemporary of Handel, in his “Das Neu-eröffnete Orchestre,”
Hamburg, 1713, remarks:――“If a lutenist attains the age of eighty, you
may be sure he has tuned sixty years; and the worst of it is that
among a hundred players, especially of the amateurs, scarcely two are
capable of tuning with accuracy. Now there is something amiss with the
strings; now with the frets; and now again with the screws; so that I
have been told that in Paris it costs as much money to keep a lute as
to keep a horse.” Also Mace, an enthusiastic admirer of the lute,
testifies to the difficulty of keeping the instrument in proper
condition; for his treatise on the lute and theorbo (contained in
“Musick’s Monument,” London, 1676) is replete with rules for
stringing, tuning, cleaning, repairing, etc. And, as regards
preserving the instrument, he gives the advice――“You shall do well,
ever when you lay it by in the day-time, to put it into a bed that is
constantly used, between the rug and blanket.”
The _chitarrone_ is a theorbo with an extraordinarily long neck, by
which the length of the eight bass strings is considerably increased
(Fig. 42). The largest instruments of this kind were made some
centuries ago, in Rome. They were used in the theatre for accompanying
the voice, before the Clavicembalo, or Harpsichord, was introduced for
this purpose. The finest instruments of the lute kind were made in
Italy, especially at Bologna, Rome, Venice, and Padua. Many of the
manufacturers in Italy were, however, foreigners. Evelyn, in his Diary
(May 21, 1645), speaking of Bologna, says, “This place has also been
celebrated for lutes made by the old masters, Mollen [Maler ?], Hans
Frey, and Nicholas Sconvelt, which were of extraordinary price; the
workmen were chiefly Germans.” One of the earliest and most celebrated
of these makers was Lucas Maler (or “Laux Maler” as he inscribed his
name on his instruments). He lived at Bologna about 1415.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.――CHITARRONE. Italian. Made by Buchenberg in
Rome, anno 1614. L. 74 in. No. 190-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Other celebrated lute-makers[8] were:――
Ludwig Porgt, Regensburg, 1525.
Hanns Gerle, Nuremberg, b. about 1505, d. 1599.
Hans Neusedler, Nuremberg, d. 1563.
Sebastian Rauser, Verona, working about 1590 to 1605.
Mattheus Buchenberg, Rome, working about 1592-1619.
Hanns Fichtholdt, Ingoldstadt (?), about 1612; his lutes, the backs
of which are made with narrow strips of wood, in the Italian manner,
were formerly much prized by connoisseurs.
Paolo Belami, Paris, about 1612, probably an Italian. His lutes were
highly valued.
Joachim Tielke, Hamburg, b. 1641, d. 1719.
Antonio Castaro, Rome, about 1615.
Christofilo Rochi, Padua, about 1620.
Sebastian Rochi, Venice, about 1620.
Clays von Pommersbach, Cologne, probably during the sixteenth
century.
Magnus Tieffenbrucker, Venice, latter half of seventeenth century.
Wendelin Tieffenbrucker, Padua, working about 1572-1611, and
Leonhard Tieffenbrucker, Padua (?), during the sixteenth century;
their lutes were rather flat and long in body.
Michael Hartung, Padua, working about 1602 to 1624; he was a pupil
of Leonhard Tieffenbrucker.
Raphael Mest, Füssen, working about 1610 to 1650; said to have been
pupil of Michael Hartung.
Johann Christian Hoffmann, Leipzig, working about 1710 to 1750; his
lutes were exported to Holland and England.
Martin Schott, Prague, latter half of seventeenth century.
Sebastian Rauch, Prague, working about 1700 to 1724.
Matthias Hummel, Nuremberg, end of seventeenth century.
Sebastian Schelle, Nuremberg, working about 1700 to 1745; his lutes
were much valued, not only in Germany, but also in other European
countries.
There used to be in Italy various kinds of mandolines, of which the
Milanese and the Neapolitan were the most common. The first-named had
usually ten strings, constituting five pairs. The Neapolitan
_mandolino_ had eight strings, constituting four pairs. The strings
were usually twanged with a quill. Mozart, in his “Don Giovanni,” has
made use of the Neapolitan _mandolino_ in the serenade; but, as the
instrument has fallen into disuse, at least in most countries except
Italy, the part written for it by Mozart is now generally played on
the violin, _pizzicato_. The _mandolino_ is now often strung with
catgut strings. It resembles a diminutive lute; but its fingerboard
has metal frets, and its strings are fastened to little ivory pins at
the end of the body, instead of being looped through holes in the
bridge. The convex back of the mandoline is deeper than that of the
lute. It is one of the handsomest musical instruments.
Besides the mandoline the Italians had various instruments in shape
resembling the lute. Of this description are, for instance, the
_mandora_, _mandorina_, and the _pandurina_. The mandoline differs
from the pandurina chiefly in having a rounder and deeper body, and in
having the tuning-pegs placed at the back of the head; while the
_pandurina_ has a sort of scroll, with the tuning-pegs situated
sideways, similar to the old English cither (Fig. 43). The _mandora_
had usually for each tone two strings, which were of catgut and wire;
and there were eight pairs of them. The _mandorina_ had four wire
strings.
The _guitar_ (Fig. 44) is evidently an importation from the East, but
it has undergone various modifications since its adoption by European
nations. It was an instrument of the Moors in Spain, and became known
in France about the 11th century. The French called it formerly
_guiterne_, and the English _gittern_, _ghittern_, and _gythorn_. At
the time of Henry VIII. we find it occasionally called “the Spanish
viol.” At an early period it probably had the oval shape of the
_kuitra_, still in use by the Arab musicians in Tunis and Algiers. In
Spain it had formerly also the name of _vihuela_.
Instruction books for the old Spanish guitar have been written
by:――Ludovico Milan, Valencia, 1534; Sixtus Kargel, Mayence, 1569;
Joannes Carolus, Lerida, 1626; Pietro Milioni, Rome, 1638; Lucas Ruiz
de Ribayaz, Madrid, 1672, etc. The number of guitar manuals published
during the 18th century is enormous. Germany alone contributed above
fifty.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.――PANDURINA. On the back is carved a group
consisting of Juno, Minerva and Venus. French. Second
half of 16th century. L. 16½ in., W. 4½ in. No.
219-’66.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 44.――GUITAR. French (?). 17th century. L.
40⅜in., W. 11⅞ in. No. 676-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 45.――QUINTERNA, OR CHITERNA. Inscribed “Joachim
Tielke in Hamburg, 1539,” but of later date. L. 25½
in., W. 9⅜ in. No. 1122-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46.――CITHER. German. End of 17th century. L. 31½
in. No. 219-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The guitar was a fashionable instrument in England, played by ladies,
in the time of Charles II. On the Continent it generally had ten
catgut strings, of which two were always tuned in unison. At the
present day it has six strings, the two of which are of silk covered
with silver wire, and the others are of catgut.
A species of guitar is the _quinterna_, or _chiterna_, somewhat
resembling a violin in shape (Fig. 45). It was used about two
centuries ago, especially in Italy, by the lower orders of musicians
and comedians for accompanying their vocal performances. It was played
with the fingers instead of a plectrum.
The _cithern_, _cittern_, or _cither_ (Fig. 46), which during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was a popular instrument in
England, where it was often played in the barbers’ shops, had four
pairs of wire strings.
Its top generally terminated in a grotesquely-carved human head. The
cithers made in England during the eighteenth century have generally
at the top some inlaid ornamentation in ivory, mother-of-pearl, or
fancy wood.
Although not well suited for the performance of harmonious
combinations, since its wire strings are twanged with a quill, and
therefore only such chords can be properly produced as are on strings
following each other in uninterrupted succession, the cither,
nevertheless, possesses considerable charms.
There are several conjectures as to the derivation of the German name
_zither_ or _zitter_. Some suppose it to be from “_zittern_,” on
account of the peculiarly trembling sound of the instrument. During
the first centuries of the Christian era the word _cythera_
(_cithara_) implied almost any stringed instrument, especially if the
strings were twanged with a plectrum, or with the fingers. It is also
noteworthy, though perhaps only as a singular coincidence, that the
Persians and Hindus have a three-stringed species of _zither_, which
they call _sitar_, from the Persian word _si_, “three,” and _tar_, “a
string.” The Hindu _sitar_ is, however, now usually mounted with five
strings.
The _harp-guitar_ and _harp-theorbo_ (Fig. 47) were manufactured in
England with the intention of improving the sound of the guitar and
theorbo by adopting for them the body of the harp.
There was also another invention of this kind, called the _harp-lute_.
The _harp-ventura_ (Fig. 48) was invented at the beginning of the last
century by Signor Angelo Benedetto Ventura, professor of music, and
teacher of the guitar and harp-lute to the Princess Charlotte of
Wales. The example given has a back of satin wood, and sides of turtle
shell; the belly and pillar are painted and gilt. It has nineteen
catgut strings, six of which are covered with wire.
The _banduria_ (Fig. 49) a lyre-shaped guitar, was often strung with
wire instead of catgut, and played with a plectrum generally made of
tortoise-shell. The specimen illustrated is made of various woods, has
three sound-holes, a machine head, and twelve catgut strings tuned in
pairs.
The Spanish peasants call their rustic guitar _vihuela_; and it
appears probable that the “gittrons that are called Spanish vialls,”
mentioned in the list of musical instruments of Henry VIII. (Harl.
MSS. 1419, p. 202) were small guitars of this description.
The Irish harp (_clarseth_) illustrated in Fig. 50, belonged formerly
to a celebrated Irish harper. A similar one, which is in the
possession of the Marquess of Kildare, bears the date 1671.
[Illustration: FIG. 47. HARP THEORBO. Made by Harley. English. About
1800. L. 36 in. No. 250-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 48.――HARP VENTURA. So-called from the inventor,
Signor Ventura. English. Early 19th century. L. 33
in. No. 248-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum]
[Illustration: FIG. 49.――BANDURIA. English. Early 19th century. L.
22¼ in. No. 227-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.――HARP. Old Irish. H. 52 in., W. 43 in. No.
616-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Considering the scarcity of the old Irish _clarseth_, mention may be
made of a fine specimen formerly in the collection of Irish
antiquities belonging to Thomas Crofton Croker, from which it was
purchased, in the year 1854, at an auction in London, by Thomas
Bateman, Esq. It bears on its front the inscription, _Made by John
Kelly for the Rev. Charles Bunworth Baltdaniel, 1734_. At the
contentions or meetings of the bards of Ireland, between the years
1730 and 1750, which were generally held at Bruree, county Limerick,
the Rev. Charles Bunworth was five times chosen umpire, or president.
Although this harp is not of high antiquity, it is an interesting
example of the ancient form and construction, and likewise of the
ancient manner of ornamenting the instrument. A wood engraving of it,
from a drawing by Maclise, is given in “A Descriptive Catalogue of the
Antiquities and Miscellaneous Objects preserved in the Museum of
Thomas Bateman, at Lomberdale House, Derbyshire,” Bakewell, 1855. An
account of the Irish harps deposited in the Museum of Dublin is to be
found in “A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of
the Royal Irish Academy,” by W. R. Wilde, Dublin, 1863. The
illustrations of the Irish harp in the works of Bunting and similar
writers may be supposed to be known to musicians.
The number of strings appears to have been greater on the older
specimens recorded than on the later ones. Prætorius, in his “Syntagma
musicum,” etc., vol. ii., Wolfenbüttel, 1619, gives an illustration of
the Irish harp, in which it is represented with forty-three strings.
He describes the instrument as having a pleasant resonance, and being
constructed with a considerable degree of ingenuity. The illustration
exhibits the same shape, with the fore-bar bent outwards, which is
shown in the present specimen.
Some harps after the model of the old Irish _clarseth_, which are
painted and gilt, were made in Dublin in the beginning of the last
century.
The small harp of the middle ages of Central and Western Europe,
depicted in old sculptures and paintings, generally exhibits the
front-bar of its frame somewhat bent outwardly, much as is the case
with the Irish _clarseth_. Gradually the number of its strings was
increased; and, likewise the strength of the frame for resisting the
tension of the strings. The front-bar of our harp is straight, or a
front-pillar. Until the seventeenth century only the diatonic series
of intervals was properly obtainable on the instrument. The performer
had, however, a method of producing occasionally a semitone by
pressing the finger against the string towards the end, much in the
same manner in which the Burmese produce chromatic intervals on the
_soung_. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the Tyrolian harp
makers adopted little plates with hooks, which could be moved so as to
press upon the strings, and thereby shorten them, for the production
of the semitones, more rapidly and unerringly than could be done by
the fingers. A French harp of the period of Louis XVI. is illustrated
(Fig. 51). It is carved and gilt in the style of Gouthière, and
decorated with oak foliage and acorns; at the top of the pillar is a
figure of a Cupid.
Students who examine the old instruments above described will probably
wish to know something about their quality of tone. “How do they
sound? Might they still be made effective in our present state of the
art?” are questions which naturally occur to the musical inquirer
having such instruments brought before him. A few words bearing on
these questions may therefore not be out of place here.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.――HARP. French. About 1770. H. 63 in., W. 30
in. No. 4087-’57.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 52.――VIOLIN. Said to have belonged to James I.
English. Early 17th century. L. 23¼ in., W. 8 in. No.
34-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 53.――Angel playing a Viol, after an oil painting
by Ambrogio da Predis. Late 15th century.
National Gallery.]
It is generally and justly admitted that in no other branch of the art
of music has greater progress been made during the last century than
in the construction of musical instruments. Nevertheless, there are
people who think that we have also lost something here which might
with advantage be restored. Our various instruments by being more and
more perfected are becoming too much alike in quality of sound, or in
that character of tone which the French call _timbre_, and the Germans
_Klangfarbe_, and which professor Tyndall in his lectures on sound has
translated _clang-tint_. Every musical composer knows how much more
suitable one _clang-tint_ is for the expression of a certain emotion
than another. Our old instruments, imperfect though they were in many
respects, possessed this variety of _clang-tint_ to a high degree.
Neither were they on this account less capable of expression than the
modern ones. That no improvement has been made during the last two
centuries in instruments of the violin class is a well-known fact. As
to lutes and cithers the collection at South Kensington contains
specimens so rich and mellow in tone as to cause musicians to regret
that these instruments have entirely fallen into oblivion.
As regards beauty of appearance our earlier instruments were certainly
superior to the modern. Indeed, we have now scarcely a musical
instrument which can be called beautiful. The old lutes, cithers,
viols, dulcimers, etc., are not only elegant in shape but are also
often tastefully ornamented with carvings, designs in marquetry, and
painting.
Of the stringed instruments used in our orchestra, the _violin_ (Fig.
52) is the one which has been longest preserved entirely unaltered.
Its name (Italian, _violino_), a diminutive of _viola_, suggests that
our _tenor_ (_viola di braccio_) is the older instrument of the two.
The _viol_ (Fig. 53, facing p. 104) in use about three centuries ago,
was however somewhat different in shape. As the oldest-known
instruments played with a bow, which in European countries preceded
the violin, may be mentioned:――The _rebec_, which, it appears, was
first popular in Spain; the _crwth_ of the Welsh; the _fidla_ of the
Norwegian, which, in shape somewhat resembled the _crwth_, and which,
with some slight modifications, is still occasionally to be found in
Iceland, where it is called _langspiel_; and the _fithele_ of the
Anglo-Saxons.
Such were the instruments from which our violin has gradually been
developed, until it attained, in the seventeenth century, that degree
of perfection which has never since been surpassed. The violin makers
whose instruments are still most highly valued are:――Antonio Amati,
whose most flourishing period dates between the years 1592 and 1619;
Nicolo Amati, the nephew of the preceding, 1662-1692; Giuseppe
Guarneri, 1690-1707; Antonio Stradivari, 1700-1725; and Jakob Stainer,
1650-1670. All these celebrated makers, except Jakob Stainer, were
Italians, living at Cremona. Jakob Stainer (or Jacobus Steiner) was a
native of Absam, a village near Innsbruck in the Tyrol. Few musical
instruments have experienced so great an increase in price as the
violins of these celebrated makers. Stainer used himself to carry his
violins to the monasteries situated in the neighbourhood of Absam,
where he lived. He sold them at 40 florins apiece. It was not until
after his death that his workmanship was duly appreciated.
The _viola da gamba_ (French, _basse de viole_; German, _Kniegeige_)
derives its name from its being held between the knees of the
performer (Figs. 54 and 55). It was the predecessor of the
violoncello, and was made with frets. It was a favourite instrument in
England at the time of Queen Elizabeth, and even ladies played it
occasionally. In England it was called _base viol_, and also
_viol-de-gambo_. Sir Toby Belch, in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,”
says of Sir Andrew Aguecheek:――
“He plays o’ the viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages
word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature.”
[Illustration: FIG. 54.――VIOLA DA GAMBA. Italian. About 1600. H. 48
in., W. 14 in. No. 7360-’61.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 55.――VIOLA DA GAMBA. Italian. 17th century. L.
47¼ in. No. 168-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.――VIOLA DI BARDONE, OR BARYTON, WITH BOW.
Inscribed “Jaques Sainprae, à Berlin.” German. 17th
century. L. 54 in., W. 16½ in. No. 1444, 1444ᵃ-’70.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Among the English public performers on the _viola da gamba_ are
recorded a Mrs. Sarah Ottey, in the year 1723, and a Miss Ford in
1760. Carl Friedrich Abel, a German, who lived in London during the
latter half of the eighteenth century, was the last performer of
celebrity on this instrument. Johann Sebastian Bach has employed it in
his admirable “Passionsmusik des Matthæus”; and there are some fine
“Suites,” still occasionally to be met with, composed for it by M. de
Caix d’Herveloix, published in the year 1710. The tone of the _viola
da gamba_ is rather nasal, but sweet and expressive; indeed, it is to
be regretted that this charming instrument has fallen into disuse.
There is, however, a _gamba_ stop in the organ, which resembles the
famous _vox humana_ stop, and which has recently been much favoured by
organ builders.
The _violoncello_ came into competition with the _viola da gamba_ at
the beginning of the eighteenth century, and has now entirely
superseded its predecessor.
A _viola di bardone_ in the Museum (Fig. 56) has a neck of carved and
pierced box-wood, terminating in a figure of Apollo playing the lyre;
the principal finger-board is of ivory, engraved and inlaid with ebony
and tortoiseshell, with figures of Jupiter and Juno, and a lady
playing a lute; the second finger-board is also of pierced and
engraved ivory. The instrument has four catgut and fourteen metal
sympathetic strings, and a double wrest. It was made by Jaques
Sainprae, of Berlin, and is said to have belonged to Quanz, music
master of Frederick the Great.
The most accomplished performers on the _viola di bardone_ were Anton
Lidl of Vienna (to whom is sometimes erroneously ascribed the
invention of this instrument) and Karl Franz, a musician of the band
of Prince Esterhazy, about the middle of the 18th century. Lidl played
on the _viola di bardone_ in concerts in England during the year 1776.
Joachim Tielke of Hamburg, the manufacturer of a specimen in the
Museum, was an instrument maker whose lutes were much esteemed on
account of their fine tone, and their elegant ornamentation. He made
them of ebony inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl, silver, and gold.
Joseph Haydn wrote sixty-three compositions for the _viola di bardone_
by order of Prince Esterhazy, who was himself a performer on this
instrument, and who admired it greatly. Its tone is soft and very
expressive, but rather tremulous; owing to this quality, probably, it
was also called _viola di fagotto_. It never became very popular,
since its rather complicated construction offered too many
difficulties in its treatment. In Germany it was generally called
_Baryton_.
The _viola d’amore_ (Fig. 57) was often strung entirely with wire. It
appears to have been a novelty to Evelyn, for he records in his Diary
of November 20th, 1679, “I dined with Mr. Slingsby, Master of the
Mint, with my wife, invited to hear music, which was exquisitely
performed by four of the most renowned masters: Du Prue, a Frenchman,
on the lute; Signor Bartholomeo, an Italian, on the harpsichord;
Nicholao, on the violin; but above all, for its sweetness and novelty,
the _viol d’amore_ of five wire strings played on with a bow, being
but an ordinary violin played on lyre-way by a German.” Mattheson
(“Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre,” Hamburg, 1713) describes the _viola
d’amore_ as being mounted with four wire strings, and with one catgut
string for the highest tone.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.――VIOLA D’AMORE. Probably English. Late 17th
century. L. 27½ in. No. 154-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 58.――DOUBLE-BASS, WITH BOW. Known as “The
Giant.” Italian. 17th century. L. 103 in., W. 42 in.
No. 487-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
He praises its sweetness of sound, but does not mention the
sympathetic strings. The transformation of the wire-strung _viola
d’amore_ into the so-called psaltery or sultana, which has no
sympathetic strings, is indicated in the following statement by Sir
John Graham Dalyell (“Musical Memoirs of Scotland,” Edinburgh, 1849),
“The instrument was first introduced in public in London during the
year 1715, when it was heard between the acts of an opera. It was
known in Scotland in the middle of the century, and a taste for it was
probably encouraged by the performance of Passerini, an Italian
resident in Edinburgh, in the year 1752, when it was said to be a new
instrument called _viole d’amour_. Passerini was manager of the
Gentleman’s and St. Cecilia Concert, where he and his wife had a
permanent engagement as skilled musicians. He played solos and
accompanied singing with the instrument. Perhaps the _viole d’amour_
underwent several modifications, as its name was changed to
_psaltery_, in the belief of its being the ancient instrument so
denominated, which is quite different according to most authorities,
not belonging to the fidicinal tribe. In 1754 a concert for the new
instrument called the _psaltery_ was announced for Signor Carusi’s
benefit concert in Edinburgh, and performed by Pasquali, another
Italian musician, also resident there. From its soft and simple nature
it was eulogised in 1762 as unequalled for delicacy and sweetness. I
knew a lady many years ago in Edinburgh who played melodies with great
delicacy on this instrument, which was strung with wire, and had frets
on the finger-board.” From these accounts it would appear that the
_viola d’amore_ strung entirely with wire was not much used in England
before the year 1700, although it evidently existed in this country in
the seventeenth century.
The _double-bass_ (Italian, _contrebasso_, _violone_; French,
_contrebasse_; German, _grosse Bassgeige_, _Kontrabass_) is either
four-stringed or three-stringed. A three-stringed example known as
“The Giant” presented by Dragonetti to the Duke of Leinster, and given
by the latter to the Museum, is illustrated in Fig. 58.
Dragonetti, the celebrated _virtuoso_ on the double-bass, came to
England in the year 1794. His favourite instrument, upon which he
played in public concerts, was a “Gaspar di Salo,” which he obtained
from the Convent of St. Pietro at Vicenza, and which he never could be
induced to part with, although £800, it is said, was offered him for
it by one of his rich and enthusiastic pupils in England. After the
death of Dragonetti this bass, and another valuable one by
Stradivarius, were sent back to Italy, he having bequeathed them in
his will to the town of Venice. Dragonetti died in the year 1846 at
his house in Leicester Square, at the age of eighty-three. A year
before his death he was still able to assist in the public
performances at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn. His friend H. Philipps
mentions in his “Musical Recollections” that the ends of Dragonetti’s
fingers had gradually become quite flat and deformed from playing.
Some double-basses of extraordinarily large size are known to have
been made in England. William Gardiner (“Music and Friends,” London,
1838, p. 70) mentions such an instrument, made by Martin in Leicester,
which he saw in the year 1786, and which, if his statement may be
relied upon, “was of such height that Mr. Martin was obliged to cut a
hole in the ceiling to let the head through; so that it was tuned by
going upstairs into the room above.”
A _sordino_ (French, _pochette_; German, _Taschengeige_) is
illustrated in Fig. 59. About 300 years ago the _sordino_ was kept by
gentlemen in a case resembling a pen case, which they put in the
pocket when they went to a singing party; and they used the instrument
for insuring correct intonation while singing madrigals and catches.
Kircher, in his “Musurgia Universalis,” Romæ, 1650, calls it
_linterculus_, no doubt from its resemblance to a small boat.
Fig. 60 represents a _bûche_ (German, _Scheitholz_) made by Fleurot,
of the Val d’Ajol, in the Vosges Mountains, early in the last century.
[Illustration: FIG. 59.――SORDINO, OR POCHETTE. Probably German. Late
17th or early 18th century. L. 17½ in. No. 457-’83.]
[Illustration: FIG. 60.――BÛCHE, OR SCHEITHOLZ. Made by Fleurot, of
the Val d’Ajol in the Vosges Mountains. Early 19th
century. L. 27½ in. No. 210-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 61.――VIRGINAL. Formerly belonging to Queen
Elizabeth. Italian. Second half of 16th century. H.
8½ in., L. 65 in., D. 23 in. No. 19-’87.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 62.――VIRGINAL. Bears the arms of William, Duke
of Cleves, Berg and Jülich, Count of La Marck and
Ravensberg, and originally also Duke of Guelderland
(b. 1516, d. 1592). Flemish. Second half of 16th
century. H. 16 in., W. 67 in., D. 28 in. No. 447-’96.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
At the present day the people twang the bûche with a quill; but in
olden time it was played thus:――The performer, having placed the
instrument on a table, twanged the strings with the thumb of his right
hand, while he used his left hand in pressing down, by means of a
little stick, those strings which are placed over the frets, and
which, being tuned in unison, serve for producing the melody. The
other strings, tuned a _fifth_ lower, were occasionally struck as an
accompaniment.
Primitive in construction, and imperfect for our present musical
performances as the _Scheitholz_ is, it nevertheless is interesting,
not only on account of its popularity three centuries ago, but also
because it is the prototype of the horizontal cither, which has come
somewhat into vogue in the last century.
The most popular instruments played with a bow, in the seventeenth
century, were the _treble-viol_, the _tenor-viol_, and the
_bass-viol_. It was usual for viol players to have “a chest of viols,”
a case containing four or more viols, of different sizes. Thus, Thomas
Mace in his directions for the use of the viol, “Musick’s Monument”
1676, remarks, “Your best provision, and most complete, will be a good
chest of viols, six in number, viz., two basses, two tenors, and two
trebles, all truly and proportionately suited.” The violist, to be
properly furnished with his requirements, had therefore to supply
himself with a larger stock of instruments than the violinist of the
present day.
The _virginal_ (Figs. 61 and 62) is said to have obtained its name
from having been intended especially to be played by young ladies. The
statement of some writers that it was called virginal in compliment to
Queen Elizabeth, is refuted by the fact of its being mentioned among
the musical instruments of King Henry VIII., in the beginning of the
sixteenth century. Probably the name was originally given to it in
honour of the Virgin Mary, since the _virginal_ was used by the nuns
for accompanying their hymns addressed to the Holy Virgin. It was made
of various sizes, but generally small in comparison with our square
pianoforte. The Italians, about three hundred years ago, constructed a
small portable instrument of this kind, which they called _ottavino_
(or _octavina_) because its pitch was an octave higher than that of
the clavicembalo, or harpsichord.
Queen Elizabeth was a performer on the _virginal_ (_see_ Fig. 61) as
well as on the lute. Sir James Melville, the Scotch ambassador,
records in his memoirs an interview with Queen Elizabeth, in the year
1564, in which he heard her play upon the virginal:――“Then sche asked
wither the Quen (Mary of Scotland) or sche played best. In that I gaif
hir the prayse.” During the Shakesperian age a virginal generally
stood in the barbers’ shops for the amusement of the customers. The
instrument had evidently retained its popularity at the time of the
Great Fire of London; for Pepys (Diary, September 2nd, 1666)
records:――“River full of lighters and boats taking in goods, and good
goods swimming in the water; and only I observed that hardly one
lighter or boat in three that had the goods of a house in, but there
was a pair of virginalls in it.”
The instrument has metal strings, one for each tone, which are twanged
by means of small portions of quill, attached to slips of wood called
“jacks,” and provided with thin metal springs. Its construction is
therefore similar to that of the spinet and harpischord. Crowquills
were most commonly used in the construction of such instruments; but
other materials, as for instance leather, whalebone, and even elastic
strips of metal, were occasionally adopted instead.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.――SPINET. Made by Annibale dei Rossi of
Milan. Italian. Dated 1577. H. 11¼ in., L. 58¼ in.,
W. 22¼ in. No. 809-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 64.――SPINET. Signed “Johannes Player fecit.”
English. About 1700. L. 59 in., W. 22½ in. No.
466-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 65.――CLAVICHORD. Inscribed “Barthold Fritz fecit,
Braunschweig, anno 1751.” German. 18th century.
H. 31 in., L. 70½ in., W. 22½ in. No. 339-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
There evidently prevailed, some centuries ago, much vagueness in the
designation of certain stringed instruments with a key-board. The term
_clavichord_ seems to have not unfrequently been applied to any
stringed instrument with a key-board, no matter what its interior
construction might be. Johann Walther, in his “Musicalisches Lexicon,”
Leipzig, 1732, describes the _virginal_ (or “Virginale,” as he calls
it), in these words:-“Ein Clavier vors Frauenzimmer” (_a clavichord
for ladies_). The following brief explanation of the difference
between the spinet and the clavichord may therefore be of interest to
some inquirers.
The _spinet_ (Italian, _spinetta_ or _spinetto_; French, _épinette_)
is said to have derived its name from the little quill (_spina_) used
in its mechanism, which is the same as that of the harpsichord and the
virginal, described before.
The more commonly-known spinet (Figs. 63 and 64) resembles in shape
the harpsichord and the grand piano. It is, however, smaller than the
harpsichord, and its key-board is placed in a somewhat oblique
direction. The tone of the spinet was generally a _fifth_ higher than
that of the harpsichord.
The _clavichord_ (Italian, _clavicordo_; German, _Clavier_, or
_Klavier_), differs from the spinet inasmuch as it is of an
oblong-square shape (Fig. 65), and especially in its being constructed
with so-called _tangents_, _i.e._, metal pins which press under the
strings when the keys are struck. The strings are of thin brass wire.
The oldest specimens of the clavichord still extant are from three to
four feet in length, and about two feet in width. The lower keys are
black, and the upper ones are white. There is only a single string for
each tone and its upper semitone; thus, there is but one string for
_C_ and _C-sharp_, and likewise for _D_ and _D-sharp_, and so on. The
semitone is produced by a second tangent, which touches the string at
a place a little distant from that at which it is touched by the
tangent producing the whole-tone. On being pressed under the string,
the tangent divides it into two vibrating parts, one of which is
considerably longer than the other and gives the sound. The other part
is too short to be distinctly audible, and therefore does not very
perceptibly interfere with the clearness of the sound. Moreover, its
vibration is checked by a strip of cloth interlaced with the strings.
It will easily be understood that of the two tangents, the one which
most shortens the sounding part of the string, must produce a tone of
a higher pitch than the other.
Such was the construction of the _clavichord_ until about the year
1700, when it was improved in so far as that each key was supplied
with a separate string. The clavichord is pre-eminently a German
instrument. Although now almost entirely supplanted by the pianoforte,
it is still occasionally to be met with in the house of the German
village schoolmaster and of the country parson. Though but weak in
sound, it admits of much expression; and most of the German classical
composers who lived before the invention of the pianoforte preferred
the clavichord to the harpsichord. In England it has never become
popular. Considering the simplicity of its construction, it might be
surmised that the price of a clavichord was generally very moderate.
In the latter half of the eighteenth century the prices charged for
such instruments by some of the best manufacturers were as
follows:――Carl Lemme, in Brunswick, made clavichords of various
qualities, which fetched from three to twelve Louis d’ors a-piece; he
also made, for exportation to Batavia, clavichords with a compressed
sounding-board, invented by his father in the year 1771; Krämer, in
Göttingen, charged from four to fourteen Louis d’ors, according to
size and finish; and Wilhelmi, in Cassel, charged from twenty to fifty
thalers,――from about £3 to £7 10s.
[Illustration: FIG. 66.――CLAVICEMBALO. Signed “Joanes Antonius
Baffo, Venetus.” Italian. Dated 1574. H. 9½ in., L.
83 in., W. 36 in. No. 6007-’59.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The _clavicembalo_ (often designated merely _cembalo_) is called in
German “Flügel,” on account of its shape somewhat resembling the wing
of a bird. _Clavicembali_ formerly in use generally had a compass of
five octaves. The instrument was usually supplied with some stops by
means of which the quality of sound could in some measure be modified.
Furthermore, it was frequently made with two keyboards, one for the
loud and another for the soft tones. The harpsichord made in England
was precisely of the same construction. In fact, the best harpsichord
makers in England were emigrants from the continent, and the founders
of some of the great pianoforte manufactories still flourishing in
London. Burkhardt Tschudi, for instance, a harpsichord maker from
Switzerland, was the founder of Broadwood’s celebrated manufactory,
which dates from the year 1732. Kirkman, a German (who, before he
established himself in England, wrote his name Kirchmann) sold his
harpsichords in London, according to the German Musical Almanac for
the year 1782, at the price of from 60_l._ to 90_l._ apiece. In the
beginning of the eighteenth century many of the harpsichords made in
England had, according to Grassineau (Musical Dictionary, London,
1740), a compass of only four octaves.
However, already as early as in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, harpsichords or clavicembali, of a superior quality,
manufactured by Hans Ruckers and his sons Jean and Andreas, were
imported into England. The instruments of these celebrated Antwerp
manufacturers were tastefully embellished, and the best Dutch painters
not infrequently enriched them with devices. The consequence has been
that after the invention of the pianoforte, many of these old
harpsichords were taken to pieces in order to preserve the valuable
panels. The price of a fine harpsichord by Ruckers about 1770, was
£120.
The old _clavicembalo_ by Antonio Baffo, of Venice (Fig. 66), has
slips of prepared leather instead of the usual crowquills, which, if
original, would show that the statement of some writers as to Pascal
Taskin in Paris being the first to use leather is erroneous. Taskin,
in constructing in the year 1768 the _Clavecin à peau de buffle_, may
have revived an old invention, which, however, he seems to have much
improved. He made a _clavecin_ with three keyboards, two of which were
connected with actions constructed of crowquills, and the third with
an action of leather. The modification in quality of sound thereby
obtained was greatly admired.
The illustration (Fig. 67) represents a clavecin made by Pascal Taskin
in the year 1786. The case is highly ornamented with Japanese figures
and gilding.
The invention of the _clavicembalo_ as well as of the _clavicordo_, is
by some old writers ascribed to Guido Aretinus (or Guido d’Arezzo),
the famous monk who is recorded to have invented, in the year 1025,
the Solmisation, and also to have first conceived the idea of
employing lines and dots in the notation of musical sounds.
Unauthentic though the tradition may be which assigns to Guido the
invention of the stringed instruments with a keyboard, it appears very
probable that some rude kind of clavichord was first constructed about
his time, or soon after.
The _claviorganum_, or organ-harpsichord, consists of an organ and a
harpsichord (or a spinet) combined. Either can be played separately or
with the other together. The separation and the union are effected by
means of a stop or a pedal. The claviorganum was, some centuries ago,
not uncommon. It enables the performer to sustain the sound at
pleasure, which on the harpsichord is as little possible as on the
pianoforte. A _claviorganum_ from Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks,
illustrated in Fig. 68, affords evidence of a higher antiquity of
instruments of this kind than might perhaps be expected. It bears the
inscription, _Lodowicus Theewes me fecit_, 1579. There is scarcely
more remaining of this interesting relic than the outer case; but this
is so elaborately finished that, if the mechanism was constructed with
equal care and success, it must have been a superior instrument. The
maker is unknown in musical history. Perhaps he belonged to the family
of Treu (also written Trew), musicians of repute in Anspach about the
year 1600.
[Illustration: FIG. 67.――CLAVECIN. Made by Pascal Taskin of Paris.
French. Dated 1786. H. 32¾ in., W. of keyboard, 30
in., L. 72 in. No. 1121-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 68.――ORGAN-HARPSICHORD OR CLAVIORGANUM. Formerly
in the chapel of Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks, Kent.
Probably English. Harpsichord, H. 9 in., L. 84 in.,
W. 35½ in. Organ case, H. 41 in., L. 91 in., W. 40
in. No. 125 125ᵃ-’90.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 69.――TRIPLE FLAGEOLET. Italian. About 1820.
L. 20½ in. No. 295-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 70.――FLAUTO DOLCE OR FLUTE. Ivory. Inscribed
“Anciuti a Milan, 1740." L. 18½ in. No. 7469-’61.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The pianoforte, which now has entirely superseded the harpsichord, was
first constructed at the beginning of the eighteenth century, in Italy
and Germany. About the year 1767 it was from Germany introduced into
England; but the English musicians for a considerable period objected
to it, and preferred to retain the harpsichord.
That there was, in the time of Shakespeare, a species of flageolet,
called _recorder_, is undoubtedly known to most readers from the stage
direction in Hamlet: _Re-enter players with recorders_. The recorder
is also mentioned by Milton, and described by Bacon, who states that
“the figures of recorders, flutes and pipes are straight; but the
recorder hath a less bore, and a greater above and below.” An
illustration of this old instrument, which has now become very scarce,
is given in “The Genteel Companion; Being exact Directions for the
Recorder: etc.” London, 1683.
The _flauto dolce_ (French, _flûte douce_, and _flûte à bec_), much in
use some centuries ago, was made of various lengths (Fig. 70). The
Germans called it _Pflockflöte_, _i.e._, a flute with a plug in the
mouth-hole. The most common _flûte à bec_ was made with six
finger-holes, and its compass embraced somewhat more than two octaves.
Several of the finger-holes required to be only partly covered in
order to produce the desired tone. There was often a key on this
instrument in addition to the finger-holes. This flute was much in
favour in England; hence it was called in France “Flûte d’Angleterre.”
It has gradually been supplanted by the “Flûte traversière,” or
“German Flute.”
The _flageolet_ (Fig. 71), the smallest _flûte à bec_, was formerly
played in England even by ladies. Pepys, in his Diary (March 1st,
1666), records:――“Being returned home, I find Greeting, the
flageolet-master, come, and teaching my wife; and I do think my wife
will take pleasure in it, and it will be easy for her, and pleasant.”
The flageolet was made of various sizes. Pepys (Diary, January 20th,
1667) records:――“To Drumbleby’s, the pipemaker, there to advise about
the making of a flageolet to go low and soft; and he do show me a way
which do, and also a fashion of having two pipes of the same note
fastened together, so as I can play on one and then echo it upon the
other, which is mighty pretty.”
The _double flageolet_ was invented by Bainbridge about the year 1800.
The _triple flageolet_ (Fig. 69) is less common but equally useless
for musical performances of the present day. The “Harmonicon,” London,
1830, records:――“Within these few years Mr. Bainbridge has added a
bass joint to his double flageolet and the tone resembles the lower
notes on a German flute. The effect produced by the combination of
three notes is very good and mellifluous. The bass joint is fixed at
the back of the double flageolet, and the breath is conveyed by means
of a tube; and by the introduction of what are termed stop-keys, a
solo, duet, or trio may be instantaneously performed. The bass notes
are produced by keys pressed with the thumb of the left hand.” The
writer remarks that “this instrument being purely English, I consider
it deserving of being recorded as a very ingenious invention.”
The _hautboy_ or _oboe_ (Fig. 72) came into more general use about the
year 1720.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.――FLAGEOLET. Italian. Middle of 18th century.
L. 20 in., Diam. of mouth, 1⅞ in. No. 1124-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 72.――OBOE. Made by Anciuti of Milan; formerly in
the possession of the composer Rossini. Latter half
of 18th century. L. 21½ in., Diam. of mouth, 2½ in.
No. 1127-69
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The most noteworthy kinds of the hautboy of the time of Handel and
Sebastian Bach are,――the _oboe da caccia_, which is identical with the
_corno inglese_ (_English horn_, _cor anglais_), a large hautboy still
occasionally employed in the orchestra, and the _oboe d’amore_, or
_oboe lungo_, whch has fallen into oblivion. The pitch of the _oboe
d’amore_ was a minor third lower than that of the common hautboy, or
_oboe piccolo_; and its sound, owing to the narrowness of the bore at
its further end, was rather weak, but particularly sweet.
The precursor of the hautboy was evidently the _bombardino_, or
_chalumeau_. The _bombardino_, also called in Italian _bombardo
piccolo_, was a small _bombardo_, an instrument of the hautboy kind,
about three centuries ago much in use on the Continent.
The Germans called the _bombardo_ “Pommer,” which appears to be a
corruption of the Italian name. The _bombardo_ was made of various
sizes, and with a greater or smaller number of finger-holes and keys.
That which produced the bass tones was sometimes of an enormous
length, and was blown through a bent tube, like the bassoon, the
invention of which it is said to have suggested.
The smallest instrument, called _chalumeau_ (from _calamus_, “a reed”)
is still occasionally to be found among the peasantry in the Tyrol and
some other parts of the Continent. The Germans call it _Schalmei_, and
the Italians _piffero pastorale_. In England it was formerly called
_shawm_ or _shalm_.
The _clarinet_, likewise an instrument of this class, is said to have
been invented by Denner, in Nürnberg, about the year 1700. The
clarinet has only a single vibrating reed in the mouth-piece; the
hautboy has a double one.
The invention of the _bassoon_ (Italian, _fagotto_; French _basson_;
German, _Fagott_) is ascribed to Afranio, a canon of Ferrara, who
constructed the first in the year 1539. The instrument was, however,
an improved _bombardo_ rather than a new invention. As early as the
year 1550, the celebrated wind-instrument maker Schnitzer, in
Nürnberg, manufactured bassoons which were considered as very
complete. Fig. 73 illustrates a species of bassoon bound with brass
with brass keys, and complete with mouth-piece and reed.
Various bassoons of small dimensions in use about two centuries ago,
and earlier (the _dolciano_, _Quartfagott_, _Quintfagott_,
_tenor-bassoon_, _corthol_, etc.), are now antiquated.
In the list of musical instruments of Sir Thomas Kytson, of Hengrave
Hall, about the year 1600, recorded in the “History and Antiquities of
Hengrave, Suffolk,” by John Gage, London, 1822, is mentioned “A
Curtall,” which was probably the _corthol_ or French _courtaut_, an
early kind of bassoon, a specimen of which, dating from the fifteenth
century, is preserved in the Conservatoire de Musique at Paris.
According to Prætorius (anno 1619) the _fagotto piccolo_, a small
species of bassoon, was called in England _single corthol_.
The invention of the _serpent_ (Fig. 74) is attributed to Edme
Guillaume, a canon of Auxerre in France, anno 1590. It was, however,
no new invention, properly speaking, but merely an improvement upon
the old _Basszinken_, the management of which was rendered more
convenient by giving a serpentine winding to the tube. This instrument
subsequently became rather popular. It was used in military bands and
in processions until about the middle of the last century. The French
made use of it also in church to support the voices. Towards the end
of the eighteenth century it appears to have still been a common
substitute for the organ in France. Dr. Burney, in his “Journal,”
London, 1773, states that he frequently met with it in the churches of
that country, and he expresses a more favourable opinion of its
suitableness for promoting edification than might have been expected
from a refined musician:――“It gives the tone in chanting, and plays
the bass when they sing in parts. It is often ill-played, but if
judiciously used would have a good effect. It is, however, in general
overblown, and too powerful for the voices it accompanies; otherwise,
it mixes with them better than the organ, as it can augment or
diminish a sound with more delicacy, and is less likely to overpower
or destroy, by a bad temperament, that perfect one of which the voice
only is capable.”
[Illustration: FIG. 73.――BASSOON, species of. English. Late 18th or
early 19th century. L. 48¼ in. No. 637-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 74.――THE SERPENT. Made by Gerock Wolf, in
London. English. Early 19th century. L. 28 in. No.
286-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 75.――SERINETTE OR BIRD ORGAN. French. Period of
Louis XIV. H. 8⅛, L. 11⅛ in., W. 9 in. No. 629-’68.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 76.――ORGAN (Positive). Bears the arms of John
George I., Elector of Saxony (b. 1585, d. 1656).
German. Dated 1627. H. 45½ in., W. 27½ in. No. 2-’67.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The _serinette_, or bird organ (Fig. 75), was formerly used in France
by ladies to teach airs to little singing birds, especially to a kind
of siskin or canary, called in French _serin_; hence the name of the
instrument.
The _organ positive_ (Fig. 76) is distinguished from the _organ
portative_ in so far that the former was a larger instrument,
generally placed on a table and blown by an attendant, while the
latter was carried about by the performer in religious processions and
on such-like occasions.
In England some rude species of organ is said to have been used in
public worship as early as about the middle of the seventh century. It
was, however, on the Continent, principally in Germany, that almost
all the important improvements originated which gradually brought the
organ to its present high degree of perfection. Many old organs of
fine workmanship are still extant in the churches of Germany. During
the 18th century especially several large organs of deserved celebrity
were built in that country; suffice it to instance those of the
brothers Andreas and Gottfried Silbermann. In England the important
inventions of the continental builders were not readily adopted.
Recently, however, several huge organs of very fine workmanship have
been constructed in England, chiefly for use in concert rooms, or
public halls.
The _regal_, often mentioned in English literature of the time of
Shakespeare, and earlier (_see also_ p. 96), was a small _organ
portative_. There was till about the end of the 18th century a “Tuner
of the Regals,” in the Chapel Royal St. James’s, with a salary of
56_l._ The name _regal_ is supposed to have been derived from
_rigabello_, a musical instrument of which scarcely more is known than
that it was played in the churches of Italy before the introduction of
the organ.
The expression “a payre of regalls,” used by writers some centuries
ago, evidently implies only a single instrument. Thus also the
virginal is not unfrequently mentioned as “a payre of virginalls.”
Moreover, it appears that the regal was occasionally made with two
sets of pipes, so as to constitute a double organ of its kind.
In the following lines from Sir W. Leighton’s “Teares or Lamentations
of a Sorrowful Soule,” London, 1613, this little organ is mentioned in
combination with other curious instruments now antiquated, most of
which will be found in the present collection:――
“Praise him upon the claricoales,
The lute and simfonie:
With the dulsemers and the regalls,
Sweete sittrons melody.”
The _bagpipe_ (Fig. 77) appears to have been from time immemorial a
special favourite instrument with the Celtic races; but it was perhaps
quite as much admired by the Slavonic nations. In Poland, and in the
Ukraine, it used to be made of the whole skin of the goat in which the
shape of the animal, whenever the bagpipe was expanded with air,
appeared fully retained exhibiting even the head with the horns; hence
the bagpipe was called _kosà_, which signifies a goat.
The bagpipe is of high antiquity in Ireland, and is alluded to in
Irish poetry and prose said to date from the tenth century. A pig
gravely engaged in playing the bagpipe is represented in an
illuminated Irish manuscript, of the year 1300.
[Illustration: FIG. 77.――BAGPIPES. English. 18th century. L. 30 in.
No. 1197-’03.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The _bell_ has always been so much in popular favour in England that
some account of it must not be omitted. Paul Hentzner, a German, who
visited England in the year 1598, records in his journal: “The people
are vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as firing of
cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells; so that in London it is
common for a number of them that have got a glass in their heads to go
up into some belfry, and ring the bells for hours together for the
sake of exercise.” This may be exaggeration,――not unusual with
travellers. It is, however, a fact that bell-ringing has been a
favourite amusement with Englishmen for centuries.
The way in which church bells are suspended and fastened, so as to
permit of their being made to vibrate in the most effective manner
without damaging by their vibration the building in which they are
placed, is in some countries very peculiar. The Italian _campanile_,
or bell tower, is not unfrequently separated from the church itself.
In Servia the church bells are often hung in a frame-work of timber
built near the west end of the church. In Zante and other islands of
Greece the belfry is usually separate from the church. The reason
assigned by the Greeks for having adopted this plan is that in case of
an earthquake the bells are likely to fall and, were they placed in a
tower, would destroy the roof of the church and might cause the
destruction of the whole building. Also in Russia a special edifice
for the bells is generally separate from the church. In the Russian
villages the bells are not unfrequently hung in the branches of an
oak-tree near the church. In Iceland the bell is usually placed in the
lych-gate leading to the graveyard.
The idea of forming of a number of bells a musical instrument such as
the _carillon_ is said by some to have suggested itself first to the
English and Dutch; but what we have seen in Asiatic countries
sufficiently refutes this. Moreover, not only the Romans employed
variously arranged and attuned bells, but also among the Etruscan
antiquities an instrument has been discovered which is constructed of
a number of bronze vessels placed in a row on a metal rod. Numerous
bells, varying in size and tone, have also been found in Etruscan
tombs. Among the later contrivances of this kind in European countries
the sets of bells suspended in a wooden frame, which we find in
mediæval illuminations, deserve notice. In the British Museum is a
manuscript of the fourteenth century in which King David is depicted
holding in each hand a hammer with which he strikes upon bells of
different dimensions, suspended on a wooden stand.
It may be supposed that the device of playing tunes by means of bells
merely swung by the hand is also of ancient date. In Lancashire each
of the ringers manages two bells, holding one in either hand. Thus, an
assemblage of seven ringers insures fourteen different tones; and as
each ringer may change his two notes by substituting two other Dells
if required, even compositions with various modulations, and of a
somewhat intricate character, may be executed,――provided the ringers
are good timeists; for each has, of course, to take care to fall in
with his note, just as a member of the Russian horn band contributes
his single note whenever it occurs.
Peal-ringing is another pastime of the kind which may be regarded as
pre-eminently national to England. The bells constituting a peal are
frequently of the number of eight, attuned to the diatonic scale. Also
peals of ten bells, and even of twelve, are occasionally formed. A
peculiar feature of peal-ringing is that the bells, which are provided
with clappers, are generally swung so forcibly as to raise the mouth
completely upwards. The largest peal, and one of the finest, is at
Exeter Cathedral: another celebrated one is that of St. Margaret’s,
Leicester, which consists of ten bells. Peal-ringing is of an early
date in England; Egelric, abbot of Croyland, is recorded to have cast
about the year 960 a set of six bells.
The _carillon_ is especially popular in the Netherlands and Belgium,
but is also found in Germany, Italy, and some other European
countries. It is generally placed in the church tower, and also
sometimes in other public edifices. The statement repeated by several
writers that the first carillon was invented in the year 1481 in the
town of Alost is not to be trusted, for the town of Bruges claims to
have possessed similar chimes in the year 1300. There are two kinds of
carillons in use on the Continent, viz.: clock chimes, which are moved
by machinery, like a self-acting barrel-organ; and such as are
provided with a set of keys, by means of which the tunes are played by
a musician. The carillon in the “Parochial-Kirche” at Berlin, which is
one of the finest in Germany, contains thirty-seven bells; and is
provided with a key-board for the hands and with a pedal, which
together place at the disposal of the performer a compass of rather
more than three octaves. The keys of the manual are metal rods
somewhat above a foot in length, and are pressed down with the palms
of the hand. The keys of the pedal are of wood; the instrument
requires not only great dexterity, but also a considerable physical
power. It is astonishing how rapidly passages can be executed upon it
by the player, who is generally the organist of the church in which he
acts as _carillonneur_. When engaged in the last-named capacity he
usually wears leathern gloves to protect his fingers, as they are
otherwise apt to become ill fit for the more delicate treatment of the
organ.
The want of a contrivance in the _carillon_ for stopping the vibration
has the effect of making rapid passages, if heard near, sound as a
confused noise; only at some distance are they tolerable. It must be
remembered that the _carillon_ is intended especially to be heard from
a distance. Successions of tones which form a consonant chord, and
which have some duration, are evidently the most suitable for this
instrument.
Indeed, every musical instrument possesses certain characteristics
which render it especially suitable for the production of some
particular effects. The invention of a new instrument of music has,
therefore, not unfrequently led to the adoption of new effects in
compositions. Take the pianoforte, which was invented in the beginning
of the eighteenth century, and which has now obtained so great a
popularity; its characteristics inspired our great composers to the
invention of effects, or expressions, which cannot be properly
rendered on any other instrument, however superior in some respects it
may be to the pianoforte. Thus also the improvements which have been
made during the present century in the construction of our brass
instruments, and the invention of several new brass instruments, have
evidently been not without influence upon the conceptions displayed in
our modern orchestral works.
Imperfect though this essay may be it will probably have convinced the
reader that a reference to the history of the music of different
nations elucidates many facts illustrative of our own musical
instruments, which to the unprepared observer must appear misty and
impenetrable. In truth, it is with this study as with any other
scientific pursuit. The unassisted eye sees only faint nebulæ, where
with the aid of the telescope bright stars are revealed.
[Illustration: FIG. 78.――HANDEL’S HARPSICHORD. Made by Andreas
Ruckers, of Antwerp, 1651. H. 36 in., L. of top 80
in., W. 36 in. No. 1079-’68.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
APPENDIX.
HANDEL’S HARPSICHORD.
The following documentary evidence of this instrument’s authenticity
as Handel’s harpsichord (Fig. 78) has been transmitted by Messrs.
Broadwood:――
33, Great Pulteney Street, London,
_November 18th, 1868_.
Handel’s harpsichord was bought by us of Mr. Hooper, a
pianoforte tuner at Winchester, in 1852. He had obtained it
from Dr. Chard, the Cathedral organist of that city, who had
taken pains to prove it to be the same instrument which
Handel had left by will to his friend and amanuensis,
Christopher Smith. In Handel’s will, dated June, 1750, was
the bequest:――‘I give and bequeath to Christopher Smith my
large harpsichord, my little house-organ, my music books,
and 500_l._ sterling;’ and in a codicil, dated 6th of
August, 1756: ‘I give to Christopher Smith 1,500_l._
additional to the legacy already given to him in my will.’
Dr. Chard wrote to the Rev. George Coxe, of Twyford (Rector
of St. Michael’s, Winchester), to obtain his testimony to
the identity of this harpsichord with the ‘_Large
Harpsichord_’ of the will. Mr. Coxe was nearly related to
Smith, and had frequently heard him play upon it. On the
13th of May, 1842, and in the presence of witnesses, Mr.
Coxe confirmed this. Dr. Chard states in the document signed
by Mr. Coxe, that this harpsichord was left with a large
collection of Handel’s MSS. by Christopher Smith to his
step-daughter, the Dowager Lady Rivers, who parted with it
to Mr. Wickham, a surgeon, who, in his turn, parted with it
to the Rev. Mr. Hawtrey, Prebendary of Winchester, after
whose death it came into the possession of Dr. Chard.
This interesting relic of Handel is also worthy of notice
from having been one of the best-constructed instruments of
the celebrated harpsichord makers, the Ruckers family of
Antwerp. It is not remarkable for any beauty of decoration
beyond the conventional ornamentation of the period; but the
structure shows great skill in the manufacture, and that the
harpsichord had become nearly perfected in the middle of the
seventeenth century.
The two key-boards were used for variety of tone. The lower
key-board, the _jacks_ of which acted upon two sets of
strings in unison, and one set an octave higher, was the
louder in tone; the upper key-board, acting on one set of
strings only, was the softer. But the lower key-board could
be made to act upon one set of strings only, by means of
stops drawn out by the hand of the performer. In touching
the keys, a distinctive quality of tone may still be
recognised, particularly in the higher notes, a reedy but
soft and delicate _timbre_ testifying to the former beauty
of the instrument. It may be assumed as certain that the
keys are not of Handel’s time. We do not know when the
present key-boards were put, or by whom, but the style of
the white and black keys is undoubtedly modern. Neither can
it be doubted that there were originally keys in keeping
with the fashion of the harpsichord, which we may suppose to
have been worn out, to account for the substitution of those
existing. The case of deal, black japanned, the brass
hinges, the ornamentation, and the mottoes are original.
Inside the top is inscribed:――
_Sic transit Gloria Mundi_;
on the flap or folding of the top――
_Musica Donum Dei_;
and on the slip of wood above the upper keys――
_Andreas Ruckers me fecit, Antwerpiæ, 1651_.
There is a date on the sounding-board “1651,” and in the
ornamental sound-hole are the initials “A. R.” Among the
flowers represented on the sounding-board may be seen a
concert of monkeys, one beating time, another playing the
viol da gamba, etc. A third motto existed until about
fifteen years ago――_Acta Virum Probant_. This was rubbed off
by a workman engaged in mending the lock-board (upon which
this motto was), which had been split.
As a musical instrument, this harpsichord has lived its
life. It is not now capable of being tuned, and any attempt
to improve the accord of it might prove disastrous by the
sounding-board giving way altogether. It is, therefore, of
consequence to the preservation of the woodwork that tuning
should not be attempted.
JOHN BROADWOOD & SONS.
Letter to the Rev. G. Coxe, Twyford, Rector of St. Michael’s,
Winchester:――
MY DEAR SIR,――Will you oblige me by certifying (if I am
correct) the following:――
The celebrated Mr. Smith (or Schmidt) was Handel’s private
friend, and amanuensis. This said Mr. Smith was presented by
Handel with his favourite fine double-keyed harpsichord,
made by the best makers of the day, Andreas Ruckers of
Antwerpia, 1651. This said instrument you have heard
repeatedly Mr. Smith play on. Mr. Smith was father-in-law to
you as well as your sister, the late Dowager Lady Rivers;
and at his death, the said harpsichord, together with a
large collection of Handel’s oratorios, etc., etc., MSS.,
came into the hands of the Dowager Lady Rivers. This
instrument was parted with to a Mr. Wickham, surgeon, who
parted with it to the Rev. W. Hawtrey, Prebendary of
Winchester Cathedral, upon the death of whom I purchased it
at the sale of his effects; and in my possession it still
remains. Is not this the identical instrument now spoken of?
Your early answer to these queries, as the only living
witness, will oblige.
Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully,
G. W. CHARD.
_P.S._――Will you oblige me by certifying on this sheet of
paper, and returning it?
_Answer._
I certify that the above statement is correct, as far as my
knowledge goes.
GEORGE COXE.
Twyford, _May 13th, 1842_.
Witness to the above signature,
SUSANNA GREGG.
JAMES HARRIS.
[1] Figured and described in Lartet & Christy’s _Reliquiæ
Aquitanicæ_, London, 1865-75, Pl. B. v., p. 48.
[2] The best instance is to be found in Lepsius’
_Denkmäler_, III. 106a., where a music-school of the
Akhenaten period (about 1400 B.C.) is depicted.
[3] For coloured plate after this painting see Wilkinson’s
_Ancient Egyptians_, Vol. I., Pl. xii. (facing page 480).
[4] See _Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_,
Vol. xx., Part I (1850).
[5] _See_ E. Aldis, _Carvings and Sculptures of Worcester
Cathedral_ (IV).
[6] _See_ illustration in _Ann. Arch._, IV., p. 37.
[7] _See_ illustration in _Ann. Arch._, iv., p. 98.
[8] For a more complete list of lute-makers see Von
Lütgendorff, _Die Geigen- und Lautenmacher vom Mittelalter
bis zur Gegenwart_, Frankfort, 1904.
INDEX
Abyssinian instruments, 20.
Acocotl, 67.
Adair, quoted, 81.
Adufe, 25.
Æolian harp, 4.
African instruments in America, 82.
Ajacaxtli, 72.
Al-Farabi, lutist, 55-57.
American Indian instruments, 58 _seq._
American Indians, metrical psalms of, 81.
American Indians, musical performances of, 75.
American Indians, North, musical talent of, 81.
Anglo-Saxon instruments, 84, 86, 90, 94.
Arab instruments, 3, 36, 48, 53 _seq._, 108.
Arabs in Spain, 36, 56.
Archlute, 101, 105.
Ashantee, trumpet from, 2.
Ash-shakandi, 55.
Asor, 20.
Assyrian instruments, 16 _seq._
Aulos, 31.
Aztecs, instruments of the, 58, 59.
Bach, 115.
Bacon, quoted, 125.
Bagpipe, Celtic, 130.
” Greek, 130.
” Hebrew, 23.
” Irish, 130.
” mediæval, 102.
” Persian, 53.
” Polish, 130.
” Roman, 35.
Bainbridge, inventor, 126.
Banduria, 110.
Bansi, 47.
Barbitos, 27, 30, 33.
Baryton, 116.
Bassoon, 127, 128.
Bass-viol, 114, 119.
Basszinken, 128.
Bells, Assyrian, 18.
” Buddhist, 80.
” Chinese, 39, 40.
” Egyptian, 14, 15.
” English, 131.
” Etruscan, 132.
” Hebrew, 25.
” Japanese, 46.
” Mexican, 73.
” Peruvian, 73, 80.
” Roman, 36, 132.
” hanging of, 131.
” ringing of, 131, 132.
Bene, 11.
Beni Hassan, painting at, 21.
Bernhard, inventor of the pedal, 96.
Beverley Minster, sculpture at, 97.
Bîn, 49.
Bird Organ, 129.
Biwa, 44.
Blasius, St., manuscript at, 89, 90.
Bombardino, 127.
Bombardo, 127.
Bombulom, 97.
Bone instruments, 58.
Boscherville, St. Georges de, sculpture from, 99.
Botuto, 68.
Bow, 50, 55, 88, 90, 113, 119.
Bridges, movable, 44.
Bruce, his discovery of harps on frescoes, 11.
Buccina, 35.
Bûche, 118, 119.
Budbudika, 47.
Buddhism, 39, 43, 52.
Buddhist Temples, bas-reliefs on, 43, 44.
Bunibulum, 97.
Bunting, quoted, 88.
Burmese instruments, 2, 3, 42.
Burney, Dr., quoted, 128.
Cachua, Peruvian dance, 79.
Calamus, 34.
Cambodia, temples in, 43.
Capistrum, 34.
Carians, pipes of the, 28.
Carillon, 131, 133.
Caroados, trumpet of the, 67.
Castanets, Egyptian, 14.
” Greek, 32.
” Roman, 36.
Cembalo, 122.
Ceylon, instruments of, 51.
Chalil, 23.
Chalumeau, 127.
Chang, 53.
Chanrares, 73.
Chatzozerah, 24.
Chayna, 62, 79.
Chelys, 28, 29, 33, 47.
Chên, 40.
Cheng, 6.
Chhilchiles, 72.
Ch’ih, 42.
Chimes, 133.
Ch’in, 43, 44.
Chinese “Board of Music,” 78.
” instruments, 2, 3, 4, 6, 37 _seq._, 43.
Ch’ing, 37, 38, 39.
Chin-ku, 41.
Chiriqui Indians, pipe of, 60, 79.
Chiterna, 109.
Chitarrone, 106.
Ch’iu (wood), 41.
Ch’un-tu, 40.
Chorus, or choron, 93.
Chu, 41.
Chung, 39.
Cionar cruit, 89.
Cithara, 33, 84, 85, 94.
” Anglica, 89.
” Teutonica, 89.
Cither, 109, 119.
Cithern, or cittern, 102, 109.
Citole, 86.
Cittern, 102, 109.
Clarin, 67.
Clarinet, 127.
Clarion, mediæval, 102.
Clarseth, 110-112.
Clavecin, 124.
Clavicembalo, 6, 122, 124.
Clavichords, 121.
” makers of, 122.
” prices of, 122.
Clavicordo, 124.
Claviorganum, 124.
Conch trumpets, Hindu, 47.
” ” Mexican, 80.
Confucius, 37, 39, 40, 43.
Congo, instrument of the, 2.
Constantinople, obelisk at, 95.
Cor anglais, 127.
Corno inglese, 127.
Cornu, Etruscan, 32.
” Roman, 33, 35.
Corthol, 128.
Courtaut, 128.
“Chronicon picturatum Brunswicense,” quoted, 91.
Crotala, 36.
Crowd, _see_ Crwth.
Crusaders, 36.
Crusmata, 36.
Crwth, 89, 90, 113.
Cuddos nut, instrument made of, 52.
“Curtail,” A, 128.
Cymbals, Assyrian, 18.
” Egyptian, 14, 15.
” Greek, 32.
” Hebrew, 25.
” mediæval, 103.
” Roman, 36.
Cymbalum, 36, 97.
Cythera (cithara), 109.
Dalyell, Sir J. G., quoted, 116.
Damaras, 6.
Damaru, 47.
Darabuka, 14, 24.
Darius, 19.
David, King, 19.
Day, Major C. R., 49, 52.
Diaulos, 31.
Diff, 25.
Doff, 25.
Dōhachi, 45.
Dolciano, 128.
Dora, 45.
Dordogne, 9.
Double-bass, 117.
” flageolet, 126.
” pipe, in Anglo-Saxon MS., 84.
Double-pipe, Egyptian, 13.
” ” Greek, 31.
” ” Phœnician, 36.
” ” Roman 34, 35.
Dragonetti, Signor, 117, 118.
Drums, American Indian, 82.
” Assyrian, 17, 18.
” Chinese, 41.
” Egyptian, 14.
” Fiji, 80.
” Greek, 32.
” Hebrew, 24.
” Hindu, 47.
” Japanese, 45.
” mediæval, 56, 97.
” Mexican, 70.
” New Guinea, 2.
” Persian, 53.
” Peruvian, 72.
” of Tonga, 80.
” of Torres Strait Islands, 80.
Dublin Museum, harps in, 111.
Dulcimer, 6.
” Anglo-Saxon, 86.
” Assyrian, 17.
” Greek, 30.
” Hebrew, 19.
” Persian, 54, 55.
Egyptian instruments, 8, 10 _seq._, 27, 98.
Elizabeth, Queen, 119, 120.
El-ood, 54, 56.
English instruments, 104.
Etruscan ” , 32 _seq._
Europe, introduction of instruments in, 36.
European instruments, 83 _seq._
Evelyn, quoted, 106, 116.
Exeter Cathedral, minstrel gallery in, 102.
Fagott, 127.
Fagotto piccolo, 128.
Fang-hsiang, 40.
Fiddle, Anglo-Saxon, 90.
” Bengalese, 50.
” Chinese, 51.
” German, 90.
” Hindu and Indian, 50, 88.
” Moorish, 90.
Fidis or Fides, 33.
Fidla, 113.
Finnish instrument, 47, 88.
Fistula, 35.
Fithele (fiddle), 114.
Flageolet, English, 125, 126.
” Japanese, 45.
Flauto dolce, 125.
Flutes, American Indian, 82.
” Arab, 55.
” Aztec, 60.
” Chinese, 42.
” Egyptian, 12.
Flutes, Etruscan, 32.
” German, 126.
” Greek, 31.
” of Guiana Indians, 62.
” Hebrew, 23, 26.
” Hindu, 47.
” Japanese, 45.
” Mexican, 58 _seq._
” Peruvian, 58 _seq._
” Phrygian, 28.
” Roman, 34.
Flûte à bec, 125.
” d’Angleterre, 125, 126.
” traversière, 126.
Forkel, quoted, 23.
Fortunatus, quoted, 89, 90.
Franz, Karl, 115.
Free reed, 5.
French instruments, 112, 125, 126, 128, 129.
Frestele, Fretel or Fretiau, 94.
Fuye, 45.
Gage, John, quoted, 128.
Gaspard di Salo, 118.
Gerbert, Abbot, mentioned, 84, 89, 90.
Gittern, 56, 102, 108.
Gittith, 25, 26.
Gizeh, 13.
Gongs, Chinese, 45.
” Egyptian, 14.
” Japanese, 45.
” Mexican, 80.
” Tezcucan, 73.
Greek instruments, 27 _seq._
Guatemala, instrument of, 82.
Guitar, instruction books for, 108, 109.
Guitar, Japanese, 44.
” mediæval, 102.
” post-mediæval, 108, 109.
” Spanish, 110.
Gut-komm, 43.
Gythorn, 108.
Handel’s harpsichord, 135.
Harmonica, 97.
Harmonicon, Chinese, 2, 37, 40.
_Harmonicon, The_, quoted, 126.
Harps, Anglo-Saxon, 87.
” Arabian, 53.
” Assyrian, 16, 28.
” Burmese, 16.
” Celtic, 87.
” Egyptian, 11.
” Finnish, 88.
” French, 112.
” German, 87.
” Greek, 28, 29.
” Hebrew, 19.
” Hindu, 50.
” Irish, 88, 110-112.
” mediæval, 89, 100-102.
” Persian, 53.
” Scandinavian, 87.
Harp-guitar, 110.
” lute, 110.
Harpsichord, 116, 121, 123.
” Handel’s, authenticity of, 135 _seq._
Harpsichord-makers, 123, 136.
Harp-theorbo, 110.
Harpu, 88.
Harp-ventura, 110.
Hautboy, 126.
Haydn, 116.
Hebrew instruments, 19 _seq._
Hentzner, Paul, quoted, 131.
Hichiriki, 45.
Hindu instruments, 3, 46, 52, 88, 89, 93.
Hindus, musical scale of, 50.
Holmos or mouth-piece, 35.
Horn, English, 127.
” Greek, 32.
” Hebrew, 24.
Hsiao, 42.
Hsüan, 42.
Hsüan-chung, 39.
Huanca, 72.
Huayllaca, 62.
Huayra-puhura, 63, 79.
Huehuetl, 71, 80.
Hydraulis, 32.
Icelandic instrument, 114.
Ikuta-goto, 44, 45.
Instrument makers, 106, 111, 114-116, 118, 122-126, 128, 129, 136,
137.
Instruments, decoration of, 2, 8, 11, 16, 39, 41, 42, 109, 112, 113,
115, 116, 123, 136.
Intervals, diatonic, 112.
” in American Indian instruments, 79.
Intervals in Chinese instruments, 39.
Intervals in Persian instruments, 53.
Irish bards, meetings of, 111.
” instruments, 89.
Isis, worship of, 36.
Italian instruments, 106-109, 113, 120, 123, 130.
Japanese instruments, 3, 4, 44 _seq._
Jars, musical, 69.
Javanese instruments, 2, 3.
Jerusalem, Temple of, 19, 23.
Jew’s harp, 102.
Jinagovi, 52.
Jobel, 25.
Jones, Edward, quoted, 90.
Junk, 53.
Juruparis, 66.
Kach’-hapi, 47.
Kalmuks, trumpet of the, 80.
Kane, 46.
Kantele, 47, 88.
Kei, 45.
Kemángeh, 55.
Ken, 42.
Keras, 32.
Keren, 24.
Keyboards, instruments with, 120-125.
Khorsabad, 16.
Kinnor, 20.
Kiōto, bell at, 46.
Kithara, Asiatic, 27.
” Greek, 28, 29.
K’iu (wood), 41.
Ko-kiū, 44.
Kosà, 130.
Koto, 44.
Kouyunjik, 16.
Kratzenstein, 6.
Krotala, 32.
Ku, 41.
Kuan-tzŭ, 42.
K’uei, musician, 37.
Kuitra, 56, 108.
Kymbala, 32.
Langspiel, 114.
Laos, instruments of, 4, 42.
Launedda, 36.
Lay, T., quoted, 43.
Lei-ku, 41.
Leighton, Sir W., quoted, 130.
Lidl, Anton, 115.
Lionedda, 36.
Lira di braccio, 101.
Lituus, 35.
Lombrive, 10.
Lute, 104, 105, 116.
” Arab, 54.
” Hindu, 89.
” Japanese, 44.
” mediæval, 102.
” Moorish, 56.
” Tibetan, 43.
Lute-makers, principal, 106, 116.
Lutists, Arabian, 54, 55, 56.
Lydians, Kithara of, 28.
Lyra, German, 90.
” Greek, 28.
” Roman, 33.
Lyre, 84.
” Assyrian, 18.
” Greek, 27 _seq._
” Hebrew, 20.
” Roman, 33.
Mace, Thomas, quoted, 104, 105, 119.
Machalath, 22, 25, 26.
Machol, 26.
Magadis, 27, 30, 52.
Magoudi, 52.
Magrepha, 23, 24.
Mam, 13.
Mandoline, 107, 108.
Mandora, 108.
Mandorina, 108.
Marimba, 82.
Martin, instrument-maker, 118.
Mattheson, quoted, 105.
Melozzo da Forlì, painting by, 97.
Melrose Abbey, sculpture at, 97.
Melville, Sir James, quoted, 120.
Menaaneim, 25.
Metzilloth, 25.
Metzilthaim, 25.
Mexican instruments, 59, 80 _seq._
Miao-tsze, 43.
Middle Ages, instruments of the, 83.
Minnim, 22, 23.
Miriam, 25.
Mishrokitha, 23.
Monaulos, 31.
Monochord, 31, 92.
Moorish instruments, 56, 108.
Mosul, bas-relief from, 16.
Mozart, 107.
Munich Museum, vase in, 28.
Music, ancient books on, 48, 84.
” supposed origin of, 47.
Nabla, 30.
Nablas, 27.
Nablia, 34.
Nablum, 86, 100.
Naker, 56.
Naḳḳárah, 56.
Nakrys, 56.
Nara, bell near, 46.
Nebuchadnezzar, 18.
Nechiloth, 25, 26.
Nefer, 12.
Nekeb, 23.
Nevel, 19, 22, 30.
New Guinea, instruments of, 2.
New Zealand, instruments of, 2.
“Nibelungenlied,” The, 90.
Nimroud, 16, 18.
Nineveh, 16.
Nootka Sound, instrument of, 2.
Norwegian instruments, 113.
Nuy, 55.
Oboe da caccia, 127.
” d’amore, 127.
” Hindu, 79.
” lungo, 127.
” Persian, 55.
” piccolo, 127.
Ocarina, Chinese, 42.
Octave, Arabian, 54.
” Chinese, 39.
Octavina (Ottavino), 120.
Oliphant, 94.
Organ, Burmese, 42.
” Chinese, 42.
” English, 129.
” French, 129.
” Gamba stop in, 115.
” German, 129.
” Hebrew, 24.
” hydraulic, 32.
” pneumatic, 94.
” portative, 129, 130.
” positive, 129.
” Siamese, 42.
Organ-builders, German, 129.
Organ-harpsichord, 124.
Organistrum, 92, 99, 101.
Orchestras, mediæval, 99.
Orpheus, Chinese, 37.
Ottavino, or Octavina, 120.
Ovalle, Alonso de, quoted, 62.
P’ai-hsiao, 42.
Palenque, instruments from, 62.
Pandean pipes, 23, 31, 35, 42, 53, 80.
Pandoura, 30.
Pandurina, 108.
Pasquali, Signor, 117.
Passerini, Signor, 117.
Pedal, invention of, 96.
” in harpsichord, 124.
Pektis, 30.
Pepys, quoted, 120, 126.
Persian instruments, 3, 48, 52 _seq._
Peruvian instruments, 58, 59.
Peruvians, songs of the, 80, 81.
Phaamon, 25.
Phœnicians, 36.
Phorbeia, 34.
Phorminx, 28, 29.
Pianoforte, 123, 125, 134.
Piao, 39.
Pien-ch’ing, 38, 39.
Pien-chung, 39.
Piffero pastorale, 127.
Pincullu, 62.
P’i-p’a, 43, 44.
Pipe of the Aztecs, 60.
” Berecynthian, 27.
” Carian, 28.
” of Chiriqui Indians, 60, 79.
” Egyptian, 12.
” Greek, 31.
” Hebrew, 23.
” Japanese, 45.
” Mexican, 58 _seq._
” Peruvian, 58 _seq._
” Phrygian, 27.
Pitch of Chinese instruments, 39.
” the oboe, 127.
” the ottavino, 120.
” whistle sounds, 59.
Pito, 60.
Plectrum, 30, 40, 44, 45, 109, 110.
Plektron, _see_ Plectrum.
Po-fu, 41.
Poitiers, 10.
Post-mediæval instruments, 104 _seq._
Pottery, instruments of, 58 _seq._
Prætorius, quoted, 111.
Pre-historic relics, 9.
Psalms, musical directions in, 26.
Psalterion, 20.
Psalterium, 33, 85, 86.
Psaltery, 102, 116, 117.
Psanterin, 20.
Pungi, 52, 93.
Quanūn, 54, 55.
Quartfagott, 128.
Quills for twanging strings, 107, 109, 119.
Quills in virginal, 120.
Quinterna, 109.
Quintfagott, 128.
Quyvi, 62.
Rabôb, 55, 56.
Ranking, J., quoted, 75.
Rattles, 80.
” American Indian, 72, 82.
” Indian, 2.
Ravanastra, 50.
Rebec, 56, 102, 113.
Rébek, 90.
Recorder, 125.
Regal, or regals, 96, 102, 129.
Rigabello, 130.
Rin, 46.
Roman instruments, 32 _seq._
Rote, 88.
Rotta, 88, 89.
Sârangi, 50.
Sackbut, 94, 102.
Sainprae, Jaques, 115.
Salpinx, 32.
Salterio, 102.
Sambuca, 34, 94.
Sambyke, 27, 30.
Samisen, 44.
Sang, 43.
San-hsien, 44.
Sankha, 47.
Santiago de Compostella, sculpture at, 101.
Santir, 6, 20, 55.
Sardinia, 36.
Sârinda, 50.
Scabellum, 35.
Scale, Chinese, 37, 39.
” diatonic, 132.
” pentatonic, 42, 79.
Scandinavian harp, 87.
Schalmei, 127.
Scheitholz, 118, 119.
Schnitzer, instrument maker, 128.
Sê, 43.
Sebȧ, 12.
Serinette, 129.
Serpent, 128.
Seshesh, 15.
Shakespeare, quoted, 114.
Shakuhachi, 45.
Shalisbim, 25.
Shalm, or shawm, 102, 103, 127.
Shehna, 79.
Shêng, 42, 43, 45.
Shime-daiko, 45.
Shō, 45.
Shophar, 24.
Shwan-che, 43.
Siam, instruments used in, 3, 4, 42.
Simikon, 30.
Sistrum, Egyptian, 14, 98.
” Hebrew, 25.
” Roman, 36.
Sitar, 110.
Sitâra, 55.
Solomon, 19.
Sordino, 118.
Spain, Arabs in, 36, 56.
Spanish instruments, 36, 110.
Spinet, 121.
Stones, sonorous, 39, 73.
Stops of the clavicembalo, 123.
Stop in organ-harpsichord, 124.
Strabo, quoted, 27.
Stradivarius, 118.
Strings, catgut, 1, 30, 108-110, 115.
Strings, silk, 1, 43, 44, 54, 109.
Strings, sympathetic, 115, 116.
” wire, 55, 108-110, 115-117, 120, 121.
Sultana, 116.
Sumphonia, 23.
Sung-ch’ing, 39.
Surnai, 55.
Suroda, 88, 89.
Syrinx, Greek, 31.
” Hebrew, 23.
” mediæval, 94, 99.
” Peruvian, 63.
” Roman, 35.
Tabret, 24.
Taiko, 45.
Talmud, The, 23.
Tamboura, Arabian, 54.
” Egyptian, 27.
” Hebrew, 22.
Tambourine, Assyrian, 18.
” Egyptian, 14.
” Hebrew, 24.
” Peruvian, 72.
” Roman, 35.
Tangents in the clavichord, 121.
T’ê-ch’ing, 39.
T’ê-chung, 39, 40.
Tenor (violin), 113.
Tenor-bassoon, 128.
Tenor-viol, 119.
Teponaztli, 70, 80.
Testudo, 33.
Tezcucans, instruments of the, 73.
Thebes, 11, 12, 14.
Theorbo, 101, 104, 105.
Ti, 42.
Tibetan instruments, 43, 80.
Tibia, 34.
” curva, 34.
” dextra, 34.
” gingrina, 34.
” ligula, 34.
” longa, 34.
” obliqua, 34.
” sinistra, 34.
” utricularis, 34.
” vasca, 35.
Tibiæ impares, 34.
” pares, 34.
Timbrel, 24, 102.
Timotheus, flutist, 57.
Tintinnabula, 36.
Tintinnabulum, 100.
Tinya, 75.
Titus, arch of, 24.
Tone of instruments, 112, 113.
Toph, 24, 25.
Toumrie, 52.
Treble-viol, 119.
Triangle, Hebrew, 25.
Triangle, Roman, 36.
Triangulum, 36.
Trigonon, 17, 28, 30, 53.
Trigonum, 34.
Triple Flageolet, 126.
Trombone, 94.
Trumpets of South American Indians, 65.
Trumpets, Anglo-Saxon, 94.
” Ashantee, 2.
” Assyrian, 18.
” of the Caroados, 67.
” Egyptian, 14.
” Greek, 32.
” Hebrew, 24 _seq._
” Hindu, 47, 79.
” of the Kalmuks, 80.
” Mexican, 80.
” New Zealand, 2.
” Persian, 53.
” Thibetan, 80.
Tschenk (Chang), 53.
Tsu-ku, 41.
Tsudzumi, 45.
Tsuri-gane, 46.
Tuba, 35.
Tuckey, Captain, 2.
Turé, 67, 79.
“Tuner of the Regals,” 130.
Tuning of the spinet, 121.
Tympanon, 32.
Tympanum, 35.
Tyrolean harp-makers, 112.
Tzeltzelim, 25.
Ugab, 23.
Ur-heen, 51, 52.
Ventura, Signor, 110.
Vielle, 101.
Vihuela, 102, 110.
Vina, 46, 47, 49.
” mahati, 49.
” rudra, 49.
Vinavah, 51.
Viol, mediæval, 99, 100.
” post-mediæval, 113, 119.
” Spanish, 102, 118.
Viola da gamba, 114, 115.
” d’amore, 116.
” di bardone, 115.
Violin, 91, 113, 114, 116.
” Japanese, 44.
” Persian, 55.
Violoncello, 114, 115.
Virginal, 119-121, 130.
Wait, the instrument, 103.
Walther, quoted, 121.
Welsh instruments, 89, 90.
Whistles, American Indian, 82.
” Mexican, 59, 60.
Wilkinson, Sir G., quoted, 21.
Ying-ku, 41.
Yotl, 73.
Yü, 40, 41.
” stone made into the ch’ing, 38.
Yüeh, 42.
Yüeh-ch’in, 43.
Zampogna, 23.
Zante, belfries in, 131.
Zither, or Zitter, 109.
Transcriber’s Note
Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
this_. Footnotes were renumbered sequentially and were moved to the
end of the book, preceding the Index. Dialect, obsolete and
alternative spellings were left unchanged. Inconsistent hyphenation
was not changed. Misspelled words were not changed. Descriptions of
snippets of music were added to illustrations identified as [Music:].
Obvious printing errors, such as partially printed letters, were
corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences and
abbreviations were added. Duplicate words and syllables at line
endings or page breaks were removed. Two unnecessary commas in the
Index were deleted.
Fig. 53 was moved to appear in numerical sequence; Figs. 65, 69 and 70,
referenced in the List of Illustrations, were omitted from the book.
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