The Modes of Ancient Greek Music

www.24grammata.com LIBRARY OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE PRESENTED BY Prof, K. H. Horsford www.24grammata.com www.24grammata.com www.24grammata.com www.24grammata.com www.24grammata.com THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC MONRO www.24grammata.com Bonbon HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse Amen Corner, E.G. glen? ôrft MACMILLAN & CO., 66, FIFTH AVENUF. www.24grammata.com The Modes of Ancient Greek Music BY D. B. MONRO, M.A. PROVOST OF ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD HONORARY DOCTOR OF LETTERS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1894 www.24grammata.com 'fA^' Opfovb PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY ;^ www.24grammata.com n. DEDICATED TO THE PROVOST AND FELLOWS OF TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN ^€LV0(TVVr]9 €V€Ka www.24grammata.com www.24grammata.com PREFACE The present essay is the sequel of an article on Greek music which the author contributed to the new edition of Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (London, 1890-91, art. Musica). In that article the long-standing controversy regarding the nature of the ancient musical Modes was briefly noticed, and some reasons wêre given for dissenting from the views maintained by Westphal, and now very generally accepted. A full discussion of the subject would have taken up more space than was then at the author's disposal, and he accordingly pro- posed to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press to treat the question in a separate form. He has now to thank them for undertaking the publication of a work which is necessarily addressed to a very limited circle. The progress of the work has been more than once delayed by the accession of materials. Much of it was written before the author had the opportunity of studying two very interesting documents first made known in the course of last year in the Bulletin de correspondance helleniqiie and the Philologus^ viz. the www.24grammata.com X PREFACE. so-called Seikelos inscription from Tralles, and a fragment of the Orestes of Euripides. But a much greater surprise was in store. The book was nearly ready for publication last November, when the newspapers reported that the French scholars engaged in exca- vating on the site of Delphi had found several pieces of musical notation, in particular a hymn to Apollo dating from the third century b. c. As the known remains of Greek music were either miserabty brief, or so late as hardly to belong to classical antiquity, it was thought best to wait for the publication of the new material. The French School of Athens must be congratulated upon the good fortune which has attended their enterprise, and also upon the excellent form in which its results have been placed, within a comparatively short time, at the service of students. The writer of these pages, it will be readily under- stood, had especial reason to be interested in the announcement of a discovery which might give an entirely new complexion to the whole argument. It will be for the reader to determine whether the main thesis of the book has gained or lost by the new evidence. Mr. Hubert Parry prefaces his suggestive treatment of Greek music by some remarks on the difficulty of the subject. ' It still seems possible,' he observes, ' that a large portion of what has passed into the domain of "well-authenticated fact" is complete mis- apprehension, as Greek scholars have not time for a thorough study of music up to the standard required to judge securelywww.24grammata.comof the matters in question, and PREFACE. xi musicians as a rule are not extremely intimate with Greek ' (The Art of Music, p. 24). To the present writer, who has no claim to the title of musician, the scepticism expressed in these words appears to be well founded. If his interpretation of the ancient texts furnishes musicians like Mr. Parry with a some- what more trustworthy basis for their criticism of Greek music as an art, his object will be fully attained. www.24grammata.com www.24grammata.com TABLE OF CONTENTS § I. Introductory. PAGE Musical forms called apfioviaL or rpoVot i § 2. Statement of the question. The terms Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, &c 3 § 3. The Authorities. Aristoxenus — Plato — Aristotle — Heraclides Ponticus—the Aristotelian Problems 4 § 4. The Early Poets. Pratinas—Telestes—Aristophanes 5 § 5. Plato. apixovlai Republic The in the —The Laches .... 7 § 6. Heraclides Ponticus. The three Hellenic apfioviai—the Phrygian and Lydian— the Hypo-dorian, &c 9 § 7. Aristotle— The Politics. The dpfiovlai in the Politics 12 § 8. The Aristotelian Problems. Hypo-dorian and Hypo-phrygian 14 § 9. The Rhetoric. The dpfiovia of oratory 15 § 10. Aristoxenus. www.24grammata.com The TovoL or keys 16 — xiv CONTENTS. PAGE § II. Names of keys. The prefix Hypo the term tovos 19 § 12. Plutarchs Dialogue on Music. The Platonic modes— Lydian—Mixo-lydian and Syntono- lydian — the Mixo-lydian octave — the keys of Sacadas — rovo^ and dpixovia ........ 20 § 13. Modes employed on different instruments. Modes on wind-instruments—on the water-organ—on the cithara— on the flute 27 § 14, Recapitulation. Equivalence of dpixovia and tovos 28 § 15. The Systems of Greek music. The musical System (ava-Trjixa e/A/xeXe?) 30 § 16. T/ie standard Octachord System. The scale in Aristotle and Aristoxenus 31 § 17. Earlier Heptachord Scales. Seven-stringed scales in the Problems—Nicomachus . 33 § 18. The Perfect System. The Greater and Lesser Perfect Systems — Aristoxenus — enlargement of the scale — Timotheus — Pronomus — the Proslambanomenos— the Hyperhypate • • • 35 § 19. Relation of System and Key. The standard System and the ' modes ' —the multiplicity of upixoviai .......... 40 § 20. Tonality of the Greek musical scale. The Mese as a key-note— the close on the Hypate dpxrj in the Metaphysics 42 § 21. The Species of a Scale. The seven Specieswww.24grammata.com{a-xvfâTa, cUr]) of the Octave—connexion with the Modes 47 — CONTENTS. XV PAGE § 22. The Scales as treated by Aristoxenus. Advance made by Aristoxenus—diagrams of the Enhar- monic genus—reference in Plato's Republic— Aristides Quintihanus—the Philebiis 48 § 23. The Seven Species. Aristoxenus—the Introductio Harmonica .... 56 § 24. Relation of the Species to the Keys. Use of the names Dorian, &c. — treatment of musical scales in Aristoxenus — Species in the different genera . 58 § 25. The Ethos of Music. Regions of the voice—branches of lyrical poetry—kinds of ethos 62 § 26. The Ethos of the Genera and Species. Ethos depending on pitch—on the genus .... 66 § 27. The Musical Notation. The instrumental notes— original form and date ... 67 § 28. Traces of the Species in the Notation. Westphal's theory 75 § 29. Ptolemys Scheme of Modes. Reduction of the Modes to seven— nomenclature according to value and according to position 78 § 30. Nomenclature by Position. The term Beats in Aristoxenus—in the Aristotelian Problems . 81 § 31. Scales of the Lyre and Ciihara. The scales on the lyre — on the cithara (viz. rpirai, Tporroi, TrapvTrurat, \vdia, virepTpona, laa-Tiaiokiala) .... 83 § 32. Remains of Greek Music. The hymns of Dionysius and Mesomedes— instrumental passages in the Anonymus—Mr. Ramsay's inscription melody and accent—fragment of the Orestes ... 87 § 33. Modes of Aristides Quintilianus. The six Modes of Plato'swww.24grammata.comRepublic 94 — xvi CONTENTS. PAGE § 34. Credibility of Aristides Quintilianus. Date of Aristides—genuineness of his scales . • • • 95 § 35. Evidence for Scales of different species. The Hypo-dorian or common species — the Dorian — the Mixo-lydian— the Phrygian and the Hypo-phrygian Aristotle on Dorian and Phrygian—the dithyramb . loi § 36. Conclusion. Earl}'' importance of genus and key only — change in Ptolemy's time in the direction of the mediaeval Tones . 108 — § 37, Epilogue Speech and Song. Musical nature of Greek accent—relation of musical and ordinary utterance—agreement of melody and accent in the Seikelos inscription— rhythm of music and of prose —the stress accent {ictus) —music influenced by lan- guage — words and melody — want of harmony — the non-diatonic scales 113 Appendix. Table I. Scales of the seven oldest Keys, with the species of the same name . 127 Table II. The fifteen Keys 128 Music of the 0r^5/^5 of Euripides 130" Musical part of the Seikelos inscription 133 The hymns recently discovered at Delphi : Hymn to Apollo - the scale — the changes of genus and key— the 'mode' identical with the modern Minor —the other fragments—the agreement of melody and accent 134 Index of passages discussed or referred to .... 142 www.24grammata.com THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC. § I. Introductory. The modes of ancient Greek music are of interest to us, not only as the forms under which the Fine Art of Music was developed by a people of extraordinary artistic capability, but also on account of the peculiar ethical influence ascribed to them by the greatest ancient philosophers. It appears from a well-known passage in the Republic of Plato, as well as from many other references, that in ancient Greece there were certain kinds or forms of music, which were known by national or tribal names— Dorian, Ionian, Phrygian, Lydian and the like : that each of these was believed to be capable, not only of expressing particular emotions, but of re- acting on the sensibility in such a way as to exercise a powerful and specific influence in the formation of character: and consequently that the choice, among these varieties, of the musical forms to be admitted into the education of the state, was a matter of the most serious practical concern. If on a question of this kind we are inclined towww.24grammata.comdistrust the imaginative temper of B ' 2 THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.

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