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THE MODES OF
ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC MONRO
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Bonbon
HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse
Amen Corner,
E.G.
glen? ^orft
MACMILLAN &
CO., 66,
FIFTH AVENUF.
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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
;^
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n.
DEDICATED TO THE
PROVOST AND FELLOWS
OF TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
^€LV0(TVVr]9
€V€Ka
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PREFACE The
present essay
the sequel of an article on
is
Greek music which the author contributed Smith's
of
edition
Antiquities (London, article
the
nature
of
noticed,
from
Dictionary of Greek
the
ancient
views
and Roman
Musica).
In
that
the
art.
Modes was
musical
and some reasons w^ere given
the
briefly
for dissenting
now
maintained by Westphal, and
very generally accepted. subject would have taken
new
controversy regarding
1890-91,
long-standing
to the
A
full
discussion
of the
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.
them is
for
He
has
now
to
thank
undertaking the publication of a work which
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^ www.24grammata.com
viz.
the
PREFACE.
X
so-called Seikelos inscription from Tralles,
ment of the
Orestes of Euripides.
was
surprise
in
and a frag-
But a much greater
The book was nearly ready November, when the newspapers
store.
for publication last
reported that the
French scholars engaged
vating on the site
of Delphi had found several pieces
of musical notation, in particular a
dating from the third century
b. c.
in exca-
hymn to Apollo As the known
remains of Greek music were either miserabty
brief,
or so late as hardly to belong to classical antiquity,
was thought best
new
to
it
wait for the publication of the
The French School of Athens must
material.
be congratulated upon the good fortune which
has
attended their enterprise, and also upon the excellent
form
which
in
its
results
have been placed, within a
comparatively short time, at the service of students.
The
writer of these pages,
stood,
had especial reason
will
it
be readily under-
be interested
to
in
the
announcement of a discovery which might give an entirely will
new complexion
be for the reader
thesis
of the
to
to the
whole argument.
It
determine whether the main
book has gained or
by the new
lost
evidence.
Mr. Hubert Parry prefaces his suggestive treatment of
Greek music by some remarks on the
the subject. '
that
'
It
still
a large portion
seems
possible,'
of what
difficulty of
he observes,
has passed
domain of "well-authenticated fact"
is
into
the
complete mis-
apprehension, as Greek scholars have not time for a
thorough study of music up to
to the standard required
www.24grammata.com judge securely of the matters
in
question,
and
PREFACE.
xi
musicians as a rule are not extremely intimate with
Greek writer,
(The Art of Music,
'
who
To
p. 24).
has no claim to the
title
founded.
If
his
present
of musician, the
scepticism expressed in these words
well
the
interpretation
appears to be of the
ancient
texts furnishes musicians like Mr. Parry with a some-
what more trustworthy basis
Greek music
as
an
art,
his
for
their
object
attained.
www.24grammata.com
criticism
will
be
of
fully
www.24grammata.com
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introductory.
§ I.
PAGE
Musical forms called
or rpoVot
apfioviaL
i
Statement of the question.
§ 2.
The terms Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, &c The Authorities.
§ 3.
Aristoxenus
3
— Plato — Aristotle — Heraclides
Ponticus— the
Aristotelian Problems
4
The Early Poets.
§ 4.
Pratinas
—Telestes — Aristophanes § 5.
5
Plato.
....
— The Laches
The
apixovlai in
The
three Hellenic
the Republic § 6.
Heraclides Ponticus.
apfioviai
—the Phrygian
and Lydian— the
Hypo-dorian, &c
9
§ 7.
The
dpfiovlai in
Aristotle
— The
Politics.
the Politics § 8.
12
The Aristotelian Problems.
Hypo-dorian and Hypo-phrygian § 9.
The
dpfiovia of
The
TovoL
14
The Rhetoric.
oratory
15 § 10.
or keys
7
Aristoxenus.
www.24grammata.com
16
— CONTENTS.
xiv
PAGE
Names of
§ II.
The
prefix
Hypo
the term tovos
Platonic
19
Plutarch s Dialogue on Music.
§ 12.
The
keys.
modes— Lydian—Mixo-lydian and Syntono-
— ........
— the Mixo-lydian — rovo^ and dpixovia
lydian
Modes employed on
§ 13.
Modes on wind-instruments
the keys of Sacadas
octave
— on
20
different instruments.
the water-organ
— on
the
cithara— on the flute
27 Recapitulation.
§ 14,
Equivalence of dpixovia and
The Systems of Greek music.
§ 15.
The musical System § 16.
The
28
tovos
30
(ava-Trjixa e/A/xeXe?)
T/ie
scale in Aristotle
§ 17.
standard Octachord System.
and Aristoxenus
31
Earlier Heptachord Scales.
Seven-stringed scales in the Problems
— Nicomachus
.
.
33
The Perfect System.
§ 18.
Perfect Systems — Aristoxenus — enlargement of the scale — Timotheus — Pronomus —
The Greater and Lesser the
Proslambanomenos— the Hyperhypate § 19.
Relation
•
upixoviai
§ 20.
as a
the
35
of System and Key.
— ..........
The standard System and
The Mese
•
•
'
modes
'
the multiplicity of
40
Tonality of the Greek musical scale.
key-note— the close on the Hypate
dpxrj in
the Metaphysics § 21.
42
The Species of a
Scale.
www.24grammata.com The seven Species {a-xvf^aTa, cUr]) of the Octave— connexion with the Modes
47
— CONTENTS.
XV PAGE
The Scales as
§ 22.
treated by Aristoxenus.
Advance made by Aristoxenus — diagrams of the Enharmonic genus— reference in Plato's Republic Aristides
—
Quintihanus
— the Philebiis The Seven
§ 23.
Aristoxenus
....
—
.
.
— branches
poetry— kinds of
of lyrical
62
ethos
The Ethos of
§ 26.
Ethos depending on pitch
— on
the
Genera and Species.
....
the genus
The Musical Notation.
§ 27.
instrumental notes
— original
form and date
...
§
Ptolemy s Scheme of Modes.
29.
§ 30.
Beats in
Scales of the Lyre
on the lyre
— on
and
the cithara
.
81
Ciihara.
....
(viz. rpirai,
TrapvTrurat, \vdia, virepTpona, laa-Tiaiokiala)
§ 32.
78
Nomenclature by Position.
Aristoxenus— in the Aristotelian Problems
§ 31.
scales
67
75
Reduction of the Modes to seven— nomenclature according to value and according to position
The
66
Traces of the Species in the Notation.
§ 28.
Westphal's theory
The term
58
The Ethos of Music.
§ 25.
Regions of the voice
The
56
Relation of the Species to the Keys.
names Dorian,
&c. treatment of musical scales Aristoxenus — Species in the different genera
of the in
Species.
—the Introductio Harmonica § 24.
Use
48
Tporroi,
83
Remains of Greek Music.
of Dionysius and Mesomedes— instrumental passages in the Anonymus— Mr. Ramsay's inscription melody and accent— fragment of the Orestes
The hymns
...
§ 33.
The
six
Modes
Modes of
87
Aristides Quintilianus.
www.24grammata.com Republic of Plato's
94
—
CONTENTS.
xvi
PAGE §
Credibility
34.
of Aristides Quintilianus.
Date of Aristides— genuineness of his scales § 35.
•
.
Evidence for Scales of different
•
•
species.
—
—
the Dorian the or common species Mixo-lydian— the Phrygian and the Hypo-phrygian Aristotle on Dorian and Phrygian the dithyramb
The Hypo-dorian
95
—
.
loi
importance of genus and key only change in Ptolemy's time in the direction of the mediaeval Tones
108
§ 36.
.
Conclusion.
—
Earl}''
.
§ 37,
— Speech and Song. accent — relation of musical
Epilogue
and Musical nature of Greek ordinary utterance agreement of melody and accent in the Seikelos inscription— rhythm of music and of prose the stress accent {ictus) music influenced by lanthe words and melody want of harmony guage
—
—
—
—
—
—
113
non-diatonic scales
Appendix. Table
I.
Scales of the seven oldest Keys, with the species
of the
Table
II.
same name
The
fifteen
.
Keys
130"
Music of the 0r^5/^5 of Euripides Musical part of the Seikelos inscription
The hymns
127
128
recently discovered at Delphi
133 :
—
the changes of genus to Apollo - the scale and key— the 'mode' identical with the modern Minor the other fragments— the agreement of melody and
Hymn
—
accent
Index of passages discussed or referred to
www.24grammata.com
....
134
142
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
§
The modes us,
I.
Introductory.
of ancient
Greek music are of interest
to
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 It appears from a well-known passage philosophers. 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 reacting on the sensibility in such a way as to exercise
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 a powerful
If on a question of this kind serious practical concern. distrust the imaginative temper of are inclined towww.24grammata.com
we
B
'
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
2
Plato
we have
only to turn to the discussion of the same
we
subject in the Politics of Aristotle, and
shall find the
some important
Platonic view criticised in
details,
but
main as being beyond controversy. The word apiiovta, harmony/ applied to these forms of music by Plato and Aristotle, means literally fitting or adjustment,' hence the tuning of a series of notes on any principle, the formation of a scale or gamut/ Other ancient writers use the word t/ootto?, whence the Latin modus and our mood or mode,' generally employed in this sense by English scholars. The word 'mode' is open to the objection that in modern music it has a meaning which assumes just what it is our treated in the
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
'
present business to prove or disprove about the
'
modes
'
Greek music. The word harmony,' however, is still more misleading, and on the whole it seems best to abide by the estabHshed use of 'mode' as a transof
'
lation of ap/iouia, trusting that
when when
the
word has simply
it
its
the
distinctively
denotes
a
context will
modern
musical
scale
show
sense,
of
and
some
particular kind.
The rhythm of music is also recognized by both Plato and Aristotle as an important element in its moral value. On this part of the subject, however, we have much less material for a judgement. Plato goes on to the rhythms after he has done with the modes, and lays down the principle that they must not be complex or varied, but must be the rhythms of a sober and brave life. But he confesses that he cannot tell which these are {nola Sk noiov ^lov fiLiirjfj.aTa ovk €)(co Xeyeip), and leaves the matter for future inquiry ^ *
Plato,
Rgp.
p.
400
b
dWd
ravra
/^eV,
^v
b'
kyw, Kal ^uerd AdfxoDVOs
t€ dveXfvOepias Kal vPpecus ^ fiavias www.24grammata.com TTpinovaai Pdaas, Kal Tivas rots evavriois XeinTeou pvOfiovs. PovXivffofxfda,
rivfs
Kal dWrjs KaKias
;
STATEMENT OF THE QUESTION.
§ 2.
What
Statement of the question.
then are the musical forms to which Plato and
And what
Aristotle ascribe this remarkable efficacy? is
the source of their influence on
human emotion and
character ?
There are two obvious relations in which the scales employed in any system of music may stand to each other. They may be related as two ke3^s of the same mode in modern music that is to say, we may have to do with a scale consisting of a fixed succession of intervals, which may vary in pitch— may be transposed,' as we say, from one pitch or key to another. Or the scales may differ as the Major mode differs from the Minor, namely in the order in which the intervals follow each other. In modern music we have these two modes, and each of them may be in any one of twelve keys. It is evidently possible, also, that a name such as Dorian or Lydian might denote a particular mode taken in a :
'
particular
key— that
the scale so called should possess
a definite pitch as well as a definite series of intervals.
According
among
to the
theory which appears
now
to pre-
Greek music, these famous names had a double application. There was a Dorian
vail
mode
students of
mode and This is the view set forth by Boeckh in the treatise which may be said to have laid the foundations of our knowledge of Greek music {De Metris Pindaric lib. III. cc. vii-xii). It is expounded, along with much subsidiary speculation, in the successive volumes which we owe to the fertile pen of Westphal and it has been adopted in the learned and excellent as well as a Dorian key, a Phrygian
a Phrygian key, and so on.
Histoire
et
www.24grammata.com Theorie de la Musique de I'Anttquite
B 2
of
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK
4
MUSIC.
M. Gevaert. According to these high authorities the Greeks had a system of keys {royoi), and also a system of modes {dp/iouLai), the former being based solely upon difference of pitch, the latter upon the form or species (ef^o?) of the octave scale, that is to say, upon the order of the intervals which compose it. '
'
The Authorities.
§ 3.
The
sources
of
systematic treatises to us
knowledge are the various upon music which have come down our
from Greek antiquity, together with incidental in other authors, chiefly poets and philo-
references sophers.
Of
the systematic or
'
technical
'
writers the
and most important is Aristoxenus, a pupil of His treatise on Harmonics {apfiovLKri) has Aristotle. reached us in a fragmentary condition, but may be earliest
some extent from
supplemented
to
same
Among
school.
later
works of the
the incidental notices of music
the most considerable are the passages in the Republic
and the Politics already referred to. To these we have add a few other references in Plato and Aristotle; a long fragment from the Platonic philosopher Hera-
to
some interesting quotations a number of detached observations
clides Ponticus, containing
from
earlier poets
;
collected in the nineteenth section of the Aristotelian
Problems] and one or two notices preserved in lexicographical works, such as the Onomasticon of Pollux.
In these groups of authorities the scholars above mentioned find the double use which they believe to have been made of the names Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian and the rest. In Aristoxenus they recognise that these www.24grammata.com names are applied to a series of keys {tovol), which In Plato and Aristotle they find differed in pitch only.
THE
'APMONIAI.
same names applied
the
5
to scales called apiioviai,
and
these scales, they maintain, differed primarily in the
order of their intervals. that there
I
shall
was no such double use
endeavour :
show-
to
that in the earlier
periods of Greek music the scales
whether
use,
in
called TovoL or dp/xoPLaL, differed primarily in pitch
:
that
down
the statements of ancient authors about them,
to
and including Aristoxenus, agree as closely as there is reason to expect and that the passages on which the opposite view is based— all of them drawn from com:
paratively late writers
ancient scales at
— either
all,
post-classical times of
of musical
art.
I
do not
relate
to these
emergence
or point to the
in
some new forms or tendencies
propose
in
any case
to adhere as
closely as possible to a chronological treatment of the
evidence which it
is at
our command, and
I
hope
probable that the difficulties of the question
to
make
may be
best dealt with on this method.
§ 4.
The
The Early Poets.
earhest of the passages
now
in question
comes
from the poet Pratinas, a contemporary of Aeschylus. It is quoted by HeracHdes Ponticus, in the course of a long fragment preserved by Athenaeus (xiv. cc. 19-21, p.
624 c—62.6 a). /utTyre
The words
are
:
(jvvtovov 6ta)Ke pjre rav aveifxivav
'ladrt jxovo-av,
akXa rav ixiaaav
apovpav atoAtfe rw
ve(av
/xeAet.
'Follow neither a highly-strung music nor the lowpitched Ionian, but turning over the middle plough-land be an Aeolian in your melody.' Westphal takes the •
with avvrovov as well as with di^eifiivav, and www.24grammata.com two kinds of Ionian, a 'highlywere there infers that
word
'lao-Ti'
:
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
6
Strung
But
and a relaxed or low-pitched. *
'
'
this is not
required by the words, and seems less natural than the interpretation
which
I
have given.
All that the passage
composer had one (or more) of the choice of at least three scales which the pitch was high {o-wrouos); another of low pitch {dvei/jLeuT}), which was called Ionian and a third, intermediate between the others, and known as Aeolian. Later in the same passage we are told that Pratinas spoke of the 'Aeolian harmony^ (TrpeTret tol irda-Lv proves
is
that in the time of Pratinas a :
;
doLSoXaPpoLKTaLS AloXk dpiiovta).
And
the term
is
also
found, with the epithet Meep-sounding,* in a passage
quoted from the poet,
hymn
to
Demeter of a contemporary
Lasus of Hermione (Athen.
Adfjiarpa fxikiro)
Kopav re
vpvoiV avdyoav AloXib
With regard Heraclides
(/.
to c.)
the
xiv.
KXvfjLivoto
624
e)
:
aXo^ov MeAt)3otar,
apa jSapvjSpopov appovCav.
Phrygian
quotes an
and
Lydian
scales
interesting passage
from
which their introduction is was said to have followed Pelops from Asia Minor to the Peloponnesus
Telestes of Selinus,
in
ascribed to the colony that
irpcoTOL
Tiapa Kparrjpas ^EXXtjvcov kv avXoXs
avvoirabol YliXoiros parpos opeias ^pvyiov aeicrav
vopov
Tol 6' 6^vcf)(avoLs Ti-qKTLhodV \lraXpoLS KpiKov
Avhiov vpvov.
'The comrades of Pelops were the
first
who
beside
the Grecian cups sang with the flute {avXos) the Phrygian
measure of the Great Mother and these again by shrillvoiced notes of the pedis sounded a Lydian hymn.' The epithet o^vcpoavos is worth notice in connexion with other evidencewww.24grammata.com of the high pitch of the music known as ;
Lydian.
:
THE 'APMONIAl The Lydian mode
is
— PLATO.
mentioned by Pindar, Nein.
yXvKa.a koX roh^ avTLKa
€^v(f)aiV€
Avbia avv app-ovia piXos
The Dorian at the 11.
is
7
4.
:
(f)6pfXLy^
TT€(f)L\r}ixivov.
made
the subject of an elaborate jest
expense of Cleon
45
Knights of Aristophanes,
in the
985-996
aWa
Kal to5' eyco ye ^aD/xafco ttJs ioixovaCas
avTov' T7]v
(f)aal
Acoptcrrt
aW-qv
5'
yap avrbv {jlovtjv
7rat6ej ot ^vv€(f>OLTO}v
ot
evapjJi6TT€(r6aL
ovK kOiXeiv
Xa^elv
ovTos ov hvvarai [xaOeiv
kvpav,
r\v
fXT]
AoipoboK-qcrTL.
Plato,
§ 5.
Following the order of time, the Republic
in
ttjv
aiiayeiv KeXeveiv, wj appLOviav 6 ttols
opyiadivT
passage
dafjio,
Kara rbv KtOapLaTip
(p.
we come
398),
next to the
where Socrates
is
endeavouring to determine the kinds of music to be for the use of his future 'guardians,' in accordance with the general principles which are to
admitted
govern their education. First among these principles is the condemnation of all undue expression of grief. What modes of music (apfiovcaL)/ he asks, are plaintive (OprjucoSeL^)?' 'The Mixo-lydian' Glaucon replies, 'and '
'
the Syntono-lydian, and such-like.'
Socrates excludes.
'
But
again,
These accordingly
drunkenness and
sloth-
fulness are no less forbidden to the guardians; which
of the
o-vfLTTOTLKai)?'
those which
remain not
are soft and convivial (/xaXa/ca/ re koI
modes
?
'
know
'
^
lofiiafi'
says
Glaucon, 'and Lydian,
are called slack (xc^Xapai).'
'Which then
Seemingly Dorian and Phrygian.'
the modes,' says Socrates,
'
'
I
do
me one brave man
but leave
and accents of a www.24grammata.com enduring danger or distress, fighting with constancy
that will imitate the tones
— '
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC. and also one fitted for the work of heard by the gods, for the successful persuasion or exhortation of men, and generally for the sober enjoyment of ease and prosperity/ Two such modes, one for Courage and one for Temperance, are declared by Glaucon to be found in the Dorian and the
against fortune:
peace, for prayer
In the Laches
Phrygian.
(p.
i88) there
reference in which a similar view is
is
consonant
'
man
harmony,' by which his
reason
to
— 'a
a passing Plato
expressed.
speaking of the character of a brave
metaphorically a
is
as being
life
made
is
Dorian harmony,' he adds
playing upon the musical sense of the word
— 'not
an
Ionian, certainly not a Phrygian or a Lydian, but that
one which only ovK
is
Se ovSe pv'yL(TTL qvSe AvSlcttl, aXX'
^lacTTL, oLOfiaL
fiSvT]
truly Hellenic' (arex^^oo? Acopia-TL,
'EWrjVLKrj kcTTLv apjiovLo).
may be due Laches
is
opinion.
passages in his
The
The
dW
rj
rrep
exclusion of Phrygian
to the fact that the virtue discussed in the
courage; but
it is
in
agreement with
Aristotle's
The absence of Aeolian from both the Platonic seems to show that it had gone out of use
time (but cp. p.
ii).
point of view from
which Plato professes
to
determine the right modes to be used in his ideal education appears clearly in the passage of the Republic.
The modes pitch. The is
first
shown by
lydian
is
rejected are those
Syntono-lydian
'
which are high
in
high-strung Lydian
The Mixofrom Aristotle and The second group which he condemns
its
name
similar, as
other writers. that of the
or
to
we
be of
this class.
shall see
Thus
it is
on the
profoundly Hellenic principle of choosing the
mean
is
'
slack
'
or low-pitched.
between opposite extremes that he approves of the Dorian and Phrygian pitch. The application of this www.24grammata.com principle
was not a new
one, for
it
had been already
THE 'APMONIAl down by
laid
— HERACLIDES
Pratinas
:
PONTICUS.
avvrovov
fMrJTe
8lcok€
j9
rav
fi-qTe
dueifievav.
The
three chapters which Aristotle devotes to a dis-
cussion of the use of music in the state (Politics cc.
5-7),
and
which he reviews and
in
Platonic treatment of the entirely to bear out
same
subject, will
now
the view
taken.
say
to
be found also
It is
supported by the commentary of Plutarch, logue on Music (cc. 15-17), of which we
something
viii.
criticises the
in his dia-
shall
have
Meanwhile, following
hereafter.
the chronological order of our authorities,
we come
next to the fragment of Heraclides Ponticus already
mentioned (Athen.
xiv. p.
624^-626 a).
Heraclides Ponticus.
§ 6.
by Heraclides Ponticus belonging to (dpfxauLai), modes is that there are three the three Greek races— Dorian, Aeohan, Ionian. The
The
chief doctrine maintained
Phrygian and Lydian,
name
of
mode
KaXelaOaL
rrju
or
'
in his view,
harmony
'
had no right
(ovS'
^pvyiou, KaOdirep ovSe
apjiovCav Tr]v
to the
(p-qa-l
AvSlov).
Selu
The
three which he recognized had each a marked ethos.
The Dorian
reflected the military traditions
of Sparta.
The
and temper
Aeolian, which Heraclides identified
with the Hypo-dorian of his own time, answered to the national character of the Thessalians, which was bold
and gay, somewhat overweening and self-indulgent, but hospitable and chivalrous. Some said that it was called Hypo-dorian because it was below the Dorian on the but Heraclides thinks that the name merely expressed likeness to the Dorian character
avXos or flute;
(Acoptov fxeu avTTju ov vo/XL^eLy,
The
Trpocre/jLCpeprj be ttco?
www.24grammata.com
kKeivrj).
Ionian, again, was harsh and severe, expressive of
rl^
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
lo
the unkindly disposition fostered amid the pride and
Herachdes
material welfare of Miletus.
say that '
it
harmony/ but a strange aberration
musical scale {rponov Si riva
He
ixovlas).
is
inclined to
was not properly a distinct musical scale or in the
form of the
Oav/jLaorrov o-^rniaros
goes on to protest against those
not appreciate differences of kind (ray
/car'
ap-
who do
dBos Siacpopd?),
and are guided only by the high or low pitch of the notes
they
rcou
(rfj
make
a
(pOSyycoi/
o^vrrjTL
kol ^apvT-qrL)
H3^per-mixolydian, and
;
so that
another again
that the Hyperabove that. I do not see/ he adds, phrygian has a distinct ethos and yet some say that they have discovered a new mode (appoyia), the Hypo'
'
;
But a mode ought
phrygian.
or emotional character {etSo?
to
have a
distinct
'^x^lv tjOovs
rj
moral
irdBovs), as
was in use in the time of Simonides and Pindar, but went out of fashion again.' The Phrygian and Lydian, as we have seen, were said to have been brought to the Peloponnesus by the followers
the Locrian, which
of Pelops.
The makes
tone as well it
as the substance
of this extract
evident that the opinions of Heraclides on
questions of theoretical music must be accepted with considerable reserve.
The
notion that the
Phrygian
and Lydian scales were 'barbarous' and opposed to Hellenic ethos was apparently common enough, though largely due (as we may gather from several indications)
But no one, except Heraclides, deny them the name of apixovta. The division into Dorian, Aeolian and Ionian must
to national prejudice.
goes so
far as to
fthreefold [also
be arbitrary.
It is to
be observed that Heraclides
obtains his Aeolian by identifying the Aeolian of Pratinas
and other early www.24grammata.com poets with the mode called Hypo-dorian in his own time. The circumstance that Plato mentions
THE '/1PM0/VM/— HERACLIDES PONTICUS.
(il
Hypo- dorian suggests rather
neither Aeolian nor
that
Aeolian had gone out of use before Hypo-dorian came The conjecture of Boeckh that Ionian was the in.
same is
as the later Hypo-phrygian [De Metr. Pind.
open
to a similar objection.
at least as old as Pratinas,
was a novelty
in the
The
Ionian
iii.
8)
mode was
whereas the Hypo-phrygian
time of Heraclides.
The
protest
which Heraclides makes against classifying modes merely according to their pitch is chiefly valuable as proving that the modes were as a matter of fact usually It is far from proving classified from that point of view. that there was any other principle which Heraclides wished
to
for example, as difference in the
adopt— such,
intervals employed,
ences of kind
'
(tol^
or in their succession.
Kar
e?5o? Scacpopd?)
His
'differ-
are not necessarily
to be explained from the technical use of d8o9 for the species of the octave. What he complains of seems to be the multiplication of modes— Hyper-mixolydian, '
'
Hyper-phrygian,
Hypo-phrygian— beyond the
legiti-
{e.g.) mate requirements of the art. The high-pitched and plaintive: what more can the is Hyper-mixolydian be? The Hypo-phrygian is a new mode Herachdes denies it a distinctive ethos. His
Mixo-lydian
:
view seems to be that the number of modes should not be greater than the number of varieties in temper or But there is emotion of which music is capable. pitch as the regard not did he that nothing to show chief element, or one of the chief elements, of musical expression.
The absence
of the
name Hypo-lydian, taken with
the description of Hypo-dorian as
would
'
below the Dorian,*
indicate that the Hypo-dorian of Heraclides
was
not the later mode of that name, but was a semitone in the place afterwards occupied by below the Dorian, www.24grammata.com
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC. This
the Hypo-lydian.
by Aristoxenus
the writers
of view of
confirmed, as
Aristotle
§ 7.
Of
is
we
shall see,
(p. i8).
the
who
—the
Politics.
deal with music from the point
layman,
cultivated
Aristotle
is
un-
doubtedly the most instructive. The chapters in his Politics which treat of music in its relation to the state and to morality go much more deeply than Plato does
grounds of the influence which musical forms Moreover, Aristotle's exert upon temper and feeling.
into the
scope
is
wider, not being confined to the education of
and
the young; faithful
treatment
his
is
reflexion of the ordinary
He
sentiment.
begins {PoL
viii.
evidently a
more
Greek notions and 5, p. 1340 a 38) by
agreeing with Plato as to the great importance of the Musical forms, he holds, subject for practical politics. are not tion,
mere symbols
(o-q/ieTa),
acting through associa-
but are an actual copy or reflex of the forms of
moral temper (er and this r)Oa>p) ;
Se is
roh
ixiXea-iv
avroT?
ka-ri iiLjirjiiara rcov
the ground of the different moral
modes (dpfjLouLai). By Mixo-j^dia^ we are the by some moved to a plaintive and depressed temper {SLartOeo-dat by others, such 68vpTLKcoT€p(o^ KOL (rvpeo-TrjKOTco? fxaWov) as those which are called the relaxed (dueifieuaL), we are disposed to softness of mind (/^aXa/ccorepco? rrjv Sidvoiav). The Dorian, again, is the only one under whose influence men are in a middle and settled mood (/zeVwy while the Phrygian makes KOL KaOeo-TTjKOTO)? /xaXicTTa)
influence exercised
by
different
of them, especially
;
*
'
'
'
:
them excited viii.
7, p.
Phrygian. it
{kvOovcnacrrLKovs).
In a later chapter {Pol.
32), he returns to the subject of the he thinks, ought not to have left Socrates, www.24grammata.com
1342 a
with the Dorian, especially since he condemned the
,
THE
'/1PA10////1/— ARISTOTLE.
13
which has the same character among instruments as the Phrygian among modes, both being The Dorian, as all agree, is orgiastic and emotional. the most steadfast (o-rao-i/zcwrarTy), and has most of the ethos of courage and, as compared with other modes, it has the character which Aristotle himself regards as the [avXos),
flute
;
universal criterion of excellence, viz. that of being the
mean between
Aristotle, therefore,
opposite excesses.
understood Plato to have approved the the Phrygian as representing the mean and Dorian in respect of pitch, while other modes were either too
certainly
He
high or too low. the
'
goes on to defend the use of that they furnish a
relaxed modes on the ground '
music that
is
still
within the powers of those whose who therefore are not
voice has failed from age, and able to sing the high-pitched
modes
[oToi^
roT^ dTreLprjKoa-L
xpouou ov paSiov fSeiu ras crvvTovovs appLOvtas, dXXa ra9 dueLfiiva? tj (f)V(TL9 vTro^aXXeL toIs: ttjXlkovtols:). In Slo,
this
passage the meaning of the words avvTovos and
dp€Lfxij/o? is
especially clear.
In the same discussion (c. 6), Aristotle refers distinction between music that is ethical, music to action,
suited
and music that inspires religious excitement
(ra fiev rjOiKa, ra Se npaKTiKa, ra last of
to the
these kinds serves as a
'
evSovcnacrTLKd).
S'
purification
'
The
(KdOapa-i?).
calmed by giving it vent and the morbid condition of the ethos is met by music of high pitch and exceptional colour (rcoi/ dp/iouto^y TrapeK^da-eLs
The
excitement
is
;
'
'
Kol tS)v fieXcov TO,
avvxova kol napaKexpcocrfieua).
In a different connexion {PoL dealing with the opinion that are
ultimately
reducible
to
all
iv.
3,
p.
1290 a
20),
forms of government
two,
viz.
oligarchy and
democracy, Aristotle compares the view of some who www.24grammata.com held that there are properly only two musical modes.
/
a
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC. Dorian and Phrygian,— the other scales being mere Rather, he says, there is in varieties of these two. each case a right form, or two right forms at most,
—
from which the rest are declensions (Trape/c/Sao-ei?), on one side to 'high-pitched' and imperious oligarchies, on the other to relaxed and soft forms of popular '
government
{oXL-yapxtKa?
Sea-TTOTLKcoTepa^,
This
is
ra?
iilv
'
ras
Platonic doctrine of two right
mean between high and
keys, holding the
Kal
o-vi/roucorepa?
aveifikvas Kal /jLaXaKoi? SrjfioTLKas).
8'
obviously the
low.
The Aristotelian Problems.
§ 8.
Some
'
'
modes are collection which
further notices of the dp/ioviaL or
contained in the so-called Problems,
—a
probably not the work of Aristotle himself, but can hardly be later than the Aristotelian age. What
is
modes
is
clearly of the period before
the reform of Aristoxenus.
In one place (Probl. xix.
is
said in
of the
it
question is asked why the Hypo-dorian and. Hypo-phrygian are not used in the chorus of tragedy. One answer is that the Hypo-phr3^gian has the ethos of action (rjOo? exet TTpaKTLKou), and that the Hypo-dorian is the expression of a lofty and unshaken character;
48) the
both
of
these
things
being
proper
to
heroic
the
stage, but not to the chorus,
personages on the
which
represents the average spectator, and takes no part in the action. that of
Hence
the music suited to the chorus
emotion venting
description which
the exciting and
contrary especially
fits
itself in
passive complaint
:—
the other modes, but least of
orgiastic
Hypo-phrygian.
writer adds) the passive (thewww.24grammata.com
expressed by the Mixo-lydian.
is
On
attitude
all
the is_
The view
5
THE 'APMON/Al
—ARISTOTLE.
J
here taken of the Hypo-dorian evidently agrees with
HeracHdes Ponticus [supra^ p. lo). The relation which Plato assumes between high pitch and the excitement of passion, and again between lowness of pitch and 'softness* or self-indulgence that of
kol
(liaXaKia xix.
soft
The word
'
the keys of music.
may be found
1403 b
*
:
in
the
Problems, rjpefjLalo?
since a deep note
is
exciting, &c.*
is
The Rhetoric. times in Aristotle
occurs several
t6vo^
with the sense of
p.
k.t.X.
and calm, and a high note
§ 9.
use
recognized
is
papijs ^66yyov
^Ooyycov
rj
axrirep avvbeap-os eaTi, Kai p.d-
ptecrr]
rwr KaXcdV, bid to TrAetoraKts ewndpx^iv tov v
aAA'
0.1:6
Tekevrrjs.
'Why
is
descending
a
ascending one? the beginning,
Is
— since
we begin with
45
o^vtclttj tov T€Tpa)(^6pbov'
scale
the
the end
Mese
— but
to 8e
more musical than an
that in this order
it
of the tetrachord,
highest
MEIH.
Tiorepov otl to airo ttjs apxrjs yiverai apyje-
;
oLpyjis
rj
;
ovK aii
TO o^v
— THE
we
begin with
or leading note^
is
the
with the reverse order
?
There is here no explicit statement that the melody ended on the Hypate, or even that it began with the Mese. In what sense, then, was the Mese a beginning In Aristotelian {dpxrj), and the Hypate an 'end'? language the word dpxv has various senses. It might '
be used to express the relation of the Mese to the other notes as the basis or ground-work of the scale. Other passages, however, point to a simpler explanation, viz.
was merely conventional. In Probl. xix. 44 it is said that the Mese is the beginning (dpxn) of one of the two tetrachords which form the ordinary octave scale (viz. the tetrachord Meson) and
that the order in question
;
again in Probl. xix. 47 that in the old heptachord which consisted of two conjunct tetrachords {e - a - d) the
Mese
was the end of the upper tetrachord and the
(a)
beginning of the lower one (on XopSov TeXevTrj, tov 8e kutco dpxv)' it is
evident that there
is
r\v
tov
iikv
dvco rerpa-
In this last passage
no reference
to the
beginning
or end of the melody. ^
The term
rjyefxwv
applied to the Mese,
where
o
Trept
tov
Similarly Ptolemy
is
or 'leading note' of the tetrachord Meson, here found in the same sense in Plutarch, De Mus. c, 11, tovos
Keifievos
Tj'^fyt.ova
(Harm,
i.
means
the
disjunctive
as being kv toTs ^yovfiivois ronois, the semitones ev rois knofievois and again of the ratio 5 4 (the major Third) as the tetrachord) :
:
(juv kmriTapTov os koriv one of an Enharmonic tetrachord www.24grammata.com kvapfjioviov
yhovs).
tone.
16) speaks of the tones in a diatonic scale (^sc. '
of the
leading
'
^yov/xevos tov
—
:
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
46
Another instance of the use of dpxrj in connexion with is to be found in the Metaphysics 1018 b II, (iv. 26), where Aristotle is speaking of the p. different senses in which things may be prior and the musical scale
posterior
Ta
be Kara tol^lv ravra
6'
eo-rti^
ocra irpos tl €V oypta-fxivov
biiaTrjKe Kara rov \6yov, oXov TTapaaTaTi-js TpLToaTCLTOv uporepov^
KoX TTapavrjTrj
*
vtjttjs'
evOa
jxkv
yap
6 KOpvcpa'Los,
hOa
hk
tj
fxia-r]
Other things [are prior and posterior] in oi^der viz. from some one :
those which are at a varying interval definite thing
;
as the second
man
in
the rank
the third man, and the Paranete to the Nete
one case the coryphaeus
is
:
is
prior to
for in the
the starting-point, in the other
the Mese.'
Here the Mese the order
Nete
is
is
is
again the apxn or beginning, but
the ascending one, and consequently the
the end.
The passage
confirms what
we have
learned of the relative importance of the Mese: but
it
certainly negatives any inference regarding the note on which the melody ended. It appears, then, that the Mese of the Greek standard System had the functions of a key-note in that System. In other words, the music was in the mode (using that term in the modern sense) represented by the octave a- a of the natural key the Hypo-dorian or Common Species. We do not indeed know how the predominant character of the Mese was shown whether, for example, the melody ended on the Mese. The supposed evidence for an ending on the Hypate has been shown to be insufficient. But we may at
—
as far as the Mese least hold that www.24grammata.com far the
Greek
scale
was
that
was a key-note, so modern Minor
of the
— THE mode
(descending).
SPECIES.
The
only
way
47
of escape from this
conclusion is to deny that the Mese of Probl. xix. 20 was the note which we have understood by the term the Mese of the standard System. This, as we shall presently see, is the plea to which Westphal has recourse.
The Species of a
§ 21.
The object make it clear
Scale.
of the preceding discussion has been to
system of modes word finds no support from the earlier authorities on Greek music. There is, however, evidence to show that Aristoxenus, and
in
the
that the theory of a
modern sense
—
of the
perhaps other writers of the time, gave much thought to the varieties to
be obtained by taking the intervals of
a scale in different order.
These
of as the forms or species {a^rjiiara,
varieties they elS-q)
spoke
of the interval
which measured the compass of the scale in question. Thus, the interval of the Octave {Sta iraacov) is divided into seven intervals, and these are, in the Diatonic genus, five tones and two semitones, in the Enharmonic two ditones, four quarter-tones, and a tone. As we shall presently see in detail, there are
the Octave in each genus.
That
seven admissible octachord scales
is
seven species of to say, there are
{o-va-Tfuiara efi/xeXfj),
differing only in the succession of the intervals
which
compose them. Further, there
is
evidence which goes to connect the
seven species of the Octave with the Modes or
apiiovtai.
some writers these species are described under names which are familiar to us in their application In
to
the modes.
called the
certain succession Awww.24grammata.com
of intervals
is
Dorian species of the Octave, another sue-
,
48
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
Phrygian species, and so on for the Lydian, Mixo-lydian, Hypo-dorian, Hypo-phrygian, It seems natural to conclude that and Hypo-l3^dian. cession
is
called the
named were some way of the modes which bore the same names, consequently that the modes were not keys, but modes in the modern sense of the term.
the species or successions of intervals so characteristic in
In order to estimate the value of this argument,
necessary to ask, of these
names
(i)
how
far
back
we
it
is
can date the use
for the species of the Octave,
and
(2) in
what degree the species of the Octave can be shown to have entered into the practice of music at any period. The answer to these questions must be gathered from a careful examination of all that Aristoxenus and other early writers
sa}'
of the different musical scales
in
reference to the order of their intervals.
§ 22.
The treated
The Scales as treated by Aristoxenus.
subject of the
musical
scales
(a-vo-rrifiaTa)
is
by Aristoxenus as a general problem, without
reference to the scales in actual use.
He
complains
that his predecessors dealt only with the octave scale,
and only with the Enharmonic genus, and did not address themselves to the real question of the melodious sequence of intervals. Accordingly, instead of beginning with a particular scale, such as the octave, he supposes a scale of indefinite compass,
—just
as a mathematician
postulates lines and surfaces of unlimited magnitude.
His problem
virtually
to the particular
is,
given any interval
genus supposed, it on a musical
intervals can follow
to
known
determine what
scale, either ascend-
In the Diatonic genus, for example, ing or descending. www.24grammata.com a semitone must be followed by two tones, so as to
THE SPECIES
—ARISTOXENUS.
49
make up the interval of a Fourth. In the Enharmonic genus the dieses or quarter-tones can only occur two together, and every such pair of dieses {ttvkvov) must be followed in the ascending order by a ditone, in the descending order by a ditone or a tone. By these and similar rules, which he deduces mathematically from one or two general principles of melody, Aristoxenus in determines
effect
all
the possible scales of each genus,
without restriction of compass or pitch ^.
he refers for the purpose of use,
actual
it
But whenever
illustration to a scale in
always the standard octave already
is
described (from Hypate to Nete), or a part of
Thus
it.
nothing can be clearer than the distinction which he
makes between the only to
certain
theoretically infinite scale, subject
principles
or
laws determining the
succession of intervals, and the eight notes, of fixed relative pitch,
which constituted the gamut of
practical
music.
The
passages in which Aristoxenus dwells upon the
advance which he has made upon the methods of his predecessors are of considerable importance for the
whole question of the species of the Octave. There are three or four places which it will be worth while to quote. I.
Aristoxenus,
Harm.
p. 2, 15
MSS.)
avTols tS)V kvap\iovi(JdV {^ap\xoviQ>v fxcLTOiV, TO.
biaTovoov
hiaypaixpiaTa
€V ot? Trept IJLOvov
8'
17
:
ra yap hiaypaixiiaTa
e/CKeirat fxovov avo-rrj-
xpco/xartKWz^ ovbels ttcotto^' €(apaK€V
y avT&v ebrjXov
G-ucTTr^judrcoz;
eXeyov, irepl
Meib.
Tr]v
Traaav
r?}?
Kairoi
jueAwStaj tcl^lv,
OKrayophd^v evappiOvCaiv (apiJLOVL(ovM.SS.)
8e tojv
aXkcov yevo^v re Kal
avT^ re rw yeret tovt(o koI tols
Xolttols ov8'
(T)(ii]ixdTOiv
e^Te^^eipet
€v
ovbels
KaTafjiav0dv€Lv. '
The
investigation occupies a considerable space in his Harmonics, viz.
pp. 27-29 Meib. (^from the
www.24grammata.com ir^pi 5e auvexftas kox tov
words
pp. 58-72 Meib.
E
e£^?),
and again
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK
50
MUSIC.
'The diagrams of the earlier writers set forth Systems in the Enharmonic genus only, never in the Diatonic or Chromatic and yet these diagrams professed to give the whole scheme of their music, and in them they treated of Enharmonic octave Systems only; of other genera and other forms of this or any genus no one attempted to :
discover anything.' 2.
Ibid. p. 6, 20
ilJiiTpocrOev
ovbels
itiTOjJi^v
aTroSeiKTiKWS
TT^vre
(Jx;r]fxdT(iiv
The
rjirrai,
aW^v
hos
to, a^^fip^ara
iracrcov
ov Kara-
kol tcov tov bia reo-adpiDV rrpos bk tovtols kol
avrutv tls ttot icrrl Kad'
twv
rjv e/xjueXdis
avvTiOevTaL,
k-nrd (TV}x^aiveiv yiyvecrOaL bdKVvrai.
in
by a
one genus, to enumerate the forms or
the Octave, and to determine
general
we have
first
:
not perceiving that
demonstrated the forms of the Fifth
and the Fourth, and the manner of bination, the forms of the
more than
species of
them mathematically by the
periodic recurrence of the intervals
The may be
rov bia
but Eratocles has attempted in the case of one
:
System,
KaOairep
\xev
b^LKvvs'
btao-TrjixcLTOiv
other Systems no one has dealt with
method
unless
KaOokov
be crDcrr?i/xaro? ^EparoKXrjs
T^poa-aTTobei^OivTOdv (qu. irpoaiiob.) t(ov re tov bta
Ti]s crvvOiaeois
'
tS>v 5'
TrepKpopa t&v
rrj
pLT]
77oXAa7rAao-ta
:
yivos i^apiOfXTJaai
€TT€xeLp7](T€ Ka6^ €V
piadcbv oTi,
Meib.
Octave
melodious com-
their
will
come
to
be
many
seven.'
here spoken of on the key-board of a piano. If we take successive octaves of white notes, a - a^ b - b^ and so on, {i.e.
'
periodic recurrence of intervals
'
illustrated
we
obtain each time a different order of intervals
the semitones occur in different places), until
reach a - a again, when the series begins afresh. this
way
it
is
shown
we In
that only seven species of the
Octave can be found on any particular scale. Ariswww.24grammata.com toxenus shows how to prove this from first principles,
—
—
THE SPECIES— DIAGRAMS. viz.
by analysing the Octave
as the
5^
combination of
a Fifth with a Fourth. 3.
Ibid. p. ^6, 29 Meib.
ol [xkv oAcoj
:
tu>v
b'k
T&v k-nTayophoav a eKakovv
ra^ Sm^opa?
(Tva-T7]\xaT(£>v
ovK €'n€\^ipovv k^apiQ\x^lv, aXKa
irepl
avrutv fxovov
apixovias Tr]v €7TL(tk€\I/lv €TTOLovvto, ol
5e €7nx^Lpi](TavT€S ovbiva rpoirov i^ptOixovvTO.
For iTTTcc
Meibomius and other
eTTTaxopScoy
oKTaxopScDu —
3.
the parallel words
editors read
corrcction strongly suggested crva-TrjfxdiTcou
oKraxopSccv in the
by
first
passage quoted. '
Some
did not attempt to enumerate the differences of
the Systems, but confined their view to the seven octachord
Systems which they
called app.oviai
;
others
who
did
make
the attempt did not succeed.' It
appears from these passages that before the time
of Aristoxenus musicians had framed diagrams or tables
showing the division of the octave scale according to the Enharmonic genus and that a certain Eratocles of whom nothing else is known had recognised seven forms or species of the octachord scale, and had shown :
—
how
the order of the intervals in the several species
passes through a sort of cycle.
Finally,
if
the correction
proposed in the third passage is right, the seven species of the Octave were somehow shown in the diagrams In what respect of which the first passage speaks. Eratocles failed in his treatment of the seven species can hardly be conjectured.
Elsewhere the diagrams are described by Aristoxenus somewhat differently, as though they exhibited a division into Enharmonic dieses or quarter-tones, without refercharacter of the scale. Thus we ence to the melodious www.24grammata.com find
him saying E2
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
52 4.
Harm.
apjjLoi'LKol
€v
TOVTOvs
7T€LpoiVTaL,
KdcrOaL
oh
ov yap TO
28 Meib.
p.
rah t&v
^j
Se to (Tvvey\^ ovx
Qr]T7]Tiov
a7T0(j)aLV0VT€s
(TVfxl3i^r]Ke
pLT}
:
TO)v
aW'qXaiv
€^T]S
(jyOoyycjiv
ot
cmohihovai
hiaypa[x\xdT(iiV KaranvKVCiXTeaLV
a(^' avTOiv.
to eAax.t(rroz; hia(TTy]ixa Sie^ety
bvvaa-daL SteVets okto) kol eiKoatv k^ijs /oteXwSeto-^at
akXCL TTJV Tp[Tr]V bU(TLV TTCLvra iTOLovaa ovx Ota
TTJS (pUiVTJS €(TTLV,
T eoTt TTpoaTiOevaL. '
We must seek continuity of succession, not as theoretical
musicians do in filling up their diagrams with small intervals, making those notes successive which are separated from each other by the least interval. For it is not merely that the voice cannot sing twenty-eight successive dieses all its efforts it
cannot sing a third
This representation of the musical diagrams
with
is
borne
This point is one which Aristoxenus is fond of insisting upon cp, p. lo, rrpbs t^v KaraTtvKVwaiv fiXitrovras ua-n^p ol apfioviKoi p. 38, 3 on St eariv KarattvKvuais eK/xfXrjS koX navra rponov axpr]aTos (pavepov p. 53, 3 Kara t^v ^
:
16 ov j)
:
diesis^.'
:
:
Tov fieXovs
(pvcriv ^rjTrjTeov
to |£^s kol ovx w?
ot els rrjv
KaTairvKvojaiv fiXe'irovT(S
elojOaaiv diroSiSovai to e^rjs.
The statement
that the ancient diagrams gave a series of twenty-eight
successive dieses or quarter-tones has not been explained. quarter-tones in an octave is only twenty-four. Possibly it
The number is
a
of
mere error
of transcription (kt] for «5). If not, we may perhaps connect it with the seven intervals of the ordinary octave scale, and the simple method by which the enharmonic intervals were expressed in the instrumental notation. It has been explained that raising a note a quarter of a tone was shown by turning it through a quarter of a circle. Thus, our c being denoted by E, Now the ancient diagrams, which divided every c* was 111, and cfl was 3. tone into four parts, must have had a character for eft*, or the note Naturally this would be the remaining three-quarters of a tone above c. position of E, namely m. Again, we have seen that when the interval between two notes on the diatonic scale is only a semitone, the result
produce a certain number of duplicates, so to speak. and therefore )| for c: but c is a note of the original It may be that the diagrams to which scale, and as such is written HAristoxenus refers made use of these duplicates that is to say, they may of the notation
Thus
:
K
is to
stands for
b,
:
have made use of all four positions of a character (such as K iil >| ^) whether the interval to be filled was a tone or a semitone. If so, the seven intervals would give twenty-eight characters ^besides the upper octave-note),
www.24grammata.com twenty-eight dieses. Some traces of this use of and apparently therefore characters in four positions have been noticed by Bellermann {Tonlettem, p. 65).
THE SPECIES
—DIAGRAMS.
53
out by the passage in the Republic in which Plato derides the experimental study of music
Rep.
531
p-
3.
y^P ciKovoixevas av
7-«?
:
aviJicpcavLas /cat (f)66yyovi
aAA-rjAots avajieTpovvres avrivvra, ooo-nep ol aa-Tpovofxoi, TTOvovatv.
N^
Tovs Oeov^,
€(prij
kqI yeXotco? ye, irvKvcoiJiaT
KoX 7ra/oa/3aAAorre? ra oiva, olov ol }xiv
^aatv
e/c
yetTovMV
€Tl KaraKoveiv iv /xeVw
elvai TOVTO btdcrTrjixa,
w
tlvo.
arra orojuafoz^re?
(jxavrjv Orjp^voixevoL,
rixv^
aixiKpoTarov
'^^'^
fjierp-qr^ov, ol 6e k.t.X.
Here Socrates is insisting that the theory of music should be studied as a branch of mathematics, not by observation of the sounds and concords actually heard, Yes,' says about which musicians spend toil in vain. '
Glaucon,
they talk of the close-fitting of intervals, and
'
put their ears interval,
which
down is
to listen for the smallest possible
then to be the measure.'
The
smallest
was of course the Enharmonic diesis or quarter of a tone, and this accordingly was the measure or unit A group of notes into which the scale was divided. {ttvkvou, or close called was diesis a by separated that way in a nvKPcofia), and the filling up of the scale
interval
'
'
was therefore a KaTairvKvcdcns up with close-set' notes, by '
rod SLaypafi/xaros
—a
filling
the division of every tone
into four equal parts.
An
example of a diagram of
kind has perhaps
this
late writer, viz. Aristides
survived in a comparatively Quintilianus, who gives a scale of two octaves, one divided into twenty-four dieses, the next into twelve
semitones (Be Mus.
p.
15 Meib.).
The
characters used
are not otherwise known, being quite different from the but the nature of the diagram is ordinary notation :
plain from the
Kara
T0L9 apxaloL^
repov
' :
Siio-ei? apiiovia, eco9
:
avTr] ea-Tiv
k8
Stea-ecop
rj
napa
to irpo-
iraa-cou, to SevTepov Sta T(ov tj/xltovlcou Sia www.24grammata.com this is the ap^iovta (division of the scale)
SLciyova-a,
av^rjaaa-a
accompanying words
;
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
54
according to dieses
in
use
among
the ancients, carried
in the case of the first octave as far as
twenty-four
dieses, and dividing the second into semitones ^Z The phrase rj Kara Siea-ei? dpfiouia, used for the divi-
sion of an octave scale into quarter-tones, serves to explain the statement of Aristoxenus (in the third of
the passages above quoted) that the writers
harmonies
who
treated
UdXow
them That statement has usually been taken to refer to the ancient Modes called apjxovtaL by Plato and Aristotle, and has been used accordingly as proof that the scales of these Modes were based upon the different species {dBrj) of the Octave. But the form of the reference 'which they called apixoviai' impHes some forgotten or at least unfamiliar use of the word by the It is very much more probaolder technical writers. of octave Systems called
'
'
{a
apiiovias).
—
—
ble that the apiioviai in question are divisions of the
octave scale, as
shown
and had Apparently
in theoretical diagrams,
no necessary connexion with the Modes. some at least of these diagrams were not musical scales, but tables of all the notes in the compass of an octave and the Enharmonic diesis was used, not merely on account of the importance of that genus, but because it
was the
smallest interval, and therefore the natural unit
of measurement^.
The use
of apfiovta as an equivalent for
'
System or '
account of this curious fragment of notation is that given in his admirable book, Die Tonleitern und Musiknoten der His conjectures as to its origin do not claim a high Griechen, pp. 61-65. degree of probability. See the remarks on pp. 97-99^ Cp. Plato, Rep. kcu CfxiicpoTarov dvai tovto biaarrjixa, w /xcTprjTiov. p. 531 It may even be that this sense of dpfiovia was connected with the use It is at least worth notice that the phrase for the Enharmonic genus. ^
The
fullest
by Bellermann
:
this passage answers to the adjective hvapixovlwv in the & tKaKovv dpnovias in www.24grammata.com passage first quoted (compare the words "mpt avruv piovov ratv enrd. oKraxopScov a kKakovv dpfxovias with irepl avanqixdruv oKraxop^wv hap^ovicuv p-ovov).
THE SPECIES '
—MEANING
division of the scale
'
kol
Kal ^apvTTjTO?,
a-TrjfjLaTCou,
KaTiSoures
Kal rd
^i'Xe, krreiSav
S>
kol
oirola^
Xd^rj? rd
Trjs (p(oyfJ9 o^vrrjTo^
re
tov? opovs tmv Sra-
€k tovtcov oaa (TvcrrrjiiaTa ykyov^v^ a
ol irpocrBev TrapeSocrav
avrd
KaXelu
has an
d\\\
rov dpiOfMou
SLaa-TTjfMaTa oiroa-a ecTTt
55
appears in an important passage
in Plato's PhilebllS (p. 17):
TripL
OF 'APHONIA.
dpfzouia^,
toT? inofjievoL^ kKelvoL^
In this passage,
k.t.X.
air of technical
yj/jllu
—which
accuracy not usual in Plato's
references to music (though perhaps characteristic of the
Phtkbus),— there
is
a close agreement with the technical
The main thought
writers, especially Aristoxenus.
is
the appHcation of Umit or measure to matter which is given as unlimited or indefinite— the distinction drawn out by Aristoxenus in a passage quoted below (p. 81).
The
treatment of the term
oxenean
(cp.
Harm.
p.
36 rd
Kal irola drra, Kal irm
ea-TL
|, < V >, E Ud. As some letters
.
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
70
do not admit of this kind of differentiation, other methods are employed. Thus A is made to yield the from H (or B) are obtained the forms n (for 7) A A forms U and R and from Z (or I ) the forms A and A The modifications of N are / and \ those of M are / and \. The method of writing a Chromatic tetrachord is the same, except that the higher of the two moveable notes Thus the tetrachord is marked by a bar or accent. :
:
:
c
c%
df is
written
E
3'
LiJ
A'.
we
In the Diatonic genus
should have expected that
the original characters would have been used for the tetrachords h
c
d e and
e
fg a
and that
;
in other tetra-
chords the second note, being a semitone above the first,
would have been represented by a reversed In
(ypa/zyna aTreoTpa/zyLieVoj/).
fact,
letter
however, the Diatonic
Parhypate and Trite are written with the same character b c is
That
Enharmonic.
as the
d e'ls
not written
not h H Z' F, but
h E
is
to say,
h r, but
h
X
the tetrachord
H r
:
and d e^fg
h H >^ F.
Let us now consider
how
scheme of symbols is related to the Systems already described and the Keys in which those Systems may be set [tovol k(j) a>u riOe[i^va
ra
The
this
avcrrrifiaTa fxeXcpSeLTai).
fifteen characters,
diatonic octaves.
It
it
will
has been noticed, form two
appear on a
little
further
scheme must have been conThe to these two octaves. successive notes are not expressed by the letters of the alphabet in their usual order (as is done in the case of the vocal notes). The highest note is represented by the first letter. A: and then the remaining fourteen www.24grammata.com notes are taken in pairs, each with its octave and each of the pairs of notes is represented by two successive
examination that structed
with
a
the
view
:
M
www.24grammata.com
72
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
M. Gevaert meets this difficulty by supposing that the original scale was in the Dorian key, and that subsequently, from some cause the nature of which we cannot guess, a change of pitch took place by which the Dorian scale became a semitone higher. It is perhaps simpler the original Dorian became split up, to conjecture that so to speak, into two keys by difference of local usage, and that the lower of the two came to be called Hypo-dorian, but kept the original notation. A more serious difficulty is raised by the high antiquity which M. Gevaert assigns to the Perfect System. He supposes that the inventor of the notation made use of an instrument (the magadis) which 'magadised' or repeated the notes an octave higher.
But
would give us
this
a repetition of the primitive octave e-e^ rather than an
enlargement by the addition of tetrachords
at
both ends.
M. Gevaert regards the adaptation of the scheme
to
the other keys as the result of a gradual process of
Here we may
extension.
recourse
the
to
modified
distinguish
characters
between the
— which
served '
same purpose as the sharps and flats in the signature of a modern key and the additional notes obtained either by means of new characters (a. and e), or by the use of accents (T, &c.). The Hypodorian and Hypo-phrygian, which employ the new characters a. and €, are known to be comparatively recent. The Phrygian and Lydian, it is true, employ essentially the
'
*
'
—
the accented notes
;
but they do so only in the highest
tetrachord (Hyperbolaion), which originally
used
in
these
may
high keys.
not have been
The
modified
characters doubtless belong to an earlier period. are needed for the three oldest keys
Lydian genera.
— and If
They
— Dorian, Phrygian,
also for the Enharmonic www.24grammata.com
and Chromatic
they are not part of the original scheme.
— THE NOTATION. the musician
who
devised them
may
73 fairly
be counted
as the second inventor of the instrumental notation.
In setting out the scales of the several keys
it
will
be unnecessary to give more than the standing notes {(pOoyyoL e(TTS>res)j which are nearly all represented by
moveable notes being represented by the modified forms described above. original or unmodified letters— the
The
following
includes
fist
standing notes,
the
viz.
Proslambanomenos, Hypate Hypaton, Hypate Meson, Mese, Paramese, Nete Diezeugmenon and Nete Hyperthe two lowest are bolaion in the seven oldest keys :
marked
as doubtful
:
www.24grammata.com
.
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
74
an archaic one. particular
F
for
which belong
contained several characters, in
It
digamma, h
for iota,
and h
for lambda,
to the period before the introduction of
Indeed
the Ionian alphabet.
these letters alone
we
if
we were
judge from
to
should be led to assign the
instrumental notation (as Westphal does) to the time of
The
Solon.
three-stroke iota (h), in particular, does
not occur in any alphabet later than the sixth century
On
B.C.
the other hand,
when we
find that the notation
impHes the use of a musical System in advance of any scale recognised in Aristotle, or even in Aristoxenus, such a date becomes incredible. We can only suppose
h
either (i) that the use of
in the fifth
epigraphic record, or still
known — as
(2)
that
century was
we have no
confined to localities of which
complete
as a form of iota
i-,
archaic forms must have been
was
— from
was adopted by the
the older public inscriptions, and
inventor of the notation as being better suited to his
purpose than
I.
With regard
to the
the chief fact which
place of origin of the notation
we have
to deal with is the
of the character h for lambda, which
alphabet of Argos, along with the
Westphal indeed found (C.
I.
asserts
that
the Argive alphabet. which he quotes^ for
t^
U
r—
:fc
1
:i±
[T6v
^
^
kKv
K\.^api\(Tei
I
o
r
-
u
Tov
TTni- ba
U
A.
^g
'"
(iBfTf 7ra]p'
vi -
(f)rj
tov
-
Se
-
nd
\ov [Atos
U
feSSi
-
yd
A^
www.24grammata.com a - Kpo
fxe -
g
-yov,
ap.\^po6' 6y]
-
APPENDIX.
u
4.
^—
m
\-
-
no.
u
A r
M
r
Toh
7rpo-0ai
- I'ei?
[Xoyta,
iMioro li
Y
M
t^ -
Ova
ai
^35
rf>]i-7ro-Sa
/xni/
/Kru/Ku
^^^i^ ov
rfi -
exOpbs
€l[\es,
(oi
I
bpa-KUiV
ov i-^p\ov - pet
u
o r
gES^^fe^
s
at
-
/K^-t-U
U
Ta-Xa-rav
5e
ci
u fefc
rav
[
^
r
I
€ - Xi/c -
o- Xoi/
^^^^^^^
^ j/uj']
M
o
I
*-
e - rp]?; - (xa?
re [oto-i jSeXeo-iv
o - T€
- prjs
IGr
».v
-
iire
«-o-f7r-T[o?
parr
^ r
:F^
-^=i± (raX-Xt -
w
(?)
y^v
-
vav
.
V 3d\os
(^i-Xoi/
u e:-^ :^—..^-L.-
E£f-rrg=g 5u
-
/iOt
-
o
Xo
.
pcoi'
e - (jinp
loi .
u Iff:
-li?-
^: re
-
OV K www.24grammata.com .
.
(about 12 bars wanting.)
f
-
j/at
K
—
^
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
136
M
B
S M ^
M
Y
.-]
.
—
'E\iK]u}va
M ^=^ =i^=;^
^a-dv
m=-r-w-
dev
:^^ \d[xeTe Aibs
Bpov at
-
M
Y
-
€1)
CO -
\€[vol]
>*-^ -
^t=
-
to
^^^ -
- z^a
Ko
-
pv
- VI -
va [/Me]ra kXu
pas
u
-1^
t^
-
•v/rr;
-
re
xpv
:^b=P
^fr=&^
ae
-
o
r
Ae\
-
al-dos
par
e
p.av'
M
- (pi-aiv
ner
racr - 6e
-
Kaa-ra-Xi-Bos
M
;£^^
-
ttl
- vi - (re-rai,
www.24grammata.com
—
=^— ^ ^
\-
\
v-8pou
k6-
^!^-f^b^=^
a Hap-vaa
iE?E?; va. -
o -
-
^—
or
u
va
1 -
fxaL-pov
v'
:^;^gEg^ 6e
/mou
I'll/
OYOMAMOYO -S—
S
S
+-
ar-/a.o9
"A-pa'v//'
ts
Y
MAM
—
i
d
\v[ji-7Tov
A K
-
va
A
Kid-va-Tai.'
-
M
M
Y
Xi -
yu
O
6e
Xco
M
A
^pi-pwv
ro?
-
M
r
^f^^^^Bg^ggg^f^^
gJi at
r
K
d
-
-
d - Xoi?
[^iejXc-o-ii'
hav
-
o)
Kpi-Kd'
S^
^v-6pov[s
is-fe>^
6
5'
KAMOYOMAMO —
M
Kil-da
-
pis
vp. -
VOL
-
->.->
(tlv
a
-
ou/Kruor S^
;(pi;-a-ea
7rpo'-7ra?
eV
-
pos 'Ad
-
di
-
3^
/leX-Tre - rai*
5^
gEf^E^g
piv
-
^
www.24grammata.com
6e [^e]-a) -
va
fN-
^
6a
u
Xa^L'*'*']
—
—
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
138
The
notes employed in this piece of music cover about an
octave and a
half,
viz.
from Parypate Hypaton
matic Lichanos Hyperbolaion. viz.
Chro-
to the
In two of the tetrachords,
Synemmenon and Hyperbolaion,
the intervals employed
are Chromatic (or possibly Enharmonic)
in the tetrachord
:
Diezeugmenon they are Diatonic, while in the tetrachord Meson the Lichanos, which would distinguish the genus, is wanting. On the other hand there are two notes which do not belong to the Phrygian key as hitherto known,
semitone below Mese, and
zeugmenon.
If
we assume
of the standard kind
viz. 0,
a
a semitone below Nete Die-
B,
that
we have
the complete scale
{xp^i^a Toviaiov),
Fcl)YOM
before us Chromatic is
lorBU/K>*c ,t?^_&^2_^ei
M
i
A
K
z-^.
Enharmonic, or Chromatic of a different
If the intervals are variety, the
moveable notes
be somewhat
case
(in this
M. Reinach
is
particularly
changes of genus and key
happy
in the
opening passage, as he shows,
U
bolaion.
'iv
X)
is
>fc
(g
—
flb
a) of the
up
With the menwe come upon the
Diatonic. aprj^)
to the point {iOi,
From
lies
this point the
lation into
melody
Synemmenon
M
The
Chromatic tetrachord Hyper-
to address the Attic procession
tetrachord
will
in tracing the successive
At the beginning of the second fragment the
vals are again Diatonic,
of genus.
A-
course of the poem.
tion of the Gaulish invasion {TakaTav
group
A K and
flatter,
inter-
where the poet turns
kXvtu fieyaXuno'Xis'AddLs,
chiefly in the
A K f (c—d^
k.t.X.).
Chromatic
—d—f) — a
moduthe key of the sub-dominant as well as a change end of the fragment the poet returns to At thewww.24grammata.com
the Diatonic and the original key.
— APPENDIX. With regard concerns us
at
and convincing.
the mode
to
present
He
— M.
— the
139
endings of the several phrases and divisions note which recurs most frequently. a Minor mode.
clear
is
appeals to three criteria,— (i) the im-
pression which the music makes on a modern ear
to
mainly
question which
Reinach's exposition
The
;
is
(2)
the
(3)
the
All these criteria point
made by
general impression
Diatonic parts of the melody
;
and
that of the
key of
C
the
minor
:
the rhythmical periods end on one or other of the notes c
— e^ —g, which
form the chord of that key
:
and the note
c
This conclusion, it need hardly be agreement with the main thesis of the pre-
distinctly predominates. said, is in entire
ceding pages.
The symbols
and
B,
which do not belong
gian scale, are explained by
M. Reinach
a high degree plausible and suggestive.
holds the place of leading-note '
note,
It
c.
to the
way
Phry-
that
'
is
in
In other keys, he
stands for the note b (natural).
observes, the symbol it
in a
Thus
(note sensible) to the key-
has hitherto been supposed that the standard
Greek music, the octave a— a, differed from the modern Minor in the want of a leading note. Here, however, we find evidence that such a note was known in practice, If this is if not as a matter of theory, to Greek musicians. in fact the keythat was view c so, it strongly confirms the note of the Phrygian scale. The symbol B, which occurs only once, answers to our g^, and may be similarly explained as a leading note to g, the dominant of the key. We infer, with M. Reinach, that the scale employed in the hymn is
scale of
not only
like,
but identical with, the scale of our Minor.
The fragment marked C by M. Weil resembles to
the
hymn
Apollo in subject, and also in metre, but cannot belong to
The melody is written in the Lydian key, we have hitherto known as the instrumental, but which is now shown to have been used, The fragment is as for vocal music. occasionally at least, www.24grammata.com
the
same work.
with the notation which
follows
:
—
—— —
THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.
140
c
(1. 3), K] and 0J> It does not appear however under KIZ (1. i). (1. 4). www.24grammata.com D. B. M. Modes 0/ Ancient Greek Music.
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Monro, D. B. The modes of ancient Greek
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