Curiosities of Music: A Collection of Facts regarding the Music of Ancient and Savage Nations — Louis C. Elson
Curiosities of Music, by Louis C. Elson—a Project Gutenberg eBook You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : Curiosities of Music: A Collection of Facts not generally known, regarding the Music of Ancient and Savage Nations Author : Louis Charles Elson Release date : September 4, 2021 [eBook #66216] Most recently updated: October 18, 2024 Language : English Original publication : United States: Oliver Ditson Company, 1880 Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66216 Credits : Turgut Dincer, Stephen Hutcheson, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF ELSON OLIVER DITSON COMPANY BOSTON New York Chicago CHAS. H. DITSON & CO. LYON & HEALY Copyright , MDCCCLXXX, by J. M. STODDART & CO. Copyright , MCMVIII, by OLIVER DITSON COMPANY TO MY ESTEEMED FRIEND, Dr. C. Annette Buckei, THIS LITTLE WORK IS DEDICATED. 5 PREFACE. In this work, I have endeavored to bring together the most curious points in the music of many nations, ancient and modern. As the work originally appeared in a magazine (“The Vox Humana”) I was obliged to avoid any extended research into disputed points, such as Hebrew music, Greek music, water organs, etc., as being too abstruse for periodical reading. Yet many of the facts contained in its columns have not yet found their way into English literature. This was so entirely the case with Chinese music, that I was tempted to somewhat transgress my limits on this subject, it being, apparently, a neglected one. In all the other chapters I have merely sought out such facts as would interest, and present a comprehensive idea to the general reader, whether musical or not. My hearty thanks are due to Col. Henry Ware, and Mr. J. Norton, of Boston, for many facilities afforded and suggestions offered, in the course of compiling this book. If it fills an unoccupied niche, however small, in musical literature, it will have fulfilled the desire of The Author . 6 CONTENTS I Introduction 7 The Hindoos 8 II Ancient Egyptian 15 III Biblical and Hebrew 26 IV Ancient Greek Music 35 V The Public Games of Greece 39 VI The Philosophers, and Greek Social Music 53 VII Greek Theatre and Chorus 67 VII The Dances of Ancient Greece 79 VIII Ancient Roman Music 85 IX Music of the Roman Theatre 95 X Music of the Roman Empire 99 XI History of Chinese Music 114 XII Chinese Music and Musical Instruments 142 Of the Sound of Stone 145 Of the Sound of Metal 148 Of the Sound of Baked Clay 149 Of the Sound of Silk 149 The Sound of Wood 151 The Sound of Bamboo 153 The Sound of Calabash 155 Miscellaneous Instruments 156 The Sound of the Voice 158 XIII Chinese Musical Compositions and Ceremonies 162 Hymn to the Ancestors 164 XVI The Chinese Theatre and Dances 176 XVII Music of Japan 201 XVIII Music of Savage Nations 229 XIX African Music 251 Praise of Dingan, A Very Celebrated Chief 254 XX Music of the Early Christian Church 280 Greek Church 288 Syrian Church 290 The Armenian Church 292 The Churches of Africa 293 General Synopsis of Early Christian Music 296 XXI The Ambrosian and Gregorian Chant 299 XXII Music in Europe from the Fifth Century 308 XXIII The Ancient Bards 323 XXIV The Troubadours and Minne-Singers 329 XXV Curiosities of the Opera. Modern Composers, and Conclusion 352 Footnotes 364 Index. 365 7 CURIOSITIES OF MUSIC. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. Music has been broadly defined by Fetis as “the art of moving the feelings by combinations of sounds;” taken in this broad sense it may be considered as coeval with the human race. Vocal music, in a crude form, is as natural in man, to express feelings, as it is for a cat to purr or a lion to roar; as regards instrumental music, the primitive man might have found in every hollow tree a reverberating drum, and in every conchshell or horn of cattle, the natural beginnings of instrumental music; we shall find later that many nations ascribe the discovery of their music to the accidental appliance of some natural instrument; our surest guide in watching the rise of the art, should be the manner in which savage peoples, yet in a state of nature, produce music, and we shall find too, that even the lowest in the scale, even those beings who make the monkey tribe nearer and dearer to us, as possible relatives (the bushmen of Australia for example), have still a method of “moving the feelings by means of combinations of sounds.” 8 It is therefore, really in barbarous nations, that we may, reasoning by analogy, find in what state music existed when our own ancestors were in a state of nature; but in order to give a more chronological character to our sketches we will begin with the Music and Musical Mythology of the Ancients . THE HINDOOS. With this people, and the Egyptians we find proofs of the existence of a musical system at a time which far antedates the earliest reliable Scriptural records. Among the Hindoos especially, as far back as history extends, music has been treated not only as a fine art, but philosophically and mathematically. According to the oldest Brahminical records, in their all-embracing “Temple of Science,” it belongs to the 2d chief division of Lesser Sciences, but its natural and philosophic elements, are, with a nice distinction, admitted into their holiest and oldest book, the Veda . [1] Of course it has a divine origin ascribed to it, in fact the entire realm of Indian music is one tale of Mythology. According to Brahminical accounts, when Brahma had lain in the egg three thousand billion, four hundred million of years (3,000,400,000,000) he split it by the force of his thought and made Heaven and Earth from the two pieces; then Manu brought forth ten great fo