DAVID MONRO Modes of Ancient Greek Music

LIBRARY OF

WELLESLEY COLLEGE

PRESENTED BY Prof, K. H. Horsford

THE MODES OF

ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC MONRO

Bonbon

HENRY FROWDE Oxford University Press Warehouse

Amen Corner,

E.G.

glen? ^orft

MACMILLAN &

CO., 66,

FIFTH AVENUF.

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

'fA^'

Opfovb

PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY

;^

n.

DEDICATED TO THE

PROVOST AND FELLOWS

OF TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN

^€LV0(TVVr]9

€V€Ka

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^

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

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 attained.

as

an

art,

his

for

their

object

criticism

will

be

of

fully

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 § 7.

The

dpfiovlai in

9 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.

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

The seven Species {a-xvf^aTa, with the Modes

cUr])

of the

Scale.

Octave— connexion 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.

of Plato's Republic

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

....

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

serious practical concern.

we

If

on a question of

this kind

are inclined to distrust the imaginative temper of

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

context will

the

modern

distinctively

denotes

a

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.

PovXivffofxfda,

p.

rivfs

400 t€

b

dWd

ravra

dveXfvOepias

Kal

/^eV,

^v

vPpecus

b'

^

kyw, Kal ^uerd AdfxoDVOs fiavias

TTpinovaai Pdaas, Kal Tivas rots evavriois XeinTeou pvOfiovs.

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

Theorie

de

la

Musique de

B 2

I'Anttquite

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 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 were two kinds of Ionian, a 'highlythere 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 evidence 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,

that will imitate the tones

enduring danger or

'

'

I

do

me one brave man

but leave

and accents of a

distress, fighting

with constancy

— '

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,

The

'EWrjVLKrj kcTTLv apjiovLo).

may be due Laches

is

opinion.

passages in his

The

dW

rj

rrep

exclusion of Phrygian

to the fact that the virtue discussed in the

courage; but

it is

agreement with

in

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 Dorian and Phrygian pitch. principle

was not a new

that

he approves of the

The

one, for

it

application of this

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?

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

rcou

(rfj

make

they

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

tone as well

makes

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 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 below the Dorian, in the place afterwards occupied by

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

the young; faithful

and

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

{kvOovcnacrrLKovs).

In a later chapter {Pol.

32), he returns to the subject of the Phrygian. Socrates, he thinks, ought not to have left it with the Dorian, especially since he condemned the

viii.

7, p.

1342 a

,

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 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

proper

being

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

(the

fits

itself in

:—

the other modes, but least of

orgiastic

writer

passive complaint

adds)

Hypo-phrygian. the

passive

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 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. Aristoxenus 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

by

corrcction strongly suggested crva-TrjfxdiTcou

oKraxopSccv in the

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 reference to the melodious character of the scale. Thus we 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),

and apparently therefore twenty-eight dieses. Some traces of this use of 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

SLciyova-a,

av^rjaaa-a

' :

accompanying words Sia

Siio-ei? apiiovia, eco9 iraa-cou,

this is

:

avTr] ea-Tiv

k8

Stea-ecop

to SevTepov Sta T(ov

rj

napa

to irpo-

tj/xltovlcou

the ap^iovta (division of the scale)

;

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

:

& tKaKovv dpnovias in this passage answers to the adjective hvapixovlwv in the 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

,

hxrl,

Hj. h,

E Ud. As some

F

Ll^,

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 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

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

this

would give us

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

also for the

They

— Dorian, Phrygian,

Enharmonic 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

:

.

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 <

in a slightly different form.

that

distinctive of the

commoner form <

both these forms are

But the inscription

in i)

is

use

really contains only h

We

cannot therefore say

the inventor of the notation derived

entirely

it

from the alphabet of Argos, but only that he shows an acquaintance with that alphabet. This is confirmed by the fact that the form

h

for iota is not

found

at

Argos.

Probably therefore the inventor drew upon more than ^

Harmonik imd

Melopoie, p. 286 (ed. i863\

given by Mr. Roberts, Greek Epigraphy,

p. 109.

The

true form of the letter

is

I

THE NOTATION. one alphabet being one.

The

purpose,

his

for

the

75

Argive alphabet

special fitness of the notation for the scales of

the Enharmonic genus

may be

We

regarded as a further

present^ that that genus held a peculiar predominance in the earliest indication of

period

its

date.

of musical

brought

to

If the

theory

shall see

—

that,

namely, which was

an end by Aristoxenus.

— or the second author, characters — was one of the

author of the notation

inventor of the modified

musicians whose names have come

be

difficult to find

Pronomus

a

of Thebes.

down to us, it would more probable one than that of

One

of the most striking features

when it was framed, must have been the adjustment of the keys. Even in the time of Aristoxenus, as we know from the passage so often quoted, that adjustment was not universal. But it is of the notation, at the time

precisely

done

what Pronomus of Thebes

for the

music of the

is

said to have

flute {supra, p. 38).

The

circumstance that the system was only used for instru-

mental music If

it

may

is

is at

least in

harmony with

thought that Thebes

is

this conjecture.

too far from Argos,

we

back upon the notice that Sacadas of Argos was the chief composer for the flute before the time of Pronomus ^, and doubtless Argos was one of the first cities to share in the advance which Pronomus made in fall

the technique of his

§ 28.

art.

Traces of the Species in the Notation.

Before leaving this part of the subject to notice the attempt ^

Pausanias

(iv.

will

which Westphal makes

27, 4) says of the founding of

di) irpoTixOrj

fxaKiara

els

to

be well connect

Messene: elpyd^ovro

virb fxovaiKrjs dX\T]s fxlv ovdefiids, avkuiv 5e BoiajTiajv fcal

Kot IIpovoixov fiiXrj t6t€

it

'Apydcov

ajxiWai^.

to,

be koi

re laKoZa

— THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.

76

the species of the Octave with the form of the musical notation.

The

notation, as has been explained formed by two Diatonic octaves, denoted by the letters of the alphabet from a to v^ as follows

basis of the

(p. 69), is

:

ahcdefgabcd

f g

e

In this scale, as has been pointed out

(p.

a

71),

the

notes which are at the distance of an octave from, each

other are always expressed by two successive letters

Thus we

of the alphabet. ^3

- y

is

^ - e F - C r} -

find

the octave e -

e^

the Dorian species.

-

c,

the Lydian species.

c

„

,,

M

M

g -gi

„

„

a -a, the Hypo-dorian species.

the Hypo-phrygian species.

Westphal adopts the theory of Boeckh (as to which Hypo-phrygian and Hypo-dorian species answered to the ancient Ionian and Aeolian see p. 11) that the

piodes.

On

this

assumption he argues that the order

of the pairs of letters representing the species agrees

with the order of the

Modes

in the historical develop-

ment of Greek music. For the Ionian, and Aeolian he appeals

to

Heraclides Ponticus, quoted above

(p. 9).

he supposes, was interposed account of

we have

its

seen,

priority of Dorian,

in the

the authority of

Lydian,

second place on

importance

in

by Aristotle

in the Politics

Hence he regards

The

education,— recognised, as

7 ad fin.). the notation as confirming his theory (viii.

of the nature and history of the Modes.

The weakness

of this reasoning

is manifold. Granting Hypo-dorian and Hypo-phrygian answer to the old Aeolian and Ionian respectively, we have to ask what is the nature of the priority which Heraclides

that the

THE NOTATION.

77

Ponticus claims for his three modes, and what value of his testimony.

What

he says

worthy of the name of modes

Hellenic, and

is

the

in substance,

music that are truly

that these are the only kinds of

It

is,

can hardly be thought that this

is

{apfiovLai.).

a criticism likely

have weighed with the inventor of the notation. But if it did, why did he give an equally prominent place to Lydian, one of the modes which Heraclides condemned? In fact, the introduction of Lydian goes to

far to

show

the views

that the coincidence

of

Heraclides

is

mere

however, from these

difficulties,

considerations which

seem

1.

The

— such

as

it

accident.

is

—with Apart,

there are at least two

fatal to

Westphal's theory:

notation, so far as the original

two octaves are

concerned, must have been devised and worked out at

some one

No

time.

part of these two octaves can have

been completed before the rest. Hence the order in which the letters are taken for the several notes has no historical importance. 2.

The

notation does not represent onl}^ the species

of a scale, that

is to

which compose

it,

pitch of each note.

say, the relative pitch of the notes it

represents also the absolute

Thus

the octaves which are defined

but

P-

S -

and the If they were framed rest, are octaves of definite notes. with a view to the ancient modes, as Westphal thinks, they must be the actual scales employed in these modes.

by the successive

If so, the

pairs of letters,

modes followed each

y,

e,

other, in respect of pitch,

in an order exactly the reverse of the order observed It need hardly be said that this is quite in the keys.

impossible.

THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.

78

Ptolemy s Scheme of Modes.

§ 29.

The

first

who

writer

takes the Species of the Octave

as the basis of the musical scales

Claudius Ptolemaeus

is

140-160

(fl.

the mathematician

In his Har-

a.d.).

he virtually sets aside the scheme of keys elaborated by Aristoxenus and his school, and adopts in their place a system of scales answering in their monics

main features

to the

The

mediaeval Tones or Modes.

object of difference of key, he says,

is

not that the

may be of a higher or lower pitch, melody may be brought within a certain

music as a whole but that a

For

compass.

this

purpose

is

it

necessary to vary the

modern musician does

a

succession of intervals (as

by changing the signature of the clef). If, for example, we take the Perfect System {o-vo-Trj/ia dfxeTalBoXou) in the key of a minor which is its natural key, and transpose it to the key of d minor, we do so, according to

—

—

Ptolemy, not in order to raise the general pitch of our music by a Fourth, but because we wish to have a scale with b

flat

The

instead of b natural.

flattening of this

two octaves change their They are now of the species e-e. Thus, species. instead of transposing the Perfect System into different keys, we arrive more directly at the desired result by

note, however,

means

that the

changing the species of

its

seven possible species of the

Systems or scales. follows, as Ptolemy shows

different it

greater

number

of keys

And as there are Octave, we obtain seven From these assumptions

octaves.

is

octave higher than another,

in

some

useless. it

is

^

Harm.

ii.

8

oi 5e

If a

key

is

same

an

virepiKm-nTOvrts tov Sid -naawv tovs

an

intervals \ avrov rov did

-naawv dircuTepo} irapeXKovTcos viroTiOevTai, tovs cvtovs dci -yivoiiivovs roTs \r]fjifiii/ois.

any

superfluous because

gives us a mere repetition of the

it

detail, that

irpoei-

Ptolemy's scheme. If

we

interpose a key between

(e.g.)

79

the Hypo-dorian

must give us over again either the Hypo-dorian or the Hypo-phrygian scaled Thus the fifteen keys of the Aristoxeneans are reduced

and the Hypo-phrygian,

it

seven, and these seven are not transpositions of a single scale, but are all of the same pitch. See the

to

end of the book. With this scheme of Keys Ptolemy combined a new method of naming the individual notes. The old method, by which a note was named from its relative place in the Perfect System, must evidently have

table at the

become inconvenient. The Lydian Mese, for example, was two tones higher than the Dorian Mese, because the Lydian scale as a whole was two tones higher than But when the two scales were reduced to the Dorian. the old Lydian Mese was no longer compass, the same in the middle of the scale, and the name ceased to have though the term dominant when Minor key were made to mean the domiapplied to a nant of the relative Major key. On Ptolemy's method the notes of each scale were named from their places in The old names were used, Proslambanomenos for it. the lowest, Hypate Hypaton for the next, and so on,

a meaning.

It is

as

'

'

but without regard to the intervals between the notes. Thus there were two methods of naming, that which

had been

in

use hitherto, termed

'

nomenclature accord-

and the new method of naming from the various scales, termed 'nomenclature according to position' (pvo\ia(Tia Kara

ing to value''

The former was

eia-Lv).

Perfect place a 1

fj

Kara

in

SvuafXLv),

effect

a retention of the

System and the Keys the latter put in their scheme of seven different standard Systems. :

Harm.

irporepov,

{ovo^acria

ii.

dW

ii

wan

jx-qh'

av Uepov en 86iai rZ

virodwpiov irnXiv,

^apvcpoJvoTfpov jxovov.

rj

et'Sfi

tov rovov -napa lov

tov avTov viro(ppvyiov, o^vcpMVoTepov

-rivos

THE MODES OF ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.

8o

In illustration of his theory Ptolemy gives tables

numbers the intervals of the octaves used He shows two in the different keys and genera. octaves in each key, viz. that from Hypate Meson [Kara Oia-Lv) to Nete Diezeugmenon (called the octave airh vrjTTj^), and that from Proslambanomenos to Mese (the showing

in

octave drro

five different

number

As he

/leo-rj?).

colours

'

of octaves

is

'

no

gives the divisions of

also

or varieties of genus, the whole less than seventy.

Ptolemy does not exclude difference of pitch altoThe whole instrument, he says, may be tuned higher or lower at pleasured Thus the pitch is treated by him as modern notation treats the fempo, viz. as something which is not absolutely given, but has to be supplied by the individual performer. Although the language of Ptolemy's exposition is gether.

studiously impersonal,

may be

it

gathered

his

that

reduction of the number of keys from fifteen to seven was an innovation proposed by himself 2. If this is so, the rest of the scheme, pitch,

due

— the elimination of the element of

and the nomenclature by position,'— must also be '

we find ourselves at issue who agree with him on the

Here, however,

to him.

with Westphal and those

main question of the Modes. According to Westphal the nomenclature by position is mentioned by Aristoxenus, and is implied in at least one important passage of the Aristotelian Pi^oblems. We have now to examine the evidence which he adduces to support his contention. Hartn.

^

ii.

7 irpbs ttjv roiavr-qv hia*-^ -

^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,

—

=^— ^ ^

\-

\

v-8pou

k6-

^!^-f^b^=^

a Hap-vaa

iE?E?; va. -

o -

-

^—

or

u

va

1 -

fxaL-pov