A Complete History of Music: for Schools, Clubs, and Private ReadingBaltzell, W. J. (Winton James)
History
A Complete History of Music: for Schools, Clubs, and Private Reading
Baltzell, W. J. (Winton James)
Music -- History and criticism
Peculiar interest attaches to this series of sounds, because in the
Middle Ages they were supposed to be the _only_ sounds admitted by the
Greeks. This accounts for the fact that B was the first note that it
was considered right to use in two forms.
=The Greek Scales=.—The Greeks did not by any means confine themselves
to these sounds, but changed the pitch of the starting note just as
we do with our scales; in other words, both of these systems might
be transposed. Therefore they not only had all the sounds at command
that we have, but as their scales were (theoretically, at least)
tuned acoustically true, they had a great many more. But their scales
were all diatonic (the scales they called Chromatic and Enharmonic
will be explained later), they were all like our natural minor. When
they said “Dorian Scale” they meant just what we mean when we say
scale of D minor; Phrygian Scale meant E minor; Lydian Scale, F-sharp
minor; Mixo-Lydian, G minor. In addition to these four scales there
were three that began a fourth below, one a fourth below the Dorian,
called the Hypo-Dorian, A minor; a fourth below the Phrygian, called
the Hypo-Phrygian, B minor; and a fourth below the Lydian, called
Hypo-Lydian, C-sharp minor; these were the standard scales of Greek
music. These names, Dorian, etc., were retained in the Ecclesiastical
System, but the mistake was made of supposing that the Greeks used
only the fixed sounds given by the untransposed Greater System. Hence
the Church Dorian has B natural, not B-flat; the Church Phrygian,
F natural, not F sharp; and the Church Lydian begins on F natural,
instead of on F sharp. Hence, no two church scales are alike in the
positions of the halftones.
QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS.
Name some of the myths connected with music among the Greeks. Consult a
work on mythology.
Name the musicians and philosophers connected with Greek music; arrange
them in chronological order, with dates.
State the successive points of development.
Why do we consider that the history of music as we know it today begins
with Greek music?
Have we music that belongs to the Greek period?
On what was the Greek Scale founded?
How was this extended? What name did this form receive?
In what respect did the Disjunct form differ from the Conjunct?
What was the _Mese_?
What was the Lesser Perfect System?
What was the Greater Perfect System?
What was the highest note used by the Greeks? What was the lowest?
Were these systems transposable?
What is the meaning of the prefix “Hypo”?
LESSON IV.
MUSIC OF THE GREEKS (_Concluded_).
=The Greek Octave System=.—So far, everything is clear enough; but the
next step is not quite so sure. The Greeks spoke of the Dorian Octave,
the Phrygian Octave, and so on; and the word Octave, used in this way,
has been thought to be synonymous with Scale, which is doubtful, for
the following reasons:
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