Handbook of Universal Literature, From the Best and Latest AuthoritiesBotta, Anne C. Lynch (Anne Charlotte Lynch)
History
Handbook of Universal Literature, From the Best and Latest Authorities
Botta, Anne C. Lynch (Anne Charlotte Lynch)
Literature -- History and criticism
7. GREEK MUSIC AND LYRIC POETRY.--It was not until the minds of the Greeks
had been elevated by the productions of the epic muse, that the genius of
original poets broke loose from the dominion of the epic style, and
invented new forms for expressing the emotions of a mind profoundly
agitated by passing events; with few innovations in the elegy, but with
greater boldness in the iambic metre. In these two forms, Greek poetry
entered the domain of real life. The elegy and iambus contain the germ of
the lyric style, though they do not themselves come under that head. The
Greek lyric poetry was characterized by the expression of deeper and more
impassioned feeling, and a more impetuous tone than the elegy and iambus,
and at the same time the effect was heightened by appropriate vocal and
instrumental music, and often by the figures of the dance. In this union
of the sister arts, poetry was indeed predominant, yet music, in its turn,
exercised a reciprocal influence on poetry, so that as it became more
cultivated, the choice of the musical measure decided the tone of the
whole poem.
The history of Greek music begins with Terpander the Lesbian (fl. 670
B.C.), who was many times the victor in the musical contests at the
Pythian temple of Delphi. He added three new strings to the cithara, which
had consisted only of four, and this heptachord was employed by Pindar,
and remained long in high repute; he was also the first who marked the
different tones in music. With other musicians, he united the music of
Asia Minor with that of the ancient Greeks, and founded on it a system in
which each style had its appropriate character. By the efforts of
Terpander and one or two other masters, music was brought to a high degree
of excellence, and adapted to express any feeling to which the poet could
give a more definite character and meaning, and thus they had solved the
great problem of their art. It was in Greece the constant endeavor of the
great poets, thinkers, and statesmen who interested themselves in the
education of youth, to give a good direction to this art; they all dreaded
the increasing prevalence of a luxuriant style of instrumental music and
an unrestricted flight into the boundless realms of harmony.
The lyric poetry of the Greeks was of two kinds, and cultivated by two
different schools of poets. One, called the Aeolic, flourished among the
Aeolians of Asia Minor, and particularly in the island of Lesbos; the
other, the Doric, which, although diffused over the whole of Greece, was
at first principally cultivated by the Dorians. These two schools differed
essentially in the subjects, as in the form and style of their poems. The
Doric was intended to be executed by choruses', and to be sung to choral
dances; while the Aeolic was recited by a single person, who accompanied
his recitation with a stringed instrument, generally the lyre.
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