FOOTNOTES:[39]Ueber die Bedeutung der Aphasia für den musikalischen Ausdruck(Vierteljahrsschr für Mus-Wiss., September 1891).[40]Article cited, p. 57.[41]Ibid., p. 60.[42]For example: "One patient, from the beginning of his disease to his death, could say nothing butYesandNo.... One morning a patient began to sing 'I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls.' The speechless patient joined in and sang the first verse with the other, and then the second verse alone, articulating every word correctly."—Ibid., p. 61.[43]Article cited, p. 53,note: "Many idiots, who are scarcely capable of other impressions, are extraordinarily susceptible to music, and can remember a song which they have once heard."[44]"A peasant, who as the result of a heavy blow on the head lay unconscious for three days, found, when he came to himself, that he had forgotten all the music he ever knew, though he had lost nothing else."—Ibid., p. 64 (quoted from Carpenter,Mental Physiology, 4th edit., p. 443).[45]Ibid., p. 65.[46]See Jules Combarieu,Les rapports de la musique et de la poésie, considerées au point de vue de l'expression(1894), wherein there is an elaborate and searching examination of Spencer's theory.[47]To say nothing of the savage music which is either purely non-verbal, or linked to an almost meaningless refrain.[48]No importance, I take it, need be attached to such sentences as that the Malays "rehearse in a kind of recitative at theirbimbangsor feasts." The word recitative here affords no support for Spencer's theory. Travellers who have written of the music of primitive races have always been prone to use the term too loosely. Accustomed as they are to the highly developed music of Europe, with its fixity of scale and its wide range of instrumental tone, they use the term recitative as the easiest one to indicate, in a rough-and-ready way, a kind of music much less developed than our own in these respects. But such a use of the term is quite unscientific. There is no reason to believe that what we call their recitative is not really their music.[49]Wallaschek,Primitive Music, pp. 173, 174.[50]Of course Spencer might have rejoined that the songs in their present state represent the fully developed tree, which had to pass, in remoter times, through the previous stages he mentions. Apart from the general objections I have already urged against this theory, however, it is evident that Spencer cannot have the music of savage races under two categories—songandrecitative—using the one or the other as suits the purpose of his argument at the time. It will be seen later that his theory rests, to a very large extent, on the supposition that the music of savages and of Orientals represents only the second or recitative stage of the development from speech.[51]As Berlioz expressed it in theGrotesques de la musique, "Music exists by itself; it has no need of poetry, and if every human language were to perish, it would be none the less the most poetic, the grandest, and the freest of all the arts."[52]See the chapters entitled "Orpheus at the Zoo," in Mr. Cornish'sLife at the Zoo. Every one who has kept dogs or snakes must have noticed how vivid their musical perceptions are. My own dog has a decided musical faculty in him. He is exceedingly susceptible to the mezzo-soprano voice in the upper part of its middle register. Tones produced there—but no others in that or any other voice—he will try to imitate. It is not a howl, but a real attempt to hit the right pitch and to shape the sound with his mouth. "Excited speech" has nothing to do withhismusical perceptions. The excited speech usually comes later, from the singer whom he is favouring with this sincerest form of flattery.[53]Italics mine.[54]It seems quite clear that the Greeks had distinct tunes like our melodies, that were passed about from one singer or player to another. "In later times," says Müller, "there existed tunes written by Terpander, of the kind callednomes.... These nomes of Terpander were arranged for singing and playing on the cithara." They were, he goes on to say, "finished compositions, in which a certain musical idea was systematically worked out, as is proved by the different parts which belonged to one of them." There were popular songs, and there were certain tunes that were sung at festivals. Nor was the music invariably associated with poetry; there was music that was purely instrumental. Olympus (B.C.660-620) seems to have been a musician only. "Olympus is never, like Terpander, mentioned as a poet; he is simply a musician. His nomes, indeed, seem to have been originally executed on the flute alone, without singing." See K. O. Müller'sHistory of the Literature of Ancient Greece(Eng. trans.), vol. i. chap. 12. For an expert treatment of the whole subject, see Hugo Riemann'sHandbuch der Musikgeschichte, Erster Teil (1904), especially Book I., chap. I., § 3, § 4, § 5.[55]It does not seem to have occurred to Spencer that if savages have melodies, however tiny and primitive, it can hardly be true that they are only in the recitative stage. The plain fact is that his use of the term recitative was wholly unscientific. He never saw that there is a vast æsthetic distinction between recitative in the sense of more sonorous and more formal speech—as in the case of an orator or a preacher—and recitative in the musical sense. In the latter case the distinctively musical appetite comes into play; in the former it does not. The one is an intensification of ordinary speech, but never becomes more than speech; the other is music, even though restricted music. They spring from different faculties and appeal to different organs of enjoyment.
FOOTNOTES:
[39]Ueber die Bedeutung der Aphasia für den musikalischen Ausdruck(Vierteljahrsschr für Mus-Wiss., September 1891).
[39]Ueber die Bedeutung der Aphasia für den musikalischen Ausdruck(Vierteljahrsschr für Mus-Wiss., September 1891).
[40]Article cited, p. 57.
[40]Article cited, p. 57.
[41]Ibid., p. 60.
[41]Ibid., p. 60.
[42]For example: "One patient, from the beginning of his disease to his death, could say nothing butYesandNo.... One morning a patient began to sing 'I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls.' The speechless patient joined in and sang the first verse with the other, and then the second verse alone, articulating every word correctly."—Ibid., p. 61.
[42]For example: "One patient, from the beginning of his disease to his death, could say nothing butYesandNo.... One morning a patient began to sing 'I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls.' The speechless patient joined in and sang the first verse with the other, and then the second verse alone, articulating every word correctly."—Ibid., p. 61.
[43]Article cited, p. 53,note: "Many idiots, who are scarcely capable of other impressions, are extraordinarily susceptible to music, and can remember a song which they have once heard."
[43]Article cited, p. 53,note: "Many idiots, who are scarcely capable of other impressions, are extraordinarily susceptible to music, and can remember a song which they have once heard."
[44]"A peasant, who as the result of a heavy blow on the head lay unconscious for three days, found, when he came to himself, that he had forgotten all the music he ever knew, though he had lost nothing else."—Ibid., p. 64 (quoted from Carpenter,Mental Physiology, 4th edit., p. 443).
[44]"A peasant, who as the result of a heavy blow on the head lay unconscious for three days, found, when he came to himself, that he had forgotten all the music he ever knew, though he had lost nothing else."—Ibid., p. 64 (quoted from Carpenter,Mental Physiology, 4th edit., p. 443).
[45]Ibid., p. 65.
[45]Ibid., p. 65.
[46]See Jules Combarieu,Les rapports de la musique et de la poésie, considerées au point de vue de l'expression(1894), wherein there is an elaborate and searching examination of Spencer's theory.
[46]See Jules Combarieu,Les rapports de la musique et de la poésie, considerées au point de vue de l'expression(1894), wherein there is an elaborate and searching examination of Spencer's theory.
[47]To say nothing of the savage music which is either purely non-verbal, or linked to an almost meaningless refrain.
[47]To say nothing of the savage music which is either purely non-verbal, or linked to an almost meaningless refrain.
[48]No importance, I take it, need be attached to such sentences as that the Malays "rehearse in a kind of recitative at theirbimbangsor feasts." The word recitative here affords no support for Spencer's theory. Travellers who have written of the music of primitive races have always been prone to use the term too loosely. Accustomed as they are to the highly developed music of Europe, with its fixity of scale and its wide range of instrumental tone, they use the term recitative as the easiest one to indicate, in a rough-and-ready way, a kind of music much less developed than our own in these respects. But such a use of the term is quite unscientific. There is no reason to believe that what we call their recitative is not really their music.
[48]No importance, I take it, need be attached to such sentences as that the Malays "rehearse in a kind of recitative at theirbimbangsor feasts." The word recitative here affords no support for Spencer's theory. Travellers who have written of the music of primitive races have always been prone to use the term too loosely. Accustomed as they are to the highly developed music of Europe, with its fixity of scale and its wide range of instrumental tone, they use the term recitative as the easiest one to indicate, in a rough-and-ready way, a kind of music much less developed than our own in these respects. But such a use of the term is quite unscientific. There is no reason to believe that what we call their recitative is not really their music.
[49]Wallaschek,Primitive Music, pp. 173, 174.
[49]Wallaschek,Primitive Music, pp. 173, 174.
[50]Of course Spencer might have rejoined that the songs in their present state represent the fully developed tree, which had to pass, in remoter times, through the previous stages he mentions. Apart from the general objections I have already urged against this theory, however, it is evident that Spencer cannot have the music of savage races under two categories—songandrecitative—using the one or the other as suits the purpose of his argument at the time. It will be seen later that his theory rests, to a very large extent, on the supposition that the music of savages and of Orientals represents only the second or recitative stage of the development from speech.
[50]Of course Spencer might have rejoined that the songs in their present state represent the fully developed tree, which had to pass, in remoter times, through the previous stages he mentions. Apart from the general objections I have already urged against this theory, however, it is evident that Spencer cannot have the music of savage races under two categories—songandrecitative—using the one or the other as suits the purpose of his argument at the time. It will be seen later that his theory rests, to a very large extent, on the supposition that the music of savages and of Orientals represents only the second or recitative stage of the development from speech.
[51]As Berlioz expressed it in theGrotesques de la musique, "Music exists by itself; it has no need of poetry, and if every human language were to perish, it would be none the less the most poetic, the grandest, and the freest of all the arts."
[51]As Berlioz expressed it in theGrotesques de la musique, "Music exists by itself; it has no need of poetry, and if every human language were to perish, it would be none the less the most poetic, the grandest, and the freest of all the arts."
[52]See the chapters entitled "Orpheus at the Zoo," in Mr. Cornish'sLife at the Zoo. Every one who has kept dogs or snakes must have noticed how vivid their musical perceptions are. My own dog has a decided musical faculty in him. He is exceedingly susceptible to the mezzo-soprano voice in the upper part of its middle register. Tones produced there—but no others in that or any other voice—he will try to imitate. It is not a howl, but a real attempt to hit the right pitch and to shape the sound with his mouth. "Excited speech" has nothing to do withhismusical perceptions. The excited speech usually comes later, from the singer whom he is favouring with this sincerest form of flattery.
[52]See the chapters entitled "Orpheus at the Zoo," in Mr. Cornish'sLife at the Zoo. Every one who has kept dogs or snakes must have noticed how vivid their musical perceptions are. My own dog has a decided musical faculty in him. He is exceedingly susceptible to the mezzo-soprano voice in the upper part of its middle register. Tones produced there—but no others in that or any other voice—he will try to imitate. It is not a howl, but a real attempt to hit the right pitch and to shape the sound with his mouth. "Excited speech" has nothing to do withhismusical perceptions. The excited speech usually comes later, from the singer whom he is favouring with this sincerest form of flattery.
[53]Italics mine.
[53]Italics mine.
[54]It seems quite clear that the Greeks had distinct tunes like our melodies, that were passed about from one singer or player to another. "In later times," says Müller, "there existed tunes written by Terpander, of the kind callednomes.... These nomes of Terpander were arranged for singing and playing on the cithara." They were, he goes on to say, "finished compositions, in which a certain musical idea was systematically worked out, as is proved by the different parts which belonged to one of them." There were popular songs, and there were certain tunes that were sung at festivals. Nor was the music invariably associated with poetry; there was music that was purely instrumental. Olympus (B.C.660-620) seems to have been a musician only. "Olympus is never, like Terpander, mentioned as a poet; he is simply a musician. His nomes, indeed, seem to have been originally executed on the flute alone, without singing." See K. O. Müller'sHistory of the Literature of Ancient Greece(Eng. trans.), vol. i. chap. 12. For an expert treatment of the whole subject, see Hugo Riemann'sHandbuch der Musikgeschichte, Erster Teil (1904), especially Book I., chap. I., § 3, § 4, § 5.
[54]It seems quite clear that the Greeks had distinct tunes like our melodies, that were passed about from one singer or player to another. "In later times," says Müller, "there existed tunes written by Terpander, of the kind callednomes.... These nomes of Terpander were arranged for singing and playing on the cithara." They were, he goes on to say, "finished compositions, in which a certain musical idea was systematically worked out, as is proved by the different parts which belonged to one of them." There were popular songs, and there were certain tunes that were sung at festivals. Nor was the music invariably associated with poetry; there was music that was purely instrumental. Olympus (B.C.660-620) seems to have been a musician only. "Olympus is never, like Terpander, mentioned as a poet; he is simply a musician. His nomes, indeed, seem to have been originally executed on the flute alone, without singing." See K. O. Müller'sHistory of the Literature of Ancient Greece(Eng. trans.), vol. i. chap. 12. For an expert treatment of the whole subject, see Hugo Riemann'sHandbuch der Musikgeschichte, Erster Teil (1904), especially Book I., chap. I., § 3, § 4, § 5.
[55]It does not seem to have occurred to Spencer that if savages have melodies, however tiny and primitive, it can hardly be true that they are only in the recitative stage. The plain fact is that his use of the term recitative was wholly unscientific. He never saw that there is a vast æsthetic distinction between recitative in the sense of more sonorous and more formal speech—as in the case of an orator or a preacher—and recitative in the musical sense. In the latter case the distinctively musical appetite comes into play; in the former it does not. The one is an intensification of ordinary speech, but never becomes more than speech; the other is music, even though restricted music. They spring from different faculties and appeal to different organs of enjoyment.
[55]It does not seem to have occurred to Spencer that if savages have melodies, however tiny and primitive, it can hardly be true that they are only in the recitative stage. The plain fact is that his use of the term recitative was wholly unscientific. He never saw that there is a vast æsthetic distinction between recitative in the sense of more sonorous and more formal speech—as in the case of an orator or a preacher—and recitative in the musical sense. In the latter case the distinctively musical appetite comes into play; in the former it does not. The one is an intensification of ordinary speech, but never becomes more than speech; the other is music, even though restricted music. They spring from different faculties and appeal to different organs of enjoyment.