Part 3

THE LYRE.――This instrument is represented on some Hebrew coins generally ascribed to Judas Maccabæus, who lived in the second century before the Christian era. There are several of them in the British Museum; some are of silver, and the others of copper. On three of them are lyres with three strings, another has one with five, and another one with six strings. The two sides of the frame appear to have been made of the horns of animals, or they may have been of wood formed in imitation of two horns which originally were used. Lyres thus constructed are still found in Abyssinia. The Hebrew square-shaped lyre of the time of Simon Maccabæus is probably identical with the _psalterion_. The _kinnor_, the favourite instrument of king David, was most likely a lyre if not a small triangular harp. The lyre was evidently an universally known and favoured instrument among ancient eastern nations. Being more simple in construction than most other stringed instruments it undoubtedly preceded them in antiquity. The _kinnor_ is mentioned in the Bible as the oldest stringed instrument, and as the invention of Jubal. Even if the name of one particular stringed instrument is here used for stringed instruments in general, which may possibly be the case, it is only reasonable to suppose that the oldest and most universally known stringed instrument would be mentioned as a representative of the whole class rather than any other. Besides, the _kinnor_ was a light and easily portable instrument; king David, according to the Rabbinic records, used to suspend it during the night over his pillow. All its uses mentioned in the Bible are especially applicable to the lyre. And the resemblance of the word _kinnor_ to _kithara_, _kissar_, and similar names known to denote the lyre, also tends to confirm the supposition that it refers to this instrument. It is, however, not likely that the instruments of the Hebrews――indeed their music altogether――should have remained entirely unchanged during a period of many centuries. Some modifications were likely to occur even from accidental causes; such, for instance, as the influence of neighbouring nations when the Hebrews came into closer contact with them. Thus may be explained why the accounts of the Hebrew instruments given by Josephus, who lived in the first century of the Christian era, are not in exact accordance with those in the Bible. The lyres at the time of Simon Maccabæus may probably be different from those which were in use about a thousand years earlier, or at the time of David and Solomon, when the art of music with the Hebrews was at its zenith.

There appears to be a probability that a Hebrew lyre of the time of Joseph (about 1700 B.C.) is represented on an ancient Egyptian painting[3] discovered in a tomb at Beni Hassan――which is the name of certain grottoes on the eastern bank of the Nile. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his “Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians,” observes: “If, when we become better acquainted with the interpretation of hieroglyphics, the ‘strangers’ at Beni Hassan should prove to be the arrival of Jacob’s family in Egypt, we may examine the Jewish lyre drawn by an Egyptian artist. That this event took place about the period when the inmate of the tomb lived is highly probable――at least, if I am correct in considering Usertsen I. to be the Pharaoh who was the patron of Joseph; and it remains for us to decide whether the disagreement in the number of persons here introduced, thirty-seven being written over them in hieroglyphics, is a sufficient objection to their identity. It will not be foreign to the present subject to introduce those figures, which are curious, if only considered as illustrative of ancient customs at that early period, and which will be looked upon with unbounded interest should they ever be found to refer to the Jews. The first figure is an Egyptian scribe, who presents an account of their arrival to a person seated, the owner of the tomb, and one of the principal officers of the reigning Pharaoh. The next, also an Egyptian, ushers them into his presence; and two advance bringing presents, the wild goat or ibex and the gazelle, the productions of their country. Four men, carrying bows and clubs, follow, leading an ass on which two children are placed in panniers, accompanied by a boy and four women; and, last of all, another ass laden, and two men――one holding a bow and club, the other a lyre, which he plays with the plectrum. All the men have beards, contrary to the custom of the Egyptians, but very general in the East at that period, and noticed as a peculiarity of foreign uncivilized nations throughout their sculptures. The men have sandals, the women a sort of boot reaching to the ankle, both which were worn by many Asiatic people. The lyre is rude, and differs in form from those generally used in Egypt.” In the engraving the lyre-player, another man, and some strange animals from this group, are represented.

THE TAMBOURA.――_Minnim_, _machalath_, and _nevel_ are usually supposed to be the names of instruments of the lute or guitar kind. _Minnim_, however, appears more likely to imply stringed instruments in general than any particular instrument.

THE SINGLE PIPE.――_Chalil_ and _nekeb_ were the names of the Hebrew pipes or flutes.

THE DOUBLE PIPE.――Probably the _mishrokitha_ mentioned in Daniel. The _mishrokitha_ is represented in the drawings of our histories of music as a small organ, consisting of seven pipes placed in a box with a mouthpiece for blowing. But the shape of the pipes and of the box as well as the row of keys for the fingers exhibited in the representation of the _mishrokitha_ have too much of the European type not to suggest that they are probably a product of the imagination. Respecting the illustrations of Hebrew instruments which usually accompany historical treatises on music and commentaries on the Bible, it ought to be borne in mind that most of them are merely the offspring of conjectures founded on some obscure hints in the Bible, or vague accounts by the Rabbins.

THE SYRINX OR PANDEAN PIPE.――Probably the _ugab_, which in the English authorised version of the Bible is rendered “organ.”

THE BAGPIPE.――The word _sumphonia_, which occurs in the book of Daniel, is, by Forkel and others, supposed to denote a bagpipe. It is remarkable that at the present day the bagpipe is called by the Italian peasantry Zampogna. Another Hebrew instrument, the _magrepha_, generally described as an organ, was more likely only a kind of bagpipe. The _magrepha_ is not mentioned in the Bible but is described in the Talmud. In tract Erachin it is recorded to have been a powerful organ which stood in the temple at Jerusalem, and consisted of a case or wind-chest, with ten holes, containing ten pipes. Each pipe was capable of emitting ten different sounds, by means of finger-holes or some similar contrivance: thus one hundred different sounds could be produced on this instrument. Further, the _magrepha_ is said to have been provided with two pairs of bellows and with ten keys, by means of which it was played with the fingers. Its tone was, according to the Rabbinic accounts, so loud that it could be heard at an incredibly long distance from the temple. Authorities so widely differ that we must leave it uncertain whether the much-lauded _magrepha_ was a bagpipe, an organ, or a kettle-drum.

THE TRUMPET.――Three kinds are mentioned in the Bible, viz., the _keren_, the _shophar_, and the _chatzozerah_. The first two were more or less curved and might properly be considered as horns. Most commentators are of opinion that the _keren_――made of ram’s horn――was almost identical with the _shophar_, the only difference being that the latter was more curved than the former. The _shophar_ is especially remarkable as being the only Hebrew musical instrument which has been preserved to the present day in the religious services of the Jews. It is still blown in the synagogue, as in time of old, at the Jewish new-year’s festival, according to the command of Moses (Numb. xxix. 1). The _chatzozerah_ was a straight trumpet, about two feet in length, and was sometimes made of silver. Two of these straight trumpets are shown in the famous triumphal procession after the fall of Jerusalem on the arch of Titus.

THE DRUM.――There can be no doubt that the Hebrews had several kinds of drums. We know, however, only of the _toph_, which appears to have been a tambourine or a small hand-drum like the Egyptian darabuka. In the English version of the Bible the word is rendered _timbrel_ or _tabret_. This instrument was especially used in processions on occasions of rejoicing, and also frequently by females. We find it in the hands of Miriam, when she was celebrating with the Israelitish women in songs of joy the destruction of Pharaoh’s host; and in the hands of Jephtha’s daughter, when she went out to welcome her father. There exists at the present day in the East a small hand-drum called _doff_, _diff_, or _adufe_――a name which appears to be synonymous with the Hebrew _toph_.

THE SISTRUM.――Winer, Saalschütz, and several other commentators are of opinion that the _menaaneim_, mentioned in 2 Sam. vi. 5, denotes the sistrum. In the English Bible the original is translated _cymbals_.

CYMBALS.――The _tzeltzelim_, _metzilloth_, and _metzilthaim_, appear to have been cymbals or similar metallic instruments of percussion, differing in shape and sound.

BELLS.――The little bells on the vestments of the high-priest were called _phaamon_. Small golden bells were attached to the lower part of the robes of the high-priest in his sacred ministrations. The Jews have, at the present day, in their synagogues small bells fastened to the rolls of the Law containing the Pentateuch: a kind of ornamentation which is supposed to have been in use from time immemorial.

Besides the names of Hebrew instruments already given there occur several others in the Old Testament, upon the real meaning of which much diversity of opinion prevails. _Jobel_ is by some commentators classed with the trumpets, but it is by others believed to designate a loud and cheerful blast of the trumpet, used on particular occasions. If _Jobel_ (from which _jubilare_ is supposed to be derived) is identical with the name _Jubal_, the inventor of musical instruments, it would appear that the Hebrews appreciated pre-eminently the exhilarating power of music. _Shalisbim_ is supposed to denote a triangle. _Nechiloth_, _gittith_, and _machalath_, which occur in the headings of some psalms, are also by commentators supposed to be musical instruments. _Nechiloth_ is said to have been a flute, and _gittith_ and _machalath_ to have been stringed instruments, and _machol_ a kind of flute. Again, others maintain that the words denote peculiar modes of performance or certain favourite melodies to which the psalms were directed to be sung, or chanted. According to the records of the Rabbins, the Hebrews in the time of David and Solomon possessed thirty-six different musical instruments. In the Bible only about half that number are mentioned.

Most nations of antiquity ascribed the invention of their musical instruments to their gods, or to certain superhuman beings. The Hebrews attributed it to man; Jubal is mentioned in Genesis as “the father of all such as handle the harp and organ” (_i.e._, performers on stringed instruments and wind instruments). As instruments of percussion are almost invariably in use long before people are led to construct stringed and wind instruments it might perhaps be surmised that Jubal was not regarded as the inventor of all the Hebrew instruments, but rather as the first professional cultivator of instrumental music.

IV.

GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN.

THE GREEKS.

Many musical instruments of the ancient Greeks are known to us by name; but respecting their exact construction and capabilities there still prevails almost as much diversity of opinion as is the case with those of the Hebrews.

It is generally believed that the Greeks derived their musical system from the Egyptians. Pythagoras and other philosophers are said to have studied music in Egypt. It would, however, appear that the Egyptian influence upon Greece, as far as regards this art, has been overrated. Not only have the more perfect Egyptian instruments――such as the larger harps, the tamboura――never been much in favour with the Greeks, but almost all the stringed instruments which the Greeks possessed are stated to have been originally derived from Asia. Strabo says: “Those who regard the whole of Asia, as far as India, as consecrated to Bacchus, point to that country as the origin of a great portion of the present music. One author speaks of ‘striking forcibly the Asiatic kithara,’ another calls the pipes Berecynthian and Phrygian. Some of the instruments also have foreign names, as Nablas, Sambyke, Barbitos, Magadis, and many others.”

We know at present little more of these instruments than that they were in use in Greece. The Magadis is described as having twenty strings. The other three are known to have been stringed instruments. But they cannot have been anything like such universal favourites as the lyre, because this instrument and perhaps the _trigonon_ are almost the only stringed instruments represented in the Greek paintings on pottery and other monumental records. If, as might perhaps be suggested, their taste for beauty of form induced the Greeks to represent the elegant lyre in preference to other stringed instruments, we might at least expect to meet with the harp; an instrument which equals if it does not surpass the lyre in elegance of form.

The representation of a Muse with a harp, depicted on a splendid Greek vase now in the Munich Museum (_Mun. Vase Cat. No. 805_), may be noted as an exceptional instance. This valuable relic dates from the end of the fifth century B.C. The instrument resembles in construction as well as in shape the Assyrian harp, and has fifteen strings. The Muse is touching them with both hands, using the right hand for the treble and the left for the bass. She is seated, holding the instrument in her lap. The little tuning-pegs, which in number are not in accordance with the strings, are placed on the sound-board at the upper part of the frame, exactly as on the Assyrian harp. If we have here the Greek harp, it was more likely an importation from Asia than from Egypt. In short, as far as can be ascertained, the most complete of the Greek instruments appear to be of Asiatic origin. Especially from the nations who inhabited Asia Minor the Greeks are stated to have adopted several of the most popular. Thus we may read of the short and shrill-sounding pipes of the Carians; of the Phrygian pastoral flute; of the three-stringed _kithara_ of the Lydians; and so on.

The Greeks had lyres of various kinds, more or less differing in construction, form, and size, and distinguished by different names; such as _lyra_, _kithara_, _chelys_, _phorminx_, etc. _Lyra_ appears to have implied instruments of this class in general, and also the lyre with a body oval at the base and held in the arms of the performer; while the _kithara_ had a square base and was held against the side by a sash around it. The _chelys_ was a small lyre with the body made of the shell of a tortoise, or of wood in imitation of the tortoise. The _phorminx_ was a large lyre, and, like the _kithara_, was used at an early period singly, for accompanying recitations. It is recorded that the _kithara_ was employed for solo performances as early as B.C. 700.

The design on the Greek vase at Munich (already alluded to) represents the nine Muses, of whom three are given in the engraving (Fig. 6), viz., one with the harp, and two others with lyres. Some of the lyres were provided with a bridge, while others were without it. The largest was held probably on or between the knees, or were attached to the left arm by means of a band, to enable the performer to use his hands without impediment. The strings, made of catgut or sinew, were more usually twanged with a _plektron_ than merely with the fingers. The _plektron_ was a short stem of ivory or metal pointed at both ends.

A fragment of a Greek lyre which was found in a tomb near Athens is deposited in the British Museum. The two pieces constituting its frame are of wood. Their length is about 18 inches, and the length of the cross-bar at the top is about 9 inches. The instrument is unhappily in a condition too dilapidated and imperfect to be of any essential use to the musical inquirer.

The _trigonon_ consisted originally of an angular frame, to which the strings were affixed. In the course of time a third bar was added to resist the tension of the strings, and its triangular frame resembled in shape the Greek delta. Subsequently it was still further improved, the upper bar of the frame being made slightly curved, whereby the instrument obtained greater strength and more elegance of form.

The _magadis_, also called _pektis_, had twenty strings which were tuned in octaves, and therefore produced only ten tones. It appears to have been some sort of dulcimer, but information respecting its construction is still wanting. There appears to have been also a kind of bagpipe in use called _magadis_, of which nothing certain is known. Possibly, the same name may have been applied to two different instruments.

The _barbitos_ was likewise a stringed instrument of this kind. The _sambyke_ is traditionally said to have been invented by Ibykos, about 560 B.C. The _simikon_ had thirty-five strings, and derived its name from its inventor, Simos, who lived about 600 B.C. It was perhaps a kind of dulcimer. The _nabla_ had ten, or according to Josephus, twelve strings, and probably resembled the _nevel_ of the Hebrews, of which but little is known with certainty. The _pandoura_ is supposed to have been a kind of lute with three strings. Several of the instruments just noticed were used in Greece, chiefly by musicians who had immigrated from Asia; they can therefore hardly be considered as national musical instruments of the Greeks. The _monochord_ had (as its name implies) only a single string, and was used as a tuning string.

The _aulos_, of which there were many varieties, was a highly popular instrument, and differed in construction from the flutes and pipes of the ancient Egyptians. Instead of being blown through a hole at the side near the top it was held like a flageolet, and a vibrating reed was inserted into the mouth-piece, so that it might be more properly described as a kind of oboe or clarinet. The Greeks were accustomed to designate by the name of _aulos_ all wind instruments of the flute and oboe kind, some of which were constructed like the flageolet or like our antiquated _flûte à bec_. The single flute was called _monaulos_ (Fig. 7), and the double one _diaulos_ (Fig. 8). A _diaulos_, which was found in a tomb at Athens, is in the British Museum. The wood of which it is made seems to be cedar, and the tubes are fifteen inches in length. Each tube has a separate mouth-piece and six finger-holes, five of which are at the upper side and one is underneath.

The _syrinx_, or Pandean pipe, had from three to nine tubes, but seven was the usual number. The straight trumpet, _salpinx_, and the curved horn, _keras_, made of brass, were used exclusively in war. The small hand-drum, called _tympanon_, resembled in shape our tambourine, and was covered with parchment at the back as well as at the front. The _kymbala_ were made of metal, and resembled our small cymbals. The _krotala_ were almost identical with our castanets, and were made of wood or metal.

THE ETRUSCANS AND ROMANS.

The Romans are recorded to have derived some of their most popular instruments originally from the Etruscans, a people which at an early period excelled all other Italian nations in the cultivation of the arts as well as in social refinement, and which possessed musical instruments similar to those of the Greeks. It must, however, be remembered that many of the vases and other specimens of art which have been found in Etruscan tombs, and on which delineations of lyres and other instruments occur, are supposed to be productions of Greek artists whose works were obtained from Greece by the Etruscans, or who were induced to settle in Etruria.

The flutes of the Etruscans were not unfrequently made of ivory; those used in religious sacrifices were of box-wood, of a species of the lotus, of ass’ bone, bronze and silver. A bronze flute, somewhat resembling our flageolet, has been found in a tomb; likewise a huge trumpet of bronze. An Etruscan _cornu_ is deposited in the British Museum, and measures about four feet in length.

To the Etruscans is also attributed by some the invention of the hydraulic organ. The Greeks possessed a somewhat similar contrivance which they called _hydraulis_, _i.e._, water-flute and which probably was identical with the _organum_ _hydraulicum_ of the Romans. The instrument ought more properly to be regarded as a pneumatic organ, for the sound was produced by the current of air through the pipes; the water applied serving merely to give the necessary pressure to the bellows and to regulate their action. The pipes were probably caused to sound by means of stops, perhaps resembling those on our organ, which were drawn out or pushed in. The construction was evidently but a primitive contrivance, contained in a case which could be carried by one or two persons and which was placed on a table. The highest degree of perfection which the hydraulic organ obtained with the ancients is perhaps shown in a representation on a coin of the Emperor Nero, in the British Museum. Only ten pipes are given to it, and there is no indication of any keyboard, which would probably have been shown had it existed. The man standing at the side and holding a laurel leaf in his hand is surmised to represent a victor in the exhibitions of the circus or the amphitheatre. The hydraulic organ probably was played on such occasions; and the medal containing an impression of it may have been bestowed upon the victor.

During the time of the Republic, and especially subsequently under the reign of the Emperors, the Romans adopted many new instruments from Greece, Egypt, and even from western Asia; without essentially improving any of their importations.

Their most favourite stringed instrument was the lyre, of which they had various kinds, called, according to their form and arrangement of strings, _lyra_, _cithara_, _chelys_, _testudo_, and _fidis_ (or _fides_). The name _cornu_ was given to the lyre when the sides of the frame terminated at the top in the shape of two horns. The _barbitos_ was a kind of lyre with a large body, which gave the instrument somewhat the shape of the Welsh _crwth_. The _psalterium_ was a kind of lyre of an oblong square shape. Like most of the Roman lyres, it was played with a rather large plectrum. The _trigonum_ was the same as the Greek _trigonon_. It is recorded that a certain musician of the name of Alexander Alexandrinus was so admirable a performer upon it that when exhibiting his skill in Rome he created the greatest _furore_. Less common, and derived from Asia, were the _sambuca_ and _nablia_, the exact construction of which is unknown.