New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-12-16

treatise on Isis and Osiris says that according 70 an
ancient tradition the discovery of music was que 10
Maneros Herodous says that Msneroe was the son OF
the st king of tie country and in giving music ne gave
laws TO the country In heroic time the legal moral
and religious precep,s were set 10 music, and was
high crime to alter either words music. The hrst
EGYPTIAN colony in Greece was Argos which, IN the
Egyptian language is Erdj5, and signifies musician.
Egyp, was prominent for musical sttsinmsnts Taey
knew no moro honorable title than that OF musician or
singer The most celebrated musician poets OF anqui
" were educated in the Egyptian school, and none
since appear to have nicred enjoyed great con-
siders;ion as they The harp Is of Egyptian origin
In order TO give an idea Of their advancement thou
sand wears ago. in the fabrication OF various musical
instruments Mr. Fry presented diagram OF one III
FORM strings and mode of playing all have striking
resemblance 70 those OF modern times. They were
elegant instruments. The diagram presented was q
COPY of an Egyptian fresco Bruce gives an account OF
it, but not Of the player. After lsborous search, the
lecturer found copy of the fresco in the Royal Library
of Paris lie sze shows that must have belonged to
highly civilized and polished people, while IN the
Bible we are told that David danced and played me
harp ct the same timeof course little instrument
constructed according to the ideas of rude people
The extreme age Of this evidence OF Egyptian po,sn
in music il readily determined by heroglyphic read
incs The fresco shown on the diagram exhibited 10
the audience was found in sepulchre behind the
ruins of Thebesthe sepulchres there being according
10 tradition Of the fret kings of Thebes The ngure Is
Represented clad in shirt, such "a the women st"i
wear in Abyssinis, and the men in Nuba The leit hana
is at work the short or acute strings the right
prepared to 90 up the scale Now II the position were
taken for player Of our own times, could not DC
better than this panting-older than Homcr-and eVi-
IDENTIFY giving the state of Arts in Egypt before tnelr
decadence began, before any Greek traveller Visteu
Them as far az Greek literature informs u.
The harp ought to have been some feet o inches
long it seems TO rest on its base without support
il has 10 strings The fresco is much more elegant
than the Grccsn Tyre The acoustic principles OF t'
construction are excellent the ornamentation seems
TO have been superb veneered, inlad with rich ma
terial This ia the Theban harp The City of Thebes
in the time Of S.rsbo was miles long its ruins are
stupendous
at will be necessary for me-" said Mr.. Fry. ito
date farther on Egyptian Music for the statue OF
Hercules may be told from his foot, the Advancement
of art in poetry music, metallurgy, mechanics and
design could be told from such picture "a that IL
wonderful 1t shows, too. how poor were the Greek
strinced instruments which after the of Se'os
iris"
Prose was not written in Greece ill 300 years after
Homer's death. Poetry, and poetry welded TO music
was the only political ard religious agent Long ago
az was this the hghest honor Of Egypt hnd departed
Five hundred and twenty five years b. c., Egypt fell
under foreign NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS., the last native
king being defeated By Cambyses. After their sub
mission to Alexander tie Great their Ptolenics cult
waited the arts and sciences-but through Greek Pro
f,ssors The people forgot how TO read their own
hioroglyrhics.
Fieldipgs French drummer who had been 30 years
in England had forgot his French, and never could
learn English so he spoke not word Of any LAM agc
In regard 70 phonetic signs the Egyptians were in the
same predicament.
Among none Of the ancient musical instruments does
the bow or violin appear. An exhibition Of diagram
Of some Egyptian musical instruments finished this
portion of the lecture Il is common to harp upon the
knowledge Of music possessed by the ancient Jews
Originally pastoral people with much art as such
people can be expected TO possess, they went By
cident to Eeypt-o country prominent for its thought
and polish. As the King arose that knew not
Joseph the Jews became despised class and perform
cd the cosrsest labor One single man among them,
Moses, received the education of n gentleman, and
must have studied music some of the Egyptian Col
leges When the Jews left Egypt they doubtless took
with them certain musical instruments OF the portable
kind but heavy harps, such represented in the
diagram exhibited last evening, could not have been
carried about in the wilderness. The song Of Moses
N thanksgiving for the deliverance of his people from
bondage is the masculine work Of an educated man.
Considering the the Jews engaged in, the
standard OF musical art must have been lowered. An
other rea on fatal to high musical among the Jews
the prohibition against the plastic arts sculpture
and painting is sheer 10 suppose that any
one fine be studied alone in n country Paint
Ing, statuary, music,-all must go together The uni
versal sense of the beautiful must be cultivated. The
Eeyptians dealt in the plastic arts and their sent-
ments of decorative illustration particularly evil
dent in their sarcophad, when they poesed the corpse
which was to rse again Now that the Jews
have liberty to and paint and sing, and think,
they produce great men. Paganini was Jew, and
Mendelssohn, a composer Of remarkable talent, was
also Jew. So spinosa. So Is Rossini and many
equal to saying that they had 7-octaye panoforte
They knew no such instruments.
Tie lecturer made but few remarks upon Greek
music-leaving il for discussion in the lecture
Several East Indian melodies were performed for
the entertainment of the audience after which the
lecture soon closed
The performance Of the music ~ laid down in the
programme then took place, and the evenings enter
tainment was ended-the lecture alone having occu.
pied over an hour in the delivery.
Survey OF the Solar System.