The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-27
NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S BAND.
The Music They Played.

What sort OF music was played by Nebu-
chadneZZar's band?
First, if we find an instrument of music
which sotR only give forth certain series of
notes, we are tolerably safe in assuming that
it did only play such tune as those notes
would make. And, to go a step further, if
we find an instrument on which those notes
could only be played in such an order, we
have the identical tune. And if we find an
ancient Pandean pipe or syrinx, we can tell
what kind of air might have been played on
it; and sometimes, when the pipes are so ar
ranged, the very air itself.
Secondly, if we recognize among the music
of our own day class of compositions which
require the use of certain notes and intervals
only, and if, moreover, we discover that in
the Assyrian instruments only these notes
and intervals occur, we are justified in assert
ing that we can approximate to the character
of the music which was played by them.
Again, if we see representations in Assy-
rian sculpture of number of musicians
playing together, and have already identified
their instruments, and the power of each, we
can tell pretty nearly the amount of noise,
and the kind of noise, which was made by
them.
Lastly, when we see in some sculptures an
army or q religious procession, or a dance,
keeping time to the music, we can approx
mate to the pace at which these musicians
played.
So when we have the instruments we can
tell the range of each of them by actual ex-
periment we know the series of notes and
the intervals found on each; we are ac-
quainted with a style of music in our own
day which might be played on similar instru-
mentsA we have the bas-reliefs and pictures
necessary for determining which set of mu-
sicians formed band; and we are able to
distinguish between the kind of composition
in use at q march, a dance, or religious
ceremony.
The octave is universal in Europe in modern
hines; but it seems that among the Greeks,
and among the Eastern nations from whom
they adopted their music, a different division
! obtained. On the Assyrian musical instru-
ments, so far as we are acquainted with them,
! it would have been impossible to sound every
note of an octave. Certain notes were habitu-
ally omitted-they were the fourth note of
our octave and the seventh. David's ten
stringed harp or lutte contained two octaves
of this kind; and some of the Assyrian harps
had twenty-six strings-that is, five PEN
! tatonic octaves, and one note or "key-
note" over. But an objector will say, CHOW
| ugly such music must be-" Quite the
contrary-it is the sweetest of all. ''The
Last Rose of Summer" is pentatonic air; so
| is The Lass o Gowrie; and the proof of
these being pentatonic lies in the fact that if
you play over either of these melodies on the
black notes only of the piano, passing over
any white ones that may seem to be required
you will find the original air come out with
the utmost distinctness. But, you say again,
these are Scotch and Irish tunes. True, and
all the old Scotch and Irish musical instru-
ments are made to sound only the pentatonic
scale; and you will find by experiment that
many other Irish and Scotch airs besides
those named above may be reduced
to the same scale. And, again, many travel
| larS hava xa1 tha Iforo
and plaintiveness of most of the melodies
still played in the East on 'kissars," and
''sautirs, and pipes, almost exactly similar
to those figured in the Assyrian sculptures
nay, some voyagers in remote places in Asia
have been struck by the familiar sound of
some old melody, played almost exactly as
they had heard it, in years gone by, upon
bagpipes or harps ia Scotland or Ireland. NJ
Engel, in his book on ancient music, has
enumerated many cases of this kind, and has,
besides given examples of the tunes; and
this goes far to prove that we are right in
assuming that where this peculiar division of
the octave was in use. the melodies for which
it was used were more or less alike.
One thing more. Were these melodies in
a major or minor key? 1t is not very easy
to determine. The Oldest musical instru-
ment discovered at Babylon is pipe made
of baked play. 1t sounds the intervals of
the common chord, either major or minor,
according to which notes are used. A hole
at one side completes major chord; a hole
answering to it, at the other, gives the MINOR
This curious ''picco" of two thousand years
ago is in the Asiatic Society's Museum; but
it would be assuming too much to argue from
it, or from any number of similar specimens,
that the Babylonians were acquainted with
what we call major and minor keys. Such
divisions, we must constantly recollect are
purely arbitrary; and, from number of other
circumstances, we shall be safer in concluding
if, indeed, We come to any conclusion
no fixed rule of the kind was adopted And if
the objector asks for an example of such an
extraordinary kind, we can refer him to many
of the modern Oriental melodies which have
been recently brought to this country, or to
the Irish and Scotch tunebooks, which con-
tain several examples. For instance, in
''Moore's Melodies" the song 'Silent, o
Moyle, is set to an old tune which begins in
a minor and ends in a major; nor is the
transition unpleasant Strange to say, all
the 'arrangers" of Moore have overlooked
this fact, and have added a line of accompani.
ment to bring it back to the original key
CdSseHS Magazine.