The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-10-28
Music.

1ne following essay was read by Mrs.
Allen w. Clement at the late annual
meeting of the Anderson County Singing
Convention, and is published by request
of the Convention:
Music is one of the seven liberal arts.
a science which teaches the properties,
dependencies and relations Of melodious
sounds; or the art of producing harmony
and melody by the due combination and
arrangement Of those sounds. This
science, when employed iu searching the
principles of this combination and sue.
ccssion, and the causes of the pleasure
we receive from them, becomes very pro-
found, and dc nands much patience,
'sagacity and depth of thinking. It is
generally supposed that the word ",nu.
sic" is derived from "musa," because lit
is believed that the invention of this art
Is to be attributed to the MUSES.; but
Diodorus derives it from an Egyptian
name. intimating that Music YVES first
established Us science in Egypt, after
the deluge, and that the first idea of mu-
sical sound was received from that PRO.
duced by the reeds growing on the banks
of the Nile by the wind blowing into
them. Others, again, imagine that the
first idea of Music was received from the
warb.ing of birds. However this may
really have been, it appears at least
equally rational TO attribute its origin to
mankind, since musical intonalion, in the
infancy OF language, must often have
been tho natural result of passionate feel.
ing; and since, also, we find that wher-
ever there is speech there is song. Of all
arts Music is the most natural to man,
and it is fair TO infer that each nation,
even at an early period of its history,
must have possessed it to certain cx.
tent, differing only from that of other
lands according to climate and other cir
cumstances. Man is an instrument o.
Music; his every thought is expressed hy
tones. Fear, anger, joy and desire have
each peculiar tone, understood by all
human beings aud comprehended by the
brute. Man exercises his power in diff
ferent avocations of life; he uses it to
highten certain feeling of excitement.
or to allay the fury of his antagonist.
Before the introduction of letters Music
was; indeed, it come forth from chaos
with the spirit of God and moved upon
the face of the waters. The very motion
OF the earth, while it was without form
and void" was musical; and as darkness
rested upon it the voice of Jehov all broke
the awful stiffness, and made the earth
musical with created light. All nature
then, rs now and forever, was full of
Music. There is Music in the hum of
the industrious bee, as it wantons from
flower to tiower-Music go sweet and har-
:acnious that 1t seems, as it were, the
lullaby to the thousand meancr insects
whose couches are made among the roses
over which the bee rules with unboundcd
sway. There is Music in the grove
strains of sweetest melody from a thou.
sand tuneful throats. There is Music in
the breeze at eventide as it passes,
diolian Ike, over tho face of the earth
In the lond roar of the storm, as it swells
up and mingles with the louder notes of
the sky breathed forth in thunder; in the
oceans moan, fearful Music. It comes
upon the soul like q ripple of evil on
the lake of the mind stirring up fear.
which, while it frights and appalls, sub.
dues and conquers. The Music of the
mighty deep 10 the mysterious workings
OF Deity; Ike the harp touched by fairy
fingers, we listen aud gaze on the mighty
Instrument, breathing its wild melody,
while no visible hand calls it forth.
There is Music in the gentle stream, rs it
wends its way murmuring along through
wood and wild. There is Music in the
mountain torrent rs it rushes down the
steep; harsh and unharmonious as it is.
there are inducements to linger near and
reyel in it's sound, and re they die away
and melt, as il we're, in tile distance, leave
delicious feeling on the soul, which
accompanies the recollection to render it
even more pleasing. There is Music in
the air ! MyFiads of unseen. n,instrels
tune their varied instruments and fill oil
space with heavenly sounds. Romance,
in its widest dreams, never conceived
anything half SO mysterious as this-the
reality surpasses the imaginary. The
tongre cannot express the Music of the
az IMAM ia lost in the bare contempla.
hon of it. Who can write the language
of Deity2 Who paint His gloryY WHO
criticiSe Ills poetryf E1M His Music
stand, the elements and their creatures
His instruments!
Trhha word Mhfuio'' Music was not ALWAYS con.
fined to the very limited Specification
which it now possesses. 1t originally
embraced the entire circle of sciences, as
we'll as elegant arts, comprehendinc
everything which was poetically consid.
cred to emanate from the influences of
the nine Muses., and ranging from the
Language aud accomplishment of Par.
uassus through all the varieties and de-
nartmenia Of Hellenic learning. The
ancient writer's on this science differ
greatly as to its object and extent. Tn
general they gave it q much wider lati-
tnde than it has since obtained. Under
ths name of Music the ancienls compre.
i:c:c;. :i.o ::1s;o..oda; ::1s;o.oda;;v:s G;;0n os vuiuro
and instruments as we do, and they also
included the dance, the arts of gesture,
poetry and all sciences. Hermeo defines
Music to be the general knowledge Of
order; which was also the doctrine of
Plato, who taught that everything in the
universe was Music. Music, however,
properly so.called, only concerns the due
regulation and proportion of sounds. 1t
is divided into two parts-4the theoretical
and the practical. Theoretical ATusic
co.nprehends the knowledge of harmony
End modulatiors, and the laws of that
successive arrangement of sounds by
which air or melody Ia nrndircer proc