The Central Nevadan. [volume] (Battle Mountain, Nev.) 1885-1907, 1888-07-05


'.Harper's Tomb, from the iine figures
Of the royal harpers with which it wac
painted. With the Greeks music was
gift from heaven. 1t WAS with
music that Orpheus charmed the ,re-
mendous presences; it was with music
that Tyron charmed the tremendous
plesences; 1t was With music that Am
pbiom conjured up tine walls Of The.
bes: it was 10 ApolIo's voice and lutte
that Eli i'm like q mist rose into
towers. {" Every circumstance Of
Hellenic life, from the cradle to the
grave. was accompanied by its sounds;
AMI alike to the merry seasons of
seed time and harvest, to the bac
chauals Of the time Of vintage, and to
the solemn cerem"nials that attended
the otsequies Of the departed, did it
render fitting and sympathetic ac-
compartment. The gods themselves
were the authors of mns;c,l instru-
ments-Arollo, Son Of Latona, and
Hcrmes, SON CT Waia. goat-fnoted Pan,
and Athene, the beneiicent and the
wise: they bore them on Olympus,
and they bore them in that marble
life they got from tho sculptor 1t
is from this latter source that we learn
the nature of those used by the
Greeks. The chief uf these were the
double pipe: the Tyre, with its vsrie-
ties, the kithara, the phornix, and
chelys: aud the psaltery, which was
kind Of a hard La f,rn, as might be
expected, they strongly resembled
those of the Egyptians, from whom
they were derived, aud like these they
were decorated with the characteristic
ornaments Of the national art. The
Tyre especially was designed with
much graceful scroll.w work; hut the
monuments do not enable US to be
precise AS to te,ail-. There is even
less to be said # tie Instruments in
use in Rome. Roman art was in
spircd from Hellenic culture; the
Roman flutes and cylnbals we're adap.
tl,ns fr,,n, the Greek likewise, and do
not claim more particular notice here.
On the decline If the 4 man en-
pire, aud the advent of the bories II
northern barbarans in Southern
Europe, music Il instruments lost their
anheric value. aud it was long before
they reached he standard fr,m which
they had fallen Meanwhile, how
ever, the Per-ians and Arahiaus we 9
producing ~orks that may well be
compared with any that had preceded
them. Their instruments of music are
Of especial iaterest, since it is from
them that many in modern use have
been directly derived. The chief in
strument Of the Arabians Was the lutte,
al I'D, Which they got from Persia.
OF all lnusical instruments il 10 prob
ably the mo.t graceful in firm: and
becoming familiar to the western ma
tions At the time of the crusades, it
continued long the fsvoritc iBstrn.
nent of the troubadous The Ara.
biaD, too, had instruments of the vio-
4 lin kind, such AS the kennnnghe AMI
rcbsb. and many others very beauti
fully formed AS for the instruments
nents If the Middle Ages. both in
England aud abroad. they were sim-
Pile in character, SO far rs NAV be
judged from the representations in
manuscripts aud painted glass. which
are almost their only record. Chief
among them may be mentioned the
lutte. the Gro sd, the harp, aud the or
Rautstiuii. i,ut IL tuc uiusiCbi iustIu-
ments Of the ancients aud Of the
Middle Ages were beautiful in form
aud orDamcnt, it remained for Italy
anu the Renaissance to give them the
value in art and in ornamentativn for
which they have been ever since so
Justly priced. The instruments made
i'll the Italy Of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries. were probably
the finest aud most elaborate ever pro-
duced. They are valuable alike for
beauty If material aud excellence Of
workmanship. The great Italian
makers were the Amati, Stradivarius,
and the Guarnisri. all Of the Creman-
ese school, whose works, besides the
merit Of their tone, are priced for the
beauty Of the lines on which they are
built aud for the transparence OF Their
varnish, which gives lucid depth !"
the chioce Of wood Of which they are