Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-10-21
DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC.
The World Ii Indebted to Several
Monks for Their Musical
Discoveries.


cred recently by !. v Flagler, of Au-
burn, n. Y, he says:
"To Guido Arctinus, who lived in 900,
O Benedictine monk of the monastery
OF Pomposa, little town of Tuscany,
we are indebted for the art of solmi-
zation, the adoption of the lines of
the staff, the use of the clefs and other
improvements. To Huebald, a Flem-
ish monk, we owe the introduction OF
the organum, primitive species of
harmony, and we are under similar
obligations to Franco, monk of Co
logne, for the art of measuring music
by the use of notes.
"The introduction of the pipe organ
in France, in the year 757, followed by
its general use in the churches of the
west, gave n powerful impetus to the
study and development of harmony,
At first the organ was used as an ac-
compartment to the voice, entirely
in unison, but the ease with which sew
eral sounds could be distinguished at
once, and the fact that many combina-
tions of sounds seemed agreeable to
the ear, led to the gradual discov-
cry Of counterpart and harmony,
The minor third was one of the first
noticed for its pleasing effect, though
only at the close of the song.
"In the year 1922 the first scale took
ratnipc nnn
of the more remarkable things in the
development of music is the lateness
at which notation was devised for defin.
ing the relative length of musical
notes, especially when we consider
that the rhythmical seis the earliest
and strongest of the musical faculties
OF mankind. There is no record among
the ancients that they had many signs
of indication for the length of notes,
and centuries rolled over Christendom
before there was any chronicled at.
tempt TO find principle for supply.
ing this necessity.
"In the same year in which William.
duke of Normandy, conquered England
and introduced into that country,
which are still in a condition of bar.
barism, the germ of manners and civ.
ilization, Franco, a monk of Cologne,
reduced to n system the rules respect
ingrhythm, which had been established
before his time. He distinguished
three kinds of time-the long, the
breve and the semi-breve. At this
period music was written on four lines,
but in the year 1922 Guido Arctinus
the Benedictine monk, introduced the
use of the staff with five lines, on which,
with the spaces, he marked his notes
by setting point up and down upon
them to denote the rise and fall OF the
voice.
From the time of Chaslemagne, dur.
irg six centuries, everything was
done to strengthen the dogmas of the
church. Many examples Of haggling
about technicalities can be given
which are absurd, childish and laugha-
BILE in their bigotry. Marchetus, Of
Padua, insisted upon all notes having
the tail upon the right side, because
| Christ received the spear in his right
side. Franco thought triple time the
only perfect time, because it eX-
presses the idea of the Holy Trinity.
In this period the notes were colored
red, blue, green and yellow to denote
the tone of thought.
"The crusaders to the Holy Sepul.
chre gave powerful impetus to the
cultivation of minstrelsy, and fostered
the growth of that class of musicians
known as the troubadors, who, from
their attendance on royalty and nobil-
ity, acquired enormous power in the
course of time, which eventually led
to their suppression.
"The same inclination which led to
the founding and establishing of the
troubadours in the Roman nations
called into life the minnegesang in
Germanic nations. The minnesinger
not only composed but played and
sang his own songs, accompanying
himself on small triangular harp.
might mention that most of the trou.
badours and minnesingers were noble.
men; but as the poetic and musical
art became at length open to the
burghers and practiced in the guilds
the schools of the German mastersing.
ers soon followed. Remember, at this
period a soprano or woman's voice
was unknown. That tyrant, man
has usurped and held on to every pre-
rogative, artistic, political and re
lig4ous, to the exclusion Of woman
from time immemoral Even now he
is endeavoring to exclude women from
the choir of some churches. IN. Y
Tribune.