Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1899-07-19

"There is in souls sympathy with sounds;
And as the mind is pitched, the ear is pleased
With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave;
Some chord In unison with what we hear
Is touched within US, and the heart replies"
This sympathy with sounds has existed
since the world began and music has al
ways been one Of the few sources OF pure
| happiness. But whence comes this music
which scarce seems to belong to this ma
teria universe, from what does 1t arise?
An old Greek tradition, concerning the
origin OF music, tells us that grasshop-
pers were once human beings, living in
! the world before he muses. that when the
muses. came the grasshoppers, being raw
ished with delight, sang and sang and
forgot to eat, until "they died of hunger
| for the love of song.
| Old writers tell US that as Pythagoras
was one day meditating on the want of
some rule to guide the ear, he CHANGED to
pass by blacksmith's shop, and observ-
ing that the hammers, which were four in
number, sounded very tremendously, he
had them weighed. He found the respec-
tive weights to be in the proportion OF
six, eight, nine and twelve. He then sus-
| pended four strings of equal length and
| thickness, and fastened to these weights
| in the above mentioned proportions. He
| found that they gave the same sounds
that the hammers had given, viz, the
fourth, fifth and octave to the gravest
| tone. Whether this story is true or not
does not matter; we are certain that the
| Tyre at first had but four strings.
The earliest musical instrument was the
drum; then came wind Instruments and
finally those with strings. The contest
between Marsyas and Apollo represents
the contest between the flute and the Tyre,
the latter being used to accompany song.
In this contest the Tyre was of course
victorious, for it set the voice free and
| the sound
"of music that T. born of human breath
Comes straighter to the soul than any strain
| The hand alone can make"
From the earliest ages song has been
! the sweet companion of labor. The rude
chant OF the boatman floats upon the
water, the shepherd sings upon the hill,
the milkmaid in the dairy, the plough
man at the plough There is also music
for every emotion. There is the music of
detection or triumph, eagerness or Ian
guor, joy or sorrow. Indeed the function
of music is to play upon the emotions.
Music that does not stir the soul lacks
the true element OF music. Carlyle says:
emusic Is a kind of inarticulate, I'M
fathomable speech, which leads us to the
edge of the infinite and lets us for
moments gaze into it."
And again there is the music of nature
the songs OF birds, the whisper of leaves,
the ripple OF water and the wall OF wind
or sea. TO some true music lovers these
are perhaps the only music. Yet is that
love less strong?
In all this great universe then, in every
nation, state city and even in the life of
every individual, music OF some kind
plays an important part.
Then what an influence has music, W hat
a wonderful power to sway the feelings
OF man! SIS it possible" says a writer,
"that this inexhaustibe evolution and
disposition of notes, so rich yet so sim
pie, so various yet so majestic, is a mere
sound that is gone and perishes? Can it
be that these strange warnings for we
know not what, and awful impressions
from we know not whence, are caused by
anything that comes and goes, begins
and ends in itself? No, it cannot be.
They are sonnet hing besides themselves
which we cannot understand, which we
cannot utter"
We all acknowledge the influence of
music upon human nature, but the poets
go so far as to attribute to it a power over
inanimate objects. Shakespeare accounts
for shooting stars by the attraction OF
, music.
tine rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
To hear the sea maids music"
Prose writer's have also spoken most elo-
quently Of music. "MGsic," says Plato,
sis moral law; it gives a soul to the
universe, wings to the mind, flight to
, gaiety and life to everything. 1t is the
essence OF order and leads to all that is
good, just and beautiful, of which it is
the invisible, but nevert heless dazzling
passionate and eternal form" and Halevy
says: emusic is an art that God has
given us, in which the voices of all nations
may unite their prayers in one harTno-
NOUS rhythm
The uses of music are many. 1t is most
, certainly luxury and source OF pleasure
. In it one forgets all trifiing things and
for the time, receives perfect rest. Per
} haps in music more than in any othel
5 one thing, self and time are forgotten
t and happiness is complete. 1t cannot b'
3 surpassed in its power OF touching thu
human heart.
5 'The soul of music slumbers in the shell,
Till walked and kindled by the Masters spell,
4 And feeling hearts touch them but lightly pou
2 a thousand melodies unheard before"
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