The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-08-03
MORRIS STEINERT'S
 HISTORY OF MUSIC Described as the Universal Language of Human
 Race. EARLY SACRED MUSIC Its Influence in Aiding the Expression of Ideas.
EARLY SACRED MUSIC
Article x.

people through certain rhythms con- tained in it there are other means in music which can also describe the condition of a nation, whether they en- joy a free government or whether they are oppressed by despot. But the highest force of music lies in the do- main of religion. Through the medium Of musical songs the situations are manifested, whether they be joyful or of a sad strain of melody. Music is the universal language of the human race, the expression of the passions, and we cannot but imagine its origin to have been coeval with 1t. The com plaints of pain, the exclainations of joy required no other guide or tutor than the sentiment to be developed, And nature, faithful to herself, spoke in tones inspired and modulated by her feelings. This applies even to language The written word is ever the same, but delivery Is susceptible to the thous- and different shadings of intonation accommodated to the sense and sensa- tion meant to be conveyed But it is especially the duty of music to offer these different shadings and variations. While the heart gives her the cue, the voice provides for her to appear in her power in grief in pleasure and hatred. rA 4l.a lJ tI1ot musical sounds preceded the use of let ters and that for long time they even supplied the place of history. Laws were originally sung and prayers were chanted. Music furnished zeal and solemnity to both religion and jus- tice while 1t added an amiable embel- lishment to the exalted hilarity of the social enjoyment of life.
 The earliest sacred music consisted of Theurgic Hymns or Songs of Incan- tation, like those ascribed to Orpheus land which are supposed to have orig mated in Egypt. Hymns that were sung in praise of some particular di- vinity or at the head of an army, those sacred to Apollo, and Mars, are called Poeans and those sung to Bac- chus were denominated Dithyrambcs Another style of hymn, called the phil- osophic or allegorlcal, was devoted to the celebration of the divine attributes. Some worshippers of Apollo celebrated all their mysteries with music. They chanted them before the altar at Delos accompanied with flutes and harps. The Iberians of Boeotia delighted in a kind of dirge or Funeral music. They were the only people in the world who celebrated the triumphs of death. The Dorian and Phrygian hymns were more manly and animated, Those of Lesbos and Aeolia were particularly sweet and pleasing, yet not esteemed alone for ltheir melody but as repositories of all knowledge and eompendiums of history. Homer alludes to this in the history Of the syrens, the power of whose voices he represents as almost ire sistible while their knowledge was still more wonderful and captivating. To the hero of the Odyssey, when ap- preaching their shores, he represents them, exclaiming:
 70 stayl Q pride of Greece, Ulysses stay!
 o stop they course and listen to our lay!
 Blest is the man ordain'd our voice to The song instructs the soul, and charms | the ear.
 Approachl thy soul shall into raptures Approach and learn new wisdom from i the wise!
 We know whateer the kings of mighty 1 name
 Achiev'd at Ilion in the field of fame, l Whateer beneath the suns bright jour | ney lies,
 o stay and learn new wisdom from
 (ody. l 12) Pope
 The Doric hymns were universally sung in the Prytaneia and temples. These va>1e in the ancient Ammonan llangua., and said to have been intro duced by Pegasus, AgyIens, and Olen, the last of whom some declare to have been Lycian, some an Hyperborean and others, an Egyptian, They were chanted by the priests of the sun and by the female Hierophants.
 Most writers are of the opinion that the first musical exercises of the voice were in addresses to the gods; that mankind no sooner obtained an in- creased sustenance by the arts of til- llage, than their gratitude burst fortl, lin songs of acknowledgement of the bounty of heaven. Seeing around hin, the promise of a plenteous repayment of his labor.
 The Ploughman then, to sooth thu
 toilsome day,
 Chanted In measured feet his sylvan
 lay,
 And seed-time OCT. he first in blithe
 Pip'd to his household gods the grate
 full strain.
 This was natural. Equally so was 1t that as the human mind advanced il Knowledge and society began to be pol lished, poetry and vocal music extend
 ed their influence from the field to tn
 city. They assumed new grace ant lstrength and enriched with instru lmental accompaniments they forme, the most solemn and imposing parts O religious ceremonies. Of this use o
 poetry and music, the instances in tn Iroyal Psalmist, and Homer and Virgil : are abundant. Indeed, so prevalen
 was vocal music among the Hebrews
 the Creeks and even the Romans. tha asipger' was a common appellatio } lamong them for poet and musician Of the secular music of the Greek: the festive songs are such as wer lsung at table. At banquets or repast