The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-15

or monuments" and the Egyptians as
 the monumental people of history
 But the very existence of such a plen-
 titude of monuments makes the want
 of musical records and Egyptian melo-
 dies all the more painfully felt. The
 lack of these shows us at what d dis
 advantage music stands in comparison . with the plastic arts For tone- pictures ? are not made of indestructible materi-
 al like the pyramids which stand firm ) ly fixed 10 the ground, capable of re- sisting the ravages of thousands of years. Tones are. so to speak, the chil- l dren of the rnoment-ephemeral evan escent, Even the attempt to fix them } by notation offered no security for their preservation. A roll of payprus fell an easy prey to the elements and a host
 Of other enemies.
 The Egyptians attributed the origin
 of the sacred melodies to the goddess
 Isis. Plato tells us that some of these
 sacred songs must have been of great
 antiquity, as he believed that good mu-
 sic and beautiful works of art had ex-
 isted among them for ten thousand |
 Tn their possession" adds the Greek
 philosopher, "are songs having the
 power to exalt and ennobIe mankin<
 and these could only emanate from
 gods or god-like men" The Egyp-
 tians themselves had similar notions
 concerning the origin of these prirnt- tive melodies. But not content with this, they pressed into the service of music even the natural elements
 which had been symbolized into gods
 Thus there is to be seen in their tenn
 pie at Dakkeh a picture representing
 the f1re-god Ptah playing on q harp. Osiris also was looked upon as a patron deity of song. In many repre-
 sentations he is accompanied by the
 nine female singers whom the Greeks subsequently transformed into the
 nine mUses,' as they also transforms
 ed Osiris into ''Phoebus Apollo,
 There Is an Egyptian tradition, very
 similar to one held by the Greeks, that
 the Egyptian god Thot was the orig inator of the Tyre, an instrument made out of the shell of tortoise | with strings affixed to 1t. Among forty | two ''priestly books" attributed to [ Thot, there are two Books of the Singer From pictures in Egyptian Icatacombs we learn that Instrumental music formed the general accompani- ment of their solemn funeral rites, and that vocal music was employed In ex- |ceptional instances only. Whole fami-
 lies of singers were attached to the temple The mysteries belonging 10
 the religious rites were transmitted
 like their castes, from father to son
 land from generation to generation. The Egyptians placed in the most ideal relation to their tonal art their god
 dess -Hathor, she whom Evers calls the holy goddess of love, the mighty heavenly mother, the beauti- ful-fllling heaven and earth with deeds of benevolence." Subsequently, she was transformed into muse, under whose protection were placed the dance, song. sport, and lcentiousness; the rope and tamhourlne in her hand l signifying the captivating power and joy of love. {,
 Manifold were the relations which music hore to the state and to general civilization. In the houses of great l families singers were specially retained and from pictorial monuments we { learn that both singers and dancers formed part of the household of Egyp- $ tian grardees, the illustrations show ing female dancers accompanying themselves on the guitar and blind singers accompanying themselves on the harps,
 The Egyptians placed their music in I close affinity with astronomy, a posi- ton which we have already seen it oo- cupy among the Chinese and Hindoos; but it was only among the Greeks that Z this combination attained to its great est significance. This linking together of music with the science of the stars r and the universe--a connection repeat , edly asserting itself among so many f of tho ancient civilized nations-dis- , points to their view of mus , ic as an art capable above all others of giving complete expression to the infinite, the eternal and the ineffable. Poetry, architecture, sculpture and painting can therefore only indirectly l, express the infinite, and make it clear to us by capitalization.
 There is a pictorial representation in the interior of the house of the ' Pharaohs which represents number '. of male and female singers and instru- performing singly and CO., jointly, so great, that tho musical : critic Ambrose spoke of them in a jest ing way saying that "the Egyptian palaces were surrounded with whole of music"
 The musical history of the Egyptians | Is closely connected with their politi- | gal history. Lepslus gives the year U 1892 B. C. as the beginning of the reign of the first historical Pharaoh In those ancient times the seven sa- cred sounds the only tones which tho priests permitted to be used by the female singers dedicated to the temple ( service, may be presumed to have been ! the sole music performed at their re- g igious services, as it is probable that . instruments were then excluded The 5 importance of these seven sounds in P he old Egyptian liturgy Is referred to n n the writings of Christian teachers 6 resident in Egypt and the East during V he second, third and fourth centuries n A. D. Among other things they state: Y The seven sounding tones praise Thee ? he great God, the ceaseless working " Father of the whole universe" And O again: T am the indestructibe Tyre of T 1o ttyhp q l