The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-29

= Ah&f AA% A- O O -s--- debasement of synagogal nIS jmS which the efforts of a century ol work by Jews who had acquired little of the taste of the cultured musician have only recently begun to lift it.
 It is generally accepted that the Jews were the most musical people of the East. Some Investigators hold that they employed scale of five tones 1 Corresponding to the oldest scale of the Chinese and Hindoos), othes that it was composed of seven tones. There are conflicting conjectures about this. When the Israelites left Egypt they carried with them, in addition to a great many Egyptian instruments, their task-masters' scale of four tones -the tetrachord, Some of these anci- ent melodies of the Temple are still extant in the synagogues.
 In addition to the tetrachord they had some knowledge of the scale of Iseven tones which they used in the same manner as the Egyptians. This scale of the Egyptians was the exclu- sive property of the priests. The peo- pie were only permitted to use the te- trachord. A similar arrangement might have existed among the Israel ites as the priests of the tribe of Levi appropriated the scale of seven tones. It is not impossible that the Israelites adopted from the Egyptians the so- Ecalled "holy sounds" connecting these, as did the people of the valley of the Nile, with the scale of seven tones. lThe heading of Psalm vi and vii-"To be sung on eight strings" may refer Ito the octave and probably points to the possession of a scale of seven tones The Hebrews attached much importance to the number seven. It.. Twas their sacred number, symbol of completion and perfection. The seven Mosaic days of creation, the candle Istick of Solomon's Temple with its Eseyen branches, the seven planets, and the seven heavens all appear to be connected with this. Seven times did seven priests sound seven trumpets" before the Lord delivered Jericho into the hands of His chosen people. The Jewish rites, festivals and lasts are all governed by the number seven. The efasts of the Passover and the Ia Ibernacles each lasted seven days, Ev- Iery seventh year was a SaBbatical year and every seventh Sabbatical year was a Jubilee year. The seventh day of the week was the Sabbath he who was pronounced ''unclean,' from having handled corpse, required sew en days for purification; and the Day Iof Atonemert closes with the exclama, Ition, seven times repeated, "The Lord alone is God" It is, therefore, con- Iclusive that the number seven formed 1 the basis of the tonal system of the Hebrews as well as of many other na- tions, who regarded this number as sacred.
 The Hebrews employed the orchestra to accompany their melodies with chords, both simultaneous and arpeg- gio They were diametrically opposed to almost all nations of the classical and pre-classical times in their rejec- ton of pictorial representations and efforts in the plastic art, and possess ing faith that did not content itself
 with symbolizing deity but conceived
 an almighty and omniscient Godhead, it was impossible to rest satisfied with the mere sensuous effect of melodic
 outline. It's promptings, therefore, necessarily led them to seek that mys-
 terious support which harmony lends
 to melody. To this intense religious feeling of the Hebrews must be ascrb- ed those soul-stirring hymns which
 they addressed to their Deity. Thus,
 when the Psalmist exclaimed, My soul
 is athirst for God, yea, even for the living God; when shall come to ap- pear before the presence of God?" or
 when in sorrowful accents he cried,
 "The seas are mighty and rage horri- bly,; all the waves and storms are gone over me-" to express such a depth of
 feeling the mere melodic outline does not suffice. It claims that richness of
 tonal coloring which the harmony of
 music can alone adequately supply.
 It was due to the Israelites that for
 the first time in the history of musical
 act the sensuous charm of music was IIluL dll-SulllClHS-- ndLlOH WHO 6HlplOy-
 ed music as means to an end, viz, to express their Ideal. Music and poetry, linseparably connected, became the lan- guage in which the Israelites spoke to Jehovah They sang to Him in jubi-
 lant strains or bewailed in sorrowful
 accents their sufferings and repentance expressed when in captivity. When
 Music's ethereal mission began to be established upon this basis, the tonal was enabled to proceed upon it's up-
 ward course leading to the highest . pinnacle of it's greatness. From the La , ment, chanted on the shores of the Flu } Iphrates, to Allegrrs Miserere or the , |aria in Bach's Passion, Have mercy on me, o Lord" there is but one step. 4 , If Christian music is made the lan- guage of the heart and soul we must } look to the Hebrews to whom we are , indebted for the prolific soil on which it fructifled. Is it not strange that af- ter period of two thousand years the , psalms and also the manner of their 5 execution are still preserved in the $ IChristian church?
 MORRIS STEINERT.