Ancient Music Among the Egyptians, the Jews, and the Greeks

We marvel at how far music developed among the nations, and how it flourished! I shall speak here of three of the ancient nations that used music in their worship, their literature, and their amusements:

Ancient Egypt — great in her pyramids, her Sphinx, and the history of her men — worshipped, thousands of years ago, Osiris, god of light, health, and the crops, and Isis, goddess of the arts. The Egyptians worshipped their gods to the beat of melodies, the pounding of drums, and the clash of cymbals; they sang praises to them with devotional music while the scent of perfume and burning incense filled the air of the temple, deepening the worshipper's awe and reverence. Music formed no small part of the ancient Egyptian's life, for he used it in official ceremonies, popular festivals, family evenings, weddings, and military parades.

Yet although the role music played in the Egyptian's life was very important, few of them took up its study, and so the range of its progress remained narrow and limited. The practice of music was hereditary, like the other trades: the musician's son was a musician, and the singer's son a singer, even if his voice was so hoarse it would not serve for crying wares in the public market. Singing was confined to the company of the priests, because of their constant need of it in worship; as for playing the various instruments, that was left to the poor or to the slaves.

In the temples it was necessary to employ musical companies, for playing or for singing, of a size to match the vastness of the temples; and we do not exaggerate when we say that a single company would exceed six hundred players and singers, whereas today we boast of an orchestra of a hundred members! It is related of one of the rulers of Egypt that he held a celebration at which a chorus of a thousand sang, accompanied by three hundred players!

As for dancing, it was performed in the temples and in private gatherings, but it was used most of all in worship. The men performed the parts that demanded effort and vigor, while the women performed the light parts, those demanding softness, coquetry, and grace.

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The music of the ancient Jews did not go beyond what they took from the Egyptians on their departure from the land of Egypt for the Promised Land. Almost all we know of their music is what is said of it in the "Old Testament." They would chant the "Psalms" to the strains of the rebab and the harp which David — the chief of the singers, as the Torah describes him — appointed for this purpose. In the last psalm we find, in his words: "Praise Him (the Lord) with the sound of the trumpet; praise Him with rebab and lute; praise Him with timbrel and dance; praise Him with strings and pipe." Beyond this we know almost nothing.

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Music among the Greeks — A great deal has come down to us of the intellectual and scientific greatness of the Greeks, but only the merest trifle about their music. What little we have has come down scattered through the various branches of their scientific and intellectual heritage, and from a few rare musical pieces. It is well known that the refinement and progress which music attained among the Greeks did not match the level reached by the other arts, whether in painting, sculpture, and architecture or in the other literary arts.

But before we go further we must recall that music occupied an important place among the ancient Greeks, who brought it into their drama, their dancing, and the recitation of their poetry; and that the word "music," when first used among the Greeks, denoted not only its present forms, such as singing and dancing, but embraced all the arts and sciences, mathematics among them. In the eyes of the Greeks, the ancients of Hellas, the harmony and beauty of the universe were themselves the result of music in its broad sense.

The Greeks were deeply concerned with the effect of music on morals. Some music — in their view — stirs the feelings; some braces and strengthens the will; and some breeds softness in a man. For this reason the rulers of the city of "Sparta," the city of the "iron discipline" and Athens's rival for leadership, allowed their young men to listen only to the traditional military music that instills strength and courage in men's souls and makes them hardy defenders of the homeland.

Myths played an important part in the Greek's life, above all those concerning the gods, for they served him as the stories of the Bible serve the Christians; and some of the myths tell us something of music and the origin of some of its instruments. One of them is told of the god "Pan," god of the woods and fields, of the flocks of sheep and the pastures: it is told of him that he invented the shepherd's reed-pipe, and of this invention there is a charming story. It happened that the god "Pan" fell in love with one of the bewitching daughters of the forest, and she stole his heart away, so that he could no longer bear to be parted from her and followed her wherever she went. But she fled from him, terrified by his hideous appearance — for his legs were shaped like the legs of a goat, and his ears were long and pointed, though his body was the body of a man. Once he saw her strolling on the bank of the river and followed her; she was seized with terror at the sight of him and cried out for help to the deities of the water, and the deities of the water changed her into a tall reed. When the god "Pan" reached the place where his beloved had been, he did not find her; in her place he saw only a hollow reed. He heaved a sharp sigh that shook the reed, and from it came a mournful air — the air of lovers denied. So he cut the reed and carried it with him wherever he went, playing upon it the most plaintive melodies for his beloved.

Among the Greeks there excelled in music "Pindar," called the king of melodies, in the fifth century before Christ; and among the most famous plays are those written by "Aeschylus" (Eschyle), which rival in their splendor the sonata and the symphony of our present age. Among the chief instruments they used were the "lyre," the "cithara," and the "aulos." It is established that the Greek inclined more strongly to instrumental than to vocal music, and that solo playing won his admiration and esteem, and stirred his feelings, more than any other kind of music.

The flowering of the Greek theatrical art brought with it a like flowering in music, for all the plays, tragedy and drama alike, were performed to the accompaniment of solo music, or of singing by a chorus set apart for this purpose, which was an effective factor in the production and success of the plays.