also Masses, Te Deums, and other
throne (1837).
sacred music ; theoretical works.
Marriage of
1840
Hauptmann (Moritz), born 1794 at
Queen Victoria
Dresden, died 1868. Several sacred
with Prince Al-
bert of Saxe-
compositions, quartetts, sonatas, secu-
Coburg (1840).
lar songs, and theoretical works.
-
Pacini (Giovanni), born 1796 at Syra-
cuse, died 1867. Composed 34 Operas.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.
225
A. D
Prince of Wales
1840
Donizetti (Gaetano), born 1797 at
born (1841).
Bergamo, died 1848. Above 70 Operas,
Frederick Wil-
liam IV., King
a Miserere, and other sacred music,
of Prussia
many romances and other songs.
(1840).
Mercadante (Saverio), born 1797 at
Pius IX., Pope
Altamura, in Italy, died 1870. Above
(1846).
30 Operas.
G. C. Prichard,
Panseron (Auguste), born 1796 in
English ethno-
lofist (1786
Paris, died 1859. Some Operas, a
1848).
Requiem, 3 Masses, other sacred music,
Revolution in
many romances, an instruction book
France (1848).
on singing, etc.
The Monarchy
Halevy (Jacques), born 1799 in Paris,
abolished in
died 1862. Above 20 Operas.
France.
Marschner (Heinrich), born 1795 at
Louis - Philippe,
Zittau, in Saxony, died 1861. Many
King of France,
deposed (1848).
Operas, Masses, secular songs, etc.
He dies in
Reissiger (Carl), born 1789 near
exile, in Eng-
Wittemberg, in Germany, died 1859.
land (1850).
Ten Operas, many Masses, symphonies,
quartetts, pianoforte trios, songs, etc.
New Republic in
Marx (Adolph Bernhard), born 1799
France. Louis
at Halle, died 1866. Two Oratorios and
N apoleon
Charles Buo-
some other compositions ; a work on
naparte (son of
musical composition, and several other
Louis Buona-
treatises on music.
parte, for a
short time King
of Holland,and
Lvoff (Alexis), born 1799 atReval,died
1870. Violinist. Composerof the Russian
nephew of Na-
National Hymn, and of other music.
poleon I.) is
elected Presi-
Lowe (Johann Carl), born 1796 near
dent of the Re-
Halle, died 1869. Many ballads and
public (1848).
other songs, also several Operas, Ora-
torios, and pianoforte compositions.
Botta & Layard
iSjO
Beriot (Charles Auguste de), born
excavate the
1802, at Louvain, died 1870. Violinist.
A s Syrian
J / t
Concertos and other compositions for
mounds (about
1840 1850).
the violin. A violin school.
'-'j -'/
Death of Words-
worth (1850).
Berlioz (Hector), bom 1803, at La
Cote Saint-Andr6, in France, died 1869.
Great Exhibition
in London pro-
Requiem, symphonies, overtures, other
orchestral works with and without vocal
jected by
music. A Treatise on Instrumentation,
Prince Albert
(1851).
and many Musical Essays.
226
CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.
A. n.
Death of theDuke
of Wellington
(18-52).
1850
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Felix), born
1809 at Hamburg, died 1847. Com-
\ j /
The Prince Pre-
posed two Oratorios, other sacred com-
sident of the
positions, 2 Operas, other dramatic
French Repub-
music, symphonies, overtures, ottett,
lic is declared
Emperor of the
French and as-
quintetts, quartetts, etc., organ com-
positions, pianoforte concertos, sona-
sumes the title
tas, etc., ' Songs without Words ' for the
of Napoleon
miiRzz}
pianoforte, secular songs for a single
' V o /*
voice, and for several voices, etc.
Historians :
Thos. Carlyle,
Chopin (Frederic Fran9ois), born
Macaulay,Gui-
1810 near Warsaw, died 1849, in Paris.
zot.Thiers.Rot-
Pianist. Many pianoforte composi-
teck, etc.
tions, studies, etc.
Painters : Rosa
Schumann (Robert), born 1810 at
B o n h e u r,
Cooper, Land-
Zwickau, in Saxony, died 1856. Operas,
seer, Millais,
symphonies, quartetts, etc. Piano-
W. von Kaul-
bach, etc.
forte compositions, songs. Essays on
Music.
Novelists : Chas.
Dickens, \V.
Thalberg (Sigismund), born 1812 at
M. Thackeray,
Geneva, died 1871. Pianist. Compo-
Lytton Bulwer,
sitions for the pianoforte, mostly on
George Eliot,
(Mrs. Lewis),
themes of other composers. Also two
Victor Hugo,
Operas, etc.
Alexandra Du-
Bennett (William Sterndale), born
mas, etc.
1816 at Sheffield, died 1875. Some
Michael Faraday,
chemist
sacred compositions, overtures, piano-
forte music, songs, etc.
Charles Darwin,
philosopher
and naturalist.
During the first half of the present
century great progress in the construc-
Helmholtz, Ger-
tion of musical instruments, especially
man philoso-
of wind instruments.
pher and writer
Innumerable celebrated pianists.
on acoustics.
violinists, flutists, etc.
Important dis-
coveries.
Celebrated female singers : Catalani,
Alfred Tennyson.
Poet Laureate.
Malibran, Grisi, Persiani, Pasta, Pauline
Viardot, Henriette Sontag, Sophie
Liv ingstone,
Lowe, etc.
African travel
Celebrated male singers : Lablache,
ler.
Rubini, Tamburini, Braham, Wild,
Bismarck, Ger-
etc.
man statesman.
Monster Concerts.
Moltke, German
General.
Attempt of a reform of the Opera.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.
227
Great progress in
sciences relat-
ing to natural
philosophy, and
in practical
arts. Gradual
dying out of
many old su-
perstitions and
prej udices.
Hov/ever, in
some countries
attempts to re-
turn to a Me-
diaeval state of
civilization.
A. D.
1850
There are among our living musicians
so many celebrated ones that it would
really be difficult to make a satisfactory
selection of them for incorporation into
a concise Chronology. Fortunately, the
plan adopted in the compilation, as
previously explained, renders this deli-
cate task unnecessary.
As standard works on the history of
music, easily accessible, may be recom-
mended the treatises by Forkel, Kiese-
wetter, Bellermann, Ambros, Burney,
Hawkins, F6tis, and Coussemaker.
THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT
THE PRESENT DAY.
IN * An Introduction to the Study of National Music '
(London, 1866) I have endeavoured to give some account of
the musical scales of different nations. The subject requires,
however, fuller investigation than the aim of that book
would permit. The ' Introduction to the Study of National
Music ' is intended to acquaint the student with the facts
respecting the music of foreign nations and tribes which have
been transmitted to us by travellers and through other sources.
It can therefore scarcely claim more than to be a collection
of materials which will prove useful for the erection of an
edifice called the Science of National Music, as soon as the
necessary additional materials have been obtained, without
which it would be premature to design in detail the plan of
the edifice, and to determine precisely its dimensions and
internal divisions. The acquisition of useful materials will
probably be promoted by the step recently taken by the
British Association for the Advancement of Science.*
There can be no greater mistake in such pursuits than to
form a theory before the examples which are to serve as
illustrations have been most carefully examined and
verified. It is by no means easy to commit to notation
a popular tune of a foreign country which possesses
peculiarities with which we are unfamiliar. Even musicians
who have had experience in writing down national songs
which they happen to hear, find this difficult. How un-
reliable, therefore, must be the notations of many travellers
who know but little of music ! Still, the student of National
Music, by careful attention and comparison, is gradually
* See above, Vol. I., p. 23.
THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY. 22Q '
enabled to discern what is genuine, and valuable for his
purpose. He knows that if there prevails a certain peculiarity
in the scale on which the tunes collected are founded, the
cause may be owing to want of musical experience in
the person who wrote the tunes down, or to an individual
whim of the performer by whom they were sung or played
to the writer of the notation. But, supposing the student
examines several collections of popular tunes from the
same country, the collections having been formed by
different persons independently of each other, and he finds
all exhibiting the same peculiarity, he has no reason to doubt
that it really exists in the music of that country. Nothing
gives to the popular music of a country a more distinctive
feature than the order of intervals on which it is founded ;
when the scale has been clearly ascertained, such other
characteristics as the music possesses are generally soon
discerned with sufficient exactness to be definable by the
experienced musical inquirer.
The notations of musical scales of uncivilized nations
emanating from European travellers who have heard the
people sing, are certainly to be received with caution. Of
this kind of communication is, for instance, the notation of
the vocal effusions progressing in demi-semitones of the
Marquesas Islanders at their cannibal feasts, written down
by Councillor Tilesius, and published in the Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung, Leipzig, 1805; or the notation of
songs of the New Zealanders containing smaller intervals
than semitones, which Mr. Davies has written down, and
which Sir George Grey has published in his ' Polynesian
Mythology of the New Zealand Race' (London, 1855). It is,
however, often possible to ascertain the musical scale of
a nation with exactness by examining the musical instru-
ments appertaining to the nation. Thus, for instance, the
Chinese close some of the finger-holes of their flutes by
sticking pieces of bladder over them, in order to ensure the
pentatonic scale; the Javanese construct instruments of
percussion with sonorous slabs of metal or wood, arranged
in conformity with the pentatonic scale; the Arabs, and
most Mohammedan nations who have cultivated their music
230 THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY.
after the system of the Arabs, possess wind-instruments of
the oboe kind on which the finger-holes are placed in
accordance with the division of seventeen intervals in
the compass of an octave ; and also several stringed
instruments of the Arabs, which are supplied with frets
made of gut wound round the neck or finger-board, exhibit
the same order of intervals; again, certain stringed in-
struments of the Hindus contain a number of little
bridges, stuck with wax beneath the strings so as to
produce, on a string being pressed down on the bridges
successively, twenty-two intervals in the compass of the
octave. Other instruments have marks on the sound-board
as a guide to the performer where he has to press down the
strings in exact conformity with the established scale.
What we observe with different nations of the present
day, respecting the diversity of musical scales, might
evidently also have been observed in ancient time. The
Greeks had several kinds of scales, the popularity of which
changed at different periods. So also had our forefathers
during the Middle Ages. There is no necessity to refer
to the Tetrachord of the ancient Greeks and the Hexa-
chord of Guido Aretinus for evidences of the mutability of
taste in these matters, since it can be observed sufficiently
by referring to the music of nations around us. However,
the so-called Modes of our old ecclesiastical music require
here, at any rate, a passing notice.
Some theorists maintain that our diatonic major scale
is alone a true scale, and that any other regular succes-
sion of tones in which the two semitones of the diatonic
scale occur upon other intervals than 3-4 and 7-8 is, properly
speaking, a Mode. According to this doctrine, which was
evidently suggested by the ecclesiastical Modes, our minor
scale must be called a Mode, and the scales with steps
exceeding a whole-tone, of which some examples will pre-
sently be given, are Imperfect Modes. It is unnecessary to
refute such pedantic definitions ; suffice it to remember that
they exist.
Again, the diatonic major scale is regarded by many
musicians as the natural order of intervals on which the
THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY. 231
compositions must be founded whenever the art of music
has attained to a high degree of development, and which
will therefore be universally adopted in the course of time.
They form this opinion especially from the laws of Acous-
tics, since the intervals constituting the diatonic major scale
are those which as harmonics stand in the most simple
relation to the fundamental tone produced by a vibrating,
body. Here, however, it must be observed that the intervals
of our diatonic scale are not all of them precisely the same
as those harmonics, but are "tempered;" since, did we
tune them pure, as nature gives them, we could not use
our system of harmony as it has been developed by our
classical composers.
Moreover, if the diatonic major scale is thus suggested
by nature, the minor scale with its flat third must be more
artificial, and less likely to be universally adopted. How-
beit, the minor scale is especially popular, not only with
several uncivilized races, but also with several who have
cultivated the art of music to a high degree. Some of our
most eminent composers have written perhaps more beau-
tiful music in minor than in major keys.
Besides, certain deviations from the diatonic major
scale, which we meet with in the music of foreign nations,
possess a particular charm, which we are sure to appreciate
more and more as we gradually become familiar with them.
This, for instance, is the case with the Superfluous Second
introduced as an essential interval of the scale. Many of
our musicians regard such intervals as whimsical deviations,
which ought not to be liked because they do not well agree
with the rules laid down in our treatises on the theory of
music. To such learned Professors the scale of the Arabs, with
its seventeen intervals in the compass of an octave, instead
of twelve semi-tones, as in our own system, is of course a
flagrant misconception not to speak of the twenty-two
demi-semitones of the Hindus, which ought to be twenty-
four. Those nations have musical systems very different
from ours, for which their order of intervals is well suited.
Our rules of harmony and forms of composition are unknown
to them ; still, their popular legends and traditions clearly
232 THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY.
prove that they appreciate the beauty and power of music
not less keenly than we do ; and they demonstrate the supe-
riority of their scales with the same confidence as any of
our theorists are capable of displaying.
Could we trace our diatonic Major Scale in the songs
of birds and in the euphonious cries of certain quadrupeds,
we should have a more cogent reason for regarding it as the
most natural scale than is afforded by a comparison of the
vibrations required for the production of its several intervals.
The songs of various birds have been written down in
notation, from which it would appear that these feathered
songsters possess an innate feeling for the diatonic major
scale ; but, unfortunately, unless the melodious phrases, or
passages, thus noted down are distinguished by some
remarkable rhythmical peculiarity, they are seldom easily
recognizable when they are played on a musical instrument.
There may be among the numerous birds a few which in
their natural song, untaught and uninfluenced in any way by
man, emit a small series of tones strictly diatonic ; but no such
musicians are to be found among our own birds, although we
have in Europe the finest singing birds in existence. The
nightingale, it is true, produces occasionally a succession of
tones which nearly corresponds with the diatonic Major Scale
in descending, and which might possibly be mistaken for it
by a listener charmed by the exquisite purity and sweetness
of the tones which he does not investigate with the ear of a
pianoforte-tuner. Even the two melodious sounds of the
cuckoo cannot be properly written down in notation; nor can
they be rendered on the pianoforte, because they do not
exactly constitute a Major Third, for which they are generally
taken, and still less a Minor Third. A certain ape of
the Gibbon family is said to produce exactly the chromatic
scale through an entire octave in ascending and descending.
Darwin, who in his work on ' The Expression of the
Emotions in Man and Animals' (London, 1872; p. 87)
mentions the astonishing musical skill of this ape, remarks
that some quadrupeds of a much lower class than monkeys,
namely Rodents, " are able to produce correct musical
tones," and he refers the reader to an account of a " singing
THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY. 233
Hesperomys " [a mouse] by the Rev. S. Lockwood, in the
' American Naturalist,' Vol. V., December, 1871 ; p. 761.
Notwithstanding the great authority of Darwin, the musical
inquirer will probably desire to ascertain for himself
whether the " correct musical tones" are exactly in con-
formity with our diatonic and chromatic intervals. However,
even if this should be the case in a few instances, it can
only be regarded as quite exceptional.
During the present century, our musical composers have
so frequently employed in the diatonic major scale the Minor
Sixth instead of the Major Sixth, that some theorists among
them Moritz Hauptmann notice this order of intervals as
a new and characteristic scale, and desire to have it as such
generally acknowledged by musicians. A. Krauss, a teacher of
music in Florence, has recently published a pamphlet, entitled
' Les Quatre Gammes diatoniques de la Tonalite moderne,'
in which he designates this new scale with the name ' La
Gamme semimajeur' (The Half-major Scale,) which is at
any rate better than that suggested by Moritz Hauptmann,
in his ' Die Natur der Harmonik und der Metrik,' which is
' Die Moll-Dur-Tonart' (the Minor-Major-Key, or scale).
We possess then, according to these theorists, now four
diatonic scales, namely :
i. THE MAJOR SCALE.
~f r~
I 1
; ii.J J J i J
2. THE HALF-MAJOR SCALE.
ffi J. J '-
*- (-
' l J J.
Or also with minor seventh in descendin :
^
THE MINOR SCALE.
THE HALF-MINOR SCALE.
234 THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY.
The Half-Minor Scale contains the Minor Third, while
its other intervals are identical with those of the Major
Scale. This is the case in descending, where the seventh
and sixth are lowered, as well as in ascending.
Furthermore, we have the Chromatic Scale, a regular
progression in semitones, which is much used by modern
composers; and the Enharmonic Scale, which may be said
to exist only in notation, since it is not executable on most
of our musical instruments, but which is likely to become
important in the music of a future period when our instru-
ments have been brought to the degree of perfection which
permits the most delicate modifications in pitch by the
performer, and which is at present almost alone obtainable
on instruments of the violin kind.
5. THE CHROMATIC SCALE.
-9- I I I _ I J J J r J bJ J J I I i i II
.| g
6. THE ENHARMONIC SCALE.
*J^*^~
Furthermore, we find at the present day the following
scales in use among foreign nations :
7. THE MINOR SCALE WITH TWO SUPERFLUOUS SECONDS.
J
If the lover of music is acquainted with the popular
songs and dance-tunes of the Wallachians, or with the wild
and plaintive airs played by the gipsy bands in Hungary, he
need not be told that the Minor Scale with two Superfluous
Seconds is capable of producing melodies extremely beautiful
and impressive. Indeed, it would be impossible to point out
more charming and stirring effects than those which cha-
racterise the music founded on this scale.
THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY. 235
8. THE PENTATONIC SCALE.
The Pentatonic Scale was in ancient times apparently
more universally in use than it is at present. It is still
popular in China, in Malaysia, and in some other Eastern
districts. Traces of it are found in the popular tunes of
some European nations, especially in those of the Celtic
races. Its charming effect is known to most of our
musicians through some of the Scotch and Irish melodies.
Also among the Javanese tunes, which have been brought to
Europe by travellers, and which are generally strictly penta-
tonic, some specimens are very melodious and impressive.
9. THE DIATONIC SCALE WITH MINOR SEVENTH.
The Diatonic Scale with Minor Seventh is likewise an
Eastern scale. Among European nations, the Servians
especially have popular tunes which are founded on this
scale. The Servian tunes frequently end with the interval
of the Fifth instead of the First or the Octave. As the
leading tone of our diatonic order of -intervals the Major
Seventh is wanting, our common cadence, or the usual
harmonious treatment of the conclusion of a melody to
which our ear has become so much accustomed that any
other appears often unsatisfactory, cannot be applied to
those tunes. Nevertheless, they will be found beautiful by
inquirers who are able to dismiss prejudice and to enter into
the spirit of the music. Although the scale with Minor
Seventh bears a strong resemblance to one of our antiquated
Church Modes, called Myxo-Lydian, it is in some respects
of a very different stamp, since its characteristic features
would become veiled if it were harmonised like that Church
Mode.
In addition to the nine scales which have been enumerated,
some others could be pointed out which are popular in
European countries; but, as they resemble more or less
those which have been given above, and as they may be
236 THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY.
regarded as modifications, it will suffice here to refer to
them only briefly. There are, for instance, in the Irish
tunes many of a pentatonic character in which one of the
two semitones of the diatonic scale is extant, and the scale
of which therefore consists of six intervals, either thus
*EEJi, or thus 5J&E =J J J ^
IF J. * *=
We also meet with a pentatonic order of intervals in
which the Third is flat like in our diatonic minor scale.
Again, some nations which have the diatonic order of
intervals deviate slightly from it by habitually intoning some
particular interval in a higher or lower pitch than it occurs
in our tempered system. For instance, careful observers
have noticed that the Swiss peasants in singing their popular
airs are naturally inclined to intone the interval of the Fourth
sharper than it sounds on the pianoforte. Thus, in C-major
it is raised so as to give almost the impression of F sharp.
This peculiarity is supposed to have arisen from the Alphorn,
a favourite instrument of the Swiss, on which the interval of
the Fourth, like on a trumpet, is higher than it is in our
Diatonic Scale. No doubt many peculiarities of this kind
are traceable to the construction of certain popular instru-
ments. This is perhaps more frequently observable among
uncivilized nations than with Europeans. Professor Lich-
tenstein, who, during his travels in South Africa, in the
beginning of the present century, investigated the
music of the Hottentots, asserts that these people sing
the interval of the Third slightly lower than the Major
Third, but not so low as the Minor Third; and the
Fifth and Minor Seventh likewise lower than in our
intonation. He found that the same deviations from our
intervals exist on the Gorah, a favourite stringed instrument
of the Hottentots.
Other peculiarities of the kind are more difficult to
explain. In the Italian popular songs of the peasantry,
for instance, we not unfrequently meet with the Minor
Second, where to an ear accustomed to our Minor Scale it
appears like a whimsical substitution for the Major Second.
THE MUSICAL SCALES IN USE AT THE PRESENT DAY. 237
It occurs, however, only occasionally. When it is used, the
scale is as follows; the Seventh being Major in ascending,
and Minor in descending:
In some instances such peculiarities have evidently been
derived, as has already been stated, from the series of tones
produced on a popular instrument. But there are many
instances in which the tones yielded by the instrument have