Theoretical or Speculative Music embraces the principles, causes, properties, and effects of every kind of agreeable harmony. Practical music, which may likewise be termed active, delights the mind by adhering strictly to the principles of theory.

Theoretical music is likewise divided into physical and artificial. Physical treats of the natural causes of sound and song, first employing numbers to discover the proportions, and finally applying to the laws of nature to explain their effects; and this gives rise to acoustics, which signifies, relating to the ear. The artificial in harmony discovers the difference between consonances and dissonances, as well as between grave and acute sounds. Rhythm measures the different periods in vocalizing, preserving regularity with respect to time. Lastly, metre establishes the different and just disposition of unequal syllables. Practical music is sometimes common and sometimes declamatory. Common is divided into melopeia, the faculty of composing melody. Ritmopeia, the faculty of forming rhythm, that is to say of composing in the measures in general use; and lastly into poetical, the faculty of writing poetry. Declamatory, and also organic, which is executed by the natural organs, or by artificial instruments. Odic, applying to dancing and to the various movements of melody and sound; and critical, which judges of every species of practical music.

CHAPTER II.

Of Music from the Creation to the Flood.

The sacred writings are the principal sources from which the Padre has in this, as in all the subsequent chapters relating to Hebrew music, derived his information, and thus he quotes, as St. Thomas affirms, that the first man had the science of all things imparted to him immediately from God; he consequently possessed a perfect knowledge of music as well as of other things, and that he employed it in his declarations of veneration and obedience to the supreme Being. The Padre goes on to prove, by the same means, that Jubal was the father not only of vocal or natural music, but of instrumental likewise, and that instruments were then divided, as at present, into three kinds-wind, stringed, and of percussion, as may be plainly perceived by the mention of an

instrument of each kind in the scriptures, the lute or harp, the cymbals, and the pipe.*

But we must not however consider, he says, that the music over which Jubal appears to have presided had attained to the perfection to which it has since been carried, nor may the invention of the instruments here mentioned be attributed to him, but that he merely discovered the principles of that art which has ever since been practised by musicians in various ways. The Padre here gives his opinion, that Moses having been instructed by the Egyptians in arithmetic, geometry, rhythm, and medicine, so he also gained from them his knowledge in music, and that in his sacred writings he clearly proves the existence of the three different kinds of instruments before mentioned. Here follows a short history of the origin and of the different Hebrew instruments above named. The hydraulic or pneumatic organ, the principal of all wind instruments, he shews to have originated in the rustic pipes, or syrinx, allotted by the ancients to Pan and their other rural deities; to them however the invention of the pipe was indirectly communicated by the Hebrews, by means of the sacred writings of Moses, so that the origin of the pipe, and thus the first principles of the organ, rests with them. Passing from the wind to the stringed instruments in use amongst the Hebrews, the origin of the harp, lute, and tabret, is accounted for in the following manner:-The earliest inhabitants of the earth fed on the flesh of animals, and amongst others on that of goats and lambs, the intestines of which becoming, in course of time, dried and hardened, produced, when struck, a certain sound; from this fact arose, in all probability, the invention of the harp,† lute, and tabret, as there is no certain information relative to this point in the sacred writings. The origin of instruments of per

The Padre Martini, in a quotation from the 150th psalm, translates "Praise him upon the strings and pipe," "Lodatelo nelle corde e nell' organa." Storia di Musica, vol. 1, page 16.

+ The invention of the lyre is related in the following manner by Vincenzo Galilei, as quoted from Apollodorus.-The Nile having once overflowed its banks and inundated all Egypt, it left, on its return to its right channel, a variety of animals dead in the fields, amongst which was a tortoise: this animal was found by Mercury, when, the flesh being consumed, there remained nothing but a few sinews and nerves, quite hardened by the sun, which, being struck by his foot, produced a sound, and with these he constructed the first lyre.

cussion is more easily traced; they were composed only of wood, metal, and the skins of animals, principally of the two latter, and as Tubal-Cain worked in brass and in iron, it is probable that Jubal may be supposed to have first observed the sound produced by the percussion of these metals in the work-shop of his brother. The inventor of the proportions of musical intervals or sounds next occupies the attention of the historian, and after quoting many learned authorities, he gives it as his opinion, in concordance with that of Mersennus and Galileo, that although the antients universally ascribed the sole discovery of this to Pythagoras, from observing the difference of sounds produced by the percussion of various metals in the work-room of a smith, yet that the first principles were with more probability discovered by the same means by Jubal, who was the brother of Tubal-Cain, and improved in the course of time by Pythagoras, who is known to have taken many of the laws in his philosophy from the Hebrew writings.

From this time till the Flood, the Padre finds no other mention in the sacred writings, of music, than that Enos was the first to call upon the name of the Lord, and this he considers the first introduction of music into religious rites, for by a reference to the subject in the Alexandrian Chronicles, he finds "That these sons of Seth did according to the angels, invoking in the angels' hymn,” which, according to Calmet, signifies that they begun to invoke the name of the Lord, that is, to recite the hymn of the Lord, which is Holy, Holy, Holy, and as (says the Padre) a hymn signifies properly both poetry and music, it proves clearly that

music is here intended.

CHAPTER III.

From the Flood to the Birth of Moses.

In this short chapter little is found in the Scriptures relating to music. After Noah left the ark he built an altar and returned thanks to God, after the manner of the children of Seth; therefore the Padre considers it reasonable to suppose that the usual forms were observed in accompanying the sacrifice with hymns and songs. Following the progeny of Shem, the father of so many nations, the Padre stops at the 31st chapter of Genesis, where he

finds that Laban having overtaken the fugitive Jacob on the mountains of Gilead, says to him "Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp." This proves that the discoveries of Jubal were preserved by the descendants of Noah, and also that instruments of wind, strings, and percussion were then in use. In the 50th chapter of Genesis, Jacob is buried by his son Joseph according to the rites of the Egyptians and Hebrews, the last of whom fasted until evening, mourned publicly, celebrated and related the vir- ́ tues of the dead, and lastly lamented with the voice and in funeral songs. This proves that songs were used in the funeral ceremonies of the Hebrews, and as the exact kind is here mentioned, the Song, Martini thinks it most natural to suppose some kind of musical proportions or intervals to have been then in use; to make this the more likely, the rites of the Egyptians were also observed, a people who were already far advanced both in useful and voluptuous arts and sciences, and music is ascertained to have been one of their pursuits, and it is most likely that the use of the voice and instruments had been much longer known to them than to the Hebrews.

CHAPTER IV.

From the Birth to the Death of Moses.

This chapter commences with the observation of Moses having been instructed by the daughter of Pharaoh in all the knowledge and arts of the Egyptians, and according to S. Clemente Alessandrino more particularly in poetry and music. From this it passes to the passage of the Red Sea, after which miraculous escape the Hebrews break out in a song of praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, "Then sang Moses and the Children of Israel this song unto the Lord and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath trimphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." This song was accompanied by Miriam, the sister of Aaron, together with all the women. "And Mirian the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out with her with timbrels and with dances, and Miriam answered them, saying," &c.

On these passages the learned Padre descants largely, and enendeavours to determine whether the song of the Israelites was a VOL. VIII. NO. XXIX.-1826.

F

salmus canticus or canticus salmus, that is whether the music of instruments preceded or followed the voices, and decides that it was the latter, as if the Scriptures are followed strictly it will be found that instruments are mentioned, but not till after the whole song has been described, and then as only used by the women; hence also the Padre deduces that the chorus of the men was followed by that of the women, and that they did not sing together with them, as some have imagined. The instruments with which these songs were accompanied are decided by Martini, in accordance with other learned authorities, to have been the antient cymbal, made exactly like the modern tambourine. Miriam is described in the Scriptures as taking a timbrel in her hand, and as all kinds of instruments of percussion were understood under the general name of timbrel, this appears to have been of a small kind, adapted to the use of females. "And all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." This word is translated by the Padre cori, which gives rise to a great deal of discussion. The word chorus had amongst the antients various significations. It was the name of a wind instrument resembling the pipe, and likewise of one similar to the sistrum. It was also applied to a company of dancers, and, as at present, to a large band of singers. The Padre leaves the question undecided, seeming however to consider that the expression related chiefly to the band of women who both sung and danced. The buccina or trumpet next occupies his attention. The invention of this instrument is ascribed by old writers to the Egyptian Osiris, who made use of it in grand sacrifices. The Hebrews derived it from the Egyptians, most probably during their long captivity, as the first mention of it in the Holy Scriptures is, at the descent of the Lord upon Mount Sinai, and the second where he says to Moses "Make thee two trumpets of silver, of a whole piece shalt thou make them, that thou mayst use them for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camp." Previous to this period, the trumpets of the Israelites appear to have been made of the horn of the ram, and accordingly the Padre distinguishes them by the name of bucoina. Their form resembled that of the modern hunting horn, but after this time they were made of metal, and assumed a shape somewhat similar to the modern instrument. This chapter closes with remarks upon two songs or canticles of the Hebrews, the