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44 National Music of the World. |
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singing the ancient unchanged words to popular songs of the time, such as 'Amaryllis,' 'Three colours in one,' 'The cowherds on the mountain.' This justifies us in conceivng that some fragments of wild chants may have been brought into modern shape and ordinance by those who allured the faithful to praise and prayer by recourse to mundane devices; such admission being easier to entertain than the idea that ' Az yashir Moshe' (The song of Moses) is the veritable intact hymn of ' the Red Sea/ as sung by the ancient Hebrews.
What curious, capricious gleams of twilight are let in, so often as we pry into the mysteries of old time! The Christians, no doubt, were largely indebted for their melodies to the Hebrews; and they were willing, says Clement of Alexandria,9 to give the harp and lyre a part in their social festivities, 'because David played on them,' but prohibited the flute, because that instrument ' had been u^ed in the service of idolatry.' Yet Christians did not refuse to avail themselves of the services of the organ —an instrument no less pagan, which, resolved into its primitive elements, is merely a box of flutes—an improved application of the pipes of Pan.
8 Cited by M. do Sola. |
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