Some Hellenic Ideas on Music and Character

8/10/2019 Some Hellenic Ideas on Music and Character

1/17

Some Hellenic Ideas on Music and CharacterAuthor(s): Louis HarapSource: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Apr., 1938), pp. 153-168Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/738976.

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2/17

SOME HELLENIC IDEAS ON MUSIC

AND CHARACTER

By

LOUIS HARAP

IN

RACTICE

it

s not

always asy

to

separate

hetechnics

rom

the esthetics

f

an art.A firsttatement

f thisdifference

ight

e

that

echnics

ives

n

analysis

f the nternal tructure

f an

art,

while

aestheticsreatsftherelationshipsetween hefinishedrtobject nd

human observers. he contrasts

roughly

etween

study

f thecon-

structionfa work fart nd the

njoyment

f

t.The Greeks

ccupied

themselves

ithboth

phases

of

musical

tudies-a fact

hat s not sur-

prising

n viewof

the

prominent lace

held

by

music

n the ife f that

speculative eople.

Music,

said

Plato,

is more

celebrated

han

any

other

kind

of mitation.

Although

ot a

great

eal

of technicalitera-

ture

n

music

has

survived,

nough

remains o assure

s that his

tudy

was

deeply nvestigatedy

theGreeks. shallnot herebe much

con-

cerned

withtheir echnical

heories

f

the

octave,modes,

r notation.

In this

essay,

which makes no

pretense

o

completeness,

shall

try

mainly

o setdown some

deasentertained

y

the

Greeks

pon

how the

enjoyment

f

music ffecteduman

haracter,

sually esignated

s the

ethos

heory

f music.2

As everyone nows, heearliest nd mostbasic of all musicaldis-

coveries

n

the West

was made

by Pythagoras,

hen

he

discerned he

principle

f the

regular roportional

elationship

etween

he

pitches.3

The

subsequent

evelopment

f

music would have

been

impossible

without

his

knowledge.

However,

what s

forus

a technical

rinciple

1

Laws

669

B. All

passages

fromPlato

are from he

Jowett

ranslation,

nless

otherwise

specified.

2

The reader houldbe warned hat

his

whole

subject

s

fraught

ith

conjecture

nd

con-

troversy.

ee the caveat of T.

Reinach,

La

Musique

Grkcque

(1926), pp. 44-45.

3

CurtSachs has

argued

hatboth

he

discovery

of the

cale and the doctrine f

the

harmony

ofthe pheres erenotoriginalwithPythagoras,utthat his heoristatheredhese deasduring

student

ays

n

Egypt.

ee Curt

achs,

Musik

des Altertums

1924), pp.

I6

and

49,

and

the

same

author's ie

Musik

der

Antike

1928),

in Handbuch

der

Musikwissenschaft,

dited

by

E.

Biicken,

PP. 3-4.

I53

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3/17

154

The

Musical

Quarterly

of

musicwas to

Pythagoras

he

primary

metaphysical

act

about the

world.

The

Milesian

hilosophers,

naximander

nd

Anaximenes,

ad

bequeathed

o

Pythagoras

he

problem

f

accounting

or he

existence

ofan

orderedworld

n

the

midst f conflictnd

opposition.

ythagoras

tried

o

solvethe

problem y

the

principle

f

harmony

diQCovia).

y

experimenting

itha

musical

tring

e had discovered

hat

he

pitch

intervalsf

the

octave,

he

fourthndthefifth ererelated

n

a

regular

ratio. n

other

words,

igh

nd

low

pitches

wereresolvedn an attune-

ment

diqLovla)

hat

esolved heir

pposition,

or ach was

related

o

the other n due

measure.

ythagoras

easoned

nalogously

rom

his

exampleof numerical egularityo everythinglse,and he thought

harmony

as the

clue

toan

explanation

fthe

world.4

Human

life,

o

be

properly

ealthful

nd

ordered,

hould lsobe harmonious.he re-

lations

f

elementsn

life,

oth

nternal

nd external o the

ndividual,

mustmake

a healthful

music,

s Hamlet

says.

For

the

soul,

f it

is

healthful,

s

attuned othe

harmony

made

by

the

heavenly

odies.This

is thefamous

dea

of

the

harmony

f the

pheres,

hichdoes

not,

s

is

popularly upposed,

enote

hemusicmade

by

themotion f

all the

heavenly odies n concert. his is a much laterdevelopmenthan

Pythagoras.

he

earlier

stronomyermittednly

crude,

imited

on-

ception

of theheavens

for

example,

he sun and moon were not

thought

o be

spheres,

ut

circles)

nd the

harmony

f the

pheres

s

rather

condition

f

the

oul,

o that

t

vibrates

ympathetically

ith he

fourth,

ifth

nd

octave

iven

ut

by

he

heavenly

irclesn their

motion.5

Music and

mathematics,

ecause

hey resented

he soul with

pure

instancesf

harmony,

ereheld

byPythagoras

o have

purgative

ffects.

He was the firstmongphilosophersoexpound he dea ofcatharsis,

whichhad beentransmitted

o him

through

he

Orphicism

n hisre-

ligiousbackground.

he

idea

of

catharsis

y

musicwas

present

n

the

ancient radition hat

Orpheus

with

his lute calmedbeasts nd

that

Amphion

moved

he toneswithhis music.The

xcd~appo,

rites f

puri-

fication

y

enthusiasm,

ere

regularlyractised

n the

Orphicreligions

as a means

f

releasing

he oulfrom ts

bodily

omb.

ythagoras

arried

this dea

furthern

prescribing

ppropriate

usic

for

ach

specific

ype

of mentaldisturbance,nd in his doctrine f the harmony f the

circles.

amblichus

elates hat

Pythagoras

as

likewise

f

opinion

4

It

should

not be

necessary

to remind the reader that

harmony signified

to

the Greeks a

linear

series

of

pitches,

and not a simultaneous concord.

5

Cf.

J.

Burnet,

Early

Greek

Philosophy , 3rd

ed.,

pp.

110o,

06

ff.,

nd

his

article,

Pythag-

oras and

Pythagoreanism

in

Hastings' Encyclopedia

of

Religion

and

Ethics ,

vol.

X,

p.

528.



4/17

Some

Hellenic

deas

on

Music and

Character

155

thatmusic ontributed

reatly

o

health,

f twasused n an

appropriate

manner....

And he calledthe medicine

which s obtained

hrough

music

by

thename

of

purification....

But he

employed

ucha

melody

as this

during

the

vernal

seasons

....

And

there are certain melodies

devised s

remedies

gainst

he

passions

f

the

soul,

and

also

against

despondency

nd

lamentation,

hich

Pythagoras

nvented s

things

that ffordhe

greatest

ssistancen these

maladies. 6

After

pecifying

more

of

these

emedies,

amblichus

oncludes hat after his

manner,

therefore,

ythagoras

hrough

music

produced

he mostbeneficial

or-

rection f humanmanners nd

lives. '

Pythagoras

elieved

hat

the

hearing f soundswhichborecertain rithmeticalelationshipsad a

powerful

nd

quite specific

ffect

n thesoul. The movementsn each

piece

of music

produced

imilarmovements

nthe soul. Since desirable

states

fthesoulcould

be

induced

by

suitable

music,

t assumed

great

importance

or

moral

ife.

ythagoras

ad

finally

eepened

he

primitive

conception

f

purification

y

musicwhen

he founded t

upon

a universal

metaphysical

heory

f

harmony.

As

might

have been

expected,

is followers

eveloped

n two direc-

tions.Some ofthembecameabsorbed n his mathematicalheory f

music,

whileothers

were

preoccupied

ith he thos

heory

f

the ffect

ofmusic

upon

character.

mong

the

earliest

f the former as

Lasos,

one of the seven

sages,

who

was said

to have been the

instructorf

Pindar

n

lyric omposition

nd a

composer

s well as a

theoretician.

He was the

first reekto

write n

music,

stablishing

n

writing

he

theoretical

ystem

f

Greek

music and

giving

definitiveorm

to its

technical

ocabulary;

nd

he was

perhaps

he founder

f

notation

or

vocalmusic.8 n thesideof theethos-theoryheoutstandingxponent

wasDamonthe

Athenian,

friend

f Socratesndalso of

Pericles,

nd

thus

n a

good

position

o

gain

a wide

hearing

or

his ideas.

It was

Damon who laid down

a

prohibition

f the

aulos,

becausehe

thought

the ethical ffects

f

thecither nd

lyre

o

be

superior

o the

relaxing

influence

f

the aulos.He

gave

to

Pythagorean

thical

eachings

n

music heir tandard

orm nd

carried ut

their

mplications

or

he ife

ofthe

community.

he

political

nd social

significance

f

music was

emphasized yhimfor, ccording o Plato,Damon said, thatwhen

modes fmusic

hange,

hefundamentalaws ofthe tate

lways

hange

6Iamblichus,

Life of

Pythagoras ,

trans.

by

Thomas

Taylor

(i818),

ch.

XXV, pp.

80-82.

7 Ibid.,

p. 83.

8 On Lasos see F. A. Gevaert and

J.

C.

Vollgraf,

Les Problimes

Musicaux d'Aristote

(1903),

pp.

Io3-Io7.



5/17

1I56

The

Musical

Quarterly

with

them. 9

He

also

exerted

reat

nfluence

pon

Greek ducation

y

elaboratingherelation fmelody, hythm,'0nd tonequality o the

dispositions

f

the oul.

Damon's articulationf

the

thos-theory

nd

his

emphasis

pon

the

political

spect

fmusic orm he

basisofthese deas

in Plato

and Aristotle.

*

*

Of all

the dherents

o the

view hat

music nfluencesharacterlato

was themost evere nd

uncompromising.

e statesn its xtreme

orm

theview hat he

beautifuln

music s

an imitationfthevirtuous.And

not to be

tedious,

e said

decisively,

let us

say

thatthe

figures

nd

melodieswhich re

expressive

f virtue f soul or

body,

r

of

mages

f

virtue,

re

without

xception

ood,

and

those

which

are

expressive

f

vice are

the reverse

f

good.

The ethical lement

n

Plato's use

of

xabg

as the beautiful

ominatesn this

assage.

n other

words,

eauty

in music

depends

n

ethos,

r

the

character

t

expresses.

or

the

ethos-

theory

s based on the view thatmusic

directly

nd

precisely

mitates

human

dispositions,

ecauseof

the

similaritiesf movementn music

and in thesoul. The Greeks onceived fthesoul as being n motion

when

affectively

live

(hence

the term

emotion ).

Plato

said that

melody

as

movementskinto the

revolutionsfthe oulwithin

s. 2

The musicianmust

know,

elative o

harmonies,

hat

are

theaffec-

tions

corresponding

o

them n

the movements

f

thehuman

body,

which

when

measured

by

numbers

ught,

s

they ay,

to

be called

rhythms

nd measures. '3

Melodies

xpress

he

virtues

f

the

soul and

body

or their

vices.'4 Everyone

will

admit,

Plato

affirmed,

that

musical ompositionsre all imitativendrepresentative. 's

If we consider s a

whole all the scattered

assages

on

the

ethos-

theory

n

Plato,

we find

hat hemusical

motion

which

s

a reconstruc-

tion

of the soul'smovements not

simple,

uttheresultant f

several

simultaneous otions.t

is not

only

he onalmovement rom

ne

note

to

another,

hat

s,

the

melody,

hatPlato

regarded

s

determining

he

ethical

haracter f

music,

ut also

rhythm,

empo

nd

tone-quality

f

a

Republic 24

C.

o10 f. Republic 400 B-C.

11

Laws ,

655

B.

12

Timaeus 47

D,

trans.

A.

E.

Taylor.

Cf. also

Laws

790

C f.

13

Philebus

17

D.

14

Laws

655

B. Cf. also

789

D.

15

Laws 668B.



6/17

Some

Hellenic deas

on Music

and Character

157

the instrument.

ermannAberthas

given

the name

Gesamtethos

o

this esultantthical haracterfmusic n a work ndispensableor he

understanding

f

this

ntire

ubject.'6

f thisresultant

thos,

hythm

and

melody

re

the

hief,

ut

not

total,

onstituents.

he

melodic

spect

of

music s

comprehended

y

the

modal

system.

ome of the

Greeks

believed hat ach

mode

expressed

he dominant

ational

haracterf

the

tates

n

which

hey

were

prevalent,

ndthe

modeswere

duly

named

after

he ocalities f

their

resumed

rigin-Dorian,

Phrygian,ydian,

Ionian

and

Aeolian.?

All of thesemodes

finally

ecame familiar

n

Athens,

much

to the distressf the

defenders

f the ancient

Dorian

mode,

which

was,

according

o

Plato,

thetrueHellenic

mode,...

which

sa

harmony

f

words nd

deeds. '

To this

modewas

attributed

thecardinal

Greek

virtue f

temperance,

nd

the

temperament

fthe

idealcitizen

inds

xpression

n

it.

The

Phrygian

mode manifests

our-

age

and

isuseful

whencitizens

eed to

ward

off

angers

o themselves

and

to

the

republic.

hese

two,

the Dorian and

Phrygian,

re

alone

worthy

o be

retained

n Plato's deal

state.19lato

s

peculiar

mong

he

ancients

n thus

egarding

he

Phrygian

s

themode

of

courage,

or

ll

others haracterizedt as the enthusiastic,rgiasticmode. Aristotle

specially

riticizes lato

for

etaining

he

Phrygian

modewhile

rejecting

the

ulos,

for

he

Phrygian

s tothemodeswhattheflute

aulos]

is to

musical nstruments--bothf them

are

exciting

nd emotional. 20

t

may

be,however,

hat lato's

Phrygian

asa differentodefromhe

one Aristotle new

by

that

name,

and

one of an older

system.

lato

completely

ejects

he other

modes,

or

they

re relaxed nd debili-

tating.

The

Lydian

mode is

melancholy, xpressive

f

sorrowand

lamentation;he' onianhas thequality fsoftnessnd indolence nd

accompanies

runkenness.2'

Rhythm,

s

well as

melody,

ontributed

o

the

total thos

f a com-

position,

nd

hence

rhythm

must be

consonant

with the

melody

n

disposition.

or

thisreason

Plato

enjoins

are n the

selection

f

songs

appropriate

or

men

and

women,

respectively,

aying

that

the state

16

Hermann

Abert,

Die

Lehre vom

Ethos in

der

Griechischen

Musik,

Leipzig,

I899.

17

But see Oxford

History

of

Music ,

Introductory

Volume

(1929), P. ii.

18s

Laches 188

D,

i93

D.

19 Republic 399

A

f.,

Laws

660

A.

20

Aristotle,

Politics ,

tr.

Jowett,1342

b

2-3.

21

Republic 398

C.

For an extended discussion

of

the ethical character of

the

modes see

Abert,op.

cit.,

pp.

69-loo;

A.

Gevaert,

Histoire

et

Thcorie

de

la

Musique

de

l'Antiquite

(1875),

Vol.

I,

pp. 178-199.



7/17

158

The Musical

Quarterly

must

assign

to

themtheir

proper

melodies nd

rhythms. 22

he

tempo

(dyy,)

is

another

onstituentf

the otal thos f

music.23

lato

reports

hatDamon

appeared

to

praise

or censure he

movement

[tempo,

dy'y]

of

thefoot

s much

s the

rhythm;

r

perhaps

com-

binationf

these

wo,

or

amnotcertain

what

he

meant. 24 t

will

be

noticed hat

hythm

shere

harply istinguished

rom

empo, howing

a

highdegree

f

sophistication

n

musical

heory.

nd

tothese actors

which

together

make

up

the

final thosof

music,

he

tone-quality

f

instrumentsust

be

added. Plato was so

severe s to condemn

urely

instrumental usic

because tsethos ould not

be

unequivocally

nown

in the bsence f a discursive

ext.25

he aulos, t anyrate,s definitely

knownto

have

an

indubitably

ad

ethos,

nd is

completely

o

be for-

bidden,

s

Plato

affirms,26

ollowing

amon. The

simple

yre

nd

harp

may

be used

(although

not

apart

from

text

or a

dance,

we

may

assume),

for

t least

hey

re not

ntrinsically

uxurious

nstruments.27

In viewof

thisbelief n

the

powerful

nd

direct

ffects hich

music

produced

pon

character,

heGreeks

aturally

ere areful o

prescribe

the

part

that

music

was to

play

n education. t shouldbe noted that

Plato,and others ike himtingedwithPythagoreanism,onceived f

music

not

only

s

the

pecial

rtof

sound,

ut lso

n a wider ense s a

generic

meansof

producing

armony

nd

proportion,

oward

which

end

the

artof sound oomed

arge.

Poetry, inging,

nd

dancing

were

musical rts. n Plato's scheme f

education,music,

n

thisbroader

meaning,

was to

train he soul to a

senseof

proportion,

hile a

har-

monious

tate f the

body

s achieved

hrough

he

secondmain

part

of

education,

ymnastic.

his was

probably

heusualGreek

onception

f

music, orwe find rotagoras,n thedialogue fPlatonamed fter im,

recommending

usical

ducation,

n the

arge

ense,

or

he

young,

o

make

the

proper

harmonies nd

rhythmsuite

familiar o the

chil-

dren's

ouls,

n order hat

heymay

earnto

be more

gentle,

nd har-

monious,

nd

rhythmical,

nd somore

fitted or

peech

nd action. 28

Plato

aid

down

very

trict

egulations

n themusical ducation f

the

22

Laws

802

D.

Cf.

also Laws

669

B f.

23

This was first

pointed

out

by

Abert,

op.

cit.,

p.

128.

24

Republic

400

C.

25

Laws 669 C f. This problem oes not seem to have troubledAristotle. houghhe

recognizes

hat

music,

ven f t is

unaccompaniedy

words,

yet

has

character,

Problemata

919

b

27)

he seems

not to have feared he

risk nvolved n

purely

nstrumental

usic.

26

Republic 399

C.

27

Republic 399

D-E.

28

Protagoras 326

B.



8/17

Some

Hellenic deas

on Music and Character

159

young.

n the

Republic Books

II

and

III)

he

expounds

t

length

he

detailsof

a

rigidcensorshipf poetrynd music,

nd

reverts o the

subject

n the

Laws

(797

f.).

Music s to habituate hildren o har-

monies

nd states

f

mind

favorable o theconservation

f

the

republic:

children re

educated nmusic

hat

hey may

notbe habituatedo feel

joy

and sorrow n a

manner t variance

withthe

aw,

but

may

rather

follow he aw.

Although

he ame

thical

rinciplespply

o

music oth n

thewide

and narrow

enses,

urmain concern ere s withtheir

pplication

o

the

rtof sound.

Because he

nfluence

f music n characters so

great,

this rtmustbe regulated otonlyfor hildren,utfor itizens fall

ages.

Melody,

wrote

Plato,

n

a

Pythagorean

ein,

with

ts

move-

ments kin

to

the

revolutions

f

the oulwithin

s,

has

been

given y

the

Muses to him who

uses

their

ompany

with

understanding,

ot for

foolish

leasure,

hich

s

thought

o-day

ts

function,

ut as

an

ally

for

therevolutionsf the

soul within s thathas been

put

out

of

tune,

o

bring

t back

to

order

nd consonance

with

tself.

Rhythm

lso

was

granted

s to

the ame

nd. 3

This

therapeutic

unctionf

music snot

asprominentn Plato s that freinforcingemperancendcivicvirtue.

The

soft,

weet nd

melancholy

irs n

the

onian

modes,

or

nstance,

conduce o

effeminacy

ndthus

weaken

the

fighting

pirit

f

thewar-

riors.31

usical

nnovation

s

dangerous

o

the tate

ecause he

pirit

f

licensentroduced

y

nnovation

imperceptibly

enetrates

nto

manners

and customs nd

leads

progressively

o

a

degree

of

lawlessness

hat

finally

ndermines

he tate.32

lassic

implicity

f

melody

nd

rhythm

mustbe

preserved.

lato

protests

gainst

he

ncreasing

omplexities

f

rhythmndmelody henbeing ntroducedntoGreekmusic, or uch

complexityngenders

icense nd

disease f

the

oul.33

*n *n

The

uncompromising

spect

ssumed

by

the

ethos-theory

n

Plato

becomes

onsiderably

oftened

hen

ubjected

o the

ess

rdent

mind

f

Aristotle.

We

shallsee

that he atter

eparts

rom

he

Platonic

iew

n

assigning self-sufficientalue to seriousmusic.Though Aristotle's

S Laws

659

D.

30

Timaeus

47

D,

trans. A. E.

Taylor.

31

Republic

411

A-D.

32

Republic

423

B f.

Cf. also

Laws

700 C,

797

D

f.

33

Republic

404

E.

Cf.

also

399

B,

400

E.



9/17

160

The Musical

Quarterly

technical

nowledge

f music

was

greater

han that

of

his

master,

e

follows latoclosely noughfor longway.Music,forAristotle, as

a

form f

imitation.

Rhythm

nd

melody,

e

wrote,

supply

mita-

tions f

anger

nd

gentleness,

ndalsoof

courage

nd

temperance,

nd

ofall

the

qualities

ontrary

o

these,

ndof theother

ualities

f char-

acter. 84

his is

reaffirmedn

the

Problemata

hich,

fnot

by

Aris-

totle

himself,

s

undoubtedly

ristotelian.he movement o which

sound

gives

ise

resembles oral

haracter

oth n

the

rhythms

nd in

the

melodic

isposition

f the

high

nd low

notes. '

The

ethos-theory,

that

s,

music s

an imitation

f

character,

s

then he

particular

orm

which he mitationakes nthecase of theartofsound.According o

Aristotlehe

modes re ofthree inds:

heethical

(iulx&d),

epresenting

the

feeling

which

ccompanies

moral

decision;

he

ctive

(nQaxLxdci),

which

ncites o overt

ction,

s

in

military

music,

r

represents

vert

actions omewhat n themanner

f

program

music;

and the enthusi-

astic

SvovaloaorLx&),

he

mode ofextreme

gitation,

hich s homeo-

pathically

dministereds

a

purgative

o excited

ersons.36

esides he

melodic

mode,

rhythm

oo has an

affinity

o human

haracter,37

s also

domusicalnstruments.38ristotlerges pecial areuponthedramatist

thathis

music

be

appropriate

o thecharacter

xpressed

in

the

poetic

text,39

ust

s Plato

ays

fthe

music o be allowed

nhis

Republic

hat

the

melody

nd

rhythm

ill

depend

on the

words. 4

And like

him,

Aristotleoo

regards

he

Dorian mode as

producing

a moderate

nd

settled

emper,

hich

ppears

obethe

peculiar

ffectf the

Dorian. 41

The

effects

f

the relaxed

modes are

debilitating,

hile other

modes,

like the

Phrygian,

re

excitednd havea

purgative

ffect.

WhenAristotleomes onamethe egitimateses towhichhe be-

lieves

music an

be

put,

hedifferencentheir

iews tands ut.

Aristotle

declares

himself

o be in

substantial

greement

with

philosophers,

probably

lato and

Damon,

among

others,

n the rble of

music n

education.42he Dorian mode

s

particularly

itted o the

education f

34

Politics

1340

a

19-23.

All

citations

from

Aristotle re taken

from the Oxford

translation

of

his works.

85

Problemata

9i9

b

33-34.

6

Politics

1341

b

33-35.

This classification s continued

by

the Aristoxenians.

Cleonides

c(pseudo-Euclid)

notes the three

styles

as

hesychastic,

ystaltic

nd

diastaltic.

37

Politics

134o

a

19.

38

Politics

1341

a

21-23.

39 Problemata ,

ch.

XIX,

48, 922

b

Io

f.

40

Republic 398

C.

41

Politics

1340o

b

3-4.

42

Politics

1340

b

5-6.



10/17

Some Hellenic deas on

Music and

Character

i6r

the

young

because t is the mean between

he

relaxed

Lydian

and

the

excited hrygian,nd themean n all aspects f ifepromotes irtue.43

And musichas the

power

of

character,

nd should

herefore

e intro-

duced ntotheeducation f the

young. 44

abituationo

true

nd

vir-

tuous

pleasures

hat esults rom

raining

n the

right

musicmakes

t a

powerful eapon

for ducation. romthis

point

n,

however,

ristotle

goesbeyond

Plato.

He held thatmusic

taught

n

youth

ultivates

he

taste

for

music

to be

fully njoyed

n

maturity.45

e

also

grants

hat

enthusiastic

usichas a

proper

unction

s

catharsis;

for

eelings

uch

as

pity

nd

fear,

r

again,

nthusiasm,

xist

ery

trongly

n some

ouls,

and have moreor less nfluencever ll. 46 urgation f this xcess n

emotional ifeAristotle onsidered

ntirely

roper,

ot

only

n

music,

but

n

tragedy

s well. He

saw

all

orders f ife n

their

wn termsnd

dealt withthem

ccordingly,

hileforPlato

every

spect

of lifewas

subordinatedo

the ranscendentdeal of

philosophic

ision.

he

earlier

Platotended

o

gnore

ommon eeds nd in

large

measure ondemned

thoseactivities

hat

did

not

directly

romote

helife of

vision.7

Al-

though

Plato does admit

the cathartic

unctionf music n a

Pythag-

oreanpassage ( Timaeus 47 E), thisadmission s an isolatedone.

Otherwise e forbids he

exciting

music

of the

aulos,

while Aristotle

deals

differently

ith

his

uestion.

here s a

proper

ime

or

laying

the

aulos,

when

the

performance

ims

not at

instruction,

ut

at the

relief

f the

passions. 48

n

other

words,

hisuse

ofthemusic

of the

aulos s

ust

what

we

found

n

Pythagoras: homeopathic

reatmentf

an

agitated

motional tate

y orgiastic

music.

Besides

he

use ofmusicfor education

nd for

catharsis,

ristotle

notes tsfunctions relaxationnd recreation, hich,we conjecture,

must

havemeantto

the Greekswhat

amusement,

s contrasted

ith

serious

rt,

means

o

us.

Platoalso

approves

f

amusement,

f

nothing

f

importance

s involved. ut as

usual Aristotle

oes

fartherhanPlato

when the

former

ermitsperverted

melodies

nd

highly

trung

nd

unnaturally

olouredmelodies

for

the

relaxation f mechanics nd

laborers

ho,

owing

o their ack of

education,

annot

njoy

heethical

43

Plato,

as

we

may

recall,

preferred

the Dorian because he

thought

it

the

mode

of

tem-

perance, the Platonic equivalent to the Aristotelianmean.

44

Politics

1340

b 11-12.

45

Politics

1339

a 25

f.

46

Politics

1342 a

5-7.

7

This view

is

somewhat

mitigated by

Plato in

his Philebus.

48

Politics

134I

a

23.

Cf.

also

1342

a

5-16.



11/17

I62

The Musical

Quarterly

melodies. Plato

wouldnever

have

made

such a concession o

vulgar

taste.A

fourth,nd very ignificant,se ofmusicnamedbyAristotle

is

thatof

enjoyment

or ts

own sake

as a

disciplined,

intellectual

activity

&tayy4)

.50

Such

self-sufficient

ctivity

s forAristotleheend

of

human

ife,

he

complete

ealization f man's

rationality.

ll

liberal

pursuits-that

s,

those

which re not

useful r

necessary -are

en-

joyed

for

hemselves

lone,

ach

n tsown

right.

Musical

ctivity

f this

kind is

not

merely

pleasant,

ike

relaxation,

ut one in

which

the

pleasant

(4o0v1)

is

joined

with

the

rationally

ine

xacbv).52

On the

whole,

however,

ristotle

esisted

he

dual

tendency

f Platoto

subordi-

nate he ndividual o the tate,ven othe xtentfdrasticimitationf

their

njoyment;

nd,

as Platoso often

oes,

o

regard

s

unworthyny

form

f

activity

hichdid not

directlyromote

he

philosophic

ision.

As

a

result,

ristotle

ountenances wider

ange

f

musical

njoyment.

Aristotle's

aturalism

nd

respect

or

he

empirical

re

reflected

n

themusical deasofhis followers,nd chieflyn Aristoxenus,alled

6 otLx6;s,

The

Musician,

by

the

ancients,

much as the

mediaevals

called

Aristotle

The

Philosopher.

What

we knowof him

ustifies

he

title,

orhe

waswithout

oubt ne of

the

greatest

f ll

musical

heorists.

His

solution f

the

problem

fthe

well-tempered

cale53

was

lost

upon

antiquity

nd

was not known

gain

until

Werckmeister

e-creatednd

Bach

re-introduced

t.

Our

knowledge

f Greekmusic

owes more to

him

than to

anyone

lse. Of

all the

Greeks,

he

saw most

clearly

he

essence

f

music;

and

his

conception

eveals rare

insight

nto

the

sensuousnd

organic

ature fthe rt.He conducted

polemic gainst

twoextreme

chools f

musical

heory

n his time.On

the

one

hand

there

werethe

Pythagorean

athematical

hysicists

ho saw

music s

a

discipline

oncerned

ith

numerical

roportions

nd

thus

ompletely

overlookedts

essence,

ts

aspect

s

sound.Sensuous ata were

reduced

by

the

Pythagoreans

o their

umerical

quivalents,

roportionaltring

lengths;

nd

they egarded

hese umerical ata

as musical

henomena.

4

Politics

1342

a

19-27.

so

Politics 1338

a

I f

B

Politics

1338

a

31.

52

Politics

1339

b

I7-I9.

Plato

approaches

this

point

of

view in

the

Philebus,

where he

says

that

the

good

in

itself s a mixture of

pleasure

with

knowledge

(EtLanipj)))

(60

A

f.),

and

then

ncludes

musical

knowledge mong

these

oods 62 C).

5

But

see Oxford

History

f

Music ,

ntroductory

olume

1929),

pp.

4-5.



12/17

Some

Hellenic deasonMusic and Character

163

As

Aristoxenus

xpressed

t,

hese

ationalistssserted

that

height

nd

depth

of

pitch

onsist n

certain umerical atios nd relative

ates f

vibration-a

theory

tterly

xtraneousothe

subject

nd

quite

at vari-

ance with the

phenomena. 54

t

the

other xtreme

were thosenaive

empiricists

ho

fastened

pon

some

single

fieldwithinmusic

nd

re-

garded

tas

thewhole

fharmonic. omedevoted

hemselves

xclusively

to

a

study

f

musical

notation,

utAristoxenusbserves

cutely

hat,

if

mannotes own

the

Phrygian

cale,

tdoes notfollow hat

he must

know

the

ssence

f the

Phrygian

cale, 55

ust

as

one

can

know all the

literal acts

bout

metrewithout

etting

t the

essence

f

poetry.

imi-

larly omesimplemusicians efinedharmonic s theknowledge f

clarinets

auloi],

and the

bility

o tell he

manner

f

production

f,

nd

the

gencies

mployed

n,

ny

piece

renderedn

the larinet

aulos]. 56

To

which

Aristoxenus

eplies

hat ll

instrumentslike

participate

n

the

general

aws of

harmony,

ut that

achinstrument

mploys

means

peculiar

o its

imited ature.

Harmony

n

general

s broader hanthe

adaptation

f

sound o

any ingle

nstrument.

For

Aristoxenus usic

depended nseparablypon

both

mmediate

sense-discriminationfsoundand theabilityorelate uchdiscrimina-

tions-both

hearing

nd

intellect,

s he

says.7

Finesense-discrimina-

tion

s not called

for

n

geometry,

ince hedeductive

rocedure

f

this

study

equires nly

rudevision o indicate nd illustratehose

bstract

principles

nd axioms

under

discussion. t

is

rather he

carpenter

r

handicraftsman

ho must

xercise eenness

f

vision

nalogous

o the

sensuous

iscriminationfthemusiciann

sound. norder o

prove

acts

about

pitches

nd their

elations,

uch soundsmustbe

accurately

is-

criminated. ristoxenusonsequentlyhinks fmusic as a science f

melodious

ound, 58

nd of

all

the

objects

o

which hefive

enses

pply

notone other

s

characterized

y

an orderlinesso

extensive

ndso

per-

fect. 59

e

saw further

hat

previous

heorists

ad

not

grasped

the

sensuously

ynamic

ature

f

music,

orhe realized

hat,

ot

only

did

notes

have

pitch,

ndnot

only

did

pitches

tand n

formal,

mathematical

relations ne tothe

other,

ut

also that ach note

had an

auditory

unc-

54

The

Elements f

Harmony,

r.

by

A. S. Macran

190o2),

32

M

(Meibohm

pagination).

5 Ibid.,39 M.

,6

Ibid.,

39

M.

7

Ibid.,

33

M.

58

For

his

interesting

istinction

etween

peech

and

music

(melodious

ound),

see The

Elements

f

Harmony,

M

ff.

5

Ibid.,

5

M.



13/17

164

The Musical

Quarterly

tion.

Each note n a

melody

ore n

organic

elation o theother otes.

Melodywhichaccordswiththe awsofharmony, aidAristoxenus,

is

not

constituted

y

intervals nd notes alone.

Collocation

upon

a

definite

rinciple

s also

indispensable. 60

his

is

thebasic

principle

f

formal

nalysis

n

music.

Although,

o

far s I

know,

he

ncientsmade

only

primitivenalyses

fmusical orm

for

the

good

reason,

robably,

that heirmusicwas

not

formally

omplicated

ike

ours),

this

great

is-

covery

f

the

organic

ature fmusic

by

Aristoxenus

ertainly

rovided

theoreticaloundationsor uch

study.

It is

plain,

he

said,

that he

apprehension

f

melody

onsistsn

noting

with

bothear and

intellect

every istinctions itarisesn the uccessiveounds .. Fortheappre-

hension fmusic

depends

n these wo

faculties,

ense-perception

nd

memory. 61

ristoxenusombined

n himself hevirtues

f

Pythagoras

and

Aristotle,

sense f

the

mportance

oth

f abstract elationsnd of

empirical

ata. twas

very

nfortunate

hat heGreeks

ailed o see the

importance

f

this

spect

f

Aristoxenus'

heory,

nd

it

soon

dropped

from

ttention.

Aristoxenus

nheritednotherrait

f

Pythagoreanism,

amely

moral

severity,s wasmanifestednhis adherence o theethos-theory.n the

Elements

f

Harmony

eferenceso ethos

re

very

parse.

f

a certain

style

e

says

hat far

rom

eing

ontemptible,

t s

perhaps

henoblest

ofall

styles. 2

uthe

expresses

ome

doubt s tothe ffectsf

music n

character. e rebukes

ertain

eople

for

giving

oo broad

scope

to his

statementhat 'one

class

of musical rt s hurtful o themoralchar-

acter,

nother

mproves

t,'

while

they

missed

ompletely

ur

qualifica-

tionof this

tatement,

in

so far s musical rtcan

improve

he

moral

character.'

63

Unfortunatelyedoesnot elaborate ponthis ualifica-

tion

nthe

writings

eft

o us.

Nevertheless,

f

he vidence

rom

lutarch

is to be

credited,

ristoxenus as no less evere n his

ethos-theory

han

Plato.Like the

atter,

e condemned hevocalmusic

ustemerging,

nd

regretted

he

departure

rom he

implicity

nd seriousnessftheolder

music.

Aristoxenusees he

utility

fmusic

n

forming

he haracterf

the

young,

nd of

rousing

hewar-like

pirit

n

soldiers.65

e also

nsists

??Ibid.,

I8

M.

61

Ibid.,

38

M.

2

Ibid., 23

M.

a

Ibid.,

31

M.

64 Plutarch,

e

la

Musique,

r.

by

H. Weil and

T.

Reinach,

h.

I2.

Cf. also ch.

I8.

Westphal

has shown hat he

passages

shall cite t this

point

were

taken

from

he Table-Talk

of

Aris-

toxenus. f.

Plutarch,

iber

die

Musik,

r. nd ed.

by

R.

Westphal

1868),

pp.

19 ff.

a

Ibid., ch. 26.



14/17

Some

Hellenic

deason

Music

andCharacter

I65

that

t doesnot

sufficehe

musician

o

possess

technical

nowledge

f

rhythm

nd

melody.

ombined

with

hese,

he

omplete

musician

must

havea

thorough

ense ftheethos fmusic.He mustknow howto

fit

the ext

f

a

song

or

the

thos

f

an instrumental

iece

to ts

ppropriate

mode

and

rhythm.

Whoever

wishes o be a

complete

musician,

e

wrote,

must

combine

knowledge

f

musical

theory

nd

technique

with

correct

musical

udgment, 66

nd

by

musical

udgment

he

was

referring

o

a

sense

of

propriety

f

rhythm

nd

melody

o

the

ethical

character

he

musician

ntended o

convey.

The

ethos-theory

id

not

passunchallenged

n

antiquity.

certain

school,

which

Abert

calls the

Formalists,

enied

that music

either

resembled

haracter r

affected

ts

development.

he

fullest

xpression

of

this

iew s

to

be

found

n

Philodemus

First

Century .C.).

In

I899,

Hermann

Abert

ad

affirmed

hat,

lthough

ardly ny

Formalist

rit-

ing

before

hilodemus

ad

survived,

his

writer as

really

xpounding

ideas

advanced

y

the

Sophists

f

Fourth

Century

.C.

in

opposition

o

theethos-theorists.7bert howed hatPhilodemuswas expressinghe

views

f

Epicurus,

ho nturn

erived n

thismatter

rom

emocritus.

We

know

that

Democritus

nvestigated

he

physics

f

hearing

nd

that

he

regarded

music s

a late

cquisition

f

man,

n article

f

uxury

ather

than

necessity.

e was

a

Sophist

f

theGreek

enlightenment,

uring

which

all

traditional

iews

were

questioned,

mong

which

musthave

been

the

heory

hat

music

had

an

ethical

haracter.

uman

institutions

and

knowledge,

he

Sophistsmaintained,

erenot

xpressions

f

natural

law

(pioLtS)

but convention (v6iioS) with no deeper foundation or

validity

han

acquiescence.

he

obvious

ubjectivity

f

the

response

o

music

could

not have

escaped

their

ritical

minds,

nd,

in

fact,

Abert

holds

that n

several

ccasions,

hen

discussing

he

ethos-theory,

lato

seems o

be

answering

pponents.

In

1902,

hree

ears

fter

bert ad

conjectured

n

the

bsence

f

any

documents

hat

he

Sophists

were

violently

pposed

othe

ethos-theory,

a

manuscript

ating

from

he

third

r

fourth

entury

.C.

was dis-

coveredwhich trikinglyonfirmedhis onjecture.he author fthe

66Ibid.,

ch.

36.

Cf.

also chs.

32-36.

i

The account of

the

Formalists

here

given

is

largely

drawn from

Abert's Die

Lehre

vom

Ethos,

tc.,

pp.

27-43.

The

position

s also

briefly

ummarized

y

Abert,

Die

Stellung

er

Musik

in der

Antiken

Kultur,

Die

Antike,

ol.

2

(1926),

pp.

I40o

ff.

Cf.

also

Abert,

ie

Musik

der

Griechen,

n

his

Gesammelte

chriften

nd

Vortridge

1929).



15/17

166

The Musical

Quarterly

manuscript isputes

he

claims hatmusic

mitates

haractermuch

n

the

same

manner s

Philodemus.

or,says

this

uthor,

Who

is

there

who does notknow that he

Aetolians nd

Dolopes,

and

all

the folk

round

Thermopylae

se a diatonic

ystem

f

music,

nd

yet

re braver

than the

tragedians

ho are

regularly

ccustomedo theenharmonic

scale

88

From suchan

argument

t does

not follow

necessarily,

s

the

opponents

f

the

ethos-theory

aintained,

hatmusicdoes not mitate

character. t best his

rgument

an show that heethos f

any

given

scale s no

conclusive

ndex fthe ntire

haracter

fthe

group

nwhich

such scale s

prevalent.

According oPhilodemus,music s in itself combinationfsound

and

rhythm,

nd

has

a

purely

xternal,

hysical

ature

earing

s little

internal

elation o human

feelings

s

cookery.

Music

can

imitate

nothing,

nd iswithout

nfluence

pon

the

oul

either

or

good

or evil.

Where

ong

ppears

omove he

hearer,

t

s

really

he

poetic

ext

which

produces

his

ffect,

nd not

he ound.

The

religious

nfluencef

music,

too,

passes

hrough oetry

ather

hanthe

music

proper,

s

is

also the

case

with ove

songs

nd

drinking ongs.

The

sole

purpose

fmusic s

togivepleasurendrelaxation,ence heentireystemf deasarising

out

of

theview

thatmusic

has ethical haracters

false,

nd its

educa-

tional nd

purgative

alues

re

misplaced.

This

essay

comes to a closewitha fewbarehints t connections

between ncientmusical

esthetics

nd

recent

hought

n thenature

of music.The ethos-theorynsomeform rotherhasprobablylways

existed. rofessor

ugo

Leichtentrittas

recently

hown

n The Musical

Quarterly

ome facts bout Handel's tonalitieshat reveal a

practice

similar

o the Greek use

of

modes

according

o their thos.9

Amply

fortified ith

examples,

rofessor eichtentritt

hows that Handel

ascribed

distinct

motional

orce '7

o each one

of

the

keys,

whichhe

used

consistently

o

express

hese motions.

or

example,

F minor s

*8

This MS is translated

n

The Hibeh

Papyri,

Part

I,

London,

1906, p.

48,

by

B.

P.

Gren-

fell

and A.

J.

Hunt. It is

succinctly

discussed in

J.

F. Mountford's contribution o New

Chapters

in Greek

Literature ,

Second

Series

(1929),

pp.

181-182. See also Abert's remarks

on

this

find

and his

translation

f

the

MS intoGerman: Hermann

Abert,

Ein

neuer

musikalischer

Papyrusfund

in

Zeitschrift

er internationalen

Musikgesellschaft,

90o6,

pp. 79-83.

69

H.

Leichtentritt,

Harmonic

Art of

Handel,

in

The Musical

Quarterly,

vol.

21

(1935),

pp.

208-219.

70o

bid.,

p.

212.



16/17

Some Hellenic

deason Musicand Character

167

the

key generally

hosento

express rofound

adness,

-sharp

minor

denotes

ragedy,

tc.'

This

is to modernmusicwhat the

ascription

f

ethos o eachmode was to ancient.An

investigation

f the

practice

f

composers

ver he

ntire

istory

fmusic n these

ines

probably

ould

essentially

onfirm he

ethos-theory

f theGreeks.

However,

ne

cannot hink

f the

ethos-theory

ithout

ecollecting

Hanslick's

nslaught

pon

this

ort f

conception

f

music.72

twould

require

separate

rticle o

open

the

question

f

how much

validity

there

may

be n eachof

these iews. or our

purposes,

owever,

should

like to

ndicate

riefly

hose

oints

n our

account

twhich

he

ancients

approach he bsolutistonceptionfmusic.

In

his

specific

deas

on musicPlato s

perhaps

hefarthestemoved

from

heviewthatmusic

s

essentially

well-orderedensuous tructure

of

tone,

orhe

explains

hebeautifuln music

wholly

n

terms fthe

virtue fthe

dispositions

t mitates.

n theother and Aristotleomes

closer o

expressing

he

self-sufficiency

f

musical

njoyment

f which

modernmusicians re

more

keenly

ware than

the

ancients

ppear

to

havebeen.For

Aristotle

olds hat

music soneof

the

iberal,

ntellectual

pursuits

(tLayowy)

that are self-sufficient.ut Aristoxenuscame even

closer o

an

understanding

f the

pecific

nternal ature f

music han

any

other

heoristf

antiquity.

fter

ll,

the

8tayiY

of

Aristotle as a

general

erm

pplying

qually

to that

self-sufficiency

ttached

o the

association

f

friends,

r

to

thought

tself. ristoxenusaw

concretely

thatmusic

was

essentially

matter

f

auditory

iscrimination,

ndthat

musicwas an

organic

tructuref

sound,

s he maintainedn

the

dea

that

achnoteofa

composition

erformed

ome

function

n

the

whole.

To himmusicwas an artofsensuous ynamics,ndbyadvancing his

technical

onception

f

music

perhaps

or

the

first ime

Aristoxenus

showed

his

genius

s a theorist.

It

shouldnot

be

nferredhatAristoxenus'

dherencelso

tothe

view

that

musicmitated

uman

haracternvolved

im

n

any

nconsistency

withthis cute

technical

nalysis

f

music.For it

couldbe

maintained

that,

whilemusic s

a

sensuous,

ynamic

tructure

f

sound

nd

a cumu-

lative

ompounding

f

soundand

rhythm,

his tructuret

the

same

71

Ibid., p.

212.

72

It mightbe interestingo pointout thatHanslickwas notas well-informedn ancient

musical estheticss he

shouldhave

been.

He wrote:

Though

the dea

of motion

ppears

o

us

a

most

far-reaching

nd

important ne,

it has hitherto

een

conspicuously

isregarded

n

all

enquiries

nto

thenature nd

action f

music.

The

Beautiful n

Music ,

p.

38).

The

ethos-

theory

n Plato nd

otherswas

in fact

ounded

recisely pon

a

similarity

f

the

motions f

music

with

hose f the

oul. E.

g.,

see

above,

p. 156.



17/17

168

The

Musical

Quarterly

time

represents

thical

haracter

hrough

similarity

n

its

dynamic

aspectswithhumanfeeling. utthis s a largequestionnto which

cannot

enture

ere.

Ofall the

theoristsf

antiquity,

he

most xtreme

in their

enialof

any

ethical remotional

haracter

f musicwere the

Formalists.

o

far

s wecan

ascertain,

hey

id

not

possess

hat

ompre-

hensive nd

well-articulated

nowledge

nd

insight

hatAristoxenus

had.

Somewhatn the

manner

f

Hanslick,

hey

ooked

upon

music s a

special,

elf-contained

ctivity.

heirview

was more xtreme

hanthat

of

Hanslick,

or

hey

eld

that

music

ould

not

produce

motion.t was

the

ext,

ather han

hemusic

roper,

hat

had this

ffect.

anslick,

ar

fromdenying hepowerofmusicto evokeemotion,ffirmedt

very

strongly,

nd he

also

maintained hatmusichad

a

dynamic

spect

n

common

with

motions. o the

Formalists,

usicwasno

morenor

ess

than

structure

f

ound nd

rhythm,

eithertself

ossessing

pathetic

element or

evoking

t n

human

beings.

Documents

Some Hellenic Ideas on Music and Character