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V.
ORIENTAL.
The Chinese.
Allowing for any exaggeration as to chronology, natural to the lively imagination of Asiatics, there is no reason to doubt that the Chinese possessed long before our Christian era musical instruments to which they attribute a fabulously high antiquity. There is an ancient tradition, according to which they obtained their musical scale from a miraculous bird, called fêng-huang, which appears to have been a sort of phœnix. When Confucius, who lived about B.C. 551-479, happened to hear on a certain occasion some Chinese music, he is said to have become so greatly enraptured that he could not take any food for three months afterwards. The sounds which produced this effect were those of K’uei, the Orpheus of the Chinese, whose performance on the ch’ing—a kind of harmonicon constructed of slabs of sonorous stone—would draw wild animals around him and make them subservient to his will. As regards the invention of musical instruments the Chinese have other traditions. In one of these we are told that the origin of some of their most popular instruments dates from the period when China was under the dominion of heavenly spirits, called Ch’i. Another assigns the invention of several stringed instruments to the great Fu-hsi who was the founder of the empire and who lived about B.C. 3000, which was long after the dominion of the Ch’i, or spirits. Again, another tradition holds that the most important instruments and systematic arrangements of sounds are an invention of Nü-wa, sister and successor of Fu-hsi.
According to their records, the Chinese possessed their much-esteemed ch’ing 2200 years before our Christian era, and employed it for accompanying songs of praise. It was regarded as a sacred instrument. During religious observances at the solemn moment when the ch’ing was sounded sticks of incense were burnt. It was likewise played before the emperor early in the morning when he awoke. The Chinese have long since constructed various kinds of the ch’ing, by using different species of stones. Their most famous stone selected for this purpose is called yü. Yü includes the two varieties of jade, nephrite and jadeite. It is not only very sonorous but also beautiful in appearance. It is found in mountain streams and crevices of rocks. The largest known specimens measure from two to three feet in diameter, but examples of this size rarely occur. The yü is very hard and heavy. Some European mineralogists, to whom the missionaries transmitted specimens for examination, pronounce it to be a species of agate (ma-nao). It is found of different colours, and the Chinese appear to have preferred in different centuries particular colours for the ch’ing.
The Chinese consider the yü especially valuable for musical purposes, because it always retains exactly the same pitch. All other musical instruments, they say, are in this respect doubtful; but the tone of the yü is influenced neither by cold nor heat, nor by humidity, nor dryness.
The stones used for the ch’ing have been cut from time to time in various grotesque shapes. Some represent animals: as, for instance, a bat with outstretched wings; or two fishes placed side by side: others are in the shape of an ancient Chinese bell. The angular shape appears to be the oldest form and is still retained in the ornamental stones of the pien-ch’ing, which is a more modern instrument than the ch’ing. The tones of the pien-ch’ing are attuned according to the Chinese intervals called lü, of which there are twelve in the compass of an octave. The same is the case with the other Chinese instruments of this class. They vary, however, in pitch. The pitch of the sung-ch’ing, for instance, is four intervals lower than that of the pien-ch’ing.
Sonorous stones have always been used by the Chinese also singly, as rhythmical instruments. Such a single stone is called t’ê-ch’ing.
The ancient Chinese had several kinds of bells, frequently arranged in sets so as to constitute a musical scale. The Chinese name for the bell is chung. At an early period they had a somewhat square-shaped bell called t’ê-chung. Like other ancient Chinese bells it was made of copper alloyed with tin, the proportion being one part of tin to six of copper. The t’ê-chung, which is also known by the name of piao, was principally used to indicate the time and divisions in musical performances. It had a fixed pitch of sound, and several of these bells attuned to a certain order of intervals were not unfrequently ranged in a regular succession, thus forming a musical instrument which was called pien-chung. The musical scale of the sixteen bells which the pien-chung contained was the same as that of the ch’ing before mentioned.
The hsüan-chung was, according to popular tradition, included with the antique instruments at the time of Confucius, and came into popular use during the Han dynasty (from B.C. 200 until A.D. 200). It was of a peculiar oval shape and had nearly the same quaint ornamentation as the t’ê-chung; this consisted of symbolical figures, in four divisions, each containing nine mammals. The mouth was crescent-shaped. Every figure had a deep meaning referring to the seasons and to the mysteries of the Buddhist religion. The largest hsüan-chung was about twenty inches in length; and, like the t’ê-chung, was sounded by means of a small wooden mallet with an oval knob. None of the bells of this description had a clapper. It would, however, appear that the Chinese had at an early period some kind of bell provided with a wooden tongue: this was used for military purposes as well as for calling the people together when an imperial messenger promulgated his sovereign’s commands. An expression of Confucius is recorded to the effect that he wished to be “A wooden-tongued bell of Heaven,” i.e., a herald of heaven to proclaim the divine purposes to the multitude.
The fang-hsiang was a kind of wood-harmonicon. It contained sixteen wooden slabs of an oblong square shape, suspended in a wooden frame elegantly decorated. The slabs were arranged in two tiers, one above the other, and were all of equal length and breadth but differed in thickness. The ch’un-tu consisted of twelve slips of bamboo, and was used for beating time and for rhythmical purposes. The slips being banded together at one end could be expanded somewhat like a fan. The Chinese state that they used the ch’un-tu for writing upon before they invented paper.
The yü, likewise an ancient Chinese instrument of percussion and still in use, is made of wood in the shape of a crouching tiger. It is hollow, and along its back are about twenty small pieces of metal, pointed, and in appearance not unlike the teeth of a saw. The performer strikes them with a sort of plectrum resembling a brush, or with a small stick called chên. Occasionally the yü is made with pieces of metal shaped like reeds.
The ancient yü was constructed with only six tones which were attuned thus—f, g, a, c, d, f. The instrument appears to have deteriorated in the course of time; for, although it has gradually acquired as many as twenty-seven pieces of metal, it evidently serves at the present day more for the production of rhythmical noise than for the execution of any melody. The modern yü is made of a species of wood called k’iu or ch’iu; and the tiger rests generally on a hollow wooden pedestal about three feet six inches long, which serves as a sound-board.
The chu, likewise an instrument of percussion, was made of the wood of a tree called ch’iu-mu, the stem of which resembles that of the pine and whose foliage is much like that of the cypress. It was constructed of boards about three-quarters of an inch in thickness. In the middle of one of the sides was an aperture into which the hand was passed for the purpose of holding the handle of a wooden hammer, the end of which entered into a hole situated in the bottom of the chu. The handle was kept in its place by means of a wooden pin, on which it moved right and left when the instrument was struck with a hammer. The Chinese ascribe to the chu a very high antiquity, as they almost invariably do with any of their inventions when the date of its origin is unknown to them.
The po-fu was a drum, about one foot four inches in length, and seven inches in diameter. It had a parchment at each end, which was prepared in a peculiar way by being boiled in water. The po-fu used to be partly filled with a preparation made from the husk of rice, in order to mellow the sound. The Chinese name for the drum is ku.
The chin-ku, a large drum fixed on a pedestal which raises it above six feet from the ground, is embellished with symbolical designs. A similar drum on which natural phenomena are depicted is called lei-ku; and another of the kind, with figures of certain birds and beasts which are regarded as symbols of long life, is called ying-ku, and also tsu-ku.
The flutes, ti, yüeh, and ch’ih were generally made of bamboo. The kuan-tzŭ was a Pandean pipe containing twelve tubes of bamboo. The hsiao, likewise a Pandean pipe, contained sixteen tubes. The p’ai-hsiao differed from the hsiao inasmuch as the tubes were inserted into an oddly-shaped case highly ornamented with grotesque designs and silken appendages.
The Chinese are known to have constructed at an early period a curious wind-instrument, called hsüan (the “Chinese ocarina") (Fig. 11). It was made of baked clay and had five finger-holes, three of which were placed on one side and two on the opposite side, as in the cut. Its tones were in conformity with the pentatonic scale. The reader unacquainted with the pentatonic scale may ascertain its character by playing on the pianoforte the scale of C major with the omission of f and b (the fourth and seventh); or by striking the black keys in regular succession from f-sharp to the next f-sharp above or below.
The shêng (Fig. 12b) is one of the oldest instruments of the Chinese still in use, and may be regarded as the most ancient species of organ with which we are exactly acquainted. Formerly it had either thirteen, nineteen, or twenty-four tubes placed in a calabash; and a long curved tube served as a mouth-piece. A similarly-constructed instrument, though different in outward appearance, is the ken of Siam and Burmah. The Siamese call the ken “The Laos organ,” and it is principally used by the inhabitants of the Laos states. Moreover, there deserves to be noticed another Chinese instrument of this kind, simple in construction, which probably represents the shêng in its most primitive condition. It is to be found among the Miao-tsze, or mountaineers, who are supposed to be the aboriginal inhabitants of China. They call it sang. This species has no bowl, or air-chest; it rather resembles the Panpipe, but is sounded by means of a common mouthpiece consisting of a tube, which is placed at a right angle across the pipes. The Chinese assert that the shêng was used in olden time in the religious rites performed in honour of Confucius. Tradescant Lay, in his account of the Chinese, calls it “Jubal’s organ,” and remarks, “this seems to be the embryo of our multiform and magnificent organ."
Fig. 12.—a. Ch’in (a species of Lute). Modern Chinese.
No. 9-’70. L. 38½ in., W. 8½ in.
b. Shêng (Mouth Organ). Chinese, 19th century. No. 977-’72.
L. 17 in., W. 4¼ in.
c. Yueh-ch’in (Moon Guitar). Chinese. 19th Century.
No. 256-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
The ancient stringed instruments, the ch’in (Fig. 12a) and sê, were of the dulcimer kind, they are still in use, and specimens of them are in the Museum.
The yueh-ch’in (Fig. 12c) is a favourite instrument of the Chinese. The Canton pronunciation of yueh-ch’in is yuet-kum, and this may be the reason why some European travellers in China have called the instrument gut-komm. The wood of which it is made is called by the Chinese shwan-che. The strings are twanged with a plectrum, or with the nails, which, it will be remembered, are grown by the Chinese to an extravagant length.
The Buddhists introduced from Tibet into China their god of music, who is represented as a rather jovial-looking man with a moustache and an imperial, playing the p’i-p’a, a kind of lute with four silken strings. Perhaps some interesting information respecting the ancient Chinese musical instruments may be gathered from the famous ruins of the Buddhist temples Angcor-Wat and Angcor-Thom, in Cambodia. These splendid ruins are supposed to be above two thousand years old: and, at any rate, the circumstance of their age not being known to the Cambodians suggests a high antiquity. On the bas-reliefs with which the temples were enriched are figured musical instruments, which European travellers describe as “flutes, organs, trumpets, and drums, resembling those of the Chinese.” Faithful sketches of these representations, might, very likely, afford valuable hints to the student of musical history.
The Japanese.
The Japanese musical instruments are in the main derived from those of China, and their names consequently represent the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese sounds.
The biwa (Fig. 13b) is almost identical with the Chinese p’i-p’a. The example illustrated is of wood, lacquered black and ornamented with a band of Japanese design in gold lacquer. It has four silken strings, and two very small sound holes.
The samisen (the Chinese san-hsien or “three-stringed guitar") is played especially by the Japanese ladies, and is as great a favourite with them as the lute was formerly with us. An example in the Museum (Fig. 13c) has three strings of silk. Both the biwa and the samisen are played with a wooden plectrum. The ko-kiū is the Japanese violin, and resembles a small samisen, but has four strings. It is held head upwards and played with a loose-strung bow.
The Japanese have several instruments of the dulcimer class, called koto (the Chinese ch’in) (Fig. 13a). Some species of the koto are played with plectra affixed to the fingers; and there are different successions of intervals adopted in the tuning of the several species.
Fig. 13.—a. Koto (a species of Lute). Japanese. 19th century.
L. 75⅜ in., W. 9½ in. No. 439-’91.
b. Biwa (a species of Guitar).
Modern Japanese.
H. 32½ in.,
diam. 11 in. No. 838-’6c.
c. Samisen. Japanese.
L. 37½ in. No. 229-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
The ikuta-goto is provided with thirteen movable bridges, by means of which the pitch of the strings is regulated. The bridges are of wood, and about 2½ inches in height. The ikuta-goto is learnt chiefly by Japanese ladies moving in the upper circles of society. It is a rather expensive instrument, and requires much practice. The performer places it on the floor, and, sitting in the usual Japanese attitude, bends over it and twangs the strings with her fingers, the tips of which are encased in plectra, resembling thimbles, which terminate in a little projecting piece of ivory in size and form like the finger nail.
Of wind instruments the Japanese use three principal kinds:—(1) The fuye, like our flute, with six or seven finger-holes; (2) the hichiriki, a reed-flageolet, with seven finger-holes and two thumb-holes; (3) the shakuhachi, a bamboo pipe 20 inches high.
The shêng (described on p. 42) is also popular in Japan. The Japanese name for it is shō. The general name in Japanese for the drum is taiko (= Chinese ta ku, “large drum"). The Japanese have a great variety of drums, some of which are used at religious ceremonies in the temples. The shime-daiko is a shallow drum hung obliquely before the player in a low wooden frame. It is beaten with two plain sticks, and is used to accompany singers. The tsudzumi is a small hand-drum with hour-glass-shaped body.
The Japanese have different kinds of gongs (dora = Chinese t’ung-lo, “copper gong"), which are used in the service of the temple, in processions, at funerals, and on several other solemn occasions. The dōhachi (= Chinese t’ung po, “copper bowl") resembles a copper basin. Another consists of two metal basins suspended by cords on a frame composed of a pole and two cross-sticks.
The Japanese, as well as the Chinese, possess superbly ornamented gongs (kei) raised on a stand. Those of the former are perhaps the more magnificent.
The Japanese employ large bells (kane or tsuri-gane = Chinese chung) in their Buddhist worship. There is a famous bell, richly decorated, near the Daibutsu at Kiōto, which is struck, at different hours of the day, with a heavy wooden mallet; and its sound is said to be particularly sonorous, mellow, and far-reaching. Another celebrated Japanese bell is placed on a high hill near the town of Nara. It is suspended in a wooden shed, close to the Tōdaiji Temple. A thick pole, affixed to the rafters, is drawn backwards, and then, by being let loose, is made to rebound so as to hit the bell sideways in the usual manner. This bell is admired throughout the country, and pictures representing it are sold on the spot to the visitors, who have to ascend a long flight of narrow steps before they reach its station on the summit of the hill. Small bells (rin) are used by the Buddhist priests in Japan while officiating in the temple, just as is the case in China, Thibet and other districts of the Asiatic continent.
The Hindus.
In the Brahmin mythology of the Hindus the demi-god Nareda is the inventor of the vina, the principal national instrument of Hindustan. His mother, Saraswati, the consort of Brahma, may be regarded as the Minerva of the Hindus. She is the goddess of music as well as of speech. To her is attributed the invention of the systematic arrangement of the sounds into a musical scale. She is represented seated on a peacock and playing either on the southern vina or the bîn, stringed instruments of the lute kind. Brahma himself we occasionally find depicted as a vigorous man with four handsome heads, beating with his hands upon a small drum; and Vishnu, in his incarnation as Krishna, is represented as a beautiful youth playing upon a flute. The Hindus construct a peculiar kind of flute, the bansi, which they consider as the favourite instrument of Krishna.
The sankha, or conch-shell trumpet of victory, one of the important attributes of Vishnu the preserver, and his consort Lakshmi, is occasionally represented in the possession of Siva, and other deities. Siva the destroyer, and his consort Parvati, also carry the budbudika, or damaru, a rattle-drum shaped like an hour-glass.
It is a suggestive fact that we find among several nations in different parts of the world an ancient tradition, according to which their most popular stringed instrument was originally derived from the water. Thus with Nareda and the vina, the latter has also the name kach’-hapi, signifying a tortoise (testudo), whilst nara denotes in Sanskrit water, and narada, or nareda, the giver of water. Like Nareda, Nereus and his fifty daughters, the Nereïdes, were much renowned for their musical accomplishments; and Hermes (it will be remembered) made his lyre, the chelys, of a tortoise-shell. The Scandinavian god Odin, the originator of magic songs, is mentioned as the ruler of the sea, and as such he had the name of Nikarr. In the depth of the sea he played the harp with his subordinate spirits, who occasionally came up to the surface of the water to teach some favoured human being their wonderful instrument. Wäinämöinen, the divine player on the Finnish kantele (according to the Kalewala, the old national epic of the Finns) constructed his instrument of fish-bones. The frame he made out of the bones of the pike; and the teeth of the pike he used for the tuning-pegs.
Jacob Grimm in his work on German mythology points out an old tradition, preserved in Swedish and Scotch national ballads, of a skilful harper who constructs his instrument out of the bones of a young girl drowned by a wicked woman. Her fingers he uses for the tuning screws, and her golden hair for the strings. The harper plays, and his music kills the murderess. A similar story is told in the old Icelandic national songs; and the same tradition has been preserved in the Faroe islands, as well as in Norway and Denmark.
May not the agreeable impression produced by the rhythmical flow of the waves and the soothing murmur of running water have led various nations, independently of each other, to the widespread conception that they obtained their favourite instrument of music from the water? Or is the notion traceable to a common source dating from a pre-historic age, perhaps from the early period when the Aryan race is surmised to have diffused its lore through various countries? Or did it originate in the old belief that the world, with all its charms and delights, arose from a chaos in which water constituted the predominant element?
Howbeit, Nareda, the giver of water, was the offspring of Brahma the creator; and Odin had his throne in the skies. Indeed, many of the musical water-spirits appear to have been originally considered as rain deities. Their music may, therefore, be regarded as derived from the clouds rather than from the sea. In short, the traditions respecting spirits and water are not in contradiction to the opinion of the ancient Hindus that music is of heavenly origin, but rather tend to support it.
The earliest musical instruments of the Hindus on record have, almost all of them, remained in popular use until the present day scarcely altered. Besides these, the Hindus possess several Arabic and Persian instruments which are of comparatively modern date in Hindustan: evidently having been introduced into that country scarcely 1,000 years ago, at the time of the Muhammadan irruption. There are several treatises on music extant, written in Sanskrit, which contain descriptions of the ancient instruments.
Fig. 14.—a. Sârinda and Bow. Indian (Bengal). 19th century.
L. 25 in.; bow 15¾ in.
No. 180. 180ᵃ-’82.
b. Rudra Vina. Southern Indian (Madras).
19th century. L. 45 in.
No. 02130. I.S.
c. Sârangi and Bow. Southern Indian.
19th century. L. 22 in.
No. 02118. I.S.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Of these the Bhârata Nâtya S’astra by Bhârata Muni (period: B.C. 200 to A.D. 100), and the Sangita Ratnâkara, are probably the oldest and most valuable. The latter, according to information supplied by the late Major C. R. Day, is an exhaustive work, consisting of seven ādhyayas, compiled by Sarnga Deva, son of Sotala Deva, King of Karnata, and grandson of Bhaskara, a Kashmirian (period: so far undetermined).
The vina is undoubtedly of high antiquity. It has seven wire strings, and movable frets which are generally fastened with wax. Gourds, often tastefully ornamented, are affixed for the purpose of increasing the sonorousness. There are several kinds of the vina in different districts.
Concerning the two principal present-day derivations from the ancient vina, the following abbreviated descriptions of the rudra vina of Southern India and the bîn or mahati vina of Northern India, are obtained from “The Music and Musical Instruments of Southern India,” by the late Major C. R. Day (London, 1891).
The rudra vina (see Fig. 14b) is composed of a pear-shaped body of thin wood, hollowed out of the solid; wooden belly; four principal metal strings passing over twenty-four frets and three shorter wires placed at the side of the finger-board; also a single detachable burra, or hollow gourd, fastened to the under-side of the neck, near the head, to increase the volume of sound. In the method of playing it differs from that of other Indian musical instruments, the left hand being employed to stop the strings on the frets, whilst the fingers, or rather the finger-nails, of the right hand are used, without plectra, for striking. The bîn, or mahali vina, differs from the rudra vina in shape and in method of playing. Two large gourd-resonators replace the wooden body with its small burra; the side strings are placed two on the left side and one upon the right; the frets vary from nineteen to twenty-two in number; and in playing, the two first fingers of the right hand are armed with wire plectra.
The sârangi, or the common fiddle of Southern India (Fig. 14c) has a wooden body hollowed out of a single block, a parchment belly, three strings of thick gut, and usually fifteen sympathetic strings of wire, tuned chromatically. Sometimes a fourth principal string of wire, called luruj, is added. It is played with a bow, the instrument being held vertically, head uppermost; the tone resembling that of the viola. The sârangi of Northern India, usually carved with a conventional swan-shaped head, has a rounded body, and possesses a lesser number of sympathetic wires.
The sârinda, or Bengal fiddle (Fig. 14a), another of the few bowed instruments of India, consists of a hollow wooden body, usually decorated with carving, a curious parchment belly covering only the lower half of the body, and three strings either of gut or silk.
The Hindus divided their musical scale into several intervals smaller than our modern semitones. They adopted twenty-two intervals called s’ruti in the compass of an octave, which may therefore be compared to our chromatic intervals. As the frets of the vina are movable the performer can easily regulate them according to the scale, or mode, which he requires for his music.
The harp has long been obsolete. If some Hindu drawings of it can be relied upon, it had at an early time a triangular frame and was in construction as well as in shape and size almost identical with the Assyrian harp.
The Hindus claim to have invented the violin bow. They maintain that the ravanastra, one of their old instruments played with the bow, was invented about 5,000 years ago by Ravana, a mighty king of Ceylon. However this may be, there is a great probability that the fiddle-bow originated in Hindustan; because Sanskrit scholars inform us that there are names for it in works which cannot be less than from 1,500 to 2,000 years old. The non-occurrence of any instrument played with a bow on the monuments of the nations of antiquity is by no means so sure a proof as has generally been supposed, that the bow was unknown. The fiddle in its primitive condition must have been a poor contrivance. It probably was despised by players who could produce better tones with greater facility by twanging the strings with their fingers, or with a plectrum. Thus it may have remained through many centuries without experiencing any material improvement. It must also be borne in mind that the monuments transmitted to us chiefly represent historical events, religious ceremonies, and royal entertainments. On such occasions instruments of a certain kind only were used, and these we find represented; while others, which may have been even more common, never occur. In 2,000 years’ time people will possibly maintain that some highly perfected instrument popular with them was entirely unknown to us, because it is at present in so primitive a condition that no one hardly notices it.
"What the ravanastra, or râbanastra, was like is rather doubtful, but at the present time there exists in Ceylon a primitive instrument played with a bow, called vinavah, which has two strings of different kinds, one made of a species of flax, and the other of horsehair, which is the material also of the string of the bow…. The hollow part of this instrument is half a cocoa-nut shell polished, covered with the dried skin of a lizard, and perforated below.” (Day, p. 102.)
This instrument again is almost identical with the Chinese fiddle called ur-heen, which also has two strings, and a body consisting of a small block of wood, hollowed out and covered with the skin of a serpent. The ur-heen has not been mentioned among the most ancient instruments of the Chinese, since there is no evidence of its having been known in China before the introduction of the Buddhist religion into that country. From indications, which to point out would lead too far here, it would appear that several instruments found in China originated in Hindustan. They seem to have been gradually diffused from Hindustan and Thibet, more or less altered in the course of time, through the East as far as Japan.
Another curious Hindu instrument, probably of very high antiquity, is the pungi, or jinagovi, also called toumrie and magoudi. It consists of a gourd or of the cuddos nut, hollowed, into which two reed-pipes are inserted. The pungi therefore, somewhat resembles in appearance a bagpipe. It is generally used by the saperá or snake-charmer, who plays upon it when exhibiting the antics of the cobra. The name magoudi, given in certain districts to this instrument, rather tends to corroborate the opinion of some musical historians that the magadis of the ancient Greeks was a sort of double-pipe, or bagpipe.
Many instruments of Hindustan are known by different names in different districts, and there are many varieties. On the whole, the Hindus possess about fifty instruments. To describe them properly would fill a volume. Some, which are in the Museum, will be found well described and illustrated in the previously mentioned work by the late Major C. R. Day, which, in addition to affording much valuable information to the student and collector, contains a lengthy bibliography of Indian music and musical instruments.
The Persians and Arabs.
Of the musical instruments of the ancient Persians, before the Christian era, scarcely anything is known. It may be surmised that they closely resembled those of the Assyrians, and probably also those of the Hebrews.
The harp, chang, in olden time a favourite instrument of the Persians, has gradually fallen into desuetude. A small harp is represented in the celebrated sculptures which exist on a stupendous rock, called Tak-i-Bostan, in the vicinity of the town of Kermanshah. These sculptures are said to have been executed during the lifetime of the Persian monarch Chosroes II. (591-628). They form the ornaments of two lofty arches, and consist of representations of field sports and aquatic amusements. In one of the boats is seated a man in an ornamental dress, with a halo round his head, who is receiving an arrow from one of his attendants; while a female, who is sitting near him, plays on a Trigonon. Towards the top of the bas-relief is represented a stage, on which are performers on small straight trumpets and little hand drums; six harpers; and four other musicians, apparently females—the first of whom plays a flute; the second, a sort of Pandean pipe; the third, an instrument which is too much defaced to be recognisable; and the fourth, a bagpipe. Two harps of a peculiar shape were copied by Sir Gore Ousely from Persian manuscripts about four hundred years old, resembling, in the principle on which they are constructed, all other oriental harps. There existed evidently various kinds of the chang. It may be remarked here that the instrument tschenk (or chang) in use at the present day in Persia, is more like a dulcimer than a harp. The Arabs adopted the harp from the Persians, and called it junk.
The Persians appear to have adopted, at an early period, smaller musical intervals than semitones. When the Arabs conquered Persia (A.D. 641) the Persians had already attained a higher degree of civilisation than their conquerors. The latter found in Persia the cultivation of music considerably in advance of their own, and the musical instruments superior also. They soon adopted the Persian instruments, and there can be no doubt that the musical system exhibited by the earliest Arab writers whose works on the theory of music have been preserved was based upon an older system of the Persians. In these works the octave is divided in seventeen one-third-tones—intervals which are still made use of in the East. Some of the Arabian instruments are constructed so as to enable the performer to produce the intervals with exactness. The frets on the lute and tamboura, for instance, are regulated with a view to this object.
The Arabs had to some extent become acquainted with many of the Persian instruments before the time of their conquest of Persia. An Arab musician of the name of Nadr Ben el-Hares Ben Kelde is recorded as having been sent to the Persian King Chosroes II., in the sixth century, for the purpose of learning Persian singing and performing on the lute. Through him, it is said, the lute was brought to Mekka. Saib Chatir, the son of a Persian, is spoken of as the first performer on the lute in Medina, A.D. 682; and of an Arab lutist, Ebn Soreidsch from Mekka, A.D. 683, it is especially mentioned that he played in the Persian style; evidently the superior one. The lute, el-ood, had before the tenth century only four strings, or four pairs producing four tones, each tone having two strings tuned in unison. About the tenth century a string for a fifth tone was added. The strings were made of silk neatly twisted. The neck of the instrument was provided with frets of string, which were carefully regulated according to the system of seventeen intervals in the compass of an octave before mentioned. Other favourite stringed instruments were the tamboura, a kind of lute with a long neck, and the quanūn, a kind of dulcimer strung with lamb’s gut strings (generally three in unison for each tone) and played upon with two little plectra which the performer had fastened to his fingers. The quanūn is likewise still in use in countries inhabited by Muhammadans. The Persian santir, the prototype of our dulcimer, is mounted with wire strings and played with two slightly curved sticks. The musician depicted in the left-hand corner of Fig. 15c is playing a santir.
Fig. 15.—a. Kemángeii, Sitâra or Fiddle. Persian. About 1800. No. 939-’73.
L. 36½ in.; diam. 8 in.
b. Nuy (Flute). Persian. 19th century.
L. 17⅜ in. No. 959-’86.
c. Santir (Dulcimer) Case. Persian.
L. 33 in.; W. 11½ in. No. 779-’76.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Al-Farabi, one of the earliest Arabian musical theorists known, who lived in the beginning of the tenth century, does not allude to the fiddle-bow. This is noteworthy inasmuch as it seems in some measure to support the opinion maintained by some historians that the bow originated in England or Wales. Unfortunately we possess no exact descriptions of the Persian and Arabian instruments between the tenth and fourteenth centuries, otherwise we should probably have earlier accounts of some instrument of the violin kind in Persia. Ash-shakandi, who lived in Spain about A.D. 1200, mentions the rabôb, which may have been in use for centuries without having been thought worthy of notice on account of its rudeness. Persian writers of the fourteenth century speak of two instruments of the violin class, viz., the rabôb and the kemángeh. As regards the kemángeh, the Arabs themselves assert that they obtained it from Persia, and their statement appears all the more worthy of belief from the fact that both names, rabôb and kemángeh, are originally Persian.
The nuy, a flute (Fig. 15b), and the surnai, a species of oboe, are still popular in the East.
The sitâra is a Persian three stringed instrument with a wooden body and a parchment belly (Fig. 15a).
The Arabs must have been indefatigable constructors of musical instruments. Kiesewetter gives a list of above two hundred names of Arabian instruments, and this does not include many known to us through Spanish historians. A careful investigation of the musical instruments of the Arabs during their sojourn in Spain is particularly interesting to the student of mediæval music, inasmuch as it reveals the Eastern origin of many instruments which are generally regarded as European inventions. Introduced into Spain by the Saracens and the Moors they were gradually diffused towards northern Europe. The English, for instance, adopted not only the Moorish dance (morris dance) but also the kuitra (gittern), the el-ood (lute), the rabôb (rebec), the naḳḳárah (naker), and several others. In an old Cornish sacred drama, supposed to date from the fourteenth century, we have in an enumeration of musical instruments the nakrys, designating “kettle-drums.” It must be remembered that the Cornish language, which has now become obsolete, was nearly akin to the Welsh. Indeed, names of musical instruments derived from the Moors in Spain occur in almost every European language.
Not a few fanciful stories are traditionally preserved among the Arabs testifying to the wonderful effects they ascribed to the power of their instrumental performances. One example will suffice. Al-Farabi had acquired his proficiency in Spain, in one of the schools at Cordova which flourished as early as towards the end of the ninth century, and his reputation became so great that ultimately it extended to Asia. The mighty Caliph of Bagdad himself desired to hear the celebrated musician, and sent messengers to Spain with instructions to offer rich presents to him and to convey him to the court. But Al-Farabi feared that if he went he should be retained in Asia, and should never again see the home to which he felt deeply attached. At last he resolved to disguise himself, and ventured to undertake the journey which promised him a rich harvest. Dressed in a mean costume, he made his appearance at the court just at the time when the caliph was being entertained with his daily concert. Al-Farabi, unknown to everyone, was permitted to exhibit his skill on the lute. Scarcely had he commenced his performance in a certain musical mode when he set all his audience laughing aloud, notwithstanding the efforts of the courtiers to suppress so unbecoming an exhibition of mirth in the royal presence. In truth, even the caliph himself was compelled to burst out into a fit of laughter. Presently the performer changed to another mode, and the effect was that immediately all his hearers began to sigh, and soon tears of sadness replaced the previous tears of mirth. Again he played in another mode, which excited his audience to such a rage that they would have fought each other if he, seeing the danger, had not directly gone over to an appeasing mode. After this wonderful exhibition of his skill Al-Farabi concluded in a mode which had the effect of making his listeners fall into a profound sleep, during which he took his departure.
It will be seen that this incident is almost identical with one recorded as having happened about twelve hundred years earlier at the court of Alexander the Great, and which forms the subject of Dryden’s “Alexander’s Feast.” The distinguished flutist Timotheus successively aroused and subdued different passions by changing the musical modes during his performance, exactly in the same way as did Al-Farabi.