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THE NEW

MONTHLY BELLE ASSEMBLÉE.

MAY, 1850.

A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MUSIC, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.

CHAP. V.

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We shall now briefly trace the progress of musical notation from the time of Gregory the Great; and as the honour of the invention of our present musical system is nearly universally conceded to Guido Aretinus (a Benedictine monk) of Arezzo, and Franco of Cologne, a few words will suffice to mention the prominent features of this part of our subject.

St. Gregory's method of notation was the very simple one of writing the words, and then placing above each syllable the letter indicating the note to which it was to be sung. Several clumsy expedients were then adopted, of writing the words on parallel lines, placing each word on a higher or lower line, according to the comparative height of the sound. The elements of the present system are to be observed in the method adopted about the ninth or tenth century, of drawing seven parallel lines, and expressing the notes by points placed on these lines. At last, the celebrated Guido d'Arezzo reduced the number of lines to four, and placed points not only on the lines (which alone had notes placed on them till his time), but in the spaces between them. The only difference between our present system of marking the pitch of sounds, and that used in Guido's method, is that we have found a stave of five lines more convenient than the Guidonian stave of four. Guido was the inventor of the six monosyllables of the solfeggio, ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la, which we now make use of; only that, for the greater sweetness, the Italians have changed the ut into do; having no respect to the circumstance of Guido's having drawn the six monosyllables from the words of the hymn of St. John. Guido's method of solmisation was preserved in Italy till about the end of the last century, and it is still

used by some; but after the rest of the world had adopted a seventh monosyllable called si, the Italians did the same; and hence the modern scale of solmisation. From what has been said, however, of Guido's method of placing the notes, it must not be understood that he perfected the notes in their form, as indicating musical duration, or time; for, down to this period, musical notes being used only to express the simple sounds of the chants of the Church, the length of which sounds was regulated by that of the syllables to which they were sung, there was no occasion for any device for expressing the relative duration of musical sounds. But when harmony (or combinations of sounds simultaneously struck) came to be discovered, and music was written, consisting of different notes to be sung at the same time, it became necessary to mark the relative length of the notes, in order to keep the singers together. This was necessary even in the simplest kind of harmony, where, as in our psalm-tunes, all the singers had notes of equal length and it became more and more indispensable when the harmony became more complex, and when a long note in one part was accompanied by two or more shorter ones in another. In the rythmical music of modern times, it is impossible to write down the simplest tune without determining precisely the relative length of each note. Marks for the length of notes seem to have been invented immediately after the time of Guido, and were first reduced to a regular and systematic form by Franco of Cologne, in a work which is still extant. Franco's system, though its details have been extended and improved, remains to the present day, and is simply this-that a note written in a certain form is to be considered as of twice or thrice the length of a note marked by another form. Guido, and

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Franco of Cologne, therefore, may be held as thus related in an old French Chronicle, quoted the authors of musical notation; the subsequent by Burney:changes being merely modifications of their inventions, rendered necessary by the improvements in music.

The science of music suffered nothing in England from the Norman invasion. The army of William was accompanied by minstrels, one of whom, who was distinguished no less for his courage and intrepidity than for his musical skill, asked and obtained leave to begin the onset. He advanced before the troops, singing the song of Roland, and, rushing into the thickest of the fight, lost his life. After the Norman Conquest, the itinerant professors of music became known by the general appellation of minstrels, and were also distinguished by the more specific ones of Rhymers, Singers, Joculators or Jugglers, Buffoons, and Poets. The king had his minstrel, who was an officer of rank, at the Norman Court; and the households of nobles and great men were not complete without this important character, who, "high placed in halls," formed a striking feature in the rude sports and solemnities of the times.

The most ancient melodies extant, says Dr. Burney, that have been set to a modern language, are those which are preserved in the Vatican Library to the songs of the Troubadours, written in the ancient dialect of Provence; a sort of corrupted Latin, partaking a good deal of both the Italian and French languages.

During two centuries after Guido's arrangement of the scale, and the invention of the timetable by Franco, no remnants of secular music can be found, except those of these Provençal minstrels; and though in the simple tunes of these musicians which have been preserved, no time is marked, and little variety of notation appears, yet it is not difficult to discover in them germs of the future melodies and poetry of France and Italy. The Troubadours appear to have been, at the first, a simple, light-hearted race, distinguished by other good qualities besides those of sprightly cheerfulness, and firm devotion to the person of their patrons. (Should any reader desire to become enamoured with an exquisite picture of a Troubadour's life, we refer him to a recent translation of a romance, called "Minstrel Love," by the inimitable Fouquè. This book presents the most refined and picturesque illustration of what the minstrel-life might have been, which can be conceived.) These poets and musicians, to whose songs we are indebted for much of the history of this period, enjoyed the highest favour among the great and the fair; and the noblest themselves did not disdain to seek fame in those capacities. Our gallant and chivalrous monarch, Richard I., sought to rival his faithful servant, Blondel, the most accomplished minstrel of his time, no less than his great enemy Saladin. The romantic but authentic incident of his deliverance from the Tour Ténébreuse, in which he had been treacherously immured on his return from the Holy Land, by the Duke of Austria, is

King Richard had retained in his service a minstrel or bard, whose name was Blondel. The bard missing his master, found the account well verified of the king's departure from the Holy Land, but met with none that could tell with certainty whither he was gone, and therefore wandered over many countries to try whe ther he could find him. It happened, after a considerable time thus spent, that Blondel came to a castle near the city where his master was confined, and asking his host to whom it belonged, was told that it was one of the fortresses of the Duke of Austria. Blondel then inquired whether there were any prisoners in it, and was assured that there was one prisoner who had been there more than a year, but that he was not able to tell who he was. Blondel, having received this information, made use of the general reception which minstrels find, to make acquaintance in the castle; but though he was admitted, could never obtain a sight of the pri soner, till one day he placed himself over against a window of the tower in which King Richard was kept, and began to sing a French song which they had formerly composed together. When the king heard the song, he knew that the singer was Blondel; and when half of it was sung, he began the other half, and completed it. Blondel, then knowing the residence and condi tion of the king, his master, went back to England, and related his adventure to the English barons. This," continues the author, "is all the account which my chronicle affords me of the life of Blondel."

The song written by Richard and Blondel is preserved in an old French Romance, and Dr. Burney has given it, with an English translation, to his readers; as well as a lay, or song of complaint, written by our romantic monarch during his captivity. The music to these songs has not been handed down to us; but Burney's, as also De la Borde's, "History of Music," contain several melodies of the same period. One of these is by Anselm Faidit, a Troubadour who accompanied Richard to the Holy War, and was much esteemed by him. This person had a romantic history. He carried off from a convent at Aix, and married, a beautiful nun, with whom he travelled on foot, from one court to another, for many years, escaping the consequences of a crime usually visited with a terrible punishment; his wife being as much admired for her charms, and other accomplishments, as for her fine voice and exquisite taste in singing her husband's verses. On the death of his royal friend and patron, Anselm composed a monody, which is still extant, having a great deal of pathos in the poetry, with an air by no means devoid of expression.

In the thirteenth century, melody seems to have been little more than a sort of recitative, or chanting; the songs in vogue were of various descriptions, moral, merry, and amorous. The notes were square, and written on four lines

only, like those of the Romish Church, in the C clef, and without any marks for time. The compass was not nearly so extensive as that of modern music, since the fifth line was not added to the staff till towards the end of St. Louis' reign. The singer always accompanied himself on an instrument in unison. The harp was then considered the most noble and majestic of instruments; and on this account the romancers place it in the hands of their greatest heroes, an honour which the ancient Greek bards conferred upon the lyre. This instrument was in such general favour, that it was made the subject of a poem, called "The Ditty upon the Harp." The old poet praises it as an instrument "too good to be profaned in taverns or places of debauchery," saying that " it should only be used by knights, esquires, clerks, persons of rank, and ladies with plump and beautiful hands; and that its courteous and gentle sounds should be heard only by the elegant and good." The instrument in most common use, as an accompaniment to the harp, was the viol, which was fitted with frets, similar to those of the modern guitar. An old French poet, who flourished about 1230, thus describes the musicians who accompanied such bards as sung their own historical songs in the halls of princes and barons :

"When the cloth was ta'en away,
Minstrels straight began to play,
And while harps and viols join,
Raptur'd bards in strains divine,
Loud the trembling arches rung
With the noble deeds we sung."

The ancient song of Roland, said to have been sung by the Norman soldiers at the battle of Hastings, continued a favourite among the French for many centuries. Both the words and the original tune are to be seen in Burney's History.

Among the French songs and melodies, coeval with those of the Troubadours, which have been preserved, are those of the Châtelain de Coucy, whose tragical story has been the foundation of so much poetry and romance. We shall give it, exactly as quoted by Dr. Burney, from the old chronicle before mentioned.

"In the time of Philip Augustus and Richard Cœur de Lion, there was a valorous and accomplished knight, in the Vermandois, six leagues from Noyon, in Picardy, who was extremely enamoured with the Lady of Fayel, by whom his passion was returned, in innocence and honour. After many difficulties and sufferings incident to such an attachment, he determined to take the Cross, and accompany the kings of France and England to the Holy Land. The Lady of Fayel, when she discovered his intention, wrought for him a beautiful net, which he fastened to his helmet, and ornamented the tassels with large pearls. On the arrival of Coucy in Palestine, he performed many gallant and heroic actions; but unfortunately, at a siege in which the Christians were repulsed by the Saracens, he received a wound, which was soon pronounced to be mortal; upon which he entreated

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his esquire, the instant he should be dead, to have his heart embalmed, and carry it to the Lady of Fayel, together with the ornament she had worked for him, in a little casket with other tokens of her affection, and a letter full of tenderness, written with his own hand on his deathbed. In this request he was punctually obeyed by his friend and esquire; but unfortunately, on his arrival in France, when he was hovering about the castle of the lady's residence, in order to seize the first opportunity that offered of delivering the letter and casket into her own hands, he was discovered by the Lord of Fayel, who recognising him, and suspecting that he was charged with despatches to his wife from the Chatelain, whom he hated more than any other human creature, he fell upon the esquire, and would have instantly put him to death, had he not begged for mercy, and informed him of the business with which he was entrusted by his deceased master. The enraged husband, therefore, seizing the casket, dismissed the affrighted squire, and went instantly to his cook, whom he ordered to dress the embalmed heart it contained, with such sauce as would make it palatable, and serve it up for dinner. In this he was obeyed by the cook, who at the same time prepared a similar dish, in appearance, for his lord's use, of which he ate, while his lady dined upon the heart of her lover. After dinner, Fayel asked how she liked the dish of which she had been eating? On her answering, very well;'

I thought,' said he, you would be pleased with it, supposing it to be a viand of which you were always very fond, and for that reason I had it dressed.' The lady, suspecting nothing, made no reply; but her lord continuing the subject, asked her if she knew what she had been eating? She answered in the negative.

Why, then,' said he, for your greater satisfaction, I must inform you that you have eaten the heart of the Châtelain de Coucy.' To be thus reminded of her friend made her very uneasy, although she could not believe that her husband was serious, till he showed her the casket and letter, which, when she had examined and perused, her countenance changed, and after a short pause, she said to Fayel, It is true, indeed, that you have helped me to a viand which I very much loved; but it is the last I shall ever eat, as after that every other food would be insipid.' She then retired to her chamber; and as she never more could be prevailed on to take any kind of sustenance, fasting and affliction soon put an end to her days."

The unhappy De Coucy, says Burney, no less distinguished for his misfortunes than talents, has left behind him some of the most elegant and affecting songs in the French language, which have been preserved in MSS. that are near 450 years old, and cited by all contemporary authors as models.

The music of two of these Burney has selected; it partakes of the rude state of the art in those early days, but has gleams of feeling that are not to be found in the elaborate compositions of the learned for ages afterwards.

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