THE CHAPTER II. ON THE MUSICAL SCALES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. HE musical scale varies in different nations, having in some instances more intervals than ours, in others fewer ; in others again, one or more intervals in relation to the tonic different from those of our system. Before we proceed to examine the musical scales of foreign nations, it will be advisable to recall to mind the following facts. We employ at present four different scales: viz., the chromatic scale; the major scale; the minor scale with the minor sixth; and the minor scale with the major sixth.* The last of these has in descending usually the minor sixth as well as the minor seventh. CHROMATIC SCALE. MAJOR SCALE. & MINOR SCALE WITH THE MINOR SIXTH. MINOR SCALE WITH THE MAJOR SIXTH. *Theoretically we recognise only one minor scale, that with the minor sixth ; but practically we have two, as given above. It must also be remembered that a semitone is called small when it consists of a superfluous prime, as C-C‡, Ab—AL; and that it is called large when it consists of a minor second, as C—Db, F—G. The chromatic scale is therefore a series of large and small semitones. The major and minor scales (which are called diatonic scales) consist of whole tones and large semitones-except the minor scale with the minor sixth, in which occurs an interval of a superfluous second, indicated in the above example by a bracket. The smallest step which we use in our scales is therefore that of a small semitone, and the largest that of a superfluous second. These scales appear to us the most natural, because we are accustomed to them. We know, however, that ancient nations-as, for instance, the Greeks-used other scales, which, undoubtedly, were regarded by them as natural as ours appear to us. The same remark applies to many foreign nations of the present time. Not every nation possesses a complete scale, i.e., a scale extending to the octave. The tunes of savage nations are frequently in the small compass of but five or six consecutive notes. The old Runo-songs of the Finns extend only from the tonic to the fifth, and there are even national tunes which do not extend beyond the compass of a third. If we may place reliance on the correctness of the notation transmitted to us by travellers, there appears to be no doubt that even in the music of some nations in the lowest stage of development distinct traces of the diatonic scale are to be found. The Esquimaux' song (p. 26), for instance, which, Captain Parry informs us, was repeatedly heard by him and carefully noted down, is evidently founded upon the diatonic scale, with the introduction of a chromatic interval twice in the last two bars. Captain Parry remarks that, "the termination, which is abrupt and fanciful, is usually accompanied by a peculiar motion of the head, and an expression of archness in the countenance which cannot be described by words."* Such additional information, * Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, by Captain W. E. Parry, London, 1824, p. 531. unimportant as it may appear, greatly facilitates in many instances the due appreciation of the music; and if we were acquainted with the words of the song in question, we should probably find in them the reason for its odd termination and the significant gestures of the singers. ESQUIMAUX' SONG. னியன் In the following song of the natives of New South Wales we have a succession of diatonic intervals in descending. Edward Jones states that this air "was written down from the singing of Benelong and Yamroweny, the two chiefs who were brought to England, some years ago, from Botany Bay, by Governor Phillips. The subject of their song is in praise of their lovers; and when they sang, it seemed indispensable to them to have two sticks, one in each hand, to beat time with the tune; one end of the left-hand stick rested on the ground, while the other in the right hand was used to beat against it, according to the time of the notes."* A SONG OF THE NATIVES OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA. 2 Bar-ra-bu-la bar-ra-ma man-gi-nè wey en gu-na, bar-ra-bu-la bar-ra-ma mangi - nè wey en . gu - na, bar-ra-bu-la bar-ra-ma Musical Curiosities, by Edward Jones, London, 1811, p. 15. mangi-nè wey en - gu-na, bar-ra-bu-la bar-ra-ma man-gi-nè wey en gu-na, bar-ra-bu-la bar-ra-ma man-gi-nè wey en It is, however, not improbable that there existed originally in this song, as also in the preceding one of the Esquimaux, some deviations from our diatonic scale which escaped the notice of the gentlemen who committed the music to paper. It is true that with some uncivilized nations the ear is so little cultivated that the intervals are very rudely and indistinctly intoned; but others possess, according to the accounts of travellers, a discernment of intervals so acute as to surpass our own. Councillor Tilesius informs us that the natives of Nukahiva (the principal island of the Marquesas Archipelago) distinctly intone demi-semitones (quarter-tones) in their vocal performances. These savages are cannibals, or at least they were at the beginning of the present century when Tilesius visited them, during a voyage round the world under the Russian commander Krusenstern. The natives of Nukahiva used to be at that time frequently at war with the natives of the neighbouring island of St. Christina. The song which Tilesius heard during a whole night performed with solo and chorus, and with the rhythmical accompaniment of drums and clapping of hands, referred to those strifes, and was in fact a kind of dramatic representation of their exploits. It commences with the return of the warriors from battle. It is night. One of the savages sees in the distance a fire rising; he asks "Where is the fire?" The chorus answers, "Upon Tauhuata Montanioh (St. Christina), with our enemies! they are roasting our slain brothers!" This incites them to revenge, and the subsequent part of the song contains some detailed accounts of the preparation for a feast upon some unhappy captive taken in battle, too repulsive to be dwelt upon. Some redeeming especially to Purcell and other composers of the seventeenth century; and nothing appears more probable than that they should have been influenced by it, though perhaps without being aware of it, in composing the tunes which are of similar character and form. The difference in the number of bars between 'Vive le Roy' and 'God save the King' is by no means incompatible with the conjecture that the latter may have been derived from the former, since we are not without evidences of national tunes having undergone alterations similar to those which would be required to transform the older of the melodies in question into the most modern one. In the following German Drinking-song the natural emphasis laid upon the word fröhlich ("with joy") when the tune is sung on convivial occasions, has led, in one bar, to the prolongation of time to 2, now universally adopted. RHEINWEINLIED. As sung in the year 1776.* f Bekränzt mit Laub den lieben vol- len Be-cher, und trinkt ihn fröh-lich leer, und trinkt ihn fröhlich leer! ro-pia, ihr Herren Zecher, ist solch ein Wein nicht mehr, ist solch ein Wein nicht mehr! The same as sung at the present day. Bekränzt mit Laub den lieben vol- len Be - cher, und B trinkt ihn fröh-lich leer, und trinkt ihn fröhlich leer! In * Vide 'Lieder und Weisen vergangener Jahrhunderte,' herausgegeben von Becker; Leipzig, 1853. |