For Every Music Lover | Page 6

an accompaniment of suitable music
had to be considered. The fathers of the church constituted themselves
also the guides of music. Those forms which give symmetry and
proportion to the outward structure of the tonal art were pruned and
polished under ecclesiastical surveillance until spontaneity was
endangered. Happily in the spirit of Christianity is that which ever
proves a remedy for the mistakes of law-givers. The religion that
inculcates respect for the individual has furthered the advance of music
and of spirituality.
Beyond the confines of the church was another musical growth,
springing up by the wayside and in remote places. Folk-music it is
called, and it gives untrammeled utterance to human longings, human
grief and despair, and human wondering over the mysteries of life,
death and the great Beyond. Untutored people had always found vent in
this kind of music for pent-up feelings, and the folk-music of the
Christian world, during the Crusades, gained a new element in the
fragments of Oriental melody transplanted into its midst. In time,
through the combined wisdom of gifted composers and large-minded
ecclesiastical rulers, the music of the church and the music of the
people became united, and modern music was born.

Architecture, painting, sculpture and poetry possess practical proofs of
their past achievements and on these their present endeavors are
builded. Modern music has been compelled to be the architect of its
own fortunes. It is the one new art of our era, and, as the youngest in
the family of arts, it has but recently reached a high state of
development.
During those eleven Christian centuries, from the latter part of the
fourth century, when the corner-stone for our musical system was laid,
until the wonderful exploration period of the fifteenth was well
advanced, the masters of music were absorbed in controlling the
elements of their art. Since then event has crowded upon event with
rapidly increasing ratio. During the past two centuries the progress of
the art has been like a tale in fairyland. We now possess a magnificent
musical vocabulary, a splendid musical literature, yet so accustomed
are we to grand treasure-troves we perhaps prize them no more than the
meagre stores of the past were prized.
Music is often mentioned in literature as a means of discipline,
inspiration and refreshment. We read in Homer that Achilles was
instructed in the art that he might learn to moderate his passions;
Pythagoras, father of Musical Science, counseled his disciples to
refresh themselves at the fount of music before retiring to their couches
at night in order to restore the inner harmony of their souls, and to seek
strength in the morning from the same source. Plato taught that music
is as essential to the mind as air is to the body, and that children should
be familiarized with harmonies and rhythms that they might be more
gentle, harmonious and rhythmical, consequently better fitted for
speech and action.
"Song brings of itself a cheerfulness that wakes the heart to joy,"
exclaimed Euripides, and certain it is a large measure of joy surrounds
those who live in an atmosphere of music. It has a magic wand that lifts
man beyond the petty worries of his existence. "Music is a shower-bath
of the soul," said Schopenhauer, "washing away all that is impure." Or
as Auerbach put it: "Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday
life."

Realizing the influence of music, Martin Luther sang the Reformation
into the hearts of the people with his noble chorals in which every one
might join. He called music a mistress of order and good manners, and
introduced it into the schools as a means of refinement and discipline,
in whose presence anger and all evil would depart. "A schoolmaster,"
said he, "ought to have skill in music, otherwise I would not regard him;
neither should we ordain young men to the office of preaching unless
they have been well exercised in the art, for it maketh a fine people." It
were well if teachers and ministers to-day more generally appreciated
the value of music to them and their work.
Music is an essential factor in great national movements. Every
commander knows how inspiring and comforting it is to his men.
Napoleon Bonaparte, who was not readily lifted out of himself and who
complained that music jarred his nerves, was shrewd enough to observe
its effect on marching troops, and to order the bands of different
regiments to play daily in front of hospitals to soothe and cheer the
wounded. The one tune he prized, Malbrook, he hummed as he started
for his last campaign. In the solitude of St. Helena he said: "Of all
liberal arts music has the greatest influence over the passions, and it is
that to which the legislator ought to give the most