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Page 30
Having measured the musical intervals, there still remained
the task of classifying the different manners of singing which
existed in Greece, and using all their different notes to form
a general system. For just as in different parts of Greece
there existed different dances, the steps of which were known
as Lydian, Ionian, Locrian, and Dorian feet, and so on, so the
melodies to which they were danced were known as being in the
Lydian, Ionian, Locrian, or Dorian scale or mode. In speaking
of Hindu music, I explained that what we call a mode consists
of a scale, and that one mode differs from another _only_ in
the position of the semitones in this scale. Now in ancient
Greece there were in use over fifteen different modes, each one
common to the part of the country in which it originated. At the
time of Pythagoras there were seven in general use: the Dorian,
Lydian, Aeolian or Locrian, Hypo- (or low) Lydian, Phrygian,
Hypo- (or low) Phrygian, and Mixolydian or mixed Lydian. The
invention of the latter is attributed to Sappho by Plutarch,
quoting Aristoxenus.
These modes were all invested with individual characters
by the Greeks, just as in the present day we say our major
mode is happy, the minor sad. The Dorian mode was considered
the greatest, and, according to Plato, the only one worthy of
men. It was supposed to have a dignified, martial character. The
Lydian, on the other hand, was all softness, and love songs
were written in it. The Phrygian was of a violent, ecstatic
nature, and was considered as being especially appropriate for
dithyrambs, the metre for the wild bacchanalian dances. For
instance, Aristotle tells how Philoxenus attempted to set
dithyrambic verse to the Dorian mode, and, failing, had to
return to the Phrygian. The Mixolydian, which was Sappho's mode,
was the mode for sentiment and passion. The Dorian, Phrygian,
and Lydian were the oldest modes.
Each mode or scale was composed of two sets of four notes,
called tetrachords, probably derived from the ancient form
of the lyre, which in Homer's time is known to have had four
strings.
Leaving the matter of actual pitch out of the question (for
these modes might be pitched high or low, just as our major
or minor scale may be pitched in different keys), these three
modes were constructed as follows:
Greek Dorian (E F) G A (B C) D E,
that is, semitone, tone, tone.
/
| Phrygian D (E F) G A (B C) D,
| or F[#] (G[#] A) B C[#] (D[#] E) F[#],
Asiatic | that is, tone, semitone, tone.
|
| Lydian C D (E F) G A (B C),
\ that is, tone, tone, semitone.
Thus we see that a tetrachord commencing with a half-tone and
followed by two whole tones was called a Dorian tetrachord;
one commencing with a tone, followed by a half-tone, and again
a tone, constituted a Phrygian tetrachord. The other modes
were as follows: In the Aeolian or Locrian the semitones occur
between the second and third notes, and the fifth and sixth:
[F: b, (c+ d) e (f+ g) a b]
Theraclides Ponticus identifies the Hypodorian with the Aeolian,
but says that the name "hypo-" merely denoted a likeness to
Doric, not to pitch. Aristoxenus denies the identity, and
says that the Hypodorian was a semitone below the Dorian or
Hypolydian. In the Hypophrygian, the semitones occur between
the third and fourth, and sixth and seventh degrees:
[F: c+ d+ (e+ f+) g+ (a+ b) c+']
In the Hypolydian, the semitones occur between the fourth and
fifth, and seventh and eighth: [F: e- f g (a b-) c' (d' e-')]
The Dorian (E), Phrygian (commencing on F[sharp] with the fourth
sharped), and the Lydian (A[flat] major scale) modes we have
already explained. In the Mixolydian, the semitones occur
between the first and second, and fourth and fifth degrees:
[G: (a b-) c' (d' e-') f' g' a']
According to the best evidence (in the works of Ptolemy,
"Harmonics," second book, and Aristides), these were
approximately the actual pitch of the modes as compared one
to another.
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