Vocal Art in Antiquity

Vocal Art in Antiquity
Author(s): Philip A. Duey

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Jul., 1946), pp. 390-410
Published by: Oxford University Press
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VOCAL ART IN ANTIQUITY

By PHILIP
A.
DUEY
All singers have this fault: if asked to sing

among their friends, they are never so inclined; if unasked, they never leave off.
Horace, Satires, III, i ff.
T IS customary to begin treatises on Greek music by reminding

the reader of how little is known about the subject; and from
the standpoint of scientific historical method this is indeed a wise
beginning, since the corroborations necessary to turn bits of evidence into facts are so frequently lacking. However, one may take
comfort from a statement by Francis Parkman, eminent American
historian, who said, in discussing historical research, "Straws are
often the best materials".' In trying to find out how the Greeks and
Romans sang, we are dealing largely with "straws", but these point
to some interesting probabilities.
The very fact that Greek music had already reached an advanced
stage in the epics, hymns, and chants of Homer and Hesiod, before
chronological Greek history begins, implies many centuries of slow
artistic cultivation and development. Cicero says, "We cannot doubt
that there were poets before Homer, as we may infer from the songs
which he introduces into the feasts of the Phaeacians and of the
suitors".2
In his Poetics Aristotle defines tragedy as an imitation of some
important complete action of a proper length by language that is
embellished and enriched.
By "enriched language", I mean that which has rhythm and tune, i. e. song.
. . .Since the representation is performed by living,persons it follows at once
that one essential part of a tragedy is the spectacular effect and besides that,
song-making [melopoeia] and diction; for these are the means of representation.
By "diction" I mean here the metrical arrangement of words, and "song-making"
[melopoeia] I use in the full, obvious sense of the word.3
Aristotle goes to no little pains to explain all the other elements of

the tragedy, but as for "melopoeia", he says only that it is the "most
delightful" of all the "pleasurable accompaniments and embellish1 A. C. Farnham, A Life of Francis Parkman,
1909, p. 182.
2 Cicero, Brutus, transl. by G. L. Hendrickson (Loeb), Cambridge, Mass., 1939,

Book XVIII, 71.
3
Aristotle, Poetics, transl. by W. H. Fyfe (Loeb), N. Y., 1927, VI, 1-7.
390

391
ments of the Tragedy";4 its meaning is "obvious" to him, which fact
indicates that the actual vocal practices in connection with tragedy
were so well understood as to require no further explanation on
his part.
The above quotation from the Poetics reveals the typical attitude of the ancients towards practical music. The theoretical treatises from Euclid to St. Augustine have enabled scholars to reconstruct the hypothetical side of Greek music, but they are not so
helpful when it comes to the pragmatical. However this quotation
does reveal two things, first, that music was very popular, and second, that its uses were generally well understood.
The bard was not considered of high estate among the early
Greeks, a circumstance that is more or less common to all ages
including even our own. He was honored only to the extent that
he could entertain the rich and mighty by recounting and praising
their deeds and virtues; and the fact that the well-being of the
entertainer depended upon the pleasure and good will of his hearers
explains the flattering and equivocal nature of these Homeric epics.
The eighth book of the Odyssey throws considerable light on the
ancient Greek performer. Demodocus was called in during the
feast, "... for surely God has granted him exceeding skill in song to
cheer us in whatever way his soul is moved to sing . . ."5 He was
invited to sit with them and join in the feasting and drinking, a
patronizing and condescending gesture on their part. Then, "the
muse impelled the bard to sing men's glorious deeds", and he was
"cheered on to sing by the Phaeacian chiefs for they enjoyed the
story". Later at the contests a page "brought his tuneful lyre to
Demodocus", who stepped to the center of a ring,
... and round him stood young men in the firstbloom of years,skillful at dancing they struck the splendid dance ground with their feet; Odysseuswatched
their twinkling feet and was astonished.And now the bard, touching his lyre,
began a beautiful song about the loves of Ares and crownedAphrodite.6
And at the opening of Book IX, Odysseus says,

. . . surely it is a pleasant thing to hear a bard like this [Demodocus], one who
is even like the gods in voice. For more completedelight I think there cannot be
than when good cheer possessesa whole people, and feasting throughthe houses
they listen to a bard, seated in proper order,while beside them stand the tables
4 Ibid. See also below, definition of "melopoeia"by Cleonides, p. 396.
5 Homer, The Odyssey, transl. by G. H. Palmer, Cambridge, Mass., 1929, Book VIII,
P. 91 [43-45]6Ibid., p. 96 [262-67].

392
The Musical Quarterly
supplied with bread and meat, and dipping wine from out the mixer the pourer
bears it round and fills the cups. This is a sight most pleasing.7
All of which shows these things-first, that the singing was of an

improvisatory nature; second, that the singer accompanied himself
on the lyre; third, that his subject matter not only included the
valorous deeds of gods and men but their amours as well; fourth,
that the bard provided the accompaniment for dancing with his
lyre and that this music must have had a definite rhythm; and last,
it offers an idea of the social standing of the bards themselves.
Respect and honor came to them only as they could delight their
audiences, and their art was rated with food and drink as making
the occasion a merry one. Only after winning the favor of the
chieftain and his household was the bard given lodging and food.
The extant fragments of the Margites, dating after 700 B. C.,
afford an interesting early commentary on the "impractical" nature
of the artist.
There came to Colophon an old man and divine singer, a servant of the
Muses and of far-shooting Apollo. In his dear hands he held a sweet-toned lyre.
He knew many things but knew all badly....
The gods had taught him neither
to dig nor to plough, nor any other skill; he failed in every craft.8
The improvisatory character of Homeric chant is very strongly

indicated by the opening lines from The Battle of the Frogs and
Mice, popularly attributed to Homer:9 "Here I begin: and first I
pray the choir of Muses to come down from Helicon into my heart
to aid the lay which I have newly written in tablets upon my
knee."10 This is stout evidence that the text was composed beforehand but that the melody was the inspiration of the moment.
Perhaps the ex tempore nature of this music is best illustrated by
the famous Contest of Homer and Hesiod.1' Quite likely no such
contest ever took place, since the probable dates of their lives do
not even overlap, but the convention of poets and minstrels contending for prizes was of great antiquity, the first recorded instance
in Greek literature being found in the Iliad12, where Thamyris the
Thracian singer boasts that he can triumph over the Muses themselves. Because of the universal popularity of such contests, it is no
wonder that legend would have the two greatest of the early Greek
7 Ibid., IX, 1-11.
s Homeric Hymns, transl. by H. G. Evelyn-White (Loeb), London, 1914, p. 537.
9 It may have been written as late as 480 B. C.
10 Homeric
Hymns, p. 541.
1 Ibid., pp. 567-97.
12 Homer, The Iliad, transl. by A. T. Murray (Loeb), N. Y., 1924, Bk. II, 594 if.


393
poets pitted against one another in a traditional test of performing
skill. The evidence of spontaneous inspiration on the part of the
performers in this engaging tale can be compared with that afforded
by the extemporization contests participated in by Bach, Mozart,
Beethoven, and others in modern times.
By Plato's day many changes had taken place and many musician-poets had made their mark. Elegiac, iambic, and lyric poetry
had followed upon the epics of mythological chieftains and kings.
These new and more polished modes of expression gave greater
depth and variety to the poetic utterances of the singers and had as
a concomitant a broadening of subject matter from what was a more
or less elevated treatment of the deeds of gods and ancestors to the
problems of everyday life-politics, war, bucolic love, philosophy,
etc. The drama, both tragedy and comedy, came into being as a
result of these changed means of expression and subject matter
fructified by the Apollonian and the Dionysian religious festivals.
We cannot examine the important part taken by music in this
lyrico-dramatic development except to say that it was essential, that
it forsook the temples and took up its abode in the theaters, that
there it was subjected to and influenced by popular tastes, and that
while there it deteriorated, at least so the philosophers say, in the
hands of the performers and professional musicians. Plato says,
"Novelties are always being introduced" owing to "disorderly
tastes".l3And from here on the philosophers and later the ecclesiastics always inveigh against secular influence in general and performing musicians in particular. After paying his respects to the
skill and aptitude of the professional musical artist, Plato summarily dismisses him from his perfect state.l4 He reasons that to be
a successful and popular singer the artist must cater to the prevailing vulgarities of the multitude, which, of necessity, must cheapen
his art,15a point of view that is reflected by and large until the rise
of Humanism, and to some extent to our present day.
But if Plato would have nothing to do with the professional
musician-performer, he assigned an important role to music and its
practice in the cultural life of the nation. In the Laws, written when
he was advanced in age and intended as a summation of his life's
teachings, he stresses at great length the importance of music in the
training and education of the young. Says Plato: "The well edu13 Plato, Laws, transl. by R. G.
Bury (Loeb), N. Y., 1926, 66o.
14 The Republic, transl. by Paul
Shorey (Loeb), N. Y., 1930, 568B, 595A, 607-o8.
15 Laws, 659.


cated man will be able both to sing and dance well",'6 but he
should sing good songs and dance good dances. Music should not be
used merely to pander to the low tastes of the populace but should
be treated rather as an educational medium for the elevation of
public morals. He recommends the "choric art", which embraces
both dance and song, as being the best for the training and development of the body and soul of the young, although great care must
be taken that the dances and songs are of the proper sort. Those
taking part should be divided into three groups: first, the young
boys; second, the young men up to thirty; and third, the older men
from thirty to sixty. This last group is rated the most important,
"so that by singing its noblest songs it can do the most good".
As has already been mentioned, the theory of Greek music was
highly developed and is revealed in a large number of treatises. On
the other hand, performance practices do not fare so well. Pythagoras, who deeply influenced the ancients, and through St. Augustine and Boethius the Middle Ages, as well as our own era, is thus
spoken of by Plutarch:
394
Pythagoras, that grave philosopher, rejected the judging of music by the

senses, affirming that the virtue of music could be appreciated only by the intellect. And therefore he did not judge of music by the ear, but by the harmonical proportion, and thought it sufficient to fix the knowledge of music
within the compass of the diapason.17
This might well be said of most of the ancient theorists, and we

seek but do not find any mention of how to become a skilled singer.
Not all of the ancient musicographers, however, limited themselves to science and pure reason. There were those who considered
music from its practical and functional aspects, where it tended to
"degenerate into empiricism", whereas with the Pythagoreans it
"lost itself in Mathematical Physics".'8 The scientific approach to
music represented by Pythagoras, Euclid, Ptolemy, Porphyry, Nichomachus, and Alypius, is almost wholly lacking in clues to vocal
practices. The first and most important of those who explain and
define the materials used in music is Aristoxenus. In the first book of
the Harmonics he frequently speaks of "voice" in connection with
interval and pitch. The primarily vocal nature of Greek music is
attested by his statements concerning these two:
16 Ibid., 654.
17 Plutarch, Moralia, transl. by several hands, ed. W. W. Goodwin, Boston, 1870,
5 vols. (Vol. I, pp. 102-35, De Musica, Ch. 37.)
18 Henry S. Macran, The Harmonics of Aristoxenus, Oxford, 1902, pp. 87 if.

395
For every musical instrument and for every human voice there is a maximum
compass which they cannot exceed, and a minimum interval, less than which
they cannot produce. No organ of sound can indefinitely enlarge its range or
indefinitely reduce its intervals: in both cases it reaches a limit. Each of these
limits must be determined by a reference to that which produces the sound and
to that which discriminates it-the voice, namely, and the ear. What the voice
cannot produce and the ear cannot discriminate must be excluded from the
available and practically possible range of musical sound....
The power of the
ear may perhaps be considered to stretch beyond that of the voice, though to no
great distance.19
In addition to the delimiting of the musical scale to the compass

of the voice, here is a comprehension of vocal range, the consideration of which has always been of great importance in voice training.
The only point of further interest for our particular purposes in
Aristoxenus is his differentiation between singing and speaking:
Continuous motion [of the voice] we call the motion of speech, as in speaking
the voice moves without ever seeming to come to a standstill. The reverse is the
case with the other motion, which we designate motion by intervals: in that the
voice does seem to become stationary, and not to speak but to sing. Hence in
ordinary conversation we avoid bringing the voice to a standstill, unless occasionally forced by strong feeling to resort to such a motion; whereas in singing
we act in precisely the opposite way, avoiding continuous motion and making
the voice become, as far as possible, absolutely stationary. The more we succeed
in rendering each of our voice utterances one, stationary, and identical, the more
correct does the singing appear to the ear.20
This last sentence is of particular significance. He means nothing

more than to say that correct singing is singing on pitch, still one
of the most difficult obstacles that beset even seasoned performers.
Many a singer is criticized nowadays for faulty intonation; the tones
are not "one, stationary, and identical". In conclusion Aristoxenus
says: "Enough has been said to show that there are two species of the
voice's motion, and that one is continuous and employed in speaking, while one proceeds by intervals and is employed in singing."21
In his explanation of his conception of singing Aristoxenus shows
quite clearly that he is thinking of the actual practice of singing
while most other authors are interested only in definition.
Aristoxenus's manual was followed by others such as those of
Philodemus (fl. 75-50 B. C.), Cleonides (2nd century A. D.), and
Gaudentius (2nd century A.D.), all of which are largely based on
the work of Aristoxenus. Philodemus says in discussing whether
melody can be conducive to erotic excitement that it is not because
19 Macran, op. cit., p. 175.
20 Ibid., p. 170.
21 Ibid., p. 172.

396

of physical weakness that men succumb, but because of thoughts or
physical suggestions. "Even if the melody conformed with the
quality of the voice it could not have been [the cause]. Therefore
we shall grant if they wish that lovers are beguiled not by melodies
but by words and ideas."22Apparently the opposing point of view
had also been maintained.
Gaudentius treats of notes, intervals, tones, etc., after the Aristoxenian manner. He says that what is to be studied about these
must first be known by experience, by actually perceiving sounds:
It is necessary that the hearing shall first have been trained by experience,
and that it shall perceive the notes exactly, and be alert to intervals, consonant
and dissonant, so that one may add reason to sensitivity to the properties of
tones, and create perfect knowledge [science] derived both from experience and
reason. But as for the person who comes to study the reasoning without listening
to the note or exercising his ear, let him go out and depend on his hearing.
For he blocks up his ears, and comes without first knowing through sensation
the subjects with which the discourse is concerned.23
This hardly requires explanation. Of course he is talking about eartraining, a required subject for every singer in all of our schools.
Cleonides divides his treatise into the following sections: the
Note, the Interval, the Harmonic Genus, Composition of Intervals,
Scales, Transformation. He defines melopoeia as "... the use of those
elements which underlie the business of music in an appropriate way

for every purpose".24This is a practical approach, and would seem
to be a quite adequate explanation of the term. And his discussion
of transformation is very interesting to us. He says:
Transformation in melopoeia occurs when there is a change from the expansive mood to the contracted one or the reposeful one, or from the reposeful
mood to one of the others. The expansive mood of melopoeia is the one which
betokens magnificence and loftiness of soul, manly and heroic deeds, and the
emotions proper to these. Tragedy especially uses these, and the others as much
as it possesses the character proper to them. The contracted mood is the one that
reduces the soul to lowliness and an unmanly state. Such a condition is suited to
the erotic emotions and to laments and expressions of pity and similar matters.
The reposeful mood of melopoeia is that which brings quiet to the soul, and a
free and peaceful condition. Triumphal hymns, songs of praise, counsels, and
forms of this sort are suitable for the reposeful mood.25
22 Philodemus,
Treatise on Music, in Herculanensium voluminum quae supersunt,
Naples, 1793, I, col. 14. The same work, ed. by J. Keinke, Leipzig, 1884, beginning of
Bk. IV.
23 Karl von Jan, Musici Scriptores Graeci, Leipzig, 1895, p. 327. Cf. Plutarch, below,
p. 407.
24 Jan, op. cit., p. 180.
25 Ibid., p. 206.

397
Here we have some early evidence of the place of the "affections"26

in music, and from this it may be suggested that the use of the
proper mode was not the only means of attaining the desired ethos.
Expressive performance that probed emotional depths was, according to this author, of primary significance in Greek musical presentations just as it is for every performer stepping before our own
audiences. The ability to "transform" in the Greek sense is the
stamp that sets the real artist apart from the ordinary run of performers.
Now we return to Plato and the place of music in the general
scheme of education.27 In the Protagoras we read:
The music-masters ... see that their young charges do not go wrong. Moreover, when they learn to play the lyre, they are taught the works of another set
of good poets, the song-makers, while the master accompanies them on the lyre;
and they insist on familiarizing the boys' souls with the rhythms and melodies,
that they may gain in gentleness, and by advancing in rhythmic and harmonious
grace may be efficient in speech and action; for the whole of man's life requires
the graces of rhythm and harmoniousness.28
Plato even goes so far as to prescribe a liturgy for use in religious

festivals and in the schools. In the Laws we read: "... every means
must be employed not only to prevent our children from desiring
to copy different models in dancing or singing, but also to prevent
anyone from tempting them by the inducement of pleasures of all
sorts."29
Before leaving Plato it is interesting and important to know
just what he thought of virtuosity. Apparently he had little use for
it, especially the instrumental kind. He complains that human poets
(musicians) in contrast to the Muses senselessly jumble and mix
tune, rhythm, gesture, and words.
For they [the Muses] behold all these things jumbled together, and how,
also, the poets rudely sunder rhythm and gesture from the tune, putting tuneless
words into meter, or leaving tune and rhythm without words, and using the bare
sound of lyre or pipe, wherein it is almost impossible to understand, what is
intended by this wordless rhythm and harmony.... Such methods, as one ought
2GFor discussion of the meaning of this term, see Paul Henry Lang, Music in
Western Civilization, N. Y., 1941, pp. 436-40.
27 Although the ethos doctrine is implicit in all of Plato's commentson music. the
discussion here is limited to practical considerations.This observation holds for many

other sources quoted.
28 Plato,
Protagoras, in Works, transl. by W. R. M. Lamb (Loeb), N. Y. 1924, IV, pp.
85-258, 326A ff. Here, as elsewhere in our quotations of translations, we have taken the
liberty of making slight substitutions, such as "lyre" for "harp" and "aulos" or "pipe"
for "flute".
29 Laws, 798E.

398
to realize, are clownish in the extreme in mechanical accuracy and the imitation
of animal sounds, and consequently employ the pipe and the lyre without the
accompaniment of dance and song; for the use of either of these instruments by
itself is the mark of the mountebank or boor.30
If we find Plato's philosophico-idealistic attitude towards music

absorbing, then Aristotle, his disciple, becomes even more interesting. The teacher was religious, idealistic, general. and subjective;
the pupil was worldly, practical, particular, and objective, and
therefore we expect to and do obtain more information from him.
Music is treated according to the precepts of Plato only in the eighth
book of the Politics, but even here we are much more aware of the
actual and the concrete. Of the four customary subjects of education, (1) reading and writing, (2) drawing, (3) gymnastics, and
(4) music, the first two are useful and serviceable, the third contributes to manly courage, while ". . as to music, here one might
raise a question. For at present most people take part in it for the
sake of pleasure".31 Its purpose is to ennoble leisure, which, in turn,
is the desirable end of life.
".. We all pronounce music to be one of the pleasantest things,
whether instrumental or instrumental and vocal together. At least
Musaeus says, 'Song is man's sweetest joy,' and that is why people
with good reason introduce it at parties and entertainments, for its
exhilarating effect."32 It contributes to virtue since a wealth of evidence shows the powerful effect upon the listener of various dramatic and emotional representations from which "... therefore it is
plain that music has the power of producing a certain effect on the
moral character of the soul. . . "33 It contributes to intellectual
entertainment and education when the ethical melodies, those suitable for the nobler emotions, such as the Dorian, are used.34
Aristotle decides that the young should learn by singing and
playing themselves, since it will help to keep them out of mischief
when young and enable them to judge good performance when
they grow older. But music lessons should never be carried so far
as to interfere with the subsequent activities of being a good citizen,
and above all, a citizen should never become a professional, for
"professional musicians we speak of as vulgar people, and indeed we
think it not manly to perform music except when drunk or for
30 Laws, 669F.
31 Aristotle, Politics, transl. by H. Rackham (Loeb), N. Y., 1932, 1337b, 23.

32 Ibid., 1339b, 14-15.
33 Ibid., 134ob, 11.

34 Ibid., 1342a, 2, 29-30.


fun".35 Pupils should "...
399
not go on toiling at the exercises that
aim at professional competitions, not the wonderful and elaborate

performances which have now entered into the competitions.... "36
The aulos and other wind instruments are ruled out because of
their exciting influence and also because playing such an instrument prevents the use of the voice; likewise proscribed are all the
instruments that require manual skill and that are ". .
designed
to give pleasure to those who hear people playing them".37 The

Platonic precepts are echoed, but Aristotle parts company with his
teacher in his attitude towards entertainment for the multitude, for
while the ethical melodies (i. e. those in the Dorian and the Lydian
modes) are to be preferred for education, yet the passionate melodies (i. e. the Phrygian) have a purgative and purifying effect on
the troubled mind. He says that a man receives pleasure from what
is natural to him, and therefore professionals may be allowed to
practice this latter sort of music before an audience of a lower type.
Aristotle also gives us some facts concerning various aspects of
musical performance. In the Poetics we read:
Indeed, actors think the audience do not understand unless they put in
something of their own, and so they strike all sorts of attitudes, as you see bad
pipers whirling about if they have to do "The Discus", or mauling the leader of
the chorus when they are playing "Scylla" . . . even in reciting, a minstrel can
overdo his gestures, as Sosistratus did, or in a singing competition, like Mnasitheus of Opus.38
In discussing delivery, he says:

It only made its appearance late in tragedy and rhapsody, for at first the
poets themselves acted their tragedies: Now delivery is a matter of voice, as to
the mode in which it should be used for each particular emotion; when it should
be loud, when low, when intermediate; and how the tones, that is, shrill, deep,
and intermediate should be used; and what rhythms are adapted to each subject.
For there are three qualities that are considered-volume, harmony, rhythm.
Those who use these properly nearly always carry off the prizes in dramatic
contests, . . . as at the present day, actors have greater influence on the stage
than the poets
....39
When actors (artists) have greater influence than poets (composers), it is an age of virtuosity.
Aristotle may have been the first to consider how the voice was
produced (this would give many present-day writers on voice-pro35 Ibid., 1339b, 8.
36 Ibid., 1339b, 8.
37 Ibid., 1341b.
38 Aristotle, Poetics, XXVI, 3-6.
39 Aristotle, Rhetoric, transl. by J. H. Freese (Loeb), N. Y., 1929, 1403b.

400

duction a much more distinguished antecedent than they deserve
or ever surmised) -a fact that should not be surprising since he was
avidly curious about all things; and if some of his statements or
speculations about the voice seem naive, we must remember that
he was probably the first to break ground. In De Anima, he says:
Voice is the sound produced by a creature possessing a soul; for none of the
soulless, lifeless creatures has a voice; they can only be said to give tongue metaphorically, as for instance an aulos or a lyre, and all the other soulless things,
which have a musical compass, and tune, and articulation; it seems that the voice
has these things, but many animals have no voice, such as all the bloodless
animals, and the fishes among the animals with blood. And this is quite reasonable since sound is due to a movement of the air. ... Voice, then, is a sound
made by a living animal, even then not with any part of it taken at random.
But since sound occurs only when something strikes something else in a certain
medium, and this medium is the air, it is natural that only those things should
have voice which admit the air .... The throat is the instrument of respiration;
the reason for which this part exists is the lung.... So it is necessary that during
respiration the air should be breathed in. So the blow given to the air breathed
in by the soul in these parts against what is called the windpipe causes the
voice . .40
His reasonings are quite logical in view of the information at his

disposal; we must remember that the glottal functions were not apprehended by him.
In De Audibilibus41 we have a treatise that deals in large part
with voice production from an entirely empirical point of view.
(While it was actually not written by Aristotle, its author was one
of the early Peripatetics, possibly Strato, who headed the Lyceum
from 288 to 269, and who manifested the scientific spirit more
than did some of the others. It is among the great corpus of Aristotelian writings handed down to us and reflects truly his spirit and
influence.) First the production of sound is discussed to much the
same effect as in De Anima. Then the difference in voice quality is
explained:
We all breathe the same air, but we emit different sounds owing to the
difference in the organs involved through which the breath passes to the region
outside. These are the windpipe, lungs, and the mouth. But the greatest difference in sound is produced by the blows of the air and the shapes assumed by the
mouth. This is evident; for all the differences of voice arise from this cause, and
we see the same people imitating the voices of horses, frogs, nightingales, cranes,
and almost every other kind of living creature, using the same breath and the
same windpipe, by driving the air from the mouth in different ways . . .42
40 Aristotle, De Anima, transl. by W. S. Hett (Loeb), N. Y., 1935,42ob.
41 Aristotle, De Audibilibus, in Minor Works,transl. by W. S. Hett (Loeb), N. Y.,
1936.
42 Ibid., 8ooa.

401
No 2oth-century author of "How to Sing" has given a simpler or
more pointed explanation of the myriad and subtle differences in
voice qualities.
Next the function of these various organs in voice production is
considered. First is the lung, and here breath-control gets considerable attention: "If the lung is large and pliable it can admit much
air, and expel it again husbanding it as it wishes, because of its
softness and because it can easily contract."43Different shapes and
sizes of the throat modify the voice, but
It is not merely the differences of the organs, but all the accidental properties
which cause a difference in the voices .. . [such as] in cases of catarrh and
drunkenness...
or if the breath is quite dry the voice becomes harder and
scattered; for the moisture, when it is light, contracts the air and produces a
certain simpleness of voice. The differences of organs and of accidental properties which belong to them each produce corresponding voices.44
This last sentence really simplifies the entire problem. By "differ-
ences of organs" he means physical or inherent differences, i. e. in

size and shape of lungs, throat, mouth, etc., and by accidental properties he means disease, climate, drunkenness, rest, and other things
of circumstance. All of these are today considered the most important factors contributing to difference in voice quality.
After some discussion of reeds, (animal) horns, pipes, and penetration of sound, the reasons for difference in quality of voice are
again examined: "For the swiftness of the breath makes the voice
sharp and its violence makes it hard. Consequently it happens that
the same people have not only sometimes a shriller and sometimes a
deeper voice, but also one harder or softer."45 (How often our own
critics have observed the same thing about a particular singerl The
voice varies from one performance to the next.)
The last point for us to note in De Audibilibus is the statement
that the source of the sound determines its character, and this is
identical with modern opinions that the qualities of the vibrating
object determine the quality of the resulting sound. The treatise
finishes with a discussion of shrill and cracked voices along with
their causes.
The Problemata is the next work to consider. Again it is most
certainly not by Aristotle, but is a product of the Peripatetics. (Its
authorship may extend down to as late as the 6th century A. D.)
3 Ibid., 8oob.
44 Ibid., 8o0a.
45 Ibid., 803a.

402
It is written in the manner of an enchiridion, the answers being

often speculative or based on empirical information. Book XI,
"Problems on the Voice", and Book XIX, "Problems Connected
with Harmony", abound with references to vocal practices. Reasons are suggested for varied vocal qualities such as soft, loud, high,
low, rough, smooth, shrill, nasal, weak, strong, male, female, sick,
healthy, clear, inarticulate, anxious, fearful, deep, strained, weeping,
laughing, sad, happy, quavering, etc. The effects on the voice of insomnia, drunkenness, eating, irregularity of living, seasons, heat,
cold, sickness, etc. are considered. As to diet, we read:
Why does it spoil the voice to shout after food? We can see that all who
practice voice production such as actors, chorus-singers and the like, perform
their exercises in the morning and fasting. Is the ruin of the voice nothing but
spoiling that region through which the breath passes out? So those who suffer
from sore throat have spoiled voices, not because the breath which produces the
voice is in any way inferior, but because the vocal cords46 are roughened.47
Also: "Why do leeks assist clear speech, since we find this true even
with partridges? Is it because even boiled garlic produces smoothness, and leeks have a certain glutinousness? This cleans out the
larynx."48 And again: ". . neither choruses nor actors rehearse after
breakfast but when fasting . . ."49 The following are some of a
great variety of questions posed:
Why is it that-granting that the human voice is a pleasanter sound than
that of instruments-the voice of one who sings without words, as do those who
hum, is not so pleasant as the sound of the pipe or lyre? The human voice is a
pleasanter sound, but instruments strike a note more effectively than the human
mouth. So the sound of instruments is pleasanter than humming.50
As we follow the questions and answers, we come upon a number of

problems that are still haunting the 2oth-century singer.
Why is it that the mistakes of singers are more noticeable in the low notes
than in the high ones, if they sing out of tune? Errors in time51 are also more
obvious in the low notes. Because the time occupied by the low notes is longer,
and therefore more noticeable; for in the longer time there is opportunity for
more sensation, whereas the brief and high note escapes attention because of
its speed.52
Why do most singers sing sharp53when they get out of tune? Is it because it
is usually rendered "windpipe".
<<'ApT-rp(a>>.
46<<...TETrpaxuvOeaT'rv d&prrpioav.
47 Problemata, transl. by E. S. Forster (Loeb), N. Y., 1932, goib.
48 Ibid., 9o3b.
49 Ibid., 9o4b.
50 Ibid.,
918a.
51 <<TOpUV6p>>.
52 Ibid., giga.
53 <<rri 0'O6~U d7rdaouomv...>

403
is easier to sing high than low? Or is it because the error is worse than whei
the singing is flat? And an error consists in doing what is worse.54
(Presently there is much more flat-singing than sharp-singing.)

Why is it more convenient to sing from high to low than from low to high?
Is it because the former is beginning at the beginning?55
The descending Greek scale may account for this observation. Not
only is our scale ascending but nearly all vocalises, exercises, and
probably the majority of melodies begin with a series of ascending
pitches. Certainly most present-day singers would say that it is
easier to sing from low to high.
Why is it a greater effort to sing high notes than low ones
. . ? Few men
can sing high notes, and the "Orthian" and other high songs ate difficult to sing
because they involve strain.... It is one thing to possess a naturally high voice,
and another to sing a high note.... It requires an effort to sing the upper notes;
but the low ones are below them.56
This indicates plainly a comprehension
of vocal range.
Why is it that a solo is more pleasant if one sings to the accompaniment of

the pipe than if one sings to the lyre? . . . The pipe is more pleasant than the
lyre, so that a song blending with it would be more pleasant than when blended
with the lyre.... The song and the pipe blend with each other because of their
similarity for both are due to the breath; but the sound of the lyre, either because
it is not produced by the breath or because it is less perceptible than the sound
of the pipe, blends less well with the voice....
In addition to this, the pipe by
its sound and its similarity to the voice masks many of the mistakes in the song,
but the sounds of the lyre, being isolated and not blending with the voice, are
considered by themselves, and, because they are alone, make a mistake in the
song obvious, acting as criteria of them. If, then, there are many mistakes in the
song, the combination of the two, lyre and voice, must make it worse.57
The ancients evidently understood and were concerned about "ensemble" and its esthetic effect upon the listeners.
Why do many singing together keep time better than a few? Is it because they
pay better attention to one man, their leader, and begin with greater care, so
that they more easily strike the same moment? For most of the error is due to
haste, but a large number pay more attention to the leader; and none of them
would assert himself and become conspicuous by drowning the rest. But among
a small number men are more liable to make themselves conspicuous; for they
rather compete among themselves than under their leader.58
These are the more pointed references to singing in the Prob54Ibid., glgb.
55 Ibid., 920a.
56 Ibid., 920b.
57 Ibid., 922a.
58 Ibid., 922a.

404

lemata. There are many more, not only to singing but also to many
other kinds of musical practices.
The lofty estate of music in ancient Greece receives no better
confirmation than at the hands of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, in his
remarkable work on literary criticism and composition, De Compositione Verborum, written between the years 2o and io B. C.
The "peculiar quasi-musical character of Greek speech"59is confirmed by Dionysius, for he says: "The science of public oratory is,
after all, a sort of musical science, differing from vocal and instrumental music in degree, not in kind."60Dionysius was a perfectionist and a classicist and was "genuinely alive to the great issues that
dignify and ennoble style".61Therefore we may well consider what
he has to say oh music. In Chapter XI he says that the ear delights
. . . first of all in melody, then in rhythm, thirdly in variety and finally in
appropriateness as applied to these other qualities. As a witness to the truth of
my words I will bring forward experience itself, for it cannot be challenged,
confirmed as it is by the general sentiment of mankind. Who is there that is not
enthralled by the spell of one melody while he remains unaffected in any such
way by another-that is not captivated by this rhythm while that does but jar
upon him? Ere now I myself, even in the most popular theatres, thronged by a
mixed and uncultured multitude, have seemed to observe that all of us have a
sort of natural appreciation for correct melody and good rhythm.... Everybody
is vexed and annoyed when a performer strikes an instrument, takes a step, or
sings a note, out of time and so destroys the rhythm.62
In Chapter XXV he speaks of the "perfect mastery" that results

from long training and produces "effects with the utmost ease from
sheer force of habit .. ."
For example when accomplished players on the phormynx, the cithara or the
pipe hear an unfamiliar tune, they no sooner grasp it than with little trouble
they run over it on the instrument themselves. They have mastered the value of
the notes after much toiling and moiling, and so can reproduce them. Their
hands were not at the outset in condition to do what was bidden them; they
attained command of this accomplishment only after much time, when ample
training had converted custom into second nature.63
And as a final warning to would-be artists, in the last paragraph of

the treatise he suggests daily exercises, for "No rules . .. can suffice
to make experts of those who are determined to dispense with study
and practice".
59 Cited from D. B. Monro, Modes of Ancient Greek Music, p. 118, in Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, De Compositione Verborum (edited with . . . translation ...
by W.
Rhys Roberts), London, 1910, p. 40.
60 Ibid., p. 124.
61 Ibid., p. 41.
62 Ibid., p. 122 ff. (Cf. also Cicero, De Orat., iii, 195-97.)
63 Ibid., Ch. XXV.

405
These observations of Dionysius are very interesting for several

reasons. First of all they indicate that the musical art of the later
centuries of antiquity at least was specialized; technical, and of such
an expert nature that to master it required long and special training. Also the statement that "the words should be subordinate to
the tune"64 is of considerable import. It indicates that changes had
taken place in the more than three centuries since the Laws and
the Poetics had been written. In the time of Plato and Aristotle
representation was the purpose of all art, and where music was concerned the words were the primary means of representation. Far
greater, of course, is the change from the time of Homer, when the
importance of the music was far outranked by that of the text. Although it is probably not the intention of composers today, circumstances attending the performance of accompanied vocal music
are now more inclined to compare with those described by Diony.
sius (and Plutarch). In our opera performances and in the concert
halls the words usually come off second best to the orchestra. Only
in radio is a better balance achieved by arrangement of the microphones so that the words "get across".
Next we come to Plutarch (A. D. 46-120), a liberally educated
and widely travelled Greek of noble and religious character. Although not profound, his interests were broad and for that reason
his comments on music have that popular critical quality that is of
such importance in our study. His De Musica65 is an interesting and
curious collection of facts, theories, and comments on mythology,
philosophy, science, history, etc., all in relation to music, and therefore deserves consideration. Ethos, modes, and nomes come in for
rather full discussion, as does the Platonic conception of music,
with which Plutarch seems to be in full sympathy. He complains
bitterly of the degeneration of music from its once high and noble
uses: "But in our age . . . there is not the least remembrance or
care of that use of music which related to education; for all our
musicians make it their business to court the theater Muses, and
study nothing but compositions for the stage."66 The ancient music
is called well regulated music and even though the old musicians
made changes, their innovations "were grave and decent". Archilochus (fl. 675-50 B. C.) is credited with many of these, such as
64 Ibid., p. 3.
65 Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle

Ages, N. Y., 1940, p. 18, says that the authenticity of his authorship is to be questioned.
66 De Musica, Ch. XXVII.

406
having taught ". ..
how iambics could be partly recited to the
stroke of the lyre and partly sung; from him the tragedians learned
it ...
It is thought that he invented also playing on the lyre at
intervals in the song, whereas the ancients played only during the
singing."6*If Plutarch's information is reliable, this quotation tells
us much about the method of accompaniment used. Apparently the
tragic actors could recite or sing their iambic lines even though all
of it was accompanied. Also the use of instrumental interludes was
the rule just as it is in all accompanied vocal music of modern times.
According to Plutarch, music started on its long path of decadence when Lasus of Hermione
(fl. 500 B. C.) ". . . transferring the
rhythms to suit the dithyrambic meter, and making use of an instrument of many notes, made an absolute innovation upon the ancient
music, by the use of more notes, and those more widely distributed".68 Likewise, Melanippides (fl. 440 B. C.), Philoxenus (435380 B. C.), and Timotheus (446-357 B. C.) were all bold innovators
and "all forsook the ancient music". Many strings were added to the
seven of the lyre, and "wind-music also exchanges its ancient plainness for a more copious variety". Before this time the musicians
received salaries from the poets, ". . . poetry holding the first rank
and the musicians being in the service of the poet. Afterwards that
custom grew out of date."69He speaks of the "absurdity of those
who have been slicers and manglers of music",70and quotes from a
fragment of Pherecrates and Aristophanes in which music complains bitterly of the treatment received at the hands of these
"slicers and manglers". He repeats the story told by Aristoxenus of
his contemporary, Telesias the Theban,
. .. who in his youth was bred up in the noblest excellencies of music ... who
played also to perfection upon the aulos ... but when past the prime of his age,
he was so bewitched with the theater's new fangles and the innovations of multiplied notes, that despising those noble precepts and that solid practice to which
he had been educated, he betook himself to Philoxenus and Timotheus, and
among those delighted chiefly in such as were most depraved with diversity of
notes and baneful innovations.71
Plutarch cautions everyone who would learn music to "make philosophy his tutor, which is sufficient to judge what is in music decent
and useful", and, "It behooves one who comes to learn music to
67 Ibid., Ch. XXVIII.
68Ibid., Ch. XXIX
69 Ibid., Ch. XXX.
O7 Ibid.
71
Ibid., Ch. XXXI.

407
understand poetry ...

and to know how to express his poetical
inventions in proper musical form."72 Even so, his appreciation of
the performing artist is in marked contrast to that which prevailed
after St. Augustine, Boethius, and St. Gregory had each applied his
own winnowing processes, for while
... all musical learning is a sort of habituation which does not teach the reason
of her precepts.... He that has both judgment as well as skill is to be accounted
the most accurate musician. . . . Therefore he must never think to be a true
artist in the understanding and practice of music, who advances no farther than
the single knowledge of this or that particular; but it behooves him to trace
through all the particular members of it, and so to be master of the whole
body ..
.73
In Chapter XXXVI the author discusses the difficulties of becoming a "most accurate musician", and his reasoning is so pertinent
that we quote the entire chapter:
We are next to consider whether the masters of music [the artists] are sufficiently capable of being judges of it. Now I aver the negative. For it is impossible to be a perfect musician and a good judge of music by the knowledge of
those things that seem to be parts of the whole body, as by excellency of hand
upon the instrument, or singing readily at first sight, or exquisiteness of the ear,
so far as this extends to the understanding of harmony and time. Neither does
the knowledge of time and harmony, pulsation or elocution, or whatever else
falls under the same consideration, perfect their judgment. Now for the reasons
why a musician cannot gain a perfect judgment from any of these, we must
endeavor to make them clear. First then it must be granted that, of things about
which judgment is to be made, some are perfect and others are imperfect. Those
things which are perfect are the compositions in general, whether sung or played,
and the expression of those, whether upon the instruments or by the voice, with
the rest of the same nature. The imperfect are the things to these appertaining,
and for whose sake they are made use of. Such are the parts of expression. A
second reason may be found in poetry, with which the case is the same. For a
man that hears a consort of voices or instruments can judge whether they sing
or play in tune, and whether the language be plain or not [enunciation]. But
every one of these are only parts of instrumental and vocal expression; not the
end in itself, but for the sake of the end. For by these and things of the same
nature shall the elegancy of elocution be judged, whether it be proper to the
poem which the performer undertakes to sing. The same is to be said of the
several passions expressed in the poetry.
Plutarch
sums up his attitude towards musical performance

epigrammatically: "A rational person will not blame the sciences
themselves if anyone makes use of them amiss, but will adjudge such
a failing to be the error of those that abuse them."74 This places all
72 Ibid., Ch. XXXIII.
73
Ibid., Ch. XXXIV.
74 Ibid., Ch. XLI.

408

the onus for the depths of degradation suffered by the art of music
in his day, or any other day, at the feet of the performers, and the
fair-minded are forced to agree. We need only remind ourselves of
the brand of entertainment described by Athenaeus in the Deipnosophists, Petronius in his Satyricon, or Plutarch himself in the
Quaestiones Convivialium. It bears eloquent testimony to the wisdom of Plato, who objected so consistently to the same thing in his
day and predicted so accurately this selfsame consequence. The only
consolation is that a remarkable development in virtuosity is indicated, but even this reached an ignominiously low standard with
Nero, who burlesqued and debauched every vestige of respect that
remained for the art of song.
Rome can hardly boast a musical heritage of her own. Wherever
art was concerned she leaned heavily on Greece, and evidence of
autochthonous elements is scant indeed. Only in the earliest antecedents of the Roman drama is to be found anything of a truly
indigenous nature, and even this was soon to come under the complete domination of the Greeks. According to Livy,75 there were
five stages in the development of early Roman theatrical entertainment. First there were the dances with the accompaniment of a reed
pipe; second, rude verses were improvised and added to the music
and dancing; third, medleys were composed, which were accompanied by pipe and danced to; fourth, comedies were performed
with a regular plot and with special singers for the lyric parts; and
fifth, a postlude called the "exodium" was added. Only the first
three were of native origin, the third being known as the "Saturae".
The latter were filled with wit of an invective and satiric nature,
and were the inspiration for that literary product, later used to such
effect by Lucilius, Horace, Persius, and Juvenal, known as the
Satire.
With Livius Andronicus (c. 284-204 B. C., a Greek captured at
Tarentum, and brought in 272 B. C. to Rome, where he translated
the first Greek play into Latin to be produced for the Roman games
of 240 B. C.) the Saturae disappear, the fourth stage begins, and
Latin influences begin to be displaced by the Greek. Livy writes of
Livius Andronicus:
Like everyone else in those days, he acted his own pieces, and the story goes
that when his voice, owing to the frequent demands made upon it, had lost its
freshness, he asked and obtained the indulgence to let a boy stand before the
accompanist to sing the monody while he acted it himself, with a vivacity of
'5
Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, transl. by B. O. Foster, N. Y., 1926, Bk. VII, Ch. a.

409
gesture that gained considerablefrom his not having to use his voice. From that
time on actorsbegan to use singers to accompanytheir gesticulation,reserving
only the dialogue parts for their own.76
Livy adds that with this change from a previous informal style to a
more sophisticated one, the parts were abandoned by the amateurs
and gradually taken over by professionals,77 and concludes with the
following very revealing statement:
Amongstthe humble origins of other institutions it has seemed worth while
to set down the early history of the play, that it might be seen how sober were
the beginningsof an art that has now-a-days[c. 20 B. C.] reacheda point where
opulent kingdomscould hardly support its mad extravagance.78
Quintilian (A. D. 35-95) places much emphasis on musical and
vocal training in preparation for an oratorical career. The proper
vocal training for oratory is compared with that for singing. He says
that as to quantity a voice is strong or weak, high or low.
Quality, on the other hand, presentsmore variation; for the voice may be clear
or husky, full or thin, smooth or harsh, of wide or narrow compass,rigid or
flexible, sharp or flat, while lung power may be great or small.79
While he does not propose to discuss the reason for these differences at any length (in sharp contrast to Aristotle),80 he insists that
physical robustnessis essential to save the voice from dwindling to the feeble
shrillnessthat characterizesthe voices of eunuchs,women, and invalids, and the
means for creating such robustnessare to be found in walking, rubbing down
with oil, abstinence from sexual intercourse, an easy digestion, and in a word,
in the simple life.81
By implication we find here and in other remarks by the same writer

that the singers were accustomed to observe such rules as the following: physical exercise, proper diet, simple living, practice of "scales",
and avoidance of vocal strain. Singing manuals of today prescribe
the same.
It is the tradition of moralists of every age to abjure the corruption of their times and urge a return to the virtues of their forefathers. Therefore it is not surprising to find Livy, Quintilian, and
Plutarch taking issue with the manners of their day, pointing out
their follies and contrasting them with the ideals of their ancient
76 Ibid., VII, 2, 8.
77
Cf. Horace, Epodes, II, i, 139 ff.
78 Livy, op. cit., VII, 2, 13.
79 Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, transl. by H. E. Butler (Loeb), London, 1921,

XI, 3, 15.
so See above, pp. 400 f.
81
Quintilian, op. cit., XI, 3, 19-20.

410

culture. As for music, we are forced to conclude that their complaints were eminently justified. Performers with few exceptions
have never been paragons of virtue, and.in the first centuries of the
Roman Empire they were the least entitled to admiration and respect. Their extravagant performances, described by Quintilian as
"effeminate", "lascivious", "depraved", and "mad", together with
the bankruptcy in habits and morals of the times, formed a combination of circumstances that could scarcely have any other result. It
is this fact that accounts for the slow crystallization of an attitude
towards music that evolved in the early centuries of Christianity, an
attitude that was expressed in the writings of the Church fathers and
that was to influence profoundly the destiny of Occidental music.
Christian ethics and ideals were diametrically opposed to the burned
out world of Greece and Rome, and the early Church fathers
obliged by purging music, leaving it a pure science of mathematics
and dialectic.
St. Augustine says, "Certainly we are not to study here what any
singer or actor knows."82He is contemptuous of the performers, and
says they ". .. can in no way be students of, or learned in, music
all actors conceive the end of their pro. . "83 and he adds that "...
fession in terms of money and glory, and this depends upon the
judgment of the ignorant".84This is the sum total of his remarks
about performers. For the remainder of his rather lengthy treatise
he discusses prosody, rhythm, meter, and harmony, ". .. in which
the mind is raised from the consideration of changeable numbers

in inferior things to unchangeable numbers in unchangeable truth
itself".85This apotheosis of music into a means of explaining the
immutable rules of God and the Universe rings down the curtain
on the musical practices of antiquity with a summary dictum from
which artists and composers were centuries in freeing themselves.
Not until that amazingly fertile spirit of the ancient world was reborn in Humanism were they able to assert themselves and function
unhampered.
Augustine, De Musica, transl. by R. Catesby Taliaferro, Annapolis, 1939, p. 3.

83 Ibid., p. 15 (Bk. I, Ch. VI).
82
84
Ibid., p. 17.
85 Ibid., p. 148 (Book VI, superscription).


Vocal Art in Antiquity

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Vocal Art in Antiquity

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