INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. A term applied to music performed exclusively on instruments, as distinguished from that performed by voices, or even voices with instrumental accompaniment. Even in ancient Greece purely instrumental music was known. In the sixth century !Lc. Saeadas of Argos is said to have performed publicly on the Inlay ( flute ) at the Pythian Games. In the same century Agelaus of Tcgea won great distinction as it performer on the kithara. But instrumental music as performed by a nunther of instruments was unknown. The Greek orches tra served only to a Ce0111 patty the voices. 'Har mony being unknown to the Greeks, such ac companinn•nt was nothing more than a perform ance of the vocal part in unison or octaves upon the instruments. ‘Vith the use of stringed instruments played by a bow a new phase of instrumental began. The fiddle was brought over from the Orient. and soon became the instrument upon which the troubadours ac companied their songs. It was also adopted by the wandering fiddlers ((ahrcnde Sfiiellente) of the :Middle Ages. The oldest compositions written expressly for instrumental performance were dances. lint the style of these is entire ly vocal. It is during the sixteenth century that the first traces of an individual instru mental style are perceptible. It was the keyed instruments which contributed to a differentia lion between the vocal and styles. As they were unable to produce sustained tones or chord., emnposers soon discovered that broken chords and figuration were better adapted to these instruments. Even in compositions for the organ this principle was adopted; and before long the new style of figuration, and rapid note pro g.ression, WI•11e also adopted for orchestral instru ments. Three instruments have beeome promi. Lent in the development of the instrumental forms. viz. the organ. violin. and pianoforte. 'The great organists took from the vocal style the fugne. The instrumental fugue reached its growth
in the masterpieces of S. Bach, which to this day still are unrivaled. The violin and piano forte developed the sonata form, which is re• girded as the highe4 of all instrumental forms. The eyelieal forms can be traced to two main sources, viz. the old dances and the Florentine musical drama. By uniting a manlier of dances (all in the same key) the suite originated. The 'older operas were opened by an instrumental pre dude which originally was nothing more than a madrigal arranged for instruments. But soon a special instrumental composition took its place. The form of this sinfonia, as it was called, was taken from the aria. i.e. it had three parts, A. II, A, of which the third was a repetition of the first. Gradually the three parts were detached and appeared as separate movements. Composers paid special attention to the first movement, from which gradually the sonata form was evolved. A sonata was originally any instrumental work (eh icily performed on a keyed instrument with strings) as opposed to a vocal one. Then 'sonata' was applied to a cyclical composition for piano. The great sonatists of the eighteenth century (though composing for the violin) retained the The form was finally by 'lapin and tilled with the loftiest contents by the genius of Beethoven. The symphony is nothing else than a sonata of large dimensions for o•ches tra. Trios, quartets, concerts, etc., are all so natas for a particular group of instruments. 'In strumental music to-day is divided into absolute and programme music. The former kind is music written for its own sake; the latter attempts to portray definite ideas according to a given pro gramme. Ste CYCLICAL FORMS; OVERTURE; Pao GRAM M E All:SIC; SONATA ; SUITE; SYMPHONY.