CREEK MUSIC. The development of music among the Greeks was never carried to that de gree of perfection which characterized the other arts. Polyphony was unknown to them, and consequently their elaborate theoretical system had reference only to melody. How extensively their theories were carried out in practice we have little chance to judge, for our knowledge of Greek music is derived almost entirely from the writings of the theorists. The mathematical and technical details are very involved, and are still the subject of discussion among scholars. The most noticeable general characteristics are, on the one hand, the limited compass, imperfect tonality, the thin, weak quality of their princi pal instrument (the lyre), and, on the other hand, perfect unison of musical form and language, a keen sense of difference in pitch, and splendid, delicate rhythms. But, as has been said, they had no conception of chords, and at its best their music must have been colorless.
Their system was the opposite of that used in modern music, for instead of taking the major ascending scale as a foundation, they used the minor descending scale, which was based, not on an octave and its repetition, but on a fourth and its repetition. Originally there were three scales —Dorian, Phrygian, and Lydian—named after the countries in which they sprang up. It would seem that at first these scales consisted of seven tones; but from the earliest times of which we have record they had eight tones, named from the strings of the lyre. The names of these tones were: Nete (lowest, this corresponded to our highest), paranete (next to nett), trite (third), paramese (next to mese), mese (middle), liehanos (forefinger string), parhypate (next to the top), hypate (topmost). The scale as thus formed was composed of two tetrachords, disjoined by a `diazeutic tone' (so called because it cut the scale in two). The three original scales were approximately as follows: "the semi-tone above the highest note of the middle tetrachord was used; and hence was formed a special conjunct tetrachord bb La), in apposition to the disjunct one" (Rie mann). The names of the tones in the Perfect
System were derived from those of the original octave. The mese was the tonic of this system, and was regarded as the central and most im portant note.
But though the Perfect System contained all the essential elements, there were certain defects to be remedied. Chief of these was the incom pleteness of their chromatic degrees. As we have seen, their scales contained certain semi tones; but to get a complete set of sharps and flats, they had recourse to transposing scales. The difference of their scales lay in the position of the semi-tone; so if, for example, we substi tute in the original Phrygian scale a conjoined tetrachord in place of a disjoined one, and by so doing change the position of the semi-tone, we will have changed the scale to the Hypo Dorian form. But although the position of the semi-tone is the same in both scales, the compass of this transposed Phrygian scale differs from the compass of the Hypo-Dorian. To all pur poses, then, we have a new scale whose compass is Phrygian and whose form is Hypo-Dorian. This is called the transposed Phrygian scale. By The diazeutic tone intervals were respectively b—a, a—g, g—f. To these scales were added the Hypo-Dorian, Hypo-Phrygian, and Hypo-Lydian, each a fifth below its original, and still later three more, the Hyper-Dorian, Hyper-Phrygian, and Hyper-Lydian, each of the latter being a fifth above its original scale. These additional scales were composed of conjoined tetrachords, the so-called `diazeutie tone' following the other notes in the case of the 'hypo' scales, and preced ing them in the case of the 'hyper' scales. The number of scales was ultimately increased to fifteen; but the above-mentioned nine were the important ones, and from them was developed the Perfect System, which became the basis of medix val music. See DIAZEUTIC TONE; GAMUT; PLAIN CHANT; MODES.