[2]
If the language of poetical9 extravagance may be admitted into serious historical composition, we may accept this theatrical10 picture as an allegorized image of a truth. Although we speak no longer of a “first man,” and although we have the best reasons to suppose that the earliest vocal11 efforts of our anthropoid12 progenitors14 were a softly modulated15 love call or a strident battle cry rather than a sursum corda; yet taking for our point of departure that stage in human development when art properly begins, when the unpremeditated responses to simple sensation are supplemented by the more stable and organized expression of a soul life become self-conscious, then we certainly do find that the earliest attempts at song are occasioned by motives16 that must in strictness be called religious. The savage18 is a very religious being. In all the relations of his simple life he is hedged about by a stiff code of regulations whose sanction depends upon his recognition of the presence of invisible powers and his duties to them. He divines a mysterious presence as pervasive19 as the atmosphere he breathes, which takes in his childish fancy diverse shapes, as of ghosts, deified ancestors, anthropomorphic gods, embodied20 influences of sun and cloud. In whatever guise21 these conceptions may clothe themselves, he experiences a feeling of awe22 which sometimes appears as abject23 fear, sometimes as reverence24 and love. The emotions which the primitive man feels under the pressure of these ideas are the most profound and persistent25 of which he is capable, and as they involve notions which are held in common by all the members of the tribe (for there are no sceptics or nonconformists in the savage community), they are formulated26 in elaborate schemes of ceremony. The religious [3] sentiment inevitably27 seeks expression in the assembly—“the means,” as Professor Brinton says, “by which that most potent28 agent in religious life, collective suggestion, is brought to bear upon the mind”—the liturgy29, the festival, and the sacrifice.[1] By virtue30 of certain laws of the human mind which are evident everywhere, in the highest civilized31 condition as in the savage, the religious emotion, intensified32 by collective suggestion in the assembly, will find expression not in the ordinary manner of thought communication, but in those rhythmic33 and inflected movements and cadences34 which are the natural outlet35 of strong mental excitement when thrown back upon itself. These gestures and vocal inflections become regulated and systematized in order that they may be permanently36 retained, and serve in their reaction to stimulate37 anew the mental states by which they were occasioned. Singing, dancing, and pantomime compose the means by which uncivilized man throughout the world gives expression to his controlling ideas. The needed uniformity in movement and accent is most easily effected by rhythmical38 beats; and as these beats are more distinctly heard, and also blend more agreeably with the tones of the voice if they are musical sounds, a rude form of instrumental music arises. Here we have elements of public religious ceremony as they exist in the most highly organized and spiritualized worships,—the assemblage, where common motives produce common action and react to produce a common mood, the ritual with its instrumental music, and the resulting sense on the part of the participant of detachment from material interests and of personal communion with the unseen powers.
[4]
The symbolic39 dance and the choral chant are among the most primitive, probably the most primitive, forms of art. Out of their union came music, poetry, and dramatic action. Sculpture, painting, and architecture were stimulated40 if not actually created under the same auspices41. “The festival,” says Prof. Baldwin Brown, “creates the artist.”[2] Festivals among primitive races, as among ancient cultured peoples, are all distinctly religious. Singing and dancing are inseparable. Vocal music is a sort of chant, adopted because of its nerve-exciting property, and also for the sake of enabling a mass of participants to utter the words in unison42 where intelligible43 words are used. A separation of caste between priesthood and laity44 is effected in very early times. The ritual becomes a form of magical incantation; the utterance of the wizard, prophet, or priest consists of phrases of mysterious meaning or incoherent ejaculations.
The prime feature in the earlier forms of worship is the dance. It held also a prominent place in the rites45 of the ancient cultured nations, and lingers in dim reminiscence in the processions and altar ceremonies of modern liturgical47 worship. Its function was as important as that of music in the modern Church, and its effect was in many ways closely analogous48. When connected with worship, the dance is employed to produce that condition of mental exhilaration which accompanies the expenditure49 of surplus physical energy, or as a mode [5] of symbolic, semi-dramatic expression of definite religious ideas. “The audible and visible manifestations50 of joy,” says Herbert Spencer, “which culminate52 in singing and dancing, have their roots in instinctive53 actions like those of lively children who, on seeing in the distance some indulgent relative, run up to him, joining one another in screams of delight and breaking their run with leaps; and when, instead of an indulgent relative met by joyful54 children, we have a conquering chief or king met by groups of his people, there will almost certainly occur saltatory and vocal expressions of elated feeling, and these must become by implication signs of respect and loyalty,—ascriptions of worth which, raised to a higher power, become worship.”[3] Illustrations of such motives in the sacred dance are found in the festive55 procession of women, led by Miriam, after the overthrow56 of the Egyptians, the dance of David before the ark, and the dance of the boy Sophocles around the trophies57 of Salamis. But the sacred dance is by no means confined to the discharge of physical energy under the promptings of joy. The funeral dance is one of the most frequent of such observances, and dread58 of divine wrath59 and the hope of propitiation by means of rites pleasing to the offended power form a frequent occasion for rhythmic evolution and violent bodily demonstration61.
Far more commonly, however, does the sacred dance assume a representative character and become a rudimentary drama, either imitative or emblematic62. It depicts63 the doings of the gods, often under the supposition [6] that the divinities are aided by the sympathetic efforts of their devotees. Certain mysteries, known only to the initiated64, are symbolized66 in bodily movement. The fact that the dance was symbolic and instructive, like the sacrificial rite46 itself, enables us to understand why dancing should have held such prominence68 in the worship of nations so grave and intelligent as the Egyptians, Hebrews, and Greeks. Representations of religious processions and dances are found upon the monuments of Egypt and Assyria. The Egyptian peasant, when gathering69 his harvest, sacrificed the first fruits, and danced to testify his thankfulness to the gods. The priests represented in their dances the course of the stars and scenes from the histories of Osiris and Isis. The dance of the Israelites in the desert around the golden calf70 was probably a reproduction of features of the Egyptian Apis worship. The myths of many ancient nations represent the gods as dancing, and supposed imitations of such august examples had a place in the ceremonies devoted71 to their honor. The dance was always an index of the higher or lower nature of the religious conceptions which fostered it. Among the purer and more elevated worships it was full of grace and dignity. In the sensuous72 cults73 of Phoenicia and Lydia, and among the later Greek votaries74 of Cybele and Dionysus, the dance reflected the fears and passions that issued in bloody75, obscene, and frenzied76 rites, and degenerated77 into almost incredible spectacles of wantonness and riot.
[7]
It was among the Greeks, however, that the religious dance developed its highest possibilities of expressiveness79 and beauty, and became raised to the dignity of a fine art. The admiration of the Greeks for the human form, their unceasing effort to develop its symmetry, strength, and grace, led them early to perceive that it was in itself an efficient means for the expression of the soul, and that its movements and attitudes could work sympathetically upon the fancy. The dance was therefore cultivated as a coequal with music and poetry; educators inculcated it as indispensable to the higher discipline of youth; it was commended by philosophers and celebrated80 by poets. It held a prominent place in the public games, in processions and celebrations, in the mysteries, and in public religious ceremonies. Every form of worship, from the frantic81 orgies of the drunken devotees of Dionysus to the pure and tranquil82 adoration83 offered to Phoebus Apollo, consisted to a large extent of dancing. Andrew Lang’s remark in regard to the connection between dancing and religious solemnity among savages84 would apply also to the Hellenic sacred dance, that “to dance this or that means to be acquainted with this or that myth, which is represented in a dance or ballet d’action.”[4] Among the favorite subjects for pantomimic representation, united with choral singing, were the combat between Apollo and the dragon and the sorrows of Dionysus, the commemoration of the latter forming the origin of the splendid Athenian drama. The ancient dance, it must be remembered, had as its motive17 the expression of a wide range of emotion, and could be employed to symbolize67 sentiments of wonder, love, and gratitude. Regularly [8] ordered movements, often accompanied by gesture, could well have a place in religious ceremony, as the gods and their relations to mankind were then conceived; and moreover, at a time when music was in a crude state, rhythmic evolutions and expressive78 gestures, refined and moderated by the exquisite86 sense of proportion native to the Greek mind, undoubtedly87 had a solemnizing effect upon the participants and beholders not unlike that of music in modern Christian89 worship. Cultivated as an art under the name of orchestik, the mimic85 dance reached a degree of elegance90 and emotional significance to which modern times afford no proper parallel. It was not unworthy of the place it held in the society of poetry and music, with which it combined to form that composite art which filled so high a station in Greek culture in the golden age.
The Hellenic dance, both religious and theatric, was adopted by the Romans, but, like so much that was noble in Greek art, only to be degraded in the transfer. It passed over into the Christian Church, like many other ceremonial practices of heathenism, but modified and by no means of general observance. It appeared on occasions of thanksgiving and celebrations of important events in the Church’s history. The priest would often lead the dance around the altar on Sundays and festal days. The Christians92 sometimes gathered about the church doors at night and danced and sang songs. There is nothing in these facts derogatory to the piety93 of the early Christians. They simply expressed their joy according to the universal fashion of the age; and especially on those occasions which, as [9] for instance Christmas, were adaptations of old pagan festivals, they naturally imitated many of the time-honored observances. The Christian dance, however, finally degenerated; certain features, such as the nocturnal festivities, gave rise to scandal; the church authorities began to condemn94 them, and the rising spirit of asceticism95 drove them into disfavor. The dance was a dangerous reminder96 of the heathen worship with all its abominations; and since many pagan beliefs and customs, with attendant immoralities, lingered for centuries as a seductive snare98 to the weaker brethren, the Church bestirred itself to eliminate all perilous99 associations from religious ceremony and to arouse a love for an absorbed and spiritual worship. During the Middle Age, and even in comparatively recent times in Spain and Spanish America, we find survivals of the ancient religious dance in the Christian Church, but in the more enlightened countries it has practically ceased to exist. The Christian religion is more truly joyful than the Greek; yet the Christian devotee, even in his most confident moments, no longer feels inclined to give vent91 to his happiness in physical movements, for there is mingled100 with his rapture101 a sentiment of awe and submission102 which bids him adore but be still. Religious processions are frequent in Christian countries, but the participants do not, like the Egyptians and Greeks, dance as they go. We find even in ancient times isolated103 opinions that public dancing is indecorous. Only in a naive104 and childlike stage of society will dancing as a feature of worship seem appropriate and innocent. As reflection increases, the unrestrained and conspicuous105 [10] manifestation51 of feeling in shouts and violent bodily movements is deemed unworthy; a more spiritual conception of the nature of the heavenly power and man’s relation to it requires that forms of worship should become more refined and moderate. Even the secular106 dance has lost much of its ancient dignity from somewhat similar reasons, partly also because the differentiation107 and high development of music, taking the place of dancing as a social art, has relegated108 the latter to the realm of things outgrown109, which no longer minister to man’s intellectual necessities.
As we turn to the subject of music in ancient religious rites, we find that where the dance had already reached a high degree of artistic110 development, music was still in dependent infancy111. The only promise of its splendid future was in the reverence already accorded to it, and the universality of its use in prayer and praise. On its vocal side it was used to add solemnity to the words of the officiating priest, forming the intonation112, or ecclesiastical accent, which has been an inseparable feature of liturgical worship in all periods. So far as the people had a share in religious functions, vocal music was employed by them in hymns113 to the gods, or in responsive refrains. In its instrumental form it was used to assist the singers to preserve the correct pitch and rhythm, to regulate the steps of the dance, or, in an independent capacity, to act upon the nerves of the worshipers and increase their sense of awe in the presence of the deity114. It is the nervous excitement produced by certain kinds of musical performance that accounts for the fact that incantations, exorcisms, and [11] the ceremonies of demon60 worship among savages and barbarians115 are accompanied by harsh-sounding instruments; that tortures, executions, and human sacrifices, such as those of the ancient Phoenicians and Mexicans, were attended by the clamor of drums, trumpets116, and cymbals118. Even in the Hebrew temple service the blasts of horns and trumpets could have had no other purpose than that of intensifying119 emotions of awe and dread.
Still another office of music in ancient ceremony, perhaps still more valued, was that of suggesting definite ideas by means of an associated symbolism. In certain occult observances, such as those of the Egyptians and Hindus, relationships were imagined between instruments or melodies and religious or moral conceptions, so that the melody or random121 tone of the instrument indicated to the initiate65 the associated principle, and thus came to have an imputed122 sanctity of its own. This symbolism could be employed to recall to the mind ethical123 precepts124 or religious tenets at solemn moments, and tone could become a doubly powerful agent by uniting the effect of vivid ideas to its inherent property of nerve excitement.
Our knowledge of the uses of music among the most ancient nations is chiefly confined to its function in religious ceremony. All ancient worship was ritualistic and administered by a priesthood, and the liturgies125 and ceremonial rites were intimately associated with music. The oldest literatures that have survived contain hymns to the gods, and upon the most ancient monuments are traced representations of instruments and players. Among the literary records discovered on the site of [12] Nineveh are collections of hymns, prayers, and penitential psalms127, addressed to the Assyrian deities128, designed, as expressly stated, for public worship, and which Professor Sayce compares to the English Book of Common Prayer. On the Assyrian monuments are carved reliefs of instrumental players, sometimes single, sometimes in groups of considerable numbers. Allusions129 in the Bible indicate that the Assyrians employed music on festal occasions, that hymns to the gods were sung at banquets and dirges130 at funerals. The kings maintained bands at their courts, and provided a considerable variety of instruments for use in the idol131 worship.[5]
There is abundant evidence that music was an important factor in the religious rites of Egypt. The testimony132 of carved and painted walls of tombs and temples, the papyrus133 records, the accounts of visitors, inform us that music was in Egypt pre?minently a sacred art, as it must needs have been in a land in which, as Ranke says, there was nothing secular. Music was in the care of the priests, who jealously guarded the sacred hymns and melodies from innovation and foreign intrusion.[6] In musical science, knowledge of the divisions of the monochord, systems of keys, notation134, etc., the Egyptians were probably in advance [13] of all other nations. The Greeks certainly derived135 much of their musical practice from the dwellers136 on the Nile. They possessed137 an extensive variety of instruments, from the little tinkling138 sistrum up to the profusely139 ornamented140 harp141 of twelve or thirteen strings142, which towered above the performer. From such an instrument as the latter it would seem as though some kind of harmony must have been produced, especially since the player is represented as using both hands. But if such were the case, the harmony could not have been reduced to a scientific system, since otherwise a usage so remarkable143 would not have escaped the attention of the Greek musicians who derived so much of their art from Egypt. Music never failed at public or private festivity, religious ceremony, or funeral rite. As in all ancient religions, processions to the temples, carrying images of the gods and offerings, were attended by dances and vocal and instrumental performances. Lyrical poems, containing the praises of gods and heroes, were sung at public ceremonies; hymns were addressed to the rising and setting sun, to Ammon and the other gods. According to Chappell, the custom of carolling or singing without words, like birds, to the gods existed among the Egyptians,—a practice which was imitated by the Greeks, from whom the custom was transferred to the Western Church.[7] The chief instrument of the temple worship was the sistrum, and connected with all the temples in the time of the New Empire were companies of female sistrum players who stood in symbolic relations to the god as inmates145 of his [14] harem, holding various degrees of rank. These women received high honors, often of a political nature.[8]
In spite of the simplicity146 and frequent coarseness of ancient music, the older nations ascribed to it an influence over the moral nature which the modern music lover would never think of attributing to his highly developed art. They referred its invention to the gods, and imputed to it thaumaturgical properties. The Hebrews were the only ancient cultivated nation that did not assign to music a superhuman source. The Greek myths of Orpheus, Amphion, and Arion are but samples of hundreds of marvellous tales of musical effect that have place in primitive legends. This belief in the magical power of music was connected with the equally universal opinion that music in itself could express and arouse definite notions and passions, and could exert a direct moral or immoral97 influence. The importance ascribed by the Greeks to music in the education of youth, as emphatically affirmed by philosophers and law-givers, is based upon this belief. Not only particular melodies, but the different modes or keys were held by the Greeks to exert a positive influence upon character. The Dorian mode was considered bold and manly147, inspiring valor148 and fortitude149; the Lydian, weak and enervating150. Plato, in the second book of the Laws, condemns151 as “intolerable and blasphemous” the opinion that the purpose of music is to give pleasure. He finds a direct relation between morality and certain forms of music, and would have musicians constrained152 to compose only such melodies [15] and rhythms as would turn the plastic mind toward virtue. Plutarch, in his discourse153 concerning music in his Morals, says: “The ancient Greeks deemed it requisite154 by the assistance of music to form and compose the minds of youth to what was decent, sober, and virtuous155; believing the use of music beneficially efficacious to incite156 to all serious actions.” He even goes so far as to say that “the right moulding of ingenuous157 manners and civil conduct lies in a well-grounded musical education.” Assumptions of direct moral, intellectual, and even pathological action on the part of music, as distinct from an aesthetic158 appeal, are so abundant in ancient writings that we cannot dismiss them as mere159 fanciful hyperbole, but must admit that music really possessed a power over the emotions and volitions which has been lost in its later evolution. The explanation of this apparent anomaly probably lies, first, in the fact that music in antiquity160 was not a free independent art, and that when the philosophers speak of music they think of it in its associations with poetry, religious and patriotic161 observances, moral and legal precepts, historic relations, etc. Music, on its vocal side, was mere emphasized speech inflection; it was a slave to poetry; it had no rhythmical laws of its own. The melody did not convey aesthetic charm in itself alone, but simply heightened the sensuous effect of measured speech and vivified the thought. Mr. Spencer’s well-known expression that “cadence is the comment of the emotion upon the propositions of the intellect” would apply very accurately162 to the musical theories of the ancients. Certain modes (that is, keys), on account of convenience of [16] pitch, were employed for certain kinds of poetical expression; and as a poem was always chanted in the mode that was first assigned to it, particular classes of ideas would come to be identified with particular modes. Associations of race character would lead to similar interpretation163. The Dorian mode would seem to partake of the sternness and vigor164 of the warlike Dorian Spartans165; the Lydian mode and its melodies would hint of Lydian effeminacy.[9] Instrumental music also was equally restricted to definite meanings through association. It was an accompaniment to poetry, bound up with the symbolic dance, subordinated to formal social observances; it produced not the artistic effect of melody, harmony, and form, but the nervous stimulation166 of crude unorganized tone, acting167 upon recipients168 who had never learned to consider music as anything but a direct emotional excitant or an intensifier of previously169 conceived ideas.
Another explanation of the ancient view of music as possessing a controlling power over emotion, thought, and conduct lies in the fact that music existed only in its rude primal170 elements; antiquity in its conception and use of music never passed far beyond that point where tone was the outcome of simple emotional states, and to which notions of precise intellectual significance still clung. Whatever theory of the origin of music may finally prevail, there can be no question that music in its primitive condition is more directly the outcome of clearly realized feeling than it is when developed into a free, intellectualized, and heterogeneous171 [17] art form. Music, the more it rises into an art, the more it exerts a purely172 aesthetic effect through its action upon intelligences that delight in form, organization, and ideal motion, loses in equal proportion the emotional definiteness that exists in simple and spontaneous tone inflections. The earliest reasoning on the rationale of musical effects always takes for granted that music’s purpose is to convey exact ideas, or at least express definite emotion. Music did not advance so far among the ancients that they were able to escape from this naturalistic conception. They could conceive of no higher purpose in music than to move the mind in definite directions, and so they maintained that it always did so. Even in modern life numberless instances prove that the music which exerts the greatest effect over the impulses is not the mature and complex art of the masters, but the simple strains which emanate173 from the people and bring up recollections which in themselves alone have power to stir the heart. The song that melts a congregation to tears, the patriotic air that fires the enthusiasm of an assembly on the eve of a political crisis, the strain that nerves an army to desperate endeavor, is not an elaborate work of art, but a simple and obvious tune174, which finds its real force in association. All this is especially true of music employed for religious ends, and we find in such facts a reason why it could make no progress in ancient times, certainly none where it was under the control of an organized social caste. For the priestly order is always conservative, and in antiquity this conservatism petrified175 melody, at the same time with the rites to which it adhered, into [18] stereotyped176 formulas. Where music is bound up with a ritual, innovation in the one is discountenanced as tending to loosen the traditional strictness of the other.
I have laid stress upon this point because this attempt of the religious authorities in antiquity to repress music in worship to a subsidiary function was the sign of a conception of music which has always been more or less active in the Church, down even to our own day. As soon as musical art reaches a certain stage of development it strives to emancipate177 itself from the thraldom178 of word and visible action, and to exalt179 itself for its own undivided glory. Strict religionists have always looked upon this tendency with suspicion, and have often strenuously180 opposed it, seeing in the sensuous fascinations181 of the art an obstacle to complete absorption in spiritual concerns. The conflict between the devotional and the aesthetic principles, which has been so active in the history of worship music in modern times, never appeared in antiquity except in the later period of Greek art. Since this outbreak of the spirit of rebellion occurred only when Hellenic religion was no longer a force in civilization, its results were felt only in the sphere of secular music; but no progress resulted, for musical culture was soon assumed everywhere by the Christian Church, which for a thousand years succeeded in restraining music within the antique conception of bondage182 to liturgy and ceremony.
Partly as a result of this subjection of music by its allied183 powers, partly, perhaps, as a cause, a science of harmony was never developed in ancient times. That music was always performed in unison and octaves, as [19] has been generally believed, is, however, not probable. In view of the fact that the Egyptians possessed harps184 over six feet in height, having twelve or thirteen strings, and played with both hands, and that the monuments of Assyria and Egypt and the records of musical practice among the Hebrews, Greeks, and other nations show us a large variety of instruments grouped in bands of considerable size, we are justified185 in supposing that combinations of different sounds were often produced. But the absence from the ancient treatises187 of any but the most vague and obscure allusions to the production of accordant tones, and the conclusive188 evidence in respect to the general lack of freedom and development in musical art, is proof positive that, whatever concords189 of sounds may have been occasionally produced, nothing comparable to our present contrapuntal and harmonic system existed. The music so extravagantly190 praised in antiquity was, vocally191, chant, or recitative, ordinarily in a single part; instrumental music was rude and unsystematized sound, partly a mechanical aid to the voice and the dance step, partly a means of nervous exhilaration. The modern conception of music as a free, self-assertive art, subject only to its own laws, lifting the soul into regions of pure contemplation, where all temporal relations are lost in a tide of self-forgetful rapture,—this was a conception unknown to the mind of antiquity.
[20]
The student of the music of the Christian Church naturally turns with curiosity to that one of the ancient nations whose religion was the antecedent of the Christian, and whose sacred literature has furnished the worship of the Church with the loftiest expression of its trust and aspiration192. The music of the Hebrews, as Ambros says, “was divine service, not art.”[10] Many modern writers have assumed a high degree of perfection in ancient Hebrew music, but only on sentimental193 grounds, not because there is any evidence to support such an opinion. There is no reason to suppose that music was further developed among the Hebrews than among the most cultivated of their neighbors. Their music, like that of the ancient nations generally, was entirely194 subsidiary to poetic recitation and dancing; it was unharmonic, simple, and inclined to be coarse and noisy. Although in general use, music never attained195 so great honor among them as it did among the Greeks. We find in the Scriptures197 no praises of music as a nourisher of morality, rarely a trace of an ascription of magical properties. Although it had a place in military operations and at feasts, private merry-makings, etc., its chief value lay in its availability for religious purposes. To the Hebrews the arts obtained significance only as they could be used to adorn198 the courts of Jehovah, or could be employed in the ascription of praise to him. Music was to them an efficient agent to excite emotions of awe, or to carry more directly to the heart the rhapsodies and searching admonitions of psalmists and prophets.
[21]
No authentic199 melodies have come down to us from the time of the Israelitish residence in Palestine. No treatise186 on Hebrew musical theory or practice, if any such ever existed, has been preserved. No definite light is thrown upon the Hebrew musical system by the Bible or any other ancient book. We may be certain that if the Hebrews had possessed anything distinctive200, or far in advance of the practice of their contemporaries, some testimony to that effect would be found. All evidence and analogy indicate that the Hebrew song was a unison chant or cantillation, more or less melodious201, and sufficiently202 definite to be perpetuated203 by tradition, but entirely subordinate to poetry, in rhythm following the accent and metre of the text.
We are not so much in the dark in respect to the use and nature of Hebrew instruments, although we know as little of the style of music that was performed upon them. Our knowledge of the instruments themselves is derived from those represented upon the monuments of Assyria and Egypt, which were evidently similar to those used by the Hebrews. The Hebrews never invented a musical instrument. Not one in use among them but had its equivalent among nations older in civilization. And so we may infer that the entire musical practice of the Hebrews was derived first from their early neighbors the Chaldeans, and later from the Egyptians; although we may suppose that some modifications204 may have arisen after they became an independent nation. The first mention of musical instruments in the Bible is in Gen. iv. 21, where Jubal is spoken of as “the father of all such as handle the kinnor and ugab” (translated in the revised version “harp and pipe”). The word kinnor appears frequently in the later books, and is applied205 to the instrument used by David. This [22] kinnor of David and the psalmists was a small portable instrument and might properly be called a lyre. Stringed instruments are usually the last to be developed by primitive peoples, and the use of the kinnor implies a considerable degree of musical advancement206 among the remote ancestors of the Hebrew race in their primeval Chaldean home. The word ugab may signify either a single tube like the flute207 or oboe, or a connected series of pipes like the Pan’s pipes or syrinx of the Greeks. There is only one other mention of instruments before the Exodus208, viz., in connection with the episode of Laban and Jacob, where the former asks his son-in-law reproachfully, “Wherefore didst thou flee secretly, and steal away from me; and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with toph and kinnor?”[11]—the toph being a sort of small hand drum or tambourine209.
After the Exodus other instruments, perhaps derived from Egypt, make their appearance: the shophar, or curved tube of metal or ram’s horn, heard amid the smoke and thunderings of Mt. Sinai,[12] and to whose sound the walls of Jericho were overthrown;[13] the hazozerah, or long silver tube, used in the desert for announcing the time for breaking camp,[14] and employed later by the priests in religious service,[15] popular gatherings210, and sometimes in war.[16] The nebel was either a harp somewhat larger than the kinnor, or possibly a sort of guitar. The chalil, translated in the English version [23] “pipe,” may have been a sort of oboe or flageolet. The band of prophets met by Saul advanced to the sound of nebel, toph, chalil, and kinnor.[17] The word “psaltery,” which frequently appears in the English version of the psalms, is sometimes the nebel, sometimes the kinnor, sometimes the asor, which was a species of nebel. The “instrument of ten strings” was also the nebel or asor. Percussion211 instruments, such as the drum, cymbals, bell, and the Egyptian sistrum (which consisted of a small frame of bronze into which three or four metal bars were loosely inserted, producing a jingling212 noise when shaken), were also in common use. In the Old Testament213 there are about thirteen instruments mentioned as known to the Hebrews, not including those mentioned in Dan. iii., whose names, according to Chappell, are not derived from Hebrew roots.[18] All of these were simple and rude, yet considerably214 varied215 in character, representing the three classes into which instruments, the world over, are divided, viz., stringed instruments, wind instruments, and instruments of percussion.[19]
Although instruments of music had a prominent place in public festivities, social gatherings, and private recreation, far more important was their use in connection with religious ceremony. As the Hebrew nation increased in power, and as their conquests became permanently secured, so the arts of peace developed in [24] greater profusion216 and refinement217, and with them the embellishments of the liturgical worship became more highly organized. With the capture of Jerusalem and the establishment of the royal residence within its ramparts, the worship of Jehovah increased in splendor218; the love of pomp and display, which was characteristic of David, and still more of his luxurious219 son Solomon, was manifest in the imposing220 rites and ceremonies that were organized to the honor of the people’s God. The epoch221 of these two rulers was that in which the national force was in the flower of its youthful vigor, the national pride had been stimulated by continual triumphs, the long period of struggle and fear had been succeeded by glorious peace. The barbaric splendor of religious service and festal pageant222 was the natural expression of popular joy and self-confidence. In all these ebullitions of national feeling, choral and instrumental music on the most brilliant and massive scale held a conspicuous place. The description of the long series of public rejoicings, culminating in the dedication223 of Solomon’s temple, begins with the transportation of the ark of the Lord from Gibeah, when “David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord with all manner of instruments made of fir-wood, and with harps (kinnor), and with psalteries (nebel), and with timbrels (toph), with castanets (sistrum), and with cymbals (tzeltzelim).”[20] And again, when the ark was brought from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David, the king danced “with all his might,” and the ark was brought up “with shouting and with the sound of a trumpet117.”[21] Singers [25] were marshalled under leaders and supported by bands of instruments. The ode ascribed to David was given to Asaph as chief of the choir224 of Levites; Asaph beat the time with cymbals, and the royal paean225 was chanted by masses of chosen singers to the accompaniment of harps, lyres, and trumpets.[22] In the organization of the temple service no detail received more careful attention than the vocal and instrumental music. We read that four thousand Levites were appointed to praise the Lord with instruments.[23] There were also two hundred and eighty-eight skilled singers who sang to instrumental accompaniment beside the altar.[24]
The function performed by instruments in the temple service is also indicated in the account of the re?stablishment of the worship of Jehovah by Hezekiah according to the institutions of David and Solomon. With the burnt offering the song of praise was uplifted to the accompaniment of the “instruments of David,” the singers intoned the psalm126 and the trumpets sounded, and this continued until the sacrifice was consumed. When the rite was ended a hymn of praise was sung by the Levites, while the king and the people bowed themselves.[25]
[26]
With the erection of the second temple after the return from the Babylonian exile, the liturgical service was restored, although not with its pristine226 magnificence. Ezra narrates227: “When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the order of David king of Israel. And they sang one to another in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel.”[26] And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, as recorded by Nehemiah, instrumentalists and singers assembled in large numbers, to lead the multitude in rendering228 praise and thanks to Jehovah.[27] Instruments were evidently employed in independent flourishes and signals, as well as in accompanying the singers. The trumpets were used only in the interludes; the pipes and stringed instruments strengthened the voice parts; the cymbals were used by the leader of the chorus to mark the rhythm.
Notwithstanding the prominence of instruments in all observances of public and private life, they were always looked upon as accessory to song. Dramatic poetry was known to the Hebrews, as indicated by such compositions as the Book of Job and the Song of Songs. No complete epic has come down to us, but certain allusions in the Pentateuch, such as the mention in Numbers xxi. 14 of the “book of the wars of Jehovah,” would tend to show that this people possessed a collection of ballads229 which, taken together, would properly constitute a national epic. But whether lyric144, epic, or dramatic, the Hebrew poetry was delivered, according to the universal custom of ancient nations, not in the speaking voice, but in musical tone. The minstrel poet, [27] it has been said, was the type of the race. Lyric poetry may be divided into two classes: first, that which is the expression of individual, subjective230 feeling, the poet communing with himself alone, imparting to his thought a color derived solely231 from his personal inward experience; and second, that which utters sentiments that are shared by an organization, community, or race, the poet serving as the mouthpiece of a mass actuated by common experiences and motives. The second class is more characteristic of a people in the earlier stages of culture, when the individual is lost in the community, before the tendency towards specialization of interests gives rise to an expression that is distinctly personal. In all the world’s literature the Hebrew psalms are the most splendid examples of this second order of lyric poetry; and although we find in them many instances in which an isolated, purely subjective experience finds a voice, yet in all of them the same view of the universe, the same conception of the relation of man to his Creator, the same broad and distinctively232 national consciousness, control their thought and their diction. And there are very few even of the first class which a Hebrew of earnest piety, searching his own heart, could not adopt as the fitting declaration of his need and assurance.
All patriotic songs and religious poems properly called hymns belong in the second division of lyrics233; and in the Hebrew psalms devotional feeling touched here and there with a patriot’s hopes and fears, has once for all projected itself in forms of speech which seem to exhaust the capabilities234 of sublimity235 in language. These psalms were set to music, and presuppose music in their [28] thought and their technical structure. A text most appropriate for musical rendering must be free from all subtleties236 of meaning and over-refinements of phraseology; it must be forcible in movement, its metaphors237 those that touch upon general observation, its ideas those that appeal to the common consciousness and sympathy. These qualities the psalms possess in the highest degree, and in addition they have a sublimity of thought, a magnificence of imagery, a majesty238 and strength of movement, that evoke239 the loftiest energies of a musical genius that ventures to ally itself with them. In every nation of Christendom they have been made the foundation of the musical service of the Church; and although many of the greatest masters of the harmonic art have lavished240 upon them the richest treasures of their invention, they have but skimmed the surface of their unfathomable suggestion.
Of the manner in which the psalms were rendered in the ancient Hebrew worship we know little. The present methods of singing in the synagogues give us little help, for there is no record by which they can be traced back beyond the definite establishment of the synagogue worship. It is inferred from the structure of the Hebrew poetry, as well as unbroken usage from the beginning of the Christian era, that the psalms were chanted antiphonally or responsively. That form of verse known as parallelism—the repetition of a thought in different words, or the juxtaposition241 of two contrasted thoughts forming an antithesis—pervades a large amount of the Hebrew poetry, and may be called its technical principle. It is, we might say, a rhythm [29] of thought, an assonance of feeling. This parallelism is more frequently double, sometimes triple. We find this peculiar242 structure as far back as the address of Lamech to his wives in Gen. iv. 23, 24, in Moses’ song after the passage of the Red Sea, in the triumphal ode of Deborah and Barak, in the greeting of the Israelitish women to Saul and David returning from the slaughter243 of the Philistines244, in the Book of Job, in a large proportion of the rhythmical imaginative utterances245 of the psalmists and prophets. The Oriental Christians sang the psalms responsively; this method was passed on to Milan in the fourth century, to Rome very soon afterward246, and has been perpetuated in the liturgical churches of modern Christendom. Whether, in the ancient temple service, this twofold utterance was divided between separate portions of the choir, or between a precentor and the whole singing body, there are no grounds for stating,—both methods have been employed in modern times. It is not even certain that the psalms were sung in alternate half-verses, for in the Jewish Church at the present day the more frequent usage is to divide at the end of a verse. It is evident that the singing was not congregational, and that the share of the people, where they participated at all, was confined to short responses, as in the Christian Church in the time next succeeding the apostolic age. The female voice, although much prized in secular music, according to the Talmud was not permitted in the temple service. There is nothing in the Old Testament that contradicts this except, as some suppose, the reference to the three daughters of Heman in 1. Chron. xxv. 5, [30] where we read: “And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters;” and in verse 6: “All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the Lord.” It is probable, however, that the mention of the daughters is incidental, not intended as an assertion that they were actual members of the temple chorus, for we cannot conceive why an exception should have been made in their behalf. Certainly the whole implication from the descriptions of the temple service and the enumeration247 of the singers and players is to the effect that only the male voice was utilized248 in the liturgical worship. There are many allusions to “women singers” in the Scriptures, but they plainly apply only to domestic song, or to processions and celebrations outside the sacred enclosure. It is certainly noteworthy that the exclusion249 of the female voice, which has obtained in the Catholic Church throughout the Middle Age, in the Eastern Church, in the German Protestant Church, and in the cathedral service of the Anglican Church, was also enforced in the temple worship of Israel. The conviction has widely prevailed among the stricter custodians250 of religious ceremony in all ages that there is something sensuous and passionate251 (I use these words in their simpler original meaning) in the female voice—something at variance252 with the austerity of ideal which should prevail in the music of worship. Perhaps, also, the association of men and women in the sympathy of so emotional an office as that of song is felt to be prejudicial to the complete absorption of the mind which the sacred function demands. Both these reasons have undoubtedly combined in so many historic epochs to keep all the offices of ministry253 in the house of God in the hands of the male sex. On the other hand, in the more sensuous cults of paganism no such prohibition254 has existed.
[31]
There is difference of opinion in regard to the style of melody employed in the delivery of the psalms in the worship of the temple at Jerusalem. Was it a mere intoned declamation255, essentially256 a monotone with very slight changes of pitch, like the “ecclesiastical accent” of the Catholic Church? Or was it a freer, more melodious rendering, as in the more ornate members of the Catholic Plain Song? The modern Jews incline to the latter opinion, that the song was true melody, obeying, indeed, the universal principle of chant as a species of vocalism subordinated in rhythm to the text, yet with abundant movement and possessing a distinctly tuneful character. It has been supposed that certain inscriptions258 at the head of some of the psalms are the titles of well-known tunes259, perhaps secular folk-songs, to which the psalms were sung. We find, e. g., at the head of Ps. xxii. the inscription257, “After the song beginning, Hind120 of the Dawn.” Ps. lvi. has, “After the song, The silent Dove in far-off Lands.” Others have, “After lilies” (Ps. xlv. and lxix.), and “Destroy not” (Ps. lvii.-lix.). We cannot on a priori principles reject the supposition that many psalms were sung to secular melodies, for we shall find, as we trace the history of music in the Christian era, that musicians have over and over again borrowed profane260 airs for the hymns of the Church. In fact, there is hardly a branch of the Christian Church that has not at some time done so, and even the rigid261 Jews in modern times have employed the same means to increase their store of religious melodies.
[32]
That the psalms were sung with the help of instruments seems indicated by superscriptions, such as “With stringed instruments,” and “To the flutes,” although objections have been raised to these translations. No such indications are needed, however, to prove the point, for the descriptions of worship contained in the Old Testament seem explicit262. The instruments were used to accompany the voices, and also for preludes263 and interludes. The word “Selah,” so often occurring at the end of a psalm verse, is understood by many authorities to signify an instrumental interlude or flourish, while the singers were for a moment silent. One writer says that at this point the people bowed in prayer.[28]
Such, generally speaking, is the most that can definitely be stated regarding the office performed by music in the worship of Israel in the time of its glory. With the rupture264 of the nation, its gradual political decline, the inroads of idolatry, the exile in Babylon, the conquest by the Romans, the disappearance265 of poetic and musical inspiration with the substitution of formality and routine in place of the pristine national sincerity266 and fervor267, it would inevitably follow that the great musical traditions would fade away, until at the time of the birth of Christ but little would remain of the elaborate ritual once committed to the guardianship268 of [33] cohorts of priests and Levites. The sorrowing exiles who hung their harps on the willows269 of Babylon and refused to sing the songs of Zion in a strange land certainly never forgot the airs consecrated270 by such sweet and bitter memories; but in the course of centuries they became lost among the strange peoples with whom the scattered271 Israelites found their home. Many were for a time preserved in the synagogues, which, in the later years of Jewish residence in Palestine, were established in large numbers in all the towns and villages. The service of the synagogue was a liturgical service, consisting of benedictions272, chanting of psalms and other Scripture196 passages, with responses by the people, lessons from the law and the prophets, and sermons. The instrumental music of the temple and the first synagogues eventually disappeared, and the greater part, if not the whole, of the ancient psalm melodies vanished also with the dispersion of the Levites, who were their especial curators. Many details of ancient ritual and custom must have survived in spite of vicissitude273, but the final catastrophe274, which drove a desolate275, heart-broken remnant of the children of Judah into alien lands, must inevitably have destroyed all but the merest fragment of the fair residue276 of national art by sweeping277 away all the conditions by which a national art can live.
Does anything remain of the rich musical service which for fifteen hundred years went up daily from tabernacle and temple to the throne of the God of Israel? A question often asked, but without a positive answer. Perhaps a few notes of an ancient melody, or a horn signal identical with one blown in the camp or [34] in the temple court, may survive in the synagogue to-day, a splinter from a mighty278 edifice279 which has been submerged by the tide of centuries. As would be presumed of a people so tenacious280 of time-honored usages, the voice of tradition declares that the intonations281 of the ritual chant used in the synagogue are survivals of forms employed in the temple at Jerusalem. These intonations are certainly Oriental in character and very ancient, but that they date back to the time of David cannot be proved or disproved. A style of singing like the well-known “cantillation” might easily be preserved, a complete melody possibly, but the presumption282 is against an antiquity so great as the Jews, with pardonable pride, claim for some of their weird283, archaic284 strains.
With the possible exception of scanty285 fragments, nothing remains286 of the songs so much loved by this devoted people in their early home. We may speculate upon the imagined beauty of that music; it is natural to do so. Omne ignotum pro13 magnifico. We know that it often shook the hearts of those that heard it; but our knowledge of the comparative rudeness of all Oriental music, ancient and modern, teaches us that its effect was essentially that of simple unison successions of tones wedded287 to poetry of singular exaltation and vehemence288, and associated with liturgical actions calculated to impress the beholder88 with an overpowering sense of awe. The interest which all must feel in the religious music of the Hebrews is not due to its importance in the history of art, but to its place in the history of culture. Certainly the art of music was never more highly honored, [35] its efficacy as an agent in arousing the heart to the most ardent289 spiritual experiences was never more convincingly demonstrated, than when the seers and psalmists of Israel found in it an indispensable auxiliary290 of those appeals, confessions291, praises, and pious292 raptures293 in which the whole after-world has seen the highest attainment294 of language under the impulse of religious ecstasy295. Taking “the harp the monarch296 minstrel swept” as a symbol of Hebrew devotional song at large, Byron’s words are true:
“It softened297 men of iron mould,
It gave them virtues298 not their own;
No ear so dull, no soul so cold,
That felt not, fired not to the tone,
Till David’s lyre grew mightier299 than his throne.”
This music foreshadowed the completer expression of Christian art of which it became the type. Inspired by the grandest of traditions, provided with credentials300 as, on equal terms with poetry, valid301 in the expression of man’s consciousness of his needs and his infinite privilege,—thus consecrated for its future mission, the soul of music passed from Hebrew priests to apostles and Christian fathers, and so on to the saints and hierarchs, who laid the foundation of the sublime302 structure of the worship music of a later day.
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1
epic
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| n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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poetical
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| adj.似诗人的；诗一般的；韵文的；富有诗意的 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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anthropoid
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| adj.像人类的，类人猿的；n.类人猿；像猿的人 | |
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pro
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| n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者 | |
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progenitors
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| n.祖先( progenitor的名词复数 )；先驱；前辈；原本 | |
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modulated
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| 已调整[制]的，被调的 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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pervasive
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| adj.普遍的；遍布的，(到处)弥漫的；渗透性的 | |
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embodied
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| v.表现( embody的过去式和过去分词 )；象征；包括；包含 | |
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guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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abject
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| adj.极可怜的，卑屈的 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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formulated
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| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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potent
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| adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的 | |
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liturgy
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| n.礼拜仪式 | |
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30
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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32
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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cadences
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| n.（声音的）抑扬顿挫( cadence的名词复数 )；节奏；韵律；调子 | |
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outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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stimulate
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| vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋 | |
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rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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stimulated
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| a.刺激的 | |
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41
auspices
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| n.资助，赞助 | |
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42
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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43
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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44
laity
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| n.俗人；门外汉 | |
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45
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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46
rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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47
liturgical
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| adj.礼拜仪式的 | |
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48
analogous
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| adj.相似的；类似的 | |
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49
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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50
manifestations
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| n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式） | |
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51
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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52
culminate
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| v.到绝顶，达于极点，达到高潮 | |
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53
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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54
joyful
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| adj.欢乐的，令人欢欣的 | |
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55
festive
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| adj.欢宴的，节日的 | |
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56
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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57
trophies
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| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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58
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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59
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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60
demon
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| n.魔鬼，恶魔 | |
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61
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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emblematic
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| adj.象征的，可当标志的；象征性 | |
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depicts
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| 描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述 | |
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64
initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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65
initiate
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| vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入 | |
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symbolized
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| v.象征，作为…的象征( symbolize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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symbolize
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| vt.作为...的象征，用符号代表 | |
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prominence
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| n.突出；显著；杰出；重要 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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70
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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71
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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73
cults
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| n.迷信( cult的名词复数 )；狂热的崇拜；（有极端宗教信仰的）异教团体 | |
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74
votaries
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| n.信徒( votary的名词复数 )；追随者；（天主教）修士；修女 | |
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75
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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76
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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77
degenerated
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| 衰退，堕落，退化( degenerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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78
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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79
expressiveness
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| n.富有表现力 | |
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80
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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81
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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82
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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83
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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84
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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85
mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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86
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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87
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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88
beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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89
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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90
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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91
vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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92
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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93
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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94
condemn
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| vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑 | |
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95
asceticism
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| n.禁欲主义 | |
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96
reminder
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| n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示 | |
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97
immoral
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| adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的 | |
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98
snare
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| n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑 | |
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99
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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100
mingled
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| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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101
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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102
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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103
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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104
naive
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|
| adj.幼稚的，轻信的；天真的 | |
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105
conspicuous
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|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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106
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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107
differentiation
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| n.区别，区分 | |
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108
relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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109
outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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110
artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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111
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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112
intonation
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| n.语调，声调；发声 | |
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113
hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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114
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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115
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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116
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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117
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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118
cymbals
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| pl.铙钹 | |
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119
intensifying
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉 | |
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120
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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121
random
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| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
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122
imputed
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| v.把（错误等）归咎于( impute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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123
ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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124
precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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125
liturgies
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| n.礼拜仪式( liturgy的名词复数 )；（英国国教的）祈祷书 | |
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126
psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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127
psalms
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| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
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128
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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129
allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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130
dirges
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| n.挽歌( dirge的名词复数 )；忧伤的歌，哀歌 | |
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131
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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132
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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133
papyrus
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| n.古以纸草制成之纸 | |
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134
notation
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| n.记号法，表示法，注释；[计算机]记法 | |
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135
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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136
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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137
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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138
tinkling
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| n.丁当作响声 | |
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139
profusely
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| ad.abundantly | |
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140
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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141
harp
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| n.竖琴；天琴座 | |
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142
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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143
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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144
lyric
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| n.抒情诗，歌词；adj.抒情的 | |
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145
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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146
simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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147
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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148
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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149
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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150
enervating
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| v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的现在分词 ) | |
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151
condemns
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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152
constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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153
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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154
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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155
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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156
incite
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| v.引起，激动，煽动 | |
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157
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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158
aesthetic
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| adj.美学的，审美的，有美感 | |
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159
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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160
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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161
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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162
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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163
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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164
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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165
spartans
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| n.斯巴达（spartan的复数形式） | |
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166
stimulation
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| n.刺激，激励，鼓舞 | |
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167
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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168
recipients
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|
| adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器 | |
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169
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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170
primal
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| adj.原始的；最重要的 | |
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171
heterogeneous
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| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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172
purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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173
emanate
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| v.发自，来自，出自 | |
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174
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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175
petrified
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|
| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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176
stereotyped
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| adj.(指形象、思想、人物等)模式化的 | |
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177
emancipate
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| v.解放，解除 | |
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178
thraldom
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| n.奴隶的身份，奴役，束缚 | |
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179
exalt
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| v.赞扬，歌颂，晋升，提升 | |
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180
strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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181
fascinations
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| n.魅力( fascination的名词复数 )；有魅力的东西；迷恋；陶醉 | |
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182
bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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183
allied
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| adj.协约国的；同盟国的 | |
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184
harps
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| abbr.harpsichord 拨弦古钢琴n.竖琴( harp的名词复数 ) | |
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185
justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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186
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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187
treatises
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| n.专题著作，专题论文，专著( treatise的名词复数 ) | |
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188
conclusive
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|
| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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189
concords
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| n.和谐，一致，和睦( concord的名词复数 ) | |
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190
extravagantly
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| adv.挥霍无度地 | |
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191
vocally
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| adv. 用声音, 用口头, 藉著声音 | |
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192
aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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193
sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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194
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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195
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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196
scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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197
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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198
adorn
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| vt.使美化，装饰 | |
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199
authentic
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| a.真的，真正的；可靠的，可信的，有根据的 | |
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200
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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201
melodious
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| adj.旋律美妙的，调子优美的，音乐性的 | |
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202
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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203
perpetuated
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| vt.使永存（perpetuate的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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204
modifications
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| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
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205
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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206
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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207
flute
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| n.长笛；v.吹笛 | |
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208
exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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209
tambourine
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| n.铃鼓，手鼓 | |
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210
gatherings
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| 聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集 | |
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211
percussion
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| n.打击乐器；冲突，撞击；震动，音响 | |
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212
jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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213
testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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214
considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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215
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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216
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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217
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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218
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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219
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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220
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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221
epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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222
pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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223
dedication
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| n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞 | |
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224
choir
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| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
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225
paean
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| n.赞美歌，欢乐歌 | |
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226
pristine
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| adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的 | |
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227
narrates
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| v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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228
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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229
ballads
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| 民歌，民谣，特别指叙述故事的歌( ballad的名词复数 )； 讴 | |
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230
subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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231
solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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232
distinctively
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| adv.特殊地，区别地 | |
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233
lyrics
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| n.歌词 | |
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234
capabilities
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| n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力 | |
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235
sublimity
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| 崇高，庄严，气质高尚 | |
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236
subtleties
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| 细微( subtlety的名词复数 )； 精细； 巧妙； 细微的差别等 | |
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237
metaphors
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| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
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238
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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239
evoke
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| vt.唤起，引起，使人想起 | |
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240
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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241
juxtaposition
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| n.毗邻，并置，并列 | |
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242
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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243
slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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244
philistines
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| n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子 | |
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245
utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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246
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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247
enumeration
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| n.计数，列举；细目；详表；点查 | |
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248
utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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249
exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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250
custodians
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| n.看守人，保管人( custodian的名词复数 ) | |
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251
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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252
variance
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| n.矛盾，不同 | |
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253
ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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254
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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255
declamation
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| n. 雄辩，高调 | |
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256
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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257
inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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258
inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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259
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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260
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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261
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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262
explicit
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| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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263
preludes
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| n.开端( prelude的名词复数 )；序幕；序曲；短篇作品 | |
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264
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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265
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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266
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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267
fervor
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| n.热诚；热心；炽热 | |
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268
guardianship
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| n. 监护, 保护, 守护 | |
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269
willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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270
consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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271
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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272
benedictions
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| n.祝福( benediction的名词复数 )；（礼拜结束时的）赐福祈祷；恩赐；（大写）（罗马天主教）祈求上帝赐福的仪式 | |
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273
vicissitude
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| n.变化，变迁，荣枯，盛衰 | |
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274
catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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275
desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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276
residue
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| n.残余，剩余，残渣 | |
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277
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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278
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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279
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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280
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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281
intonations
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| n.语调，说话的抑扬顿挫( intonation的名词复数 )；（演奏或唱歌中的）音准 | |
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282
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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283
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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284
archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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285
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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286
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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287
wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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288
vehemence
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| n.热切；激烈；愤怒 | |
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289
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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290
auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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291
confessions
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| n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔 | |
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292
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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293
raptures
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| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
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294
attainment
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| n.达到，到达；［常pl.］成就，造诣 | |
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295
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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296
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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297
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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298
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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299
mightier
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| adj. 强有力的，强大的，巨大的 adv. 很，极其 | |
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300
credentials
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| n.证明，资格，证明书，证件 | |
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301
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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302
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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