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  • April 13, 1859
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  • MUSIC AND THE MASONIC RITUAL—No. II.
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, April 13, 1859: Page 10

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    Article MUSIC AND THE MASONIC RITUAL—No. II. ← Page 4 of 10 →
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Music And The Masonic Ritual—No. Ii.

according to the relative positions these intervals hold to the fundamental note , and to each other . . To put this in its simplest light , a note ,, together ivith its unison , may be taken as 1 ; a major third as j ; a perfect fifth as |; and the octave as 2 . The proper understanding of the essential difference betiveen melody and harmony would frequently prevent us hearing , from the mouths of educated brethren ,

such a style of address as , " Would Bro . — favour us Avith a little harmony ? " a request that carries with it a palpable absurdity . Intimately connected Avith tho ancient melodies was rhythm , or measure , and there are innumerable forms of it arising from the position of tho accent . Iambic rh y thm consists of a short or unaccented note , followed by a long one . Trochaic rhythm is the reverse of the former . Dactylic rhythm consists of a long note before two short ones . Aiiiipxhtic- is formed of two short and one long . Prom this it will be readily understood , that tbe accent of a language in some

manner regulated the music of the nation ; as iu the event of the language being strongly marked , the music or melody is always found to be forcible and passionate , OAving to the lingual and melodic rhythms both falling in thc same place ( p . 446 ) . * Por our purpose we shall not describe the ancient system . of melody , known to the Greeks as harmonica , further than to say that Euclid divided it into seven parts ,

viz ., sound , interval , gender , system , tone , mutation , melopceia . Still ive may add , that the principal support of the Greek music was the rhythmopoeia , or adjustment of sounds to time and accent , so that a short syllable had but half the duration of a long one , and as each verse conttiined a number of feet formed by a combination of long and short syllablesaccented in various waysthe rhythm was measured

, , by the feet , each of which had two parts equal or unequal . This was regulated by the coryphceus or conductor , who stood in the midst of the orchestra , exalted above the rest , having wooden or iron sandals whereAvith to stamp the rhythm , and to make himself heard above the music . To this is attributed tbe wonderful effects of the

orations intoned by the poets and orators of antiquity , and as they recited in measured periods , so did they also choose certain notes on which to sustain the voice during their recitations . Every classical scholar will remember the various allusions that are scattered over the writers of antiquity , proving this universal practice , and that many of them were frequentl y accompanied by some musical instrument , in

order that the proper notes should be given by them with precision ; t but Demosthenes , in his celebrated oration , chose the more sublime and poetical seashore as the place of delivery , for the express purpose of modelling his intonation to the note which old ocean in its rolling should suggest . In a recent work . " | : a similar course is recommended ; and the laws are thus laid doivn ( p . 57 ) , " the interval of a semitone is to be used in jileasing melancholy ; that of a second in calm conver-

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1859-04-13, Page 10” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 27 May 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_13041859/page/10/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
Untitled Article 1
MUSIC AND THE MASONIC RITUAL—No. II. Article 7
CLASSICAL THEOLOGY. Article 17
THE ORIGIN AND TEACHINGS OF MASONRY. Article 20
MASONRY IN INDIA. Article 24
SUNRISE. Article 25
VILLAGE BELLS. Article 26
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 27
THE DEVONSHIRE FUND OF BENEVOLENCE. Article 27
MASONIC MISSIONS: LEICESTERSHIRE. Article 29
MARK MASONRY. Article 31
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 32
METROPOLITAN. Article 32
INSTRUCTION. Article 36
PROVINCIAL. Article 36
ROYAL ARCH. Article 40
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR. Article 41
IRELAND. Article 41
AMERICA. Article 41
THE WEEK. Article 43
Obituary. Article 46
NOTICES. Article 47
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 47
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Music And The Masonic Ritual—No. Ii.

according to the relative positions these intervals hold to the fundamental note , and to each other . . To put this in its simplest light , a note ,, together ivith its unison , may be taken as 1 ; a major third as j ; a perfect fifth as |; and the octave as 2 . The proper understanding of the essential difference betiveen melody and harmony would frequently prevent us hearing , from the mouths of educated brethren ,

such a style of address as , " Would Bro . — favour us Avith a little harmony ? " a request that carries with it a palpable absurdity . Intimately connected Avith tho ancient melodies was rhythm , or measure , and there are innumerable forms of it arising from the position of tho accent . Iambic rh y thm consists of a short or unaccented note , followed by a long one . Trochaic rhythm is the reverse of the former . Dactylic rhythm consists of a long note before two short ones . Aiiiipxhtic- is formed of two short and one long . Prom this it will be readily understood , that tbe accent of a language in some

manner regulated the music of the nation ; as iu the event of the language being strongly marked , the music or melody is always found to be forcible and passionate , OAving to the lingual and melodic rhythms both falling in thc same place ( p . 446 ) . * Por our purpose we shall not describe the ancient system . of melody , known to the Greeks as harmonica , further than to say that Euclid divided it into seven parts ,

viz ., sound , interval , gender , system , tone , mutation , melopceia . Still ive may add , that the principal support of the Greek music was the rhythmopoeia , or adjustment of sounds to time and accent , so that a short syllable had but half the duration of a long one , and as each verse conttiined a number of feet formed by a combination of long and short syllablesaccented in various waysthe rhythm was measured

, , by the feet , each of which had two parts equal or unequal . This was regulated by the coryphceus or conductor , who stood in the midst of the orchestra , exalted above the rest , having wooden or iron sandals whereAvith to stamp the rhythm , and to make himself heard above the music . To this is attributed tbe wonderful effects of the

orations intoned by the poets and orators of antiquity , and as they recited in measured periods , so did they also choose certain notes on which to sustain the voice during their recitations . Every classical scholar will remember the various allusions that are scattered over the writers of antiquity , proving this universal practice , and that many of them were frequentl y accompanied by some musical instrument , in

order that the proper notes should be given by them with precision ; t but Demosthenes , in his celebrated oration , chose the more sublime and poetical seashore as the place of delivery , for the express purpose of modelling his intonation to the note which old ocean in its rolling should suggest . In a recent work . " | : a similar course is recommended ; and the laws are thus laid doivn ( p . 57 ) , " the interval of a semitone is to be used in jileasing melancholy ; that of a second in calm conver-

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