Part 2 (1/2)

”_Hamlet_: 'Tis as easy as lying: govern these ventages with your fingers and thumb, give it breath with your mouth, and it will discourse most eloquent music. Look you, these are the stops.”

We will content ourselves with one more quotation. It consists of some lines of incomparable beauty from the sonnets:--

”How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st, Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway'st, The wiry concord that mine ear confounds, Do I envy those jacks, that nimble leap To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap, At the wood's boldness by thee blus.h.i.+ng stand.”

By the time of Queen Elizabeth the number and variety of instruments had greatly increased as the following lines by the poet, Michael Drayton, shew. It may be mentioned in explanation of the words, ”the viol best in setts,” that it was customary in those days to enclose in one case a set of these instruments, treble, tenor and ba.s.s, the last-named being probably the viol da gamba, the predecessor of the modern violoncello.

”The English that repined to be delayed so long, All quickly at the hint, as with one free consent, Strook up at once and sang each to the instrument; (Of Sundry sorts there were, as the musician likes) On which the practiced hand with perfect'st fingering strikes, Whereby their right of skill might liveliest be expressed.

The trembling lute some touch, some strain the violl best, In setts which there were seene, the music wondrous choice, Some likewise there affect the Gamba with the voice, To shew that England could varietie afforde Some that delight to touch the sterner wyerie chord, The Cithron, the Pandore, and the Theorbo strike; The Gittern and the Kit the wandering fidlers like.

So there were some againe, in this their learned strife, Loud instruments that loved, the Cornet and the Phife, The Hoboy, Sagbut deepe, Recorder and the Flute, Even from the shrillest Shawn unto the Cornemute, Some blow the Bagpie up, that plaies the country 'round, The Tabor and the Pipe, some take delight to sound.”

As some of the above-mentioned instruments are probably unknown to the majority of readers, I will select for explanation a few that seem least likely to be familiar:--

_Cithron_--An instrument with wire strings, like a German zither.

_Pandore_--A variety of the foregoing.

_Theorbo_--A large double-necked instrument of the lute family. It somewhat resembles, on a larger scale, the modern mandoline.

_Gittern_--Resembles the guitar. Chaucer refers to it more than once.

_Kit_--Diminutive violin.

_Sagbut_--Akin to the slide trombone.

_Recorder_--A wind instrument of the clarinet family.

_Tabor_--A small drum. In olden times used as an accompaniment to the pipe.

We have alluded to the possible effect on music of the return of numbers of men from the wars of the Crusades. We pa.s.s now to the probable effect on the morals of the people, with special reference to the musicians of the period. One of the first results would be to swell the numbers of itinerant musicians and players who were already a source of trouble not only to the custodians of the law, but to the average law-abiding citizen.

It is not to be supposed that the restless spirit of these wanderers through Europe and the East, with all the concomitant experiences, would permit them to again settle down to the life of quietude and practical isolation of the tiller of the soil, from which, no doubt, many of them had sprung.

No, the roving life of the itinerant ”minstrel” or the riotous life of the city roysterer would be more likely to attract them.

Certain it is, from the diseases they acquired in the East and disseminated in Europe, one may justifiably argue that their presence was not likely to raise the moral tone of any company they might be pleased to join.

To whatever cause it may be a.s.signed, it has to be admitted that musicians in those days had a most unenviable reputation, and were looked upon with the greatest contempt.

One qualification of this statement may be made, as there is little doubt that a great distinction was made between the _composer_ and the ”musician.”

Every rogue and vagabond who scoured the country giving crude and generally offensive performances styled himself musician, so the public, having no greater genius for fine discrimination then than now, came to regard all persons who were engaged in the performance of music, if not with active aversion, at any rate with pa.s.sive contempt.

It is in these early times that the foundation of the feeling was laid, only to be strengthened later on when Puritanism came with fanatic intensity to still further deepen it. How engrained in the spirit of the people this sentiment became is evident, even to this day.

That the _composer_ of music was regarded in a different light, we shall be able to prove.