A Greek State of Mind. The concept of key characteristics-the association of a mood or meaning with individual

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1 Broome 1 A Greek State of Mind The concept of key characteristics-the association of a mood or meaning with individual keys-has long been a controversial matter. The Baroque period consisted of a variety of styles in all the arts, including different styles within music itself. However, the one feature that united all the arts and all the styles was a not-so-new emphasis on expressing feelings. I am of course referring to the Doctrine of the Affections. According to one version of the theory, there are three pairs of opposing emotions that make six "affects" all together: love/hate, joy/sorrow, wonder/desire. Another authority also mentions sadness, anger, and jealousy. 1 These emotions were known as affections, which were considered at that time, not as just emotional responses, but actually as states of the soul. To understand why composers of the Baroque era wrote what they did and why, students, scholars, performers, and listeners alike, should know something about the doctrine of the affections. To understand this, we must first start at its beginnings. The belief in key characteristics is part of a long tradition going back to the Greek doctrine of ethos, which in turn evolved into the idea of the affections that became so prevalent in the Baroque era. This paper will discuss the doctrine of the affections and how the ancient Greek theory influenced composers in the Baroque era. 2 The ancient Greeks believed that each of their keys, which they identified by the tribal names Dorian, Phrygian, etc., possessed a strongly marked ethical character. 3 Aristotle ( B.C.) writes as follows: 1 Buelow, George J "Affects, Theory of the". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers. 2 Buelow, George J "Affects, Theory of the". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers. 3 Rita Steblin, A History of Key Characteristics in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries (New York: University of Rochester Press, 2002). p. 13.

2 Broome 2 Pieces of music actually contain in themselves imitations of character, and this is manifest, for even in the nature of the mere harmonies there are differences, so that people when hearing them are affected differently and have not the same feelings in regard to each of them, but listen to some in a more mournful and restrained state, for instance the harmony called Mixolydian, and to others in a softer state of mind, for instance the relaxed harmonies, but in a midway state and with the greatest composure to another, as the Dorian alone of harmonies seems to act, while the Phrygian makes men enthusiastic. 4 Because the keys were thought to affect moral development, Plato ( B.C.) strictly regulated their admittance into his system of education. For example, he banished the two dirgelike keys, the Mixolydian and the high-strung Lydian, writing. 5 In music, this new emphasis was overtly stated and generalized in the doctrine of the affections. The doctrine arose under the influence of classical (ancient Greek and Roman) rhetoric, which focused on the art of using language to persuade listeners to a specific point of view or emotional response. 6 The Greeks were not the only ones coming up with these ideas. In general, in the ancient high cultures, music was associated with mysticism and magic, and the aspects of astrology and number symbolism were often assigned to keys. For example, the Egyptians connected the notes of their scale system with the days of the week and with the planets in the following manner: B- Saturday, Saturn; E-Sunday, sun; A-Monday, moon: D-Tuesday, Mars; G-Wednesday, Mercury; C-Thursday, Jupiter; F-Friday, Venus. 7 4 Aristotle, Politics (London: W. Heinemann, 1932). p Plato, Republic (London: W. Heinemann, 1930). p Steblin, p Steblin, p.13.

3 Broome 3 The Chinese were also contributing to the idea of key. The number five was basic to Chinese philosophy and much symbolism was attached to the five notes of their scale. The ancient Chinese linked these notes with the five virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, knowledge, and faith. They also made symbolic associations with the seasons, elements, colors, etc. 8 The Indian Ragas were often associated with particular seasons or hours of the day, and were also assigned extramusical powers: the Mallar ragas were believed to create rain, the Dipak fire; the Kedar healed diseases and melted stones, etc. 9 The doctrine of the affections is especially important for this study because of the influence it had on the Baroque formulation of modal characteristics and on the subsequent development of key characteristics. This is why I believe it may be worthwhile to examine this subject more closely. 10 One of the most intriguing problems for scholars of Greek music has been the question: what was it about the ancient Greek keys which caused their remarkable influence on human emotion and character? It is commonly thought that the different octave species with their variable placement of the semitones were at the basis of this ethical power. 11 But, according to E. von Hornbostel, the ethos was bound to the absolute pitch of the key notes and not the ordering of intervals. 12 Gustav Reese proposed that the physical properties of instruments may have had 8 Ibid., p Walter Kaufmann, India, Harvard Dictionary of Music, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1969), p Steblin, p Ibid., p Erich M. von Hornbostel, Tonart und Ethos (Berlin: M. Breslauer, 1929), p. 77.

4 Broome 4 an effect on ethos, that is, the tone produced by a stopped string in lyra of kithara music would sound more muffled than a tone produced by an open string. 13 The root of the problem however, is the difficulty of interpreting the exact meaning of the Greek concept of key. According to the traditional theories of nineteenth-century scholars like Boeckh, Westphal, and Gevaert, the Greek keys Dorian, Phyrigian, etc., had double meanings: there was a Dorian mode, indicated by use of the term harmonia, and signifying the order in which the intervals followed each other, that is, the species of the octave scale; there was also a Dorian key or tonos based on a fixed succession of intervals, organized around definite focal points, and which could be transposed in pitch. 14 Otto Gombosi proposed the thesis that the terms harmonia and tonos were used interchangeably to mean key and that the Greeks knew no modes. Their keys were transpositions of one and the same tonal organization [the diatonic scale] to different pitch-levels. 15 The octave species on the other hand, were purely theoretical; they consisted of the seven different intervallic possibilities of the diatonic series when taken in the middle octave e-e, and they had no practical key-like significance. So according to Gombosi, the Greek keys weren t distinguished by intervallic structure, but by pitch. 16 It is important to note that in the ancient Greek era-just like in the modern tonal era-key meanings developed and changed. No fixed belief was ever established. It is also significant that even in ancient times there were those who laughed at the idea of key affects. 17 For example, Philodemos of the first century B.C. attacks the writers who distinguish the ethos of melodies and says that theorists who do so can neither sing nor play and will fall into ecstasies and 13 Steblin, p Ibid., p Steblin, p Ibid., p Ibid., p. 17.

5 Broome 5 compare tunes with natural objects. 18 So this means long before the era of tonality, many of the basic issues involving the topic of key characteristics-conflicting interpretations, uncertainly as to the cause of the phenomenon, and disbelief-had already surfaced. 19 We all know that ethical meanings were typically given to the church modes. Since these modes bore the names Dorian, Phyrgian, etc., and were usually assigned the corresponding Greek key characteristics, it has also been assumed that a continuing historical tradition linked the two. However, it is now generally accepted that the church modes were not descended from the Greek octave species, but had Byzantine roots. 20 The chief modal features-the relationship of melodic motives to a specific finalis and the division into four authentic and four plagal modeswere also characteristic features of the Byzantine octoechoi. Neither of these elements belonged to the Greek octave species. 21 The church modes became confused with the Greek modes because of a series of errors made by medieval scholars in their transmission of ancient Greek theory. 22 This is how things transitioned. The early theorists, Boethius and Cassiodorus, handed over faithfully the Late Greek theories about the composition of the keys or transposition scales. At this point there was no knowledge of the Greek keys as modes, that is, having different intervallic strictures. Subsequent false interpretations or poor choices of words by such theorists as Isidore of Seville and Aurelianus Reomensis prepared the way for the eventual assumption that the Greek keys were in face modes. 23 By ca. 900, the Greek octave species cum transposition scales became 18 Ibid., p Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle Ages (New York: W.W. Norton, 1940), p Steblin, p Steblin, p Ibid., p Ibid., p. 18.

6 Broome 6 completely merged with the medieval modes. 24 At about the same time, Musica enchiriadis uses the terms Dorian, Phyrgian, Lydian, etc., as synonyms for protus authentus, deuterus authentus, etc., thus further mixing the Greek and medieval systems. 25 It was unknown at the time, but these ideas would turn into something that we still study today. The Western view of harmony developed into our current minor and major scales during the Baroque period. Prior to this, compositions used what is called church modes, such as the Dorian mode or the Ionian mode (which later became the Major Scale). Composers became interested in creating beautiful music not only in the polyphonic lines, but through harmony and specific harmonic progressions. Typically these progressions involved some sort of move from tonic to dominant, and possibly back again. Even Bach's complex fugues maintained vertical structure throughout. 26 Baroque theorists and composers held that music, too, could arouse a variety of specific emotions in listeners. By employing a proper musical procedure or device, a composer could produce a particular involuntary emotional response in audience members. The Baroque composer was expected to make every effort to use the affective qualities of the modes to achieve the proper emotional affect. 27 As Mersenne wrote: In order to shape the music effectively, it is necessary to choose a mode which does justice to the text of the sung verse, that is which suits the subject you wish to communicate. Composers evoked such emotions by breaking old rules of consonance and dissonance and of regular rhythmic flow. Unlike the visual arts, music was free to express emotions without having the extra burden of representing natural objects or fulfilling material functions. This freedom stimulated an even greater development of 24 Ibid., p Ibid., p Steblin, p The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 2001.

7 Broome 7 music's emotional power. 28 In the Baroque era, these affections were portrayed by composers not as personal feelings but as generic representations of the feelings as objective realities, thus symbolizing such feelings for the entire human community. In view of the long, continuous practice of ascribing affective properties to the modes, it is not surprising that musicians were to continue this tradition in the era of tonality. 29 Eventually, the idea of affections started to fade out of viewpoint of composers. The Baroque doctrine of affections evolved into the conviction that there should be a continual change of expression throughout the piece, along with appropriate dynamic shadings. Even Bach claimed that instrumental melodies should be made according to the model of good vocal melodies. This style was not as heavily ornamented as style galant or the Baroque era, in order that tone could shine through. Often, the music would be melody with a light accompaniment. Potentially the most prominent Baroque proponent of the Doctrine of the Affections was Johann Mattheson. Mattheson is especially comprehensive in his treatment of the affections in music. In Der vollkommene Capellmeister (1739), he notes that joy is elicited by large intervals, sadness by small intervals; fury may be aroused by a roughness of harmony coupled with a rapid melody; obstinacy is evoked by the contrapuntal combination of highly independent (obstinate) melodies. 30 He also lists more than 20 affections and describes how they should be expressed in music. Sorrow, for example, should be portrayed with a slow-moving, listless melody frequently broken with musical "sighs." (Several Baroque theorists made systematic lists of the specific affections created by specific scales and musical patterns, but musicians never 28 Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Steblin, p Encyclopedia Britannica, doctrine of the affections

8 Broome 8 reached a general agreement about such lists.) 31 Even though he lists so many, Mattheson along with most other Baroque composers agree that each composition, or movement in a composite work, should embody only one affection. That principle had, in fact, already long been in practice by composers. 32 By the end of the 17th century, individual pieces (or movements) were customarily organized around a single emotion. By following that procedure, composers created the emotional intensity that they sought. However, such works also tended to lack strong contrast and to have repetitive rhythms. When the Baroque era ran its course, one of the main goals of composers in the next major era, the Classical (after a variously termed transitional period), was to build compositions based on dramatic internal contrasts. The Baroque period consisted of a variety of styles in all the arts, including different styles within music itself. However, the one feature that united all the arts and all the styles was a new emphasis on expressing feelings. Whether it the Greeks, Renaissance, Baroque, or modern composers, the idea of characterizing music has long been observed. It doesn t matter if it is secular or religious, having an intrinsic feeling because of what is going on in the music is something that humans have long desired and strived for. Contemporary composers have learned much from the Baroque masters and mistresses. The Baroque classical composition will continue to play an important role in classical music for many centuries to come Steblin, p Encyclopedia Britannica,

9 Broome 9 Work Cited Buelow, George J "Affects, Theory of the". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers. Steblin, Rita. A History of Key Characteristics in the Eighteenth and Early Ninteenth Centuries. New York: University of Rochester Press, Aristotle, Politics. London: W. Heinemann, Plato, Republic. London: W. Heinemann, Walter Kaufmann, India, Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Belknap Press, 1969, p Erich M. von Hornbostel, Tonart und Ethos. Berlin: M. Breslauer, Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle Ages. New York: W.W. Norton, Encyclopedia Britannica, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. London: Macmillan, 2001.

Modes and Ragas: More Than just a Scale *

OpenStax-CNX module: m11633 1 Modes and Ragas: More Than just a Scale * Catherine Schmidt-Jones This work is produced by OpenStax-CNX and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0 Abstract