§ 20. Tonality of the Greek musical scale.
It may be said here that the value of a series of notes as the basis of a distinct mode—in the modern sense of the word—depends essentially upon the tonality. A single scale might yield music of different modes if the key-note were different. It is necessary therefore to collect the scanty notices which we possess bearing upon the tonality of Greek music. The chief evidence on the subject is a passage of the Problems, the importance of which was first pointed out by Helmholtz [17].
It is as follows:
Arist. Probl. xix. 20: Dia ti ean men tis tên mesên kinêsê hêmôn, harmosas tas allas chordas, kai chrêtai tô organô, ou monon hotan kata ton tês mesês genêtai phthongon lypei kai phainetai anarmoston, alla kai kata tên allên melôdian, ean de tên lichanon ê tina allon phthongon, tote phainetai diapherein monon hotan kakeinê tis chrêtai? ê eulogôs touto symbainei? panta gar ta chrêsta melê pollakis tê mesê chrêtai, kai pantes hoi agathoi poiêtai pykna pros tên mesên apantôsi, kan apelthôsi tachy epanerchontai, pros de allên houtôs oudemian. kathaper ek tôn logôn eniôn exairethentôn syndesmôn ouk estin ho logos Hellênikos, hoion to te kai to kai, enioi de outhen lypousi, dia to tois men anankaion einai chrêsthai pollakis, ei estai logos, tois de mê, houtô kai tôn phthongôn hê mesê hôsper syndesmos esti, kai malista tôn kalôn, dia to pleistakis enyparchein ton phthongon autês.
'Why is it that if the Mesê is altered, after the other strings have been tuned, the instrument is felt to be out of tune, not only when the Mesê is sounded, but through the whole of the music,—whereas if the Lichanos or any other note is out of tune, it seems to be perceived only when that note is struck? Is it to be explained on the ground that all good melodies often use the Mesê, and all good composers resort to it frequently, and if they leave it soon return again, but do not make the same use of any other note? just as language cannot be Greek if certain conjunctions are omitted, such as te and kai, while others may be dispensed with, because the one class is necessary for language, but not the other: so with musical sounds the Mesê is a kind of 'conjunction,' especially of beautiful sounds, since it is most often heard among these.'
In another place (xix. 36) the question is answered by saying that the notes of a scale stand in a certain relation to the Mesê, which determines them with reference to it (hê taxis hê hekastês êdê di' ekeinên): so that the loss of the Mesê means the loss of the ground and unifying element of the scale (arthentos tou aitiou tou hêrmosthai kai tou synechontos) [18].
These passages imply that in the scale known to Aristotle, viz. the octave e-e, the Mesê a had the character of a Tonic or key-note. This must have been true a fortiori of the older seven-stringed scale, in which the Mesê united the two conjunct tetrachords. It was quite in accordance with this state of things that the later enlargement completed the octaves from Mesê downwards and upwards, so that the scale consisted of two octaves of the form a-a. As to the question how the Tonic character of the Mesê was shown, in what parts of the melody it was necessarily heard, and the like, we can but guess. The statement of the Problems is not repeated by any technical writer, and accordingly it does not appear that any rules on the subject had been arrived at. It is significant, perhaps, that the frequent use of the Mesê is spoken of as characteristic of good melody (panta ta chrêsta melê pollakis tê mesê chrêtai), as though tonality were a merit rather than a necessity.
Another passage of the Problems has been thought to show that in Greek music the melody ended on the Hypatê. The words are these (Probl. xix. 33):
Dia ti euarmostoteron apo tou oxeos epi to bary ê apo tou
'Why is a descending scale more musical than an ascending one? Is it that in this order we begin with the beginning,—since the Mesê or leading note [19] is the highest of the tetrachord,—but with the reverse order we begin with the end?'
There is here no explicit statement that the melody ended on the Hypatê, or even that it began with the Mesê. In what sense, then, was the Mesê a 'beginning' (archê), and the Hypatê an 'end'? In Aristotelian language the word archê has various senses. It might be used to express the relation of the Mesê to the other notes as the basis or ground-work of the scale. Other passages, however, point to a simpler explanation, viz. that the order in question was merely conventional. In Probl. xix. 44 it is said that the Mesê is the beginning (archê) of one of the two tetrachords which form the ordinary octave scale (viz. the tetrachord Mesôn); and again in Probl. xix. 47 that in the old heptachord which consisted of two conjunct tetrachords (e-a-d) the Mesê (a) was the end of the upper tetrachord and the beginning of the lower one (hoti ên tou men anô tetrachordou teleutê, tou de katô archê). In this last passage it is evident that there is no reference to the beginning or end of the melody.
It appears, then, that the Mesê of the Greek standard System had the functions of a key-note in that System. In other words, the music was in the mode (using that term in the modern sense) represented by the octave a-a of the natural key—the Hypo-dorian or Common Species. We do not indeed know how the predominant character of the Mesê was shown—whether, for example, the melody ended on the Mesê. The supposed evidence for an ending on the Hypatê has been shown to be insufficient. But we may at least hold that as far as the Mesê was a key-note, so far the Greek scale was that of the modern Minor mode (descending). The only way of escape from this conclusion is to deny that the Mesê of Probl. xix. 20 was the note which we have understood by the term—the Mesê of the standard System. This, as we shall presently see, is the plea to which Westphal has recourse.