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The Influence ofMusic: From ArabicSourcesHenry George Farmer M.A., Ph.D.Published online: 28 Jan 2009.

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APRIL 27, 1926.

T. H. YORKE TROTTER, ESQ., M.A., Mus.D. (OXON.),

VICE-PRESIDENT,

IN THE CHAIR.

THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC:

FROM ARABIC SOURCES.

BY HENRY GEORGE FARMER, M.A., Ph.D.

THE subject of this lecture, because of its exotic nature,would appear, at first sight, to be of little moment toWesterners. For that reason it may be advisable to indicatewhy attention should be directed to this question quite apartfrom any intrinsic worth that it may have. The doctrine ofthe Ethos, so highly prized in the art of antiquity, has anabiding interest, and therefore one may assume that itshistory may have a similar attraction. As Jules Combarieupointed out not long since,* the doctrine of the Ethos had itsorigin in magic, and I take the liberty to draw up for you itsgenealogy, because, in the subject under discussion, it playsan important part.

Magical Music.

Cosmical Music.

Harmony of the Spheres. Theory of Numbers.

The Ethos. Musical Therapeutics.

Strange as it may seem, we actually see all these beliefs,from Magical Music to the Ethos, in full swing with theArabs at a period when we are particularly in need ofinformation on the subject in the Near East. Byzantineliterature is practically silent on this question, and, indeed,

* La Mustque et la Magte, p. 220-33

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90 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

from the fourth to the eleventh century, we have noByzantine musical documents. Even Syriac literature offersbut few hints until the advent of Bar Hebraeus in thethirteenth century. The Arabic treatises of Al-Kindi (ninthcentury), the Ikhwan al-Safa' (tenth century), Avicennaand Ibn Zaila (eleventh century), help us to some littleextent to bridge this gap, because it is quite evident thatwhat the Arabs did not adopt from the writings of the ancientGreeks on the question of the influence of music, was borroweddirectly from the Sabaeans, Syrians or Byzantines.*

At the outset let me say that the Arabs recognised twoaspects of the " influence of music "—the subjective and theobjective. Both cannot be dealt with at all satisfactorilyin one lecture, and accordingly, it is my plan to deal almostexclusively with the objective aspect. At the same time, sothat we may properly discriminate between these twoaspects, I will touch briefly upon the subjective.

It is imperative that we should begin with definitions,and I select the Muslims themselves for this purpose.Avicenna (d. 1037) and Ibn Zaila (d. 1048), both of whombelieved in the validity of the objective aspect, sayj:—

" Sound produces an influence in the soul in two direc-tions. One of them is on account of its special composition(i.e., its musical composition), and the other is on accountof its being similar to the soul (i.e., its spiritual com-position)."

* Most of the material that I offer from " Arabic sources " is stillin manuscript, or, if published, as yet untranslated. I hope, however,to be able to issue critical editions and translations of these Arabicmusical treatises in the near future. Much, however, depends on theinterest shown in the project. Those who care to pursue the subjectoutside the confines of the Arabian practice, may consult severalgood authorities For the doctrine of the Harmony of the Spheres,I can strongly recommend Carl v. Jan's Die Harmonte der Spharen inPhxlologus, hi, and Theodore Reinach's La Mustque des Spheres inthe Revue des Etudes Grecques, xm. For the question of the Ethos,Gevaert's Histotre et Thione de la Musique de I'Anttquiti, must beconsulted. Combaneu's La Musique et la Magie, and the articles onthe Alphabet Vocalique des Gnostiques in the Dictionnaire a"Arch&ologieChritienne et de Liturgie, as well as Vincent's Notice sur divers MSS.111 Notices et Extraits, xvi, also reveal some interesting points.

f Brit. Mus. MS, Or. 2361, fol. 220, v.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 91

Al-Hujwiri (eleventh century) and Al-Ghazali (d. 1111),who were protagonists of the subjective aspect, divided thosew o are influenced by music into two classes: (1) Thosewho hear the spiritual meaning, and (2) Those who hear thematerial sound. These philosophers maintained that thosewho hear spiritually do not hear mere notes, rhythms, ormodes, but music per se. Al-Hujwiri quotes the saying ofthe Prophet Muhammad as follows: " O Allah, let us seethings as they are," and our author insists that " Rightaudition consists in hearing everything as it is in qualityand predicament." This is the sufi doctrine, in which musicbecomes a means of " revelation " attained through ecstasy.Dhu' 1-Ntin, the sufi says : " Listening to music (al-samd1)is a divine influence which stirs the heart to seek Allah,and those who listen to it spiritually attain to Allah, andthose who listen to it sensually fall into heresy." Saysanother sufi, Abii'l-Husain al-Darraj : " Listening to music. . . causes me to find the existence of the Truth beside theVeil."

In the sufi conception of music we see something of whatthe modem Schopenhauer taught, that music is the eternalwill itself, and through it, perhaps, one can pierce the Veil,witness the Watcher, and behold the Unseen, as the sufibelieves.* So far, this mere glance at the subjective aspectof the influence of music.

Side by side with this doctrine, the Arabs held very strongviews on the much older objective aspect of the influence ofmusic, as displayed in Magical Music, .Cosmical Music, theHarmony of the Spheres, Musical Therapeutics, and thedoctrine of the Ethos, and I propose to deal with this underthe following headings: I, Pagan Times; II, The Kitdbal-siydsa (eighth century); III, Al-Kindi (ninth century) ;IV, The Ikhwan al-Safa' (tenth century); V, Tenth centuryto seventeenth century; VI, Modern Survivals.

§1.

Although the Arabs of the so-called " Days of Idolatry,"prior to Islam, were, for the most part, firm believers in

• See Al-Huj win's Kashf al-mahjub, translated by Prof. R. A.Nicholson, and Al-Ghazali's Ihyd 'ulum al-dln, the musical portion ofwhich has been translated by Prof. D. B. Macdonald, in the Journalof the Royal Astatic Society, 1900-1.

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92 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

the intimate connection between music and magic, and inlunary and stellary prognostics, it was not until the daysof Islam that they indulged in any systematic practice.We can trace its methodical adoption by the Arabs via twosources, the Sabaeans of Mesopotamia, and the Christiansof Syria. What the Arabs appear to have particularlyborrowed from the Sabaeans was the cosmical musicaldoctrine which was bound up with judicial astrology, whilstit was more likely the Syrians who were responsible for thepassing on of the notion of the Harmony of the Spheresand the doctrine of the Ethos.

From whence came these doctrines ? We know that inancient Babylonia-Assyria, the astrologers and soothsayersattributed all mundane changes to the influence of celestialbodies. The result was that the planetary system, thedeities, the seasons, the months, the days, the elements, thegeographical spheres, the colours and so on, were all linkedup in a curiously learned system. Astrological computationinvolved numbers, and these too were given cosmicalinfluences, whilst the connection between number and soundappears to have brought music into the scheme, with theresult that particular notes were allotted certain elementalinfluences. Plutarch, in his commentary on Plato's Timaeus,tells us, for instance, that the Chaldaeans connected certainmusical intervals with the seasons. The " character " of anote or mode was of the utmost importance to the templeprecentor or diviner in Babylonia-Assyria, since a mistake inpronunciation or intonation was quite sufficient to destroythe " charm."* Something of a similar nature was recognisedin Egypt.t where each planet had its special note, J and possiblyevery member of the zodiacal system also.§

Although we find most of the ancient Semitic doctrines,as well as the Egyptian, in full vigour in Greece, the grosserelements are ignored, and in their stead we have the morerefined and subtle tenets of the Harmony of the Spheresand the Ethos. It is highly probable however, as Philo

• The word " charm " (V carmen) tells us its musical origiri.

t Plato, Laws, 657a. Pseudo-Demetrius Phalerius, De Elocutione. 71.

} D10 Cassius, xxxvii.

§ Roussier, Mimoire sur la musique des anciens, 59.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 93

Judaeus says,* that the Greeks borrowed the former from theChaldaeans, and that Pythagoras, himself a pupil of thePhoenician hierophants and the chaldaei of Babylon.f intro-duced it into Greece, yet it is in the latter country that theconception was idealised. The Arabs, so far as we know,only knew of the doctrine of the Harmony of the Spheresthrough the Greeks. As for the doctrine of the Ethos, thiswas purely a Greek conception, and although the Arabs ofpre-Islamic times knew of it, probably through Persianchannels, the infiltration had its source in the Helleniccontacts of Alexander's conquests.

I have said that the transmitters of these various phasesof the belief in the " influence " of music were the Sabaeansand Syrians. For a direct continuation of the Paganism ofBabylonia-Assyria, we must turn to the Sabaeans of Harranin Mesopotamia.! These people believed in celestial spiritswho ruled the planets, and that the terrestrial world belowwas governed solely by these supermundane powers. Theteachings of the Sabaeans, especially what came throughThabit lbn Qurra (d. 901), made considerable impression onthe Arabs, and it is to the Sabaeans apparently that theyowed their cosmical-musical dogmas and the grosser phasesof their Pythagoreanism. Hermes Trismegistus was claimedto have been one of their prophets and works attributedto him were known in Arabic. As for Pythagoras, a treatiseon music attributed to him, was translated into Arabic. §Indeed, most of the Pythagoreans, Iamblichos,|| Porphyry,**Proklos.ff and Nikomachos.JJ were known by their works inArabic, the last-named by his Harmonics.

* Philo Judaeus, vi, 32, 33.

f It was at Babylon, as Iamblichos says (III, IV), that Pythagoras" arrived at the summit of music and other disciplines." Porphyry-says that he spent some time in Arabia also.

} De Goeje, Actes, du Sxxiime Congris International des Ortentahstes1883, 11, 291, seq.

§ Wenrich, De Auclorum Graecorum Versionibuset Comment arixs, 88.

|| A I- Fihrisl, see index.

•* Al-Fthrist, 253.

H Al-Fthnst, 252.

XX Al-Fthrist, 264.

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94 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

To the Syrians the Arabs owed some of their earliesttranslations from the Greek (which date from the eighthcentury), dealing with the question of the Harmony of theSpheres and the doctrine of the Ethos. The Arabic versionsof Plato's Republic, Timaeus, and Phaedo, as well as Aristotle'sPolitics (?), De caelo, and the Metaphysics which gave theArabs their first view of these things in a systematised form,came partly from Syrians.* Having dealt with the sources,and the means of transmission, we can now discuss what theArabs actually believed concerning these "influences" in music.

The poet Abu'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri (d. 1058) said with muchtruth that " the great dome of heaven has ever awed men'ssouls." In Pagan days, the Arabs were slaves to the notionthat an intimate relation existed between things celestialand the sublunary world. It was the happy hunting-groundof the sorcerer and soothsayer. Rain was conjured by meansof music, f The huda", or caravan song, had a magical importat first.% The hawj, or spell of the soothsayer, derived itstheurgic significance from its rhyming or metrical structure.When the Prophet Muhammad began to deliver his" revelations," he was accused of being a soothsayer, and ofholding converse with the jinn (genii). Philology bears outthis point, for the voice of the jinn is termed 'azf, and thiswas the same name as used for a stringed instrument.Several later musicians of Islamic times, such as Ibrahim al-Mausili and Ziryab, claimed to have been taught by the jinn.That music had certain mundane powers was also definitelyaccepted, such as its influence in exciting or depressing themind, and in inducing sleep.

Possibly, the Arabs of Palmyra and Bostra, who, in theopening of the Christian era, were considerably affected

• There are innumerable items of interest concerning the Greeksin Arabic which have not been preserved in extant Greek works. Many,no doubt, are apocryphal, but some are certainly genuine. Thosethat refer to music and musicians deserve collecting. Pythagoreanlore would make quite a volume in itself. Among the tit-bits onemight mention Plato's " invention " of the psaltery (qanun).Aristotle's " invention " of the organ, whilst the lute is attributed toboth Euklid and Ptolemy !

f 'Iqd al-farld, iii, 186.

X The Hebrews, who knew it as the hlddh, recognised some magicalor esoteric meaning in it. See Numbers, xn, 8 ; Psalms, xlix, 4,lxxviii, 2.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 95

by Hellenic culture, may have had definite beliefs aboutcosmical-music or the Harmony of the Spheres, which wouldhave fitted in with their astral cult worship. Yet, it is notuntil the days of Islam, when the Arabs come into contactwith Chaldaean and Greek lore, transmitted by the Sabaeansand Syrians, that we are able to discern a clearly-devisedsystem. They do not seem, however, to have exercised anyeclecticism in their borrowings in these things. Everythingin the shape of " influences " in music was grist to the mill.The result was that on the one hand we have the aestheticdoctrine of the Ethos and scientific principles on the theoryof sound existing side by side with the cruder cosmical-musical dogmas and the notion of the Harmony of theSpheres!

§11.

One of the earliest works that would appear to haveattracted the attention of the Arabs on this question wasa Pseudo-Aristotelian production known as the Kitdb al-siydsa(Book of Government), said to have been written by Aristotlefor Alexander the Great. It claims, in its preface, to have beentranslated from the Greek via Syriac, into Arabic, byYuhanna ibn Batrlq (d. 815). Neither a Greek original, nora Syriac version has been found, and the Greek origin ofthe work has even been doubted.* Probably, the workwas a Sabaean or Syrian production. At any rate, theSyrians had long been addicted to this type of " science "as we know from the writings of Sergius (sixth century),tand Severus Sebokt (seventh century).J Here is whatAristotle is made to say in the Kitdb alstydsa on the questionof the Pythagorean notion of the Harmony of the Spheres,and musical therapeutics.§

" And now that I have finished describing physicalremedies, I am going to mention spiritual ones. Know,that mental diseases are also amenable to treatment.

* Roger Bacon's Secretum Secretorum, edited by Steele, p. xf Sachau, Inedita Syriac. 101-26 One work is On the Influence of

the Moon.X Sachau, op. cxt., 127-34. He deals with distances between the

heavenly bodies.§ Translation by Ismail AH and A S. Fulton, M A , who use the

Gotha MS. No. 1869. See Bacon's Secretum Secretorum as above.

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96 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

But their treatment is carried out by means of musicalinstruments which convey to the soul through the senseof hearing, the harmohious sounds which are created bythe motions and contacts of the heavenly spheres in theirnatural motion, which affect the right perceptions.

" And when those harmonies are interpreted in humanlanguage they give rise to music which is pleasing to thehuman soul, because the harmony of the heavenly spheresis represented in man by the harmony of his own elements,which is the principle of life. Hence, when the harmonyof earthly music is perfect or, in other words, approachesthe nearest to the harmony of the spheres, the humansoul is stirred up and becomes joyful and strong."

A British Museum MS. (Or. 2118) of the Kitdb al-siydsaadds the following to this passage :—

" And it was for this reason that the Persians when theydesired to give their judgments, used to order that musicshould be played, and songs and poems sung bearing uponthe question under their discussion. For by this meansthey believed that their judgments would yield to themand would conform to the right in their creed."

The Arabic Kitdb al-siydsa was translated into Latin inthe twelfth century under the title of the Secretum Secretorum,a work which had considerable popularity during the MiddleAges.*

The excerpts given above, show Pythagorean teachingpure and simple. " Everything is number" said thePythagoreans, and by this means alone could cosmic orderbe explained. Among the ectypes of numerical proportionwas mundane music, and in the harmonious order of thingsthis was related to the elements, the virtues, and so on.Iambhchos says that there was one genre of music to banishdepression, another to assuage sorrow, a third to checkpassion, and a further kind to dispel fear. The metres toowere brought into the scheme, and sickness could be curedby certain kinds of music.f

* See my article in the Journal of the Royal Astatic Society (July,1926) entitled, The Horn of Alexander the Great

f Among the Latins, Cato the Elder, Pliny the Elder, and Macrobiusmention the healing powers of music. Boethius says that the fourelements could not be joined in one system unless music linked them.De musica, 1, 1-2, and 27.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 97

The ideas of the Pythagoreans were highly esteemed bythe Arabs. The Theory of Numbers fascinated them because,unlike geometry, which depended on visual appreciation, itwas purely a mental science, and as such it was thought tobe nearer the " essence of things." The medico-musicalpoint of view similarly appealed to the imagination of theArabs, because it savoured of magic, and music and magichad long been linked together by the Semitic peoples.* Tofully appreciate the significance of these doctrines, and howmuch they monopolized scientific thought at this period, onehas to turn to Al-Kindi (d. 874), who was so concerned with" numbers " as to write a Treatise on the Numbers whichare mentioned in the Republic of Plato.

§111.

Al-Kindi, who was the greatest scientist and philosopherin Islam prior to Al-Farabi, treats of music not only as an artfor the delectation of listeners, and as a science for the cunningof mathematicians, but as a prescription for physicians toadminister to the mind or body diseased. The ramificationsof his system embraced almost everything within the entiremacrocosm. Each note on a string of the lute had its relationto a mode, rhythm and sentiment. These, in turn, wereconnected with spatial spheres, geographical spheres, planets,constellations, horizon and meridian, winds, seasons, months,days, hours, elements, humours, periods of life, the facultiesof the soul and body, actions, colours, perfumes, etc.

It must be bome in mind that the Arabs were ferventdisciples of Ptolemy, Galen, and Hippokrates. (The Almagesthad been translated into Arabic by the end of the eighthcentury). Having recognised this, we can be prepared for

* The " evil spirit " which afflicted Saul is conjured by David'sktnnor (I Sam., xvi, 16, 23). If anyone would care to know how thiscure was effected, and be entertained at the same time, I commendthem to Kircher's Musurgia Universalts, ii, 214. David's abilities inmagical music are continually cropping up in Hebrew and Arabicliterature We read of his magic harp in the Talmud (Berakhoth).According to the Qur'dn (xxi, 79, 80 , xxxiv, 10 ; xxxvni, 17) thebirds and the mountains joined him in song. In the Kashj al-mahjub(402-3) the wild beasts came to listen to him, whilst thousands ofmen and women died of " ecstasy " in listening to his voice No lessthan seventy-two different notes could be heard from the " blessedlarynx " of David (Mirkhwand, Randal al-Safd). When he playedhis mi'zafa (? psaltery) the jinn (genii) gathered to him ('Iqdla-farid, 111, 178).

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98 The Influence of Musk from Arabic Sources

what is to follow. The medico-musical point of viewemphasised the importance of the elements and humoursin relation to particular notes and rhythms. The followingtable, which is taken from Al-Kindi's Risdla fi ajzd khabariyyafi'l-musiqi, the solitary MS. of which is in the Berlin Library,shows how much music was considered as a cosmic ingredientas it were :—

String ofthe Lute-

Rhythm.

Quarter ofthe Zodiac.

Element.

Wind.

Season.

Quarter ofthe Month.

Quarter ofthe Day.

Humour.

Quarter ofLife.

Faculty ofthe Soul.

Faculty ofthe Body.

ExternalActions.

Bamm(A string).

Hazaj,ramal and

khafif

Capricornusto Pisces.

Water.

West.

Winter.

21st to last,day.

Midnight toSunrise.

Phlegm.

Old Age.

Masculine.

Resisting.

Mildness.

Mathlath(D string).

Thaqilal-mumtad

Libra toSagittarius.

Earth.

North.

Autumn.

14th to21st day.

Sunset toMidnight.

(Black Bile)

MiddleAge.

Preserving.

Prehensile.

Goodness.

Mathna(G string).

Thaqilawwal and

thaqilthanl.

Aries toGemini.

Air.

East.

Spring

ist to7th day.

Sunrise toMid-day.

Blood

Infancy.

Fantastic(Fantdsiyya).

Assimilative{lit. Digestive)

Intellect.

Zir(C string).

Makhurl.

Cancer toVirgo.

Fire.

South

Summer.

7th to14th day.

Mid-day toSunset.

Yellow Bile.

Youth

Thinking.

Attractive.

Courage.

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The Influence of Music jrom Arabic Sources 99

According to Hippokrates and Galen, the essence of theelement Fire was that it was " hot and dry " ; Air was" hot and moist " ; Earth was " cold and dry " ; and Waterwas " cold and moist." Al-Kindi, says De Boer,* " appliedmathematics to medicine in his theory of compound remedies,like the effect of music on geometrical proportion. It is herea matter of the proportionality of the sensible qualities, hot,cold, dry, moist. If a remedy has to be warm in the firstdegree, it must possess double the warmth of the equablemixture ; in the second degree, four times as much, andso on. Al-Kindi seems to have entrusted the decision on thispoint to Sense, particularly the sense of Taste, so that in himwe might have a hint of the proportional relation existingbetween stimulus and sensation." It was on this theorythat Cardan reckoned Al-Kindi among the twelve greatestthinkers of the world.

Of the effect of the humours through the combination ofcertain notes with particular rhythms, Al-Kindi saysf :—

" What appears through the movements of the zirstring in the action of the soul, are the joyful, glorious,victorious actions, and hardness of heart and courage, andso forth. And it is related to the nature of the mdkhurlrhythm and what resembles it, and there results from thefaculty of this string and this rhythm that they strengthenthe yellow bile, moving it, and silencing the phlegm,quenching it.

" And of what adheres to the mathnd string of that,are joyful, merry, generous, and noble actions, andsympathy, softness, and what resembles that. And it isrelated to the thaqll avowal and thaqll thdnl rhythms, andthere results from the faculty of this string and these tworhythms, that they strengthen the blood, and silencingthe black bile, quenching it.

" And of what adheres to the mathlath string are theevil actions, and dirges, and sorrow, and the differentkinds of weeping and sorts of grief, and what resemblesthat. And it is related to the thaqll al-mumtad rhythm,and there results from this string and this rhythm that theystrengthen the phlegm, moving it, and silencing the yellowbile, quenching it.

* T. J. De Boer, History of Philosophy in Islam, 100-1.f Berlin MS. 5503, fol. 34.

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ioo The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

" And of what adheres to the bamm of that are thejoyful actions at one time, and glad at another time, andgraciousness and love, and what resembles that. And it isrelated to the ahzdj (sing, hazaj), the armdl (sing, ramal), andthe khaflf (in the rhythms) and what resembles that. Andthere results from this string and these rhythms that theystrengthen the black bile, moving it, and silencing the blood,quenching it.

" If there be a mixture between them, it is like the mixingof the four natures, and there appear of their traces in theactions of the soul, the opposite of what appears from theirinfluences individually. Thus, the mixing of the zlr andmathlath strings, is like the mingling of courage andcowardice, and it is the mean. And similarly between thesetwo is an association. And the mingling of the mathndand bamm strings, is like the mingling of joy and grief,and it is the mean, and similarly an association."In another MS., which I believe to be Al-Kindi's also,

which I discovered last year in the Preussische Staatsbibliothekat Berlin,* we see how deeply the Arabs were implicated inthis cosmical musical dogma and the Theory of Numbers.Here is an extract from a section of this MS., entitled, Theastrological causes which the philosophers mention that thelute is composed upon.\

" Then the first of these (causes) is the seven notesresembling the seven Running Stars (planets), I meanSaturn, Jupiter, Mars, the Sun, Venus, Mercury and theMoon. Then going into details : The open note of thebamm (A), which is the first of the notes, and the deepestof them, resembles Saturn, which is the highest of the sevenand the slowest. And after it is the sabbdba note (B) ofthe bamm, resembling Jupiter, seeing that he followsSaturn in height. And similarly, the wustd note (C) of thebamm to Mars. And its khmsir note (D) to the Sun. Andthe sabbdba note (E) of the mathlath to Venus. And itswustd note (F) to Mercury. And its khinsir note (G) tothe Moon.

" Next is made the analogy of the twelve signs of theZodiac to the twelve devices (dldt) which are in it (the lute).And they are the four strings, the four frets, and the fourpegs. And similarly, they mention that the twelve signs

• See my article, Some Musical MSS. Identified, in the Journal ofthe Royal Asiatic Society, Jan , 1926.

\ Berlin MS., 5530, fol. 29.

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of the Zodiac are the four inverted, the four stationary,and the four possessed of two bodies (twins). And theycompare the four inverted, and they are Aries, Cancer,Libra and Capricornus to the four pegs, whose business(nature) is twisting and inversion. And they qompare thefour stationary, and they are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio andAquarius, to the four frets whose nature is to be stationaryin their places. And they compare the four owners of thetwo bodies, and they are Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius andPisces, to the four strings . . . and that is because everynote on every string has a similar note in another place(meaning the octave)."

The author then goes on to liken the thirty degrees in eachsign of the Zodiac to the length of the strings of the lute, whichis thirty fingers. Similarly, the dome-like back of the sound-chest of the lute is likened to the visible half of the sphere.

In a third treatise, in the British Museum,* we find Al-Kindl nearer to the Greek conceptions of the " influence "of music. Purged of the grosser cosmical-musical notions,he is concerned with the doctrine of the Ethos pure and simple.

All composition, says Al-Kindi, is divided into three kinds—the qabdl (sad), the bustl (cheerful) and the mu'tadil (medium)." As for the qabdl" says Al-Kindi " i t is the kind whichmakes sadness. As for the busti, it is the kind which excitesdelight And as for the mu'tadil, it excites veneration, honour,and beautiful, noble praise." These three divisions appearto be no more than the systaltic (sad), hesychastic (calm), anddiastallic (exciting) " influences " (ethe) of the Greeks, whichAl-Kindi possibly learned from Euklid's Eisagoge harmonike,\which was certainly known in an Arabic translation, as wellas the Katatome kanonos.% These divisions were bound upwith the three " systems " of the melopoeia called the netoid,mesoid and hypatoid,% known to Al-Kindi as the hadd (high),awsdt (medium) and thaqil (low).||

Rhythm played as important a part as melody in thedoctnne of the Ethos, as it did in the cosmical musical dogma.Al-Kmdi says :—**

" In time relation, i.e., rhythm, there should be a resembling

* Brtt. Mus MSS , Or. 2361, fol. 168.f Euklid (Meibom), 21.t Al-Fihnst, 266. Wennch, op. cil., 183-4.§ Anst. Quint. (Meibom), 30-1. Mart. Capella (Meibom), 189.\\ Berlin MS. 5503, fol. 34.•* Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 168.

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102 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

of the meaning of the melody, for the thaqil rhythmsresemble grief and sadness, the khafif rhythms, joy,vivacity of movement, and contentment, and the mediumrhythms, what is moderate {i.e., what is between these two)."

One interesting feature in Al-Kindl, is the custom ofallotting certain modes to particular times of the day. Hesays:—*

" The most necessary thing for the musician is that heshould employ in each time of the day, what resemblesthat time from the rhythms, like his employing at thebeginning of the day the glorious, generous and liberalrhythms, and they are the thaqil awwal and thaqil Ihdnirhythms. And in the middle of the day and at the timeof the strength of the soul, the venturesome and gloriousrhythms, and they are the mdkhuri and what resemblesthat. And at the end of the day, in the stillness, thejoyful and merry rhythms. And as for the times of sleepand the laying down of the soul, the sad rhythm, and it isthe thaqil al-mumtad."

The sources of these doctrines in Al-Kindi, can probablybe traced. He is usually claimed as the first Peripatetic inIslam, but I have always wondered why ? From his writingson music, one can only conclude that Aristotelian philosophysat lightly on his shoulders, or else that, being a courtastrologer, he had, perforce, to please his patrons. Whenhe deals with the system of cosmical music and musicaltherapeutics, he distinctly says that he only mentions " whatthe people of our age use, without mentioning what the Ancients(the Greeks) used in the past."\ Yet in spite of this expressstatement, the imprint of Greece is there for all that, andin one place he actually uses the Greek word fantdsiyya(<pavraala). Further, when he speaks on the authority of the" philosophers," he must either mean the Greeks, or thenierophants who passed on to the Sabaeans their astro-mystical lore. I Certainly, when he refers to the more subtledoctrine of the Ethos, we can be fairly certain that the Greekswere his teachers.

In spite of the fact that we cannot put our finger on theactual authorities for the other dogmas, yet the germ cansafely be attributed to the Sabaeans or Syrians, althoughAl-Kindi's application of them has, possibly, something

• Berlin MS., 5503, fol. 32, v.•f Berlin MS. 5503, fol. 31. He makes the statement twice.X Berlin MS., 5530, fol. 29.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 103

that is original. It is rather significant that Ibn Khurdadhbih(ninth century) quotes a certain Fandurus al-Rumi (i.e.,the Byzantine or Syrian) as his authority for the statementthat the four strings of the lute corresponded to the fourhumours.* Al-Mas'udi (d. 956) who records this, himselftells us, in another place, that this was the opinion of the" philosophers," meaning the Byzantine philosophers, sincehe is dealing specifically in this place with the arts andsciences of Byzantium, f

In the ninth century the doctrine had already foundacceptance among the Western Arabs of Al-Andalus orSpain, with this rather interesting addition, that the colourscheme found expression in the strings.}: The zir, mathnd,mathlath and bamm strings were yellow, red, white and blackrespectively. Ziryab, the famous virtuoso under 'Abd al-Rahman II (822-52), added a fifth string to the lute so as torepresent the soul.§ How all these ideas were developedin the west, we see in a work entitled the Ma'rifat al-naghamdtal-thama~n,\\ which I hope to issue shortly in an Englishtranslation.

§IV.In the tenth century, Pythagorean philosophy had its

greatest exponents in the Ikhwan al-Safa', a society of ultra-Shi'ite philosophers. With them, the Harmony of theSpheres was particularly stressed. " It is clear," say theBrethren (Ikhwan), " that to the movement of the spheresand stars are notes and melodies."** This was explained byreason of the fact that " some of them (the spheres and stars)touch, knock and rub one another, and resound just as ironand bronze resound. Aad their notes are harmoniouslyrelated and their melodies are measured . . . like the notesof the strings of the lute."ft Here we see a slightly differentexplanation of the cause of the music of the spheres from that

• Al-Mas'udi, Prairtes d'or, vui, 91.f Al-Mas'udi, 11, 321-2. Barbier de Meynard, who has translated this

work into French, makes 2ir=low, and 6a>«m = high, which is wrong.J The idea persists in Europe to this very day.§ Al-Maqqarl, Analectes, ii, 86. See De Gayangos' translation in

Mohammedan Dynasties tn Spam, 11, 118-9. The "compounds" ofthe Elements are wrongly recorded in both these works.

|| Madrid MS., 334/2.*• Ikhwan al-Safa', 101. I quote from the Bombay edition of the

text. Dietenci published a German translation under the title ofDie Propaedeutic der Araltr.

tf Op. cit., 100.

9 Vol 52

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104 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources.

of the Greeks, who taught that it was due to the revolutionof the spheres through space. The Brethren, like the authorof the Kitdb al-siydsa, attribute it to contacts. At any rate,these philosophers believed that the "celestial harmony"was the cause of music in this world of " generation andcorruption." "As movements in the latter," they say," resemble movements in the former, it follows that the notesof the latter resemble the notes of the former."*

It will be remembered that the Greeks explained thecelestial harmony with reference to numbers. The Brethrendo likewise, and because their numbers differ from thosegiven by the former, it is advisable that we should mentionthem, especially as they appear to be quoted on the authorityof the " Greek philosophers."! The Brethren say :—

" Between the zones of the circles of the spheres andbetween the zone of the Earth and the Air, is a musicalratio. And the explanation of that is : If the zone of theEarth is 8, the zone of the sphere of the Air is 9. And thezone of the sphere of the Moon is 12. And the zone of thesphere of Mercury is 13. And the zone of the sphereVenus is 16. And the zone of the sphere of the Sun is 18.And the zone of the sphere of Mars is 2i£. And the zoneof the sphere of Jupiter is 24. And the zone of the sphereof Saturn is 27^ (? 28j).J And the zone of the sphereof the Fixed Stars is 24 (? 32) .§We have seen in Al-Kindi that a musico-therapeutic

system was practised by the physicians. That the customobtained in the tenth century, is vouched for by the Ikhwanal-Safa'. They say :—1|

" And they devised other music (lahn) which theyemployed in the hospitals from the time of the dawn. Andit lightened the pain of disease and sickness from theafflicted, and was counteracting their malignancy, andhealing considerably the sickness and illness."How all these things were accomplished is not explained

musically, other than by what will be demonstratedpresently. We are simply told that:—**

• Ibid.f The Bombay edition has Yundniyyiin (Greeks), whilst the Cairo

edition, and Dietenci, have nyadiyyun (Mathematicians).J Cairo edition and Dieterici.§ Cairo edition and Dieterici.|| Ikhwan al-Safa', 87.•• Ibid, 92.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 105

" The temperaments of the body are of many varieties,and the animal natures of many kinds. And to everytemperament and every nature is a note resembling i t ,and a melody befitting it, Allah alone knows how many.Allah alone counts."

How music was still bound up in the cosmic scheme inthe methods of cure, may be understood from the followingtable. As in Al-Kindi, the notes and rhythms were connectedwith Elements, Humours, etc.*

THE FOUR-FOLD OPPOSITE AND

String ofthe Lute.

Rhythm.^

Speech andPoetry.

Planet.

Elements.

Humour.

Colour.

Perfume.

Bamm(A string).

Hazaj andRamal.

Praise ofgenerosity,justice andgoodness.

Jupiter andMercury.

Water(Cold and

moist).

Phlegm.

Green.

Narcissus,khayn andwater-lily.

Mathlath(D string).

Thaqfl

Descriptiveof intellectand soundjudgment.

Saturn.

Earth(Cold and

dry).

Black bile.

Black, drab.

Rose, aloes

SIMILAR THINGS.

Mathna(G string).

Tarannum %

Praise.

Moon andVenus.

Air(Hot andmoist).

Blood.

Gillyflower.

Violet,Marjoram.

Zir(C string).

Makmirf.

Praise ofknights andthe brave.

Mars andthe Sun.

Fire(Hot and

dry).

Yellow bile.

Yellow, red.

Musk,jasmine.

• Ibid, 116, seq. See also, Al-Mas'udl, op. cit, iv, 1-3 ; 29-37.Also his Kxtab al-tanblh (in De Goeje's Bibl. Geog Arab., vm) trans-lated by Carra de Vaux as Le Livre de I'Averttssement.

t Called " melody " (lahn) in the text.% This is the word in the Bombay edition. It is written zlr in the

Cairo text. Ordinarily, tarannum means " psalming." In the Jama'al-'ulum of Fakhr al-DIn al-RazJ, tarannum stands for the mathlathstring [Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2972, fol. 153).

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106 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

It will have been observed that some humours were inopposition to others, and to make this more effective, itwas necessary to use the appropriate note on a particularstring together with its cognate rhythm. The very stringswere composed of carefully numbered strands in accordancewith celestial ratios. The zlr, mathnd, mathlath and bammstrings were composed of 27,36,48 and 64 strands respectively,each succeeding string having a third more than the onepreceding it. The reason for this, according to the Ikhwanal-Safa', was as follows. The tract of the heavens which isthe ether, is a third beyond the tract of the zamharlr, and thezamharlr is a third beyond the tract of the zepher, and thezepher is a third beyond the earth. Similarly, the elementof fire is a third greater in essence than air, and air a thirdgreater than water, and water a third greater than earth* Al-Kindi's rule for the strands of the strings was differert,although he does not appear to have included it in his cosmicsystem.f

Like Plato, who is so often quoted in musical matters bythe Arabs, the Brethren believed that music could be usedfor moral purposes, and they quote the saying, " Verily,the musician, if he be clever in his art, moves the soul to thevirtues, and purifies it from baseness." We are told thatthe musician should select a special type of rhythm forparticular times. %

" He should begin in the assemblies of receptions, andbanquets, and drinking parties, with the melodies thatstrengthen the generous, moral qualities, and nobleness,and liberality, like the thaqll awwal rhythm and so on.Then he should follow them with the happy, merry melodieslike the hazaj and ramal . . . and at the conclusion of theassembly, if he fear from the intoxicated quarrelling and

* Ikhwan al-Safa' 98, 106.

I Berlin MS., 5530, fol. 25 The bamm was four-ply, the mathlaththree-ply, the mathnd two-ply, and the zir single-ply. The first twowere made of gut, and the remainder of silk A Persian writer, IbnGhaibl (d. 1435), says that strings made of the gut of a wolf and a sheep,if put together on a lute, would not sound, on account of the mutualhostility between them ' An Arab poet says that the reason a pandore(tunbur) sounds so sweetly, is because its wood had taken in the warblingof birds when it was the branch of a tree.

} Ikhwan al-Safa', 85.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 107

contention, then he should play the soothing, heavy,tranquilising, sad melodies."

Arabic literature abounds in stories of the influence ofmusic in these ways. The Ikhwan al-Safa' relate a numberof these, many of which may be parallelled in Boethiusand Plutarch. We are told about a musician performingbefore an assembly upon a stringed instrument, and havingtuned the strings,—

" He played them (the strings) in a kind of way that madeeveryone in the assembly laugh from the merriment andpleasure, joy and gladness, which entered their souls.Then he altered them (the strings) and played them inanother way, and made them all weep from the sadness ofthe mode (naghma) and grief of heart. Then he alteredthem again, and played them again, and made everyonego to sleep."

The identical story is told of Al-FarabI by Ibn Khallikan(d. 1282).* In the 'Iqd alfarid of Ibn 'Abd Rabbihi (d. 940)there is a chapter devoted to those who died or fainted onhearing music, f It is curious how the Arabs explained thecause of these things in relation to the " compounds " of theelements. Here is a story: A man named Tarifa came to asinger named Ayyub and asked him to sing a verse ofImru'u'1-Qais. The musician did so, and when it was finished,Tarifa fell prostrate on the ground. When questioned asto what had happened he said, " By Allah, there rose upfrom my foot something hoi, and there went down from myhead something cold. These met and collided and I fell downbetween them."f

§V.

When Al-FarabI (d. 950) came on the scene, Pythagoraswas repudiated for a time, and Aristotle reigned in his stead.Probably the notion of the Harmony of the Spheres fell intodisrepute after they had read the latter's De caelo, andAl-Farabi's physical explanation of the theory of sound.At any rate, we get occasional glimpses of the prevailingscepticism in Abu'l-'Ala al-Ma'arri (d. IO58).§ Yet the

• Ibn Khallikan, Biog. Diet., 111, 309.t 'Iqd al-farid, iii, 198.I Ibid., iii, 199.§ Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Poetry, 151-2.

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108 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

Arabs still clung to the belief in the therapeutical value ofmusic and its cosmological paraphernalia. 'AH ibn al-'Abbas,known in Europe as Haly Abbas (d. 994), dealt with musicand medicine in his De regitnine regale, as Roger Baconpoints out (Opus Ternium, LIX). Even the great Rhazes(Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, d. c. 932), whose medicalworks were so famed in Mediaeval Europe, could not ridhimself of the astrological assumptions.

However, the doctrine of the Ethos, and the more rationalattributes to the influence of music, gradually came intogeneral acceptance, owing to the wider adoption of thetheories of the Greek writers. Al-Khwarizml (tenth century),the author of the Mafdtih al-'ulum, informs us that eachgenre (jins) had its " character."* The taninl (diatonic) wassaid to " move the soul towards nobleness, strength, self-possession and joy," and was called the masculine. Themulawwan (chromatic) is described as that " which bringsthe soul from strength of self-possession and reserve, togenerosity, freedom and courage," and was named thekhunthawl (hermaphrodite). The tSllfi (enharmonic) wasthat " which produces mournfulness, grief and reserve ofsoul," and was named the niswi (effeminate). Here, theimpress of Greece is unmistakable.

Avicenna (d. 1037) and Ibn Zaila (d. 1048) have an inter-esting discussion on the ethical value of melodic progressions.They sayj :—

" When sound is adorned by harmonious and mutuallyrelated composition, it stirs the soul of man . . . Beginningfrom a low note, and ascending to a high note, or vice versa,according to a particular arrangement and known com-position, it becomes related to the soul of man. So thatas one note after another changes, one state (in the soul)after another changes. One composition will transport it(the soul) from weakness to strength, and another fromstrength to weakness, . . . and so on in the other states."

Ibn Zaila himself saysj :—" The removal to a high note resembles the feeling of

anger, whilst the removal to a low note resembles the

• Mafdtih al-'ulum, 243-4.t Avicenna (Ibn Sina), India Office MS., 1811, fol. 153, v. Ibn

Zaila, Bnt. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 220, v.I Ibn Zaila, op. cit., 226, v.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 109

feelings of gentleness and knowledge. The removal thattakes place towards a low note, but returns by an ascendingmotion, gives the mind of a miserly, covetous creature,a noble strong impression, and the opposite of it gives aliberal (?) man a pleasant frame of mind inclining to thetruth."

In Avicenna, we have the first definite mention of modesbeing allotted to particular times of the day. He says* :—

" It behoves that the musician should tune the timeof the false dawn with Rdhawi, and the time of the truedawn with Husain, and the rising of the sun with Rdst,and the time of the forenoon with Busalik, and thetime of the mid-day with Zankuld, and the time of thenoon with ' Ushshdq, and between the prayers with Hijdz,and the time of the afternoon ('asr) with 'Iraq, and thetime of the sunset with Isfahan, and the time of the night-

- fall with Nawd, and after the evening prayer with Buzurk,and the time of sleep with Mukhdlif ( = Zlrdfkand)."

This idea received approval in the fifteenth century, aswe know from the author of the Muhammad ibn Murdd MS.The latter tells us further, that, "Rdhawi, Zlrdfkand, andBuzurk should be used in the assembly of strangers, in orderthat the memory of their beloved ones, and their homes,might not be forgotten. And Isfahan (should be used) inthe chamber of the beloved, for it influences the soul withgreat complacency." He adds, " If the musician knows theinfluences of the modes (adwdr) let him add to each modewhat is related to it in the poems."

Fakhr al-DIn al-Razi (d. 1149), although inclined toastrology, shows quite definitely in his Jdtni' al-'ulum that heviewed the question of the influence of music on quasi-aesthetic lines, t

Safi al-DIn 'Abd al-Mu'min (d. 1294), who was in theservice of the last Khalif of Baghdad, enunciates the doctrineof the Ethos pure and simple. He says in his Kitdb al-adwdr.%

" Know that every mode (shadd) . . . has an influence(td'thir= ethos) on the soul, only that it is of differentkinds. Some influence courage and simplicity, and these

• Brit. Mus. MS, Or. 2361, fol. 201, v.f Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2972.\ Kitab al-adwar, fas! xiv.

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n o The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources.

are three, 'Ushshdq, AbUsallk and Nawd. And they agreewith the natures of the Turks, Abyssinians, Aethiopiansand mountaineers. And as for Rdst, NaurUz, 'Iraq andIsfahan, then they pacify the soul with a pleasant pacifica-tion, delightful. And as for Buzurk, Rahaun, ZirdfkandZankuld, Husainl and Hijdzi, they influence grief, lassitude."

Naturally, the appropriate type of poetry had to be usedwith these modes. Elsewhere,* Safi al-DIn gives a moreprecise description of the " character " of these modes asfollows: Rdhawi (weeping), Zirdfkand (grief), Buzurk(cowardice), Isfahan (generosity), 'Iraq (pleasure), 'Ushshdq(laughter), Zankuld (slumber), Nawd (bravery), Abusallk(strength), Hxjdz (humility), Husainl (peace) and Rdst (?).

After the fall of Baghdad (1258), which brought ruin,not only morally, but culturally to Western Asia, the oldcosmical-musical dogmas found fresh sanctions. The newMughal and Turkish masters encouraged astrology, and sothe cruder elements of the belief in the " influence " ofmusic, came once more into prominence, whilst the moreelegant and refined doctrine of the Ethos, as the Greeksunderstood it, fell into neglect. The twelfth century workentitled the Buhjat al-riih shows us that Persia was stilldeeply engrossed in the notions of cosmical musical influences, fEven the Christian East, " Greeks, Syrians and others " asBar Hebraeus (d. 1286) says.J were under the spell of thisdogma. The influence of the Jews, which in Al-Andaluswas considerable, played no small part in this question.Both astrology and the " secret doctrine " are recognisedin the Talmud, and these were two of the bases of theCabbala. The fall of Baghdad (1258) and the fall of theAlmohades in Al-Andalus (1230) synchronize with the heydayof the Cabbalists and astrologers, and the retroversion tothe older beliefs in the cosmical-musical influences.§

Among the Western Arabs, i.e., those of Al-Andalus andNorth Africa we see the old elemental implications. AlthoughIbn Tufail (d. 1185) affects ideal Pythagorean views, and makes

• Brit Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 201, v.f Bodleian MS., 1841, fol. 7, seq.t Bar Hebraeus, Ethihon, 69.§ The question of the numerical values of the signs of the alphabet,

which were used in musical notation, and their magical import, cannotbe dealt with here. The idea, however, may find its cognate in thevocalic chants. See the Dictionnaire a" Archiologxe et de Ltturgie, Art." Alphabet vocahque des Gnostiques."

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources i n

his hero adopt postures and movements according to theHarmony of the Spheres,* Lisan al-DIn ibn al-Khatib (d. 1374)relied on what was then considered the " scientific " view.I give the system of the latter because the Western modesdiffered somewhat from those used in the East.f

Mode.

Dfl.Ramal al-dil.'Iraq.Istihlal (?).

Ma'ia.Ramal (al-Ma'ia).Inqilab al-ramal.Husain.Rasd.

Zaidan.Isbahan.Mashriqi.Hisar.Zaukand (sic).'Ushshaq.

MazmumGharib al-husain.Gharib al-muharra.Mujannaba.Hamdan.

Element.

Earth.Cold and Dry.

Air.

Hot and Moist.

rWater.

Cold and Moist.

Fire.

Hot and Dry.

Humour.

1 Black Bile.

I Blood.

Phlegm.

I Yellow Bile.

Three centuries later the Maghribi treatise on music (ca.1650) entitled the Kitdb al-jumu' ft Him aUmuslql wal-tubu',%treats of the self-same things.

In the East we find much about the same idea prevailing.Here is the scheme laid down by Shihab al-DIn al-'Ajaml(fifteenth century) :—§

• Hayy tbn Yaqzan (Gautier edit), 87.t Madrid MS., 334/3.% Berlin MS, 5521, fol. 5, v.§ Pans MS., Arabe 2865, fol. 70.

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H2 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

Mode.

Rast.

'Iraq.Isfahan.

'Ushshaq.Nawa.Abusallk.

Rahawl.Zankula.Hijaz.

Buzurk.Zirafkand.

Husaini.

PoeticalMetre.

Wafir andMadid

(Not given)Baslt and

Ramal.

Mujtathth.Muqtadab.Sari1.

Mutaqanb.Munsanh.Mujtathth.

Khafif.Hazaj and

Rajaz.Mutadank.

ZodiacalInfluence.

Aries.

Taurus.Gemini.

Leo.Libra.Aquarius-

Pisces.Sagittarius.Scorpio.

Virgo.Cancer.

Capricornus.

Nature ofInfluence.

/•Delightful,

j pleasing[simplicity.

/Strength,} courage and(.simplicity.

I Grief and\ weariness.

PersonsInfluenced.

Lawyers,learned menandsecretaries.

The Turks,AbyssiniansandAethiopians.

Lovers, thebereft, andthe poor.

Women,pleasure

seekersand servants.

Not only the above modes, known as the maqdmdt, butalso the Secondary Modes or awdzdt, as well as the BranchModes or furu', were i lcluded in the astrological and cosmicalscheme, being linked up with the elements, humours, etc.Most of the succeeding writers follow on these lines, theauthc rs of the Shark al-adwdr* the Shark mauland Mubdrak-Shdh,] the Muhammad ibn Murdd MS.,% the Juwdhir al-nizdm fl ma'nfat al-anghdm,% of the fourteenth—fifteenthcenturies, and Shams al-DIn al-Saidawi, || and Ahmad al-Muslim al-Mausill** of the sixteenth century.

§VI.

Even to-day, both the Eastern and Western Arabs maintainstrong views on these questions. In Egypt, one of the most

• Bnt. Mus. MS., Or. 2361, fol. 33, v.\Ibid., fol. 68, v.\Ibid., fol. 168, v.§ Al-Mashnq, xvi, 895.|| Bodleian MS., Urt, xlii.• • Brit. Mus. MS., Add. 23494.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 113

esteemed writers on Arabian music, Darwish Muhammad,firmly believes in the efficacy of music as determined bymagic and astrology. In his Safa al-awqat he devotes adivision to the influence of melodies (naghamdt) upon man,animals, trees, etc. First, you find the presiding planetover the particular hour of the night or day, and the particularday of the week, and you then select your melody asfollows:—*

TABLE FOR THE COGNITION OF THE TIMES FOR THE

INFLUENCE OF THE MELODIES UPON INDIVIDUALS.

Planet.

SunVenus.

Mercury.Moon.Saturn.

Jupiter.

Mars.

Melodies.

The twofirst

halves of thenight

and day

Rahawi.Husaini.

Rast.Sikah.Jaharkah.

'Ushshaq.

Hijaz

The twosecond

halves of thenight

and day.

Bayatl.Isfahan.

Nawa.Shaurak.Jaharkahand Saba.

Saba.

'Ajam.

Individuals influencedby the melodies.

Kings and Perfect Men.Beardless Youths and

Women.Secretaries and Literary Men.Viziers and Governors.Merchants and Workers.

The Learned and Men ofReligion.

Soldiers.

In the Maghrib, many of these notions find acceptance.It used to be believed tha t " the flowers of mullein and mother-wort will drop upon playing the mazmum," one of the musicalmodes.f A friend of mine, Ra'is Hammad ibn Muhammad,a Moor of Fez, told me that he knew of people who had diedwhilst listening to the manual. In Algeria an Arab fete whichbegins in the afternoon and lasts until next morning, willhave the musical modes used therein regulated in the followingmannerj :—

* Op. dt., 4-10.f Shaw, T., Travels : or Observations Relating to Several Parts of

Barbary and the Levant. Oxford, 1738.I Delphin et Guin, Notes sur la potsie et la musique Arabes, 63.

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H 4 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

Slkdh opens the afternoon {'asr).Ramal is adopted at nightfall (maghrib).Ratnal (aU) md'ia opens the evening.Mujannaba at midnight.Rasd al-dil at three a.m.Md'xa terminates the concert.

Not everywhere however, do the Arabs implicitly acceptthese mediaeval doctrines. Mikha'il Musharqa (d. 1888), anArab of Syria, writing in his Risdlat al-shihdbiyya, says* :—

" We may mention what the musicians of old havetaught concerning the melodies (alhdn) which wereremedies against disease. . . . What I think about thissubject is that man is affected by hearing a melody towhich his nature inclines. And this is not from temperament,but from force of habit."

Yet this nineteenth century view of things is by nomeans new. Six hundred years earlier the famous Muslimphilosopher Fakhr al-DIn al-Razi (d. 1209) saidf :—

" In the animal world sounds come into existenceaccording to grief, pain, or joy. These sounds, accordingto these circumstances, are different, and are either highor low. And so, by the law of association, these soundsbecome bound up naturally with the different mentalstates which prompt them. Thus, when these soundsare renewed, they inevitably call up the related mentalstates, which may be grief, pain, or joy."

DISCUSSION.

THE CHAIRMAN : Anything we hear about that wonderfulpeople, the Arabs, to whom we owe so much, must be veryinteresting. Dr. Farmer mentioned Combarieu's theorythat music came from magical rites. That does not seem tome to be an absolutely correct theory. There is not theleast doubt that music and magic were always very closelyconnected, but I should imagine that music existed longbefore magical rites. The influence and the power of musicon human beings have been observed practically in all parts

• MManges de la FaculU Orientals ; UnwerstU St. Joseph, Beyrouth(1913), Tome vi, 114, of text.

f Brit. Mus. MS., Or. 2972, fol. 153. A rather free translation.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources ri5

of the world and in every age, and it is certainly the casethat music will always be closely connected with religiousrites of all kinds.

In this lecture we have heard some account touching onwhat is known as the " secret doctrine," and the secretdoctrine has been handed down for goodness knows howmany generations. Where it came from nobody knows;possibly it arose in Egypt, and Hermes Trismegistus is oftenmentioned as being one of the founders of this wonderful,secret doctrine. Who Hermes Trismegistus was, nobodyknows, or even whether he existed at all, but we find inAlexandria, just before the Christian era, a body of opinionsupposed to be founded on these doctrines with which thename of Hermes Trismegistus is connected.

The effect of music on human beings was thoroughlyrealised by the Greeks. We know how Aristotle, for instance,'discusses the question of the influence of music on the soul.He says " It makes our souls enthusiastic, and enthusiasmis a condition of the soul," and even in our own time peoplehave pointed out the same thing. We cannot get awayfrom the fact that music has a very great influence on oursouls and it is not wonderful to find the Arabs laying stresson this point.

The Arab doctrine, or the doctrine that has been men-tioned about the music of the spheres and the general ideaof music, is very commonly held in Asiatic countries. Ibelieve if you talked to an Indian you would find he heldvery much the same views as have been expressed by theArab philosophers. We all know that in India the musicof the morning has to be different from the music of themid-day and the music of the evening. The Indians, likeall Asiatics, say that music must be fitted to the frame ofmind which you are in, and you are in a different frame ofmind in the morning from that which you are in in the even-ing, and this is an absolutely similar doctrine to that heldby these Arab philosophers.

The whole subject is one of extraordinary difficulty tous, because we really do not know what their Eastern musicwas like. Notation of course was quite a different thingto the Arab from what it is to us, and we have very littleidea about what this old music sounded like. I imaginethat it was something very wonderful, but absolutely andentirely different from our music—no harmony, but pro-gression of melody.

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n 6 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

I am glad to notice that the Arab philosophers insisted onrhythm when they talked about the effect of music on thesoul; they brought in rhythm, because as it seems to usthe rhythmic side is the side that has the effect on us, itdepends on the rhythm whether we feel joyful or sad. Ifwe could only transport ourselves back about fifteen hundredyears or so and hear the old Arab music, we might get someidea about what it was like.

I am sure we are much obliged to Dr. Fanner for hislearned Paper, and to Mr. Baker for reading it.

Mr. E. J. CHADFIELD : As to what Dr. Yorke Trotter hasjust said about the times of the day, I think that to classifymusic into morning, afternoon and evening, is not exactlythe safest basis on which we can work, because sometimeswe feel different in " the morning after the night before,"to what we feel the morning after that. With regard to thePaper we can only have one opinion: that it is a most inter-esting discussion of Arabic music.

I should like to have heard something, if the Lecturerhad been here, which would have enabled us to identifysome of the differences between Arab melody, in which verysmall intervals occur, and our own melody, but that is per-haps a subject which can be discussed in the future.

One of the things we can learn a great deal about fromthis Arab music is in regard to the small intervals. Pianotuners are able to judge intervals to the 51st part of a semi-tone. They know how to do it, and must do it to get anyapproach to equal temperament on a pianoforte. I shouldnot like to undertake to recognise a 51st part of a semitonemyself, but everyone here can quite easily I am sure recognisean interval of the size of a comma, about one-fifth of a semi-tone. The proportion of a comma is 80 to 81, but the pro-portion for the 51st part of a semitone is about the ratio892 to 893 which is a very small interval indeed. On theBosanquet keyboard, with fifty-three sounds to the octave,the ratio of the smallest interval is as nearly as possible 76to 77, that is a little larger than the comma, but the Arabintervals have much smaller differences than that.

Mr. F. G. WEBB : I think one must be struck with theresemblance between ancient Indian and Arabian music.Southern India also had a system of afternoon and eveningmusic, and associated the scales or " ragas " with differentemotions in much the same way as the Arabians. It almost

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 117

looks as though the Arabians derived a good many of theirtheories from ancient India. The great difference betweenthe European system and the systems of the East is that wemeasure our sense of tone from the middle of each note,and we get from one to the other as quickly as we can, butin Eastern systems they delight to dwell between the middleof one note and the middle of the next note, dwelling uponminute degrees of gradation. That is where they get theircharacteristic effects. The national instrument is the Vina,two hollow pumpkins united by a long bamboo over whicha single string is stretched. On this, with a short bow, youcan get the most delicate gradations from the middle of onenote to the middle of another. You will find this describedin Captain Day's book published by Messrs. Novello.

Miss K. SCHLESINGER : Dr. Farmer has given us a mostinteresting lecture this afternoon, and he has raised so manypoints that it is rather difficult to touch upon any singleone. One of the things that strikes me most is how farthis music of the spheres, for instance, to which he refersand which had its reputed origin in Chaldaea—how far thisconception had fallen into decadence among the Arabs.Amongst the ancient Chaldaeans we find magic and ritual,or religion, go side by side. I remember that in some of thehymns, in cuneiform, great stress is laid upon magic beingconducted in huts outside the temple, whereas the ritualwas conducted in the temple itself. It is evident thereforeif you separate these two and bring down music to the cureof bodily ailments, to the turning of the bile and suchlike,and that you speak of disintegrating the music of the spheresinto the elements of air, fire, earth and water, that it is a verygreat sign of decadence from the time when the ancientChaldaeans believed that the planets were actually wonderfulspiritual beings who directed these, and to whom theseproportions and wonderful scales are due. Follow that ideadown through the Greeks, you find allusions to the planets,each is identified with a note of their Greater CompleteSystem, a well-known scale allowing of the unmistakableidentification of the modes with the planets. According tomy discovery of the modes which are dependent on exactmathematical ratios, but in such a way that they revealthemselves to primitive man without his having to knowanything about musical ratios or scales, merely throughthe borings of pipes—if you follow out the numbers each foreach in these modes, you will find they correspond exactlywith the original ratios of the Greater Complete System of

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n 8 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

the Greeks; the number of the Sun was n , the number ofthe Moon was 14, Jupiter 18 and so on. It strikes me thatas the Sabeans were " transmitters " and great Sun-wor-shippers, one would expect to find in the scales of the Arabssome traces of the old planetary scale of the Sun ; in the sameway as they were great worshippers of Mercury and theyconnected Mercury with intellectual work, for which, ofcourse, they were celebrated in those early centuries, onewould expect to find the scale of Mercury reigning supremein their music, which is actually the case.

If one takes on the lute tuned in fourths the open string,Bamm, then the first fret, Sabbdba, then the Wustd of Zalzaland Khinsir, for the first tetrachord; then after that theSabbdba, Binsir and Khinsir of Mathlath, reaching theoctave on the Sabbdba of Mathnd, one finds this scale equalto the Lydian species of the Greeks, which was their corres-pondence for Mercury, a fact which is extraordinarily inter-esting. We know that Lydia had a great common past withall these different nations that helped to form Arabia at therise of Islam.

One might go on to speak till to-morrow if one followedup all these interesting points, but I think I might just giveone instance of something really living about this. I callit a living thing, because one finds that a people like theGreeks possessed so great a belief in this music of the spheres,(which after all bears the name of Pythagoras) that it hasbeen transmitted through many kinds of literature duringthe whole of the Middle Ages down to the time of Shake-speare. Shakespeare was obviously a Pythagorean; everyone of the nine essential doctrines of the Pythagoreans canbe traced in his works, and most clearly is this revealed byhis ideas of cosmogony, which were not the Ptolemaic butthe Pythagorean. The great work of Claudius Ptolemy hadbeen re-issued in 1528 (Venice), and in 1582, during the timethat Shakespeare was writing his plays, the famous cyclo-paedic work " De proprietatibus rerum " by Bartholomew,of Glanville, edited with considerable additions by StephenBatman, was published. This work embodied the greatmediaeval authorities on the Music of the Spheres. TheSpiritual essence of the Sun, according to the Pythagoreans,was Hesha, a centre of intense fire, the axle of the universe—

" Strong as the axletreeOn which heaven rides."

(Tr. and Cres., 1, 3).

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 119

round which revolved the planets, amongst which was thephysical or visible sun, and the earth revolved also roundthis great central fire. That Pythagorean conception ismentioned by Shakespeare thus:—

" The heavens themselves, the planets and this centreObserve degree, priority and place,Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,Office, and custom, in all line of order;And therefore is the glorious planet SolIn noble eminence enthroned and spheredAmidst the other."

(Troilus and Cressida, Act 1, Sc. 3.)

This music of the spheres plays a great part in mediaevalliterature, and as it is frequently mentioned by Arabianwriters who acknowledge their indebtness to the Greeks,and as the Greeks probably derived it from Chaldaea, I thinkit is interesting to connect it with Dr. Farmer's interestinglecture.

Mr. ROYLE SHORE : The Chairman referred to the factthat many of us regret that we have heard so little about theactual music this evening and a great deal of what has beenwedded to it, practically the programme without the music.It was undoubtedly a very learned and interesting Paperto which we have listened. The Chairman suggested it wasdifficult perhaps to realise this music. But this is only trueup to a certain point. Some of us can partly realise it,especially those of us who have any experience in handlingplain-chant, which goes back to the fourth century, andmuch earlier—its exact character is a matter of conjecturebut we know that was derived partly from Greek, Hebrewand other Oriental sources. I have heard music sung bythe Moors which seems to be related to the plain-chant,and to some extent may reproduce the music of the ancientArabs. It was music in a very narrow sphere. There wasno such thing as harmony in those days ; it was unmeasured,and in ancient scales differed very much from modernmusic. The Moors doubtless influenced Spanish music.Plain-chant, I am sure, does help one to realise somethingof the character of the music that we have heard about thisevening.

Miss SCHLESINGER : May I just mention one more fact,and that is that I have at home my piano tuned to theseintervals. It is quite an easy thing to do, and all the diatonicmodal intervals of the ancient Greeks may be obtained on

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120 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

the piano thus tuned. You cannot have the very smallintervals naturally, but the chromatic and just a few of theenharmonic intervals are obtainable ; a great many of thesewere known to the Arabs under different names, becausethese modes were common to the whole of the Ancient East.

With regard to the question of the ecclesiastical modesand the music of the Arabs, we must remember that at thetime of the rise of the ecclesiastical modes, the Pythagoreanscale was in universal use, in the East and West, and thatscale resembles our modern one very closely, but was a diffi-cult one to sing ; it is, in fact, mainly a theorists' scale. Iam of the opinion that the intervals were re-adjusted un-consciously by the ear, as Ramis de Pareja maintains, sothat the major third was substituted for the ditone, thusproducing a scale resembling that of the Lydian mode whichthe Arabs used on their lutes. The Eastern Arabs still usesome of the ancient modes at the present day. I have proofof that, as I possess some of their pipes and their measure-ments.

Dr. FROGGATT : I should like to ask some questions: (i)Had the introduction of the Greek musical system (in theioth century) any permanent influence on Arabian music ?(2) Is the division of the octave into eighteen notes earlierthan the 14th century ? (3) Is the presence of the major 6thin the minor mode common in Arabian music ? I know thatit does occur sometimes in sequence with the minor 3rd.

The Chairman then proposed a vote of thanks to the lecturerwhich was carried by acclamation.

A proof of the foregoing was submitted to the Lecturerwho has sent the following rejoinder to various points raised :

This interesting discussion shows how intimate some ofmy audience appear to be with this rather abstruse subjectand I feel that some of the points raised ought to be dealtwith. I will adhere to chronological order in reply, and firstof all, may I refer to Dr. Yorke Trotter's objection to" Combarieu's theory that music came from magical rites,"that I am supposed to have mentioned. I did not makethis statement. It was Combaiieu's id .a that " the doctrineof the Ethos had its origin in magic " that I referred to, andI bJieve the hypothasis to be quite sound.

Concerning origins, Mr. F. G. Webb would plead forancient India as the fount of a good many of these notionsconcerning " influences." I cannot agree. Even the oldest

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 121

part ot Vedic literature (our earliest authority from thisquarter) is later than the evidence that we have from Baby-lonia-Assyria, where we have documents as far back as 3000B.C. With the ancient Semites of the Babylonian plains,we can identify almost every phase of the beliefs that I havementioned as being current with the Arabs of the MiddleAges, and in view of the immense cultural influence of thisancient Semitic civilisation upon neighbouring peoples, W2need look no further in the question as to whom the Arabsborrowed from in this matter. Miss Schlesinger seems toagree with me in this particular, that is, if the term Chaldaeais intended for Babylonia, as the Greeks meant it*.

On the question ot the sidereal origin of scales, Miss Schlesingerraises a very interesting and important point. She mentionsthat there are traces of these sidereal scales among the Arabsto-day.

An example is given of an Arabian lute scale which isequated with " the Lydian species of the Greeks." In herArabian scale the wustd of Zalzal is introduced. This notewas fixed at 355 cents, but I am not aware that the Greeksused this interval, although they knew of it theoreticallysince it was but the whole tone (204 cents) plus the three-quarter tone (151 cents). Certainly, the substitute for thewustd of Zalzal made by the Systematist School at 384 centswas only a schistna short of the Lydian interval of 386 cents,but strange to say this scale given by Miss Schlesinger hasno place in any of the modes of the Arabian SystematistSchool.

The question of sidereal scales is most alluring. Manyyears ago, J. P. N. Land, the eminent musico-orientalistsuggested|that the pre-Islamic scale of the tunbur al-baghdddigave us " a trace of the art which had once charmed' thesubjects of Hammurabi (c. 2123-2081 B.c.)."t This scale,which is mentioned by Al-Farabi (d. 950), was arrived at bydividing a string into forty parts.J One is prompted to ask :" Why forty ? " Could it have been due to sidereal religion ?The Babylonian god Ea, was the patron of music, and his

• Chaldaea proper was a powerful and independent state (presumablyArabian) south of Babylonia. It was not until the Chaldaean hegemonyin the 7th century B.C. (Neo-Babylonian dynasty, 625-539 B c ) thatthe term Chaldaea definitely became a designation for the entireEuphrates valley.

f Land, Recherches, §15.

X Kosegarten, Liber Canhlenarum, 89. I .and, op. cit., p. 107.

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122 The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

sacred numerical attribute was forty! Eratosthenes (d. 195B.C.) knew of this scale,* and it is not improbable that theearly Greek theory of spatial symmetry (-"Xirot) in scales,as revealed in Lasos and Epigonos, which incurred the dis-approbation of Aristoxenosf had some connection with thisscale of Ea. Epigonos " invented " an instrument calledthe epigoneion which possessed forty strings. Could it havebeen strung to the scale of Ea ? Its notes were certainlychromata.,% a circumstance that implies that same " crowdingtogether of notes " that Plutarch specifies of the theory ofLasos.§

As to the Greek conception of the Harmony of Spheres, theconflicting accounts of the order of the heavenly bodies, theirnumber, and their ratios, make this question most elusive.The ratios given by Miss Schlesinger do not agree with anyof the classical authorities that I know of.

That the conceptions of the " Influence of Music " hadfallen into decadence among the Arabs of the Middle Agesas Miss Schlesinger suggests, is scarcely correct. Speakinggenerally, both the Greeks and Romans had already retro-graded on this question before the post-Islamic authorsquoted by me came on the scene. Even Chaldaea the fountainhead, had declined, as we know from numerous sources. TakeSt. Cyprian (? Pseudo-St. Cyprian) who was initiated intothe " Chaldaean mysteries," including magical music. HisConfessio shows us what gross and vulgar stuff passed forChaldaean science in his day. || When Islam came, the daysof magic, mystery, and sorcery were numbered, and so faras the " Influence of Music " is concerned, it was the Arabsof the Middle Ages who lifted the conception back to thehigher plane that it had once occupied, although, as I havesaid, we see the entire scheme from Magical Music to theEthos in their hands. Certainly, their attempt to give ascientific interpretation to Musical Therapeutics, cannot beignored.

One or two questions regarding the music of the Arabshave arisen. Mr. Royle Shore refers to the " unmeasured "music of the Moors. That is only one genus. The Arabs

* Ptolemy, Harm., lib. ii., cap. 14. My copy gives the enharmonicgenus of Eratosthenes as |jj $j) Jj ! !

f Aristoxenos (Meibom), p. 3.I Athenaios, xiv., 42.§ Plutarch, De musica. xxix.|| Ada sanctorum, Sept., 1867 (vii.), p. 204 seq.

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The Influence of Music from Arabic Sources 123

(including the Moors) possess both measured (mauztin) andunmeasured (ikktiydri) music. Concerning intervals, Mr.E. J. Chadfield says that the Arabian intervals have muchsmaller differences than the comma. In the theorists weundoubtedly do find these " differences" even to the" difference " of one cent. I remember counting over thirtyintervals less than the whole-tone (204 cents) in Al-Farabiand Avicenna. In practice, however, no interval less thana quarter-tone (called an irkhd) was allowed in sequence,and its use was regulated just as the rmri were in Aris-toxenos. The Greeks admitted that it was difficult to dis-tinguish the enharmonic quarter-tone (55 cents), and theopinions of the Arab theorists on this question may be worthmentioning. Avicenna says that it is not until we reach theinterval of 51 cents, that intervals begin to resemble oneanother, and that when we get to 38 cents, the ear is incapableof distinguishing two adjacent sounds. Nasir al-DIn al-Tusimakes 39 cents this limit. Al-Farabi censures the individualswho divide the Pythagorean limtna (90 cents) into two partsfor the purpose of obtaining the quarter-tone. His rule wasthe division of the whole-tone (204 cents) into four parts,which gave 49, 99, 151 and 204 cents as sequential quarter-tones.

In reply to Dr. Froggatt I would say: The Greek influence,as distinct from the Byzantine, began as early as the 8thcentury, when the treatises of the ancient Greeks began tobe systematically translated into Arabic. Riemann (followingKiesewetter) was responsible for positing the 10th centuryas the date. We have evidence in Al-Kindi (d. 874) ofdependence on ancient Greeks theorists. The influence couldnot be called permanent, although it was of the highestimportance not only to the Arabs and Islamic peoples, butto the Near East in general. Music theory now became ascience to be studied with zeal by the Arabs and Persians,and the later theories of the Systematist School owe muchto the Greeks.

The division of the octave into eighteen notes is muchearlier than the 14th century. Helmholtz and A. J. Ellisare responsible for this date, because they looked upon' Abd al-Qadir ibn Ghaibi as the founder of the system. Itis erroneous. The germ of the system may be found in thescale of the tunbur al-khurasdni given by Al-Farabi (d. 950),but it undoubtedly had a much earlier existence. It is notuntil the time of Sail al-DIn ' Abd al-Mu'min (d. 1294) thatwe have this scale systematised, and it is highly probable

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124 27" Influence of Music from Arabic Sources

that he was responsible for this. At any rate, the theory isnot mentioned by either Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1209) orNaslr al-Din al-Tusi (d. 1273). All subsequent authors quoteSafi al-Din on the Systematist theory.

Dr. Froggatt's third question can best be answered byreference to the Arab modes. In the I2th-i6th centurySystematist theory, not one of the twelve modes (maqdmdt)admitted the Minor 3rd and Major 6th, as we know them.The combination could have occurred, however, in whatwas known as the " circulations " (dawd'ir). A " circulation "was made up of the first tetrachord of one mode, and thesecond tetrachord of another. Thus, the first tetrachord ofthe Nawd mode and the second tetrachord of the 'Ushshdqmode produced the following " circulation " :—

Notes: D E F G a b c dCents: 204 906

On the whole, the Systematists did not favour the Pytha-gorean Major 6th (906 cents), but preferred their own Pseudo-Zalzalian 6th (882 cents), which was but a schisma short ofthe Just Major 6th (884 cents). This 882 cents interval,in combination with the Minor 3rd (204 cents), existed intwo modes:—

Zirdfkand.Notes: D Ffc F G bbb ty <$> d> dCents: 204 882

Hijdzi.Notes: D F > F G b b b c | ? c dCents: 204 882

Among the modern Syrian Arabs, the modal formulas,Nahdwand, 'Ashirdn, and Bayati shuri, give the Minor 3rd(300 cents) with a Neutral 6th (850 cents). Among the Arabsof the West, Rouanet (Ripertoire de Musique Arabe et Maure,and in Lavignac's Encyclop&die de la musique) displays boththe Ramal (al-) Md'ia and the Jdrka al-jazd'ir modes with theMinor 3rd and Major 6th, but we must tread warily here,since we get no measurements. Far better consult ProfessorVoTLHonibostel'sPhonographierte tunesische Melodien (S.I.M.G.1906), and Dr. R. Lachmann's Die Musik in den tunisischenStddten (Archiv f. Musikwissenschaft, 1923). Not long ago,I had a letter from Dr. Lachmann from Tripoli, where hewas collecting further material, which I have no doubt, willbe published in the near future. In general, whilst the pres-ence of the Major 6th in the Minor mode, may be recognisedin Arabian melodies, it cannot be said to be common.

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