A juggler, after a miniature
Atys - the Phrygian shepherd
Dancer and Guitarist
Heading - trumpeters
Sweet, piercing sweet was the music of Pan’s pipe
The great god Pan, protector of the shepherds and their flocks, was half man, half goat. Every one loved this strange god, who yet ofttimes startled mortals by his wild and wilful ways. When to-day a sudden, needless fear overtakes a crowd, and we say a panic has fallen upon it, we are using a word which we learned from the name of this old pagan god. Down by the streams the great god Pan was sometimes seen to wander— ‘What was he doing, the great god Pan, Down in the reeds by the river? Spreading ruin and scattering ban, Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat, And breaking the golden lilies afloat, With the dragon-fly on the river. ‘He tore out a reed, the great god Pan, From the deep cool bank of the river,’ and then sitting down he ‘hacked and hewed, as a great god can,’ at the slender reed. He made it hollow, and notched out holes, and lo! there was a flute ready for his use. Sweet, piercing sweet was the music of Pan’s pipe as the god placed his mouth upon the holes.
The Koto
The only Japanese musical instrument taught in girls’ schools is the koto, a kind of zither. As the koto is the most adaptable of all Japanese instruments to western music, it is more readily learnt than others at schools where the piano and the violin are also taught. There are several kinds of koto, the number of strings on them ranging from one to twenty-five; but the one exclusively used at schools has thirteen strings It has a hollow convex body,six feet five inches long and ten inches wide at one end and half an inch narrower at the other, and stands on legs three and a half inches high. The strings are tied at equal distances at the head or broader end and gathered at the other; they are supported each by its own bridge, the position of which varies with the pitch required. Small ivory nails are put on the tips of the fingers for striking the strings.
The Ox Minuet
Haydn saw with surprise a butcher call upon him one day, who being as sensible to the charms of his works as any other person, said freely to him, “Sir, I know you are both good and obliging, therefore I address myself to you with full confidence;—you excel in all kinds of composition; you are the first of composers: but I am particularly fond of your minuets. I stand in need of one, that is pretty, and quite new, for my daughter’s wedding, which is to take place in a few days, and I cannot address myself better than to the famous Haydn.”—Haydn, always full of kindness, smiled at this new homage, and promised it to him on the following day. The amateur returned at the appointed time, and received with joyful gratitude the precious gift. Shortly after, the sound of instruments struck Haydn’s ear.—He listened, and thought he recollected his new minuet. He went to his window, from whence he saw a superb Ox, with gilded horns, adorned with festoons and garlands, and surrounded by an ambulating orchestra, stopping under his balcony. Haydn was roused from his reverie by the butcher, who made his appearance in his apartment, and again expressed his sentiments of admiration, and concluded his speech, by saying, “Dear Sir, I thought that a butcher could not express his gratitude for so beautiful a minuet better than by offering you the finest Ox in his possession.”—Haydn refused—the butcher entreated, till at length Haydn, affected at the butcher’s frank generosity, accepted the present, and from that moment the minuet was known throughout Vienna by the name of the Ox Minuet, and has lately been introduced as a musical curiosity in England.
The samisen
The samisen is early taught. Girls of seven or thereabouts are made to learn it while their fingers are still very pliant. But the lessons are hard to learn as the tunes have to be committed to memory, for there are no scores to refer to. There is no popular method of notation; the marks which are sometimes to be seen in song-books are too few to be of use to any but skilled musicians. The lighter samisen does not require much exertion to play; women can thrum it for hours on end; and they make slight indentations on the nails of the middle and ring fingers of the left hand for catching the strings when those fingers are moved up and down the neck to stop them. But with the heavier kind the indentations are deeper, and the constant friction of the strings hardens the finger-tips and often breaks the nails, while still worse is the condition of the right hand which holds the plectrum. The plectrum, the striking end of which is flat as in the one for the slender-necked samisen, is heavily leaded and weighs from twelve ounces to a pound when used by professionals; and the handle, which is square, is held between the ring and little fingers for leverage and worked with the thumb and the forefinger.