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DECEMBER I3, 1921.
BY JEFFREY PULVER.
WHEN we use the term "Ancient Egypt," a hazy pi
pyramids forms in the mind and we have a vag
that it refers to a culture that reached an exceedin
plane a very long time ago. How long ago, it
beyond the everyday mind to grasp. Our ideas of t
after all, only relative; and when we speak of " six
years ago" it conveys little more to our minds th
" two thousand years ago." Five hundred years
long time; yet if we enquire what was the state
at that distance of time back, we should find t
a very primitive state. A thousand years ago we
King Alfred burning cakes, and two thousand year
should see the Romans teaching our barbarous ance
to build roads, to dress themselves decently, an
baths. Yet, when Greece was only just beginning
her first promise of greatness later, the Twelfth Dy
Egyptian Kings was ruling a cQuntry that enjoyed
culture that must seem astonishing to us. We find
of musical activity as far back as the Fourth an
Dynasties (ca. 4000-3500 B.c.), and the music m
and the instruments upon which it was made, c
have been the result of a sudden inspiration and in
A long era of development must have preceded the
evidences of music-and allowing for the inevitab
of decline and decadence, we arrive at a date which is so
remote that we could scarcely realise its meaning.
Egypt has not for long been reckoned with the musical
nations. It was not until James Bruce discovered the harps
represented on the tombs of Thebes that any idea was harboured
that on the Nile there must have flourished a state of music that
would surprise us were we only able to learn all about it.
It could scarcely have been otherwise. A people so poetic
and so intellectual as the Ancient Egyptians, a people who
developed many arts and sciences to a degree that we can
hardly account for to-day, could not have been left uninfluenced
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30 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 31
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32 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 33
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34 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt, 35
already celebrated as being the best school for female singers,
and the tombs there also contain many representations of excel-
lent instruments. A large number of interesting musical scenes
are depicted in the Pyramid of Gizeh (Tomb 9o), including
two harpers, with large bow-shaped, six-stringed instruments,
and three flautists, two playing obliquely and one directly.
Reproductions of these pictures are given in Lepsius
(Denkmiler aus Aegypten, III. 36). It is not surprising that
the Fourth Dynasty should produce such fine works; it was
the Dynasty that made Egypt famous and gave the country
the character it retained long enough for it to have become
a national feature. It was the age of the Pyramid builder;
the period of activity of the craftsmen who worked so well
that they stood as models for the artists of the Saite period
to follow and imitate. And all these instruments were
producing music 5,500 years ago. "The Fifth Dynasty was
more priestly in character than the preceding ones," and
sacred music received more attention than secular; still,
there are " many pieces of evidence to show the existence
of much secuIar music." On the tomb of Ptah-hotep,
a grandee who resided at Sakkara, is to be seen a bas-relief
representing a party feasting and playing upon various
instruments. Pictures of the most extraordinary interest are
to be seen reproduced by Lepsius in his wonderful work.
In III. 52 are given two large bow-shaped harps, played in
a kneeling position, the instruments resting against the
musician's shoulder, and various wind-instruments. Many
more illustrations of Ancient Egyptian musical instruments
can be seen in Lepsius (Pyramid of Sakkara-Tomb 16, III. 6Ia
-Pyramid of Gizeh-Tomb 26, III. 74a and 74c). Plate 74a
of Lepsius's Vol. III is particularly interesting, since it shows
a group of eight flute-players performing together, " one
standing in a listening attitude as soloist or conductor."
The Sixth Dynasty (ca. 3500--3300 B.C.) produced a much
more widespread art, but the quality declined. Petrie is
right when he says that we see here " the regular effect of
diffusion and cheapening of works which were formerly a rare
luxury." But although the first Kings of the Dynasty were
active and firm, the failure of the line produced a state of
great confusion which lasted quite a long time. It is here
(B.c. ca. 3300), after a decadence as rapid as its rise, that we
see the first great period of Egyptian artistic greatness come
to a close. The Dynasties from Memphis which followed were
not enterprising or original; their work is characterised,
at best, by all the signs of careless imitation.
Like the art of most countries, that of Egypt falls
naturally into periods of alternate greatness and decline.
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36 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 37
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38 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 39
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40 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 41
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42 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 43
the last time a St. Luke's summer of renown." The last ruler
to foster true native art before the arrival of the conquering
Persians, was Amasis II (Aahmes-si-neit), and it was in this
reign that the Greeks acquired another music-lesson in
Egypt. What follows after the close of the reign of Aahmes II
-the alternation of feeble Egyptian Kings and Persians-
is like the smoking last flicker of a candle. " The native
spirit was broken ...... the nation with a history that numbered
thousands of years, and the country that had shed the light
of civilisation abroad, when those round about were steeped
in barbarism and ignorance, now sank into a darkness which
obscured and eventually swallowed up the glory and majesty
of the Pharaohs and their land " (Budge). The artists and
musicians of the Ptolemaic period still copied the ancient art,
but in character neither were any longer purely Egyptian,
and with Amasis II our consideration of Ancient Egyptian
music must come to a close (B.C. ca. 550).
As far as sacred music is concerned, I gather that a large
number of singing-women were employed in the temples, and
that Chanters, with and without instrumental accompaniment,
conducted certain parts of the religious services. Sacred and
secular music seem to have been kept distinct, and a certain
series of seven sacred tones or vowels were employed for
religious music. These appear to have been used exclusively
by the priestly clan, and I have not discovered anything
more detailed of their nature. Whether they were forms of
vocalisation or modes pure and simple, I cannot say. The
fact remains that something of the kind was used. Wilkinson
thinks that " at the religious ceremonies and processions,
where music was introduced, there is reason to believe the
attendance of ordinary performers was not permitted, but
that musicians attached to the priestly order, and organised
for this special putpose, were alone employed; who were
considered to belong exclusively to the service of the temple
" The ordinary musical adjuncts to the service were
supplied by women. Probably at some period, every woman
in the country, whether married or single, rich or poor, served
for a time in the temple as singing-women, thus securing the
honour of serving for a time in what was considered the harem
of the god. The title was " qemat en Amen "-singer of Amen
-or whatever other deity they happened to sing before.
In the Papyrus of Ani, one of the singing-women of Amen
was Tutu the wife of Ani. In the service she rattled the
sistrum to drive away the evil spirits who might disturb the
service. At other times the singers used cymbals and
tambourines, as well as harps, pipes and nefers. How far
the wording of the Psalms that were to be sung Betziltzilim
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44 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 45
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46 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 47
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48 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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50 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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52 The Music of Ancient Egypt.
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DISCUSSION.
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The Music of Ancient Egypt. 55
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