Doc and Roman, I haven't seen the original, and am not going to search for it as Lute List stuff comes to me in two places (a note to all on that at the end of this).
But reading the two comments it would seem that there is a semantic problem. The Western world spent years settling on a set of scales which have finally come down to two in common modern usage (with some exceptions, the Simon and Garfunkel "Scarborough Fair" is Dorian rather than the Aolian that is "relative minor" of the "Do-Re-Mi" tonic). >From the Middle Ages on the society was heavily Church centered, and that was the Christian Church. So much of the development of the music (from unison through polyphony) was centered on sacred music. That was where the money was (better said, that was where a composer could find a patron to support him). The Pagan music of the Norse is yet preserved in folk tunes, and I have a collection for harp of those, but the scales are basically the western modes. The Islamic and Judaic of the Middle East are a different form, using a more flexible sliding scale, the sounds of the Eastern European Judaic music are a bit of a combination of each. The Oriental a whole 'nother thing. And the African entirely missed the boat of polyphony and harmony, but instead made a very interesting trip into polyrythym. And that fascinates me. I can sing a downward 11th, but to beat the sounds of a polyrythym is beyond me (although I can appreciate it when I hear it). So it is not a matter of which is best, or more advanced. It is a matter of what our ears are trained to hear at an early age (and what we learn in our later years). In the west the development of music was done both in the countryside and in the church, but as the church was a primary influence in the society at the time much of it was done there. It is not Christian theology that made the music, it is the Christian orientation of the society that led the composers to make music for the church. I have mentioned that I play the psaltery, the Psalters were hymnbooks specific to the Protestant Christians who revolted against the Roman Catholic liturgy for its use of "modern fancy music". The words to the music had to be taken directly from the scriptures (and Mat, don't correct me too hard on this, it is meant to be brief). Memorable has several meanings. Is it historically memorable? Or memorable to me? To be historically memorable it has to have a good base of listeners and players, and without people like this lute list the lute music of the Renaissance would be forgotten. Who knows what the lyre player played when accompanying Homer, the Greek tetra chord is only guessed at (and as Homer himself wasn't written down until about 400 years after his death, who knows what he really said). Pardon the diatribe, but the topic isn't new to me. I've seen it on the harp list as well. Music is an expression by people, and as such also by a people. And in that expression they may celebrate their religion, or just their joy in living. It matters not which, if the music is good then it is memorable - as long as there is a people to enjoy that particular music. Best, Jon > > So any music not rooted in Christian semantics (like MacOSX rooted in > > Unix) > > is doomed to being not quite that memorable (see Pagan, Islamic, Judaic > > etc., and don't hold you breath for a Ramadan oratorio). > > I find this very strange, Roman - in fact I don't find it true at all. > Perhaps it is a matter of taste, or a matter of being open to other > cultures and points of view, or simply a matter of exposure. For me > music with the quality you describe is music that comes, for lack of a > better description, directly from "the source" and expresses that. I > don't want to accuse you of being closed, narrow-minded or > undemocratic! - and I have to admit that I would rather listen to > J.S.B. than anything else, most of the time, but the trio sonatas or > the Italian Concerto more than the sacred music (there are some very > moving corales, though). Maybe you don't get to hear the best stuff > from other cultures. I saw a program about the rebirth of Cambodian > traditional dancing, and the music was absolutely sublime. Developing > different ears is well worth the effort. > > Doc > > > >
