II.

No

flower of her kindred, No

III.

rosebud is nigh... To re-flect back her

blushes,

Or

give sigh for sigh.

Melodies without the si, the seventh degree of the scale, are much more numerous than those without the fourth. The seventh, si, is the most elusive member of the tonal family and in modern music, one of the most characteristic. It is the absence of the seventh which gives its peculiar charm to "The Meeting of the Waters." Something, at least, of the lovelorn beauty of "For Eire I'd not tell her name " is due to the same cause. Perhaps there is no better example of the type than the melody, "I rise in the Morning with my Heart full of Woe." It is best known because of Arthur Perceval Graves' song, "My Love's an Arbutus," and the exquisite setting written by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. Every bar is a thing of beauty and every trait is truly Irish. Its movement is gently wavelike and, where the seventh is omitted, the ear is caressed as by the brogue softly spoken.

slen - der and shape - ly In her girdle of

This fondness of the Irish for the impression, sometimes pathetic, sometimes humorous, caused by leaping over the fah and the si of the scale, they have never lost. Even in tunes in which all the notes of the gamut are used, the beloved trick of speech will still assert itself.

Many influences have made themselves felt in the unfolding of the musical genius of the Irish, and the

most important was the music of Christianity. It has been suggested of late years that the reverse was the case and that the music of the Church received its characteristic color from Ireland. Ireland gave to Germany not only Christianity, but an important part of her liturgy. Gerbert, writing in the tenth century, says that St. Columbanus and his companion, St. Abbo, "Not only imbued our Germany with the light of Christian faith, but also with the principles of ascetic living." "Doubtless," he continues," the first rule for arranging ecclesiastical services among us as made up of psalms, canticles, hymns, collects and antiphons" was derived from the same source. At Bobbio, in Italy, a monastery founded by the Irish, they still preserve the Antiphonary of Bangor, a manuscript of the seventh century. It is matter of certitude, that Ireland gave Germany her first lessons in musical art. Ireland's influence on England, through St. Columba and the monks who converted Northumbria, was likewise musical as well as religious. Celtic melodies have undoubtedly found their way into the liturgical volumes. The introit, "Salve Sancte Parens," composed by the Irishman Sedulius in the sixth century, still holds its place in the Roman Gradual, and so does the same churchman's hymn "A solis ortu cardine," the very words of which are knit together in the Irish manner. But as a melodist, Sedulius thought in the Greek idiom. The scales which give Gregorian music its distinctive character are of Grecian origin. The flat seventh, one of the most dis

tinctive features of that music, formed part of the musical system of Hellas centuries before the birth of Christ. On the other hand there is no evidence to show that Gregorian characteristics were present in Celtic music before the conversion of Ireland to Christianity.

Two Church scales in particular have impressed themselves on the Irish imagination. By far the more generally used of the two is a minor scale with a flat seventh. It has its nearest equivalent on the piano in the key of A, using only white notes. The other is a major scale with a flat seventh, and may most conveniently be represented by the scale of G, using only the white keys. These modes, as they are called, may be started on any note in the gamut,* adapted to any key.

* For the help of persons who may wish to work out these modes in detail it may be explained that the essential thing in a scale or mode is the order in which the tones and semitones succeed one another. The Mixolydian mode, for instance, only differs from the scale of G major in having for its seventh F natural, instead of F sharp. The church scale of A, using only the white notes, is the primitive minor scale. It is called the Hypodorian mode and it has for its seventh G natural, whereas the modern minor scale has G sharp. In both Mixolydian and Hypodorian modes the seventh is flattened; in other words it is a whole tone below the eighth note, or tonic. In the Mixolydian mode the semitones occur between the third and fourth and sixth and seventh degrees respectively, in the major scale they come between the third and fourth and seventh and eighth degrees. In the Hypodorian mode the semitones come between the second and third and fifth and sixth notes: in the minor scale now considered most perfect they occur between the second and third and seventh and eighth. The old modes

Incidentally it may be remarked that, although the piano is the most convenient means of expressing these different scales, it is not a good one. For the piano is an instrument of compromise. It uses one key to express two notes: C sharp and D flat are identical. On stringed instruments like the violin, there is a subtle difference-only a few vibrations, it is true, but still appreciable by the human ear-between C sharp and D flat, D sharp and E flat, and so on. If we wish to get a true idea of the scales we must have recourse to violin, viola or 'cello. If all Irish tunes could be played on these instruments, instead of on the piano, their beauty would be more

may be applied to any key of our modern system. They may begin on any note of the keyboard. Here are the four scales:

Ex. 9. Mixolydian Scale.

Ex. 10. Scale of G Major.

Ex. 11. Hypodorian Mode.

Ex. 12. Scale of A Minor.