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st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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214 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.<br />

One more topic remains to be noticed, and on this<br />

we may speak with perhaps the lea<strong>st</strong> reservation or<br />

qualification <strong>of</strong> all. That is,<br />

the merit <strong>of</strong> John <strong>of</strong><br />

Damascus as the author <strong>of</strong> hymns<br />

<strong>st</strong>ill used in the<br />

services <strong>of</strong> the Church. It is one te<strong>st</strong>imony to his<br />

greatness in this respect, that many hymns are attri<br />

buted to him, which in all probability were not his,<br />

the whole sy<strong>st</strong>em <strong>of</strong> modern church music<br />

and that<br />

is sometimes referred to him as well. A sort <strong>of</strong> haze<br />

surrounds him, from this point <strong>of</strong> view, which it is not<br />

easy to penetrate. Gerbert, in his &quot;Hi<strong>st</strong>ory<br />

<strong>of</strong> Sacred<br />

1<br />

makes him perform the same service for the<br />

Music,&quot;<br />

Ea<strong>st</strong>ern Church that Gregory the Great had done for<br />

the We<strong>st</strong>ern ;<br />

that is, as far as I under<strong>st</strong>and it, employ<br />

what we call notes, in<strong>st</strong>ead <strong>of</strong> letters <strong>of</strong> the alphabet, to<br />

indicate musical sounds, and certain marks or charac<br />

ters to betoken the intervals <strong>of</strong> the ascending or de<br />

scending scale. While in Latin service books, adds<br />

this authority, musical notes are not found before the<br />

1<br />

&quot;DeCantuetMusica sacra, &quot;auctoreMartino Gerbert o, 1774,<br />

vol. ii., p. I. He describes the invention as &quot;novum facilioremque<br />

cantandi modum per notas musicas, loco Grsecorum<br />

characterum onum [sic, lege tomtm~\ seu chordam indicantium.&quot;<br />

The invention <strong>of</strong> marks to denote intervals (the scale ?) Gerbert<br />

assigns to Damascene on the authority <strong>of</strong> Zarlino. But the<br />

merit <strong>of</strong> this invention is denied him by Fetis, &quot;Biographic<br />

universelle des Musiciens,&quot; 1862, t. iii., p. 433, although he<br />

admits that Damascene &quot;doit etre considere comme le reformateur<br />

du chant de l glise grecque, c e<strong>st</strong> a dire, comme ayant<br />

attache son nom a 1 un des faits les plus importants de 1 hi<strong>st</strong>oire<br />

de 1 art.&quot; The second volume <strong>of</strong> Mr. Chappell s &quot;<br />

Hi<strong>st</strong>ory <strong>of</strong><br />

Music,&quot; which would cover this period, has not yet, I believe,<br />

been published.

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