The Story of the Flute/Chapter 19

by Henry Macaulay Fitzgibbon

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CHAPTER XIX.

FLUTES OF ORIENTAL AND SAVAGE NATIONS,

Oriental flutes—Chinese—Japanese—Effect of the flute on animals—Indian flutes—Nose-flutes—South American flutes—The love flute—Ancient prejudices—The Fathers and the Puritans.

The flute is to be found all over the globe, and in a vast variety of form. The Chinese have quite a large Chinese
Flute assortment, grenerally made of bamboo, though one named the Yuti is made of marble. They are called by different names according to the purpose for which they are used. Many are blown through a lateral mouth-hole, especially those which contain the syllable ti in their name, as Ti-tzu. The Seiteki, which is very popular, in addition to its six finger holes, has another hole which is covered with a thin membrane of reed or paper in order to produce a buzzing sound (a device also found in the Siamese Klin, and in some early European flutes). It is often bound round with waxed silk to prevent it splitting, and ornamented with tassels attached to " dummy" holes near the end of the tube. Another Chinese flute called the Lung-ti is ornamented with dragon's heads and tails at the ends; this is used solely in religious worship, and such ornaments are not permitted on mere secular flutes.

Most curious of all is the Hwang-chông-Tsche
Fig. 20.—Dragon Flute.or Ch-ih, a transverse flute, with a lateral mouth-hole in the middle of the tube and finger-holes on each side of the mouth-hole. The number of finger-holes sometimes amounts to ten or more. This instrument, which was described by the French Jesuit, Pere Amiot, in 1780, is very possibly the earliest known side-blown flute. Prince Tsai-yu

Fig. 21.—Chinese Tsche, with Central Mouth-hole.

(1596) says it dates from c. 2200 B.C. In its original form it was open at both ends, but is now usually plugged in the middle, and additional holes are added at one end in substitution for those beyond the plug. The holes on the original form were placed at unequal distances from each end, and were uncovered alternately to produce the scale. (See Borde's Essay, 1780.)

The Japanese have also many varieties of flutes (called "Fuye"), and they claim that one, having seven holes, dates from 1000 B.C. Flutes are much used in the service in the Temple, each instrument having a name of its own, such as The Snake-Charmer, etc. Their side-blown flute is termed Yoko-fuyé, or Shinobuye; it was originally made of aJapanese
Flutes monkey's bone, but latterly of bamboo. The Japanese cover the holes with the second joint of the fingers, and they sometimes bore the finger-holes obliquely, probably to enable the player to modify the pitch of the note. Their idea of the balance of tone seems to be rather peculiar; thus in a picture in Siebold's Nippon (ii.) there are six instruments of percussion to a solitary flute!

The Japanese have a curious legend about the flute. A famous performer hid himself in a cave to avoid theEffect of
the Flute
on Animals consequences of a crime. Presently an immense serpent appeared, whereupon the criminal began to play upon his flute (his requiem, I suppose). The serpent thereupon stopped, appeared to listen with pleasure, and after a while withdrew, leaving the player unharmed. The Japs believe that the flute has power to charm serpents. Certainly in India this would seem to be the case. Chateaubriand (Autobiography, ii. 9) speaks of a Canadian rattlesnake that was fascinated by the notes of a flute, and Sir W. Jones says that the most venomous and malignant snakes leave their holes on hearing a flute, and appear to take delight in it. Some animals are peculiarly fond of the sound of a flute. The ancient Greeks used it to entice certain kinds of crabs out of their hiding-places. Horapollon says that the turtle-dove and the roe-buck allow themselves to be easily captured by its means. Dogs as a rule dislike the violin, but like the flute, especially if played in the key of C minor. Bachaumont (Mem., Sec. iv. 165) says that Blavet gave lessons on the flute to a great prince, whose bad playing always caused his dog to bark and howl fearfully, but that the moment the master began to play the dog stopped barking and licked the feet of the player. Choron mentions a similar incident. The Chinese attract the che-hiang, a shy animal from which they procure musk, by playing lively airs on a flute. Bombet, in his Letters of Haydn and Mozart, says that sheep and goats on Lake Maggiore surrounded a flute-player with such delight that the shepherd had to beg him to stop playing. Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy (ii. 2) says that the dog, the hare, wolf, and lamb are much affected by the sound of a pipe: harts, hinds, bears, and horses are exceedingly delighted with music. Mr. Galpin mentions a cat of his acquaintance that was always frightened by the sound of a flute or trombone, but was lulled by a fiddle and absolutely pleased with a bagpipe—possibly, he adds, it was a Persian cat, and had a lingering recollection of Oriental reed instruments! Flutes are said to attract mosquitoes in India, and the same authority mentions a canary that always sang when a piece in E♭ was played on a flute, but never to any other key! Emerson Tenant, in his work The Wild Elephant, p. 141, mentions that a transverse flute called the Bansee, or Bansulee, is used in Ceylon to tame wild elephants, John Wesley, himself a flute-player, mentions in his Journal (December, 1764) that he met with a music-loving lion in Edinburgh, and that when the flute was played near the lions' den in the Tower of London one of the lions "rose up and came to the front of the den, and seemed all attention. Meanwhile a tiger in the same den started up, leaped over the lion's back, turned and ran under its belly, leaped over him again, and so to and fro incessantly."

The Kaffirs have a transverse flute, which is held from right to left, a peculiarity not found elsewhere. By humming at the same time they produce a peculiar buzzing sound.

In Burma the orchestra is usually led by a bamboo flute, called "Puloay," with seven finger-holes in front Indian
Flutesand one behind. Notwithstanding the fact that Krishna is very frequently represented holding a transverse flute (known as "Murali" or "Pillagovi"), the instrument is, as a rule, played in India only by men of low caste. An exception is made in favour of the nose-flute used by the Brahmins. The snake-charmers use a double pipe, blown through the nose, called "Toomerie" or "Poongee." Numerous nose-flutes are to be met with in Borneo, South America, Java, Siam, Fiji, above all, in Otaheite (where the natives often spend their whole Nose Flutesday lying in hammocks playing pipes and flutes), and the Polynesian Islands. Melville in Typee describes these curious instruments (called "Vivo") thus:—"The nose-flute is longer than an ordinary fife, is made of a beautiful scarlet-coloured reed, and has four or five stops [i.e., finger-holes] with a larger hole near one end, which latter is held just underneath the left nostril. The other nostril being closed by a peculiar movement of the muscles of the nose, the breath is forced into the tube and produces a soft dulcet sound." Sometimes the right nostril of the player is closed by the thumb of the right hand whilst its fingers stop the finger-holes. They are often adorned with lines and figures scorched on the surface, and sometimes with human hair. Pierre Loti in his Le Mariage de Loti mentions the Vivo as used in Tahiti. The nose-flute is also to be found in Northern Australia and New Zealand, whither it was brought probably by Malay traders. The Malays are so fond of the sound of the flute that they bore holes in bamboos growing on the river-bank in order that the wind may play tunes upon them!

The Mexicans and Peruvians have always been great flute-players, and many specimens of their early pipes South
American
Flutesand flutes are still preserved in the Mexican museums. Some of these are made of pottery and others of human bones—a fact which recalls the story of the Maori chief who, when complimented by Bishop Selwyn on the tone of his flute, replied that he was very happy when playing it because it was made out of the shin-bone of a rival chief whom he had killed and eaten! Alonzo de Ovalle (c. 1650) tells us that such flutes are quite usual among some native tribes in Guiana and Chili, the accompanying drums being made out of the skins of the vanquished, to which music the warriors danced.

A flute of the whistle type, called Pito, played a prominent part in the public ceremonies of the Aztecs. At the religious festival in honour of the deity Tezcatlipoca "a young man was sacrificed who, in preparation for the ceremony, had been instructed in the art of playing the flute. . . . When the hour arrived in which he was to be sacrificed he observed the established symbolical rite of breaking a flute on each of the steps as he ascended the temple. Again, at the public ceremonies which took place on the accession of a prince to the throne the new monarch addressed a prayer to the god, in which occurred the following allegorical expression, 'I am thy flute; reveal to me thy will; breathe into me thy breath like into a flute, as thou hast done to my predecessors on the throne.'" (Engel, Mus. Instruments, 63.)

The flute-à-bec is much used by the North American Indians. They do not appear, however, to possess anyAmerican
Love-Flute transverse flutes. Most of their pipes are love-flutes, such as the Winnebago courting flute. That of the Sioux and Dakotas is called "Chotonka-chanta-ki-yapi." When a chief's son wishes to get married, he takes his flute and goes at night towards his lady's cabin and plays melancholy tunes as a prelude, after which he sings words of his own composition, describing her charms and promising her a long series of happy days in his wigwam. He then plays again on his flute to express his feelings. This singing and playing is continued for hours day after day, till the lady yields.

This use of the flute in love-making—probably owing to its soft and rather effeminate tone—is very widespread and of very ancient origin. It is found in Formosa and in Peru, where there is a regular "love-language" for the flute, by which girls can be drawn quite a distance to fall into the arms of the player. Garcilasso mentions how a Spaniard wished to carry off an Indian woman in the streets of Cozco, whereupon she exclaimed: "Let me go, for that pipe which you hear in yonder tower calls me with great passion, and I cannot refuse the summons, for Love constrains me to go, that I may be his wife and he my husband." Among the Shans it is customary for the lover to play short tunes in a minor key, with very melancholy cadences, outside the house of his lady-love before he enters; and if a young girl dies unmarried and has no lover, the young men of the village play tunes to her on their gourd flutes in turn as she lies dead.

Amongst the ancient Greeks the flute was considered rather a "naughty" instrument, probably owing to the character and dress—or rather want ofAncient
Prejudice
against the
Flute dress—of many of the ladies who played it, and also to its frequent introduction in scenes of debauch. Horace (Sat. I., ii. 1) calls bands of female flautists "Ambubajarum collegia," a term of contempt, and "flute-player" was often used as equivalent to "courtezan." The Theodosian Code forbade women to adopt the profession of flute-players. Apuleius calls it "the wantonly-sounding flute." Aristotle says the flute was not a moral instrument, but adapted to enthusiastic and passionate music, such as is improper for the sober purposes of education.^[1] Plato banished it from his republic, saying no modest woman could hear the Lydian flute with impunity. Aristonætus attributes to it great power to excite the passions. Perhaps this is why it was such a favourite with Cleopatra, a fact which did not escape the notice of Shakespeare (see p. 231, ante). An ancient Greek hymn to Mercury speaks of "the amorous sighing of the flute." It is to be noticed that the Hebrews employed the pipe or flute very little; that used in Nebuchadnezzar's band (Dan. iii.) was called "Mashrokitha."

Owing to its bad reputation, and also to its connection with Pagan religious ceremonies, the flute (though said to have been used by the early Alexandrian Christians in A.D. 150 to accompany the chant of the Last Supper)The
Fathers
and the
Puritans was tabooed by the early Christian Church. By the Canons of St. Paul (viii. 32), flute-players were refused the rite of baptism, St. Chrysostom calls pipes "the very pomps and hotchpotch of the devil." St. Clement asserted the flute was fit for beasts rather than men, and St. Cyprian goes so far as to say that to strive to talk with the fingers (as on a flute) is an act of ingratitude to God, who gave men a tongue; whilst St. Epiphanius says the flute was modelled from the serpent in Eden, and compares the gestures of a flute-player to those of the devil himself when blaspheming. The same view was taken by the early English Puritans. Gosson, in his School of Abuse (1579), terms flute-players "the caterpillars of a Commonwealth." William Prynne, in his Histriomastix (1633), cites with evident gusto the dictum of St. Clement, that if a flute-player turn Christian he must either give up flute-playing or else be rejected (p. 654). Fox, in his Martyrs, tells us that Thomas Bilney (who was afterwards martyred) used to resort straight to his prayers whenever the Rev. Dr. Thurlby, of Cambridge, played on his recorder. This, however, apparently did not prevent Thurlby from becoming a bishop.

Johannes Secundus makes flutes the instrument of Venus, and it is said that Leonardo da Vinci employed flutes as a kind of spell in order to obtain the proper pose for the Mona Lisa countenance in his famous picture, in which a refined sensuality is the main characteristic (Rowbotham). Nothing could please Zubof, the favourite of Catherine of Russia, when in love but the voluptuous strains of the flute.

1. As Roger Asham says quaintly in his Toxophilus (1545), "Pallas, when she invented a pipe, cast it away, not so much sayeth Aristotle, because it deformed her face, but muche rather because such an Instrumente belongeth nothing to learnynge. Howe such Instrumentes agree with learnyng, the goodlye argument betwixt Apollo, god of learnyng, and Marsyas the Satyr, defender of pipinge, doth well declare, where Marsyas had his skine quite pulled over his head for his labour."