<A>
Chinese music: *
According to legends, the founder of music in Chinese mythology was Ling Lun who, at the request of the Yellow Emperor to create a system of music, made bamboo pipes tuned to the sounds of birds including the phoenix. A 12-tone musical system was created based on the pitches of the bamboo pipes, the first of these pipes produced the "yellow bell" pitch, and a set of tuned bells were then created from the pipes. During the Zhou Dynasty, a formal system of court and ceremonial music later termed "elegant music" was established. The word music in China can also refer to dance; music and dance were considered integral part of the whole & its meaning can also be extended to poetry as well. Every dance would have had a piece of music associated with it. The most important set of music of the period was the Six-dynasty Music Dance performed in rituals in the royal court. Music in the Zhou Dynasty was conceived as a cosmological manifestation of the sound of nature integrated into the binary universal order of yin and yang. Correct music according to the Zhou concept involves instruments correlating to the 5 elements of nature & will bring harmony to nature. Around or before the 7th century BC, a system of pitch generation and pentatonic scale was derived from a cycle-of-fifths theory.
<B>
the rhythmic dynamic: *
Important aspects of rhythm include:
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DURATION: how long a sound (or silence) lasts.
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TEMPO: the speed of the BEAT, which can described by the number of beats/second (or in Classical music by standard Italian terms)
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METER: organizing beats into recurring accent patterns, creating a recognizable meter.
<C>
the accent less Tao: *
Chinese word signifying 'way', 'path', 'route', 'road' or sometimes more loosely 'doctrine', 'principle' In Chinese philosophy & religion, Tao is the natural order of the universe whose character human intuition must discern in order to realize the potential for individual wisdom. This intuitive knowing of "life" cannot be grasped as just a concept but is known through actual living experience of one's everyday being. Laozi in the Tao Te Ching explains that the Tao is not a 'name' for a 'thing' but the underlying natural order of the Universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe due to it being non conceptual yet evident' in one's being of aliveness. The Tao is "eternally nameless" and to be distinguished from the countless 'named' things which are considered to be its manifestations, the reality of life before its descriptions of it.
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<D>
directional energy: *
The full quote is: “the directional energy of our church-naves and our storeyed facades”; Spengler is pointing to the Gothic church as well as the high rise buildings of the Faustian megalopolis cities of the late 19th & early 20th centuries (see illustrations below). The church–naves in traditional Gothic church layout, reflect a strong horizontal line. The storeyed facades, with its of strong vertical thrust, is a reference the Western skyscrapers which Spengler would have seen in German cities. The first generation of skyscrapers appeared in Chicago and New York in the 1880s. The booming insurance businesses of the mid-19th century were among the first enterprises to exploit the technological advancements, which made tall buildings possible. Constructed after the great fire of 1871, Chicago’s Home Insurance building – completed in 1884 by William Le Baron Jenney – is considered the first tall building of the industrial era, at 12 stories high. New York city quickly matched this trend, and soon high rise “skyscrapers” were appearing across the Western world, including Germany.
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LEFT: nave of Salisbury cathedral RIGHT: Chicago’s Home Insurance building
<E>
Syrian sun worship: *
From 180 to 395 AD the dominant religious movement of the Roman Empire was the rapid growth of Christianity which culminated in the conversion of Constantine in 313. However this period also witnessed brief periods of Hellenistic revitalization. This included the emergence of the Syrian solar cult of Sol Invictus (the “Unconquered Sun”). This cult (along with the Roman mystery cult of Jupiter Dolichenus) was especially important & prominent under the emperors Antoninus Pius, the Severans (Septimius & Alexander) and Elagabalus. They were even hailed as the supreme deities of Rome under Aurelian, whose Sun temple was dedicated in 274 AD, when it was made an official cult alongside the traditional Roman cults. Sol Invictus may have been a revival of the cult of Elagabalus, synthesised with a re-foundation of the ancient Latin cult of Sol.
<F>
the synagogues of Irak:*
The Great Synagogue of Baghdad is traditionally believed to stand on the site of a synagogue built by King Jeconiah who was exiled from the Land of Israel to Babylon in 597 BCE. It is said that material gathered from the ruins of the Temple in Jerusalem was used in its construction. The building now serves as a museum in which the synagogue had been rebuilt.
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Arabian: (secular music): *
example
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Sassanid chivalry (music of): *
On several occasions Persian musicians & dancers were given to the court of Chinese emperors by Sassanid kings, reflecting their high repute. Music was also employed in the reception of foreign diplomats and kings from neighbouring countries, such as Byzantine or Hephthalites. Under the Sasanian rule, modal music was developed by Bardad (590-628 AD); he was the most famous & skilled court musician of the Empire. He may have invented the lute & the musical tradition that was transformed into the dastgah and maqam. He is credited with organizing a musical system consisting of 7 "royal modes", 30 derived modes & 360 melodies. His musical theories are not known, however the writers of later period have left a list of his modes and melodies. Their names include epic forms such as the Vengeance of Iraj, the Vengeance of Siavash, the Throne of Ardashir; others are connected with the glories of Sassanid royal court such as the garden of Shirin, the Sovereign's Garden, the seven treasures.
<I>
Moorish style (music): *
An example of Andalusian music: "Wallada bint al-Mustakfi"