Music of Solomon's Temple.
The disentombing of Assyrian sculptures, and the deciphering of Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions, have opened new fields of investigation in almost every department of knowledge. Among the branches of science that have shared in these discoveries, that of music has been benefited largely. The accounts of ancient musical instruments were vague, and our ideas, especially of Hebrew music, were confused, till recent sculptures and paintings have been brought to light, which delineate the musical instruments of the early oriental nations, and in a number of cases veritable specimens have been disentombed. Such, for example, is an Egyptian harp found in Thebes, with its strings yet perfect enough to vibrate again, after a silence of three thousand years. The more recent investigations prove that the parent of all known musical science was Assyria. From the Assyrians, the Hebrews, and the Egyptians, and, indeed, all Eastern nations, derived their knowledge of music. The unveiled monuments show that, in the time of Sennacherib, music was a highly cultured art, and must have continued through generations. This polished nation used a harp of twenty-one strings, the frame of which was four feet high, which accompanied minstrel songs, or was borne in the dance. The lyre of tortoise shell, double pipe, the trumpet, drum, and bell, were common. Even of the bag-pipe, representations have been discovered, though none of stringed instruments, like the violin, played with the bow. In all delineations of social or worshiping assemblies, musical instruments very like our modern ones have a prominent place. The Hebrew music, at the time of the exodus, was purely Egyptian; but it was much modified subsequently, by associations with Asiatic nations. In the temple of Jerusalem, according to the Talmud, stood a powerful organ, consisting of a wind chest with ten holes, containing ten pipes, each pipe capable of emitting ten different sounds by means of finger-holes, so that a hundred sounds could be produced by it. It was provided with ten pairs of bellows and ten keys, so that it could be played with the fingers. According to the rabbis it could be heard a great distance from the temple.—Sel.