The Hydraulic Organ of the Ancients

Extract

In this paper on the Ancient Hydraulic Organ, or Hydraulicon, I must first apologize for the unfavourable strictures which I shall have to set down as to some of those persons who have been generally most highly regarded—and very deservedly so—in connection with the Art of Music. And my difficulties are enhanced by the fact that all, or most of, such persons are unfortunately no longer living. Now the axiom “Say nothing but good concerning the dead” is a most beautiful one theoretically; but it is obvious that it cannot always be obeyed in practice. For, although the sound of the departed one's actual voice has been for ever stilled, yet while that larger and more enduring written utterance remains, for good or for evil, so long must that utterance exist as an object of legitimate inquiry and adjudgment—always of course with the remembrance that as the deceased person can never more be present in the flesh, for disputing or denying the truth of any verdict pronounced against him, so must such verdict be always weighed accordingly. It is necessary to add that in any condemnations here made as to statements by these musicians concerning the organ, it is solely the structure of the instrument which is then involved, and even in that is always wholly or chiefly as relating to its physiological considerations.