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22 CHINESE MUSI C. The D, E, A, and B of the Chinese scale are too sharp, the F is nearly F #, and the octave C is unbearable to foreign ears. In practice, however, the Chinese are able to flatten or sharpen the notes according to requirements ; but the intervals, the thirds principally, are never correct. ' The third was long considered' an imperfect consonance; it is only since the introduc– tion of temperamen t that the third in Western music has been classifi ed among the perfect consonances. The Chinese, like the ancient Greeks, recognise only the fifth, the fourth, and the octave as consonances. If Chinese melody were accompanied by chords formed of their sharp thirds, the effect would be to a foreigner an intolerable cacophony. However, the melody of the Chinese beino· 0 always unsupported, the dissonances are less apparent, and it a,pproaches more closely to just intonation. OF MAJ OR A.ND MI NOR. I s the Chinese scale major or minor ? 1 °. In Western music the maj or mode is determined by the perfect maj or third on the key-note (e.g., C to E), and the leading-note (note sensible, B). Among the Chinese, the pentatonic, or :five-notes' scale, is in general use, and this contain!'; neither E nor B; there is consequen tly no maj or third and no leading-note. 2°. Om minor mode is indicated by a minor third on the key-note (say, A to C), and the leading-note (which should be G #). The Chinese scale offers nothing of the kind. 3°. Even if the heptatonic, or seven-notes' gamut, is used, the sharp third on C is more than a major thiTd, and the third on A is an inexpressible interval. Thus, being composed of i.J:regular intervn.Is, and having no leading-notes (without whicl1 there is no possible modality), the Chinese scale may be said to be neither major nor minor, but to participate of the two. Chinese melodies are not maj estic, martial, sprightly, entrancing, as is our music in the major mode; and they lack the softness, the tenderness, the plaintive sadness of our minor airs. The European writers on music who positively declare that Chinese music is major, have been misled by the rendering of Chinese tunes in Western notation. Indeed, Chinese music expressed in our notes and played on our instruments is not at all shocking; it may even br accompanied and sustained by . chords and harmony. In this case there is no difficulty in declaring the music produced to be major or minor; _but Chinese tunes so disguised no longer belong to genuine Chinese music, and cannot possibly afford conclusive proofs of anything concel'ning it.