The Teaching of Hazrat Inayat Khan

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Pope Gregory, after whom the Gregorian scales are named, coordinated those beautiful melodies which had come from ancient Greece via Byzantium to form the religious music of the Church. This is all that remains as a relic of the music of those times, though one finds traces of this Gregorian music in the compositions of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries-for instance in Handel's Messiah; later composers, however, created a type of music which was quite different. No doubt in this way they laid the foundation for Western music and helped it to evolve, but evolve in what way? Mechanically. They were able to make use of large bands, either brass bands or string bands, and also of an orchestra in which hundreds of instruments could be played at the same time. This naturally made a great impression, and it gave the world of music much opportunity and scope for the development and evolution of music. Nevertheless, there was one thing which was lost and which is being lost more and more every day: the appeal to the soul, which is the main purpose of music.


 
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