8). The Mixolydian mode is also identical with our modern
major scale except for thewholetone between the 7th and 8th
degrees. This mode has had very slight usage in modern music;
because, with the development of harmony,[26] the instinct be-
came so strong for a leading tone (the 7th degree)—only a semi-
tone distant from the upper tonic—that the original whole tone
has gradually disappeared. The Aeolian Mode, mainly identical
with our customary minor scale, has the characteristic whole
tone between the 7th and 8th degrees. Examples of this mode
abound in modern literature; two excellent instances being the
first theme of the Finale of Dvo[vr]ák’sNew World Symphony,
e.g.,
[Music]
and the following passage from theLegendfor à capella voices
of Tchaikowsky,e.g.
[Music]
The Ionian mode corresponds exactly with our modern major
scale, and the common people among all nations early showed
a strong predilection for its use. The Church, in fact, because
of this popularity with the people, named it the “modus las-
civus” and prohibited its use in the ecclesiastical liturgy. One of
the very earliest Folk-tunes extant—“Sumer is icumen in” (al-
ready referred to)—is in the Ionian mode and, according to Cecil
Sharp,[27] the majority of English Folk-tunes are in this same
mode.
[Footnote 26: The chief reason for this leading tone, in addition
to the natural tendency of singers to raise their voices as near
as possible to the upper tonic, was so that the dominant chord,
the third of which is always the 7th degree, might invariably be
aMajorTriad.]
[Footnote 27: For many suggestive comments on the whole sub-
ject see his bookEnglish Folk-Song.]
We now cite a few typical folk-songs (taken from national sources)
which, in their structure, show a natural instinct for balance of
phrase and oftentimes for that organic unity of effect gained by
restatement after contrast.
[Music: THE TRUE LOVERS’ FAREWELL
Old English]