The Greeks Hated Jazz

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 90, 14 March 1941, Page 5

The Greeks Hated Jazz

COMMEND this little book to all who want to " think beyond the confines of the day-to-day war news and local politics to-day; to those who wish to discover the deep-laid basis for much which we accept in this age that is enduring and good; and to those who would seek, expressed with literary

artistry, opinions on many topical questions that the touch of time has turned to truth. For instance, you can learn what Plato would do with those men who reached the age of thirty-five without marry-ing-he was the inventor of the bachelor tax. You may be interested to compare the problems of the Athenian school-teacher with those of contemporary New Zealand educationists. You are quite probably one of those radio listeners who believe ecstatically in, or disapprove strongly of, swing music. Plato noted just such a craze for hot rhythm (or its Greek equivalent) developing in Athens. As time went on (he says) the poets " .. . introduced the reign of vulgar and lawless innovation. They were men of genius, but they had no perception of what is legitimate in music, raging like Bacchanals and possessed with inordinate delights-mingling lamentations with hymns and paeans with dithyrambs imitating the sounds of the flute on the lyre, and making the general confusion;" (you recognise the symptoms?) -ignorantly affirming that music has no truth, and, whether good or bad, can only be judged of rightly by the pleasure which it gives to the hearer." And he observes: "If the democracy which judged had only consisted of educated persons no fatal harm would have been done .. ." Without entering the realm of musical controversy, one has to recognise that here, as elsewhere and everywhere in this fascinating book, this ancient Greek had a word that is relevant to our day-to-day preoccupations.(Book Talk by John Moffett, 4Y A, February 19.)