As we have mentioned in the previous essay, the only fragments of ancient Greek music which have survived are from the last period, the “Roman Period.” There is no extant music from the great centuries of ancient Greece, the 8th through the 4th century BC. Similarly, there is no notation of, or discussion of the theory of the modes, before Aristoxenus, a pupil of Aristotle.
On the other hand, the most frequently discussed aspect of ancient Greek music by ancient philosophers was these modes. Unlike the later Church modes of Western Europe which share the same names, such as “Dorian,” and are characterized by, and taught as, varying accumulations of half- and whole step intervals together with cadential centers, the ancient Greek mode names were names of societies of people. A label such as “Dorian” was used to reflect the style of a specific society of people’s music much as today we might speak of “German” or “French” music. Eventually they became systems for tuning the lyre, at a time when the Greeks had no names for the actual notes of music. Later, Aristoxenus coined the term tonos, suggesting that perhaps they had become somewhat more like modern scales. But none of this tells us anything about the music itself.1
As we have said, the character of the music seemed to be widely understood as reflecting the character of the people. What did they mean by that? Athenaeus begins by agreeing with an argument, in a now lost book by Heracleides of Pontus, that really one should only speak of three Greek modes, the Dorian, Aeolian, and Ionian, as these represent the three main tribes of the Greeks. Phrygian and Lydian, he says originated with the “barbarians” [meaning those who do not speak Greek well] and were learned by the Greeks from them. He then attempts to portray the character of these three tribes, with the obvious suggestion that the music of these modes somehow is of the same character.
Now the Dorian mode exhibits the quality of manly vigor, of magnificent bearing, not relaxed or merry, but sober and intense, neither varied nor complicated. But the Aeolian character contains the elements of ostentation and turgidity, and even conceit; these qualities are in keeping with their horse-breeding and their way of meeting strangers; yet this does not mean malice, but is, rather, lofty and confident. Hence also their fondness for drinking is something appropriate to them, also their love affairs, and the entirely relaxed nature of their daily life.
Next in order let us examine the Milesians’ character, which the Ionians illustrate. Because of their excellent physical condition they bear themselves haughtily, they are full of irate spirit, hard to placate, fond of contention, never condescending to kindliness nor cheerfulness, displaying a lack of affection and a hardness in their character. Hence also the kind of music known as the Ionian mode is neither bright nor cheerful, but austere and hard, having a seriousness which is not ignoble; and so their mode is well-adapted to tragedy. But the character of the Ionians today is more voluptuous, and the character of their mode is much altered.2
The belief in these kinds of associations continued for centuries. Heinrich Glarean, for example, in his Dodecachordon of 1547, writes in a similar vein.
If I am allowed to make a rough judgment concerning this and the preceding modes, I shall say it in a few words: Each mode seems to me to reflect beautifully the customs of the people from which the names are taken. The Athenians were truly Ionians, the Spartans were Dorians; the former, although lovers of pleasant things and students of eloquence, were still always considered capricious. Yet the Spartans, renowned in war and bound by military discipline and the severe laws of Lycurgus, have preserved longer the harsh customs handed down from their ancestors. These modes have the same characteristics. The Ionian, devoted entirely to dancing, contains much sweetness and pleasantness, almost no severity. On the contrary, the Dorian presents a certain majesty and dignity which it is easier to admire than to explain. It is very suitable for [epic] poetry, as I have myself experienced at one time as a youth in Koln in the presence of the celebrated Kaiser Maximilian and many princes, not without the reward of the merited laurel branch (which is said without boasting).3
The great Baroque writer, Johann Mattheson, in his review of tonality4 still refers to the association of the Greek modes with the peoples for whom they were named.
It is probably that the Dorians had a coarser, more manly, and deeper speaking voice than the Phrygians; and that on the other hand the Lydians sang finer and more effeminately than the others. For the Dorians were a modest, virtuous and peaceful people; the Phrygians however used more noise than foresight; whereas the Lydians, forefathers of the Tuscans, were everywhere described as sensual people.
Henry Agrippa, in his three volume De occulta philosophia, written in 1509 - 1510, written in the old mold of Catholic Scholasticism, claims to have found ancient sources which tie the above associations with the ancient philosophers theories on basic elements. He then adds to the mix the Renaissance ideas of the “Humors” and the “music of the spheres.”
Moreover, they that followed the number of the elements, did affirm, that the four kinds of music do agree to them, and also to the four humors, and did think the Dorian music to be consonant to the Water and phlegm, the Phrygian to choler and Fire, the Lydian to blood and Air, the mixed-Lydian to melancholy and Earth: others respecting the number and virtue of the heavens, have attributed the Dorian to the Sun, the Phrygian to Mars, the Lydian to Jupiter, the mixed-Lydian to Saturn, the hypo-Phrygian to Mercury, the hypo-Lydian to Venus, the hypo-Dorian to the Moon, the hypo-mixed-Lydian to the fixed star….5
In any event, the ancients believed in the relationship between music and character much more than anyone today. Even Aristotle, who wrote with little enthusiasm about music in general, took this relationship seriously.
We accept the division of melodies...into ethical melodies, melodies of action, and passionate or inspiring melodies, each having, as they say, a mode corresponding to it....
In education the most ethical modes are to be preferred, but in listening to the performances of others we may admit the modes of action and passions also. For feelings such as pity and fear, or, again, enthusiasm, exist very strongly in some souls, and have more or less influence over all. Some persons fall into a religious frenzy, whom we see as a result of the sacred melodies -- when they have used the melodies that excite the soul to mystic frenzy -- restored as through they had found healing and purgation. Those who are influenced by pity and fear, and every emotional nature, must have a like experience, and others in so far as each is susceptible to such emotions, and all are in a manner purged and their souls lightened and delighted. The purgative melodies likewise give an innocent pleasure to mankind.6
Let us, then, look at a representative sampling of these relationships as held by earlier philosophers.
DORIAN
Music of a moderate and settled temper…grave and manly.7
…..
All men agree that Dorian music is the gravest and manliest.8
Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)
Majestic.
Aristoxenus (born c. 179 BC)
Exhibits the quality of manly vigor, of magnificent bearing, not relaxed or merry, but sober and instense, neither varied nor complicated.9
Athenaeus (c. 200 AD)
Warlike.10
Apuleius (123 – 180 AD)
Bestows wisdom to and causes chastity in the listener.11
Ornithoparchus (1517)
PHRYGIAN
Exciting and orgiastic and inspires enthusiasm.
Aristotle
Causes wars and inflames fury.
Ornithoparchus
More suitable to severe, religious music, as elegies, laments and funeral music.12
Glarean (1547)
Here never does one sing in Phrygian modes,
Since nowhere is there argument and din….13
Antonio Abbatini (1667)
The Phrygian mode lies at the center of one of the most frequently told tales regarding the character of these modes, an incident involving Alexander the Great. As Plutarch retells this moment,
Even Alexander himself, when Antigenides played before him in the [Phrygian] mode, was so transported and warmed for battle by the charms of lofty melodies, that leaping from his seat all in his clattering armor he began to lay about him and attack those who stood next him, thereby verifying to the Spartans what was commonly sung among themselves,
The masculine touches of the well-tuned lyre
Unsheathe the sword and warlike rage inspire.14
LYDIAN
Relaxed.15
Plato (427 – 347)
Sharpens the wit of the dull and moves the mind from earthly to heavenly desires.
Ornithopaarchus
Harsh.
Glarean
AEOLIAN
The Aeolian character contains the elements of ostentation and turgidity, and even conceit; these qualities are in keeping with their horse-breeding and their way of meeting strangers; yet this does not mean malice, but is, rather, lofty and confident. Hence also their fondness for drinking is something appropriate to them, also their love affairs, and the entirely relaxed nature of their daily life.
Athenaeus
Calms the tempest of the mind and, after having done so, lulls it to sleep.
Ornithoparchus
IONIAN
Relaxed.
Plato
Associated with dancing. Because some men attribute a frivolous wantonness to this mode, it was rarely used in older Church music.
Glarean
HYPODORIAN
Magnificent and steadfast.
Aristotle
The lowest of all….These tones...have been shown to possess such great usefulness that they calm excited minds and cause even wild animals and serpents and birds and dolphins to approach and listen to their harmony.
Cassiodorus (480 – 573 AD)
Hypolydian [is good] for lamentations because of its doleful sound.16
John, On Music [c. 1100 AD]
HYPOPHRYGIAN
Has the character of action.17
Aristotle
HYPOIONIAN
Great charm in morning songs and love songs, especially in the Celtic tongue which the Swiss use....
Glarean
MIXOLYDIAN
Mixolydian makes men sad and grave…woeful and quiet.
Aristotle
Pathetic.
Aristoxenus
The ancients heard Mixolydian as melancholic.18
Plutarch (46 – 127 AD)
A certain tranquil dignity which both moves and dominates the people.
Glarean
Aside from these early descriptions of the character of the Greek modes, there are a few additional observations which seem to carry important information but lack sufficient detail to be helpful to the modern reader. First, a comment by Aristoxenus (born c. 379 BC), who wrote at a time when theorists were attempting to formulate a written form of the modes. But his comment makes it clear that the written form did not address the essence of the modes.
[Just because] a man notes down the Phrygian scale it does not follow that he must know the essence of the Phrygian scale. Plainly then notation is not the ultimate limit of our science.19
This reminds us of a problem in our modern Church-mathematical notational system. We lack completely symbols for feeling, even though that is the whole point of music. We can imagine one saying, “We can write music, but the notation does not reveal the essence of the music.”
This distinction seems to be intended by Aristoxenux again when he refers to a song “which is sung to the Hypodorian scale,” but is described as “being in the Aeolian mode.”
Second, although it is understood that the names of the Greek modes were originally intended to represent the music of specific peoples, and not music theory, one must imagine that the styles within “Dorian,” for example, were rather broad and that it was not just one style. Something of this nature seems suggested by a comment of Plutarch,
Indeed it is much questioned among the Dorians themselves, whether the enharmonic composers be competent judges of the Dorian songs.20
It must have been a similar sophistication within the genre which caused additional adjectives such as Aristophanes’ expression, a “soft Ionian Love song,”21 not to mention Aeschylus’,
Through me too sorrow runs
Like a strange Ionian Song....22
What can “a strange Ionian Song” mean? This adjective also occurs twice in Euripides,
O Muse, be near me now, and make
A strange song for Ilion’s sake....23
…..
A lad alone on Ida,
Playing tunes on his pipe, strange melodies,
Like the melodies Olympus sang....24
Aristoxenus mentioned another of these stylistic distinctions when he quoted a passage from Aristotle’s Problems,
…which justifies the use of the Hypodorian and Hypophrygian modes for the lyrics sung by actors, when realistic action was called for, but not for those of the chorus....25
A final example of information within the genre now lost to us is found in a play by Aristophanes and is a representative of ancient Greek humor.
You also know what a pig’s education he has had; his school-fellows can recall that he only liked the Dorian style and would study no other; his music master in displeasure sent him away saying; “This youth, in matters of harmony, will only learn the Dorian style because it is akin to bribery.”26
Today we have no idea why this was funny to the ancient Greeks, but it apparently involved a play on words, the spirit of which one French translator attempted to capture by referring to it as the “Louis d’or-ian mode.”
There are also some interesting contemporary comments which fall into the realm of performance practice. First, Plutarch mentions a composer named, Sacadas,
who composed a choral ode with the first strophe in Dorian, the second in Phrygian, and the third “after the Lydian manner; and this style was called Trimeres (or threefold) by reason of the shifting of the modes.”27
To the modern reader this would appear to be something on the order of modulation and it may have some relevance to a song by Alkman,
Sing, O Muse, sing high and clear
O polytonal many-voiced Muse,
Make a new song for girls to sing.
About the towered temple of Therapne.
Alkman (c. 640 - 600 BC), one of the ancient Greek lyric poets, was a slave and choral conductor. He was admired by Goethe and Aristotle said he suffered terribly from lice. Chamaeleon says Alkman “led the way as a composer of erotic songs, and was the first to publish a licentious song, being prone in his habits of life to the pursuit of women and to poetry of that kind.”28
Second, there is a comment by Aristotle (Politica 1342b) which is very interesting from several viewpoints. One can only wish that Aristotle had gone into his usual detail when he mentioned an instance of a performer who attempted to perform a dithyramb, “acknowledged to be Phrygian,” in the Dorian and could not do it.
Finally, there are three interesting comments from much later during the Christian Era, when the Church modes, with the same names, had replaced the ancient Greek modes. Today the Church modes are generally taught as scales with differing placements of half- and whole steps. No theory teacher today uses the kinds of descriptions used by the ancient Greeks, “noble,” “majestic,” etc., much less do the recommend to their students that these modes have differing effects on the listener. But these late medieval and renaissance theorists had some reason for continuing to think of the new Church modes as representing character in the style of the old Greek modes. It is a topic very worthy of reconsideration by today’s theorists.
Andreas Ornithoparchus, in his Musice active micrologus of 1517 warns that the musician must diligently observe which mode he plays for specific listeners! The men of our time, he says, know how to do this according to the nature of the occasion.
But our men of a more refined time do use sometimes the Dorian, sometimes the Phrygian, sometimes the Lydian and sometimes other modes, because they judge that according to differing occasions they are to choose differing modes. And that is not without cause, for every habit of the mind is governed by songs. For songs make men sleepy and wakeful, careful and merry, angry and merciful. Songs heal diseases and produce diverse wonderful effects, moving some to vain mirth, some to a devout and holy joy, yes often to godly tears.29
Heinrich Glarean in his Dodecachordon of 1547, a work devoted to the new Church modes, makes a similar comment which goes beyond mere half- and whole descriptions.
On the other hand, I believe that for the last four hundred years [the Ionian mode] has also been so deeply admired by church singers, that, enticed by its sweetness and alluring charm, they have changed many songs of the Lydian mode into this mode....30
In another place Glarean discusses this process at more length.
Modes are also changed from one into another but not with equal success. For in some cases the change is scarcely clear even to a perceptive ear, indeed, often with great pleasure to the listener, a fact which we have frequently declared is very common today in changing from the Lydian to the Ionian. Those who play instruments and who know how to sing readily the verses of poets according to a musical play, understand this. Indeed, in this way they are frequently worthy of praise if they do it skillfully, especially if they change the Ionian into Dorian. But in other cases the changing seems rough, and scarcely ever without a grave offense to the ears, as changing from the Dorian to the Phrygian. And so whenever present day organists encounter this difficulty in changing church songs in such a way, if they are not well trained and quick, they often incur the derision of experienced listeners.31
The third example comes from the Harmonie universelle (1636) by Marin Mersenne (1588 - 1648). Unfortunately, Mersenne does not give us the basis for the recommendations, but it is clear that he was thinking along the lines of the old Greek character associations when he endorsed, Giovanni Doni’s32 suggestions of a correspondence between the modes and the color of specific organ pipes.
The organ can be used to express each mode because of the great number of its stops, of which the one of tin is proper for the Dorian, and the others composed of pipes more or less large at the top than at the bottom, closed and open, for example, the narrow ones are suitable for the Phrygian, and the wider ones for the Lydian; and then he says that the pipes which imitate the block flutes are good to express the Dorian; those which imitate the fife and the flageolet for the Phrygian; and the cornett and the pipes which make the German flute for the Lydian. The boxwood is proper to make the Dorian pipes; the regals are good for the Lydian, and the brass pipes for the Phrygian.33
Another subject which the ancient philosophers took quite seriously was the choice of modes to be used in education. Their interest in the relationship between music and character development followed naturally their assumptions about the varying characters of the modes. The most extended discussion of this topic is found in Plato, who begins with a discussion of the music teacher.
The teachers of the lyre take similar care that their young disciple is temperate and gets into no mischief; and when they have taught him the use of the lyre, they introduce him to the poems of other excellent poets, who are the lyric poets; and these they set to music, and make their harmonies and rhythms quite familiar to the children’s souls, in order that they may learn to be more gentle, and harmonious, and rhythmical, and so more fitted for speech and action; for the life of man in every part has need of harmony and rhythm. Then they send them to the master of gymnastic....34
What kind of music is Plato describing here? First, the musical style must be simple and in a single style. More complex “mixed styles” Plato did not permit in education, although he admits this type of music was more popular with both children and the general public.
You would agree with me in saying that one [style] is simple and has but slight changes; and that if an author expresses this style in fitting harmony and rhythm, he will find himself, if he does his work well, keeping pretty much within the limits of a single harmony (for the changes are not great), and in like manner he will make a similar choice of rhythm?
That is quite true, he said.
Whereas the other requires all sorts of harmonies and all sorts of rhythms if the music and the style are to correspond, because the style has all sorts of changes.
That is also perfectly true, he replied.
And do not the two styles, or the mixture of the two, comprehend all poetry and every form of expression in words? No one can say anything except in one or other of them or in both together.
They include all, he said.
And shall we receive into our State all the three styles, the one only of the two unmixed styles? Or would you include the mixed?
I should prefer only to admit the pure imitator of virtue.
Yes, I said, Adeimantus; and yet the mixed style is also charming: and indeed the opposite style to that chosen by you is by far the most popular with children and their attendants, and with the masses.
I do not deny it.35
In the most frequently quoted passage regarding Plato’s views on music, we are told the choice of modes is to be strictly limited.
The harmonies which you mean are the mixed or tenor Lydian, and the full-toned or bass Lydian, and such-like.
These then, I said, must be banished; even to women who have a character to maintain they are of no use, and much less to men.
Certainly.
In the next place, drunkenness and softness and indolence are utterly unbecoming the character of our guardians.
Utterly unbecoming.
And which are the soft and convivial harmonies?
The Ionian, he replied, and some of the Lydian which are termed “relaxed.”
Well, and are these of any use for warlike men?
Quite the reverse, he replied; and if so the Dorian and the Phrygian are the only ones which you have left....
If these and only these are to be used in our songs and melodies, we shall not want multiplicity of strings or a panharmonic scale?
I suppose not.36
Aristotle’s discussion of this subject is not so extended, but it is clear his views followed those of Plato.
Even in mere melodies there is an imitation of character, for the musical modes differ essentially from one another, and those who hear them are differently affected by each. Some of them make men sad and grave, like the so-called Mixolydian, others enfeeble the mind, like the relaxed modes, another, again, produces a moderate and settled temper, which appears to be the peculiar effect of the Dorian; the Phrygian inspires enthusiasm. The whole subject has been well treated by philosophical writers on this branch of education, and they confirm their arguments by facts.37
Returning to the subject of education, and particularly the aspect of character building, Aristotle limits the appropriate modes.
But for education the ethical modes should be used, such as Dorian…. All men agree that the Dorian music is the gravest and manliest. And whereas we say that the extremes should be avoided and the mean followed, and whereas the Dorian is a mean between the other modes, it is evident that our youth should be taught in the Dorian music.38
One of the modern collections of the poetry of the Alexandrian Period of ancient Greece is called, Last Flowers.39 It is an appropriate title, for among the Greeks, these poets are the last link with the style of the old lyric poets who sang their poetry to the accompaniment of lyre or aulos. One of beautiful poems of this period, “Elegy on the Death of Bion,” (fl. 105 BC) proclaims that Dorian music itself has died. We do not know the poet who wrote this, although he says he was a student of Bion.
Ravines and Dorian waters, sigh with me;
And rivers, mourn for Bion....He is dead;
The lovely singer lies within the tomb....
No more the pastoral song may Bion sing;
With him, alas, has died the lyric strain;
And all the Dorian music has been slain....
He who the herds once charmed will sing no more,
Sitting in solitude the oaks among
To make his music. Now he sings before
Pluto; forgetfulness is all his song....
Bion, your fate Apollo’s self bemoans;
Full many a Satyr and Priapus weeps
In sable raiment. Pans with sobs and groans
Bewail your music. From the watery deeps
Full many a nymph her tearful visage rears;
The woodland springs are fountains of their tears....
Who now will play your pipes, O thrice bewailed?
Who on the reedy vents his mouth would place?
Thus overbold, he little had availed,
Where still your lips and breath have living grace,
Where Echo on the reeds your song maintains.
To Pan I bring your pipes; with little zest
For him, who fears to emulate your strains
Lest he himself should come off second best,
Lest far beyond him would your music go....
Dear master, long before I learned from you
The Dorian mode; to others may belong
Your wealth; but your sweet music is my due;
To me the larger heritage will go....40
We cannot know if the old Dorian music was indeed dead, but it is clear they all changed dramatically over time. Glarean seems to weaken any argument that the modes any longer have specific identifiable characters, by suggesting they can be changed in character by the composer.
Yet, it cannot be denied that antiquity has changed these modes, but undoubtedly the nature of modes can be turned in another direction, so that a mode which seems light in character can be used with not much difficulty for serious subjects (provided that a propitious talent is at hand), and on the contrary, a serious mode can be used for light subjects.41
During the late Middle Ages the old Greek treatises were being discovered and translated and this resulted in what we call Humanism in music, a return to making music express feeling and not mathematics. The passion of the Baroque composers to try and discover how emotions are communicated in music led, among other things, to rethinking the old Greek idea of associating character and tonality.
We will let Johann Mattheson represent this movement. He was one of the first who understood correctly that the emotions are related to melody, not harmony and points out,
…the nature and character of each key, namely whether it is happy, sad, lovely, devout, etc., are actually matters of the science of melody.42
In his Neu-Eroffnete Orchestre, Mattheson discusses this in more detail, contending that in the key of F-sharp minor, for example, he finds,
…a key characterized by sadness, but a sadness more pensive and lovelorn than tragic and gloomy; it is a key that has about it a certain loneliness, an individuality, a misanthropy.43
1 Neither does the description in words by Athenaeus tell us anything about the taste of the “Phrygian figs,” or the “Lydian figs,” or the smell of the “Phrygian odor” [Deipnosophistae, III, 75, 76 and XIV, 626].
2 Athenaeus. Op. cit., XIV, 624-626.
3 Heinrich Glarean, Dodecachordon, trans., Clement Miller (American Institute of Musicology, 1965), I, 155ff.
4 Johann Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister (1739), trans., Ernest Harriss (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1981), I, ix.
5 Henry Cornelius Agrippa, De occulta Philosophia, II, xxvi.. The best modern edition, which is highly recommended, is Donald Tyson, Three Books of Occult Philosophy (St. Paul: Llewellyn Publications, 1993).
6 Politica, 1342a.
7 Probemata, XIX, 48; Politica, VIII, 5, 7.
8 Politica, 1342a.27 and 1342b.14.
9 Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, XIV, 624-626.
10 Erasmus quoting Apuleius in “Adages,” in The Collected Works of Erasmus (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992), XXXIII, 283ff.
11 Ornithoparchus, Musicae active mirologus and Dowland, Introduction: Containing the Art of Singing (New York: Dover, 1973), 156.
12 Glarean, Dodecachordon, trans., Clement Miller (American Institute of Musicology, 1965), I, 130.
13 Quoted in Lorenzo Bianconi, Music in the Seventeenth Century, trans., David Bryant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 288.
14 “The Second Oration Concerning the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great.”
15 Republic, III, 398e.
16 Hucbald, “Melodic Instruction” in Hucbald, Guido, and John on Music, trans., Warren Babb (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978),
17 Problemata, 922b.10.
18 “Concerning Music.” Plutarch clams this mode was introduced by the woman lyric poet, Sappho (c. 640 – 550 BC).
19 Ibid., 39.
20 “Concerning Music.”
21 The Ecclesiazusae, 881.
22 The Supplices, 69, trans., Gilbert Murray, The Complete Plays of Aeschylus (London: George Allen, 1952).
23 The Trojan Women, 510.
24 Iphigenia in Aulis, 574.
25 Quoted in Sir Arthur Pickard-Cambridge, The Dramatic Festivals of Athens (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953), 263, 265.
26 The Knights, 990.
27 Quoted in Plutarch in “Concerning Music.” Athenaeus (Op. cit., xiv, cap. 31) says that Pronomus, the Theban, was the first who played three kinds of music upon one aulos; and that before him players used separate instruments for each.
28 Chamaeleon, quoted by Archytas of Mytilene, quoted by Athenaeus, in Op. cit., XIII, 600.
29 Ornithoparchus, Musicae active mirologus and Dowland, Introduction: Containing the Art of Singing (New York: Dover, 1973), 156.
30 Glarean, Dodecachordon, trans., Clement Miller (American Institute of Musicology, 1965),, I, 153.
31 Ibid., I, 129.
32 Giovanni Battista Doni, Compendio del trattato de’ generi e de’ modi (Rome, 1635).
33 Harmonie universelle, V, vii, 30.
34 Protagoras, 326b.
35 Republic, III, 397c.
36 Ibid., III, 398e. In Laches, 188d, Plato remarks that the Dorian is the true Hellenic mode.
37 “Politica,” 1340a.40. The “facts” Aristotle refers to here are unknown today.
38 Ibid., 1342a27 and 1342b.14.
39 Henry H. Chamberlin, Last Flowers (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937).
40 Henry H. Chamberlin, Last Flowers (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1937), 67ff.
41 Ibid., I, 164ff.
42 Mattheson, Op. cit., I, ix, 47.
43 Das Neu-Eroffnete Orchestre (Hamburg, 1713), 231ff.
(See The Music of Ancient Greece: An Encyclopaedia, Michaelides, Solon, Faber, 1978, pp. 335–340: "Tonos". Τόνος may refer to a pitch, an interval, a "key" or register of the voice, or a mode.)
''plural Tonoi, concept in ancient Greek music, pertaining to the placement of scale patterns at different pitches and closely connected with the notion of octave species (q.v.). Through transposition of the Greater Perfect System (comprising two octaves descending from the A above middle C to the second A below) to a higher or lower pitch level, each tonos causes a different octave…''
Michaelides, Solon, The Music of Ancient Greece: An Encyclopaedia (London: Faber, 1978) This is an essential tool in the study of Ancient Greek Music (Greek edition: Athens, 1989). It is presented in the form of a dictionary with extensive and detailed entries.
You are here: HomePage| Notebook (articles)| Greek Music| Selection of Titles on Ancient Greek Music| Bibliography Selection for Ancient Greek Music Albrecht, Michael von et Werner Schubert, edd., Musik in Antike und Neuzeit (Bern: Lang, 1987) We owe the initiative for the publication of this collection of essays to the Heidelberg Seminar on Classic Literature; the work represents the seminar’s contribution to the 600th anniversary of the Heidelberg University. The texts document the pursuits of the ‘Music Score Archives on the influence of Antiquity in modern times music’ (Notenarchiv zum Fortwirken der Antike in der Musik der Neuzeit), founded by Joachim Draheim. The essays discuss issues on music archaeology (E. Eibner, “Music life during the Hallstatt period: considerations about music based on representations”); on ancient music theories (F. Zaminer: “On the meaning of ‘pitch’ from Antiquity to modern times”); on organology (E. Poehlmann, “The two Elgin lyres at the British Museum”); and even the assimilation of the impact of Ancient Greek Music in modern times (M. von Albrecht, “Music and Rhetoric in Goethe and Quintilianus”). Anderson, Warren D., Ethos and Education in Greek Music: The Evidence of Poetry and Philosophy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, c1966) Anderson’s classic monograph examines the educational, ethical and philosophical dimension in music for the Greeks from Pindar, Plato and Aristotle to the Papyrus Hibeh 13 and Philodemus. Anderson was the first to question the excessive importance attributed to Damon in the history of the ethos theory (e.g. in Abert and Lasserre, see title no. 34).
__________, Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994) Anderson’s more recent book completes the first one and studies the surviving evidence on the practice of music. The central part of the book refers essentially to the 5th century BC with various references however to earlier and later periods. The subject is developed chronologically from the Stone Age and the so-called Dark Ages (from 1100 to 900 BC) to the times of Plato and Aristotle. Arrighetti, Graziano, Gigante, Marcello και Kleve, Knut, edd., Cronache Ercolanesi no. 19 (Napoli: Gaetano Macchiaroli, 1989) The 1989 yearbook of the Herculaneum Papyri International Research Centre includes Daniel Delattre’s text “Philodemus’ On Music: 4th book, columns 40 to 109” and James Porter’s “Content and form in Philodemus” which studies the very interesting theory on aesthetics and poetry as exposed by Philodemus and his opponents (known as ‘critics’).
Barbera, André, The Euclidian Division of the Canon: Greek and Latin Sources (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991) The new analytical texts in this edition study sources that were unknown at the time of the Menge publication in 1916, and proceed to the most reliable reconstitution of the three main versions of the text: the main version in Greek with the written ascription to Euclides or Cleoneides, the shorter version in Greek which is included in the comments of Porphyry in Ptolemy’s Harmonics and the Latin version of Boethius included in his Institutio Musica.
________ , ed., Music Theory and its Sources: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Notre Dame Conferences in Medieval Studies I (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990) This volume includes highly important articles by André Barbera, Thomas Mathiesen and Jon Solomon on the duties and conjectures of modern reviewers of ancient Greek texts on music and music theory. The reconstruction of an ideal prototype is a chimera, Barbera sums up: the ‘texts’ are ‘organic’ compositions, ‘experience stories’ in successive layers, an important factor that should be pointed out in modern editions.
Barker, Andrew, Greek Musical Writings (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) A selection with translation and comments on the sources of Ancient Greek Music. Barker aspires to render all the sources on Ancient Greek Music accessible to readers with no knowledge of Ancient Greek.
Bélis, Annie, Aristoxene de Tarante et Aristote: Le Traité d’harmonique, Études et commentaires 100 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1986) This is a recent study on Aristoxenus of Tarentum and his Armonika (Elements of harmony), after the previous one by Laloy on the same subject (Paris 1904). Bélis extensively analyzes the contents of Aristoxenus’ treatise, ascertains the line of thought rather than the fragmentary character of the surviving document, points out the Aristotelian elements and highlights Aristoxenus’ founder’s role in treating the study of harmonics as a separate science.
___________, Les Hymnes á Apollon, École Francaise d’Athènes. Corpus des inscriptions de Delphes III (Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, 1992) About twenty years after the publication of the work Denkmaeler der altgriechischen Musik (1970), which is the first work where the Delphic Hymns are presented ‘as they really were and not as one would wish they were’ (p. 24), Bélis publishes her own study using means and methods that were unknown to Poehlmann, and presents us with a reviewed and improved version of the two hymns, equipped with an extensive commentary on the text, the music and the music notation. Bélis identified the composer of the first hymn (article 19 in the Poehlmann edition) as Athinaios Athinaiou and dated both hymns to 128 BC.
Boldrini, Sandro, Prosodie und Metrik der Roemer, Teubner-Studienbuecher (Stuttgart:Teubner, 1999) An excellent manual on metrics in classic Latin poetry with a concise reference to music.
Brancacci, Aldo et al., Aristoxenica, Menandrea Fragmenta, Philosophica, Studi e testi per il Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici Greci e Latini XCI (Firenze: Olschki,1988) Luigi Enrico Rossi’s view on two papyrus fragments by Aristoxenus, one of them on harmonics and the other on metrics and rhythm. The author deems it possible that these two fragments are the work of a later writer, possibly of the Hellenistic period. The same volume includes the first-rate study of the Hibeh 13 Papyrus by Aldo Brancacci, in which the author questions the accepted chronology of the work and the authorship which is attributed to Ippias the Sophist; he convincingly maintains that the author of these fragments was the rhetorician Alkidamas, pupil of Gorgias and a contemporary of Antisthenes and Isocrates, who was an active figure in Athens from 390 to 365 BC.
Ceccarelli, Paola, La Pirrica nell'Antichita greco-romana: studi sulla danza armata, Filologia e critica. Collana diretta da Bruno Gentili (Pisa: IEPI, 1998) Focusing on pyrrhic dance the author studies a number of sources from the entire Greek world of that period, including representations, texts and inscriptions. She devotes a special chapter to music (“on P. Vidal-Naquet’s insistence”, p. 7) in which she studies the information found in sources that deal with the distinction between pyrrhic metres and feet, instruments and the corresponding ethos.
Comotti, Giovanni, Music in Greek and Roman Culture,μτφ. R. Munson (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989) [τίτλος πρωτοτύπου: La musica nella cultura greca e romana (Torino: EDT, 1979)] Comotti’s introduction to Ancient Greek Music is the first volume of a series of publications dedicated to the European History of Music as seen by the Italian Society of Musicology and aiming at the creation of manuals for the curriculum in musicology in Italian universities. Following the leading spirit of the series –described by Alberto Bosso in the prologue, but unfortunately not included in the English translation- Comotti’s objective is to present a panoramic view of the Greek and Roman worlds highlighting the role of music in society; in a dialectic and questioning -rather than aphoristic- manner, he deals with specific subjects (instruments and music theory). In conclusion, he gives a detailed analysis of the surviving fragments and submits a selection of translated documents and sources.
Dale, A.M., The Lyric Metres of Greek Drama (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1948) A classical and analytical review of the use of lyric metres in drama in Attica and decisive chapters on the formation of strophes, as well as information on performance.
D'Alfonso, Francesca, Stesicoro e la performance: studio sulle modalita esecutive dei carmi stesicorei, Filologia e critica 74 (Roma: Gruppo Editoriale Internazionale, 1994) Yet another interesting research, in the sphere of influence generated by the famous modern Italian philologist Bruno Gentili, on the question of performance in Ancient Greek poetry. D’Alfonso refers to the modern controversial issue regarding the limits that should be applied in the traditional separation of Ancient Greek poetry between ‘chorus’ and ‘lyric’ poetry, and concludes corroborating the ancient evidence relative to the choral character in Stesichorus’ poetry.
Degering, Hermann, Die Orgel: Ihre Erfindung und ihre Geschichte bis zur Karolingerzeit (Muenster: Coppenrathsche Buchhandlung, 1905 / ανατ. της έκδ. Buren: Frits Knuf;1989) A German translation of Greek and Latin texts and a detailed presentation of illustration sources for the hydraulic instrument of Antiquity.
Delavaud-Roux, Marie-Helene, Les Danses Pacifiques en Grece Antique (Aix-en-Provence: Publications de l'Universitι de Provence,1994) A detailed study on the illustration sources of the various types of ancient Greek dances included in what Plato called ‘peaceful dances’, i.e. mainly women dances, not war dances or Dionysiac dances, such as the ‘kalasthikos’ and ‘geranos’ (or crane) dances, dances of married and unmarried women, wedding dances, funerary and drama dances, and so on. The volume includes a highly useful glossary on choreography (‘lexique chorégraphique’) and an equally useful index (‘répertoire’) of technical terms and dance names.
Drachmann, A.G., Ktesibios, Philon, and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics, Acta historica scientiarum naturalium et medicinalium IV (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1948) A classic and one of the most important publications on Ancient technology in general, and on pneumatics and their application more specifically (e.g. hydraulis). The author focuses on Heron’s Pneumatics, which he believes to be a technician’s notebook, rather than a full treatise.
Drieberg, Friedrich von, Die griechische Musik auf ihre Gesetze zurueckgefuehrt (Berlin:Trautwein, 1841) Drieberg (1780 – 1856) was a composer and a much published amateur researcher in Ancient Greek Music. His contemporaries (Chladni, Marx, and others) found his theories were the fruit of a vivid imagination. In the present work Dreiberg presents his answers to the unedited excerpts of his critics.
Duering, Ingemar, ed., Die Harmonielehre des Klaudios Ptolemaios, Elanders Goeteborgs Hoegskolas Arsskrift XXXVI (Goeteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag, 1930) New critical text on Ptolemy’s work.
__________________, ed., Porphyrios-Kommentar zur Harmonielehre des Ptolemaios, Goeteborgs Hoegskolas Arsskrift XXXVIII (Goeteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag, 1932) New critical text on Porphyrius’ work.
____________________ , Ptolemaios und Porphyrios ueber die Musik, Goeteborgs Hoegskolas Arsskrift XL (Goeteborg: Elanders Boktryckeri Aktiebolag, 1934) Translation of Ptolemy’s Harmonics and extensive commentary of Ptolemy’s and Porphyrius’ texts.
Gentili, Bruno et Perusino, Franca, edd., Mousike: Metrica, ritmica e musica greca in memoria di Giovanni Comotti, Studi di metrica classica 11 (Pisa: IEPI, 1995) A collection of essays dedicated to the memory of the great researcher of Ancient Greek Music, Giovanni Comotti (1931 – 1990), edited by Bruno Gentili, possibly today’s leading Italian philologist and previous collaborator of Comotti. The volume includes essays by E. Poehlmann, A. Barker, B. Gentili, D. Restani, R. Pretagostini and others. The collection is noted for its ‘holistic’ approach to the ancient Greek term ‘mousikê’.
Georgiades, Thrasybulos, Musik und Rhythmus bei den Griechen: Zum Ursprung der abendlaendischen Musik, Rowohlts deutsche Enzyklopaedie (Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1958) and
____________________, Greek music, verse and dance [αγγλ. μτφ. του Der griechische Rhythmus] (New York: Merlin Press, c1955) Despite their somewhat old-fashioned character, Georgiades’ theories remain interesting from a scholarly point of view and stand out for their strong argumentation. Both books share the same basis: the 1947 Habilitationsschrift on ‘Greek rhythm’, the origin of the modern distinction between music, prose and poetry deriving from the general single ancient Greek term ‘music’; the surviving of ancient prosody in modern Greek dance and the relation of the ‘kalamatianó’ dance with the dactylic hexameter, and so on.
Glau, Katherina, Rezitation griechischer Chorlyrik: die Parodoi aus Aischylos' Agamemnon und Euripides' Bakchen als Tonbeispiel auf CD mit Text- und Begleitheft (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1998) Recording of two choruses from Ancient Greek drama, with comments and an accompanying text in the original version and in a German translation. The students in the Classic Seminar in Heidelberg choose specific parts (Parodoi) from the choruses in Euripides’ Bacchae and Aeschylus’ Agamemnon as being respectively characteristic of the more ancient and the more modern aspects in rhythm; they proceeded to stage both versions in an effort to physically grasp the difficulties of performance in chorus poetry. As Glau points out, the rendition was based on the ‘acknowledged but in part out-dated’ (p. 30) theories of Westphal.
Greaves, Denise Davidson, ed., Sextus Empiricus: ΠΡΟΣ ΜΟΥΣΙΚΟΥΣ. Α new critical text and translation on facing pages, with an introduction, annotations, and indices verborum and nominum et rerum, Greek and Latin Music Theory (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986) This is a new critical edition based on the comparison of 25 manuscripts – instead of 8 as was the case in former editions- of the work on music by the 2nd century AD Sceptic philosopher, Sextus Empiricus.
Grenfell, Bernard et Hunt, Arthur, edd., The Hibeh Papyri Part I (London: Egypt Exploration Society, 1906) This is the first description, publication and translation (into English) of the famous Hibeh Papyri 13 with treatise excerpts on Harmonics and the ethical influence in music. The reviewers suggest Ippias as the possible author, but are challenged in this by Croenert who favours the young Isocrates and dates the work to around about 390. More recently, the authorship has been bestowed on Alkidamas (see title no. 11)
Heinrichs, Albert, "Warum soll ich denn tanzen?": Dionysisches im Chor der griechischen Tragoedie, Lectio Teubneriana IV (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1996) This is the text of a conference organized by the well-known Teubner publishers on 24.3.1995. The author studies the chorus in ancient tragedy in the light of group chorus as the central diachronic phenomenon in Greek life.
Jan, Carl von, ed., Musici scriptores graeci (Stuttgart: Teubner, 1995, ανατ. ά έκδ.1895) Jan’s work consists of the first modern philological version of the ancient Greek texts by music theorists which replaced the Meibom edition of 1652. It includes: Aristotelian excerpts on music, the pseudo-Aristotelian Problems relative to music, excerpts from Euclid’s Division of the canon, Cleonides’ Introduction to harmonics, the Manual on Harmonics of Nicomachus of Gerasa, the Introduction to the Art of Music by Bacchius the senior, Gaudentius’ Introduction to Harmonics, Alypius’ Introduction to Music and the ‘excerpta Neapolitana’. The volume, in a modern transcription, presents all the music fragments that were known in Jan’s time.
Jonker, G.H., ed. & transl., The Harmonics of Manuel Bryennius (Groningen:Wolters - Noordhoff, 1970) This is a modern version of Manuel Bryennius’ Harmonics (after a first edition by John Wallis in 1699). In his ‘Introduction’ Jonker presents the life, work and influence of Bryennius, studies the various modern opinions on the relation between The Harmonics and Pachimeres’ chapter on music, and determines Bryennius’ role in the Ancient Greek music theory tradition on the one hand, and on the other hand, his role as witness of his time (cf. in particular Bryennius’ comparison between the ancient Greek ‘tropoi’ and the Byzantine modes or ‘ichoi’).
Koller, Ernst, Musse und musische Paideia: άber die Musikaporetik in der aristotelischen Politik (Basel: Schwabe, 1956) A study on music as presented in Aristotle’s Politics and the role it is ascribed in the ideal democratic state (προς παιδείαν, παιδίαν, διαγωγήν)
Landels, John, Music in Ancient Greece and Rome (London: Routledge, 1999) Landels is known for his interest in ancient technology. He gives a general outline of ancient Greek and Roman music with emphasis on the technical means and the properties of the music instruments.
Lasserre, Francois, Plutarque: De la musique. Texte, traduction, commentaire précédés d’une étude sur L' éducation musicale dans la Grece antique, (Olten: Urs Graf,1954) Laserre’s work takes into account Ziegler’s book which was published just one year earlier (Teubner, 1953). Its main value lies more in the study of musical education and the education of ethos, focusing on Damon, than in the critical version and translation of the text. Laserre’s view in attributing an influence in this work to Dionysus of Halicarnassus and thereby dating it to a later period -between 170 and 300 AD- has not been generally accepted.
Lawler, Lilian B., The Dance in Ancient Greece (London: Adam & Charles Black, 1964) Lawler’s classic study is a diachronic survey of the Greek world, since pre-historic Crete to the later Roman times; her work also includes modern studies on the various roles of dance in orgy, drama and professional acting.
Levin, Flora R., The Manual of Harmonics of Nicomachus the Pythagorean. Translation and Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1994) This is an English translation of Nicomachus of Gerasa’s work, with an introduction and an extensive commentary.
Lippman, Edward A., Musical Thought in Ancient Greece (New York: Columbia University Press,1964) Lippman’s general interest in the aesthetics of music leads him to study the beginnings of the aesthetical, ethical and philosophical outlook in Greek music. The main part of this work deals with the Pythagoreans, Plato, Aristotle and the Peripatetic School (Aristoxenus, Theophrastus), but leaves out later developments (Philodemus, Sextus, pseudo-Plutarch).
Lohmann, Johannes, Mousike und Logos: Aufsaetze zur griechischen Philosophie und Musiktheorie (Stuttgart: Musikwissenschaftliche Verlags-Gesellschaft, 1970) This volume –edited by Anastasios Giannaras- presents Lohmann’s studies on Ancient Greek Music. The writer, famous for his publications in the field of Linguistics and Language Philosophy, sheds new light on the subject of Greek attitude to music through an etymological approach, which is also a history of ideas that leads to the analysis of archaic beginnings in Greek thought. Lohmann focuses his research in the history of terms, a pivotal historiographic central theme that emerged in the spiritual environment of Freiburg-im-Breisgau (Gurlitt, Eggebrecht) which was to result later in the Handwoerterbuch der musikalischen Terminologie (Freiburg, 1972 - )
Mathiesen, Thomas, Ancient Greek Music Theory: A Catalogue Raisonee of Manuscripts, Repertoire International des Sources Musicales [RISM] B11 (Muenchen: Henle, 1988) This is one of the most valuable references in the study of Ancient Greek Music. In it Mathiesen draws up a complete–as far as possible - catalogue of the manuscripts on the theory of Ancient Greek Music, with commentaries and chronologies, and with references to the incipit and explicit of their contents.
____________, Greek Views On Music (New York: Norton, 1998) από το: ed. Leo Treitler, Source Readings In Music History (1st vol.) In this new version of the classic anthology by Oliver Strunk (Norton, 1950), the first volume on Ancient Greek Music is edited by Mathiesen who explains in his Introduction why the view (singular) in the old version has been replaced by views (in the plural) in the new version.
Meibom, M., ed., Antiquae Musicae Auctores Septem (Amsterdam: Elzevir, 1652) Meibom’s edition was until about 1900 the only standard version of the theory of music as stated in ancient Greek documents.
Monro, D. B., The Modes of Ancient Greek Music (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1894) An important study on the tonal system in Ancient Greek Music, in which modern tools from the field of philology are first introduced. Monro, and Gombosi after him, maintained that the 5th and 6th centuries BC harmonies (or modes) had nothing to do with Aristoxenus’ modes (είδη δια πασών), and rejected the common view that the latter were but a codification of the former. Nowadays, the study of the relation between these two different modes underlines the earlier pioneering stage of the harmonies (see booktitle Winnington-Ingram, R. P., Mode in Ancient Greek Music).
Morelli, J., ed., Aristidis oratio adversus Leptinem. Libanii declamatio pro Socrate. Aristoxeni rhythmicorum elementorum fragmenta (Venezia: C. Palesio, 1785) The first modern, and for a long time unique, version of Aristoxenus’ Rythmicon.
Murr, Christoph G, von, Philodem/ von der Musik./ Ein Auszug aus dessen viertem Buche./Ein Auszug aus dessen viertem Buche/Aus dem Griechischen einer Herkulanischen Papyrusrolle/uebersetzt/von/Christoph Gottlieb von Murr./Nebst einer Probe des Hymnenstils altgriechischer Musik./Mit zwo Kupfertafeln/Berlin 1806./Bei Heinrich Froehlich. Still under the impact of the sensational discovery of the Herculaneum Papyrii (1752-54), the historian, jurist and art critic C. G. von Murr (1733 – 1811) publishes, translates and comments excerpts from Philodemus’ On Music, Book IV. An analysis on the “style of the hymns” in Ancient Greek Music is included in this same volume, where the author based on music style criteria and with much insight questions –for the first time ever- the authenticity of the music for Pindar’s first Pythian Ode as noted in Athanasius Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis (Rome, 1650).
Neubecker, Annemarie Jeanette, Die Bewertung der Musik bei Stoikern und Epikureern: Eine Analyse von Philodemus Schrift de Musica Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Veroeffentlichung Nr. 5 (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1956) and
________________________, ed., Philodemus: ueber die Musik IV. Buch (Napoli: Bibliopolis,1986) Thirty years later, Neubecker reviews her analysis on Peri Mousikis (On Music), Book IV by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus (ca. 110 – 40 BC), which was the basis of her 1956 thesis on the ethic value of music in the works of Stoic and Epicurean philosophy.
_________________________, Altgriechische Musik: Eine Einfuehrung (Darmstadt: WBG, 1977)] A first-rate introduction to Ancient Greek Music in the same spirit as the WBG (Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft) series Introductions on various modern fields of research: a detailed reference to the literature works and to the then up-dated (1977) bibliography with indications in the chapters on the role of music in everyday life, music theory and practice, and the ethical evaluation of music.
Neumaier, Wilfried, Antike Rythmustheorien: Historische Form und aktuelle Substanz (Amsterdam: Gruener, 1989) This is a comprehensive survey of the various systematization methods on metres and rhythms in ancient music theory, from Plato to Augustine. The study is concerned by a clearly systematic need to discover a common denominator to all the theories on rhythm (see title of last chapter: ‘The hyper-historical essence in ancient rhythm’)
Paquette, Daniel, L'instrument de musique dans la ceramique de la Grece antique, Université de Lyon II - Publications de la Bibliothéque Salomon Reinach IV (Paris: Diffusion de Boccard, 1984) An exhaustive illustrated documentation on Ancient Greek Music instruments.
Paratore, Ettore, Musica e poesia nell'antica Roma (Cremona: Fondazione Claudio Monteverdi, 1981) This work is an attempt to re-establish elements in Roman music tracing them back to music features in the metrics of theatre (Plautus, Seneca) and lyric (Catullus, Statius) writers.
Parker, LP.E., The Songs of Aristophanes (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997) Using as starting point the recognition of Classic Athens as ‘song culture’ and in an effort to fill in the gap in our understanding of Ancient comedy due to our ignorance of the music that went with it, Parker applies himself to the study of the metres used by Aristophanes, which, as he points out, is “what comes closest to a music score” (page 5).
Paul, Oscar, Boethius und die griechische Harmonik: Des Anicius Manlius Severinus Boetius Fuenf Buecher ueber die Musik aus der lateinischen in die deutsche Sprache uebertragen und mit besonderer Beruecksichtigung der griechischen Harmonik sachlich erklaert (Leipzig: Leuckart,1872; repr. Hildesheim: Olms, 1985) Paul’s classic German translation and study of Boethius’ Institutio musica.
Pearson, Lionel, ed., Elementa rhythmica: the fragment of book II and the additional evidence for Aristoxenean rhythmic theory (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1990) Pearson’s edition supersedes that of Pighi (Bologna, 1959) which is a simple copy of Westphal’s problematic edition (see title no. 70). However, the use of Aristoxenean theory in choruses of the classic period (Euripides, Sofocles, Pindar) does not find many supporters (see Poehlmann, under “Griechenland”, in the recent MMG [Stuttgart and so on, 1995]). Perrot, Jean, The Organ from its Invention in the Hellenistic Period to the End of the Thirteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1971) Perrot’s study remains the most complete and updated monograph on the hydraulis, from its invention in Hellenistic times to its use in the Middle-Ages (East and West). An extremely useful handbook in which the author presents us with all the sources, documents and illustrations on this subject.
Poehlmann, Egert, Denkmaeler altgriechischer Musik: Sammlung, Uebertragung und Erlaeuterung aller Fragmente und Faelschungen (Erlangen: Hans Carl,1970) This is a critical edition of all the fragments and false inscriptions of Ancient Greek Music known at the time of publication. It was superseded later by the Poehlmann and West Oxford University Press version with all the more recent additional data (see corresponding entry). Reinach, Theodore, La musique grecque (Paris: Payot, 1926) A classic introduction to Ancient Greek Music with all the data known at the time of publication.
Restani, Donatella, ed., Musica e mito nella Grecia antica, Polifonie: Musica e spettacolo nella storia (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1995) A selection of old and new articles in an Italian translation. The editor explains in her ‘Introduction’ that the choice and structure of the volume does not follow a traditional order in the history of music but is based on an anthropological approach to Ancient Greek Music. Her work includes articles by H. Abert, H. Kolller, G. Dumezil, J.-P. Vernant, A. Belis, M. Detienne and others. Rios, Rosetta da. ed., Aristoxeni Elementa Harmonica (Roma: POP,1954) This is the critical edition of Aristoxenus’ Armonika (Harmonics) which replaced Meibom’s classic. A second volume includes an Italian translation with comments with tables and music examples.
Sachs, Carl, Rise of Music in the Ancient World: East and West, New York: Norton, 1943) In this classic manual Sachs compiles the work of about forty years research and publication of articles in various fields. Sachs characteristically approaches the study of Ancient Greek Music within the context of all great civilizations in the Eastern Mediterranean, and with a specific angle on its rise and development through the study of various phenomena.
Schlesinger, Kathleen, The Greek Aulos: A Study of its Mechanism and of its Relation to the Modal System of Ancient Greek Music (London: Methuen, 1939) A milestone in the study of the Greek aulos which however is superseded today by the results of more recent research both on the theory of Ancient Greek Music and on the actual reconstruction of the flutes (in particular the distance between the holes on the instrument). The evidence included in this study from popular music in other cultures is of special historical interest.
Schueller, Herbert M., The Idea of Music: An Introduction to Musical Aesthetics In Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Early Drama, Art, and Music Monograph Series 9 (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications,1988) Schueller’s study is a very useful handbook for those studying medieval music and are interested in the sources of medieval music aesthetics, as well as for students of Ancient Greek Music (in particular the first half of the book that comes under the title: “The Idea of Music in Ancient Europe”). More specifically, the author undertakes to describe in a chronological order the ‘adventures’ of ‘the idea of music’. The subchapter ‘Hebraism and Hellenism’ is particularly interesting for the role it attributes to the influence of Philon of Alexandria on the ‘Pateriki’ appreciation of music.
Scott, William C., Musical Design in Aeschylian Theater, (Hanover: University Press of New England,1984) and
_______________, Musical Design in Sophoclean Theater,> (Hanover: University Press of New England,1996) The author begins by stating his practical interest in modern staging of Greek tragedies based on the key role of the chorus, a basic aspect of the drama, and its impact on the successful development of the play. The author studies, in Aeschylus and Sophocles, the use the chorus makes of metrical music techniques (repetitions, metric variations), and assesses their influence on shaping and supporting the meaning of the poetic text. Sicking, C.M.J., Griechische Verslehre, Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft II/4 (Muenchen: Beck,1993) The title, ‘Greek verse teachings’– and not metrical- is significant: Sicking undertakes to make a critical summary of all the relevant theories from Westphal to our days and suggests a rethinking of the κατά μέτρον and κώλα view which, as the author convincingly demonstrates, leads to misconceptions regarding the ‘rhythmic profile’ of verses; he makes valuable comments on the effect of melody and the changes it causes in this field. We quote from the Epilogue: “It has been ascertained that the rhythmic profile of verse is not defined by the metrical –in the modern sense of the word- arrangement of the verse elements or their fusion through metric (or κώλα) recurrence, but is mainly defined by their linear sequence.” Sicking’s work, part of the historical Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, is the most updated study on this subject.
Torr, Cecil, On the Intepretation of Greek Music (London: Frowde, 1896· ανατ. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI) This brief review on Ancient Greek Music notation makes a specific reference to the evaluation of intervals and the notation of values. The author makes a belligerent remark against those who interpret and evaluate Ancient Greek Music without taking pains to acquire sufficient knowledge of the original.
Wallace, Robert W. et Bonnie MacLachlan, edd., Harmonia Mundi: Musica e filosofia nell’ antichitα, Biblioteca di Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica (Roma: Edizioni dell’ Ateneo, 1991) The essays in this volume were first read at the symposium on Ancient Greek Music and Philosophy which took place on May 25th 1989 at the American Academy in Rome. These essays included the following: “Music and philosophy in Antiquity” and “Damon and his followers: an analysis of the sources” by R. W. Wallace; “The harmony of the spheres: dulcis sonus”, by B. McLachlan; “Pythagoras, Ippasos, Lasos and the experimental method”, by Giovanni Comotti; “Aristoxenus and the Ethnoethical Modes”, by John Thorp; “Epicurean elements in nature and ethics in Philodemus of Gadara’s music theory”, by Gioia M. Rispoli; “Logos and feeling in Ptolemy’s Harmonics”, by Andrew Barker; “Pindar and the Sphinx: Celtic Polyphony and Greek Music”, by Frederick Ahl.
Wegner, Max, Musik und Tanz, Archaeologia homerica - Band III, Kapitel U (Goettingen:Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,1968) A chapter on music in the context of a general study in Wegner’s Archaeologia homerica which comprises other chapters on Athletics, Writing, Worship, and so on, with as a central piece the material culture in Homeric times. Wegner sums up the results of his research by affirming the unequivocal functional character of music (Gebrauchmusik) and dance during the Geometric period (ca 900 to 700 BC). Wegner’s work is the most significant study to date on music in Homeric times.
Wellesz, Egon, ed., Ancient and Oriental Music, New Oxford History of Music, τ. 1 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, c1957) In this first volume of the Oxford New History of Music Greek-Roman music is studied alongside with Oriental cultures. The article on Ancient Greek Music, by Isobel Henderson, is still of great significance in the synoptic and precise survey it makes of the various complicated aspects involved in the study of Ancient Greek Music. The merit of the article is particular obvious on subjects such as the notation of music, one of the best introduction in this field.
West, Martin L., Ancient Greek Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1992) This publication is the latest inclusive presentation of Ancient Greek Music and confirms the definite turn towards music sources –as opposed to the former attitude which concentrated mainly on documents- that general research on the subject has taken in the last twenty years or so. This is partly due to the emphasis in the publication of more recently discovered music fragments (about 80 fragments edited by West and Poehlmann are now in print at the Oxford University Press) and partly due to alternative approaches in the study of Ancient Greek Music, such as Ethnomusicology to name but one.
Westphal, Rudolf, Aristoxenos von Tarent: Melik und Rhythmik des classischen Hellenentums (Leipzig: Teubner,1883· ανατ. Hildesheim: Olms,1965)) Westphal dedicated many years of his life to the study of Aristoxenus of Tarent (“For over thirty years, there was hardly a week when I didn’t study Aristoxenus”, page V). The author backs up most of his studies of Ancient Greek Music and his results thereof on the bulk of the Elements of Rhythm and elements of Harmony. The two volumes of this work include translations and analytical editions of Aristoxenus’ writings, as well as Westphal’s own theories.
______________, Die Fragmente und die Lehrsaetze der griechischen Rhythmiker (Leipzig: Teubner, 1861) Analytical version in a Latin translation and extensive commentaries on Aristoxenus’ Rhythmika (Elements of Rhythm), and fragments on rhythm by Dionysius, Bacchius, Aristides Quintillianus, M. Capella, M. Psellos and the “Parisian Fragments”.
Westphal, Rudolf και Hugo Gleditsch, Allgemeine Theorie der griechischen Metrik, Theorie der musischen Kuenste der Hellenen (Leipzig: Teubner, 1887) A monumental and to date still accurate work on the value of metrics in Antiquity, despite Westphal attempts to centre all metric phenomena on one single principle, that of ‘Gleichtaktigkeit’; this view was to be abandoned on the basis of Wilamowitz’s critical work. A more ‘descriptive’ theory is now preferred to Westphal’s systematic one.
Wille, Guenther, Musica Romana: Die Bedeutung der Musik im Leben der Roemer (Amsterdam: Schippers, 1967) Wille’s unique and monumental work (800 pages) was and continues to be a landmark. His work presents the richest concentration of elements –in theory as well as in practice- in all the fields of Ancient Roman Music, the influence of Greece, the link between music and literature, and references to the relevant sources from the first Latin inscriptions to Isidore of Sevilla’s Etymologiae (ca 560 to 636 AD).
Winnington-Ingram, R. P., Mode in Ancient Greek Music (Amsterdam: Hakkert,1968· ανατ. της έκδ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1936) A highly significant contribution to the understanding of the complex questions on the theory of Ancient Greek Music: the differences between τόνος (tone), τρόπος (mode) and είδη δια πασών, the link between tones in Aristoxenus and classic harmonies, and so on. Winnington-Ingram offers a scholarly study of both the documents and the surviving fragments. His investigation (to find reliable music proof for the 6th and 5th centuries harmonies, considered as forerunners of the είδη δια πασών) has lost none of its acumen (cf. West, 1992).
''Discussion of Barker’s Intro’s remarks on the inferential harmoniai and the tonoi. In both cases question arise as to what Barker’s evidence is for his assertions, and his support for one alternative among many in various cases. Original sources are lacking. Some of this debate we deferred until we shall have all read the rest of his texts, e.g. Aristides Quintilianus and Ptolemy. One interesting issue that came up: what exactly does it mean to change harmonia or tonos? Does a change really necessitate retuning as Barker says, or might it mean a simple repositioning within the system, perhaps including tunes “wrapping around” (when interval series are rotated) bringing the intervals pushed off the top of the system back in at the bottom, as in some gamelan music? We would need a Greek theory of melody to answer this. We’ll see what Aristoxenos brings.''
* Harmonia and Ethos in Ancient Greek Music * Thomas J. Mathiesen * The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Summer, 1984), pp. 264-279 (article consists of 16 pages) * Published by: University of California Press
* ἁρμονία and τόνος in Greek Music * J. E. Sandys * The Classical Review, Vol. 8, No. 9 (Nov., 1894), pp. 397-397 (article consists of 1 page) * Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association
'' * pattern of ancient Greek performance ( in mode: Ancient Greek modes )
...octaves minus one whole tone, a low A was added by theorists to achieve the following diatonic two-octave system: A G F E D C B A G F E D C B A. This two-octave row, or disdiapason, was called the Greater Perfect System. It was analyzed as consisting of seven overlapping scales, or octave species, called harmoniai, characterized by the different positions of their semitones. They were... * significance to tonos ( in tonos )
...in ancient Greek music, pertaining to the placement of scale patterns at different pitches and closely connected with the notion of octave species (q.v.). Through transposition of the Greater Perfect System (comprising two octaves descending from the A above middle C to the second A below) to a higher or lower pitch level, each tonos causes a different octave species to...
...octaves minus one whole tone, a low A was added by theorists to achieve the following diatonic two-octave system: A G F E D C B A G F E D C B A. This two-octave row, or disdiapason, was called the Greater Perfect System. It was analyzed as consisting of seven overlapping scales, or octave species, called harmoniai, characterized by the different positions of their semitones. They were... * significance to tonos tonos
...in ancient Greek music, pertaining to the placement of scale patterns at different pitches and closely connected with the notion of octave species (q.v.). Through transposition of the Greater Perfect System (comprising two octaves descending from the A above middle C to the second A below) to a higher or lower pitch level, each tonos causes a different octave species to...
octave species (music)
in early Greek music theory, any of the various arrangements of tones (T) and semitones (S) within an octave (series of eight consecutive notes) in the scale system. The basic Greek scale ranged two octaves and was called the Greater Perfect System. Central to the scale system was the octave E above middle C to the E below (conventionally denoted e′–e), the interval arrangement (descending, T–T–S–T–T–T–S) of which made up the Dorian octave species. The series of notes from d′–d, with the arrangement T–S–T–T–T–S–T, was the Phrygian octave species. Other species were: a′–a, Hypodorian; g′–g, Hypophrygian; f′–f, Hypolydian; c′–c, Lydian; and b–B, Mixolydian. All of these different arrangements of tones and semitones could be transposed to the octave e′–e, which was central to the performance of Greek music (tonos).
The name mode has been applied by some modern writers to the octave species as well as to other concepts in Greek music, such as harmonia and tonos.
* tonos tonos
concept in ancient Greek music, pertaining to the placement of scale patterns at different pitches and closely connected with the notion of octave species (q.v.). Through transposition of the Greater Perfect System (comprising two octaves descending from the A above middle C to the second A below) to a higher or lower pitch level, each tonos causes a different octave species...
tonos
concept in ancient Greek music, pertaining to the placement of scale patterns at different pitches and closely connected with the notion of octave species. Through transposition of the Greater Perfect System (comprising two octaves descending from the A above middle C to the second A below) to a higher or lower pitch level, each tonos causes a different octave species to fall within the octave e′–e (E above middle C to the E below), which is important in Greek performance. The names of the tonoi correspond to the names of the octave species that are created between e′ and e when the tonoi are used. In effect, a tonos can cause the octave species bearing its name to fall within the e′–e octave. For example, when the Greater Perfect System is begun on the pitch b′ (rather than a′, as in the abstract), the octave species falling between e′ and e is the Phrygian; hence, the tonos is also Phrygian. According to most modern scholars, the tonoi thus render the highly theoretical Greater Perfect System eminently practical in actual performance.
The concept of tonos first appeared in the 4th century bc and became the subject of controversy almost immediately. Aristoxenus (flourished 4th century bc) lists 13 tonoi; Ptolemy of Alexandria (2nd century ad), 7; other theorists, 15. The conflicting views of the Greek theorists have their modern counterparts. For example, some scholars believe the tonoi were real keys in the modern sense—i.e., that they provided contrasting tonal centres of specific pitch (although the Greeks did not have an absolute pitch standard). Others insist that the tonoi were abstract theoretical concepts or that they were melodic frameworks (melody types).
* use in ancient Greek music mode
...were identical with those of the Greek modes, the harmoniai were instead projections of the modal patterns...
harmonia (music)
* ancient Greek music mode
...A G F E D C B A G F E D C B A. This two-octave row, or disdiapason, was called the Greater Perfect System. It was analyzed as consisting of seven overlapping scales, or octave species, called harmoniai, characterized by the different positions of their semitones. They were termed as follows (semitones shown by unspaced letters): A G FE D CB...
tetrachord (music)
musical scale of four notes, bounded by the interval of a perfect fourth (an interval the size of two and one-half steps, e.g., c–f). In ancient Greek music the descending tetrachord was the basic unit of analysis, and scale systems (called the Greater Perfect System and the Lesser Perfect System) were formed by joining successive tetrachords. Only the outer notes of each tetrachord were fixed; the position of the inner pitches determined the genus of the tetrachord. The basic form was the diatonic genus (e.g., a–g–f–e); its modifications formed the chromatic (a–f♯–f–e) and enharmonic (a–f–e+–e♮, with e+ being a pitch between e♮ and f) genera. The Greek theorist Cleonides (c. 2nd century ad) discusses the tetrachord and its genera.
In Western music, the tetrachord is an ascending series of four notes. Two disjunct tetrachords (those without a common tone), each with the interval arrangement of tone, tone, semitone, combine to form the major scale. Thus the tetrachords c–d–e–f and g–a–b–c′ form the scale built on c.''
Aristoxenus Ἀριστόξενος Aristoxeni Suda Spinthari Tarenti Archyta Pythagoricis Pythagoricos Lamprum Xenophilum Mantineae, Elementa harmonica Ἁρμονικὰ στοιχεῖα Aristotele dicit motum vocis ἡ τῆς φωνῆς κίνησις continuum συνεχής effectum diastematicum διαστηματική de vocis in spatio κίνησις κατὰ τόπον temporis locum ibi quendam τόπος τῆς φωνῆς Tasis sonitus finitio. Pthongus seu sonus est vocis casus in unam tasin Diastema sive intervallum est quod a duobus pthongis inter se tasi distantes definitur. Itaque intervallum videtur distantia esse tasium διαφορά τις εἶναι τάσεων τὸ διάστημα Systema est quod ex diastematis sive intervallis uno pluribus componitur. Elementis Rhythmicis Ῥυθμικὰ στοιχεῖα
* Barker, Andrew (2007) The Science of Harmonics in Classical Greece. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. * Bélis, Annie (1986) Aristoxène de Tarente et Aristote. Le Traité d’Harmonique. Paris, Klincksieck. * Da Rios, Rosetta (ed. 1954) Elementa harmonica. Roma, Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato. * Laloy, Louis (1904) Aristoxène de Tarente. Disciple d’Aristote et la musique de l’antiquité. Paris, Société Française d’Imprimerie et de Librairie. [Facsimile: Genève, Minkoff Reprint, 1973.] * Mathiesen, Thomas J. (1999) Apollo’s Lyre. Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Lincoln & London, University of Nebraska Press. * Pearson, Lionel (ed. 1989) Elementa Rhythmica. The Fragment of Book II and the Additional Evidence for Aristoxenean Rhythmic Theory. Oxford, Clarendon Press. * Ruijgh, Cornelis J. (1993) [De Pearson (1989) iudicium.] Mnemosyne 46, 401-408. * Wehrli, Fritz (ed. 1967) Aristoxenos. Editio altera completior et emendatior. (Die Schule des Aristoteles. Texte und Kommentar, fasc. II.) Basel/Stuttgart, Schwabe & Co.
Aristoxenus E Vicipaedia Salire ad: navigationem, quaerere
Aristoxenus (Graece Ἀριστόξενος) fuit philosophus Graecus qui maxime musicus innotuit. Tarenti natus est c. 370 a.C.n. et fortasse Athenis mortuus c. 300 a.C.n. Index [celare]
* 1 De vita Aristoxeni * 2 De scriptis Aristoxeni o 2.1 Elementa harmonica o 2.2 Elementa Rhythmica o 2.3 Opera minora * 3 Notae * 4 Bibliographia
[recensere] De vita Aristoxeni
De Aristoxeno parum novimus, et quicquid scimus plerumque a Suda sumptum facile enumeratur. Constat Aristoxenum, Spinthari filium, Tarenti natum esse, sed quando natus sit pro certo non habetur. Suda Aristoxenum profert Alexandri temporibus et praesertim centesima undecima Olympiade, id est annis 336-333, floruisse et aequalem Dicaearchi fuisse,[1] e quo ductum est eum anno circiter 370 a.C.n. esse natum.[2] E Suda etiam accepimus Spintharum patrem fuisse musicum Tarentinum. Nihil vero obstat, quin hunc cogitemus cum Archyta amicitiae necessitudine coniunctum fuisse.[3] Itaque fieri potest ut Aristoxenus doctrinis Pythagoricis iam a puero se imbuerit. Utique primum Pythagoricos audivisse fertur philosophos: Lamprum quendam Erythraeum[4] et Xenophilum Pythagoricum. Apud Sudam etiam accepimus Aristoxenum quandoque habitavisse Mantineae, quamquam quando quantumque temporis vitam ibi degerit nescimus. Constat quidem eum ibi quoque res navavisse musicas.
[recensere] De scriptis Aristoxeni
Scriptor fertilissimus fuit Aristoxenus, nam, si fidem habemus Sudae, librorum quos scripsit numerus 453 fuit, quorum maxima pars tantopere deperdita est, ut ne titulos quidem noverimus. Exceptis operibus melius aut mediocriter conservatis (de quibus infra), fragmenta minora (et minimi momenti) titulis instructa collegit Wehrli (1967, 10-41).
[recensere] Elementa harmonica
Dubium non est Aristoxenum potius musicum quam philosophum fuisse. Iam apud antiquos musicus audiebat, quod operibus titulisque conservatis comprobatur. Operibus praesertim ad res harmonicas pertinentibus maxime innotuit. Praeclarum est opus, quod Elementa harmonica (Ἁρμονικὰ στοιχεῖα) inscribitur, de quo libri tres nobis plus minus conservati sunt. Quia in initio libri secundi tempore praeterito usus de Aristotele loquitur, sunt qui Aristoxenum Elementa post a. 322 scripsisse opinentur. At sunt qui negent Elementa a prima origine opus integrum fuisse,[5] quo hoc argumentum aliquantum infirmatur. Sed non solum de tempore ambigitur, nam liber primus in re quoque discrepare videtur.
Elementa harmonica scripsisse videtur Aristoxenus eo consilio, ut harmonicam definiret scientiam, quae sui iuris esset suisque intellegendi modis uteretur. Harmonicam negavit esse in mensionibus Pythagoricorum constituendam, quippe quae ad rem ipsam non pertineant. Nam cum melodiae suas habeant proprietates, quae auribus tantum percipiantur, dixit flexiones vocis mensuris aurium esse iudicandas. Itaque de systematis a natura perfecti experientia recte explicanda agi contendit.
Aristoxenus in libro primo Elementorum dicit motum vocis (ἡ τῆς φωνῆς κίνησις) primum esse considerandum, si quis naturam velit melodiae investigare.[6] Motum vocis duobus effectibus proposuit exsistere, sed effectum continuum (συνεχής) obiter tantum memoravit.[7] Ad melodiae enim naturam intellegendam censebat ante omnia effectum diastematicum seu intervallis distantem (διαστηματική) interesse. Bene quidem notandum est Aristoxenum motu non denotare motum solidorum corporum sed re vera motum quendam metaphoricum, qui ad flexiones vocis pertineat. Itaque harmonicam definivit scientiam ad omnem melodiam pertinentem: "Quonam modo vox tum intenta tum remissa intervalla naturaliter apponat. Nam naturalem ferme vocem dicimus motum movere neque intervallum fortuito apponere."[8]
De argumento Aristoxeni feminarum virorumque doctissimorum unanimitas adhuc non viget integra. Constat tamen apud Aristoxenum de vocis in spatio (κίνησις κατὰ τόπον) quodam sonoro motu agi. Vox autem, cum per spatium exit, quoque puncto temporis locum ibi quendam (τόπος τῆς φωνῆς) obtinere videtur.[9] Argumentum suum explicans aliquot terminos technicos definit Aristoxenus:
* Tasis seu sonitus finitio.[10] Tasin dicit stationem sive institionem esse vocis.[11] Altitudines vocum tasibus definiuntur. Vocem in suo altitudinis spatio insistere, id est in sua tasi manere. Sed flexio vocis efficit, ut vox velut per semitam tasium distantium prodeat.[12] * Pthongus seu sonus est vocis casus in unam tasin.[13] Pthongi audibiles sunt, cum tases sint quibus altitudines pthongorum describantur. * Diastema sive intervallum est quod a duobus pthongis inter se tasi distantes definitur. Itaque intervallum videtur distantia esse tasium (διαφορά τις εἶναι τάσεων τὸ διάστημα).[14] * Systema est quod ex diastematis sive intervallis uno pluribus componitur.[15]
Sed longum est omnes enumerare res ab Aristoxeno in Elementis suis tractatas. Videas Elementa Harmonica.
[recensere] Elementa Rhythmica
Si Elementa Harmonica opus magnae est auctoritatis, idem vix dici potest de Elementis Rhythmicis (Ῥυθμικὰ στοιχεῖα), quod opus tam male conservatum est, ut nihil ferme nisi initium libri secundi nobis traditum sit. Hoc opere Aristoxenus de metrica disserit, sed argumentum eius parum liquet. Textum novissime edidit praefatione additum commentariisque instructum Lionel Pearson (1989), qui Aristoxenum proponit hominem suas vias proprias petentem insolenterque de rebus metricis cogitantem. Quisquis igitur hanc editionem sibi legendam sumpserit, ei erit utilitati, si etiam iudicium a Cornelio Ruijgh (1993) factum in legendo consulit.
[recensere] Opera minora
Exceptis aliquot fragmentis incertae sedis haec sunt quorum tituli ab Wehrlio prolati sunt:
* Vita Pythagorae (Πυθαγόρου βίος): fr. 11 Wehrli * De Pythagora et discipulis eius (Περὶ Πυθαγόρου καὶ τῶν γνωρίμων αὐτοῦ): fr. 14 Wehrli * De vita Pythagorica (Περὶ τοῦ Πυθαγορικοῦ βίου): fr. 31 Wehrli * Negationes Pythagoricae (Πυθαγορικαὶ ἀποφάσεις): fr. 34 Wehrli * Institutiones educationis (Παιδευτικοὶ νόμοι): fr.42-43 Wehrli * Institutiones civiles (Πολιτικοὶ νόμοι): fr. 44-45 Wehrli * Mantiniensium mores (Μαντινέων ἔθη): fr. 45, I, 1-9 Wehrli * Laudatio Mantiniensium (Μαντινέων ἐγκώμιον): fr. 42a45, I, 10-12 Wehrli * Vita Archytae (Ἀρχύτα βίος): fr. 4748, 50 Wehrli * Vita Socratis (Σωκράτους βίος): fr. 54 Wehrli * Vita Platonis (Πλάτωνος βίος): fr. 64 Wehrli * De musica (Περὶ μουσικῆς): fr. 80, 82, 89 Wehrli * Auditio musica (Μουσικὴ ἀκρόασις): fr. 90 Wehrli * Praxidamantia (Πραξιδαμάντεια): fr. 91 Wehrli * De melopoeia (Περὶ μελοποιίας): fr. 93 Wehrli * De organis (Περὶ ὀργάνων): fr. 94-95, 102 Wehrli * De tibiis (Περὶ αὐλῶν): fr. 96 Wehrli * De tibicinibus (Περὶ αὐλητῶν): fr. 100 Wehrli * De tibiarum perforatione (Περὶ αὐλῶν τρήσεως): fr. 101 Wehrli * De choris (Περὶ χορῶν): fr. 103 Wehrli * De saltatione tragica (Περὶ τραγικῆς ὀρχήσεως): fr. 104-106 Wehrli * Comparationes (Συγκρίσεις): fr. 109 Wehrli * De tragicis (Περὶ τραγῳδοποιῶν): fr. 113 Wehrli * Vita Telesti (Τελέστου βίος): fr. 117 Wehrli * Miscellanea sympotica (Σύμμικτα συμποτικά): fr. 124 Wehrli * Memorabilia (Ὑπομνήματα): fr. 128, 129, 131 Wehrli
[recensere] Notae
1. ↑ Suda sub voce Aristoxeni: γέγονε δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ τῶν μετέπειτα χρόνων· ὡς εἶναι ἀπὸ τῆς ρια´ Ὀλυμπιάδος, σύγχρονος Δικαιάρχῳ τῷ Μεσσενίῳ. 2. ↑ Der Kleine Pauly s.v. Aristoxenos [Konrat Ziegler]; The Oxford Classical Dictionary (tertia ed. emendatior, 2003) s.v. Aristoxenus [Andrew D. Barker]; sunt qui Aristoxenum c. 360 a.C.n. natum esse posuerint, inter quos Leloy 1904, 3. 3. ↑ Leloy 1904, 4. 4. ↑ Nihil vero de hoc Lampro novimus, nam nusquam nisi apud Sudam memoratur. 5. ↑ Mathiesen (1999); Barker (2007), cum Bélis (1986) autem de opere credat integro agi. 6. ↑ El.Harm. 1.3.5–7. 7. ↑ Vocem continuam esse motum sermonis, cum vox diastematica sit motus melodiae; cf. El.Harm. 1.10.7–9. 8. ↑ El.Harm. 2.32.10–17 [...] πῶς ποτε πέφυκεν ἡ φωνὴ ἐπιτεινομένη καὶ ἀνιεμένη τιθέναι τὰ διαστήματα. φυσικὸν γὰρ δή τινά φαμεν ἡμεῖς τὴν φωνὴν κίνησιν κινεῖσθαι καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχε διάστημα τιθέναι. 9. ↑ Da Rios (1954, 182). 10. ↑ Hoc termino Latino utitur Vitruvius, De architectura 5.4.2. Anglice pitch dicitur, qui quidem ambiguus est terminus. 11. ↑ El.Harm. 1.10.1–3 ὃ μὲν βουλόμεθα λέγειν τὴν τάσιν σχεδόν ἐστι τοιοῦτον οἷον μονή τις καὶ στάσις τῆς φωνῆς. 12. ↑ Cf. Barker (2007, 144). 13. ↑ El.Harm. 1.15.15–20 φωνῆς πτῶσις ἐπὶ μίαν τάσιν. 14. ↑ El.Harm. 1.15.24-32. 15. ↑ El.Harm. 1.15.34–16.1 τὸ δὲ σύστημα σύνθετόν τι νοητέον ἐκ πλειόνων ἢ ἑνὸς διαστημάτων.
[recensere] Bibliographia
* Barker, Andrew (2007) The Science of Harmonics in Classical Greece. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. * Bélis, Annie (1986) Aristoxène de Tarente et Aristote. Le Traité d’Harmonique. Paris, Klincksieck. * Da Rios, Rosetta (ed. 1954) Elementa harmonica. Roma, Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato. * Laloy, Louis (1904) Aristoxène de Tarente. Disciple d’Aristote et la musique de l’antiquité. Paris, Société Française d’Imprimerie et de Librairie. [Facsimile: Genève, Minkoff Reprint, 1973.] * Mathiesen, Thomas J. (1999) Apollo’s Lyre. Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Lincoln & London, University of Nebraska Press. * Pearson, Lionel (ed. 1989) Elementa Rhythmica. The Fragment of Book II and the Additional Evidence for Aristoxenean Rhythmic Theory. Oxford, Clarendon Press. * Ruijgh, Cornelis J. (1993) [De Pearson (1989) iudicium.] Mnemosyne 46, 401-408. * Wehrli, Fritz (ed. 1967) Aristoxenos. Editio altera completior et emendatior. (Die Schule des Aristoteles. Texte und Kommentar, fasc. II.) Basel/Stuttgart, Schwabe & Co.
A. = sustêma 5, Inscr.Prien.55.16 (ii B.C.), 113.21 (i B.C.), 114.18 (i B.C.), SIG742.38 (Ephesus, i B.C.); ta s. tôn phalangitôn v.l. in Plb.11.12.1; cf. sustêma 8 .
A. limb, in early writers always in pl., Il.7.131, Pi.N. 1.47, etc. (kata melos is corrupt for kata meros in h.Merc.419); meleôn entosthe within my bodily frame, A.Pers.991 (lyr.), cf. Eu.265 (lyr.); kata melê ( [-ea] ) limb by limb, like meleïsti, Pi.O.1.49, Hdt.1.119; ta tou sômatos melê kai merê Pl.Lg.795e ; melê poiein dismember, LXX 2 Ma.1.16: later in sg., AP9.141, Gal.UP12.3,al.; hê kata melos tomê Str.2.1.30 .
B. esp. musical member, phrase: hence, song, strain, first in h.Hom.19.16 (pl.), of the nightingale (the Hom. word being molpê), cf. Thgn.761, etc.; melê boôn anaula S.Fr.699 ; esp. of lyric poetry, to Archilochou m. Pi.O.9.1 ; en meleï poieein to write in lyric strain, Hdt.5.95, cf. 2.135; en melei ê tini allôi metrôi Pl.R.607d , cf. D.H. Comp.11; Admêtou m. Cratin.236 ; melê, ta, lyric poetry, choral songs, opp. Epic or Dramatic verse, Pl.R.379a, 607a, al.; [m.] ek triôn sunkeimenon, logou te kai harmonias kai rhuthmou ib.398d.
b. lyric portion of the Comic parabasis, Heph.Poëm.8.2.
2. music to which a song is set, tune, Arist.Po.1450a14; opp. rhuthmos, metron, Pl.Grg. 502c; opp. rhuthmos, rhêma, Id.Lg.656c; Krêtikon, Karikon, Iônikon m., Cratin.222, Pl.Com.69.12,14: metaph., en melei properly, correctly, en m. phthengesthai Pl.Sph.227d ; para melos incorrectly, inopportunely, par m. erchomai Pi.N.7.69 ; para m. phthenxasthai Pl.Phlb.28b , Lg.696d; para melos lamprunesthai Arist.EN1123a22 , cf. EE1233a39.
3. melody of an instrument, phorminx d' au phthengoith' hieron m. êde kai aulos Thgn.761 ; aulôn pamphônon m. Pi.P.12.19 ; pêktidôn melê S.Fr.241 : generally, tone, m. boês E.El.756 . [In h.Merc.502 theos d' hupo kalon aeisen must be read for theos d' hupo melos aeisen, and Hellêsin d' aidôn melea kai elegous is corrupt in Epigr. ap. Paus.10.7.6.]
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
beta,488 Bomolocheusaito: anti tou agoraion ti eipoi e euteles. Aristophanes Nephelais peri diaphthoras harmonikon: enteinamenous ten harmonian, hen hoi pateres paredokan. ei de tis auton bomolocheusoit' e kampseie tina kampen: hoionei keklasmenei tei phonei ten oiden proenenkoito: hoias hoi nun tas kata Phrunin, tautas tas duskolokampous, epitribestho tuptomenos pollas, hos tas Mousas aphanizon. kai authis: polla men oun kai alla tes toutou bomolochias te kai haimulias marturia diarrei, en de tois ara kai ekeinoi.
Headword: Bômolocheusaito Adler number: beta,488 Translated headword: (If one) were to play the wit at the altar (fool, smart aleck, lit. the altar-ambusher). Vetting Status: high Translation: Instead of 'If one were to say something witty and cheap.'[1] Aristophanes in Clouds on corruption of the harmonics: "tuning the harmony that our fathers passed on,[2] but if one of them were to play the wit at the altar or bend some turn (from harmony)" (that is, were to bring out the song in a bent voice),[3] "such as these intricate-twisted (tunes) in the style of Phrynis that singers today sing, let him be creamed, struck many blows,[4] as one who disgraces the Muses." And again: "There are many examples of his 'altar wit' and flattery current; among them note the following."[5] Greek Original: Bômolocheusaito: anti tou agoraion ti eipoi ê euteles. Aristophanês Nephelais peri diaphthoras harmonikôn: enteinamenous tên harmonian, hên hoi pateres paredôkan. ei de tis autôn bômolocheusoit' ê kampseie tina kampên: hoionei keklasmenêi têi phônêi tên ôidên proenenkoito: hoias hoi nun tas kata Phrunin, tautas tas duskolokampous, epitribesthô tuptomenos pollas, hôs tas Mousas aphanizôn. kai authis: polla men oun kai alla tês toutou bômolochias te kai haimulias marturia diarrei, en dê tois ara kai ekeinoi. Notes: The headword comes from Aristophanes, Clouds 968 (Web address 1). The passage in which the clause occurs is also cited in Suda entries on "bends, twists" from harmony made by the poets of the new dithyramb (delta 1650, kappa 2647; cf. discussion in the notes to delta 1029). For the concepts of "altar-ambushers" and "wit at the altar" see also beta 486, beta 487, beta 489, beta 490, chi 296. Here youngsters are warned not to make fools of themselves singing in an empty, crowd-pleasing (cf. beta 490) style with the same goal as that of the "altar-ambushers", to con people into giving a little money, or follow the style of Phrynis (phi 761). [1] The first adjective, a)stei=os, is a word describing urbane, sophisticated wit (Web address 1, cf. Latin 'urbanus', English 'urbane'); the second is one of cheap price and vulgarity (Web address 2). The paradox seems deliberate, and applies well to the example below. [2] This phrase commencing with a participle in the accusative plural depends on the context omitted before it (966-67), where the music teacher of old taught boys to sing traditional songs and "tuning" agrees with that object. The rest of the citation reads the third person singular of the present imperative of tri/bw, instead of the third person singular of the imperfect indicative passive found in the text of Aristophanes and the Suda citation at kappa 2647 (but not at delta 1650). This turns the historical account of proper education in music into a moral exhortation to teachers. The verb is a strong one, suggesting schoolboy slang, appropriate to the context. (Web address 3). [3] There is debate over the musical innovation implied by this phrase used for the 'new music' of the second half of the fifth century BC and at least some of the fourth (here associated with Phrynis). Most take it as for modulation between the new scales made possible by the new models of cithara (see West 194-96, Campbell 40 note 1, 63 notes 3-5). "Harmony" (alpha 3977, pi 162, pi 163) in the days of Aristophanes referred explicitly to the tuning of the 7-stringed lyre in the traditional enharmonic scale developed by Terpander with two tetrachords. The introduction of the 12-stringed cithara by Melanippides the younger (mu 454, cf. Pherecrates fr.155 PCG vol.7) and 11-stringed by Timotheus (tau 620, cf. his Persians) allowed for octaves, a greater vocal range, chromatic coloring and, probably, modulations into the chromatic and diatonic scales. The verb ka/mptw (Web address 4) is used for diverting, bending or interrupting (i.e. breaking) a straight line in geometry or travel, as is its near-synonym kla/w (or katakla/w) (Web address 5) used in Suda's definition. Both must imply, in terms of the ancient harmonics, diversions from, or interruptions of, the "straight line" (the o)/rqios no/mos, omicron 573, omicron 574) of the traditional enharmonic scale. To understand how this would apply to modulation see West's sections on "The new music" (356-72) and the chromatic scale (162-71 and see Index). The phallic double entendre of 'hard' and 'limp' given by Aristophanes to the musical terms "straight" and "bent down" is misunderstood by LSJ at Web address 5, where the inappropriate meaning 'effeminate' is given to the second musical term. Alternatively and perhaps more plausibly, the terms imply heterophony (West 205, Barker 237 note 200), a practice known to Plato (Laws 812d-c, contemporary to the style) where the strings play one melody and the song bends away on another. This practice, at once requiring virtuosity and departing from the accepted theory of music, would justify its association here with "altar-ambushing", a term applied elsewhere to a crowd-pleasing wit without intellectual point (see note 5 below and beta 489, beta 490). [4] The feminine plural adjective 'many' is used here as a cognate or internal accusative, implying plagas 'blows', as the scholiast says (sch. rec. 972c). See pi 1872, citing the identical construction in the Gospel of Luke 12:47, a phrase often cited in patristic writers. [5] This truncated citation introduces the following example of the 'altar-wit' of a certain Iortius in Aelian (fr.108 Hercher, citing Plutarch as his source). Iortius (RE 9.1929-30) was a parasite (hanger-on) of Maecenas, the prefect of Rome under Augustus and patron of Vergil, Horace and other poets. "At the dinner of Maecenas there was below the (diners') couch a rectangular table, enormous in size and unbeatable in beauty. And, as was proper, everyone was praising it, each in his own fashion. But Iortius, not having at hand anything marvellous to say, when there was a silence, said, 'My dear fellow guests, don't you notice it, how circular it is, how too well rounded?' At this pure flattery, as you can guess, laughter broke out. Plutarch." The remark intended to flatter is at the same time amusing, because it has absolutely no element of truth and thus parodies flattery, but pointless because it lacks the metaphors, puns and other figures of humor that give wit its rational bite. It thus seems to illustrate how the "altar-ambushers" cracked 'altar-wit' jokes to gain a bite to eat and how schoolboys in Aristophanes' comedy would make fools of themselves if they sang the songs of Phrynis and the other writers of new dithyramb. References: Barker, A. Greek Musical Writings I: The Musician and his Art (edition and translation of pseudo-Plutarch, de Musica,1984) 204-57, esp. notes, pp. 236-40 Campbell, D.A. (ed.) Greek Lyrics vol. 5 (Loeb edn.) Hagel, S. Modulation in altgriechischer Musik. Antike Melodien im Licht antiker Musiktheorie (2000) West, M.L. Ancient Greek Music (1992)
JSTOR: Reconstruction of the Greater Perfect System - [ Μετάφραση αυτής της σελίδας ] Bacchius (Eisagoge Harmonikon, ? 46) mentions and places it. 2. CHALARO-LYDIAN. .... The Eisagoge Harmonikon ascribed to EUCLID states (Meibom. 20. ... links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0075-4269(1924)44%3C10%3AROTGPS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1 - Παρόμοιες σελίδες JSTOR: Synesis in Aristoxenian Theory - [ Μετάφραση αυτής της σελίδας ] I20 A.D.) to have trans- mitted the story, in his Harmonikon Enchiridion 6 (Jan ... 7 Harmonikon Enchiridion 6 (Jan 246-47). Had this experiment been ... links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0065-9711(1972)103%3C211%3ASIAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-6
Ptolemaeus, Claudius - Klaudiu Ptolemaiu Harmonikon biblia 3 - [ Μετάφραση αυτής της σελίδας ] Title: Klaudiu Ptolemaiu Harmonikon biblia 3. Number of pages: [20], 328 S. Number of volumes:. Translator:. Edition: Ex Codd. MSS. undecim, nunc primum ... echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/content/mathematics/mathematics/ptolemaeus_harmonikon_1682
A. skilled in music, Pl.Phdr. 268d; ha. ou mageiros musician, Damox.2.49 codd.
II. musical: ta -ka theory of music, Pl.Phdr.268e , Arist.Metaph.1077a5; hê en tois mathêmasin -kê (sc. epistêmê) mathematical theory of music, ib.997b21; ha. pragmateia a treatise thereon, Plu.2.1142f; harmonika stoicheia, title of work by Aristoxenus; harmonikoi, hoi, students of -kê, hoi kata tous arithmous ha. Arist.Top.107a16 ; with play on (b), Aristox. Harm.p.I M.
b. of or in the enharmonic scale, nomos Plu.2.1133e .
c. ha. kinêsis, of the pulse, in harmony with physical state, Gal.19.376.
III. Arith., harmonic, mesa Archyt.2 ; ha. analogia Ph.1.27 , Nicom.Ar.2.22, Theo Sm.p.114H.; mesotês Arist.Fr.47 ; logoi Ph.1.22 (Sup.); logoi kat' arithmôs ha. sunkekramenoi Ti.Locr. 96a , cf. Arist.de An.406b29.
IV. ha. gumnasion training by rule of thumb, Philostr.Gym.53.
V. metaph., capable of harmonizing, taktikoi kai ha. Plu.2.618c ; of God, ib.946f.
A. means of joining, fastening, gomphois min . . kai harmoniêisin arêren Od.5.248 ; of a ship, ophr' an . . en harmoniêisin arêrêi ib.361.
2. joint, as between a ship's planks, tas ha. en ôn epaktôsan têi bublôi caulked the joints with papyrus, Hdt.2.96; tôn harmoniôn diachaskousôn Ar.Eq.533 ; also in masonry, hai tôn lithôn ha. D.S.2.8 , cf. Paus.8.8.8,9.33.7.
3. in Anatomy, suture, Hp. Off.25, Oss.12; union of two bones by mere apposition, Gal.2.737; also in pl., adjustments, porôn Epicur.Fr.250 .
4. framework, rhêgnus harmonian . . luras S.Fr.244 ; boos Philostr.Im.1.16 ; esp. of the human frame, harmoniên analuemen anthrôpoio Ps.-Phoc.102 ; neurôn kai kôlôn eklutos ha. AP7.383 (Phil.); tas ha. diachalai tou sômatos Epicr.2.19 .
b. of the mind, dustropos gunaikôn ha. women's perverse temperament, E.Hipp.162 (lyr.).
c. framework of the universe, Corp.Herm. 1.14.
II. covenant, agreement, in pl., marturoi . . kai episkopoi harmoniaôn Il.22.255 .
III. settled government, order, tan Dios ha. A.Pr.551 (lyr.).
IV. in Music, stringing, ha. toxou kai luras Heraclit.51 , cf. Pl.Smp.187a: hence, method of stringing, musical scale, Philol.6, etc., Nicom.Harm.9; esp. octave, ek pasôn oktô ousôn [phônôn] mian ha. sumphônein Pl.R.617b ; hepta chordai hê ha. Arist. Metaph.1093a14 , cf. Pr.919b21; of the planetary spheres, in Pythag. theory, Cael.290b13, Mu.399a12, etc.
2. generally, music, autôi de tôi rhuthmôi mimountai chôris ha. Id.Po.1447a26 .
3. special type of scale, mode, ha. Ludia Pi.N.4.46 ; Aiolis or -êïs Pratin.Lyr.5, Lasus I, cf. Pl.R.398e, al., Arist.Pol.1276b8, 1341b35, etc.
b. esp. the enharmonic scale, Aristox.Harm.p.I M., Plu.2.1135a, al.
4. harmonian logôn labôn a due arrangement of words, fit to be set to music, Pl.Tht.175e.
5. intonation or pitch of the voice, Arist.Rh. 1403b31.
6. metaph. of persons and things, harmony, concord, Pl.R.431e, etc.
V. personified, as a mythical figure, h.Ap.195, Hes.Th.937, etc.; Philos., like philotês, principle of Union, opp. Neikos, Emp.122.2, cf. 27.3.
VI. Pythag. name for three, Theol. Ar.16.
VII. name of a remedy, Gal.13.61; of a plaster, Paul. Aeg.3.62.
Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
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