Music in Greek Society Flashcards
Mousike Techne & Mousikos Aner
Techne: the art of the muses until the 4th C not only music, but also poetry and dance, the basic means of culture transmission in an oral society
Aner: a man who knows the art of the Muses, a cultivated man
Sources for ancient Greek music
- Art and archaeology
- References to music and music-making in literature
- Specialist writing on music (pupil of Aristotle Aristoxenos of Taras and other writers until late antiquity)
- Writing about music based on what they were (mathematicians, etc.)
- Inscriptions and papyri recording information on musical performances
- Musical scores
Musical Scores
- From the 4th C BC there were 2 systems of notation: 1 for vocals and 1 for instrumental
- Used by specialists only, but sometimes they were added to inscriptions and especially texts on papyrus
Ex. Funerary epigram of Seikilos
Music in Greek life
- Music, song and dance are mentioned as the most enjoyable activities and ordered and civilized life;
- Their absence is typical of the most miserable conditions (war and death)
- Music is considered the most natural way of expressing joy and celebrating good fortune
Music and cult
-Public festivals included singing processions (played at sacrifices), choral dances, sacrifices accompanied by hymns and music
A) Processional song (prosodion) was a category of choral lyric
-Like a marching song
B) The Pean (for Apollo), sung in a number of occasions
-To be sung together, like a battle song
C) The Dithyramb dedicated to Dionysos, sung at festivals and symposia
-Chorus of boys with Dionysos
-Choruses of the Attic drama
-Choruses of men, boys, girls during festivals
-Choral dances
-Food better for singers: garlic
- Festivals also included competitive musical performance*:
- Rhapsodes who sang Homer and other epics
- Usually preceded by a hymn to the god who the festival is for
- Citharodes, who sang and plaued the kithara and aulos
- Singers accompanied by aulos and instrumental musicians
Music at Private events
- Wedding processions were accompanied by friends carrying toches and singing the hymenaeum, while others danced and played music
- Songs (epithalamia) were also sung all night long in front of the closed bedroom door
- Celebration of athletic victories
- Winners would sing
- Funerals (elite) could be accompanied by choruses and music
Domestic and Personal music-making
- In Homer, bards sing and play during banquets and festivals
- Symposia involved music/song by the symposiasts and/or professional poets using a lyre and aulos
- Women enjoyed music either played by themselves or by musicians
- Men and women also sang and played informally
Music accompanying activity
- Usual for men and women alike to sing during work and other activities
- Auloi were used especially in the Spartan army to accompany men marching into battle
- Auloi player set the stroke for the rowers on the triremes - tempo
- Auloi were also regularly present at athletic training sessions and competition, especially long jump, to give the jumper extra stimulus
- Boeotian and Argive flutes * preferred – maybe sounded better?
- Sacadas and Pronomus – stared composers of the 3/4th C
-Auloi player ornate dress – see through
Citizens and music
- All citizens were expected to perform some music as a part of their social life
- All were expected to sing at festivals, symposia, etc.
- The ability to play an instrument was less common, but many were proficient enough as to play at symposia
- Music was very important component of education and upper class Athenians showed off their skills as a sign of distinction
- Needed time, wealth, trainer, etc. not everyone could do it = mostly elite
Professionals and music
- Some especially talented performers were widely appreciated and their service was highly prized
- Professionals developed especially from 4th C when new music developed and it was too complex for amateurs
- 4th C star composers, musicians, etc.
- Music became for professionals, appreciated but not practiced by the upper-middle classes, who developed a snobbish attitude
- For routine service, there were pipers and other musicians hired for symposia and other events
- Their status was rather low, frequently slaves or foreigners
Music teaching
- Informal teaching must have been common
- For archaic age chorus-managers and chorus-leaders were responsible for teaching choruses to sing and dance at festivals
- At Athens at least from 5th C BC the boys were sent to the physical trainer and music teacher (kitharistes), later complemented by the teacher of letters who had the boys read and learn passages from Homer and other poets
Principles of ancient Greek music – The voice
- Most important role was played by songs, either solo or choral
- Instruments were sometimes played on their own, but usually they served to accompany the song
- Role of instrument was subordinate
- Greek songs were usually articulate texts with little repetition and no nonsense syllables
- Therefore the words had to be clearly heard
- Ancient Greek even had stress accents – different stresses = pitches
What singing style?
- Greek texts praise singing voices for purity and clarity of sound
- Aristoxenus of Taras: avoid continuous sliding up and down and be as constant as possible – make understanding easier
- New Music 5th-4th C BC - expanded the possibilities of solo songs by introducing ornamentation
- According to D. Gerhardt, the singers depicted in Greek art with the right hand near their ear/cheek are pressing their thumb against their larynx to produce a tremolo effect
***New style in the Hellenistic
The instruments
Stringed: Kithara – GUITAR -Tune pegs are known only in Hellenistic . period -originally 3 pegs, turned to 7+ *earliest representation 8th C BC Crete Lyra (citharode) Barbitos – variant of lyra Harp – Near Eastern, played by women Lute – like modern guitar, uncommon
Wind:
Auloi – like clarinet
Phorbeia – leather band Greek auloi players use used to keep auloi to face
Percussion:
Krotala – sort of castanets
Tympana – tambourine of animal skin
Kymbala – small bronze cymbals
Rhythm
- Their music was just melody – music strictly accompanied singing
- Very simple kind of music, until 5th C had main function of connotation of text according to its genre, destination and occasion
- Rhythm itself was tied to poetic meter, based on number of syllables, not stress
- Traditional rule was long syllable was twice longer than a short one
- Principle also influences tempo: more short syllables = faster tempo
