# Ancient Classical Music



## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Hi friends,

In his book Da Musica, St Augustine mentions that the music of the day was so beautiful that it distracted him from his vocation. Now, he wasn't a frivolous man, so it must have been something to hear that music. The philosophy, art, sculptor, architecture, poetry and stories of the ancient world have come through to us, though not completely and not always intact. But what about its music?

The ancients were giants in all the above mentioned disciplines, and so surely their music was formidable. Does anyone know anything about it? Does any of it exist, even in snatches? What kind of instruments and music was it? I believe that Homer's poetry was sung - surely this would require some more detailed music than mere folks music, perhaps even ensemble stuff? 

Cheers! :tiphat:


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Unfortunately, music did not have a formalized notation system until around A.D. 800-900, when the first polyphony began to occur in medieval chant. Pretty much everything written before then was passed down by oral tradition. The only exception lies in a couple of ancient Greek headstones where we can decipher the Greek notation symbols to construct some sort of melody. There are only one or two instances of this, however, IIRC.

As for instrumentation, the ancient Greeks used mainly plucked string instruments called lyra or kithara, as well as wind instruments called aulos. After the Greeks, almost all music was sung for about 1000 years...


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I wish we knew what they were doing back then. All we can do is guess.

The CD Music of Ancient Greece is one person's idea of how it sounded.






The church music Augustine heard was Ambrosian chant, which we know how it sounded. It combined popular melodies with understandable words, strophic melodies, and congregational performance. It was probably like this clip but without the organ.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Thanks for that, Ravellian, Manxfeeder, very interesting. I'd heard that virtually nothing remains and you both confirm this, while giving me much food for thought. I imagine that the really ancient music must have been on a par with their philosophy, poetry, etc, in which case it's a monumental loss...


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Kieran said:


> Thanks for that, Ravellian, Manxfeeder, very interesting. I'd heard that virtually nothing remains and you both confirm this, while giving me much food for thought. I imagine that the really ancient music must have been on a par with their philosophy, poetry, etc, in which case it's a monumental loss...


I think Manxfeeder's clip probably gives a very good idea as to the level of sophistication of the music. I don't think as much was 'lost' as one might think, as these things continued to be passed down orally until eventually a formalized system of notation was adopted. Also if it really was as advanced as you are suggesting one would think they would've had formalized notation systems down to a science back then.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

tdc said:


> I think Manxfeeder's clip probably gives a very good idea as to the level of sophistication of the music. I don't think as much was 'lost' as one might think, as these things continued to be passed down orally until eventually a formalized system of notation was adopted. Also if it really was as advanced as you are suggesting one would think they would've had formalized notation systems down to a science back then.


I know what you mean, but since the architecture and philosophy, poetry and sciences of ancient Greece and Rome are the building blocks for their modern equivalent, I don't know why their music wouldn't be similarly advanced. Maybe it wasn't, but as for the notation system, maybe they had one, and it hasn't survived? Or else they may have considered music to be an oral/aural tradition and therefore it should be passed down orally? I know that Homer's poetry was passed down orally for centuries before anybody got it in their heads to write it down. Likewise, scripture and a lot of philosophy.

The clips from manxfeeder were very interesting... :tiphat:


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