An attempt to reproduce music of the Greek antiquity.
Played by reconstructed ancient Greek musical instruments.
Direction, arrangements : Petros Tabouris

Although admirable testimonies to Hellenic culture survive in the architecture and literature, nothing remains of its music, the perfomance of which was a veritable institution in Greece, but these sparse fragments miraculously preserved in a few papyri and marbles and in other documents copied in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque era. Fortunately works of musical theory did not suffer the same fate. Numerous treatises in Greek, Latin and Arabic have survived which, mingled with the study of other material, became integrated into the cultures of all Western peoples, the heirs of Hellenic learning.

Ancient musical fragments

1. Athenaeus, Paian
Hymn in honour of Apollo, carved on an outside wall off the treasure of the Athenians at Delphi was found broken up into sections but was later reassembled. It could be from the Pythian celebrations of 138 B.C.

Hear me, you who possess deep-wooded Helicon, fair-armed
daughters of Zeus he magnificent! Fly to beguile with your
accents your brother, golden-tressed Phoebus who, on the twin
peak of this rock of Parnassus, escorted by illustrious maidens
of Delphi, sets out for the limpid strams of Castalia, traversing, on the Delphic promontory, the prophetic pinnacle.
Behold glorious Attica, nation of the great city which, thanks to
the prayers of the Tritonid warrior, occupies a hillside
sheltered from all harm. On the holy alters Hephaestos consumes
the thighs of young bullocks; mingled with the flames, the
Arabian vapour rises towards Olympus. The shrill rustling lotus
murmurs its swelling song, and the golden Kithara, the
sweet-sounding kithara, answers the voice of men.
And all the host of poets, dwellers in Attica, sing your glory,
god, famed for playing the kithara, son of great Zeus, beside
this snow-crowned peak, o you who reveal to all mortals the
eternal and infallible oracles. They sing how you conquered the
prophetic tripod quarded by a fierce dragon when, with your darts you pierced the gaudy, tortuously coiling monster, so that,
uttering many fearful hisses, the beast expired. They sing too,
how the Gallic hordes, in their sacrilegious impiety, when trying
to cross... Let us go, son, warlike scion...

2. Hymn to Nemesis
The three hymns were conserved in byzantine manuscripts. First edition by Vicenzo Galilei, 1581. (Dialogo di Vincenzo Galilei Nofile Fiorentino, «Della musice antica e de la rnoderna». They belong to Mesomedes of Crete (:td cent. A.D.).

Winged Nemesis, turner of the scales of life, glue-eyed goddess,
daughter of justice, who, with your unbending bridle, dominate
the vain arrogance of men and, loathing man's fatal vanity,
obliterate black envy; beneath your wheel, unstable and leaving
no imprint, the fate of men is tossed; you who come, unnoticed,
in an instant, to subdue the insolent head. You measure life with
your hand, and with frowning brows, hold the yoke. Hail, blest
justicer, winged Nemesis, impulse of life. We glorify you,
Nemesis, immortal goddess, Victory of the unfurled wings,
powerful, infallible, who shares the altar with justice and,
furious at human pride, casts man into the abyss of Tartarus.

Mesomedes' third hymn, "To Nemesis", has twenty verses and
consists of five poems. However for the third of these no melody
has been given.
Originally then a «hymn» was any song whether secular of sacred, and is so used in Homer, to whom the story of Odysseus’ part in Troy’s taking is a «hymn».
In course of time the range of the hymn was gradually restricted, so that, in distinction from the epic hymns, a lyric hymn came to mean a simple religious song containing a prayer and in praise of any divinity, marked by no special form, and not limited to any special occasion of worship.

3. Iambus (Instrumental melody by unknown composer) Anonymi Bellerman

4. Skolio by Sikilos, a four-verse song whose notes and symbols for rhythm were found carved on a tombstone from Tralleis, Asia Minor, preserved in its original state. It was first published in 188:1. The text of a separate inscription tells us that the stone was placed there by Sikilos. Its age is uncertain, although the shape of the letters indicate that it dates from the first century AD.

5. Trohaeos (Instrumental melody by unknown composer) Anonymi Bellerman

6. Hymn to Helios (Sun) by Mesomedes of Crete.

Let the heavens be silent, the earth, the sea, the winds.
Mountains, valleys, echoes and the songs of birds, keep silent!
Phoebus of the long and beauteous hair is coming. Father of the
dawn, with eye of dazzling white, you, with the glorious golden
tresses, lead your rosy chariot along the limitless roads of the
sky, following the winged footprints of the steeds, intertwining
your curling rays, surrounding the whole earth with your
resplendent light. Your rivers of immortal fire give life to the
smiling day. Dor you the imperturbable chorus of stars dances of Olympus accompanying their free melody on Phoebus' lyre; and in front, the pale Moon leads the rhythmic times of the seasons by the cadenced movement of white calves. your benevolent spirit rejoices in turning the myriad-robed earth.

7. Hymn to the Muse by Mesomedes of Crete

Sing, Muse, dear to me,
and prelude my own song.
Let a breeze, come forth from your groves,
make my soul tremble.

O wise Calliope who directs the gracious muses,
and you whose wisdom initiates the mysteries,
Son of Latona, Delian, Paean,
help me with your favour.

Hymns of Mesomedes have been preserved on manuscripts of the 13th-16th centuries. Mesomedes was a Cretan poet of the first century AD. The hymns are written in the form of three poems, each with a separate inscription. The first, inscribed "To the muses", with nine verses, consists of two separate section, one of four and one of five verses, which are of an introductory nature. One is dedicated "To the muse", the other to Calliope and Apollo.

8. Fragment of a dramatic lament on the death of Ajax (3th – 2nd cent. B.C.) (Papyrous Berlin (870)

Of the self- murdering hand and the sword i ... O, son of Telamon, yours, Aajax,e... by Odysseus the criminal, who te ... wounds, the yearning...
...blood on the ground of...

9. Paean and Prosodion (128 B.C.) by Limenios, son of Thoinos, Athenian.
Hymn in honour of Apollo, carved on an outside wall off the treasure of the Athenians at Delphi was found broken up into sections but was later reassembled.

Come to these far-klooking heights whence rises the double peak of Parnassus, dear to dances, and preside over my songs, o Pierides, dwellers on the snowy rocks of Helicon. Come, sing the golden-haired Pythian, the master of the bow and the lyre, Phoebus, born of the blessed Leto beside the illustrious lake when, in her pangs, she touched with her hands the verdant bough of the glaucous olive tree. The celestial vault was filled with rejoicing, cloudless, radiant; in the lull of the air the winds stopped their impetuous flight; Nereus appeased the fury of his roaring floods; so did the great Ocean who, with his wet arms, envelops the earth. Then, leaving the Cynthian isle, the god came to the land of harvests, the noble Attic land, and stopped close to the steep hill of the Tritonid goddess. The Libyan lotus,
pouring forth its sweet song, hailed him, mingling its soft voice
with the modulated chords of the kithara, and all at once, the
echo that haunts the rock cried Paean! ie Paean! The god
rejoiced; privy to the mind of his father, he recognized the
immortal plan of Zeus. This is why, since that time, Paean has
been invoked by us all, the autochthonous people, and by the
poets sheltered by the city of Cecrops, sacred horde whom Bacchus struck with his thyrsis.
But, o master of the fateful tripod, on the way towards this
crest of Parnassus, trodden by the gods, friend of holy ecstasies!
It is there, your violet tresses girded by a laurel bough, that
you dragged, o King, with your immortal hands, great blocks,
foundations of your temple, when you saw yourself before the
monstrous daughter of the earth. But, o son of Latona, god of the caressing look, you pierce with your arrows the wild child of the earth and you utter a cry of triumph; she felt the desire of her beloved mother. So you watched, o lord, beside the sacred navel of the world when the barbarian horde, profaning your prophetic seat to plunder its treasures, perished, submerged in the tempest of snow.
But, o Phoebus, protect the city of Pallas, founded by the gods
and its noble people; you, too, o queen of the bows and the
Cretan hounds, Artemis, and you, venerable Latona! Watch over the dwellers of Delphi so that they and their children, their
spouses, their dwellings might be shielded from all harm! Look
with a propitious eye upon the servants of Bacchus, victors in
the sacred games! May, with your aid, the empire of the Romans, crowned with lances, ever flourishing in imperishable

10. Homeric hymn (Benedetto Marcelo) Estro poetico - harmonico. Venetia 1724. Parte di canto greco del Modo Hippolidio Sopra un' inno d' Omero a Cerere.

11. Stasimon from Euripides' Orestes. (Ap. 480 – 406 B.C.) Papyrus Vienna G 2315

I groan, I groan, thinking of the blood of your mother, the blood
that drives you mad.
Good fortune has no stability among mortals: like the sail of a
speeding boat, a god rocks it and engulfs it in horrible
misfortune, fatal, voracious as the waves of the sea.

12. Paean, Papyrus Berlin 6870 (ap. 160 B.C.) Vocal musical fragment from Thevais

THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Wind instruments

Aulos
The most important wind instrument of ancient Greece. It was used in many ceremonies, chiefly those in honour of Dionysos, as well in parades, dramatic performances, national games and symposia; it accompanied most dances, whether religious, social or popular. Frequently mistranslated as “flute” it was a reads-blown pipe. Auloi were played in pairs; the two pipes were often held in place by a leather strip that passed round the player’s cheeks and over his head, probably with the aim of helping him to blow more strongly.
The trumpet
This was made of either copper (the straight trumpet or salpinx) or of horn (the curved horn or keras). Both featured a mouthpiece. The trumpet was not used by the Greeks for purely musical purposes, but usually for bugle calls in war or by heralds. On occasion it was played in ceremonies, in which case it was called a sacred salpinx.
Syrinx or pan pipe
Shepherd’s pipes. The sound was produced by blowing directly into the aperture at the upper end, without the use of a reed. There were essentially two kinds of syrinx-single pipe and multiple pipe. Both pipe had a light, sweet sound somewhat like a whistle. Its pitch was limited to the higher notes, in contrast to the aulos which was often called baritone. The multiple pipe refers to the famous “pipes of Pan”. This instrument usually consisted of seven closed pipes of different lengths which formed a straight line at the upper end, without apertures, and were joined together with wax.
Plaghiaulos
This instrument was held in the same way as the modern flute, but had a mouthpiece placed in it at its side, approximately in the place where the aperture is found in the modern aulos.
Hydraulis
Hydraulic instruments were those in which the sound was produced by hydraulic air pressure. The principle of hydraulis was founded in the Pan pipes. Its discovery was attributed to the Greek engineer Ctesebius, from Alexandria.

Percussion instruments
Percussion instruments were not used for purely musical purposes, but chiefly in orgiastic rites and ceremonies. Many of these were of foreign origin (Asian).

Krotala (cymbals)
Percussion instruments, consisting of two convex pieces of shell, wood or metal, of various shapes. They were used to mark for dancers, particularly at the orgiastic rites of Cybele and Dionysos (Bacchus).

Roptron (tambourine)
A small light drum consisting of a round wooden frame with a membrane stretched over it, and small metal cymbals tied around it.
Tympano
It was a wooden frame with leather membranes stretched over both open sides and played by hand, usually by omen at Bacchic ceremonies.

Stringed instruments

Chelys-lyra
The chelys-lyra was both the most widely used member of the lyre family. Like the kithara, which it sometimes replaces, it is played by Apollo; and it is found in the hands of satyrs, maenads, Muses, and other mythological figures. The chelys-lyra , unlike the kithara, is customarily present in many kinds of scenes of ordinary human life and was probably played by men and women of all ages. As an accompaniment for singing at the symposium and the komos, it is played by the guests themselves or one of the youths in attendance, for lyre playing was a basic part of Athenian education and the lyre is often present in school scenes. Because it was the mark of an educated man and because it symbolises release from cares, the chelys-lyra is played by the man, probably the deceased, on lekythoi used as grave offerings. Like most of the other names of stringed instruments in the Greek language, the word lyra appears to be a loan-word borrowed into Greek from some other, probably non-Indo-European, language.
The most detailed literary description of the construction of a chelys-lyra is supplied by the Homeric hymn to Hermes. The poem describes the instrument’s soundbox formed from a tortoise shell covered with leather, the pecheis (arms) and zugon (crossbar), the donax (reed or cane) fixed in place by means of holes piercing the soundbox, and the use of seven gut strings and a plectron with which to strike them.The tortoise used in the construction of the chelys-lyra can be identified, on the basis of shell markings and size, as the testudo marginata, a species native to Greece.It is of course possible that the soundbox was at times made of some other material painted to resemble a tortoise shell. The plektron used by the players of the chelys-lyra is evidently the same as that wielded by the kitharists. The head of the plektron, probably of horn, metal, bone, or ivory, is shaped like an arrowhead, the outline resembling the bowl of a spoon with a pointed tip, sometimes slim, sometimes quite wide. The lyre was held upright or slanting away from the player, who was often seated.

Kithara
The name kithara is a later form of the Homeric word kitharis ,which occurs rarely in Iliad and Odyssey .As to the origins of the words kithara and kitharis, we have no conclusive evidence. A few scholars have attempted to make a case for a connection with specific Indo-European or Semitic roots. Among the proposals are Kuetuora, “four,”that is ,a quandrangular -shaped instrument; quitor- ,”clear,” that is an instrument with bright sound; and ghidh-,”string,”; kinnor, that is, the Hebrew harp. Strabo, who wrote (in the first century B.C.)that Greek names for musical instruments are largely of Thracian and Asian origins ,points out that the kithara is often referred to as “Asiatic” . Although the etymology of the instrument’s name must remain a mystery, at least for the being, it seems a safe guess that the Greeks borrowed the word from one of the languages of Asia Minor.
Euripides describes the sound produced by the instrument as a “cry” (enope) or “shout” (iache).The only other available evidence concerning the sound of the kithara is to be found in two onomatopoetic words that presumably imitate the music :toplatotrat and trettanelo .The repetition of the hard consonant t in both these words seems to suggest that the plectron stroke had a rhythmic percussive effect. The wooden body of the kithara was solidly and squarely built(though with a curved back seldom shown in pictures), and the arms formed a substantial prolongation of the sound box. The kithara was of considerable weight and size, and rested against the body of the performer.

Barbitos
Although the barbitos was evidently played by the same way as the chelys-lyra , it probably differed from the shorter-armed instrument in having a lower pitch range, in view of the longer length of its strings (assuming comparable tension and thickness).The barbitos may thus be described as a sort of tenor lyre. The instrument was originally associated with the eastern Greek lyric poets and particularly with the songs they wrote to be sung at symposia.

Phorminx
The fourth member of the lyre family, is an instrument whose Greek lineage and association with Apollo and the Muses can be traced back at least as far as the eight century. Because its basic identifying features have not changed (rounded base, circles on the sound-box, and straight, parallel arms), this Classical-period instrument may still be referred to as the phorminx;

Harps
If we begin our account of stringed instruments at the very beginning, with objects created by pre-Greek inhabitants of the Aegean area, We find that the earliest known stringed instrument in this part of the ancient world is a harp. Small marble figures of seated harpists belonging to the period between 2700 and 2100 B.C. have been discovered on islands in the Cyclades.
Harps make their second entrance into the visual arts as well as in the literature just after the middle of the fifth century.
Pektis
The word pektis is one of the few Greek names for Greek instruments that is Greek; it derives from the verb pegnuein, “to fasten.” We have Plato’s statement that the pektis is a many stringed instrument, in contrast to the lyre and kithara. The eastern Greeks possibly borrowed the instrument from the neighbouring Lydians.
Magadis
Magadis was a plucked instrument of many strings, associated with dancing and serenades commonly played by women musicians.
Trigonon
The name trigonon, meaning (literally) “three-conered,” first appears in fragments from the plays of Sophocles, Pherekrates, and Eupolis in the second half of the fifth century. The obvious reference to triangular shape contained in the name, as well as the use in connection with the verb psallein (“to pluck,”) leave no doubt that the trigonon was an harp.

Lute-family instruments
The Asiatic origins of these instruments are not disputed, thought the particular area from which they were brought to Greece is not certain. Lutes may have come to Greek lands as a result of Alexander’s conquests or may have been imported from Egypt, where lutes had long been in use. Greek literature provides us with two names associated with lutes, the skindapsos (a fourth-stringed instrument) and the pandura (a tree-stringed instrument).Pandura and tambur, words that come from a common root, are names for the longed-necked lute found today from the Balkans to the Middle-East.

ATTEMPTS TO REPRODUCE ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC.

For many years there have been efforts by researchers into ancient music texts, to reproduce ancient Greek melodies.
The first to make such an attempt was the German monk Athanasius Kircher (1601-1680), who presented in his work “Musurgia Universalis”, a melody on the words of the first Pythian Ode of Pindar. Also Benedetto Marcello (1686-1739) wrote a melody on the
Homeric hymn to Demetra. Many others, such as Loewe, Faure and Ruyneman attempted to present some of the ancient musical fragments in a modern way with voices and instruments.
About 1930 Parlofon released a recording of the “Epitaph of Sikilos” and the “Hymn to the Sun” of Mesomedes and the Gramophone Company in 1957 released two long playing records with the title “Ancient and oriental music” by E.Wellesz. Moreover, during the 19th century the composition of music to ancient Greek texts was very fashionable at the time when every year, the ancient Greek tragedies in the original were presented in the most important English universities. Such composers were C.Hubert, H.Parry, G.A.Macfarron, C.Wood, Tertius Noble, C.Lang, Xavier Leroux. Most of their works were published by the Greek Drama Committee.
In the same period the Greek composers I.Sakkelaridis, G. Paktikos, Th.Polykratis, I.Remantas and later K. Psahos composed music for tragedies and ancient lyric poetry in its original form.

Musicians:
Petros Kourtis: percussions, Alekos Hristides: xylophon, Eleni Savani : Aulos, Katerina
Tsents: plaghiaulos, Antreas Papas: percussions, Panos Stefos: syrinx, keras, Petros Tabouris : lyra, pektis, pandouris

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