II.

Music in Antiquity

Although an isolated cuneiform example of Hurrian (Hittite) music of the 2nd millennium bc has been tentatively deciphered, the earliest European music known is that of the ancient Greeks and Romans, dating from about 500 bc to ad 300. Fewer than a dozen examples of Greek music survive, written in an alphabetical notation that cannot be deciphered with certainty. Greek and Roman theories of the nature and function of music, however, are discussed at length in the writings of such philosophers as Aristotle, Boethius, Plato, and Pythagoras. These writers believed that music originated with the god Apollo, the mythological musician Orpheus, and other divinities, and that music reflected in microcosm the laws of harmony that rule the universe. They believed, furthermore, that music influences human thoughts and actions. Greek music was primarily monophonic (limited to one melody at a time sung or played without harmony). Occasionally, however, one or more musicians in an ensemble might play a variant of the melody while other musicians were playing its original version. This produced a somewhat more complex musical texture called heterophony.

The rhythm of Greek music was closely associated with language. In a song, the music duplicated the rhythms of the text. In an instrumental piece it followed the rhythmic patterns of the various poetic feet. The internal structure of Greek music was based on a system of modes that combined a scale with special melodic contours and rhythmic patterns. A similar organization exists today in Arab music and Indian music. Because each Greek mode incorporated rhythmic and melodic characteristics, listeners could distinguish between them. Greek philosophers wrote that each mode possessed an emotional quality and that listeners would experience this quality on hearing a composition in that mode. Today, without further knowledge of the music itself, no one can say whether this idea was true in human experience or was only a theory.

The most common Greek instruments were the kithara, a form of lyre associated with Apollo, and the aulos, an oboelike instrument associated with the god Dionysus. The kithara was said to have had a calming or uplifting effect on listeners, and the aulos was said to have communicated excitement. These instruments were used in religious ceremonies as well as in the theater, where they accompanied the performance of Greek dramas. Instrumental playing reached its apex around 300 bc, when many musicians participated in contests.

The Romans seem to have carried on the Greek musical traditions and to have contributed little of their own. They did develop some brass instruments, however, which they used in battle and in military processions. They also invented the hydraulis, an organ with a hydraulic air-pressure stabilizer. See Greek Music.