CC 383 (33220)/GK 383 (33365) /LAT 383 (33615): Ancient Music
Fall, 2007, Tuesday, 3:30-6:30 PM, Waggener 10
Timothy Moore, timmoore@mail.utexas.edu, 232-4161
Office hours T 1-3, Th 9-10:45 and by appointment
Music played a vital role in Ancient Greece and Rome. New
resources and perspectives now allow us to appreciate the
ancients’ music better than ever before. In this course we
will address the nature of ancient music (instruments, melody and
rhythm, modes), ancient attitudes towards music, and its contribution
to public and private life. The focus throughout will be on our ancient
sources, both literary and archaeological. Students registered
for CC 383 may read all sources in English translation. Students
registered for GK 383 or LAT 383 will read portions of works in the
original languages and will specialize in a work in the language for
which they are registered. No knowledge of modern music or music
theory is required.
Grading will be based on class participation (including oral reports) and a final paper.
Students registered for GK 383 or LAT 383: Choose early in the semester
a work in your language in which you would like to specialize.
You will be asked to read the work in the original language early in
the semester and apply our findings about musical practice to that text
throughout the course.
Students registered for CC383: choose early in the semester a specific
element of ancient music (e.g., music in cult, music in Greek vase
paintings, music and ethics) in which you would like to specialize,
sharing your expertise in this area with the class as it is applicable
throughout the semester.
Texts:
Barker, Andrew. 1984. Greek Musical Writings. Vol I: The Musician and his Art. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press.
Barker, Andrew. 1996. Greek Music Writings, Vol. II: Harmonic and Acoustic Theory. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press.
West, M.L. 1992. Ancient Greek Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Course Packet (optional). Available from Abel’s Copies (715-D West 23rd Street)
Schedule (subject to change)
GK 383 students: read all Greek texts in Greek as well as in English;
LAT 383 students: read all Latin texts in Latin as well as in English
Latin texts (with translations) and secondary readings not in West or Barker are in the course packet unless otherwise noted.
Greek texts are on Blackboard (in the assignments folder).
Most assigned readings and many other works on ancient music are on reserve in the Classics Library.
September
4 Introduction, Sources, Methods
Barker 1, pp. 18-32 (“Homer”)
Vitruvius, Book V, chapter 5 (Latin text and English texts are on line at http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/home.html)
West, pp. 1-47 (“Introduction,” “Music in Greek Life”)
Mountford, James. 1964. "Music and the Romans." Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 47: 198-211 (on Blackboard).
Barker 2, pp. 1-11 (Introduction: “Preliminaries” and
“Traditions of Enquiry in Harmonic and Acoustic Science”)
Salapata, Gina. “The ‘Apulian Sistrum’. Monotone or Melodic?” in Studien zur Musikarchäologie III, edd. Hickmann, Ellen, Anne D. Kilmer, and Ricardo Eichmann. (Rahden: Leidorf, 2002), pp. 415-423(on Blackboard).
11 Song
Barker 1, 158 (Plato Laws 812b-e), 165-168 (Ps. Aristotle, Problems 19.6, 19.9, 19.12, 19.14), 170-172 (Ps. Aristotle, Problems 19.16-18), 183-184 (Ps. Aristotle, Problems 19.39, 19.43)
Barker 2, pp. 106-109 (Ps. Aristotle, De Audibilibus 803b-804b), 132-133 (Aristoxenus, Elementa Harmonica 1.8.12-10.23)
Isidore of Seville, Origines 3.20
West, pp. 39-47, 205-207 (“The Voice,” “Voice and Instrument: Heterophony”)
Barker, Andrew, “Heterophonia and Poikilia: Accompaniments to Greek Melody,” in B. Gentili and F. Perusino, edd., Mousike: Metrica ritmica e musica greca in memoria di Giovanni Comotti (Pisa, 1995).
Hall, Edith, “The Singing Actors of Antiquity,” in P. Easterling and E. Hall, edd., Greek and Roman Actors: Aspects of an Ancient Profession (Cambridge, Eng., 2002), pp. 3-38.
List, George, “The Boundaries of Speech and Song.” Ethnomusicology 7 (1963) 1-16.
Beare, William, The Roman Stage. 3rd edition (London, 1964), pp. 219-232 (“Music and Metre”).
Lomax, Alan, Folk Song Style and Culture (Washington, DC, 1968), pp. 66-74, 95-101.
Habinek, Thomas, The World of Roman Song: From Ritualized Speech to Social Order (Baltimore, 2005), pp. 58-82.
Reports:
1. What can we surmise about the tone quality of ancient singing?
2. What evidence (if any) do we have for singers singing notes
different from one another, or accompanists playing notes different
from the singer?
3. How did the Greeks and Romans distinguish speaking from singing?
18 Instruments I: The aulos/tibia
Barker 1: 27 (Pindar, Pythian 12), 163 (Theophrastus, Historia Plantarum 4.11.1-7)
Pliny, Natural History 16.168-172, Varro, Res Rusticae 1.2.11-17, Plautus, Stichus 738-772
West, pp. 81-107 (“Auloi”)
Mathiesen, Thomas J. Apollo’s Lyre: Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages (Lincoln, Nebraka, 1999), pp. 177-222 (“Aulos”)
Wilson, Peter, “The aulos in Athens,” in S. Goldhill and R. Osborne, edd., Performance Culture and Athenian Democracy (Cambridge, Eng., 1999), pp. 58-95.
Bélis, Annie, “Studying and Dating Ancient Greek auloi and
Roman tibiae: A Methodology,” in E. Hickmann and D.W. Hughes,
edd., The Archaeology of Early Music Cultures (Bonn, 1988), pp. 233-248.
Hagel, Stefan. "Calculating Auloi—The Louvre Aulos Scale,” in E. Hickmann and R. Eichmann, edd., Studien zur Musikarchäologie IV (Rahden, 2004), pp. 373-390. (on Blackboard)
Reports:
1. Why two pipes?
2. Single or double reeds?
3. Did auletai/tibicines use circular breathing?
4. What can we surmise about the scales played on auloi?
25 Instruments II: Strings
Barker 1, 19 (Homeric Hymn to Apollo 182-206), 21 (Homeric Hymn to Hermes 1-61), 22 (Homeric Hymn to Hermes 416-512)
Suetonius, Nero 19.3-21.3, 23-24.1
West, pp. 48-80 (“Stringed Instruments”)
Wilson, Peter, “Athenian Strings,” in P. Murray and P. Wilson, edd., Music and the Muses: The Culture of ‘Mousike’ in the Classical Athenian City (Oxford, 2004), pp. 269-306.
Winnington-Ingram, R.P., “The Pentatonic Tuning of the Greek Lyre: A Theory Examined,” Classical Quarterly 6 (1956) 169-186.
Reports:
1. How does a lyre work?
2. How were lyres tuned?
3. What distinguishes the various types of ancient string instruments (lyra, barbitos, phorminx, harps)?
October
2 Instruments III: Other Instruments
Barker 1, 121-128 (The syrinx in tragedy), pp. 259-261 (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 174a-f)
Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.682-721
West, pp. 107-128 (“The bagpipe,” “Reedless pipes,” “Percussion”)
Reports:
Pick an instrument (some possibilities: bagpipe, plagiaulos, syrinx,
trumpet, kroupedia=scabellum, lituus, bucina, cornu, water-organ,
magadis, sistrum)
9 Rhythm
West, pp. 129-159, 242-245 (“Rhythm and Tempo,” “Rhythm”)
Pearson, Lionel, Aristoxenus: Elementa Rhythmica (Oxford, 1990), pp. xi-liii, 3-19 (On reserve in the Classics Library, ML 167 A74 1990)
16 Melody
Barker 1, pp. 130-131 (Plato, Republic 398c-399c), pp. 163-168 (“Appendix A: the harmoniai)
Barker 2, pp. 406-423 (Aristides Quintilianus 1.6-10)
West, pp. 160-233 (“Scales and Modes,” “Melody and
Form,” “The naming of notes,” Systematization of the
modes,” “Keys”)
Danek, George, and Stefan Hagel, “Homeric Singing – An Approach to the Original Performance” (http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/sh/index.htm)
Reports
1. Genera
2. Damonian Scales
3. Classical Modes
4. Post-Classical Modes
5. Names of notes
6. Systems
7. Keys
23 Notation and Extant melodies
Barker 2, pp. 424-430 (Aristides Quintilianus 1.11)
West, pp. 254-326 (“Notation and Pitch,” “The Musical Documents”)
Reports:
Pick a musical document from Pöhlmann, Egert. and Martin L. West, edd., Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments (Oxford, 2001; on reserve in the Classics Library, ML 169 P587 2001)
30 Historical developments
Barker 1, 138 (Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 95-174), pp. 233-238 (Ps. Plutarch On Music 28-30), pp. 273-274 (Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 617b-f)
Cicero, De Legibus 2.38-39, Horace, Ars Poetica 202-219, Petronius Satyricon 31-32
Barker 1, Chapter 7 (“The Musical Revolution of the Later Fifth Century”)
West, pp. 327-385 (“Historical Synthesis”)
Csapo, Eric, “The Politics of the New Music” in P. Murray and P. Wilson, edd., Music and the Muses: The Culture of ‘Mousike’ in the Classical Athenian City (Oxford, 2004), pp. 207-248.
Reports:
1. What changes came about in Greek music between the Homeric and the Classical Age?
2. Exactly what changes did the “New Music” Bring?
3. Developments in the Hellenistic Age.
4. What can we know or surmise about the development of Roman music over time?
November
6 Andrew Barker on Greek Musical Theory: topic and readings to be announced
13 Andrew Barker on Greek Musical Theory: topic and readings to be announced
In lieu of a session on November 20th, Professor Barker will lead a
third session on Greek Musical Theory at some point during the week of
November 12th
27 Presentation of term papers
December
4 Presentation of term papers
Friday, December 15th: Term papers due
Required information:
Scholastic Dishonesty
Scholastic dishonesty on any graded assignment will result in a 0 on
the assignment. Scholastic dishonesty includes any kind of cheating,
including plagiarism; if you are unsure about the exact definition you
should consult the General Information Catalogue, Appendix , Section
11-802 (http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/gi01-02/app/appc11.html). For more information, see the information on the web site of the Dean of Students (http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/scholdis.php).
Academic disabilities
The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate
academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For
more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at
471-6259 or 232-2937, or see the information online at http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/ssd/.
Religious holidays
You may make up any work you miss for a religious holiday if you notify me of the holiday fourteen days ahead of time.
last modified September 3rd, 2007 by timmoore@mail.utexas.edu