Ancient Greek Music: A Survey

Author(s): R. P. Winnington-Ingram
Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Oct., 1929), pp. 326-345
Published by: Oxford University Press
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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

Now thata new editionof Grove's Dictionaryhas appearedand an
Introductory
Volumebeen added to the OxfordHistory of Music it
shouldbe possibleforthestudentofmusic,whohas no timeorinclinationto mastertheoriginalauthorities,
these
to findout by consulting
standardworksof reference
the presentstateof our ignoranceabout
Greekmusic. Whoeverthinksso willbe grievously
disappointed.In
Grove Dr. Macran'sarticlehas beenreprinted
without
alteration
from
earliereditions. To theOxfordHistorya chapteron Greekmusicwas
contributed
by the late Mr. Cecil Torr, whose much regretted
deathoccurredbeforehe had corrected
the proofs. Betweenthe two
accountsthereis hardlya pointin commonof any importance.Nor
wouldthemainthesisofeitherwriterbe acceptedby evena minority
of scholarshere or on the Continent.Is the situationthen really
so farcical? Is thereno basis of factto all the intolerabledeal of
theory?It is all thegreaterpitythatsuchan impression
is causedin
thattherehas been a considerable
revivalof interestin the subject
since the War. New fragments
of some importance
have been discoveredand have been discussedby German,Frenchand English
scholars. An admirablyconcisehandbookhas been writtenby the
lateM. Th. Reinach.(1) In thiscountry
apartfromMr. Torr'schapter
mentioned
Mr.
above,therehave been articlesby Prof.Mountford,(2)
(5) two thin
(3) Miss Schlesinger(4)
Clements,
and the presentwriter,
bookletsby Dr. Perrett.(6)Some of thesecontributions
have been of
verydoubtful
value,it is true; indeedperhapsthe greatestlighthas
been shed by one who is not a studentof Greekmusicat all, as I
hopeto pointout later. Fully to criticisethesewritings
wouldneed
detailedargumentwhichwouldbe of littlegeneralmusicalinterest.
If whatfollowsappearsto be yetanothertheoryaboutGreekmusic,
mydefenceis that,whileputting
forward
somehypotheses
ofmyown,
(1) La Musique Grecque. Paris, 1926. Collection Payot.
(2) Journal of Hellenic Studies. Vol. 40. Classical Quarterly. Vol. 17.
(3)

Journal of Hellenic Studies. Vol. 42.

Musical Standard. Mar. 26, 1927, etc.; chapter on ' The Significance of
Musical Instruments in the Evolution of Music' in Oxford History of Music
Introductory Volume.
(S) Classical Quarterly. Vol. 22.
(6) Some Questions of Musical Theory. Heffer. Chaps. I and II, 1926.
(4)

Chaps. III and IV, 1928.

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

327

I have endeavoured
to makeit Qlearwhatis factand whatis theory,
whatis generallyagreedand whatis highlycontroversial.
How muchdo we actuallyknowaboutGreekmusic? Whatcan we
reasonablyconjecture?The bulk of our knowledgeis about the
theoreticalsystemsof scales, which are describedin the extant
treatises;but it will be best to beginby enumerating
some of the
ofGreekmusic.
generalcharacteristics
(1) Harmony. ThoughGreekmusicwas a highlydevelopedart,
ouranalogiesto it mustbe drawnprincipally
fromfolkmusicbecause
ofits mainlymelodiccharacter.Ilow fara feelingforharmony
went
withthemis a controversial
point. We knowthey had no vocal
nordid harmonyin our senseformpartof the theoryof
polyphony,
Harmonike. On the otherhand the Greekswerecertainlyawareof
bothconsonantand dissonantharmoniceffects,
and it is clear from
somepassagesthatat leastconsonant
wereusedby accomharmonies
panyinginstruments.Twoofthesepassagesactuallysuggesta second
mnelodic
part in counterpoint.However,the languageis not clear
and it remainsdoubtfulwhetherthis accompaniment
amountedto
morethanthe playingof an occasionalnoteeitherwithor afterthe
note of the melody. None of the extantmelodiesshow signsof a
simultaneousaccompaniment,
thoughin some of them harmonic
feelingseemsto be shownin themelody;whichis anothermatter.
(2) Grace. A commoncharacteristic
of purelymelodicmusicis a
frequentuse of graceto embellishthe melodicoutlineand establish
tonality. There is littleevidencethat the Greekscared muchfor
grace. Some simplefigureswereanalysedby late theoristsand an
increaseofthiskindof thingmayhave markedthe decadenceof the
end ofthe fifth
century.But in the mainthe Greekslikeda simple
straightiorward
type of melody. This no doubtwas due to their
desireto preventthe musicfromobscuring
the senseof the wordsin
any way. The same instinctmade themdesireclear vocalisation.
Aristoxenus
and othersopentheirtreatiseswithan insistenceon the
difference
betweenthe employment
of soundby speechand song in
thisrespect.
(3) Melodyand the Pitch Accent. The factthat theyfeltimpelledto

insiston that distinction

is significant.There must have been a
similarity
to makethemnotethe difference
so carefully.The clue is
givento us by the extantfragments.The spokenlanguagehad not
a stressaccent like ours but a pitch accent. Now it is noticeablethat

withfewexceptions
the Greekmelodieswe possessfollowthis pitch

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328

MUSIC AND LETTERS

accent accordingto some simple rules.(7) We are uncertainabout the

date of some of these melodies and so cannot be dogmaticabout the
history of this interestingrelationship. But the Delphic Hymns
(second century B.C.) follow these laws closely, the Hymns of
Mesomedes (second centuryA.D.) break them fairlyfreely,which is
only what would be expected seeing that the pitch accent began to
give way early in the Christianera. The oldest of all the fragments,
however,that fromthe Orestes of Euripides, breaks these laws, and
Dionysiusof Halicarnassus writingat the end of the firstcenturyB.C.
quotes from the same score(8) to prove that they were not valid.
This is probablyto be explained by the fact that Euripides was an
innovator. Perhaps he was here takingpart in a movementto liberate
music fromthe trammelsof speech. We may, however,exaggerate
the restrictionthat was in this way put upon the composer. The
modernsong writerattends closelyto the natural values of the words
and these variations in pitch were part of the natural values of the
Greekwords.
(4) Rhythm. As the melodywas to a slightextentdictatedby the
accents,so was the rhythmto a much greaterextentby the quantities.
It is difficult
at firstto believe that this was so, yet there can be no
doubt that when words were set to music the rhythmof the music
was based upon the rhythmof the words. Were this not made
virtuallycertain by the language of the Greek theorists,it would be
establishedin my opinion by the remarkableresults obtained by the
late Walter Headlam(9) and by Mr. George Thomson, whose book
on Greek lyric metre has just been published.(10) The variety and
complexityof the metres of Pindar and the Greek tragic poets of
themselvesmade the apparentlyhumiliatingposition of music more
easily explicable. It has now been shownthat these writersemployed
somethingthat mightbe described,if we do not press the comparison
too far, as a kind of rhythmicalcounterpoint,and also constructed
their stanzas and completeodes upon principlesof formanalogous to
those of modernmusic. Not only does this make it certain that the
melody could not have had yet anotherrhythmwhich obscured that

(7) (a) In any word an unaccented syllable cannot carry a note higher than
that carried by the accented syllable and tends to carry a lower one; (b) when
a syllable bearing the circumflex accent has two notes (as is frequent) the
second of them must be lower than the first. For a further ' law ' governing
the grave-accented syllables and a full discussion see Prof. J. F. Mountford
in New Chapters in Greek Literature: Second Series (Oxford, 1929).
(8) The date ascribed to the papyrus is the first century A.D.
This coincidence is curious, and it is by no means improbable that this was the only
score of the fifthcentury or earlier that had survived to that date.
(9) Journat of Hetlenic Studies. Vol. 22. ' Greek Lyric Metres.'
(10) Greek Lyric Metre. Cambridge, 1929.

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

329

of the poetrybut it largely removes any desire on our part to have

had it so, if the Greeks were such musicians even beforethey came
to the melodyat all. For a full expositionof these resultsthe reader
must be referredto Headlam's article and Mr. Thomson's book.("'
A fewwordsmust sufficehere.
The elements of Greek rhythm were a number of short and
characteristicphrases. These were by the great artists intricately
combinedand patternedby various methods of transition. It would
need a number of quotations to show how sometimes the natural
divisions of the words inside one rhythmicalphrase will give a hint
at another, a suggestionthat will later be taken up and developed
effectively,
how one phrase will be made to overlap another,or howmost subtlyof all-two different
rhythmswill be made to run side by
side in a kind of contrapuntal effect. Of this last device Mr.
Thomson gives a fascinatingexample on p. 30 of his book fromthe
Pronmetheus
of Aeschylus (130-40). Here the repetitionof a phrase
of a commontype ( u - u - - u u - I u - u - - u u - ) creates an
anacreontic, as underlined, and this double rhythm produces an
undulating effectadmirably appropriate to the subject, the flight
throughthe air of the Ocean Nymphs on their winged sea-horses.
Some of these devices at once remind us of the way a modern
symphoniccomposerdevelops his melodies. To the formalprinciples
of constructionto be found in stanza and ode referencehas already
been made. There is yet another musical analogy in the use of the
phrase as leit-motifin association with persons or subjects.. In
all these ways not only was' an intricacy,challengingcomparisonwith
HIindudrumbeating,given to the rhythmbut a principleof coherence
to the whole composition. We are told little or nothingof melodic
formby the Greek writersand except for the second Delphic Hymn
none of the fragmentsis both extensiveand completeenough to illustrateits presenceor absence. But this new approachto the subjecthas
made Greekmusic intelligibleto us in its form. The moderncomposer
uses melody and harmony,the Greek composerused the element of
pure time, but both to the same end and upon the same principles.
In its broaderaspects we now knowsomethingabout Greekrhythm.
But we are far frombeing able to interpretit in detail. We can
discuss phrases, but if we wish to discuss feet, let alone bars, we are
in difficulties. Suppose we wish to write out an ode of Pindar in
minimsand crochets. Are we to assume that a long syllableis always
worth two shorts? As it happens we know that in the time of
Aristoxenusand later a long might be equal to three, four or even
(11) Also Prof. E. J. Dent's article on Headlam's theory in Journal of
Hellenic Studies, vol. 23, where he discusses it from the musician's point of
view.

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330

MUSIC AND LETTERS

shorts. How far weresuch prolongations

fiveF
used by Pindar and
Aeschylus?Or weretheyonlybroughtintofashionby the theorists
and innovatorsof the laterfifthand the fourthcenturies? Some
scholarshold that,as ProfessorMountford
puts it, ' the quantities
ofthewordsmayhavebeenmerelytheskeletonofthelivingrhythm.'
But if thatwereso,(12) whatof the beautiesnewlydiscovered
upon
Headlam's hypotheses?Anyconsiderable
distortion
wouldobliterate
thementirely.Grantedthatthe poeticrhythm
ruled,did thisitself
need anything,beyondthe approximateequivalenceof a long to
two shorts,to make it intelligible?This bringsus to the difficult
questionoffeet,bars,ictus,and arsisand thesis,or metricalriseand
fall. If the phrasewas the effective
unit,was it nevertheless
itself
subdivided?Arewe to use barlines?
The bar line to us impliesat least a slightictuson tllefirstof the
bar. Thoughthis is not absolutelyincompatible
withan unstressed
language,thereare reasonsforbelievingthatictusin Greekrhythm
was eithernon-existent
or slighterthan thatin the musicto which
we are mostaccustomed.But even if the suggestion
of the bar line
is misleading,we demanda proportion
in rhythm. There must
clearlybe a riseand fall,markedbya psychological
if nota physical
ictus. The Greektheoristsdemandedproportion
too, and discussed
the arsis (fall) and thesis (rise)(13)of the foot.(14) In the simpler
metres,whichconsistof a successionof similarfeet no difficulty
arises. Themorecomplicated
presenttwotypesofdifficulty.
(a) One
concernsthe proportion
betweenfootand footwhen different
feet,
dactyls,say, and trochees,are combinedin a phrase. It used to be
thoughtnecessaryto adoptsometheoryforobtainingequidistance
of
stress,as in mostmodernmusic. Nowit is beingrealisedthatthese
diversefeetprobablyrepresent
whatwe shouldcall changeof time
signature,a phenomenoneasy enough even in stronglystressed
rhythm
likethe Englishfolksong. Five-timewas common,and the
well-knowndochmiac metre, which appears in many forms
(u

- -

u -, u u u

-,

etc.), is probablybest explained as alter-

(12) Of the fragments that bear rhythmical signs only two show any
considerable distortion of the verse rhythm; the Seikilos Epitaph, which is
little more than doggerel, and the Berlin Pmean,which is an odd sort of poem,
being written entirely in long syllables.
(13) ' Rise ' and ' fall ' for thesis and arsis, temps fort and temps faible are
suggested by Prof. Sonnenschein ('What
is Rhythm?')
and seem the
handiest English terms for the two parts of a rhythmical foot, despite the
reversal of ' up ' and ' down ' involved in the change of metaphor.
(14) This proportion need not be mathematically exact.
The voice is
naturally flexible. Perhaps it would have been scarcely necessary for the
Greeks to consider the subdivision of the phrase but for the problem of
choral singing. Dr. Dyson says (The New Music pp. 25-33) of a later music
that the bar line was a device of discipline. So it may have been the
exigencies of conducting that led the Greeks to consider the foot and its
divisions.

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

331

natingbarsofthree-and five-time.(b) Secondly,

it oftenhappensthat
variations
of a choralode theregularriseand fall
in the complicated
appears to be broken. Sometimes there appears to be an
in thelinkingofphrases
ofrhythmical
agglomeration
rises;sometimes
the same syllableseems to be arsis in one phrase and thesis in
another. It is doubtful
whether
we shalleverhave a finalexplanation
have
no means of decidinghow far the
forwe
of these difficulties;
time
were
and
Greeksof Pindar's
preparedto use prolongations
at
pausesto producean equidistanceof risesor least a fairlyregular
succession
ofrisesand falls. It is notveryimportant.
(5) ThtePositionof Music. We have seen thatwordsgave Greek
musicits rhythmand to a lesser extentits melodicoutline. This
wouldsuggestthatmusicwas a purelyancillaryart,whosesole duty
it was to attenduponpoetryas deftlyand unobtrusively
as possible.
Yet againstthis we mustput the high reputein whichmusicwas
held by the Greeks,the regulationsthat the philosophers
thought
necessaryto makeforits controlin theirideal statesbecauseof the
effecton characterthey supposedthe different
modes to have.(15)
Nor must it be supposedthat there was no purelyinstrumental
music.(16) No doubtclhorallyrichad the greatestprestige;but one
of the oldest forms of Greek music was Auletike(=a" TLK
solo aulos playing..Its originswereassociatedwithAsia, but early
in the sixthcenturyit was establishedat the Pythiangames,and
we knowthe namesof manyfamousvirtuosoauletes. Solo cithara
playingcamelater. We see signsofa contestthrough
Greekmusical
history,illustrated
by a numberof legends,betweena conservative
taste,lovinga simpletypeof melody,whichservedthe poetryand
was particularly
associatedwiththelyre,and a moreelaborate,more
emotionaltypeof music,by originAsiaticand associatedwiththe
flute. Ofthiscontestwe shall see morewhenwe cometo themodes.
In the laterfifthcenturythereseemsto have been an important
movement
forthe emancipation
of musicfrompoetry. The cithara
becamemoreelaborateand thecomposers
ofthatdaysuchas Phrynis
and Timotheuswereaccusedof spoilingthe old dignified
simplicity.
As we have seen, thereis reasonto believethatEuripidesrevolted
againstthe domination
ofmelodyby the pitchaccent. Thereis also
evidencefor a corresponding
revolution
in rhythm. The resolved
syllablesin Euripidesand his repetition
of wordsas in a modern
(15) See in particular: Plato Rep. 396d-400c,Aristotle Pol. viii. 1339b1342b.
(16)The principal musical instrumentsof Greece were the lyre, the cithara
(an elaborate formof lyre) and the aulos (a wind instrument,probablyof
the clarinet type).

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332

MUSIC AND LETTERS

anthem, the poor quality of Timotheus' extant poetry,which seems

to be a mere congeriesto fillup the rhythmicalscheme, togetherwith
the parodies of Aristophanesand the complaints-ofcriticsall suggest
that some change was going on. The general result seems to have
been that the melodygained in importanceat the expense of rhythm,
whichlost its old subtlety.
We cannot,of course, say whetherthis so-calleddecadence produced
any first-ratemusic. There may have been too much self-conscious
experiment,resulting in a sterilitycomparable to that of post-war
Europe. There seernsat any rate to have been in the music of this
period an increase in an elementof crude programmemusic that had
not been known before. The music of Timotheus was, accused of
theatricalityand may indeed have been as cheap as conservative
criticsmade out.
Melody; Diatonic, Chromatic, Enharmonic. We can now
come to Greek melody, about which we have a great deal
of information,though mostly of a barren character. Before
passing to the scales we must make a preliminarysurveyof the type
of intervals used in them. For in mainly non-harmonicmusic
subtletiesof intonationare likelyto be of considerableimportance,and
several recent English writers have advanced theories about the
intervals. In everycase, while theirmain contentionhas been more
or less justified,the associated theoriesof the modes have been open
to grave objections. Thus we can agree with Mr. Clementsthat the
Greeks employed septimal intervals and kept the major and minor
tones distinct,but not that on the order of major and minor tones
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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

333

were based three fundamental' harmonies,' as he calls them. We

can agree with Dr. Perrett that the Greeks appreciated the small
intervalsthey used and that their quarter-toneswere no glissando,
while rejecting his fantasticdoublet enharmonicscale. Mr. Torr's
theoryabout the intonationwas based entirelyon a false assumption
about the keys and the natuireof thlenotation. His eighth-toneshad
no existenceexcept in his imagination.(17)
To retuirnto the ancients, we may firstput away from us any
idea that they knew a temperedscale. It is true that the language
of Aristoxenussuggests temperament,as for him six tones made an
octave, two semitonesa tone. However, this must have been merely
an unscientificsimplification
for the sake of convenience. We must
find the true meaning of his quarter-tones,third-tones,etc., from
othersources. Fortunatelythe computationsexpressedin ratios of a
number of Pythagorean mathematicians from Archytas (fourth

centuryB.c.) to Ptolemy(secondcenturyA.DP.) have been preserved

by the latter. The Greeks describedintervalsby means of a typical

tetrachord(say E F G A in the (liatonic), in which the extreme
notes stood firm,the two between moved withincertain loci to give
the variations of the genera (see Table I). Of these there were
three: diatonic, chromaticand enharmonie, which can roughlybe
represented by ythe Aristoxeiiearnsuccessionis: 'diatonic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~2~
T, 1, 1,
1
chromatic-,
2
i 4' _4, 2. Of these the enharmonic
2'
2'
2' enlharmonic
would seem queerest to the modern ear, buitits actual existence is
undoubtedand it attaineda wide popularity. The thing that is most
certainabout it is the size of the intervalF-A, the major third(5/4).
The threelowernotes were quite possiblyobtainedfroma single hole
of the aulos. How this semitone was divided, whether in fact the
two small intervalswere not regardedas virtuallyequal, on this the
mathematicallyminded may speculate with little check. Certainly
Aristoxenusregardedthemas equal; but the heydayofthe enharmonic
was over even in the fourthcentury,and when Ptolemy divided it
he did it fora mathematical
X
consideration
only; probably
the ratios of Didymus(I x '1) more nearly represent the facts.
The chromatichad for its upper interval the minor third (6/5). It
is uncertain what exact intonation Aristoxenus' equal semitones
9

4 5

3243

(17) This is not the place to discuss Miss Schlesinger's view (Oxford History,
Introductory Volume, pp. 86-9) of the importance in ancient music of a kind
of natural polyphony caused by the interplay of harmonic overtones. If
in her forthcoming book she suceeeds in relating the modes to the higher
partials, doubtless there will be more to he said. As it is, if this sensitiveneiss
was in fact more than an appreciation of timbre, has this mechanical
polyphony any more to do with music as a language for the expression of
htiman emotion than bird-song or an Aeolian harp? And it is music as a
lainguage that we want to discover among the Greeks, not merelv their
sensuouis pleasure in sound.
Vol.1.

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334

MUSIC AND LETTERS

representor whetherthe minor tone was ever divided approximately

equally. However, on p. 52 (Meibom) he implies the sequence
I + -+ I ; the chromaticof Archytasis 27- X 2-4 X3 32
the soft
chromatic of Ptolemy is -X 1xI X 6 (the two differonly in the
dispositionof a comma). So that it seems there was a variety of
chromaticin which the middle intervalwas about double the lowest.
In the diatonic the Pythagoreans used for their calculations a
tetrachordwithtwo major tones, and Ptolemytells us that in his day
this was actually undistinguishedfrom the modern just intonation
5X

1U9

either may have been the standard diatonic of

Aristoxenus. Ptolemy, however,regards as most normal the tuning

These septimal intervalsare also given by Archytasand
'F x x
impliedby Aristoxenus
(I +?1 + 1, p. 27).(18) We shall not be far
wrongin saying that the diatonic tetrachordconsisted of two tones
of variable size and a residual semitone, that the middle interval
was normallythe largestand frequentlythe septimaltone (8/7).
There are a number of other variations which have not been
mentionied. We can only place reliance on those which are mutually
supported,and it is remarkablethe way that Archytas,Aristoxenus
and Ptolemy confirmone another. Further hypothesesmust be of
an a priori nature. No doubt subtletyof ear varied fromperiod to
periodand amongthe musiciansof any one period.
We can now turnto the modes.
R7

The Modes. In dealing with the modes we must begin with the
systemof Aristoxenus,but we must not stop there, as too many have
done. It is now becomingrecognisedthat this portentousscheme,tidy
in all its parts,is too tidyby half; and, thoughour views of the early
Greek modes must be in part determinedby deductionsfromit, there
is enough otherevidence to guide us roughlyalong the rightlines.
The system of Aristoxenus,which we know partly from his own
writingsand partly fromthose of his followers,is a vast inventory
of the melodicresourcesof Greek music. It consistsof thirteenkeys,
in pitch a semitone fromone another (two more were added later).
Each key (rovov) was a scale two octaves in length, in its diatonic
formas fromA-a on the white notes of the piano. This could he
analysed in two differentways. Most fundamentalto Aristoxenus'
system was the division into tetrachords. The core was the octave
e-e, consistingof two tetrachordsof the shape already described
joined by the disjunctive tone-e-a-b--e
.
e-a above, B-e
(18) This
and the chromatic above do not appear in his fallaciously
symmetrical scheme of nuances. It is all the more significant that he should
admit the validity of these intonations in an incidental fashion.

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

335

and a furthertone below completedthe double octave. In addition

there was a supplernentary
tetrachorda-d, introducingthe note bi
and in effectproducinga modulation.(19), The whole was known as
the Greater Perfect System. Each of these tetrachords (whose
namiesappear on Table II, p. 337)could assume diatonic,chromaticor
enlharmonicforms. Notice the frameworkof ' standing notes
(A B e a b [d] e a).
Secondly, this two octave scale contained in itself the seven

speciesof the octave' (Et- rov aLLA 7raouv), whichin the diatonic

Werethe A mode, B mode, C mode, etc.

Where in this great edificewere the modes, the JpMuovtatin which
Aleman, Pindar and Sophocles wrote, of which Plato and Aristotle
speak? The old modes had names derivedfromthe tribesof Greece
and Asia, Dorians, Lydians, Aeolians and the rest. These names or
modifiedformsof them belong in Aristoxenus'svstem to the keys.
But they are also given as obsolete names for the octave species
(see Table II). Were eitherof these the old modes? Monro and Torr
held that the a4povtat were the keys; forMonro they differedonly in
pitch, for Torr they differedsubtly in their intervals. There are
weighty reasons for rejecting this view. Were they the octave
species? This is the view held by Westphal,Gevaertand Reinach and
in a modifiedfashion bv Laloy and Mountford? On this theorythe
modes were true modes with distinctivecharactersof their own, and
theyhave a clear relationto the tones of the Roman Church. Within
limits this view is right. But perhaps it would be truerto say that
the species of the octave are the sole representativesin the systemof
Aristoxenusof the old modes. Aristoxenuscame at the end of more
than a centuryof theoreticalstandardisation. There is evidence both
internal and external that some of the realities of music had been
squeezed out. There is the factitiousnature of some of his seales;
for instance, the enharmonicLydic (B c e e f a b b)(20) bounded by
its quarter-tones. Again, while keeping the genera separate, he
admits that the ' mixtureof genera ' needs studying. Externally,
we can expose him fromthe extant fragments,since the ' Orestes '
papyrus,the two Delphic Hymns, a piece in the Berlin papyrus,and
perhaps the Hymn to the Muse contain notes which are out of place
in their scales on the Aristoxeneananalysis. Most importantof all,
however, are the old scales preserved by Aristides Quintilianus.
(19) The interplay of this tetrachord with the tetrachord diezeugmenon
(see Table) is well illustrated in the Delphic Hymns.
(20) The adjectival forms of Doric, Lydic, Mixolydic, etc., are here adopted,
although they are not those used for the modes by the Greeks, because this
is likely to be less confusing to those who are accustomed to the nomenclature
of the Church modes and whose Dorian is, therefore, a D mode, Mixolydian
a G mode, etc. A dot over a note, e.g., B, indicates that it is raised by
a quarter of a tone._[ED.]

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336

MUSIO AND L]ETTERS

Theseare of pricelessvalue to us. For fromthem,fromaccountsof

the old Spondeionscale givenby Plutarch,froma fewtra)ditions
and
fromassumptions
as to whatmusthave been to producethe system
ofAristoxenus
we mustdeducewhatis possibleaboutthe earlymusic
ofGreece.
The historyof Greekmusicis thatof twoconfluent
streams,the
Hellenicand the Asiatic. The two foughtforthe masteryand in
theoryat least the victorywentto the Hellenic. To this streamwe
can ascribethe all important
withits smallestinterval
tetrachord
lowestand also in all probability
the diatonicgenus; forin one of
the fewglimpseswe are givenof the folkmusicof Greecewe hear
of Aetoliansusing the diatonic. Indeed a diatonictetrachord
may
weil have been the mostprimitive
thingin Greekmusic,in which
case it wouldfindan interesting
parallelin the Saman chant.(21)
More developedformsof whichwe can be fairlycertainare the
heptachord
of firmtradition(e f g a b c d), whichleftits markin
thesupplementary
tetrachord
ofthe GreaterPerfectSystem,and the
octavee-e, the undoubtedDoric modein its diatonicformand, as
we have seen, the verykernelof Aristoxenus'
system. With the
attainment
of this octavetradition
associatesthe name of Terpander
(seventhcentury). Perhaps also the additionof a tone belowthe
heptachord
may have giventhe Aeolicfromd-d, thoughthe early
formofthismodeis moredoubtful.
Asiatic influenceis symbolisedby referencesto a legendary
musician,Olympus. Withhim are associatedthe Phrygicand the
Lydic, whichlatterhe is said to have invented,and-in close and
important
connection-theSpondeionscale and the origin of the
enharmonicgenus. Of the Spondeionwe can trace the following
historyfromaccountsin Plutarchand hints in the Aristotelian
Problems.(22)First, the pure Spondeion,a scale of the form
e f a b c, in which the small intervalswere three-quarter-tones
(12/11). It developedin variousways; the lowestinterval,whether
thensemitoneor stillthree-quarter-tone,
was dividedintotwosmall
intervals;laterthe uppersemitonewas dividedalso; beforeor after
thistheoctavee wasadded. Notetheresultobtained:e e f a b b c e.
Here followsa list of the scales of Aristides. Withthemand the
scales alreadymentionedand the octavespeciesof the theoristsin
thethreegenerawe shallhave all the cardsuponthetable.
Doric:

deefabbce

Phrygic:deefabbcd

[Syntono]lydic:eefac
Ionic:

eefacd

Mixolydic:

BBcdeefb

[(Hypo) lydic: efabbce]

(23)

A. H. Fox Strangways'Mitsic of Hindustan, p. 277.

This question is treated in detail in my article ' The Spondeion Scale,'
to which referencehas already been made.
(23) This scale is bracketedas probablyspurious.
(21)

(22)

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337

ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEV

NCALE3;AlD MOmS
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These were,says Aristides,the modesto whichPlato refers,and

thereis littlereasonto doubtthat they are examplesof the premodes. We maynoticeseveralpoints.
Aristoxenean
is the same as thatof the
(1) The compassofthe Syntonolydic
Spondeionand bothare associatedwithOlympus. These scaleshave
octavesoflaterdays.
littleyetin commonwiththeformalised
(2) We are told that the semitonewas not dividedin the early
Spondeion,that it was firstdivided in the Phrygic and Lydic.
Whateverthe history,we may take it that this type of scale, in
whichan intervalofthe majorthirdhad belowit twosmallintervals

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338

MUSIC AND LETTERS

completingthe fourth,was characteristicof the Asiatic contribution

to Greek music.
(3) We are expressly told that Doric melddies of the primitive
Spondeiae type (we shall see that in retrospectthe Spondeion became
Doric) did not employ the note d below this tetrachord. The scales
of Aristides show us why this piece of informationwas necessary.
In Doric, Phrygicand Mixolydicscales this ' diatonic' note appears
below the ' enharmonic' tetrachord. Reference to the Orestes
fragmentand to the second Delphic Hymn shows us that not only
in the fifthbut even in the second centuryB.C. this mixtureof genera
was an elementin Greekmusic.
(4) Aristides unfortunatelygives only those modes which Plato
mentions. This accounts for the omissions and for the name
Syntonolydic. This is the same as the primordialLydic of Olympus,
whichwiththe Doric and Phrygicis by traditionoldest of all. There
was another and later Lydic, the ' low ' or ' slack' Lydic of Plato.
Similarly there were in all probabilitytwo Ionics, one the ' slack '
Ionic of Aristides, another which eventually developed into the
Hypophrygicspecies, though some would deny this. The Aeolic
unifortunately
does not appear in the list and it is not clear whether
we should account for it as above. Both the ' slack ' Lydic and the
Mixolydicwere regarded as having been invented about the turn of
the seventh and sixth centuries. The latter must have got its name
froma mixtureof Doric and Lydic characteristics.
On the one side, Hellenic music, with a fixed structure of
tetrachords and probably diatonic. On the other, modes of
diverse form with an enharmonic element and not directlv
comparablewith the Hellenic Doric. Two questions arise. How far
was the one subordinatedto the other? And how? To the firstwe
can answer: In theory, completely; in practice, who knows? To
answerthe second we can put forwarda numberof colnjectures.Here
is a curious phenomenonto be accounted for and these ideas are
advanced quite tentativelyin the hope that they will partly do so.
Of course, broadlyspeaking,if the modal dialects of Asia were drilled
into an Hellenic shape, it was because of a natural tendencyof the
Greek to prefera certain form of musical expression. This is the
fundamentalmusical reason. But we can suggestcontributory
causes.
(1) The Spondeion scale is associated with Olympus, but of all
those in the Asiatic tradition it is most easily comparable to the
Hellenic strain. Not only in formdoes it fit the lower part of the
diatonic Doric, but it was associated apparentlywith a sober and
dignifiedstyle that gained it great prestige. When the semitones
were divided and the upper E added, it was in formthe enharmonic
Doric of the Aristoxeneans. Thus the Spondeionacted as a link.

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

339

(2) At what poiilt this developed Spondeion could have been

regarded as an enharmonicDoric is not clear. Compare the lower
half of the Lydic of Aristideswith a diatonic tetrachord. It is clear
that the g is missingand the e-f intervalmade into two. But when
the chromatichad come into use (very possibly at firstit was an
attemptto imitatethe enharmonicintervalson stringedinstruments)
another wav of regardingthe matter sprang up. e e f a, e f f: a,
e f g a, are all comparable tetrachords;the third note varies in the
locus f-g; e and a are standingnotes; a fetterhas been forgedto
clamp the Asiatic modes to the Hellenic framework. From this
point the Doric could adopt the enharmonic form practically
l)rovided for it in the developed Spondeion; similarly, we can
postulatea diatonicLydic or Phrygic.
(3) To the pleasure found in the Doric mode in practice a
theoretical prestige was added by the mathematical doctrines of
Pythagoras. By showing that the formula 6-8-9-12
gave the
notes e-a-b-e
he evidently impressed the Greek mind greatly
and helped to fix the Doric octave-two tetrachordsjoined by the
disjunietivetone-in the centre of Greek musical theory.
(4) There is reason to believe that as musical instrumeents
developed
they became capable of renderingcombinations of modes. This was
effectedby the additionof holes and devices to the aulos and of strings
to the cithara. In this way the idea of a continuousinclusive scale
was fostered.
The actual details of the process are quite obscure. Clearly the
Phrygicwas seen to fitinto place below the Doric. The Syntonolydic
of Aristidesby the addition of the lower c would come below that;
the Mixolydicfittedinto the B octave. At some pointin the process
B--e would be thouglhtof as a niewtetra,chord(hypat6n). In the
otlher direction it was the old ' slack' Lydic that became the
F octave (Hypolydic), the lost ' tense ' Ionic that became the
G octave (Hypophrygic);the A octave (Hypodoric)was the developed
form of the Aeolic; e-a became the tetrachord ' net6n.' The
historicalorder of this process is quite unknownand whetherthere
were long stopping-placeson the way. Nor can we say what combinations were practical and what theoreticalor how far a sorting
otutof the genera accompaniedit. However, some such development
must have gone on, until the labours of numerous fifthand fourth
centurytheoristsculminatedin the systemof Aristoxenus.
The keys came into being as pure pitch keys and got their names
from that species of the octave that they broughtinto the middle
range of the voice. Their very existenceimplies a standardisationof
mode. How far was this standardisationeffectivein practicalmusic?

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340

MUSIC AND LETTERS

beforewe canl attemptto judge this issue, thireetasksawait us, to

examinethe conceptionof Ethos, to considerthe evidenceabout
tonality,and to reviewthe surviving
remainsof Greekmelody.

Ethos. A large amountof the interesttakenin Greekmusicis

of the
undoubtedlydue to the well-knownpronouncements
philosophers
aboutits moralvalue. It is a curiousidea to us thata
musicalmodecouldaffectthe character. To judge by the musicof
other nations it is even curiousthat a specificcharacter( yOoS
in Greek,as ' character' in English,has thisdoublesense)shouldbe
associatedwitha modeor scale ratherthan witha completestyle.
But thereare many thingsto modifythe impressionwe get from
Plato and Aristotle.(24)
This ethicalview of musicwas put forward
by Damon, an importantfigure of the middle of the fifth
century,from whom it was adopted by Plato; but it was
not allowed to pass withoutprotesteven among the ancients.
These contentionsare vigorouslyopposed by an anonymous
writer, probably of the fourth centuryB.C., and by Philodemus of Gadara in the first. More importantstill is the
attitudeof the musiciansto this doctrineof the philosophers.
Aristoxenus,
as thepupilofAristotle,
did notliketo denyit outright,
but he qualifiesthe statementthat music may hurt or improve
characterwiththe significant
addition' in so faras musicalart can
improvemoralcharacter'; and, whenwe cometo his owndiscussion
of ' ethos,'we findthatit is a matternotof theabsolutemoralvalue
ofcertainmodesbutoftheappropriateness
ofa combination
ofmode,
(25) Again,his
genusand rhythm
to thetreatment
ofa givensubject.
do not classifymodes,theyclassifystyles.(26)Allowingfor
followers
a largeconventional
element,whichassignedcertainmodesto certain
subjects,as convention
dealtalso withrhythms
uponHeadlam's and
Thomson'stheory,therewerea numberof subsidiaryassociations,
whichled to thisviewofthe modes: a characteristic
and simplestyle
associatedwiththe Doric; the associationof the Phrygicwiththe
low-pitched
Asiaticaulos,to whoseexcitingeffect
thereis testimony;
(24) Aristotle may have been a musician but Plato's knowledge was probably limited to the mathematics of the subject.
There is a revealing
passage in the Laws (699 D-E), in which he admits that without the words
he cannot understand what the rhythms and modes mean!
(25) Aristox.
Harm., p. 31, and ap. Plutarch. de Mus. ?357, etc. (ed.
Weil and Reinach).
(26) It is true that Ptolemy uses language to suggest that ethos depended
upon the succession of notes, but it is vague language and he appears
to be searching after a description of modality that is beyond his vocabulary.

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

341

the associationof the Syntonolydic

witha highpitch(27)suitableto
lamentation.We may doubtif it was everpurelythe successionof
notesin the scale thatdetermined
the ethos. As forthe moralsof
music,thatwe can leave to the philosophers-which
is no doubtwhat
theGreekmusiciansdid.
'Tonality. We could discussthe justice of associatingemotional
characters
withmodesbetterif we knewwhatwas theirtonalityand
theircharacteristic
melodicidiom. Clearlyit is littleuse to knowthe
successionof notesin a scale, unlesswe also knowsomething
of its
internalhierarchy.We mayguessthatin the Mixolydic
of Aristides
conjunctmovementamongthe closepackedlowernoteswas varied
withleaps to theupperb, or thatthe Syntonolydic
melodywas based
on the fifth,f-c. But thereare only two thingsthat could have
given us definiteinformation-aclear statementin ancienttheory
or a large collectionof reliableremains. Neitherof these do we
possess.
There is no theoryof tonality. There are only a fewpassages,
notablytwoin theAristotelian
Problems(probably
thirdcentury
B.C.),
whichattribute
a kiindoftoinalimportance
to thelnote' Mese.' Mese
is the notea in the middleof the GreaterPerfectSystemaccording
to thenomenclature
mostcommonly
used,buttherewas also another
thatmade it the note fourthfromthe bottomin any of the octave
species. Westphalonce held but later abandonedthe view that
Mes6 in the lattersense was tonicin all the modes; Gevaertheld a
modified
formofit. But it is in factclearthatthewriters
wereusing
the othernomenclature
throughout
their work. Dr. Macran put
forward
the perfectly
plausiblesuggestion
thatin all the modesthe
same note (a) of the PerfectSystem was tonic and that their
characteristic
effects
camefromits positionhighor low in the modal
octave. This,however,
is notin the leastborneoutbythe surviving
fragments.It mightseem arbitrary
to limitthe applicationofthese
pronouncements
to the Doric and leave the questionof the other
modes open. It becomesless so when we noticethat the actual
languageofProb.xix20 refersto thefrequent
use oftheMese in ' all
'
good melodies and rememberthat the Doric was the only mode
to whichAristotle
gavefullapproval. Whatif thepupilhas elevated
the master'spraiseintoa generalprincipleof tonality? At least it
is certainthatthenotea was tonicin the DoricE mode.
(27) Whether the old modes differedimportantlyin pitch is difficultto
determine. The Syntonolydicis by traditionhigh, the Phrygicon its native
instrumentwas low, the Doric very probably of medium pitch. But the
Greeks must have been prepared to abandon these distinctions,if, as they
apparentlydid, they played the different
modeson the same lyre retuned.

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MUSIC AND LETTERS

I should like to call attenFragmtents. In passinigto the fragmiients

tiolnto Prof. Mountford'sscholarlyeditingof the latest discoveriesin
New Chapters in Greek Literature. This is now one of the most
attractiveand accessible editions, and, although a few of his interpretationsmay be questioned, the scholarshipthat has producedthe
transcriptions
is absolutelyreliable.(28)
I shall tabulate these fragmentsand state verybrieflythe contribution each makes to our knowledge.
T'he Orestes Fragment. Almost certainly this is part of a
Euripidean score, but it is very brief and badly mutilated. It is
impossibleto dogmatiseabout its mode or tonality. Its importance
lies in the fact that it is one of the old modes. Its succession of
intervals (1 I 4 2 1 4) forms part of both the Doric and Phrygic
of Aristides.
First Delphic Hymn. The date is probablylate second century
B.C.
(a) The firstsection of some 30 bars is interestingas showing
that the style of the old Spondeion still survived,with its trichords
ilistead of tetrachords. Despite a few gaps, we can appreciate this
as a well turned interestingmelody. Transcribedin three flats the
tonic is clearly c. Doubtless this is the Doric mode; the cadence on
g may be regular. (b) The second section introducesa note alien to
the Aristoxeneankey in which it is written. By this means a succession of three semitones is produced. This chromaticeffectis used
to describethe richsavour of sacrificeand the music of pipe and lyre.
c may still be the tonic,thoughthe sectionends on bt, the anomalous
liote.
Second Delphic Hymn. The date is 128-7 B.c. There are changes
of key anld style forminga patternA B C B C B A. This gives a
musical form to compensate for the monotony of the rhythm.
Style A is pure Spondeion except that the second piece uses and the
firstmay use (neitherare complete)the note below the old Spondeion
(g in one flat), which we saw to be characteristicof the old modes.
Also, the tetrachord svnemmenon is used for contrast, but still
trichordally.' d is tonic and the cadences are on a. Style C is
based on the old heptachord;the lower tetrachordis here chromatic;
below it appears the diatonicg. There seems to have been a tendency
to employ chlronaticor enharmonic in the lower tetrachordonly,
witnessthe historyof the Spondeionarid a remiarkof Ptolemy's. The
(28) Mountford gives in musical score the Orestes fragment, the Aidin
Inscription (or Epitaph of Seikilos), the Berlin fragments and the Christian
Hymn. Von Jan (Musici Scriptores Graeci. Supplement. Teubner.) gives
all the fragments but the last two. Reinach's La Musique Grecque has them
all and except for a few details is quite reliable. The Delphic Hymns may
be found also in Collectanea Alexandrina, ed. J. U. Powell (Oxford).

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

343

subject in either case is appropriate to the Greek idea of the

chromatic. The two finalcadences are lost. Style B is characterised
by leaps of an octave frome to e (natural key) and by melodicfigures
(e.g., d e f e) emphasising e. It is similar in this respect to the
mutilatedend of the First Hymn. e appears to be tonic. In general
we may say that in these Hymns, while it is very difficult
to ascribe
mnodes,or species of the octave, the tetrachordal structure of
standing notes'
is always clear. Is this typical Dorized
Aristoxeneanmusic (barringthe anomalies noted)?
The Epitaph of Seikilos. An inscriptionof uncertain date. Its
fourlines are completeand the rhythmicalinterpretation
fairlyclear.
Tlhescale emiiployed
is the diatonicoctave fromii
e to e (in two sliarps).
The tonic seems to be a; the cadence is a f$ e. This piece is the
chiefargumentforthose who hold that the species of the octave were
the real basis of Greek music. For them this is Phrycgic
(the D mode)
with its tonic in the same relativepositionas that of the Doric.
The Hymnnto the Muse. The date is uncertain; also whetherthis
is two pieces or one. In any case the styleis homogeneous. Barring
one note of doubtful interpretation,which may introduce an
anomalous chromatic,the melodyis diatonicand lies mainly between
e and e (in one flat: i.e., the (Mixolydic)B mode). a appears to be
tonic.
The Hymns of Mesomedes. Second centuryA.D. These are somewhat dull and formlessmelodies. The Hymn to the Sun has a
diatoniccompass g to f (in one flat); the notes of melodicimportance
appear to be a and e, of which the formeris probablytonic. The
Hymn to Nemesis is writtenin the diatonicoctave g to g (D species),
plus the note f, and as c is apparentlytonic it recalls the Phrygic
modalityof the Seikilos Epitaph.
The Berlin Fragments. This papyrus contains fragments,vocal
and instrumental,of what appears to have been an anthologyof
melodies. The pieces were composed at uncertain dates, probably
beforethe thirdcenturyA.D. (A), which is part of a Poean, and (B),
which is instrumental,are purely diatonic. They are so badly cut
up that the ascriptionof tonic and mode is too risky. There is no
sign of tetrachordalstructureas in the Delphic Hymns. They appear
more similar to the Epitaph and the Hymn to Nemesis. (C) may
be a fragmentfromsome tragic lament. The mode is obscure, but
the survivingscale is interesting(b co d e#fO),as it can be compared
with the Byzantine chromatic. (D) is so hard to interpret
rhythmically
that one cannot ventureto discuss tonality.
The Christian Hymn (not later than the third centuryA.D.)

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iS

344

MUSIC AND LETTERS

diatonicand writtenin the g-g octave (Hypoplhrygic)

plus the niotef.

c appearstobe tonic.

We can now take stockof the position. Our earliestfragment

showsEuripidesusinlg one of the old apzovtai,but whichand how
we caninot
say. The DelphicHymnsillustrate
the simplestyleofthe
old Spondeionand the theoreticalanalysisof Aristoxenus.Apart
fromtheseand portion(C) of the BerlinPapyruswe have a number
of diatonicmelodies,sometimeswithinand sometimesover the
compassofan octave. The tonicis fairlyclearin a numberofcases,
and we get a distinctsuggestion
thatthe Phrygic(D), Hypophrygic
(G) and Mixolydic
(B) diatonicoctaveshad theirtonicsfourth
fromthe
bottomlike the Doric. What is theirrelation(1) to the old modes;
(2) to the systemof Aristoxenus,
and (3) to the systemof Ptolemy
and theearlyChurchmusic?
(1) Because we findin the Seeikilos
Epitaph a Phrygicd species
witha tonicg, can we takeit thatthiswas oftheessenceofthewild
PhrygicofEuripides'choruses? The indications
are againstit. The
PhrygicofAristides
does notin factpossessthisnoteg at all. This
Plirygicoctavespeciesis used in a gracefulepitaph,a highlyconventionalhymnand possiblyin a Psean! The Mixolydicspeciesis
employed
as no modeoflamentation.
(2) We have asked how far the systemof Aristoxenusreally
meanta standardisation
ofmode; and we have seen thatthe Delphic
Hymns,whilecontaininganomalouselements,on the wholemight
havebeenwritten
to illustrate
his works. Further,theveryexistence
of his keys impliesthis standardisation.Ptolemy,writingin the
second centuryA.D., quarrelledwith the Aristoxeneansforusing this

word(T0vos)-and the old modalnames-forpure pitchkeys. His

own ro'votwere in effectthe seven species of the octave extendedinto

the sevenspeciesof the double-octave.But the octavespecieswere

in the systemofAristoxenus
also. Wherewas the centreof gravity?
IDidtheseoctavespecies,if theywerepracticalmusic,look forward
or backwardin their tonality? How can we apply the same
oftonality
principles
to his enharmonic
as to his diatonicoctaves?
(3) This bringsus to an important
factin the historyof Greek
music. The scalesofAristides
represent
theheightoftheenharmonic
period. This genushad lostfavourby the timeof Aristoxenus,
but
thechromatic
was stillpopular. By the timeofPtolemythe diatonic
was supreme;forthe onlyvarietyofchromatic
is little
he recognises
morethana kindof diatonic,and was so thought
of by Aristoxenus.
We have seen that it was in the natureof the enharmonic
and

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ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC: A SURVEY

345

ofscale. With
to emphasisea certainshapeor framework
chromatic
their disappearancethere became possible for the firsttime in
practicalmusica neat systemof octavemodes,completewithtonics
and perhapsfinals,and comparableto the modes of the Roman
Church. Perhapsit mayultimately
to discuss
provemoreprofitable
the surviving
melodiesof the Greco-Roman
to
periodwithreference
the futureratherthanto look to those melodiesto throwlighton
themusicofPindarand Sophocles.
Everywherewe are faced withunansweredquestions. It is an
unsatisfactory
state of affairs,and the readerwill naturallywant
to knowwhathope thereis that it will be improved. The scholar
wishesprimarily
to interpret
the writings
of the ancients. He may
reasonably
expectbycarefulstudyto eliminate
apparentcontradictions
and formhypotheses
whichwillgive an intelligible
historyof Greek
musicaltheory. The secondaryconcernof the scholarand the only
desireof themusicianis to understand
Greekmusicas an art. But
this wouldneed a large numberof actual melodiesof all periods,
unmutilated
and definitely
dated. Furtherfragments
are likelyto
turnup, butthereis littlehopethattheywillbe in betterpreservation
thanthosewe possessor thattheywilldatebackto thatearlyperiod
aboutwhichwe are naturally
mostcurious.
R. P. WINNINGTON-INGRAM.

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