MUSI 2100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Orpheus Music, Plectrum, Cithara
26 May 2016
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Earliest musicians were gods and immortals: apollo, dionysus, orpheus. God of light, music, song, poetry, order, measure. Founder of the art of lyre ( liar") playing. Lyre: small stringed instrument held on knee 450-440 b. c. Kithara: larger than lyre and held high; played with plectrum. Celebrates the deeds of the gods zeus and apollo. Associated with centaurs, leopard skins, chariots, panthers, grapevines, sex, wild orgies. Women were encouraged to only play stringed instruments. Apollo vs marsyas marsyas (satyr) challenges apollo. Apollo played kithara and defeated marsyas, who invented aulos. Tantalus made no effort to reach the waters that ever shrank away. Fusion of word, rhythm, melody (logos, rytmos, melos) Instrumental music considered less of an art form compared to vocal music. Poetry and music closely interconnected in ancient greece. Homer"s epic poems the iliad and the odyssey: probably sung from beginning to end to formulaic melodies. Ethical (magical?) power in music that influences emotions, health, behaviour, and morals of listeners.
