Echoes of Ancient Greece...(4 of 4)

A studio quaility recording of this piece can now be heard on my CD, "An Ancient Lyre" : available, anywhere in the world, from: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy4

This video features my arrangement for solo lyre, of the famous "First Delphic Hymn to Apollo" - a precious surviving fragment of music, which is an amazing legacy from the mostly lost musical culture of ancient Greece!

There are two Delphic Hymns that have been discovered, and they were dedicated to the god Apollo. Unlike the famous "Song of Seikilos" (the first COMPLETE piece of music that has been so far found to have survived from antiquity), the two Delphic Hymns have sadly not survived in their complete form. However, they do survive in substantial fragments...giving just a tantilizing taste of the glory of the tragically lost, magnificant musical culture of ancient Greece!

The two Delphic Hymns are dated c.138 BC and 128 BC. My rendition here, is of the earlier of them; the First Delphic Hymn. Although it has unfortunately not survived in its complete form, the First Delphic Hymn to Apollo is THE earliest unambiguous surviving fragment of notated music from ANYWHERE in the Western World! It is written in the ALPHABETICAL musical notation system used in ancient Greece, whereby alphabetical notation describing the pitch of the melody, is written above the text of the song, as can be clearly seen in this image of the actual Delphic Hymn, as it was found, inscribed in marble:

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Delphic_Hymns

The rhythm can easily be inferred from the syllables of the text.

The First Delphic Hymn to Apollo was discovered in 1893 by a French archaeologist. It was inscribed in marble, carved on an outside wall of the Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi.

All that is known about its composer is that it was written by an Athenian, around 138 BC, since the part of the inscription giving the name of the composer is too difficult to read. The Second Delphic Hymn is slightly more recent, and has been dated to precisely 128 BC; evidently it was first performed in the same year. The name of the composer of the Second Delphic Hymn has also survived, in a separate inscription: he is called "Limenius". The occasion of the later hymn was the Pythian Festival, and this one, the earlier hymn, was probably written for the boys choir at the Pythian Games in 138 BC.

The translation of the fragment of text which has survived of the this, the First Delphic Hymn to Apollo, is as follows:

"Hear me, you who posses deep-wooded Helicon,
fair-armed daughters of Zeus the magnificent!
Fly to beguile with your accents your brother,
golden-tressed Phoebus who, on the twin peak of this rock of Parnassus,
escorted by illustrius 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 cosumes the thighs of young bullocks,
mingled with the flames, the Arabian vapor rises towards Olympos.
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, oh you who reveal to all mortals
the eternal and infallible oracles.
They sing how you conquered the prophetic tripod
guarded 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, . . .

All of my 9 albums of mystical, ancient lyre music are now available from iTunes...

1)"An Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

2)"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://bit.ly/9PCIua




3)"The Ancient Biblical Lyre": http://bit.ly/9hTDje

4)"Lyre of the Levites": http://bit.ly/9baWuM

5)"Apollo's Lyre": http://bit.ly/dhCozi

6)"Ancient Times -- Music of The Ancient World": http://bit.ly/aRF5PD

7)"The Ancient Greek Modes": http://bit.ly/cZks0o

8)"The Ancient Greek Lyre": http://bit.ly/bxO7Ra

9)"Ancient Visions -- New Compositions for an Ancient Lyre": http://bit.ly/dCPmRN

Physical CDs are also available anywhere in the world from CD Baby, for 3 of my best selling albums:

"An Ancient Lyre": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy4

"King David's Lyre; Echoes of Ancient Israel":
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy

"Lyre of the Levites": http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mlevy2

For full details about my albums of lyre music, and the fascinating ancient historical background, please visit my official website:

http://www.ancientlyre.com

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[SeikilosLyre]

I'm learning this ancient melody on the lyre too. This is a lovely arrangement of the First Delphic Hymn, Michael.

[Klezfiddle1]

Glad you like my new version! I love the way that in all of these amazing surviving fragments of ancient Greek music, that the rhythm is determined soley by the syllables of the text to which the music accompanies...the result sounds so much more natural & "free", compared to the confines imposed on all modern Western music, by all our dull, standardized, souless artificial "time signatures"!

[richyrichrich1990]

its nice hearing something extraordinary, other than then music we have today (rap, rock, country, etc...) beautiful music. keep it up

[Klezfiddle1]

Thanks, John! Your "shamless plug" is MUCH appreciated - I haven't managed to sell a single CD in months, with this gloomy global ecconomic MELTDOWN!! :o(

[Klezfiddle1]

Glad you like it! All details of my 2 albums of mystical lyre music can be found on my "ancientlyre" website...please spread the word! As far as I know, there is just one pityful fragment of Roman music - which can be heard on the recording "Musique de la Grece Antique"...presumably the rest was destroyed either in the great fire of Rome, or the sacking of Rome at the end of the Roman Empire?? Does anyone out there know if there IS any other surviving bits of genuine ancient Roman music?

[drunkensilenus]

Sorry for the double post, above. As an afterthought, I find it oddly interesting that we know more about ancient Greek music than ancient Roman music, despite the fact that the latter civilization existed more recently.

Anyway, thanks for your wonderful work!

[drunkensilenus]

I know this is off topic, but when I listen to Klez's music such as this tune, among many reactions, I cannot help but give Nino Rota credit for his work in Fellini Satyricon, which in my mind is light years ahead of any other film in capturing the otherworldliness---the utter alienation a modern viewer would feel when confronted with a 2000 yr old, dead culture. Ben Hur, Gladiator, and Troy be damned!

[drunkensilenus]

I know this is somewhat off topic, but I hear Klez's music, and among many reactions, I can't help but give Nino Rota kudos for his work in Fellini Satyricon, which in my mind is light years ahead of any other film in capturing the otherworldliness--the utter alienation we would feel when confronted with a 2000 year old, dead culture. Gladiator, Troy, and Ben Hur be damned.

[rakkav]

And you have no more to say than that? :)

This is one of Klez's more interesting videos (at least to me); he just keeps improving. Check out the rest of his stuff, and if you like it, buy a CD or two or else download the tracks! :) (Shameless plug.)

[xYEAHxKYLEx]

cool nice vid wooo i got the first comment and view =)