The extant specimens of Greek music are mostly of the second century A.D., and therefore nearly contemporary with Ptolemy. The most considerable are the melodies of three lyrical pieces or hymns, viz. (1) a hymn to Calliope, (2) a hymn to Apollo (or Helios),—both ascribed to a certain Dionysius,—and (3) a hymn to Nemesis, ascribed to Mesomedes [38]. Besides these there are (4) some short instrumental passages or exercises given by Bellermann's Anonymus (pp. 94-96). And quite recently the list has been increased by (5) an inscription discovered by Mr. W. M. Ramsay, which gives a musical setting of four short gnomic sentences, and (6) a papyrus fragment (now in the collection of the Arch-duke Rainer) of the music of a chorus in the Orestes of Euripides. These two last additions to our scanty stock of Greek music are set out and discussed by Dr. Wessely of Vienna and M. Ruelle in the Revue des Études Grecques (V. 1892, pp. 265-280), also by Dr. Otto Crusius in the Philologus, Vol. LII, pp. 160-200 [39].

The music of the three hymns is noted in the Lydian key (answering to the modern scale with one ?). The melody of the second hymn is of the compass of an octave, the notes being those of the Perfect System from ParhypatÊ HypatÔn to TritÊ DiezeugmenÔn (f-f with one ?). The first employs the same octave with a lower note added, viz. HypatÊ HypatÔn (e): the third adds the next higher note, ParanÊtÊ DiezeugmenÔn (g). Thus the Lydian key may be said, in the case of the second hymn, and less exactly in the case of the two others, to give the Lydian or c-species of the octave in the most convenient part of the scale; just as on Ptolemy's system of Modes we should expect it to do.

This octave, however, represents merely the compass (ambitus or tessitura) of the melody: it has nothing to do with its tonality. In the first two hymns, as Bellermann pointed out, the key-note is the HypatÊ MesÔn; and the mode—in the modern sense of that word—is that of the octave e-e (the Dorian mode of Helmholtz's theory). In the third hymn the key-note appears to be the Lichanos MesÔn, so that the mode is that of g-g, viz. the Hypo-phrygian.

Of the instrumental passages given by the Anonymus three are clearly in the Hypo-dorian or common mode, the MesÊ (a) being the key-note. (See Gevaert, i. p. 141.) A fourth (§ 104) also ends on the MesÊ, but the key-note appears to be the ParhypatÊ MesÔn (f). Accordingly Westphal and Gevaert assign it to the Hypo-lydian species (f-f). In Westphal's view the circumstance of the end of the melody falling, not on the key-note, but on the Third or Mediant of the octave, was characteristic of the Modes distinguished by the prefix syntono-, and accordingly the passage in question is pronounced by him to be Syntono-lydian. All those passages, however, are mere fragments of two or three bars each, and are quoted as examples of certain peculiarities of rhythm. They can hardly be made to lend much support to any theory of the Modes.

The music of Mr. Ramsay's inscription labours under the same defect of excessive shortness. If, however, we regard the four brief sentences as set to a continuous melody, we obtain a passage consisting of thirty-six notes in all, with a compass of less than an octave, and ending on the lowest note of that compass. Unlike the other extant specimens of Greek music it is written in the Ionian key—a curious fact which has not been noticed by Dr. Wessely.

INSCRIPTION WITH MUSICAL NOTES.

Music Score Music Score
[Listen]

The notes which enter into this melody form the scale f?-g-a-b-c?-d-e-f?, which is an octave of the Dorian species (e-e on the white notes). Hence if f?, on which the melody ends, is the key-note, the mode is the Dorian. On the other hand the predominant notes are those of the triad a-c?-e, which point to the key of a major, with the difference that the Seventh is flat (g instead of g?). On this view the music would be in the Hypo-phrygian mode.

However this may be, the most singular feature of this fragment remains to be mentioned, viz. the agreement between the musical notes and the accentuation of the words. We know from the grammarians that an acute accent signified that the vowel was sounded with a rise in the pitch of the voice, and that a circumflex denoted a rise followed on the same syllable by a lower note—every such rise and fall being quite independent both of syllabic quantity and of stress or ictus. Thus in ordinary speech the accents formed a species of melody,—logÔdes ti melos, as it is called by Aristoxenus [40]. When words were sung this 'spoken melody' was no longer heard, being superseded by the melody proper. Dionysius of Halicarnassus is at pains to explain (De Comp. Verb., c. 11), that the melody to which words are set does not usually follow or resemble the quasi-melody of the accents, e.g. in the following words of a chorus in the Orestes of Euripides (ll. 140-142):—

he notices that the melody differs in several points from the spoken accents: (1) the three first words are all on the same note, in spite of the accents; (2) the last syllable of arbylÊs is as high as the second, though that is the only accented syllable: (3) the first syllable of tithete is lower than the two others, instead of being higher: (4) the circumflex of ktypeite is lost (Êphanistai), because the word is all on the same pitch; (5) the fourth syllable of apoprobate is higher in pitch, instead of the third. In Mr. Ramsay's inscription, however, the music follows the accents as closely as possible. Every acute accent coincides with a rise of pitch, except in hoson, which begins the melody, and in esti, for which we should perhaps read the orthotone esti. Of the four instances of the circumflex accent three exhibit the two notes and the falling pitch which we expect. The interval is either a major or a minor Third. In the other case (zÊs) the next note is a Third lower: but it does not seem to belong to the circumflexed syllable. All this cannot be accidental. It leads us to the conclusion that the musical notes represent a kind of recitative, or imitation of spoken words, rather than a melody in the proper sense of the term.

If any considerable specimen of the music of Euripides had survived, it might have solved many of the problems with which we have been dealing. The fragment before us extends over about six lines in dochmiac metre (Orestes 338-343), with the vocal notation: but no single line is entire. The key is the Lydian. The genus is either Enharmonic or Chromatic. Assuming that it is Enharmonic—the alternative adopted by Dr. Wessely—the characters which are still legible may be represented in modern notation as follows:

Music Score [Listen]

It should be observed that in the fragment the line katolophyromai katolophyromai comes before 338 (materos k.t.l.), not after it, as in our texts [41].

The notes employed, according to the interpretation given above, give the scale g-a-a*-a?-d-e-e*. If the genus is Chromatic, as M. Ruelle is disposed to think, they are g-a-a?-b-d-e-f. When these scales are compared with the Perfect System we find that they do not entirely agree with it. Whether the genus is Enharmonic or Chromatic the notes from a to e* (or f) answer to those of the Perfect System (of the same genus) from HypatÊ MesÔn to TritÊ DiezeugmenÔn. But in either case the lowest note (g) finds no place in the System, since it can only be the Diatonic Lichanos HypatÔn. It is possible, however, that the scale belongs to the period when the original octave had been extended by the addition of a tone below the HypatÊ—the note, in fact, which we have already met with under the name of Hyper-hypatÊ (p. 39). Thus the complete scale may have consisted of the disjunct tetrachords a-d and e-a, with the tone g-a. It may be observed here that although the scale in question does not fit into the Perfect System, it conforms to the general rules laid down by Aristoxenus for the melodious succession of intervals. It is unnecessary therefore to suppose (as Dr. Wessely and M. Ruelle do) that the scale exhibits a mixture of different genera.

It must be vain to attempt to discover the tonality of a short fragment which has neither beginning nor end. The only group of notes which has the character of a cadence is that on the word (olo)phypomai, and again on the words en brotois, viz. the notes a? a* a (if the genus is the Enharmonic). The same notes occur in reversed order on akatou and (kat)eklusen. This seems to bear out the common view of the Enharmonic as produced by the introduction of an 'accidental' or passing note. It will be seen, in fact, that the Enharmonic notes (a* and e*) only occur before or after the 'standing' notes (a and e).

Relying on the fact that the lowest note is g, Dr. Wessely and M. Ruelle pronounce the mode to be the Phrygian (g-g in the key with one ?, or d-d in the natural key). I have already put forward a different explanation of this g, and will only add here that it occurs twice in the fragment, both times on a short syllable [42]. The important notes, so far as the evidence goes, are a, which twice comes at the end of a verse (with a pause in the sense), and e, which once has that position. If a is the key-note, the mode—in the modern sense—is Dorian (the e-species). If e is the key-note, it is Mixo-lydian (the b-species).