the south face of the helicon

8/18/2019 The South Face of the Helicon

1/18

THE SOUTH FACE

OF THE HELICON

Ancient Egyptian MusicalElements in Ancient Greek Music

Daniel Sánchez-Muñoz

Department of History and Sciences of Music (UGR)

Scholarship Researcher FPU (FPU14/00927)


2/18

INTRODUCTION


3/18

“ORIENTALISM” IN THE

MUSIC OF ANCIENT WORLD

ANCIENT GREEK MUSIC ≈ NEW MESOPOTAMIAN MUSIC

Marcelle Duchesne-

Guillemin


4/18

THE GREEK CONTACTS WITH ITS WORLD


5/18

• Rutherford, I. 2016. Graeco-

egyptian I nteractions:

L iterature, Translation, and

Cul ture, 500 Bc-ad 300 . Oxford

University Press

– No chapters about the Music

• No really interest in the Greco-

Egyptian Musical Interactions

– Maybe in the organology =

insufficient


6/18

TWO CONCEPTS ABOUT THEMUSIC NO SO DIFFERENT...


7/18

mousikh tecnh“Muses’ Art”

lexis

Spoken Word

orcesis

Dance

Melos

“Music”

Singing andLyrical Poetry

Make music = To sing

Common Vocal Nature of Music


8/18

A NEW VISION OF THE

LYRICAL REPERTOIRE

Egyptian Love Poetry & Sappho –

Harper’s Songs – Demodocus (Odyssey )


9/18

THE INSTRUMENTS

The harps

The lyres


10/18

WISDOM VS.HAPINESS IN MUSIC


11/18

¿NAM-NAR – MELOS ?

Apollo and Marsyas Inanna and Dumuzi


12/18

WISDOM IN ANCIENT

MESOPOTAMIAN MUSIC

My barge 'Crown', the 'Stag of the Abzu',transports me there most delightfully. Itglides swiftly for me through the great

marshes to wherever I have decided, it isobedient to me. The stroke-callers makethe oars pull in perfect unison. They singfor me pleasant songs, creating acheerful mood on the river.

Enki and the World Order , ETCSL , 1.1.3.

Enki, patron of

Mesopotamian music


13/18

HAPINESS IN ANCIENT

EGYPTIAN MUSIC

My body says, my lips repeat:/ Holy musicfor Hathor, music a million times/ Becauseyou love music, million times music/ To yourka wherever you are!/ I am he who makes thesinger waken music for Hathor/ Every day at

any hour she wishes./ May your heart be atpeace with music,/ May you proceed ingoodly peace,/ May you rejoice in life andgladness/ With Horus who loves you,/ Whofeasts with you on your foods,/ Who eatswith you of the offerings,/ May you admit meto it every day!

Second Hymn [to Hathor] from the Stela of King Wahankh Intef II Hathor and the

Egyptian music


14/18

CHARACTER OF GREEK MUSIC

•The same root

mel

– Melos: Music (singing…)

– Meli, -itos: Honey, Sweet things

Pindar was a professional musician. But mostGreeks, we may be sure, would have agreed with

him in putting music high on the list of requisitesfor the good life. Music, song, and dance were seenas being, together with orderly sacrifices to the godsand athletic facilities for men, the mostcharacteristic manifestations of a civilizedcommunity in peacetime. The grimness of war isexpressed by calling it 'danceless, lyreless,

generating tears'. Words like 'lyreless' aresimilarly used to convey the joylessness of deathand other miseries.

West, M.L. 1992. Ancient Greek Music, Oxford:Clarendon Press, pp. 13-14.


15/18

CONSEQUENCES IN EGYPTIAN

AND GREEK MUSIC

• The importance of dance

– Dance as expression of the

happiness in Music

• The aerophones

– Egypt and Greece vs.

Mesopotamian and Indo-

European absence of

aerophones

• Bad character of music =Too

much happiness

– Few presence in scribal

curriculum

– Music and Homosexuality


16/18

CONCLUSIONS


17/18

• Egypt, relevant in Music of Classical World

• To relate musical traditions in Ancient World

• Exchange in Ancient History and Music

ABOUT OUR MUSICAL ORIGINS


18/18

THANK YOU

the south face of the helicon

Documents