Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Ancient Greek Music
  • Cited by 35
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
May 2010
Print publication year:
2009
Online ISBN:
9780511691591
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511691591
Subjects:
Classical Studies, Classical Studies (General), Music, Music: General Interest
Information

Book description

This book endeavours to pinpoint the relations between musical, and especially instrumental, practice and the evolving conceptions of pitch systems. It traces the development of ancient melodic notation from reconstructed origins, through various adaptations necessitated by changing musical styles and newly invented instruments, to its final canonical form. It thus emerges how closely ancient harmonic theory depended on the culturally dominant instruments, the lyre and the aulos. These threads are followed down to late antiquity, when details recorded by Ptolemy permit an exceptionally clear view. Dr Hagel discusses the textual and pictorial evidence, introducing mathematical approaches wherever feasible, but also contributes to the interpretation of instruments in the archaeological record and occasionally is able to outline the general features of instruments not directly attested. The book will be indispensable to all those interested in Greek music, technology and performance culture and the general history of musicology.

Reviews

‘This is a stunning achievement, and when scholars have had time to absorb its contents the study of Greek music and musical theory will never be the same again … Its innovative, complex and multi-faceted methodology may be beyond what most others can hope to emulate at this level of sophistication, but once they have seen it in action no one will have any excuse for neglecting its potential, and we shall all have to absorb from it what lessons we can. In short, I believe that Hagel's book will revolutionise the discipline.'

Andrew Barker - University of Birmingham

‘I have no hesitation in pronouncing it a work of the highest originality and importance which future investigators will acknowledge as a landmark in the field.’

Martin West - University of Oxford

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.