{"id":4771,"date":"2013-12-09T03:25:51","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T02:25:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/music-in-theancient-world-melody-harmony\/"},"modified":"2013-12-09T03:25:51","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T02:25:51","slug":"music-in-theancient-world-melody-harmony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/music-in-theancient-world-melody-harmony\/","title":{"rendered":"Importance of music in the ancient Greek world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Most of the linguistic terms used in \u00abmusic\u00bb are of Greek origin.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn Greece <em>music <\/em>isn&acute;t one of the issues more fully studied in the ancient world history, but a simple relation of the terms of <em>Greek <\/em>origin, referring to this world of sounds pleasing to the ear, should be enough to put us in the track of the real importance that an art, always present in the religious ceremonies and life of citizens, actually had.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tNext I relate some terms to the definition that the &quot;<em>Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language<\/em>&rdquo; gives us of them and that have been translated into English:<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Music<\/strong>, (from the Latin &ldquo;<em>mus\u012dca<\/em>&rdquo;, and this one from the Greek &ldquo;&mu;&omicron;&upsilon;&sigma;&iota;&kappa;\u1f75&rdquo;, derived from &mu;&omicron;\u1fe6&sigma;&alpha;&iota; mousai = nymphs or goddesses that inspire the music and the rest of other arts), is precisely the first term to be considered.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Melody<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>melod\u012da<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &mu;&epsilon;&lambda;\u1ff3&delta;\u1f77&alpha;; &mu;\u1f73&lambda;&omicron;&sigmaf; = singing). Composition where a musical idea, simple or compound, is developed, regardless of its support&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Harmony<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>harmon\u012da<\/em>, and this one from the Greek \u1f01&rho;&mu;&omicron;&nu;\u1f77&alpha; = proportion, from \u1f01&rho;&mu;\u1f79&sigmaf;, adjustment, combination). Union and combination of simultaneous and different sounds, but all consistent or coherent with each other. \/ Art of form and link the chords.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Symphony<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>symphon\u012da<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &sigma;&upsilon;&mu;&phi;&omega;&nu;\u1f77&alpha; = conformity, from &sigma;\u1f7b&mu;&phi;&omega;&nu;&omicron;&sigmaf;, which link their voices, consistent, coherent, unanimous). Set, assembly of voices, instruments, or both, sounding coherent at once. \/ Instrumental composition for orchestra.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Polyphony<\/strong>: (from the Greek &pi;&omicron;&lambda;&upsilon;&phi;&omega;&nu;\u1f77&alpha;, many voices). Assembly of simultaneous sounds in which each one expresses its musical idea, but forming a harmonious whole with the others.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Orchestra<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>Orquestra <\/em>and this one from the Greek o&rho;&chi;\u03ae&sigma;&tau;&rho;&alpha;, place to dance). Group of musicians who play musical pieces with different instruments\/. Place between the scene and the seats, destined for the musicians.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Organ <\/strong>(from the Latin <em>org\u0103num<\/em>, and this one from the Greek \u1f44&rho;&gamma;&alpha;&nu;&omicron;&nu; = instrument). Musical wind instrument, consisting of many tubes where the sound is produced, some bellows to force the air and a keyboard and several records in order to modify the timbre of the voices.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Chorus<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>chorus<\/em>, and this one from the Greek x&omicron;&rho;\u1f79&sigmaf; = dance, dancing, choir). Set of persons who simultaneously sing a concerted piece in an opera or other musical function. \/ Group of people gathered or met to sing, rejoice, praise or celebrate something. \/ In the Greco-Roman drama, set of actors who recite the lyrical part intended to comment on the action.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Tone<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>tonus<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &tau;\u1f79&nu;&omicron;&sigmaf;, accent, stress). Quality of sounds, dependent on their frequency, that allows us to order them from severe to acute. From this word also derives &quot;tonic&quot; which in music means the first note of a musical scale.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Baritone<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>baryt\u014fnus<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &beta;&alpha;&rho;\u1f7b&tau;&omicron;&nu;&omicron;&sigmaf;, of severe voice, from &beta;&alpha;&rho;\u1f7b&sigmaf; = severe, heavy, low, deep,). Middle voice placed between the voices of tenors and basses and, as a result, man with this voice.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Diatonic<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>diaton\u012dcusus<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &delta;&iota;&alpha;&tau;&omicron;&nu;&iota;&kappa;\u1f79&sigmaf;). It is said of one of the three genres of the musical system: which proceeds by two tones and a semitone.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Diapason<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>diap\u0101son<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &delta;&iota;&alpha;&pi;&alpha;&sigma;\u1ff6&nu;). Regulator of voices and instruments consisting of a folded steel blade with the shape of a fork with a foot or pillar, and when it sounds it gives a &quot;la&quot; set at 435 vibrations per second.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Rhythm<\/strong>: (from the Latin &ldquo;<em>rhythmus<\/em>&rdquo;, and this one from the Greek \u1fe5&upsilon;&theta;&mu;\u1f79&sigmaf; from \u1fe5&epsilon;\u1fd6&nu;, flow). Portion saved or kept between the time of a movement and the time of another different movement. From this derives rhythmic or rhythmical.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Syncopation<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>sync\u014fpa<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &sigma;&upsilon;&gamma;&kappa;&omicron;&pi;\u1f75, from &sigma;&upsilon;&gamma;&kappa;\u1f79&pi;&tau;&epsilon;&iota;&nu;, cut, reduce). Link of two equal sounds, of which, the first is at the weak part or time of the measure, and the second at the fort or strong part.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Chromatic<\/strong>: (from the Latin <em>chromat\u012dcus<\/em>, and this one from the Greek &chi;&rho;&omega;&mu;&alpha;&tau;&iota;&kappa;\u1f79&sigmaf;; &chi;&rho;\u1ff6&mu;&alpha; &#8211; actually means color). It is said of one of the three genres of the musical system, the one which proceeds by semitones.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<strong>Chord<\/strong>: (This term is Latin; it derives from <em>accord\u0101re<\/em>, from <em>cor, cordis<\/em>, <em>heart,&nbsp; <\/em>and means agreement or to agree). Assembly of three or more different sounds harmoniously combined.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMelody, harmony, symphony, polyphony: these too. Orchestra, organ, chorus, chord, baritone, tonic, diatonic, diapason, chromatic, rhythm, syncopation: all of them come from the Greek. Ancient Greek culture was permeated with music. It is obvious the Greek citizen liked music.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tReferences to music are very usual in literature (especially poets), in art, in archeology, in works whose central issue is precisely the music, and even in any document similar to our current scores. Yet ignorance is huge and little the attention from historians. Naturally, the ancient people could not record their sounds and the written word is not sufficient testimony.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t<em>Note<\/em>: The word &quot;<em>opera<\/em>&quot; means manifestation or more inclusive art show consisting of theater, music, dance, visual arts. The word derives from the Italian &quot;<em>opera<\/em>&quot; and this from the Latin &quot;<em>opera<\/em>&quot;, plural of &quot;<em>opus,-eris<\/em>,&quot; which means <em>work<\/em>. So the &quot;<em>opera<\/em>&quot; means the musical work par excellence. Its origin is in the <em>Renaissance <\/em>theater and tries to recover the music of the ancients. <em>Monteverdi <\/em>calls his famous&nbsp; <em>L&#39;Orfeo<\/em>, published in Venice in 1609,&nbsp; &quot;<em>Fabula in musica<\/em>.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe Latin singular of &quot;<em>opera<\/em>&quot; is &quot;<em>opus<\/em>&quot; which means &quot;work.&quot; In music the term is used to sort, index , cite the various musical works of the catalogs of the various authors. The term was first used in the seventeenth century.<br \/>\n\t&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most of the linguistic terms used in \u00abmusic\u00bb are of Greek origin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,9,13,14,15,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts","category-culture","category-education","category-history","category-language-literature","category-mythology","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiquitatem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}