The History of Western Music: The Seikilos Epitaph
Introduction
Prehistory is kinda fascinating in its own right but there simply isn't enough information on these times, so I'll gloss over it. In short, we've found some flutes and similar instruments as far back as 40,000 years or so ago in places like Ireland and Germany, even marimba-esque instruments made from rock in Vietnam 10,000 years ago
The problem in Europe was, as societies started to develop, passing down music from person-to-person would no longer cut it. This 'Chinese whispers' (I don't know what the modern PC term is for this anymore. whatever It's fine. It just happens to have the word Chinese in it) effect would mean any music, typically written for the purpose of storytelling, would be altered beyond recognition after just a few cycles, and suddenly you've got one group singing one thing here, and another singing totally different over there.
The written notation was, therefore, the obvious next step, and the earliest form of notation goes way back to about 1400BC in Iraq/Syria; Babylonia. Here, we discovered a stone tablet with rudimentary musical marks that are quite stunning for reasons you'll appreciate later. The music seems to show the use of the diatonic scale (your typical do-re-mi), which in any standardised sense around the world didn't yet exist, as well as the use of harmonies of thirds, and even instructions for the stringed instrument, the lyre.
Though interpretations are controversial, you can actually hear one rendition of this music - Hurrian Hymns - here:
These discoveries were unfortunately fragmented, and it wasn't until the Ancient Greeks came along with their own written notation that we discovered any complete compositions around 600BC.
The best example is typically cited to be the Seikilos Epitaph
CC BY-SA 3.0
Found engraved on a tombstone, the music appears to be from a man lamenting either his wife or his son, depending on how you reconstruct the text, which goes as follows:
While you live, shine
have no grief at all
life exists only for a short while
and Time demands his due
A further inscription, as an aside, is:
Εἰκὼν ἤ λίθος εἰμί. τίθησί με Σεικίλος ἔνθα μνήμης ἀθανάτου σῆμα πολυχρόνιον
Meaning 'I am a tombstone, an image. Seikilos placed me here as a long-lasting sign of deathless remembrance.'
There's something very special about the thought of somebody's written musical despair surviving across the millennia, to be heard by, and still deeply related to, people all over the world today - Deathly Remembrance.
Once more, you can hear an interpretation of the hypnotic music here:
The Universal Conclusion
Take yourself back, thousands of years. You're a composer, you just lost the love of your life. Sitting with your back against a muddy wall, watching the world go by, you let your aching heart out through your lyre and voice. Satisfied, you have it inscribed ready for burial, as you figure out how to now move on, with the knowledge that this is the universal conclusion - you better make the most of it while you're still here.
Sources:
I wasn't ready for that to end at all...so disappointed it came to an end so quickly. But I still have the music :)
It's an interesting coincidence (death is a coincidence we all share), @kadna wrote the most moving post about her father's death this week. When I read this phrase
It seemed as though it could have been seamlessly integrated into her blog.
Beautiful post, @mobbs.
That's great to know and solidifies the idea of how similar we all are to our ancient ancestors. So little has changed when it boils down to the fundamentals: Life, Death, Love.
Don't worry, the series will be quick and increasingly lengthy =D
Lengthy is good, as long as you take me on journeys like this one. Listened to your music on my iPad after I went to bed last night.
it is truly divine music with an exclusive history. thanks mobbs =)
I'm happy you and others have managed to join and enjoy this little journey of the ancients =)
Hi there @mobbs,
Thanks for the interesting read. While I read, all I could think of was "Ode On A Grecian Urn," and how fitting it was for this post.
I know little to nothing about music, and you just married my interests in ancient language and philosophical thought with music history.
I'm looking forward to your next post!
Glad you liked it! I really want to push this very idea, that there is so much more to music than just something you listen to. More coming soon!
ho dear ... i spent waaaaay too much time on steemit today again tsk, i'll have to raincheck the rest of the answer but now that killroy was here already, i just wondered ...
does this count as composing ?
(version for people on acid here :
i used to do quite some of that ... but i never went to school for it ofcourse (never went to school for anything but bored lol) so i dont really speak and write musician but tracking is like
programming ? ... i WILL get back to this later lol but its late, early , too late as i spent too much time yapping again @mobbs i'll be back for the rest :D