What I have to offer is not _scientific_, but may be inspiring (as it may be listened to). An Italian musician Walter Maioli, with his company _Synaulia_, made a record of _Music from Ancient Rome, vol. 1: Wind Instruments_ (Amiata Records ARNR 1396, 1996). They (claim to) have reconstructed ancient wind instruments and percussion, based on archeological and pictorial data, but also on folklore of the Mediterranean and the Near East; on these _ancient_ instrument they try to "create music repeating the gestures of antiquity, led by the primal features, and by the natural voice of each instrument", leaning heavily on folklore rhythmic and melodic patterns of Middle and Southern Italy (postulating the continuity of folk culture). It is a kind of circular reasoning, I know, and has a strong New Age flavor, but anyway... At least it would fit nicely in a chapter of the _Cambridge Companion to Virgil_ (yes, Virgil is present on the record--a short selection from the Aeneid is recited solemnly over a background of _Sybill's cave_ noises and sounds. Neven
At 12:33 14. 03. 03 -0000, you wrote: >> I don't think anyone has yet answered this query, or if they did so I >> missed it. And, sorry, I have no real information to offer. All I remember >> is hearing a classics lecturer telling my librarianship students that our >> knowledge of the ancient world is a patchwork of light and dark, and that >> music, unfortunately, is "a dark area". > >Simon, > >Thanks for your reply on this. I too remember some Latin master in my dim >and distant school days telling me that no one knew what Classical Roman (or >Greek) music sounded like. But scholarship has moved on and I wondered if >anyone had any inkling now of what it might have been like. Did the Roman >shepherds on their reeds and straws sound like a skillful Irish musician or >South African kwelo player on a simple six-holed pipe? There must too, have >been world-class musicians in Virgil's day who, musically speaking, were the >equivalent of some of the great Roman writers. I am sure they did a bit >more than compose for 'oaten pipes'. > >It is just that I would like to get some sort of mental picture of what sort >of sound Amaryllis, for example, in Eclogue I might have been hearing. > >Patrick Roper > > >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. >Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message >"unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You >can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To leave the Mantovano mailing list at any time, do NOT hit reply. Instead, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message "unsubscribe mantovano" in the body (omitting the quotation marks). You can also unsubscribe at http://virgil.org/mantovano/mantovano.htm#unsub
