>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 >
Of course the major difficulty with this enterprise, as opposed to the reconstruction of ancient Greek music, is that we have no ancient Roman music to play once the instruments are made. James L. P. Butrica Department of Classics The Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's NL A1C 5S7 (709) 737-7914 / (709) 753-5799 (home) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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
