Re: Roman Music (?)

From: benlizross (benlizro_at_ihug.co.nz)
Date: 07/23/04 

Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2004 08:27:46 +1200

Lloyd wrote:
>
> Ken Down <diggings@argonet.co.uk> wrote in message news:<na.37fd354cce.a60290diggings@argonet.co.uk>...
> > In article <cb8d4013.0407150340.4eb8c58@posting.google.com>,
> > foggytown@aol.com (Mike Girouard) wrote:
> >
> > > I can't
> > > believe that composers stood there and hummed their newest works to
> > > musicians. The walls of Pompeii were covered with all kinds of signs,
> > > graffiti, art, etc. No music?
> >
> > Then you had better practice believing. There's no written music from before
> > mediaeval times.
> >
> > Ken Down
>
> You might try a search on Sumerian or Babylonian
> music (way beyond the interests of the original
> poster, I realize).
>
> One interesting site: http://www.nb.no/baser/schoyen/5/5.3/#2340
>
> Somewhere I have a yellowed newspaper article describing o0ne of these
> 'finds', from at least 10 years ago.
>
> Lloyd
> *****

There's a group called Synaulia which has produced a CD of "Music from
Ancient Rome"

http://www.amiatamedia.com/eng/series/ma/pages/ar1396.htm

They don't mention surviving notation, but they do use authentic
instruments. The music they play seems to be based on the properties of
the instruments themselves, extrapolation from surviving folk
traditions, and quite a bit of pure imagination.

Ross Clark