EVANGELIA KOPSALIDOU

ARISTOXENUS GÈNĒ AND TONOI ON ANCIENT GREEK LYRES

EVANGELIA KOPSALIDOU

Democritus University of Thrace, Greece aerikop7@otenet.gr

Aristoxenus was the first to formulate the concept of the gènē, defined by the position of the two movable notes within a tetrachord. The two movable notes divide the tetrachord into three intervals of varying sizes, resulting in the diatonic, the chromatic, and the enharmonic genera. He used a model for creating scales based upon the notion of a topos, or range of pitch location. The only work of his that has come down to us is the three books of the Elements of Harmony, an incomplete musical treatise. The first book contains an explanation of the genera of Greek music, and also of their species; this is followed by some general definitions of terms, particularly those of sound, interval, and system. In the second book, Aristoxenus divides music into seven parts, which he takes to be the genera, intervals, sounds, systems, tones or modes, mutations, and melopoeia. In book three Aristoxenus goes on to describe twenty-eight laws of melodic succession, which are of great interest to those concerned with classical Greek melodic structure.

In this presentation we will discover and demonstrate the above by listening and singing melodies (well known or not) played on ancient Greek lyres: phorminx, lyre, barbitos, kitharis.

Keywords: Aristoxenus, gene, ancient Greek lyres.

Evangelia Kopsalidou was born in Komotini (Thrace-Hellas). She is a graduate of the Music Department of the Ionian University. She holds a D.E.A. (Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies) from the Faculty of Music of the Sorbonne-Paris IV University in Musicology and a PhD in Music and musicology from the Lettres Sorbonne-University (ex Paris IV). She has been teaching music education as a member of the special teaching staff at the School of Education Sciences at Democritus University of Thrace since 2003. She has attended seminars concerning musicology, music education, and Baroque music through the world and took part in papers, panels, and workshops at Hellenic and international symposiums of music and music Education. She has published books, articles, and papers. She is a pianist, who also plays the recorder, the viola-da-gamba, and the ancient Greek lyre. More information available at https://duth.academia.edu/EvagheliaKopsalidou and https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308986668&trk=nav_responsive_ tab_profile_pic