New music and its myths: Athenaeus' reading of theAulosrevolution (Deipnosophistae14.616e–617f)

2010 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 35-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline A. Leven
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
New Music ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Ideological Position

AbstractScholarship on the late fifth-century BC New Music Revolution has mostly relied on the evidence provided by Athenaeus, the pseudo-PlutarchDe musicaand a few other late sources. To this date, however, very little has been done to understand Athenaeus' own role in shaping our understanding of the musical culture of that period. This article argues that the historical context provided by Athenaeus in the section of theDeipnosophistaethat cites passages of Melanippides, Telestes and Pratinas on the mythology of theaulos(14.616e–617f) is not a credible reflection of the contemporary aesthetics and strategies of the authors and their works. Athenaeus is both following the structure of Aristotle's discussion of the topic of theaulosinPolitics8.1341a-1342b and accepting the élite ideological position given there. Athenaeus' text thus does not provide evidence for the historical context in which late fifth-century authors were composing, but rather constitutes an attempt to illustrate Aristotle's argument with poetic examples from late fifth-century poets.

Christian Reception of the ‘New-Music’ Debate in the Church Fathers and Clement of Alexandria

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-378
Author(s):  
Andreas Kramarz
Keyword(s):  
Classical Music ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
New Music ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Evaluative Judgments ◽  
Clement Of Alexandria ◽  
The Church ◽  
Ultimate Principle

Abstract Evaluative judgments about musical innovations occur from the late fifth century BC in Greece and Rome and are reflected in similar discussions of Christian authors in the first centuries of the Empire. This article explores how pedagogical, theological, moral, and spiritual considerations motivate judgments on contemporary pagan musical culture and conclusions about the Christian attitude towards music. Biblical references to music inspire both allegorical interpretations and the defense of actual musical practice. The perhaps most intriguing Christian transformation of the ancient musical worldview is presented in Clement of Alexandria’s Protrepticus. Well-known classical music-myths serve here to introduce a superior ‘New Song’. Harmony, represented in the person of Christ who unites a human and a divine nature, becomes the ultimate principle of both cosmos and human nature. This conception allows music to become a prominent expression of the Christian faith and even inform the moral life of believers.

Tudorism in English Music, 1837–1953

Tudorism ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHEN BANFIELD
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
National Culture ◽  
New Music ◽  
Musical Composition ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Early Music ◽  
General Picture ◽  
English Music

Between the early nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, a cultivated relationship with the music of a favoured period in the distant national past was a pervasive aspect of high, and sometimes lower, musical culture in England. This chapter first sketches a general picture of that relationship before presenting some particular case studies. It addresses the following questions: to what extent does Tudorism in music refer to the revival of music itself, to what extent to its stylistic emulation in nineteenth- and twentieth-century English compositions? Was it a matter of appealing to the Tudors to set a political agenda for music? Tudorism in English music was many things but also one very definite thing — a conscious modelling of style or atmosphere in musical composition on that of a perceived golden age of national culture. It was in some respects part of the early music movement that Harry Haskell identified as beginning in 1829 with Mendelssohn's revival of J. S. Bach's St Matthew Passion, yet not the same thing insofar as that movement was about reviving discarded old music and Tudorism was about creating new music in an earlier image.

scholarly journals Targeted Advertising for Women in Athenian Vase-Painting of the Fifth Century BCE

Arts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Women's Work ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Vase Painting ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Targeted Advertising ◽  
Delian League ◽  
City State ◽  
The City

This paper analyzes the trends in depictions of women in Athenian vase-painting during the 5th century BCE through an examination of approximately 88,000 vases in the Beazley Archive Pottery Database. It found a 15% increase in depictions of women during the 5th century BCE and a diversification in subject matter in which women appear. By considering these trends within the historical context of the hegemonic position of Athens in the Delian League and its wars, this paper proposes that the changes in representations and subject matter denote an expanded marketability of vases to female viewers. As targeted imagery, the images give perceptible recognition to an increased valuation of women’s work and lives at a time when their roles in Athenian society were essential for the continued success of the city-state. This paper suggests that these changes also point to the fact that a greater share of the market was influenced by women, either directly or indirectly, and successful artists carefully crafted targeted advertisements on their wares to attract that group. This paper provides new insights into the relationships between vases and their intended audiences within the context of the cultural changes occurring in Athens itself.

Echoes of the Rejection of the Aulos in Augustan Poetry

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-127
Author(s):  
Kamila Wyslucha
Keyword(s):  
School Curriculum ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Negative Image ◽  
Substantial Role ◽  
Augustan Poetry ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
Do So

Abstract Athenian elites of the late fifth century BC rebelled against aulos-playing as part of the school curriculum and launched a socio-cultural campaign against the instrument. Echoes of this ‘anti-aulos’ crusade reverberated in literature in the centuries to follow as motifs of hostility towards aulos music. Ovid (Fasti 6.657-710) and Propertius (2.30b) engage in this discourse, largely disregarding the motives of the Athenians for spurning the instrument; instead they embed the rejection myths in their poetical programmes in the context of their precarious relationship with Augustan authority. This paper argues that while both poets oppose the rejection of the doublepipes, they do so for entirely different reasons. Although the negative image of the aulos is present in Latin literary sources, it is largely disconnected from the substantial role of the instrument in Roman musical culture.

For-the-record aesthetics and Robert Johnson's blues style as a product of recorded culture

Popular Music ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
ERIC W. ROTHENBUHLER
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
The Other ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Professional Musician ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The One ◽  
Two Bodies ◽  
Better Than

Robert Johnson (1911–1938) is the most venerated of all pre-war blues musicians; the veneration borders on hagiography. Recently published revisionist literature has constructed a sociologically realistic portrayal of a professional musician working among other musicians for a contemporary audience in a specific historical context. This has left unexplained, however, the veneration granted to his music by the audience for his records from the 1960s to today. This paper presents the case that these two bodies of fact can be connected and the one serve as an explanation for the other. As Robert Johnson learned his craft from records and radio, and polished his songs to be recorded, he effectively developed a ‘for-the-record’ aesthetic that made his music sound different to that of his Delta contemporaries and many others who used musical techniques honed in performance for an audience. Decades later, when a ‘for-the-record’ aesthetic was the taken-for-granted standard in popular musical culture, Robert Johnson's records sounded better than those of his contemporaries, and the audience from the 1960s to today has had a reason to think that he and his music were special.

The Date, Purpose, and Historical Context of the Original Greek and the Latin Translation of the So-calledExcerpta Latina Barbari

Traditio ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 1-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Burgess
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Eighth Century ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Latin Translation

TheExcerpta Latina barbari, also known as theBarbarus Scaligeri, is a peculiar and unfairly neglected text that has been compared to a Russian nested doll. It survives alone in Parisinus latinus 4884 of the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris, a manuscript of sixty-three folios, usually dated to the late seventh or early eighth century. The nature of the text demonstrates that it was translated from a Greek exemplar, usually dated to the second half of the first quarter of the fifth century, which was lavishly illustrated. Although spaces were left for illustrations in the Latin translation, no attempt was ever made to undertake them. Little is generally known about the origins or purpose of this Latin translation or the Greek original, in spite of a magisterial study by Carl Frick in 1892, and recent renewed interest in this text makes it imperative that it be subjected to a careful analysis in the light of modern paleographical research and a better understanding of the sources of its Greek exemplar.

scholarly journals Musical culture of China in the first half of the XX century a dialogue with European and national

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-78
Author(s):  
Natalia Bragina ◽  
Wang Jie
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
New Music ◽  
Musical Culture ◽  
Common Trends ◽  
Music Schools ◽  
Chinese Music ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Time Distance ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Xix Century

The article attempts to systematize the processes taking place in Chinese musical culture in the first half of the XX century. The main direction of European art, manifested in this period in China – Romanticism. Using the example of the development of chamber vocal gen-res, it is shown how the aesthetic attitudes of Romanticism-the reliance on national traditions and the desire to synthesize the arts – were manifested in the works of Chinese composers. The methods of musical and poetic analysis, as well as the method of comparative analysis, are used to identify common trends between the formation of new music in China and the pro-cesses of formation of «young» European music schools in the first half of the XIX century. The reasons for the lag in the development of some na-tional cultures and the regularities of their accelerated development and overcoming the time distance are revealed. The most typical works of chamber-vocal genres of Chinese music of the specified period are used as the material for analysis.

Children in Greek Tragedy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma M. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Notable Feature ◽  
Potential Strength ◽  
Physical Presence ◽  
The Future ◽  
Emotional Effects

Astyanax is thrown off the walls of Troy, Medeia kills her children to take revenge on her husband, and Aias reflects sadly on his son’s inheritance, yet he kills himself and leaves Eurysakes vulnerable to his enemies. The pathos created by threats to children is a notable feature of Greek tragedy, but does not explain the range of situations where the playwrights chose to employ them. Although they are largely silent, passive figures, children exert a dramatic force that goes beyond their limited onstage presence. This book proposes a new paradigm to understand the roles of children in tragedy, emphasizing their dangerous potential as the future adults of myth. Their multiple projected lives create dramatic palimpsests which are paradoxically more significant than the immediate emotional effects. Children are never killed because of their immediate weakness, but because of their potential strength. Staging considerations underpin this re-evaluation, as the embodied identities of children are central to their roles. A new examination of the evidence for child actors concludes that the physical presence of children was a significant factor in their presentation. The socio-historical context of fifth-century Athens gives some pointers, but child roles can only be fully appreciated as theatrical phenomena, utilizing the inherent ambiguities of drama.

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