Download ANTIQUITY

ANTIQUITY
ANTIQUITY
MOUSIKE
ANTIQUITY
“Music” from the word “muse”
MOUSIKE
[the art presided over by the
Muses]
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
MESOPOTAMIA
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
• Sumer
• Akkad
• Babylon
• Assyria
• Achaemenids
• Seleucids
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Why Writing?
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Why Music Writing?
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Why Music Writing?
MESOPOTAMIA
The Babylonians
developed and used
DIATONIC MODAL SCALES
and other theoretical principles of music
at least 1,000 years
before the Greeks
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Oldest existing complete Western notated music is
HURRIAN CULT HYMN (H6)
from circa 1400 B.C. from Ugarit
(present-day Ras Shamra in Syria).
UGARIT
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
•
Hurrian Hymn part of 36 cuneiform
fragments of music
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
CUNEIFORM
CUNEIFORM
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
CUNEIFORM
Cuneus = wedge, i.e “wedge shaped”
emerges c. 3,500 B.C.
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Letter written by the high-priest Lu’enna,
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Obverse (front)
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Reverse (back)
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
•
Cuneiform notation written circularly around
the tablet
•
Includes repetitions of text
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Uses an Ugaritic version of cuneiform
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Ugaritic cuneiform is an
ABJAD
a series of consonant-sound symbols
the reader fills in the appropriate vowel sound.
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
bcdfghjklm
npqrstwyz
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Ugaritic contains a few symbols for vowels sounds
with glottal stops (e.g. “oh”)
the alpha symbol (’a) does not have its own
sound, but rather lengthens an unwritten “a”
vowel.
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
t b r nt t b, tht s th qsn
whthr ts nblr n th mnd t sffr
th slngs nd rrws f trgs frtn
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Hymn to Nikkal, wife of the Moon God
Three stanzas—with a “refrain”?
Music for lines 1 and 4 same, 2 and 3 same
MESOPOTAMIA
I will [bring ?] in the form of lead at the right foot [of the divine throne]
I will [purify ?] and change [the sinfulness].
(Once sins are) no longer covered and need no longer be changed,
I will feel well having accomplished the sacrifice.
[Once I have] endeared [the deity], she will love me in her heart,
The offering I bring may wholly cover my sin
Bringing sesame oil may work on my behalf
In awe may I ... [
]
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Text
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Text
Music
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Pitches based on the tuning of a 9-stringed lyre
“Bull Lyre” of Ur
c. 2,500 BC
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Each string has name
No abstract intervals—only names for distances
between named strings
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
Different tuning possibilities for the harp
=
Different interpretations for pitches of the song
MESOPOTAMIA
“The Land Between the Rivers”
No notation for rhythm
Twice as many text syllables as there are notes
Biblical Notation
Biblical Notation
The Hebrew language is written right to left
Its alephbet consists of 22 consonants
“ABJAD”
Biblical Notation
Nekudot or Niqqud (“vowel points”)
developed to represent vowels
Biblical Notation
Te’amim
(melodic mnemonics)
developed to aid in the chanting of biblical
scripture during services
Biblical Notation
Genesis 1:9: “And God said, “The waters under the heaven
shall be gathered to one place”—
Vayomer Elohim yikavu hamayim mitachat hashamayim
el-makom echad vetera’eh—
Biblical Notation
Archaeologists has interpreted the
Te’amim symbols inscribed in scrolls of
Hebrew Scripture (c. 1,000 BC)
as notation models for the earliest written chant
music of the Christian church
Baghdad, Iraq
Baghdad, Iraq
• National Museum and Library, home priceless
Mesopotamian art and to more than 40,000
ancient documents, is looted and catches fire in
April during the 2003 Iraq war.
Baghdad, Iraq
• National Museum and Library, home to more
than 40,000 ancient documents, is looted and
catches fire the in April 2003.
Baghdad, Iraq
• National Museum and Library, home to more
than 40,000 ancient documents, is looted and
catches fire the in April 2003.
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
• Largest city in Syria
• One of the oldest continuously inhabited cities
in the world—since 6,000 B.C.
• Strategically located and is a major trade center
Aleppo, Syria
• As a trade center Aleppo is home to many
covered markets (souks), including one of the
largest covered market (8 miles long) in the
world
• Most souks built in the 1300s, including the
famous Souq al-Madina
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
• The Aleppo souks are named a World Heritage
Site by UNESCO in 1986
• (i) "represents a masterpiece of human creative genius"
• (ii) "exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of
time, or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in
architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or
landscape design"
• (iii) "bears a unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or
to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared"
• (iv) "is an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural, or
technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage
in human history"
• (v) "is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, landuse, or sea-use which is representative of a culture, or human
interaction with the environment especially when it has become
vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change"
• (vi) "is directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions,
with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding
universal significance"
Aleppo, Syria
• As government and rebel forces fight in Aleppo
on October 1, 2012, the Souk al-Madina is set
on fire.
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
Aleppo, Syria
Timbuktu, Mali
Timbuktu, Mali
• Timbuktu a major trade city from its proximity
to the Niger river delta
• City flourishes in the trade of salt, ivory, gold,
and slaves
• Becomes part of the Malian Empire in 1100s,
and citizens convert to Islam
Timbuktu, Mali
• As Sufi scholars immigrate to Timbuktu, the city
becomes a major center for learning
• Scholars and copyists produced thousands of
manuscripts on religion, social issues, art,
mathematics, medicine, astronomy, history,
geography, and African culture in multiple
languages
Timbuktu, Mali
• City becomes center of learning
• Large numbers of manuscripts—estimated in
the hundreds of thousands—are preserved by
families, schools, and mosques
Timbuktu, Mali
• The city is invaded and occupied multiple
times, and it becomes the local practice to bury
boxed books in the dry sand for safekeeping.
Timbuktu, Mali
• City becomes center of learning
• Large numbers of manuscripts—estimated in
the hundreds of thousands—are preserved by
families, schools, and mosques
Timbuktu, Mali
• Essop Pahad, Chairman of the Timbuktu
Manuscripts Project:
• "The manuscripts gave you such a fantastic
feeling of the history of this continent. They
made you proud to be African. Especially in a
context where you're told that Africa has no
history…If the libraries are destroyed then a
very important part of African and world
history are gone. "
Timbuktu, Mali
Timbuktu, Mali
• With many manuscripts in bad condition,
UNESCO founds a project to preserve the
manuscripts in 1970, but it is not funded until
seven years later
• Henry Louis Gates’s 1998 documentary
Wonders of the African World raises awareness
(and funds) for the manuscripts’ preservation
Timbuktu, Mali
• From 2000-2007 the Timbuktu Manuscripts
Projects works to both physically preserve and
digitize the manuscripts
• In 2003 the Tombouctou Manuscript Project in
founded in South Africa to help preserve the
manuscripts and make them available to
scholars
Timbuktu, Mali
• On January 28, 2013 Malian al-Qaida-aligned
rebels flee from French-led troops
• Having spent the previous months
systematically destroying historic shrines of Sufi
saints, the rebels set fire to several Timbuktu
libraries, including the Mamma Haldara and
Fondo Kati Libraries, and the famous Ahmad
Babu Institute
Timbuktu, Mali
• On January 28, Malian al-Qaida aligned rebels
flee from French-led troops
• Rebels set fire to Timbuktu libraries, including
the Ahmad Babu Institute
Timbuktu, Mali
• Library directors reveal, however, that most of
the manuscripts had been removed months
earlier and hidden.
Timbuktu, Mali
• Library directors revealed, however, that most
of the manuscripts had been removed months
earlier and hidden.
• Malian reporter Sidi Ahmed notes: "The people
here have long memories. They are used to
hiding their manuscripts. They go into the
desert and bury them until it is safe."