Nachklänge, Instrumente der griechischen Klassik und ihre Musik. Materialien und Zeugnisse von Homer bis heute, written by Steinmann, C.
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: In his recent work Nachklänge, Instrumente der griechischen Klassik und ihre Musik -the outcome of decades of both practical and theoretical inquiry -Conrad Steinmann attempts to answer one important question (inter alia), which scholars of ancient Greek and Roman music hear perhaps most frequently ( 457): what did this music sound like?As researchers who are initiated in the intricate study of antique musical practices know well, the sole prospect of answering this question is formidable.Yet, with a rapidly growing body of scholarship and ever increasing interest in the study of ancient music, the question becomes more and more nagging, to the point that the lack of clear answers in this respect was indicated as a shortcoming of A Companion to Ancient Greek and Roman Music, a vast and comprehensive volume devoted to the most important directions of study that have recently been pursued in this discipline.1 Thus Conrad Steinmann is a forerunner, setting out on an arduous and risky mission, and his work promises to pave the way for future publications on musical performance in the ancient Mediterranean world.The book is essentially divided into six parts, all of which are subdivided into chapters and approach the surviving groups of evidence from different perspectives, with the first two parts -1.Tatsachen und Mutmassungen, and 2. Annäherungen an die Instrumente des 5. Jahrhunderts v. Chr.und ihre Musik: Zeugnisse von 700 bis 400 v. Chr.-discussing textual and iconographic sources, and the remainder dealing with archaeological finds of instruments, their reconstruction and music.The very first chapter highlights references to music and musical instruments in Greek theoretical writings as the basis for the following practical research.The selected passages are treated concisely for obvious reasons.However, one cannot escape an impression that this treatment is often only superficial and thus inaccurate.For instance, the author writes (29): "Platon ist wohl der Erste, der erkannte, welche ungeheuer subversive, letztlich nicht kontrollierbare Kraft die Musik ausübt", hopefully meaning that "Plato is the first, whose writing has survived to our times, to recognise the enormously subversive, and ultimately uncontrollable power of music", as Plato's predecessor in the area of the classification of musical means and their psychagogic effects 1 Lynch and Rocconi 2020.For the reviews, see Levitan 2023 (in this volume) and Sears 2021.
Source: Greek and Roman Musical Studies
Author: Kamila Wyslucha
Institution: Austrian Academy of Sciences
Language: German
Subfield: Music
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4316650423