Music of ancient Rome.

Music of ancient Rome.

           The music of ancient Rome was a part of Roman culture from earliest times. Music was customary at funerals, and the tibia, a woodwind instrument, was played at sacrifices to ward off ill influences. Song  was an integral part of almost every social occasion. The Secular Ode of Horace, for instance, was commissioned by Augustus and performed by a mixed children's choir at the Secular games in 17 BC. Under the influence of  ancient Greek theory, music was thought to reflect the orderliness of the cosmos, and was associated particularly with mathematics and knowledge.

Etruscan music had an early influence on that of the Romans. During the Imperior period, Romans carried their music to the provinces, while traditions of  Asian minor,North African and Gaulbecame a part of Roman culture.

Music accompanied spectacles and events in the arena, and was part of the performing arts forn called Pantominus, an early form of story ballet that combined expressive dancing, instrumental music and a sung libretto.

        Music in Society.

        In spite of the purported lack of musical originality on the part of the Romans, they did enjoy music greatly and used it for many activities. Scott recounts the obvious military uses of the tuba for signaling, as well as music for funerals, private gatherings, public performances on the stage and large gladiatorial spectacles. Music was also used in religious ceremonies. The Romans cultivated music as a sign of education. Music contests were quite common and attracted a wide range of competition, including Nero himself, who performed widely as an amateur and once traveled to Greece to compete.

          There are also numerous references to the pervasive presence of music in ancient Rome, music even on a very large scale — hundreds of trumpeters and pipers playing together at massive games and festivals — and even of normally hand-held citharas built as large as carriages.

             Ancient Rome Music Instruments

-Wind instruments

• The cornu  was a long tubular metal wind instrument that curved around the musician's body, shaped rather like an uppercase G. It had a conical bore and a conical mouthpiece. It may be hard to distinguish from the buccina. The cornu was used for military signals and on parade.
• The tibia , usually double, had two double-reed  pipes, not joined but generally played with a mouth-band to hold both pipes steadily between the player's lips.
• The askaules — a bagpipe.
• The Roman tuba was a long, straight bronze trumpet with a detachable, conical mouthpiece like that of the modern French horn.          

-String instruments

• The lyre, borrowed from the Greeks.The strings were tunable by adjusting wooden wedges along the cross-bar.
• The lute, the true forerunner of the guitar , The Roman lute had three strings and was not as popular as the lyre or the cithara, but was easier to play.
• The cithara ,was the premier musical instrument of ancient Rome , the cithara was a loud, sweet and piercing instrument with precision tuning ability. It was said some players could make it cry.

- Organ

•  The hydraulic pipe organ , which worked by water pressure, was "one of the most significant technical and musical achievements of antiquity". Essentially, the air to the pipes that produce the sound comes from a mechanism of a wind-chest connected by a pipe to a dome; air is pumped in to compress water, and the water rises in the dome, compressing the air and causing a steady supply to reach the pipes The instrument goes back to the ancient Greeks and a well-preserved model in pottery was found at Carthage in 1885.

- Percussion

• The sistrum ,was a rattle consisting of rings strung across the cross-bars of a metal frame, which was often used for ritual purposes.
• Cymbala ,were small cymbals: metal discs with concave centres and turned rims, used in pairs which were clashed together

       

Synaulia - Music From Ancient Rome