Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece by Warren D. Anderson (review)

BOOKREVIEWS/COMPTESRENDUS WAHHEN D. ANDEHSON. Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1994. Pp. xiii + 248, 23 figures, 7 plates. ISBN 0-8014-3083-6. Warren Anderson, author of the well-known book Ethos and Education in Greek Music, has followed it twenty-eight years later with a study of much wider scope. In Music and Musicians in Ancient Greece he ranges from the Stone Age to the Song of Seikilos with the fifth century as centrepiece. The philosophers and theorists a re for the most part excluded, emphasis being placed rather on "what was once t he heard, sounding reality" (xi). The organisation is chronological : six chapters take us from cave pa intings to Aristotle. The last quarter of the book has appendices on technical matters. In his first chapter ("From the Beginnings to the Dark Age") Anderson presents the archaeological evidence with generous illustration. He deals with the Cycladic musicians and the Hagia Triada paintings together with less familiar material, and draws attention to the religious context . He leans heavily on earlier writers, notably Aign and West. I had the impression that he was ill at ease in this chapter. His writing is often obscure, and there are odd errors: t he CycJadic figures corne from Keros, a tiny island south-east of Naxos, but on 4 the harper is "from the CycJadic settlement of Cnidus (modern Cape Krio, south of Cos)"; the dinos was not a mixing bowl (10), and the palace of Pylos is not at the southwestern tip of the Argive pla in (11). It would have been useful for the novice to be told the distinguishing features of harp, lyre and Jute: more help is given with flute, oboe and clarinet. Chapter 2, "From Orpheus to the Homeric Hymns," begins with the obscure but im portant figures of Orpheus, Linus and Thamyris, then moves on to Horner's musicians. Descriptions of the aulos and phorminx are inserted here (32-39) with technical detail but no illustrations. Consideration of the singers in the Iliad and Odyssey leads to West's intriguing reconstruction of Horner's little scale in an a rticle in JHS 101 (1981) "that began a new era." It is a pity that, while Stanford's setting of Od. 1.1 is presented as an Aunt Sally, none of West's music is given. Mention of the Iron Age migrations 305 306 BOOK REVIEWS ICOMPTES RENDUS leads to another technical digression, this time on harmonia, before we reach Hesiod, Olympus and the Hymn to Hermes. Anderson tends to get side-tracked: Od. 4.777 (50) has no relevance to harmonia. The Muses gave Hesiod a branch of bay, not olive (52). Chapter 3, "Early Lyric Poets," covers the ground from Eumelus' processional hymn to Anacreon's lyrics, with an excursus on scales (62-64) which will tax the beginner. I have a few grum bles: Anderson shows an unusual readiness to mention Edmonds' conjectures, e.g. the impossible aYEoxopOC (67) and /\USICTI (81, where the fragment number is also Edmonds'; read 374 Page). In connection with the tag "to know the three of Stesichorus" Anderson rejects the translation "know" in favour of "recognize" (77), but the Suda uses the verb eiOEVal in explaining the passage. If S166 (SLG p. 48[,) = Ibycus 282A Campbell is by lbycus, we have evidence of his use of triadic structure. Critias' lines on Anacreon are in fr. 500 Campbell . In Lasus 702 the adjective Atot.io{a) belongs to ap~oviav, not ij~vov (82). In Chapter 4, "Fifth-Century Lyric Poets," Anderson continues his progress through the lyric and elegiac composers. A few more grumbles: Simonides fro 88 Edmonds (85) = Pindar fro l 07b Snell, fro 8 Edmonds (86) =578 Page. In the famous song of Pratinas (708 Page) Edmonds' text is cited for 8~c, "serf' (Hartung's emendation), applied to the aulas (87). In his long exposition of Pratinas 712(a) Anderson argues (89ff.) with limited success for sexual double entendre in the manner of Pherecrates; his reluctance to accept 712(b) as part of the same poem is surprising, given Athenaeus' formula EV Of TOIC E~i'iC. In...