Isaac of Antioch’s Organ and the Media of Musical Subjects

This article examines an unstudied text by Isaac of Antioch (active latter half fifth century), in which he described a raucous festival in Antioch, filled with music and revelry. Isaac ruminated on the near-human, near-sentient qualities of musical instruments, and their subjecthood emerged strongly in relation to humans’ in his philosophical memra. At dawn one morning, Isaac was awakened by a water organ, which dictated to Isaac the psalmody for that morning. This article argues for Isaac’s rich exploration of relational mingling of humans, instruments and Psalms, that revealed a milieu of intersubjective richness before God.