Songs From Antiquity: Reimagining the Ancient Greek Art of the Muses

Melody and accompaniement by Callum Armstrong

Text and Melody by Mesomedes of Crete. Accompaniment by Rosa Fragorapti.

Callum Armstrong (aulos), Rosa Fragorapti (lyre), Chorus

Text by Mesomedes of Crete. Melody and Accompaniment by Felipe Aguirre.

Felipe Aguirre (phorminx), Annabel Rockett (voice), Abigail Bradford (sistrum).

Composed by Callum Armstrong.

Callum Armstrong (aulos), Rosa Fragorapti (lyre)

Text by Mesomedes of Crete, melody and accompaniment by Alex Silverman.

Callum Armstrong (aulos), Rosa Fragorapti (lyre), Alex Silverman (voice)

Mesomedes of Crete wrote two odes which celebrate sundials. The texts of those two odes are combined in this new piece, which blends techniques from ancient and modern performance, and  incorporates three essential elements: meter, mode, and breath. The apokroton, an anapaestic meter, forms the rhythmic basis for the ancient source and is preserved - with some repetition and variation- in the new work. The harmonic structure is a response to the range of chords that derive from the chromatic tonos of the ancient Greek Lydian mode. These factors are synthesised in a melody, which is further shaped by the breath of the aulete and singer, and augmented by the broad range of textural effects which are achievable on the lyre. Mesomedes expresses his amazement that a whole day can be contained within a single monument. He asks, repeatedly, ’tis?’, -‘who?’ could do such a marvellous thing! That question is shared between the voice, the lyre, and the two pipes of the aulos to make a short, playful quartet.

Text

Verses aligned to left are from first Sundial ode (Wilamowitz & Horna 4);

Verse aligned to right from second, longer ode.(Wilamowitz & Horna 5).

English translation by Alex Silverman, after Bowie 2025.

τίς ὁ λαβὼν ἄντρον Ἀρει ξύσας;

τίς ὁ κέντρον ἐπίσκοπον ἁρμόσας;

     τίς ἔτυχε χαλκεάλαις τέχναν

     μακάριον δρόμον εἰς μέτρον ἡμέρας;

     τίς ἔπαξε κύκλῳ δρόμον ἀστέρων,

     παγχάλκεον εἴκονα κόσμου;

 συνοδοιπόρον εὗρε τὸν ῾άλιον,

 ἐνέκλεισεν ἔσω δρόμον ἁμέρας,

 ὁθεν αἰθέρος ἄρμα προσίπταται.

     φέρεται δὲ μέσον κανόνος λίθος

     τὰν τάξιν ἔχων ἰδίων μέτρων,

      ἀν-ό-δευ-τον ὁ-δὸν φα-νε-ρὰν ἔ-χων,

      έμενος χορὸν εἰς μέτρον ἀφθίτων.

ὦ δαιδαλέου καμάτου τέχνας·

ὀλίγη λίθος ἐνδέδεται πόλον,

τὸν Ἄτλας τις ἐκούφιςε βαστάσας.

     καὶ δείκνυτ’ ἔτι τέχνα σοφὰ

     κατὰ δῖον ἀπείροτον οὐρανοῦ,

     μυκήσατο χάλκεος ἁδονά

     δηλούσα βροτοῖς μέτρον ἡμέρας.

Who polished a stone cave for Ares?

Who fitted a watchful pointer?

Who, with bronze-beaten craft, has fitted

the course of the blessed ones into a day’s measure?

Who has ordered the stars’ race into a circle,

an image of the universe all in bronze?

Who discovered the sun's travelling companion

and enclosed within it the course of a day,

from whence the air's own chariot flies forward?

It has a gemstone set in the middle,

keeping all its measures in order

with a clear path that is not a path,

but sets the chorus of the immortals in measure.

O, what skill of hard craftsmanship!

A little stone has put on the heavens' veil,

and some great Atlas has taken it, and lifted it up high!

And such skill was displayed to everyone:

after that endless celestial battle:

there roared out a rhapsody in bronze

unfurling the measure of day to mortals.

Melody and text by Mesomedes of Crete, accompaniment by Felipe Aguirre.

Felipe Aguirre (kithara), Annabel Rockett (voice), Alex Silverman (tympanon). Dance by Elisa Anzellotti