Music and the Muses: The Culture of 'mousikē' in the Classical Athenian CityPenelope Murray, Peter Wilson Oxford University Press, 2004 - 438 pages This book explores the role of mousike, the realm of the Muses, in Greek life. More wide-ranging in its implications than the English ‘music’, mousike lay at the heart of Greek culture, and was often indeed synonymous with culture. In its commonest form it represented for the Greeks a seamless complex of music, poetry, song, and dance, encompassing a vast array of performances — from small-scale entertainment in the private home to elaborate performances involving the entire community. Yet the history of the field has been hitherto narrowly conceived, and the broader cultural significance of mousike largely ignored. Focusing mainly on classical Athens, these chapters analyse the theory and practice of musical performance in a variety of social contexts and demonstrate the centrality of mousike to the values and ideology of the polis. Topics covered include the so-called ‘new musical revolution’ in late 5th-century Athens, the musical and performative dimension of Greek religion, the ethical and philosophical aspects of Athenian mousike, and its role in the formation of social values through education or paideia. The book as a whole provides an integrated cultural analysis of central aspects of Greek mousike and furthers our understanding of the power of music as a cultural phenomenon. |
From inside the book
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Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Muses and Mysteries | 11 |
SongDance | 39 |
Dancing the Pyrrhiche in Athens | 91 |
Aspects | 185 |
The Politics of Mousikē | 205 |
A Music Theorist Ostracized? | 249 |
Common terms and phrases
Aeschylus agōn ancient antistrophe Apollo Arist Aristophanes Aristotle Aristotle's Artemis associated Athenian Athens Attic audience aulos Autolykos Birds Brauron Burkert choral performance choral song choreutai chorus classical comedy comic context Csapo cult culture Damon dance dancers Delos Delphi Dionysiac Dionysus discussion dithyramb Dorian mode drama Eleusis elite erōs ethical euphemia Euripides festival fifth century genres goddess gods Greek harmoniai Hellenistic Hesiod hymn instrument khoros kithara lyre melic Metiochos mimesis modes mousikē Muses musicians mysteries myth nightingale ostracism Oxford paean paian paideia Panathenaia Peisetairos Perikles philosophical Pindar pipes Plato play pleasure Plut Plutarch poetic poetry poets polis political prayer Puthais pyrrhic reference rhetoric rhythms role Rutherford singing social Sokrates Spartan speech stage strings suggests Syracusan theatre theōria theōroi Timotheus tradition tragedy tragic victory Wilson words Xenophon Zeus γὰρ δὲ ἐν καὶ μὲν τε τὴν τῆς τὸ τοῦ τῶν