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Main page Delphic Hymns The fragments of both hymns in the Delphi
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Random article The Delphic Hymns are two musical compositions from Ancient Greece, which survive
Donate to Wikipedia in substantial fragments. They were long regarded as being dated circa 138 BCE and
Wikimedia Shop 128 BCE, respectively, but recent scholarship has shown it likely they were both written
for performance at the Athenian Pythaides in 128 BCE (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 71
Interaction –72). If indeed it dates from ten years before the second, the First Delphic Hymn is the
Help earliest unambiguous surviving example of notated music from anywhere in the western
About Wikipedia world whose composer is known by name.
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Recent changes Contents [hide]
Contact page 1 History
2 First Delphic Hymn
Tools 3 Second Delphic Hymn
4 See also
Print/export 5 Recordings
6 References
Languages 7 External links
Deutsch
Ελληνικά History [edit]
Italiano
Magyar Both Delphic Hymns were addressed to Apollo, and were found inscribed on stone fragments from the south outer wall of the Athenian
Occitan treasury at Delphi in 1893 by a French archaeologist (Weil 1893; Reinach 1893). Reconstruction of the fragments was facilitated by the
Srpskohrvatski / fact that the first hymn uses vocal notation, and the second employs instrumental notation (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 70). It was long
српскохрватски believed that all that could be told of the composer of the First Hymn is that it was written by an Athenian, around 138 BCE, since the
heading of the inscription giving the name of the composer is damaged and difficult to read. However, careful reading of this inscription
Edit links shows that it cannot be the ethnic "Athenaîos" (from Athens), but rather names "Athénaios Athenaíou" (Athenios son of Athenios) as the
composer (Bélis 1992, 48–49, 53–54; Pöhlmann and West 2001, 71). The Second Delphic hymn has been dated to precisely 128 BC;
evidently it was first performed in the same year. The name of the composer has also survived, both in the heading of the hymn and in a
separate inscription: Limenios, son of Thoinos, an Athenian (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 71). The occasion of the both hymns was the
Pythian Festival, held only once every ten years, and according to the former assumption of dating the earlier hymn was probably written
for the boys' choir at the Pythian Games in 138 BCE.

The first portion of the First Delphic Hymn (text omitted) (Reinach 1926, 177)

Some of the pitches in this version are mere guesses (as to the readable pitches, see Pöhlmann and 1st Delphic Hymn (help·info)
West 2001, 62–85). Modern reconstruction
performed on computer
First Delphic Hymn [edit]

Both hymns are monophonic (consisting of a single melodic line), but are differentited by their notation. The First Hymn is in so-called
vocal notation and it is in the cretic (quintuple) meter throughout (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 70–71, 85). It is in the Phrygian and
Hyperphrygian, with much variation: an archaic pentatonic effect is produced in the lowest tetrachords by avoiding lichanos, while above

mese (nominally middle C) there is modulation between a conjunct chromatic tetrachord (C D♭ D F) and a disjunct diatonic one (D E♭ F
G), extended by two more chromatic notes, A♭ and A (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 73). In addition to being the earliest surviving

substantial fragment of ancient music, the First Delphic Hymn may also have been the longest, perhaps even longer than the Second
Delphic Hymn, which runs to 40 lines; unfortunately, the First Hymn does not survive complete (the Seikilos epitaph, dated anywhere
between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE, is the earliest surviving complete piece of music).

Exact performance practice is unknown, but Limenius is mentioned in a separate Delphic inscription as a master player of the kithara;
likely he accompanied a singer or singers.
The First Delphic Hymn falls into two large parts, a Paean (lines 1–27) and what might have been called a Hyporchema (lines 27–34). The
hymn is set in cretics throughout (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 85).

Photograph of the original stone at Delphi containing the second of the two hymns toApollo. The music notation is the
line of occasional symbols above the main, uninterrupted line of Greek lettering.

Second Delphic Hymn [edit]

The Second Hymn is headed Paean and Prosodion to the God (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 75, 85). It consists of ten sections in all, the
first nine in cretic metre constituting the paean, the tenth in aeolic rhythms (glyconics and choriambic dimeters) is the prosodion. Their
tonalities are (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 85):

1. Lydian
2. Hypolydian
3. Hypolydian
4. Chromatic Lydian
5. Hypolydian
6. Hypolydian
7. Chromatic Lydian
8. Hypolydian
9. Lydian
10. Lydian

See also [edit]

Hurrian song
Oxyrhynchus hymn
Seikilos epitaph

Recordings [edit]

Musiques de l'Antiquité Grecque: De la Pierre au son. Ensemble Kérylos , directed by Annie Bélis. BNP, 1996. K617-069
Music of Ancient Greece. OP and PO Orchestra, conducted by Christodoulos Halaris. Orata. ORANGM 2013.
Music of the Ancient Greeks. De Organographia (Gayle Stuwe Neuman, Philip Neuman, and William Gavin). Pandourion Records,
1997. PRDC 1001.
Musique de la Grèce antique. Atrium Musicæ de Madrid, Gregorio Paniagua, dir. Harmonia Mundi (France), 1979. HMA 1901015.

References [edit]

Anderson, Warren, and Thomas J. Mathiesen. [2001]. "Limenius," Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 24 August 2005),
(subscription access)
Bélis, Annie (ed.). 1992. Corpus des inscriptions de Delphes, vol. 3: "Les Hymnes à Apollon". Paris: De Boccard. ISBN 2-86958-051-
7
Davison, Archibald T., and Willi Apel (eds.). 1949–1950. Historical Anthology of Music. Two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Harvard University Press, 1949. ISBN 0-674-39300-7
Pöhlmann, Egert, and Martin L. West. 2001. Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments, edited and
transcribed with commentary by Egert Pöhlmann and Martin L. West. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-815223-X
Reinach, Théodore. 1893. "La Musique des hymnes de Delphes". Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 17:584–610.
Reinach, Théodore. 1926. "La Musique grecque". Paris: n.p.

Weil, Henri. 1893. "Nouveaux fragments d'hymnes accompagnés de notes de musique". Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique
17:569–83.
Weil, Henri. 1894. "Un Nouvel Hymn à Apollon". Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique 18:345–62.
West, M[artin] L[itchfield]. 1992. Ancient Greek Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-
814897-6 (cloth); ISBN 0-19-814975-1 (pbk)

External links [edit]

Limenios: Paean and Processional: contains a photograph of the original engraved stone at Delphi.
Hymne à Apollon , Gabriel Fauré's accompaniment for harp, at IMSLP
Ensemble Kérylos a music group directed by scholar Annie Bélis and dedicated to the recreation of ancient Greek and Roman
music.

Notes on Ensemble Kérylos recording
Delphi Historical Information, including a description of the hymns
Synthesised recording used in the game Civilization 3

Categories: Ancient Greek hymns Ancient Greek music inscriptions Greek religion inscriptions Apollo Ancient Athens Delphi

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