PA 25 The Smith College Classical Studies are published from time to time by the Departments of Greek and Latin of Smith College and have for their main object the encouragement of research in classical literature, archaeology, and antiquities by providing an opportunity for the publication of studies in these fields by scholars connected with Smith College, as teachers, graduate students, or alumnae.Contributions of studies in these fields of research will be welcomed by the editors, John Everett Brady and Julia Harwood Caverno, and may be addressed to either one of them. All business communications as to purchase of copies, requests for exchanges, etc., should be addressed to Miss Mary Dunham. Librarian of Smith College, Northampton, Mass. The price for numbers 1-4 is seventy-five cents; for number 5 it is a dollar and a half. SMITH COLLEGE CLASSICAL STUDIES Number 1 Hellenistic Influence on the Aeneid," by Eleanor Shipley Duckett, June, 1920. Number 2. "A Study in the Commerce of Latium from the Early Iron Age through the Sixth Century, B.C.," by Louise E. W. Adams, April, 1921. Number 3."The Case Construction after the Comparative in Pliny's Letters," by Gifford Foster Clark, June, 1922. Number 4. "Nicolaus of Damascus' Life of Augustus, A Historical Commentary Embodying a Translation," by Clayton Morris Hall, May, 1923. Introduction When, in 1911, the Greek Department of Smith College decided to attempt a performance of the Iphigenia at Aulis, it was fortunate to be able to secure the cooperation of Miss Jane Peers, one of its own students and at that time an instructor in the Department of Music. A talented young musician who had already shown distinction in composition, she readily consented to write the music for the lyric passages, falling in heartily with the scheme of subordinating it entirely to the words and preserving strictly the quantity and rhythm of the verse. In 1915, though she was no longer a member of the Faculty and had become Mrs. Newhall, she wrote the music for the Iphigenia among the Taurians, which was presented the following spring. The experiment of translating the meter of Greek choral odes into a musical form of precisely the same character, has not, as far as we know, been made throughout a whole drama, possibly because of the reluctance of musicians to curb their imaginative powers to this extent. That Mrs. Newhall has done this consistently throughout two plays, we regard as an indication of no slight restraint, and also of devotion to the highest ideals of her art, and we are publishing her music in the hope that it will seem not merely an interesting illustration of a method, but also a contribution to classical scholarship. From the educational standpoint, there is an enormous advantage in music composed on this principle, since the ability to sing the odes carries with it ability to read the verse with accuracy and precision. As will be seen, the music is very simple and is given without accompaniment, since the air, played an octave higher, suffices for the flute. The form in which the choruses are printed, with the metrical phrases placed beneath one another instead of in the conventional fashion, has as precedent an arrangement of the songs of American Indians by Natalie Curtis*. The form is particularly well adapted to Greek choruses, as it reveals at a glance the metrical pattern of the odes, and has the added advantage of indicating to the singers where to take breath, a point which the irregular length of the phrases tends to obscure. The metrical schemes were prepared on the traditional lines, and will be found to agree in general with those in Schmidt's Kunstformen der griechischen Poesie, though there was no attempt to follow them exactly. Some differences may be explained by different readings, and others are due to individual preference. The composer was allowed some latitude in rendering the musical equivalent of certain feet or combinations of syllables. For example, while a cyclic dactyl is usually rendered by AD, it sometimes appears as A, and in two cases where a variation between strophe and antistrophe was difficult to render intelligibly, the difference was disregarded in the music. It may be remarked in defence of irregularities that the work on the choruses was done in preparation for an acting version and not to uphold any theory of metric. *The Indian's Book, Harper and Brothers. 712857 For the Iphigenia among the Taurians the music is complete for the three stasima, and for the chorus parts of the Parodos, consisting of lyric anapaests.Other anapaestic portions were not set to music, with the exception of the concluding verses of the play. The lyric interludes were cut for the performance of the play, and the music is therefore incomplete, but it is included as an interesting and effective rendering of the combination of and time, which is rare in mod ern music. The text of the Iphigenia at Aulis is in many places corrupt and sometimes unmetrical. In the lyric passages everything was omitted that is of doubtful authenticity; only a small portion of the lyric dialogue between Clytemnes tra and Iphigenia, verses 1276 ff, is included, and the kommos, verses 1175 ff, is omitted with the exception of the choral ode at the end, which may be regarded as a fourth stasimon. Instead of the concluding verses of the play,which are hopelessly unmetrical, three anapaestic verses were written and set to music. These are included merely for their possible practical use. The preparation of the choruses for the press was hampered somewhat by the fact that it was impossible to confer with Mrs. Newhall. Under these conditions we are especially grateful to Professor R. E. S. Olmsted of the Department of Music, who has given us help on many points, and whose knowledge of and interest in Greek made him a particularly sympathetic adviser. It is to him that we owe the suggestion of the form in which the music is printed. Amy L. Barbour Smith College Copyright,1924, by Smith College Professor of Greek Composer's Note Concerning the music used by the ancient Greeks for their choruses, comparatively little is definitely known, as tradition is not altogether consistent on many points. The Greek dramatists themselves often composed the music for their choruses, which followed very closely the rhythm or accent of the words, but was decidedly melodic rather than merely declamatory in style. The choruses were sung in unison and often unaccompanied, though sometimes a flute (avλós) was used to reenforce the melody an octave above the voices, and occasionally a lyre was used to play a few chords in the nature of an interlude or refrain. Greek music was written in various modes or scales; the six used in the following choruses are the Lydian, the Phrygian, the Dorian, the Hypolydian, the Hypophrygian, and the Hypodorian. These modes are composed of two similar adjacent four-note groups (tetrachords) made up of tones and half-tones, and differ from one another in that, as the starting-point for each mode changes, the halftones occur in different parts of the scale. For example, Thus we find that the Lydian mode corresponds exactly to our own major scale, the Phrygian varies only in having its sixth tone raised, and the Dorian only in having its second tone lowered, from our natural minor scale. The Hypolydian varies only in having its fourth tone raised, and the Hypophrygian only in having its seventh tone lowered, from our major scale, and the Hypodorian corresponds exactly to our natural minor scale. To each of these modes the Greeks assigned a definite emotional or ethical character; for instance, their favorite one, the Dorian, was considered stately and dignified; the Lydian, sweet and pleasing; the Phrygian, adapted to deep feeling or violent emotion. In the music which follows the attempt has been to conform to the few simple fundamental rules or principles, very briefly described above, upon which it is generally conceded the Greeks based the music for their drama, and although it may be very different from the music which Euripides used, it is hoped that at least it will seem appropriate to its subject and not at variance with that elusive quality which we call "Greek". Jane Peers Newhall San Francisco, California. May 1924 |