Homeric
Meter and Music The Homeric epics were composed
and sung in dactylic hexameter. Hexameter
means "a measure of six," that is, six basic beats, or "feet,"
per line. Dactylic indicates that the beat
of these feet was one long sound followed by two shorts. Some variation was permitted
within individual lines. Because two shorts take the same amount of time
to pronounce as one long, a singer sometimes used a long instead of two
shorts in the second half of a foot. A foot with a long, long beat is called
a spondee. The first beat of each foot, however,
whether a dactyl or spondee, is always long. Thus, the rhythm or beat of the
music was imbedded in the lyrics of Homeric verse. In turn, we know that
the singers played an instrument called a phorminx
while they were performing, as described in a translated section of the
Odyssey below. However, the relationships between the sound of the
instrument, the singer's voice, the beat and the melody are unknown. Various
reconstructions have been attempted. Bronze Figurine Heraklion Museum "So come, all you Phaecian masters of the dance--now
dance away! So our guest can tell his friends, when he reaches home,
how far we excel the world in sailing, nimble footwork, dance and
song. Go, someone, quickly, fetch Demodokos his ringing phorminx.
It must be hanging somewhere in the palace." At the king's word
the herald sprang to his feet and ran to fetch the ringing phorminx
from the house. And stewards rose, nine in all, picked from the realm
to set the stage for contests: masters-at-arms who leveled the dancing-floor
to make a fine broad ring. The herald returned and placed the vibrant
phorminx now in Demodokos' hands, and
the bard moved toward the center, flanked by boys in the flush of
youth, skilled dancers who stamped the ground with marvelous pulsing
steps as Odysseus gazed at their flying, flashing feet, his heart
aglow with wonder." Marble Figurine Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York home
~ meter ~ reconstructions
~ modern music
Listen
for the six feet, each composed of a long and two short sounds.Listen
for the line with several spondees.
from Crete,
Geometric Period
(Odyssey, lines 284-99, translated by Robert Fagles)
from the Cyclades,
3rd Millennium BCE