on the aulos . Although there is no surviving evidence to suggest that these effects were actually created in a performance, the flexibility of the aulos would have given a tragedian more compositional freedom and the range of effects that could be created through music would have grown. In order to suggest potential effects created by the aulos , a brief outline of modes is required. A mode, in short, is a scale comprising a fixed set of intervals. The starting note of the scale does not matter, as long as the intervals are the same. 14 The modes usually employed in tragedy were the Dorian mode and the Mixolydian; the Ionian, Lydian and Phrygian modes were also used. The Dorian mode was associated with lamentation, but was also seen as a dignified mode, linked with nobility and courage. 15 The Mixolydian mode was associated with mourning and grief. On the other hand, Plato disapprovingly described the Ionian and Lydian modes as ‘soft’ 16 and ‘suitable for drinking-parties’. 17 If we are to believe what Plato has claimed, then these modes would be lighter and less solemn. The Phrygian mode was linked with anything from dutifulness to wild madness and frenzy. It was also the mode most associated with the aulos itself, and the ‘Bacchic 18 activity and all dancing of that sort’. 19 So it seems reasonable to say that the Phrygian mode was capable of inducing strong feelings among an audience. Very few fragments of ancient music survive; one fragment from tragedy which survives is part of a choral ode from Euripides’ Orestes , which is accompanied by the aulos. 20 I have listened to this fragment 21 and will now suggest effects produced by the aulos’ presence in the music. At this point of the tragedy, Orestes, son of Agamemnon, has killed his mother Clytemnestra in revenge for her murder of Agamemnon. As a result, Orestes is driven mad by the Furies over the killing of his mother. This Orestes fragment seems to have been composed in either the Dorian or Phrygian mode. Therefore, the general mood of the music would probably be rather serious and mournful – somewhat appropriate to the text to which the music corresponds.
ματέρος α ἷ μα σ ᾶ ς , ὅ σ ᾽ ἀ ναβακχεύει ; ὁ μέγας ὄ λβος ο ὐ μόνιμος ἐ ν βροτο ῖ ς : κατολοφύρομαι κατολοφύρομαι 22 . ἀ ν ὰ δ ὲ λα ῖ φος ὥ ς τις ἀ κάτου θο ᾶ ς τινάξας δαίμων κατέκλυσεν δειν ῶ ν π όνων ὡ ς π όντου λαʆ βροις ὀ λεθριʆ οισιν ἐ ν κυʆ μασιν . 23
Euripides Orestes 338-344
‘I grieve, I grieve – your mother’s blood that drives you wild. Great prosperity among mortals is not lasting: upsetting it like the sail of a swift sloop some higher power swamps it in the rough doom-waves of fearful toils, as of the sea.’ 24
For most of the fragment, the auloi appear to accompany the chorus by simply playing in unison; however, there are some instances where the auloi diverge from the chorus melody, thereby creating harmony. Given that instances of harmony seem to be relatively uncommon amongst the music, it 14 An example would be the major scale in music. All major scales are part of the modern Ionian mode. 15 Plato Republic 399a 16 Plato Republic 398e 17 Translation taken from Plato, Republic trans. R. Waterfield 1993. 18 Bacchic is a term used to describe Dionysus, god of wine, who is associated with drunkenness and madness. 19 West 1992 p.180 (Aristotle Poetics 1342a-b). 20 The transcriptions of the fragment can be found in West 1992 pp. 284-286, the original fragment is Vienna papyrus G 2315. 21 The recordings are available on a CD entitled Music of the Ancient Greeks performed by Ensemble De Organographia, 1995. 22 In the fragment, line 340 is placed before line 338. 23 All Greek text in this essay has been taken from the Perseus Digital Library. 24 I have used the translation provided by West 1992 p. 284
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