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Documentary, Discovering the Music of Antiquity
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#Music #Documentary #Antiquity
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00:26I
00:28I worked at the time as a charge of mission at the Museum of the Louvre,
00:32and I had in charge the restoration of different Greek papyrus
00:35which were preserved in the département of Egypt.
00:42It was found that there was this little box in black black,
00:45like a biscuit,
00:46which contained a lot of things,
00:49such as papyrus,
00:50but also different little objects
00:53which were certainly found in vrac,
00:55on a field,
00:56so a bit of a journal,
00:58a bit of a cigar.
01:00It was a bit of a puzzle,
01:01to be honest.
01:03The restauranteur Sanchez said
01:04look at this papyrus,
01:06there is one that is not like the others.
01:11The papyrus is a plant,
01:13it's fiber,
01:14and when this fiber is dry,
01:17it becomes cassable.
01:18So,
01:18as the papyrus has been plied
01:20for 2000 years,
01:22it is impossible to open it without breaking it
01:24if we don't work the material.
01:26So,
01:26we will humidify the papyrus
01:27in the way the most violent possible.
01:32Sometimes,
01:32we do a job of fiber to fiber,
01:34we need to aplatir,
01:35one by one,
01:36all the fibers that have been replaced.
01:40Each fiber can hide a letter,
01:42so we need to always platter with care.
01:56The papyrus had something different,
01:58because,
01:59first,
02:00there were lines
02:00a lot of lines
02:01a lot of lines
02:01a lot of lines
02:02a lot of lines
02:03a lot of lines
02:04a lot of lines
02:04a lot of lines
02:05a lot of lines
02:06a lot of lines
02:07a lot of lines
02:10written in different places
02:12without a word.
02:14And then,
02:14I said,
02:14it's a problem,
02:15what is it?
02:16What is it?
02:17So,
02:19I made a photograph
02:20of the papyrus
02:21I told my director
02:22that the papyrus
02:23that I found
02:24is surprising,
02:25but what is it?
02:25What do you think
02:26are these signs?
02:36All civilizations,
02:38even the most ancient,
02:40have been steeped in music.
02:44A rich iconography
02:46bears witness to this.
02:48From Egyptian temples
02:50to Greek cities
02:51and the far reaches
02:53of the Roman Empire.
02:55depictions of ancient musicians
02:57are found
02:58throughout the Mediterranean.
03:01Some instruments
03:02have come down to us too,
03:03like this Egyptian drum
03:05from the 8th century BCE.
03:10But what do we know
03:12about the place music
03:13held in ancient societies
03:14and the musical works
03:16that moved our ancestors?
03:21Music archaeologists,
03:23scientists and researchers
03:25are attempting to bring
03:27these lost sound worlds
03:29back to life
03:30in search of the echoes
03:33of antiquity.
03:49The discovery of the Louvre papyrus
03:51marks the beginning
03:53of an extraordinary scientific adventure.
03:56Annie Bellis,
03:57one of the world's
03:59leading figures
03:59in music archaeology,
04:01is deciphering it.
04:03A philologist,
04:05papyrologist
04:05and musician,
04:06she has devoted her life
04:08to rediscovering
04:09the music of ancient Greece.
04:23Annie Bellis
04:24confirms that the strange marks
04:27above the Greek text
04:28are indeed musical notes
04:30but written using a completely
04:33different system to the one we know.
04:52It's a remarkable discovery.
04:55Only about 60 fragmented
04:57Greek musical scores
04:59have survived.
05:03But can they be deciphered?
05:05The ancient Greek
05:06musical notation system
05:08is amazingly complex.
05:13It's not like us,
05:14doremifasolacido,
05:15doremifasolacido,
05:16doremifasolacido,
05:17doremifasolacido.
05:17It's a combination of 1687 signs.
05:21The great difference
05:22with our system,
05:23is that the Greeks
05:24make the difference
05:24between the vocal notation
05:26for the music
05:27and the instrumental notation
05:29for a music
05:30exclusively played
05:31by instruments.
05:33And the Greeks
05:34developed a variety
05:35of specific signs
05:36for each of these two notes.
05:40This very complex system
05:42would be a mystery
05:43without an ancient treatise
05:46preserved by monks
05:47during the Middle Ages.
05:49Signed by someone
05:50we know only as Olypius,
05:53these tables
05:54give the name
05:54of each musical note
05:56from the lowest
05:57to the highest
05:58and for each note,
06:00Olypius provides
06:01the corresponding sign
06:03for the vocal notation
06:04in the left column
06:05and the instrumental notation
06:07in the right column.
06:10The number and combination
06:12of signs are considerable.
06:23This system
06:23is a way
06:25to think
06:25the sounds,
06:26to think
06:27the sound space
06:29and to rationalize it.
06:31It's not like
06:32how we built
06:33a system
06:33that allows
06:34to play music
06:35when we see it
06:36under the eyes.
06:37It's first a system
06:38of notation
06:38to design
06:39a music
06:41that was essentially
06:42transmitted by oral.
06:44So,
06:44one of the functions
06:45of this notation
06:46is, above all,
06:47to enter the Greek texts
06:49in archives.
06:52Thanks to this system,
06:55some musical pieces
06:56can now be deciphered.
07:04Discovered at the end
07:05of the 19th century
07:06in present-day Turkey,
07:08this small stele
07:09preserves
07:11the oldest surviving
07:12complete Greek
07:14musical composition.
07:18Dating back
07:19to the 2nd century CE,
07:21the stele
07:22is believed
07:22to have been
07:23a grave marker.
07:24The author
07:25of the composition,
07:26a certain
07:27Sekilos,
07:28the Sicilian,
07:29wrote it as an epitaph
07:31dedicated to a member
07:33of his family.
07:36The archaeo-musicologists
07:38were able to identify
07:39the vocal notation signs
07:41and find them
07:42in the tables
07:43of Olypius,
07:44which made it possible
07:45to transcribe them
07:46into our current
07:47notation system
07:48and revive
07:50what some researchers
07:51call
07:51the world's
07:53oldest song.
07:54O son
07:57o son
07:58e
07:58o
08:01at
08:01o
08:05the
08:06other
08:06h
08:06the
08:08o
08:18h
08:19and the time is over.
08:25The song of Sikilu is a great surprise, if you want,
08:31that tells us how you live,
08:33to enjoy your life,
08:37because your life is small,
08:39the time is small
08:40and the end is something
08:45that it cannot be over.
08:51The ancient city of Delphi
08:53was the site of a great sanctuary
08:56dedicated to Apollo,
08:59the god of music.
09:02In 1893,
09:04a few years after the discovery of the Stelius Sikilus,
09:08another musical treasure was found there.
09:15Hymns engraved on the wall of the building
09:17dedicated to Apollo.
09:23Now preserved in the Delphi Museum,
09:26these are the longest instrumental and vocal scores
09:29that ancient Greece has bequeathed to us.
09:33An inscription discovered on the temple wall
09:37has made it possible to date them.
09:39These two hymns were interpreted in 128 a.C.C.
09:45by 40 singers and dozens of singers.
09:48It was a very important manifestation of Apparat.
09:57It is a procession that the Athenians
10:00do from Athens to Delphi.
10:02And so in 128,
10:03this procession is particularly an eclipse
10:05since we have a lot of singers,
10:07and musicians,
10:08and we interpret these two hymns
10:09which, by the end,
10:11were gravated as a gift to Apollon.
10:28An essential element of religious practice,
10:31music permeated every aspect of Hellenic life
10:36and was taught to children in the same way
10:38as letters or mathematics.
10:44But what is written on the Louvre papyrus?
10:50While the musical part,
10:52thanks to the tables of Olypius,
10:54revealed a fairly legible vocal notation,
10:57deciphering the Greek text
10:59was like decoding a secret message.
11:03The text is extremely fragmented
11:05because the papyrus is riddled with holes and tears.
11:10So, we have a papyrus.
11:11It's beautifully written.
11:12There's music, there's text.
11:14What is it?
11:15What is it?
11:16What is it?
11:16There's no inscription that indicates
11:18what it is, the author, nothing.
11:21We have to find the indices inside.
11:24I first look for the names.
11:26I read Glockay.
11:29Glockay.
11:30I have to do better than that.
11:32What is it?
11:33What is it?
11:33There's this.
11:37MEDEI.
11:38If there's Glockay,
11:40it's fine with MEDEI.
11:41I have two names.
11:43Glockay is the king of the king of Corinth.
11:45Now, there's some letters left,
11:47but I read here.
11:49I.
11:51I.
11:52A little O.
11:54It sounds.
11:55It's Jazon.
11:57Well, that's it.
11:58It's a MEDEI.
11:58So, this fragmented papyrus contains traces of a famous Greek tragedy.
12:07According to Euripides in the 5th century BCE, Medea is a powerful sorceress.
12:13After falling passionately in love with Jason, she helps him steal the golden fleece, killing anyone who gets in his
12:20way.
12:20They have two children together, but Jason deserts her for Glauke, daughter of the king of Corinth.
12:27In revenge, Medea kills her rival and murders her own children to punish their father, Jason.
12:35But the version of Medea discovered in the Louvre is very different.
12:39Here, Medea swears by the goddess Hecate that she did not kill her children.
12:44She hides them from Jason, giving them to a nurse for safekeeping.
12:49What does the papyrus bring to the mythology, the legend of Medea?
12:56Well, it's a revolution. It's very simple.
12:58It's the opposite of the mental image that we always do now.
13:02It's the infanticide, by excellence, Medea.
13:05Yes, but there, it's perfectly innocent.
13:09But you have to do it, right?
13:10Medea is innocent.
13:13This audacious Medea would have been performed in a theatre, a revolutionary Greek invention.
13:22Numerous remains of these buildings, some of which could accommodate up to 25,000 spectators, speak to the popularity of
13:31these shows.
13:33From tragedy to comedy, the performance of the singers, all seasoned professionals, would have been central.
13:52Numerous music plays
13:53They are the athletes of the voice.
13:55Because it's really difficult to sing.
13:58And it goes as high as we can, and it goes as high as we can.
14:01With these demands of dictionaries and respiration.
14:04Numerous music plays
14:07Numerous music plays
14:22Numerous music plays
14:30Numerous music plays
14:30Numerous music plays
14:32Numerous music plays
14:34Numerous music plays
14:36Numerous music plays
14:37Numerous music plays
14:39Numerous music plays
14:41Numerous music plays
14:42Numerous music plays
14:46Numerous music plays
14:48Numerous music plays
14:50Numerous music plays
14:51Numerous music plays
14:51Numerous music plays
14:53Numerous music plays
14:54Numerous music plays
14:55Numerous music plays
14:55Numerous music plays
14:55Numerous music plays
14:55as in almost all Greek iconography the singer is shown with his head tilted
15:01towards the sky as if offering his song up to the gods but who sang the Medea
15:08discovered at the Louvre and who composed it carbon-14 dating has made it
15:13possible to date the papyrus to the second century CE
15:26and I search the authors of Medea and I get to the rhetorics of Aristotle
15:32Livre 2, for example, in the Medea of Carcinos,
15:37Carcinos, these accusers pretend that she has killed his children
15:42that we see no part, Medea had indeed made the mistake of the error of
15:47leaving, but wait, it's exactly that, it's exactly the first verse of my papyrus
15:54but who is Carcinos? Someone so famous in ancient Greece that he is mentioned by
16:03Aristotle. The Suda, an encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world dating from
16:10the 10th century CE, also refers to him. The name Carcinos appears there as the
16:17winner of a tragedy playwriting competition held in Athens in 375 BCE.
16:23– This papyrus date du IIe siècle de notre ère. – Exactly.
16:27– And it was written in the IVe siècle avant… – Avant notre ère.
16:31Ça prouve qu'il a été copié et recopié et recopié… – Pendant six siècles ?
16:36– Oui. En fait, c'est un cahier de musiciens pour archives. Toi qui es chef d'orchestre et musicien,
16:43tu sais bien à quel point on modifie sans le vouloir une partition que c'est par cœur.
16:49C'est son répertoire. Comme le patrimoine musical est monstrueux, on en garde les fleurinèges. Et le feuillet,
16:57le carcinos, c'est ça. Donc les plus grands airs. Et c'est bon pour faire des concours.
17:04– The iconography preserves traces of these music contests. Here, on a tournoi, on a tournoi, on a tournoi.
17:34Here, the performers takes his place on the podium, surrounded by the judges who hold sticks.
17:39And many times the prisoners of this war obtained political values.
17:48They didn't pay taxes.
17:53Or they could have been paid for the country for one year.
18:00The year that they had been paid for.
18:03From one point and another, they had huge money.
18:06He has achieved the fame of a very good composer.
18:13He has also a manager, an impresario,
18:17who takes him to do recital in different cities.
18:37Inscriptions from the 2nd century BCE pay tribute to some of the star artists.
18:44I have to talk to you about a great musician who went to Delphes.
18:47He was called Satyros, he came from the Samos island.
18:50He took all the travel, without a doubt, to come to here.
18:54The inscription, which had his statue,
18:58tells that he was presented to the Pitya, the big Delphes contest.
19:03He was solicited to the Aulos, and he was presented without a competitor.
19:07They all declared forfait until they knew that Satyros of Samos arrived.
19:11I believe it.
19:27Archeomusicologist Stefan Hagel performs the song Othekilos on the Aulos,
19:33this typically Greek double flute.
19:54The Aulos is unabdingbar for the whole Sakralbereich.
19:59Vom Trankopfer in der häuslichen Zeremonie
20:03bis zum staatlichen Opfer.
20:05Es gibt keine Theateraufführung,
20:07keinen Chor, ohne dass der Aulos dazu spielt.
20:10Und daneben auch für private Hochzeiten,
20:13für das klassische Bankett.
20:15Also haben wir letztlich vom hochrangigen Starrmusiker
20:20bis herunter zur Sklavin,
20:23die die Unterhaltung und gleichzeitig die sexuelle Dienste beim Pankett anbietet,
20:29das gesamte Spektrum der sozialen Schichten durchgehend.
20:37While musical instruments are omnipresent in Greek iconography and mythology,
20:42there are very few surviving artefacts.
20:48A few fragments of bone and bronze auli found at Delphi.
20:53The very damaged remains of a lyre with a turtle shell soundbox
20:59from a 5th century BCE Athenian tomb.
21:03Wood and leather remnants of a triangular harp.
21:08And finally, another wooden aulos.
21:13But how is it possible to know the sounds these instruments produce
21:17from these scant remains?
21:25In Vienna, Stefan Hagel has been working on auli for several years
21:31in his search to discover ancient sounds.
21:34He has designed and developed a computer program
21:37to reconstruct the original shape of the aulos
21:41and determine its sonic characteristics.
21:44We have the instruments, but we are missing the mouthpiece.
21:48The read, we don't know how long it should be.
21:51How to get an estimate of the read length,
21:54because everything else will depend on the length of the read.
21:58So with this computer program I have written,
22:00we have a very schematic representation of the two instruments
22:04and then behind it an algorithm,
22:06which calculates how the vibration inside the instruments
22:12would generate a particular pitch.
22:14Everything works together.
22:15The open finger holes, the closed finger holes,
22:18the reed, the length of the reed, the width of the tube.
22:29The computer has found a particular solution.
22:33What is surprising is that these mouthpieces are very, very long.
22:37They are much longer than what we are accustomed to find in later instruments.
22:43Look at this vase painting from the classical period itself.
22:47And what is shown here, and it has always been misunderstood.
22:50It is a well-known painting.
22:52But people have thought that we have the pipe,
22:55then we have the typical bulb of the aulos,
22:57and then we have kind of another bulb,
23:00and then the mouthpiece, the mouthpiece insert.
23:03No.
23:04What this actually is,
23:06if I overlay this with the reconstruction of the paestum aulos,
23:11then we have exactly that tube,
23:14then this length of bulb plus the part where the reed goes into,
23:20and then the rest is exactly the reed,
23:23and that's an ancient reed.
23:25The research provides a technical understanding of the aulos and its sounds.
23:36Miraculous, considering the limited remains found in Greece.
24:21I use archaeally's
24:48During the Renaissance,
24:50knowledge of ancient music
24:51came from classical iconography
24:54and Greek and Latin texts,
24:56so music was considered
24:58exclusively part of that heritage.
25:08But in the late 18th century,
25:11scholars were amazed
25:13to discover countless depictions
25:15of musicians and instruments
25:17adorning the walls of temples and tombs.
25:21In Egypt.
25:25Evidence of the incredible musical richness
25:28of the land of the pharaohs
25:30opening up a new world
25:32for archaeo-musicologists.
25:36We know today
25:37that the ancient Egyptians
25:39had a very different conception
25:41of musical art
25:42from the Greeks.
25:47The name of the music
25:49in the ancient Egypt
25:50doesn't exist.
25:52They used a other term,
25:54which is the term reru,
25:56which means the voice,
25:58the sound, the noise,
26:00and will design
26:03all types of sounds.
26:05They will consider
26:06that there are sounds
26:07pleasant and pleasant
26:08and pleasant.
26:10We don't enter
26:10in a relationship
26:12of a music
26:13opposed to a cacophonie,
26:15but in the contrary,
26:17a sound
26:17that is associated
26:19to the life,
26:20to the sound,
26:21and to the silence,
26:23which is something
26:24associated with the death.
26:30To combat silence,
26:33Egyptians placed musical instruments
26:35in their tombs,
26:37and the dry climate
26:39of the Nile Valley,
26:41unlike the temperate climate
26:42of Greece,
26:43preserved them.
26:52This Egyptian harp
26:54is the subject
26:55of the latest research
26:57by the archaeo-musicologists.
27:01This harp,
27:02it always fascinates
27:03today because we
27:04have the impression
27:04that we can play it.
27:06Since it came to the Louvre,
27:07in the beginning of the 19th century,
27:09it was restored
27:10to many times,
27:13so that I asked myself
27:16whether all the parts
27:18were ancient.
27:19In particular,
27:21I had a doubt
27:22about the manches
27:24of this harp,
27:26since the wood
27:27seems very modern.
27:32To answer this question,
27:34a carbon-14
27:35dating analysis
27:36was commissioned.
27:43In fact,
27:44all the living organisms
27:46exchange with the
27:47milieu in which they live
27:48and have a certain
27:49teneur in what we call
27:50carbon-14,
27:51which is an isotope
27:52of carbon radioactive.
27:54When an organism
27:56dies, since it
27:56does not exchange
27:57with the milieu
27:58in which it is,
27:59the amount of
28:00carbon-14
28:00that he has
28:01will slowly grow
28:02throughout the time.
28:03If we can evaluate
28:05the quantity
28:05of carbon-14
28:06that there is
28:06in an organism
28:07mort, we can
28:08deduce the time
28:09from the death
28:10of this organism.
28:11In the case of these instruments,
28:13we will, for example,
28:14data the bois.
28:15And what we will
28:15data is the death
28:16of the bois
28:17that was used
28:18for the fabrication
28:19of the harp.
28:20We will data
28:20the pees
28:21that will tell us
28:22how the animals
28:23who have taken
28:24the pees are
28:25morts.
28:25And so, it is
28:26in fact,
28:26by this association
28:28of the elements
28:28constitutive
28:29of the instrument
28:30that we will
28:30be able to restituer
28:32the history
28:32in the time
28:33of the fabrication
28:34of the instrument.
28:35The results
28:36of the carbon-14
28:37dating determined
28:38that while the strings
28:39dated from the 19th century,
28:41the rest of the instrument
28:42dates back to antiquity.
28:44So, this harp,
28:45we know that today
28:46it dates
28:47from the 8th century
28:48before Jesus Christ,
28:50which is incredible.
28:52And an instrument
28:52of music,
28:53it is a machine,
28:54it is a particular object,
28:56it is something
28:57that must produce
28:58a sound,
28:59so there are
28:59mechanical tensions
29:00and, of course,
29:01we cannot play
29:03with the old instruments,
29:05they are too fragile.
29:08To understand
29:09how the Egyptians
29:10made this instrument
29:11nearly 3,000 years ago
29:13requires the resources
29:15of experimental archaeology.
29:18Berlin luthier
29:19Susanna Schultz
29:20is attempting
29:21to make a copy
29:22of the Louvre harp.
29:25This reproduction
29:26should make it possible
29:27to understand
29:28how the harp was made
29:29and reveal the secrets
29:31of its ancient craftsmanship.
29:33I can try to make it
29:35and I have to think
29:36about how to hollow the body.
29:39It is a very deep body.
29:42So, maybe it is...
29:44Maybe you need
29:44x-ray to have an idea of the body.
29:46Yeah, that would be nice.
29:47We can analyse everything
29:48what is inside
29:49and can maybe find
29:52also some hidden traces
29:53of some nails
29:55or some ancient repair jobs.
30:15analysis carried out at the Louvre
30:18revealed the harp was made
30:20using four different varieties of wood
30:22from disparate regions
30:24chosen for their resistance
30:26or their light weight.
30:31Sycamore fig for the body.
30:34Jujube for the tuning pegs.
30:37Maritime pine for the neck.
30:40And Lebanon cedar for the tailpiece.
30:48Using species of wood
30:50with similar properties,
30:52the harp begins to come back to life.
31:02A harp that performed for the pharaohs.
31:09The documentation on the music
31:11in Egypt ancienne
31:11shows that it is an art
31:13which was made for the gods
31:15and for the roi.
31:16There is no place of spectacle.
31:18The musicians are not produced
31:19on a scene.
31:21We could almost say
31:22that they are workers.
31:24The objective is
31:24that the rite is accomplished
31:26as it is necessary.
31:27That in such a ceremony,
31:28we need musicians.
31:29We need a lot of musicians.
31:32We need a lot of musicians
31:33to show the force
31:34and the power of the roi.
31:51Thanks to the x-rays taken of the harp,
31:55the ingenuity of the Egyptian luteers
31:58who fixed a tailpiece
32:00under the skin around the sound box
32:02can be seen,
32:03showing how the strings were attached.
32:25Wow, that's it.
32:31The chinese idiots are Fridays
32:35and tricks.
32:36That's it.
32:36The archaeo-musicologists still don't know what kind of music was played on the instrument.
33:06So, okay. Amazing. These look very similar.
33:19Gabonese harpist Yannick Essono Ndong uses instruments that are related to the Egyptian harp.
33:37He can help answer questions about the use of this ancient object, like how the strings are secured and tuned.
33:49Yannick begins by turning the harp over.
34:08So, I think that she was very tired, it was very tired.
34:15And it's because we did it well, it allowed to stay for hours and hours, without being accorded.
34:23This one, he has the manch of the harp, but also the support of the harp when we play the
34:32harp.
34:33D'accord.
34:34So, it means that when the harp is lifted, it allows it to maintain well the body.
34:42D'accord.
34:43And so, this hand, the left hand, she serves to do the accompaniment.
34:49Yes. So, it means that with the left hand, you only play the first chords?
34:53Yes.
34:54D'accord.
34:54And the right hand, she serves to do the melody.
34:56When it's new, when it's new, when it's new, it takes several days to keep an accord.
35:05And so, I've tried to adjust it to a little bit with notes that are similar to the harp that
35:12I play,
35:12which is the harp to eight chords in the Gabon.
35:15We will get the two and the hold.
35:37But we will add rejoins, the harp to eight years to publish.
35:38And so, it may be clusters ofوت, in the past.
35:41And so, it means we will Mul V الخose.
36:44Dance, joy and pleasure.
36:49Music played a central role here.
37:25A significant instrument in the cult of the goddess, the sistrum is a sort of rattle that is shaken.
37:33It starts the ritual by attracting the attention of Hathor to please her and appease her wrath.
37:42The appeasement of the goddess allows the Nile to rise, bringing life back to the desert land of Egypt.
37:52I see this woman who plays the tambourin, I see a man who plays the luth, another harpist, again a
37:57play of the sistres.
37:58My gaze continues, I see another column and I see another harpist.
38:03They have really tried to inscribe in the pierre the fêtes, that the fêtes continue, that the musicians are there,
38:09they are still there for accueillir Hathor.
38:11The Egyptian is a performative, it is not just the decor.
38:46I see a man who could enter in contact with her.
38:48And there I see that there are openings that let the sun come and that the sound that I pronounce
38:56could be heard from the outside.
39:19Can an archaeo-acoustic study of an Egyptian temple help answer this question?
39:28Acoustician Olivier Varusfel has installed microphones inside and outside the temple of Hathor to assess the sound intensity.
39:39This is the original noise.
39:46Then I put you in the Pronaos.
39:51Okay.
39:52Here we go.
39:53On avance, c'est à peu près ici.
39:58D'accord.
39:59Et puis après, il y a aussi entendu de l'extérieur, ça va se déplacer en M16.
40:09Ici.
40:10Donc voilà , là , du coup on n'a plus de son direct, on a le fond à travers le plafond.
40:17and then, thanks to the opening,
40:19you can hear a little echo from the outside.
40:24That confirms, then.
40:26Yes.
40:27I started to interest other monuments
40:30from the same time,
40:31which are much smaller in size,
40:32but with the same characteristics.
40:34We find musicians on the columns
40:37and we find semi-ouvertures
40:40that they can enter the light of the day
40:41and, of course, they let out the sound
40:44which is produced inside.
40:45So, there was a real research at the time.
40:48It's not a coincidence.
40:49There was a real research.
40:50I can't say that they knew the acoustics,
40:52but in all cases,
40:53about the apprehension,
40:55the way to approach the divin,
40:58they knew this population
41:00who wanted to participate
41:02in allowing them to listen to what happened.
41:16The Roman Empire, influenced by the great civilisations
41:21that preceded it,
41:22absorbed the sound traditions
41:24of the ancient Mediterranean world.
41:29Evidence of these influences,
41:31in particular those of ancient Egypt,
41:34can be found in Pompeii.
41:37He told us that the design
41:38was paid by an affranchi.
41:40In fact, you're telling me
41:41that there is a temple of Isis
41:43in Pompeii.
41:45To look like that,
41:46I don't think it looks like
41:47an Egyptian temple.
41:48How do we know
41:48that it's an Egyptian temple?
41:49It must be aware
41:50that at the origin,
41:51all the interior walls
41:53were covered with fresques
41:55showing the procession
41:57of the Egyptian priests.
42:04These murals,
42:05now in the Museum of Naples,
42:07show the importance
42:09of Egyptian music
42:10in the Roman world.
42:12Instruments found in Pompeii
42:14also attest to this.
42:17We found many sisters
42:18who used to procession.
42:21This sound object...
42:23There was a circulation
42:25of instruments
42:26in the Roman Empire.
42:27and a brassage.
42:30In Pompeii,
42:31other remains
42:32reveal the considerable
42:33musical influence
42:34of the Greek world.
42:36There are two theatres,
42:37including an Odeon,
42:39where musicians
42:40and singers performed.
42:42These are some
42:43Greek spectacles.
42:45It's of music,
42:46essentially,
42:47and of poetry.
42:49There are not
42:49more than 900 people,
42:50certainly,
42:52in this small theatre.
42:53And, above all,
42:54a better acoustic
42:54because there was a
42:56roof,
42:57a roof
42:58that allowed
42:59the sound.
43:01This is a type of monument
43:03that shows
43:05the Greek influence
43:06in Pompeii.
43:09In the luxurious house
43:11of Menanda,
43:12the frescoes are inspired
43:14by Greek mythology
43:15and, in particular,
43:18the Iliad.
43:19In the depiction of the
43:20Trojan horse,
43:21an Aulos player is present.
43:24In other parts of the city,
43:27perfectly preserved Auli
43:28have been found.
43:30But the Roman instrument
43:32is known
43:33as a Tobiah
43:34and its performer
43:36a Tobison.
43:38The Tobiah is more
43:40than a Greek Aulos.
43:41The instrument
43:42has been improved
43:43by the Romans.
43:44The shoulders
43:45in the middle of
43:58jazz,
44:00the
44:00metal
44:03and a decent
44:09million."
44:09Also,
44:10a cubic
44:16It's something that you can't build with modern machines.
44:28In Pompeii, volcanic ash has helped preserve paintings, wall engravings and artefacts.
44:36They describe a world steeped in music.
44:41However, as in Egypt, no Roman musical scores have come down to us.
44:54If we take the theatre pieces written by Terence, a Latin author,
45:00we have preserved the didascally,
45:03in a sense, the library as an opera library.
45:06And we have the name of Tibisen who played during the piece.
45:12So we know there was a Tibisen who intervened during the piece at several moments,
45:17but all the music is lost.
45:19It's mainly explained by the oral transmission of the music culture.
45:23The musicologists thought that it was a lack of consideration of the music,
45:29not to note the music.
45:32And in fact, it's a very classic vision of the music,
45:34to believe that the music exists through the partition.
45:38So the intention was to believe that the Romans were only doing Greek music.
45:43And it's true that the quintessence of the music in the eyes of the Romans,
45:47as the quintessence of the culture,
45:49remains always hellenic.
45:51But for all, there is a whole repertoire local.
45:54There are uses that are typically Romains.
45:57For example, the combination of the timbers and instruments,
46:00that's something that we don't find in the Greek.
46:03The idea is to put an organ on the scene with tibias, a tambourine.
46:09So we see that the Romans have only taken some elements to the Greeks,
46:15and for the rest, they have developed their own musical culture.
46:23An exceptional discovery made in Pompeii in the late 19th century
46:27confirms their originality.
46:30The unearthing of several Cornuas,
46:33a Roman trumpet,
46:35played by an instrumentalist,
46:38specific to the Roman world,
46:39called the Cornison.
46:41It's a trumpet that, at first, is used in the military world
46:45to give the signs to the Legion.
46:49We know that it's a trumpet that resonates during funerals,
46:52during funerals.
46:54We say the sound of the bronze can remove the bad minds.
46:58It's a trumpet that announces the reunions of local assemblies.
47:04A martial and ceremonial instrument,
47:08the Cornum was also an important sound element
47:10of the Roman circus,
47:12during the great popular games.
47:15This is the famous podium of the amphitheater,
47:18which was covered by an enduit.
47:20And, luckily, we have an aquarellet
47:24of all the scenes that were decorated with the podium.
47:27It's on one of these frames,
47:30which was represented by a trumpet player,
47:34and curiously equipped in gladiators.
47:36In any case, we have all the reasons to believe
47:38that the Corniken played at the beginning,
47:41during the pomp,
47:42the procession,
47:43which allowed to arrive and to defile in the arena,
47:46without doubt to announce the beginning of the game,
47:49maybe for the performance of the game,
47:51but not to forget that the performance of the games are rare,
47:53and without doubt to announce the end of the game.
47:56The amphitheater, on the visual level,
47:59is a monument that is very well-built,
48:01with this form of an ellipse,
48:03but on the acoustic level,
48:05it is not an edifice that is adapted to sound,
48:09so the need to use martial,
48:14sound, powerful instruments,
48:16and the trumpet, the Cornu, should sound.
48:22How did these four-metre-long trumpets
48:25sound in amphitheaters or on battlefields?
48:28In the 19th century,
48:31researchers attempted to recreate the sound of the instrument.
48:38The Musical Instrument Museum in Brussels
48:42houses the oldest copy of a Cornum.
48:45Created by Victor Charles Maillon,
48:48a Belgian collector and instrument maker,
48:50it was inspired by the Cornua found in Pompeii.
48:55Victor Charles Maillon,
48:56he built the repliques,
48:58the facsimilies, as he called it,
48:59which are in fact,
49:00some copies slightly reinterpreted,
49:03but it is based on the archaeological vestiges
49:08and that is quite specific to his approach.
49:11So, unlike others,
49:13based on the iconography,
49:15he will be placed,
49:17he will have access to the first hand
49:19with the objects archaic.
49:21There is a certain part of a reinterpretation
49:24regarding the copy,
49:26because the archaeological objects
49:29are incomplete
49:30or in a very bad state.
49:33the
49:34or
49:37the
49:41the
49:43the
49:43the
49:50Oh
49:51Oh
49:52Oh
49:55Oh
49:56Oh
50:133.
50:225.
50:235.
50:376.
50:426.
50:427.
50:437.
50:438.
50:43Modern technology makes it possible to determine the sonic characteristics of the Pompeii cornum more accurately.
50:52By creating a virtual model of the instrument from the precise record of its shape and metallurgical characteristics,
51:00the virtual object can then undergo acoustic tests.
51:05The objective is to determine the acoustic signature of the cornum and its harmonic potential.
51:13Here we are.
51:14The acoustic signature tells us about the notes that can be played, if they are just,
51:22the temperament and the facilitation of the game.
51:27So we send a signal to the instrument and we will do it directly.
51:35So I release the measurement.
51:47And we see here the frequency of the peaks of resonance.
51:54I calculated it up to 1500 or 2000 Hz, I don't remember very well.
51:59And we see it on the curve, so there is quite a lot of resonance,
52:05well determined.
52:07So it represents the notes that it is possible to play on the cornum.
52:14All the acoustic results are processed by computer to achieve the most faithful reproduction of the sound,
52:21bringing the Pompeii cornum back to life.
52:24So it is a little bit cluck.
52:28It is shining.
52:29And there is a little bit of a…
52:51From the dust of excavation sites to the most advanced research laboratories,
52:57music archaeology allows us to better understand the place of music and musicians in ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
53:10And while ancient Egyptian and Roman music may be lost to us,
53:15the miracle of the surviving Greek musical scores gives us an idea of what moved our ancestors.
53:25This small fragment of papyrus lying forgotten in a biscuit tin in a Louvre store room is the most recent
53:33of these miracles.
53:34On a le titre, le genre, on a l'auteur et on a une version incroyable de Médée.
53:42Ce carquinos-là , il avait les sons dans les oreilles, dans la tête et dans sa création poétique.
53:49Tecna, tecna, mes enfants, mes enfants, on a des partitions.
53:54On sait les lire, enfin, les transcrire.
53:59Bon, après, c'est du boulot d'aller les faire chanter et tout.
54:05Even though most of the work has disappeared, Annie Bellis is able to bring Carquinos' Médéa back to life for
54:13a brief moment with the help of bass baritone singer Frédéric Albu.
54:20Les femmes ne chantaient pas dans le théâtre grec.
54:23Les auteurs de notes sont notées de manière absolue.
54:26Si on est capable de les lire, on ne peut pas avoir d'hésitation.
54:29Et Médée est une basse.
54:30C'est très impressionnant parce qu'elle est une basse, parce que c'est une femme qu'on craint.
54:34C'est une magicienne, elle appartient au monde des ténèbres, elle est sombre.
54:37Donc je me retrouve avec ce personnage-là et c'est extraordinaire parce que les grecs projettent littéralement toutes leurs
54:45peurs potentielles à propos des femmes sur cette femme qui devient un peu un symbole.
54:49Et c'est ça que je dois défendre.
54:50Ce qui est probablement le plus difficile pour le public d'aujourd'hui, mais en même temps un facteur fascinant,
54:55c'est que ça ne ressemble à rien de ce qu'on connaît.
55:25Sous-titrage ST' 501
55:28...
55:29...
55:44...
55:45...
56:15...
56:23Unearthing timeless treasures and unravelling a story of the past, Professor Alice Roberts is looking beneath her feet, digging for
56:32Britain.
56:33Watch now on BBC iPlayer.
56:35...
56:38...
56:39...
56:41...
56:41...
56:42...
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