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The Spondeion Scale

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. P. Winnington-Ingram
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Extract

Our information about the early stages of Greek music is so slight that these references of Aristides Quintilianus (p. 28, Meibom) to an the Pseudo-Plutarch to a scale employed by the legendary figure Olympus take on an immense value for us. The dialogue itself is an unskilful patchwork, but the author's sources are often good. These particular passages are almost certainly both derived with small alteration from Aristoxenus, in whose time the traditional music ascribed to Olympus was still in use. For the elucidation of the scale's history and structure we have three1 pieces of evidence to help us. There is the first passage mentioned above, which deals with the discovery of the enharmonic genus by Olympus, which is connected, at first sight obscurely, with the Spondeion scale; and the second passage, which discusses the scalar limitations of theσφoνδειξων τρόφoς with especial reference to an elementary polyphony. There are also the ancient scales quoted by Aristides Quintilianus (ed. Meibom, p. 21).

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , April 1928 , pp. 83 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1928

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References

page 83 note 1 Or four, if we include the reference of for it was the passage of Aristoxenus, that Plutarch himself makes use of. Aristides prob-interval σφονδειασμòς, consisting of a rise of three- quarters of a tone. This must certainly have some connexion with the Spondeion scale. It is, however, possible that Aristides’ only authority for it was the passage of Aristoxenus, that Plutarch himself makes use of. Aristides probably was in possession of books of Aristoxenus which are lost to us, and very possibly culled from one of them his list of ancient scales (cf. J. F. Mountford in C.Q., Vol. XVII.).

page 84 note 1 Probably it was the name given to the wise known as τ δὡρια. We know that Phrygian and Lydian varieties also existed. See p. 90 n.

page 85 note 1 The symbol *after a note here indicates that it is raised by a quarter of a tone.

page 85 note 2 Greif also (Réν. des Et. G., 1910) makes the same assumptions to produce the scale (D) EF AB[? C$D. But he assumes, further, that Aristoxenus was completely misinformed about the scale, and imported the disjunctive tone into his account.

page 87 note 1 Strictly the term ‘Spondeion’ should be reserved for the scale without quarter-tones. This is its development, the σπονδειςών τρπος.

page 87 note 2 Section 270.

page 88 note 1 Problèmes Musicaux d'A ristote, Gevaert et Vollgraf.

page 91 note 1 The problem is in point of fact soluble only if we suppose that the disjunctive tone (B-A) was a minor tone ( and that the consonance of a fifth between τρτν and φαρνφτμ was obtained by dividing the two φυκν slightly differently. As this was produced from a sigle hole of the pipe, this may not have presented much difficulty.