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Mesomedes

Greek citharode and lyric poet (2nd century AD )

Mesomedes

Greek citharode and lyric poet (2nd century AD )

Mesomedes of Crete () was a Greek citharode and lyric poet and composer of the early 2nd century AD in Roman Greece. Prior to the discovery of the Seikilos epitaph in the late 19th century, the hymns of Mesomedes were the only surviving written music from the ancient world. Three were published by Vincenzo Galilei in his Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna (Florence, 1581), during a period of intense investigation into music of the ancient Greeks. These hymns had been preserved through the Byzantine tradition (Anthol. pal. xiv. 63, xvi. 323), and were presented to Vincenzo by Girolamo Mei.

Life and career

He was a freedman of the Emperor Hadrian, on whose favorite Antinous he is said to have written a panegyric, specifically called a Citharoedic Hymn (Suda). Two epigrams by him in the Greek Anthology (Anthol. pal. xiv. 63, xvi. 323) are extant, and a hymn to Nemesis. The hymn is one of four which preserve the ancient musical notation written over the text. Two hymns formerly assigned to Dionysius of Alexandria, one to the muse Calliope and one entitled Hymn to the Sun, have also been attributed to Mesomedes. In an article published in 2003, Annie Bélis proves that the Berlin musical papyrus (inv. 6870) contains a Paean to Apollo written by Mesomedes.{{cite journal

Mesomedes continued in the Musaeum in Alexandria even after Hadrian's death (138); there the Historia Augusta reports that during Antoninus Pius' reign (138–161) his state salary was reduced. The emperor Caracalla (212–217) honored Mesomedes with a cenotaph approximately 50 to 60 years after his death.

See J. F. Bellermann, Die Hymnen des Dionysius und Mesomedes (1840); C. de Jan, Musici scriptores graeci (1899); S. Reinach in Revue des études grecques, ix (1896); Suda s.v.

Hymns

Prayer to the Muse

The dialect of this hymn is different from the others (Ionian rather than Doric), and the style is also slightly different; for this reason J.G. Landels believes that it is probably not by Mesomedes.

Prayer to Calliope and Apollo

Mesomedes' Prayer to Calliope transcribed into modern musical notation; adapted from Landels, John G. 1999. ''Music in Ancient Greece and Rome'', p. 255.

Hymn to the Sun

The metre of the hymn is known as the apokroton, a metre of anapaestic character popular in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The first two lines are paroemiac, which is the same metre, but where the antepenultimate syllable is lengthened in the music to take up the space of – u:

: uu – u u – u u – u – (apokroton) : uu – u u – u u –u – (paroemiac)

The music for Mesomedes' Hymn to the Sun, according to Pöhlmann & West (2001), but divided into 2/4 time following Landels (1999).

Hymn to Nemesis

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References

Citations

Sources

  • Egert Pöhlmann: "Mesomedes", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 30 November 2005); (subscription access)

References

  1. The notes to an ode of [[Pindar]] presented in a book by [[Athanasius Kircher]] ([[:File:Musurgia.jpg. book cover]], [[:File:Pindar-ode.jpg. notes to the ode]]) are now considered to be unauthentic.
  2. Landels, John G. 1999. ''Music in Ancient Greece and Rome''. London and New York: Routledge; p. 254.
  3. Cosgrove, Charles H. (2011). ''An Ancient Christian Hymn with Musical Notation.'' Mohr Siebeck. pp. 69, 70.
  4. Text from Pöhlmann & West (2001), pp. 97–99.
  5. Landels, John G. (1999). ''Music in Ancient Greece and Rome'', p. 256, but reading 'thread' (πάναν) for 'fount' (παγάν).
  6. West, M. L. (1987). [https://archive.org/details/west-1987-introduction-to-greek-metre/mode/2up?view=theater ''Introduction to Greek Metre''] (Oxford); p. 75.
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