Delphic Hymns. The Delphic Hymns are two musical compositions from Ancient Greece, which survive in substantial fragments.
They were long regarded as being dated circa 138 BCE and 128 BCE, respectively, but recent scholarship has shown it likely they were both written for performance at the Athenian Pythaides in 128 BCE (Pöhlmann and West 2001, 71–72). If indeed it dates from ten years before the second, the First Delphic Hymn is the earliest unambiguous surviving example of notated music from anywhere in the western world whose composer is known by name. History[edit] The first portion of the First Delphic Hymn (text omitted) (Reinach 1926, 177) Some of the pitches in this version are mere guesses (as to the readable pitches, see Pöhlmann and West 2001, 62–85).
Ancient Greek Music - "First Delphic Hymn to Apollo"c.138BC. Second Delphic Hymn to Apollo. Seikilos epitaph. Marble stele, the so-called Seikilos column, with poetry and musical notation Also on the tombstone is an indication that states in Greek "Εἰκὼν ἡ λίθος εἰμί.Τίθησί με Σείκιλος ἔνθα μνήμης ἀθανάτου σῆμα πολυχρόνιον", "I am a tombstone, an image.
Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance".[2] While older music with notation exists (for example the Hurrian songs), all of it is in fragments; the Seikilos epitaph is unique in that it is a complete, though short, composition.[4] Seikilos Epitaph - Song of Seikilos.