What did ancient music sound like? In this episode, you will hear three songs that are over 2000 years old! Incidentally, our best evidence for ancient music comes from Greece and from Greek drama in particular. Ancient Greek tragedies and comedies were *musical* productions, and we can use them to reconstruct what music sounded like in the 400's BC.
Interestingly, the ancient Greek theater was also the birthplace of the superstar vocalist. The first venue in history where over ten thousand spectators could all listen to the same musical performer at the same time was the Theater of Dionysus in Athens.
Building on the work of his predecessors Aeschylus and Sophocles, it was Euripides (c. 480–406 BC) who realized the power of "monody" or solo singing and made it into a new and revolutionary musical form.
Few people in the world today know more about ancient music than our guest in this episode. Claire Catenaccio is an assistant professor of classics at Georgetown University who specializes in the study of ancient drama and its modern reception. Her recent book "Monody in Euripides" explores monody – namely solo actor's song – in the tragedies of Euripides. Her scholarship is informed by her experience as a director and historical consultant in many modern productions of ancient Greek theater plays.
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