Ancient Roman Music as Matrix for Christian Worship Music

Idiophones Sistrum /Sistra Cymbala / Cymbalae Crotala / Crotalae

Sistrum Pompeii, Temple of Isis Sistrum The sistrum, a kind of metal rattle with movable metal parts that ran through holes, was used by the cult of Isis.

Cymbalae Pompeii Cymbals Cymbals were commonly used at religious festivals and dance performances, where they set the rhythm of the dance.

Pompeii, Wall Painting 2 Musicians Music accompanied festivals; in this painting, which seems to be a homage to Bacchus, a double-flute player and a cymbal player perform on a gallery covered with vines.

Pompeii, Villa of the Mysteries Wall Painting A female initiate is whipped by a male demon while two bacchantes dance to the rhythm of cymbals.

Capua, Sketch of a tomb found close to the amphitheater Left figure plays the double tibia; right figure play the krotala

Membranophones Tympanum

Mosaic, Dioscourides of Samos, 1C CE, Theater Musicians, presently held in Naples, National Museum, 9985 From left to right: A young boy playing a bucina ? A masked woman playing the double-tibia A dancing man playing the cymbals A dancing man playing a tympanum

Aerophones Tibia Tuba Lituus Cornu Bucina Hydraulis In Roman times the brass salpinx of Greek heritage became the Roman tuba, a metal military tumpet. The lituus was the instrument used by the cavalry, with a high-pitched sound, a straight and slender tube, and a bell that bent upwards. The cornu had tubing three meters long, bent in the shape of a circle, with a wooden crosspiece at the diameter which allowed it to rest on the player’s shoulderns; the bell was conic, pointing forward. The bucina was shaped like a bull’s horn. These instruments were sometimes used in concerts with large choral groups.

Tibia[e] Tarquinia, Leopard Tomb, 5C BCE Double Oboe

Pompeii, House of the Tragic Poet, Tablinum Mosaic Emblema Actors prepare to perform a satyr drama -- shown by the goatskin costumes worn by the two actors on the far left. A coreuta tries out a double flute in the middle. The choirmaster, wearing a himation, sits on a stool on the right. In the background, a servant helps an actor to dress.

Rome, Museum of Roman Civilization, Ara of Domitius Henobarbus, presently held in the Louvre, Paris Relief of a censorial lustrum: R = sacrificing censor, assisted by three attendants; L = the God Mars, a tibia (flute) player and a lyre-player

Angera, Ara Relief of Sacrifice in Honor of Jove Optimo Maximo The sacrificing priest is assisted by a young girl who plays the double tibia, two other servants, and a victimarius with the sacrificial animal.

Syrinx

Tuba[e] Rome, Trajan’s Column, Sketch of one cornicen (horn player) and two tubicines (trumpet players)

Lituus Funerary Cippus of M. Iulius Victor Representation of littus and cornu

Cornu Rome, Museum of Roman Civilization, Reconstructed Horn (Cornu) based on the reliefs of Trajan’s Column

Rome, Trajan’s Column, Relief of 3 cornicenes and 1 tubicen (far right)

Hydraulis Pompeii, Odeon, Hydraulis The hydraulis or Tyrrenos aulos consisted of an upside-down syrinx into whose pipes air was fed from below by means of a mechanism that utilized water pressure. Its invention is attributed to Ctesibius, a barber from Alexandria in the 3C BCE. In addition to the descriptions in the Pneumatika of Heron (1.42) and in the De architectura of Vitruvius (10.8), we have numerous pictorial and plastic representations, a few fragments of pipes found at Pompeii, and the remains of a small instrument dating from 228 CE preserved in the museum at Aquincum near Budapest. The hydraulis enjoyed some popularity during the late Hellenistic and Roman age, in part because the piercing sonority of the larger and more sophisticated instrument was eminently suitable to the spacious places where performances were held in that period (amphitheaters, circuses, areans), and in part because their tuning permitted the execution of music in different tonalities. This feature made the hydraulis particularly suited to producing music of the imitative and virtuosic sort, free from harmonic restrictions and from any obligation of tonal coherence.

Chordophones

Chordophones Lyra Arpa

Stabia, Wall Painting A seated girl strums a small harp with her right hand and holds a five-stringed lyre with her left. Some musicologists view this as a representation of tuning chordophones before a concert.

Pompeii, House of the Centenary, East Wall of the Procurator’s Triclinium, Center Wall Painting Hermaphroditus raises a torch in his right hand and pours wine from a tankard with his left hand. He is accompanied by Silenus playing a lyre and a bacchante with a tambourine.

Pompeii, Villa of the Mysteries Silenus playing a lyre