2. Sources—The Ancient World and the Early Church

Overview

This lecture introduces the ancient world as a 4,000-year period of extraordinary cultural richness and variety. From this long ancient era, only 40 or so fragments of music have survived. In this lecture, we discuss the cyclical, rather than linear, nature of art and music. The lecture focuses on the role of music in the ancient Greek and Roman world. We will hear a stasimon chorus by Euripides, and we will compare a 1st-century-C.E. drinking song by Seikilos with one written 1,700 years later by Giuseppe Verdi. The lecture concludes with a brief examination of the role of music in the early Christian Church.

Cast