richard09
Posts : 4264
Join date : 2013-01-16
 | | Subject: Listen to a Song That Hasn't Been Heard For a Thousand Years Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:19 pm | |
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NoCoPilot
Posts : 20363
Join date : 2013-01-16
Age : 70
Location : Seattle
| | Subject: Re: Listen to a Song That Hasn't Been Heard For a Thousand Years Sat Apr 23, 2016 4:51 pm | |
| They're guessing -- because up until about 250 years ago nobody wrote down melodies. Even Gregorian Chant -- which is pretty well documented from the Twelfth Century on due to The Crusades -- manuscripts for Chant only indicated where the melody should rise or fall -- not by how much, and no absolute pitches. The liner notes to this release by Atrium Musicae de Madrid are fascinating; they talk about reconstructing 3000-year old melodies from such non-musical sources as pottery, wall paintings and contemporary literature. They guessed too. |
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