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may be rhythmical, melodic, or verbal, or all of these; but he does not mean only verbal intricacy, since in three of the passages the adjective qualifies the sound of his lyre. This lyre, however, does not produce a wider array of notes than normal: it has but seven 'percussions', seven 'tongues'.79 |
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It was always assumed in Antiquity, and has mostly been accepted by modern scholars, that these songs were sung by the local choir. Recently a lively controversy has been aroused by an alternative view according to which they were sung solo by Pindar or a deputy, while the chorus that is several times mentioned performed other, less ambitious songs and dances.80 The new hypothesis deserves serious consideration, but it seems to me to require a forced interpretation of some passages.81 |
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As regards instrumentation, there are many references in the Epinicians to the phorminx or lyra as being in action.82 But in several odes there are auloi as well,83 and it must be accepted that sometimes, at least, these songs were accompanied by both instruments. Perhaps the aulete supplied some notes additional to those of the kithara-strings, for while the kithara has 'seven tongues', those of the aulos are not numbered, and it is repeatedly described as pamphonos, 'having every voice'.84 Does this mean 'all the notes of the vocal melody'? We recall that Lasus had introduced to vocal music 'a larger number of scattered notes in accordance with the abundance of sounds that auloi have'. It was suggested that he developed the old pentatonic vocal scale into the (enharmonic) heptatonic. Possibly Pindar's choruses sang in this more elaborate style, with the aulete able to match their every note, but with the citharist missing out on the divided semitones. |
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Pindar several times refers to particular modes. In a paean he |
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79Pyth. 2. 70, Nem. 5. 24. |
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80 Tentatively suggested for some odes by J. Herington, Poetry into Drama (Berkeley and LA, 1985), 31; argued on a broad front by M. Lefkowitz, AJPhil. 109 (1988), 1-11; M. Heath, ibid. 180-95; M. Davies, CQ 38 (1988), 52-64; Heath and Lefkowitz, CPhil. 86 (1991), 173-91; contra, A. P. Burnett, CPhil. 84 (1989) 283-93; C. Carey, AJPhil. 110 (1989) 545-65 and CPhil. 86 (1991), 192-200; J. M. Bremer in S. R. Slings (ed.), The Poet's I in Archaic Greek Lyric (Amsterdam, 1990), 50-8. |
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81 For example, Pyth. 10. 4-6 + 51-9; Nem. 3. 1-12. |
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82 Both words will denote a box lyre, see p. 51. Pindar and Bacchylides also know the barbitos, but only in more informal sympotic settings; see p. 58. |
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83Ol. 3. 8. 7. 12, 10. 84, 93f., Nem. 3. 12 + 79, 9. 8. Auloi alone are mentioned in ps.-Pind. Ol. 5. 19, Bacchyl. 2. 12, and perhaps 9. 68, 10. 54. They also appear as the instrument accompanying the girls' chorus at the Theban Daphnephoria, Pind. fr. 94b. 14. |
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84Ol. 7. 12, Pyth. 12. 19, Isth. 5. 27. |
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