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here refer to Aristoxenus' system of keys (see p. 230), 'Mixolydian' being what was later called Hyperdorian. Assuming that the modulations proceeded on the usual principle of switching between conjunct and disjunct tetrachords at the nodal points, the harmonic plan of the Mysians may be schematized as in Fig. 12.1. |
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Fig. 12.1.
Harmonic plan of Philoxenus' Mysians. |
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Philoxenus' most celebrated work was his Cyclops, composed in singular circumstances. As a guest at the Syracusan court of Dionysius I, the ruler of much of Sicily, Philoxenus made the mistake of dallying too openly with his patron's mistress, an aulos-girl who bore the name of the sea-nymph Galatea, and he was consigned to the stone-quarries. He kept his spirits and composed an amusing work on the incarceration of the intelligent Odysseus (corresponding to himself) in the cave of the dull-witted, one-eyed ogre Polyphemus (Dionysius' eyesight was poor). Polyphemus appeared wearing a pouch full of vegetables and, accompanying himself on the lyre (Dionysius was a third-rate poet), sang in high-flown language to his sheep and goats and to his love, the distant Galatea; he called on the dolphins in the sea to tell her that he was consoling himself with music. There was also a lyrical dialogue between him and Odysseus, who perhaps persuaded him to allow him to set sail in his ship to bring Galatea back.36 The main instrumental accompaniment to this entertainment was provided by an aulete, and it seems to have been categorized as a dithyramb. But with its two solo singers (one of whom sings to the lyre) and its entries and exits it clearly bursts the |
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(Footnote continued from previous page) |
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this particular work attracted the attention of harmonic analysts it is hard to say. Perhaps its modulations were more striking than usual. |
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36PMG 815-24; cf. S. Medaglia, Bollettino dei classict (3rd ser.) 2 (1981). 200. |
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