ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Zu den berlieferten Manuskripten altgriechischer

Traktate ber Musiktheorie gehrt Bakcheios
Einfhrung in die Kunst der Musik, der sich
meist ein krzerer Traktat anschliet, der ebenfalls
Bakcheios zugeschrieben wird. Er wurde jedoch
von Dionysios verfasst. Die editio princeps dieses
Werkes von Dionysios wurde 1841 von J. F. Beller-
mann besorgt, der allerdings auch Bakcheios als
Verfasser angab. Bei erneuter Herausgabe von
Bakcheios Einfhrung in die Kunst der Musik
lie man Dionysios zustzlichen Traktat aus.
Dionysios konfrontiert gewisse Auffassungen der
pythagoreischen und aristotelischen Theoretiker
ber das altgriechische Tonsystem miteinander. Er
meint, dass der Gehrsinn allein nicht ausreicht,
die Flle der tonalen Abweichungen zu erfassen,
obgleich die Musik ber das Gehr aufgenommen
wird. Der Kanon (Monochord) muss hinzugezogen
werden, wenn man tonale nderungen bestimmen
will.
In this paper will be presented and discussed a the-
oretical treatise on melody (harmonike ) which was
composed by a certain Dionysios,
1
in the 10
th
cen-
tury A.D.,
2
most probably in Konstantinoupolis,
for the sake of Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos,
Emperor of Byzantion. Although the author of
the treatise lived many centuries after the end of
the ancient World (5
th
century A.D.), Dionysios
can be safely regarded as a student of ancient Hel-
lenic music not of the music of his own time
who based his studies on the theoretical works of
ancient Hellene musicographers. Dionysios, un-
doubtedly, would have had access to ancient theo-
retical treatises that are lost to us today.
3
Dionysios is the first
4
of a series of Byzantine
scholars who applied themselves to the study of
the theory of ancient Hellenic music. These are:
Michae l Psellos (11
th
century A.D.), Georgios
Pachymere s (1300 A.D.), Manoue l Bryennios
(1300 A.D.). The concern of all these theoreticians
(harmonikoi) is the determination of the pitches of
music, as used in melody making, that is the den-
ition of the scales upon which are based all mel-
odies. Let us examine the content of Dionysios
treatise and see how he determines the intervals of
organized musical sound.
Dionysios treatise appears in twenty-three
5
manuscripts without a title
6
(see Pl. 1). The earliest
manuscript is of the 12
th
century A.D., and the latest
of the sixteenth century A.D. (see Pl. 2). Almost
always Dionysios treatise is contained in these man-
uscripts along with the treatises of other musicogra-
phers, such as Aristoxenos, Eukleide s, Ptolemaios,
Porphyrios, Gaudentios, Alypios, Nikomachos,
Aristeide s Quintilianus, Anonymi Bellermann, and
Bakcheios.
7
It is worth pointing out that in twenty-
two out of the twenty-three cases,
8
Dionysios
comes immediately after Bakcheios work Introduc-
tion to the art of music (Eisago ge techne s mousike s).
At the end of Dionysios treatise eleven times out of
1
Jan 1903, 993.
2
Phlmann 1994a, 11111112.
3
The main theoreticians of ancient Hellenic music known to
us are: Epigonos, Lasos of Hermione (both of the 6
th
cen-
tury B.C.); Pythagoras, Hippasos of Metapontion, Simos,
Eratokle s, Philolaos, Damo n, Pythagoras of Zakynthos (all
of the 5
th
century B.C.); Archytas, Herakleide s of Pontos,
Stratonikos, Ageno r of Mytiline, Aristoxenos of Taras,
Theophrastos, Eukleide s (all of the 4
th
century B.C.); Era-
tosthene s (of the 3
rd
century B.C.); Philode mos, Didymos,
Ploutarchos, Thrasyllos, Panaitios, Ptolemas of Kyre ne (of
the 1
st
century B.C.); Nikomachos of Gerasa, Kleoneide s,
Dionysios of Halikarnassos, Theo n of Smyrne , Adrastos,
Klaudios Ptolemaios (all of the 2
nd
century A.D.); Porphy-
rios, Sextos Empeirikos, Aristeide s Quintilianus, (all of the
3
rd
century A.D.); Bakcheios the Senior, Alypios, Gauden-
tios (of the 4
th
century A.D.), Anonymi Bellermann (possi-
bly of the 5
th
century A.D.).
4
Phlmann 1994b, 16351636.
5
Mathiesen 1988, 784.
6
This is because Dionysios treatise is written as an adden-
dum to Bakcheios Eisago ge . See Hannick 1978, 184185.
7
Phlmann 1994c, 187189.
8
The exception is Parisinus gr. 3027; see Mathiesen 1988,
249253.
The Ancient Hellenic Tonal System:
the View of Dionysios
Chre stos Terzes
twenty-three, appears an epigram of eight lines, (see
Pl. 3) which seems to imply that the work was writ-
ten by a certain Dionysios for the sake of Emperor
Konstantinos Porphyrogenne tos.
9
That is how we
know who wrote it and at what time. When Beller-
mann published Dionysios treatise back in 1841 for
the first time, he only had five manuscripts at his dis-
posal (see Pl. 2). Since then another eighteen manu-
scripts have been discovered. It is therefore neces-
sary to re-assess Bellermanns published text of
Dionysios treatise in the light of these eighteen new
manuscripts.
As regards the content of Dionysios treatise
the main theses can be summarized as follows:
1. The student of music perceives the musical
sounds through the sense of hearing and then
attempts to determine the magnitudes of the
heard intervals.
10
2. Sense cannot distinguish changes that are
smaller than a certain amount. Vision, for
example cannot determine whether a pile of
coins consists of one thousand or one thousand
and ten pieces.
11
Also, taste cannot measure
changes in the sweetness of wine, to which
honey has been added in different but small
amounts.
12
Hearing cannot observe minute
variations in sound, as in the case of tuning a
sequence of ve lyres, each of which is attuned
to the previous one: if the fifth lyre is com-
pared to the first, large tonal departures will
certainly occur;
13
3. Sense alone, in general, cannot measure changes
in magnitude whether the sense is vision, smell,
touch, or hearing.
14
The only way to measure a sensed change is by
establishing a unit of measurement. Only then can
we have an objective measure. In music this is
done with the aid of the monochord, by the
method of mathematical ratios, that is proportions
of string lengths.
15
This method of intervallic mea-
surement is used by the so-called mathematicians
(kanonikoi) or Pythagoreans.
16
They observed
that the octave can be expressed as the ratio
2
1, that
is the notes defining the interval can be produced
by striking rst the whole string and subsequently
one half of it (with the use of a movable bridge
under the string). The fth can be expressed as the
ratio
3
2 that is the sounding notes of the interval are
produced by striking first the whole string and
then the two thirds of it. This proportion is called
hemiolios
17
(one and a half). These were the only
intervals which are established by experiment. All
the remaining intervals are calculated by using the
established measured ratios of octave and fifth.
The values are then experimentally verified. The
fourth is calculated to be in the ratio
4
3. This pro-
portion is so called epitritos
18
(four thirds). Using
the known mathematical ratios of octave =
2
1 and
fth =
3
2, he shows that the fourth =
2
1/
3
2 =
2x2
3x1 =
4
3.
The octave-and-fth is calculated to be in the ratio
of
3
1. Using the known mathematical ratios of
octave =
2
1 and fth =
3
2, he shows that the octave-
and-fth =
2
1 x
3
3 =
6
2 =
3
1. The double octave is cal-
culated to be in the ratio of
4
1. Using the known
mathematical ratio of octave =
2
1 , he shows that
the double octave =
2
1 x
2
1 =
4
1. The octave-and-
fourth is calculated to be in the ratio of
8
3. Using
the known mathematical ratios of octave =
2
1 and
fourth =
4
3, he shows that the octave-and-fourth
=
2
1 x
4
3 =
8
3. The tone is calculated to be in the ratio
of
9
8. This proportion is called epogdoos
19
(nine
eighths). Using the known mathematical ratios of
fifth =
3
2 and fourth =
4
3, he shows that the tone
=
3
2/
4
3 =
3x3
2x4 =
9
8.
9
Cameron 1984, 256260; Mathiesen 2000, 584585.
10
j j r 0 j i -
o i j 0j j j. r
j r t o 0i. 0 i
o j 0j ro u o u 0-
u i o u u r t 0t. 0 0-
j 0 j 0j 0o o u r
u . r 0 j o r 0-
u i r o u . (Dionysios 1/Bellermann
101).
11
' ' 0 i ri 0 o. i i
o r i i. o r i r 0 0
i j o r. 0 0 -
o. (Dionysios 5/Bellermann 102).
12
i r i i i r 0i i i. r 0
00 r i i rr. i rr
u ri r i. t 0 0 r j
0 i. 0r i. (Dionysios 9/Bellermann
103).
13
i j i u. i r u
u 0. i j r o i. i
j i o r. i j o o
r. i o j u i j ri 0
u. 0 0 t u I o
r. i j t j j. (Dio-
nysios 12/Bellermann 103).
14
'i 0 0 0 i r i 0 i
r 0 0 r it i i. o
0 o u j` -
. u i ri u u u r o
lj o 0 l ij l i u
r ri 0u. i j ri r o -
. r j o. 0 i. (Dionysios
17/Bellermann 104).
15
j rj r rj r ri o 0-
i o o 0 r u o
i u r iu j 0 j. i
i. r i r o u u o.
(Dionysios 20/Bellermann 104).
16
The above views, with minor variations, are repeated in
Bryennios Harmonika. (Bryennios Harmonika 6/Jonker
174178).
17
` r o r i. rr j o u j
o u. r ` i ri (Dionysios 24/Beller-
mann 105).
18
` o i i r ri ri (Dio-
nysios 26/Bellermann 106).
19
r t oo r r r (Dio-
nysios 30/Bellermann 108).
Chre stos Terze s 394
There exist theoreticians who are opposed to
the use of mathematical ratios in the definition of
intervals.
20
They believe that ratios are irrelevant
to the nature of music, since music is a phenome-
non which is perceived by the senses and addresses
the emotions. The adherents to this school of
thought are known as Aristoxenians or musicians
(mousikoi). Dionysios expresses here two in-
stances of disagreement between the two schools
of thought:
a. The interval octave-plus-fourth the musicians
call a concord,
21
because it is made out of con-
cords (octave, fourth), while the mathemati-
cians call it a discord, because its ratio,
8
3, is nei-
ther epimorios (in the form
n+1
n), nor pollaplasios
(multiple, in the form 2n1).
b. The musicians insist that the tone can be divid-
ed into two equal intervals (the semitones),
since the ear accepts them as equal, while the
mathematicians do not accept the division of
the tone into two equal intervals, for the ratio
9
8 ,
which defines the tone, cannot be mathemati-
cally divided into two equal numbers.
22
It is evident from his words that Dionysios sides
with the mathematicians; his references to the
school of musicians and their positions are brief.
I would like to comment in two points on the
treatise of Dionysios at, where I believe both the
manuscript tradition and Bellermann the rst edi-
tor of the treatise are mistaken. These points are:
1. Bellermanns text, p. 106, 27 (see Pl. 4): at
some point before the 12
th
century A.D., there
occurred a scribal error. Dionysios is here try-
ing to establish the ratio of the interval octave-
and-fifth. As has been shown above, using the
known mathematical ratios of octave =
2
1 and
fifth =
3
2, he establishes that the combined
interval octave-and-fth
2
1 x
3
2 =
6
2 =
3
1.
The manuscripts give, octave =

=
6
2 =
3
1,
which is obviously a mistake.
23
The correct
reading should be, octave =

=
6
3 =
2
1. I believe
that at some point before the 12
th
century A.D.
the date of our rst extant manuscript there
occurred a scribal error, in which and ex-
changed places. (See Pl. 4). The corrected text
therefore stands as follows:
` r o u i o r i
ri r i r o o
u r o . o r
` ri ` o i I r
ji . r u ` , -
u ` ` rj ` o u -
i I r i ,
r r ` , 0 i ` o r o 0
u u u 0 r` o i
0 ` j o u i
o i j ' o o u i
o ' i ri.
(The concord of the octave plus fifth is the
triple ratio. Let be the interval of the
octave, and [be the interval] of the fifth.
Now, because the concord of the fifth is in
the hemiolic ratio, if [string] were thought
of as being in three parts [ ] and [then
string] would be in two [ ] [parts of
these]. [Similarly], because the concord of
the octave is the duple ratio, if [string]
were thought of as being in three parts [ ],
then [string] would be in six parts [i].
So, [string] , of six parts, is three times
longer then [string] , of two parts. Thus,
the notes [ and ] create the concord of
octave plus fifth. Therefore the octave plus
fth is in the triple ratio.)
2. Bellermanns text, p. 108, 31 (see Pl. 5): In this
paragraph Bellermann accepts the text of the
five manuscripts available to him, but believes
that at four points in the last sentence there are
gaps. He does not restore the words he thinks
are missing, but indicates the place with dots. I
believe that it is totally unnecessary to assume
that words dropped out in the course of the
manuscript tradition, because on the one hand,
the text, as it stands, makes good sense, while
on the other, gaps created by scribes at some
point in the course of the tradition (usually
because words are illegible) are almost always
perpetuated in the tradition. Such gaps are not
to be found in any of the manuscripts.
The first attempt to re-establish the text is
given by the scribe of the Up
24
manuscript. On
the margin of his text he notes:
20
The denition for kanonikos and mousikos is given by Pto-
lemas of Kyre ne : ri o -
o i 0 ` r u u .
r r i i l i. i r
o r l 0 u ij ou
i, i l i l i.
ii r i ro u r i./A kanonikos, in
general, is a harmonic theorist (harmonikos), who con-
structs ratios in connection with attunement (to he rmos-
menon). Mousikoi and kanonikoi are different; for mousi-
koi is the name given to the harmonic theorists who begin
from perceptions, while kanonikoi is that given to the
Pythagorean harmonic theorists. But each are in the gene-
ric sense mousikoi. (Ptolemas in Porphyrios Eis ta Har-
monika Ptolemaiou Hypomne ma /Dring 23, 59.
Transl. Barker 1989, 239240).
21
r o u i o o u l -
i u i 0 r l i
` i i o ` u u o
j r i j ri o r
o i u 0 0, j r r
` . (Dionysios 29/Bellermann 107).
22
r i i j j ri l
i (Dionysios 31/Bellermann 108).
23
. . refer to string lengths. (See pl. 4).
24
See Upsaliensis gr. 52, 57 right margin.
The Ancient Hellenic Tonal System: the View of Dionysios 395
j l i i i i
j l r i
Although the meaning improves it is highly
unlikely that so many words were eliminated
in the course of tradition. Also, the explanatory
nature of this sentence is not in accordance
with the dense style of the rest of the treatise.
The second and last attempt is given by
Vincent,
25
the translator of Dionysios text in
French. He proposes the following correction:
j u r j ( )
r j l i i
j.
and translates:
Mais quant partager le ton en deux parties
parfaitement gales et mesurer exactement
le demi-ton, les musiciens pensent que cela
ne se peut pas. (The musicians believe they
cannot divide the tone in two equal parts,
nor can they measure the semitone).
Surely this is not true; on the contrary, it is com-
mon knowledge that it is the musicians who insist
that the tone can well be bisected into two equal
halves, judging by ear. It is the mathematicians
who deny this equal division. Thus Vincents
emendation is not acceptable.
I believe that re-arranging punctuation signs
and correcting i to i, makes the sense of
the text totally satisfactory:
r i i j j r-
i l i r i
i ` . ' o r r,
r t. r ' o
j 0 r ' o j
u r j r `
` i i i r u-
r j ij i 0 .
(The mathematicians say that the tone can-
not be divided into two equal parts; [they
say that the intervals, which arise] are not
exactly semitones: one is smaller, while the
chromatic is larger. They called dieseis the
minor segments of the tone. [The mathe-
maticians say that] nor the semitone can be
divided [in two equal parts]; the musicians
believe that it can be divided; in any case
they use sense as their criterion.)
The above reading gives a satisfactory meaning
and it is here proposed as an emendation to all of
the previous three versions, namely, that of
Bellermann, that of the scribe of Up, and that of
Vincent.
schriften. In: A. Briel/P. von Mllendorff/S. Vogt
(Hrsg.). Orchestra Drama Mythos Bhne,
182194. Stuttgart und Leipzig.
VINCENT, J. 1847 (tr.)
Introduction a lart musical, par Bacchius lancien.
Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Biblio-
thque du Roi et autres bibliothques, publis par
linstitut Royal de France 6, 6472. Paris.
EDITIONS OF ANCIENT
HELLENIC TEXTS
BELLERMANN, F. 1841
Anonymi scriptio de musica, Bacchii senioris
introductio artis musicae. Berlin.
DRING, I. 1932
Porphyrios Kommentar zur Harmonielehre
des Ptolemaios. Gteborg.
JAN, C. 1895
Musici scriptores Graeci. Reprint Stuttgart,
Leipzig.
JONKER, G. 1970
` i `o. The Har-
monics of Manuel Bryennius. Groningen.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BARKER, A. 1989
Greek Musical Writings 2. Harmonic and
Acoustic Theory. Cambridge et al.
CAMERON, A. 1984
Bacchius, Dionysius, and Constantine. Phoe-
nix 38, 256260.
HANNICK, C. 1978
s. v. Musik. In: Hungers Die hochsprachlich
profane Literatur der Byzantiner 2. Mnchen.
JAN, C. 1903
s. v. Dionysios Nr. 149,150. In: Pauly-Wissowa
Realenzyklopdie der classischen Altertums-
wissenschaft 9, 993994. Strassburg.
MATHIESEN T. 1988
Ancient Greek Music Theory. A Catalogue
Raisonn of Manuscripts. Mnchen.
MATHIESEN T. 2000
Apollos Lyre. Greek Music and Music Theory
in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Lincoln and
London.
PHLMANN, E. 1994a
s. v. Bakcheios. In: Musik in Geschichte und
Gegenwart 1, 11111112. Kassel.
PHLMANN, E. 1994b
s. v. Griechenland. In: Musik in Geschichte und
Gegenwart 3, 16261676; 17051709. Kassel.
PHLMANN, E. 1994c
Musiktheorie in sptantiken Sammelhand-
Chre stos Terze s 396
25
Vincent 1847, 72 note 2.
Pl. 1: The manuscripts of Dionysios treatise.
The Ancient Hellenic Tonal System: the View of Dionysios 397
P
l
.

2
:
T
h
e

m
a
n
u
s
c
r
i
p
t
s

c
o
n
t
a
i
n
i
n
g

D
i
o
n
y
s
i
o
s

t
r
e
a
t
i
s
e

i
n

c
h
r
o
n
o
l
o
g
i
c
a
l

o
r
d
e
r
.

(
I
n

c
i
r
c
l
e

t
h
o
s
e

a
t

B
e
l
l
e
r
m
a
n
n
s

d
i
s
p
o
s
a
l
)
.
Chre stos Terze s 398
P
l
.

3
:
B
a
k
c
h
e
i
o
s

e
p
i
g
r
a
m
.

(
J
a
n

2
8
5
)
.
The Ancient Hellenic Tonal System: the View of Dionysios 399
Pl. 4: First correction.
Chre stos Terze s 400
Pl. 5: Second correction.
The Ancient Hellenic Tonal System: the View of Dionysios 401