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00:00I
00:28I worked at the time as a charge of mission at the Museum of the Louvre,
00:32and I was responsible for the restoration of different Greek papyrus
00:36which were preserved in the département of Egypt.
00:42It was found that there was a small box in black black, like a biscuit,
00:47which contained a lot of things,
00:49such as papyrus,
00:50but also different objects
00:53which were found in vrac,
00:55in vrac, on a shantier of fouilles.
00:57So, a bout of journal,
00:58a bout of cigar.
01:00It was a bit of a puzzle,
01:01to be honest.
01:03The restaurateur said,
01:05look at these papyrus,
01:06there is one who is not like the others.
01:12The papyrus is a plant,
01:14it's a fiber,
01:15and when this fiber sèche,
01:17it becomes cassante.
01:18So, like the papyrus has been plied
01:20for sometimes 2000 years,
01:22it's impossible to open it without breaking it
01:24if we don't work the material.
01:26So, we will humidify the papyrus
01:28in the way the most violent possible.
01:32Sometimes, we work from fiber to fiber,
01:34we have to aplatir,
01:35one by one,
01:36all the fibers that have been replaced.
01:38Each fiber can hide a letter.
01:42So, we always need to plie with care.
01:57The papyrus was something different
01:58because, first,
02:00there were lines serrées
02:01one against the other,
02:02and then there were lines
02:03much more spaced
02:04at regular intervals,
02:05which is not normal.
02:07And, between these lines
02:09more spaced,
02:10there were letters
02:11that were written
02:12at different places
02:13without having a word.
02:14And then, I realized
02:15that it's a problem
02:16because what is it?
02:17What is it?
02:18What is it?
02:19So, I made a photograph
02:20of the papyrus
02:21and I told my director
02:22that the papyrus
02:23that I found
02:24is surprising,
02:25but here is what we read.
02:26What do you think?
02:27These signs?
02:28He said,
02:29I don't know.
02:30And then, I said
02:31what do you think?
02:32It's maybe music.
02:33All civilizations,
02:38even the most ancient,
02:40have been steeped in music.
02:45A rich iconography
02:46bears witness to this.
02:48From Egyptian temples
02:50to Greek cities
02:52and the far reaches
02:53of the Roman Empire.
02:55Depictions of ancient musicians
02:57are found
02:58throughout the Mediterranean.
03:00Some instruments
03:02have come down to us too,
03:03like this Egyptian drum
03:05from the 8th century BCE.
03:10But what do we know
03:11about the place music held
03:13in ancient societies
03:14and the musical works
03:16that moved our ancestors?
03:18music archaeologists,
03:27scientists,
03:28and researchers
03:29are attempting
03:30to bring these lost
03:31sound worlds
03:32back to life
03:33in search of the echoes
03:35of antiquity.
03:49The discovery of the Louvre papyrus marks the beginning of an extraordinary scientific adventure.
03:56Annie Bellis, one of the world's leading figures in music archaeology, is deciphering it.
04:03A philologist, papyrologist and musician, she has devoted her life to rediscovering the music of ancient Greece.
04:19And I say, bingo, it's a partition.
04:23Annie Bellis confirms that the strange marks above the Greek text are indeed musical notes,
04:31but written using a completely different system to the one we know.
04:35A great melopée.
04:38A sublime writing.
04:40It's the same hand that traces the signs of the text.
04:44Incredible. The first musical papyrus in France.
04:48It's a remarkable discovery.
04:52Only about 60 fragmented Greek musical scores have survived.
04:59But can they be deciphered?
05:02The ancient Greek musical notation system is amazingly complex.
05:06The ancient Greek musical notation system is amazingly complex.
05:11It's not like us.
05:15Doré, méfais, sol, acido, doré, méfais, sol, acido, doré, méfais, sol, acido.
05:18It's a combination of 1687 signs.
05:21The great difference with our system is that the Greeks make the difference between the vocal notation,
05:26so for the chant music,
05:28and the instrumental notation, so for the music exclusively played by instruments.
05:33And the Greeks developed a variety of specific signs for each of these two notes.
05:38This very complex system would be a mystery without an ancient treatise preserved by monks during the Middle Ages.
05:49Signed by someone we know only as Olypius,
05:52these tables give the name of each musical note from the lowest to the highest.
05:59And for each note, Olypius provides the corresponding sign for the vocal notation in the left column
06:06and the instrumental notation in the right column.
06:09The number and combination of signs are considerable.
06:23This notation system is a way to think the sounds,
06:27to think the sound space and rationalize it.
06:32It's not like us where we built a system that allows us to play music when we see it under our eyes.
06:37First of all, it's a notation system to assign a music that was essentially transmitted by oral.
06:44So, one of the functions of this notation is, before all,
06:48to make the Greek texts enter the Greek texts into archives.
06:53Thanks to this system, some musical pieces can now be deciphered.
06:57Discovered at the end of the 19th century in present-day Turkey, this small stele preserves the oldest surviving complete Greek musical composition.
07:15Dating back to the 2nd century CE, the stele is believed to have been a grave marker.
07:24The author of the composition, a certain Sekilos, the Sicilian, wrote it as an epitaph dedicated to a member of his family.
07:33The archaeo-musicologists were able to identify the vocal notation signs and find them in the tables of Elypius,
07:44which made it possible to transcribe them into our current notation system,
07:49and revive what some researchers call the world's oldest song.
07:54CHOIR SINGS
07:57CHOIR SINGS
08:01CHOIR SINGS
08:10CHOIR SINGS
08:11To all the senses of the world
08:17The end of the time is over
08:25The song of Sikilu is a great surprise, if you want,
08:31which tells us that as you live,
08:34you will enjoy your life
08:36because your life is small, the time is small
08:42and the end is something that cannot be saved.
08:51The ancient city of Delphi
08:54was the site of a great sanctuary
08:57dedicated to Apollo, the god of music.
09:02In 1893, a few years after the discovery of the Stelia Sikilos,
09:08another musical treasure was found there.
09:15Hymns engraved on the wall of the building
09:18dedicated to Apollo.
09:24Now preserved in the Delphi Museum,
09:26these are the longest instrumental and vocal scores
09:30that ancient Greece has bequeathed to us.
09:34An inscription discovered on the temple wall
09:37has made it possible to date them.
09:40These two hymns were interpreted in 128 avant J.-C.
09:44by 40 singers and a dozen instrumentalists.
09:49It was a very important manifestation of Apparat.
09:58It's a procession that the Athenians do from Athens to Delphi.
10:03In 128, this procession was particularly close
10:05since we have a lot of singers and musicians
10:08and we interpret these two hymns
10:10which, by the end,
10:11were recorded as a gift to the god,
10:13a consecration to the god of Apollo.
10:15A
10:30An essential element of religious practice,
10:32music permeated every aspect of Hellenic life
10:36and was taught to children in the same way as letters or mathematics.
10:40mathematics, but what is written on the Louvre papyrus?
10:51While the musical part, thanks to the tables of Olypius,
10:55revealed a fairly legible vocal notation,
10:58deciphering the Greek text was like decoding a secret message.
11:03The text is extremely fragmented because the papyrus
11:07is riddled with holes and tears.
11:37If there is Glaucus, it works well with Medea.
11:41I have two names.
11:43Glaucus is the daughter of the king of Corinth.
11:46Now, there are bits of letters, but I read it here.
11:49I.
11:51I.
11:53A very small O.
11:55It sounds.
11:56It's Jason.
11:57That's it.
11:58It's a Medea.
11:59So, this fragmented papyrus contains traces of a famous Greek tragedy.
12:08According to Euripides in the 5th century BCE, Medea is a powerful sorceress.
12:14After falling passionately in love with Jason,
12:16she helps him steal the golden fleece, killing anyone who gets in his way.
12:21They have two children together, but Jason deserts her for Glaucus,
12:26daughter of the king of Corinth.
12:28In revenge, Medea kills her rival and murders her own children
12:33to punish their father, Jason.
12:35But the version of Medea discovered in the Louvre is very different.
12:39Here, Medea swears by the goddess Hecate that she did not kill her children.
12:44She hides them from Jason, giving them to a nurse for safekeeping.
12:50What does the papyrus bring to the mythology, the legend of Medea?
12:56It's a revolution.
12:57It's very simple.
12:58It's the opposite of the mental image that we always do now.
13:03It's the infanticide, by excellence, Medea.
13:06Yes, but it's perfectly innocent.
13:09You have to do it.
13:10A Medea innocent.
13:12This audacious Medea would have been performed in a theatre,
13:18a revolutionary Greek invention.
13:21Numerous remains of these buildings,
13:24some of which could accommodate up to 25,000 spectators,
13:29speak to the popularity of these shows.
13:33From tragedy to comedy, the performance of the singers,
13:37all seasoned professionals, would have been central.
13:41Numerous music plays
13:53Numerous music plays
14:05Numerous music plays
14:06Numerous music plays
14:07Numerous music plays
14:11Numerous music plays
14:14Numerous musicук voice
14:16During which one of which the teacher looks like
14:17Vậy in a position
14:19Numerous music plays
14:21And who directs the listener
14:23in any way
14:24At least the attention of theными Fabriium
14:28Did not carry one rope
14:31and he tells him to keep the warmth as much as possible,
14:36while he gives him the warmth of the warmth,
14:40that he brings the warmth of the warmth,
14:44since the sound is the warmth of the warmth
14:48and in the ancient philosophy it is the warmth of the warmth.
14:54In this depiction, as in almost all Greek iconography,
14:59the singer is shown with his head tilted towards the sky,
15:03as if offering his song up to the gods.
15:06But who sang the Medea discovered at the Louvre?
15:09And who composed it?
15:11Carbon-14 dating has made it possible to date the papyrus
15:15to the 2nd century CE.
15:29Medea.
15:30And I'm talking about the rhetoric of Aristotle.
15:33Livre 2.
15:34For example, in the Medea of Carcinos,
15:38Carcinos,
15:39his accusers pretend that she killed his children,
15:43that we don't see anywhere.
15:45Medea had, in fact,
15:46made the mistake of leaving them.
15:48But wait,
15:49it's exactly that.
15:51It's exactly the 2nd verse of my papyrus.
15:55We are certain now that it's Carcinos.
15:58But who is Carcinos?
16:00Someone so famous in ancient Greece
16:02that he is mentioned by Aristotle.
16:04The Pseudo,
16:06an encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world
16:09dating from the 10th century CE,
16:11also refers to him.
16:13The name Carcinos appears there
16:16as the winner of a tragedy playwriting competition
16:19held in Athens in 375 BCE.
16:23This papyrus date du IIe siècle de notre ère.
16:27Exactly.
16:28And it was written in the IVe siècle avant notre ère.
16:31It was written in the IVe siècle.
16:32It was written in the IVe siècle.
16:33It was written in the IVe siècle.
16:34It was written in the IVe siècle.
16:35It was written in the IVe siècle.
16:36During the VIe siècle.
16:37Yes.
16:38In fact,
16:39it's a paper of musicians,
16:40for archives.
16:41Toi who is an orchestra musician,
16:43you know how much you can modify
16:46without wanting to do it
16:48the partitions that you can say par cœur.
16:49It's his repertoire.
16:50It's his repertoire.
16:51Like the musical patrimoine est monstrous,
16:54on en garde un florinège.
16:57Et le feuillet Carcinos, c'est ça.
16:59Donc les plus grands airs.
17:02Et c'est bon pour faire des concours.
17:04The iconography preserves traces of these music contests.
17:07Here, the performer takes his place on the podium,
17:10surrounded by the judges,
17:12who hold sticks.
17:13And many times,
17:14the people who hold sticks.
17:15The iconography preserves traces of these music contests.
17:20Here, the performer takes his place on the podium,
17:23surrounded by the judges, who hold sticks.
17:27And many times, the winners of these parties
17:42...
17:43...
17:45...
17:47...
17:49...
17:55...
17:56...
18:09...
18:11...which is a very good composer, also a manager, an impresarios...
18:17...who send him to recital in various cities.
18:24One of the most prestigious contests in the Greek world was held at Delphi...
18:32...where singers and musicians performed one after the other.
18:36Inscriptions from the 2nd century BCE pay tribute to some of the star artists.
18:43I have to talk to you about a big, big musician who went to Delphi.
18:47He was called Satyros, he came from the Samos island...
18:50...so he made the whole journey, without a doubt, to come to here.
18:54The inscription, which had his statue, tells us...
18:59...that he was presented to the Pitya, the Grand Concours of Delphi.
19:03He was sentenced to the Aulos, and in fact, he was presented without a competitor.
19:06That means they all declared forfait...
19:08...when they knew that Satyros of Samos arrived.
19:11Archeo-musicologist Stefan Hagel performs the song of Säkilos on the Aulos...
19:16...this typically Greek double flute.
19:20...
19:30...
19:32...
19:34...
19:54The Aulos is unabdingbar for the whole Sakral-Bereich.
19:59Vom Trankopfer in the häuslichen Zeremonie...
20:03...bis zum staatlichen Opfer.
20:05Es gibt keine Theateraufführung, keinen Chor, ohne dass der Aulos dazu spielt.
20:09Und daneben auch für private Hochzeiten, für das klassische Bankett.
20:14Also haben wir letztlich vom hochrangigen Starrmusiker...
20:20...bis herunter zur Sklavin, die die Unterhaltung und gleichzeitig...
20:26...sexuelle Dienste beim Bankett anbietet.
20:28Das gesamte Spektrum der sozialen Schichten durchgehend.
20:37While musical instruments are omnipresent in Greek iconography and mythology...
20:42...there are very few surviving artefacts.
20:48A few fragments of bone and bronze auli found at Delphi.
20:53The very damaged remains of a lyre...
20:56...with a turtle shell soundbox from a 5th century BCE Athenian tomb.
21:03Wood and leather remnants of a triangular harp.
21:08And finally, another wooden aulos.
21:13But how is it possible to know the sounds these instruments produce...
21:17...from these scant remains?
21:19In Vienna, Stefan Hagel has been working on auli for several years...
21:30...in his search to discover ancient sounds.
21:34He has designed and developed a computer program...
21:37...to reconstruct the original shape of the aulos...
21:40...and determine its sonic characteristics.
21:44We have the instruments, but we are missing the mouthpiece, the reed.
21:48We don't know how long it should be.
21:51How to get an estimate of the reed length?
21:54Because everything else will depend on the length of the reed.
21:58So with this computer program I have written...
22:00...we have a very schematic representation of the two instruments...
22:04...and then behind it an algorithm which calculates how the vibration...
22:09...inside the instruments would generate a particular pitch.
22:14Everything works together, the open finger holes, the closed finger holes...
22:17...the reed, the length of the reed, the width of the tube.
22:20The computer has found a particular solution.
22:33What is surprising is that these mouthpieces are very, very long.
22:37They are much longer than what we are accustomed to find in later instruments.
22:43Look at this vase painting from the classical period itself.
22:46And what is shown here, and it has always been misunderstood...
22:50...in a well-known painting, but people have thought...
22:53...that we have the pipe, then we have the typical bulb of the aulos...
22:57...and then we have another bulb and then...
23:01...the mouthpiece, the mouthpiece insert.
23:03No!
23:04What this actually is...
23:06If I overlay this with the reconstruction of the Paestum aulos...
23:11...then we have exactly that tube...
23:13...then this length of bulb plus the part where the reed goes into...
23:18...and then the rest is exactly the reed, and that's an ancient reed.
23:24The research provides a technical understanding of the aulos...
23:29...and its sounds.
23:31Miraculous, considering the limited remains found in Greece.
23:40...
23:51...
24:40During the Renaissance, knowledge of ancient music came from classical iconography and Greek and Latin texts, so music was considered exclusively part of that heritage.
25:00But in the late 18th century, scholars were amazed to discover countless depictions of musicians and instruments adorning the walls of temples and tombs in Egypt.
25:22Evidence of the incredible musical richness of the land of the pharaohs opening up a new world for archaeo-musicologists.
25:33We know today that the ancient Egyptians had a very different conception of musical art from the Greeks.
26:13It's not a music that will be opposed to a cacophony, but a sound that is associated with life, with the sound world, and the silence that is associated with death.
26:25To combat silence, Egyptians placed musical instruments in their tombs, and the dry climate of the Nile Valley, unlike the temperate climate of Greece, preserved them.
26:45This Egyptian harp is the subject of the latest research by the archaeo-musicologists.
26:59This harp fascine toujours aujourd'hui, because we have the impression that we can play.
27:05Since she came to the Louvre at the beginning of the 19th century, she was restored to many reprises.
27:12At the point that I was wondering if all the parts were old.
27:19And in particular, I had a doubt about the manches of this harp.
27:25Since, with a naked eye, the wood seems very modern.
27:32To answer this question, a carbon-14 dating analysis was commissioned.
27:37In fact, all living organisms, during their lives, exchange with the environment in which they live,
27:48and therefore have a certain teneur in what we call carbon-14, which is an isotope of carbon, which is radioactive.
27:54When an organism dies, since it doesn't exchange with the environment in which it is,
27:58the amount of carbon-14 that it has will grow slowly throughout the time.
28:03And if we are able to evaluate the amount of carbon-14 that there is in an organism mort,
28:08we can reduce the time from the death of this organism.
28:11In the case of these instruments, we will, for example, date of the bois.
28:14And what we will date, is the death of the bois, which was used for the fabrication of the harp.
28:19We will date of the peau, which will tell us when the animals that we took the peau were born.
28:25And so it is, in fact, by this association of constitutive elements of the instrument,
28:30that we will be able to, little by little, restitue the history in the time of the fabrication of the instrument.
28:35The results of the carbon-14 dating determined that while the strings dated from the 19th century,
28:40the rest of the instrument dates back to antiquity.
28:44So this harp, we know today that it dates about the 8th century before Jesus Christ,
28:50which is incredible.
28:51And a music instrument is a machine, a particular object.
28:56It is something that must produce a sound.
28:58So there are mechanical tensions, chords,
29:00and, of course, we cannot play on old instruments, they are too fragile.
29:06To understand how the Egyptians made this instrument nearly 3,000 years ago,
29:13requires the resources of experimental archaeology.
29:17Berlin luthier Susanna Schultz is attempting to make a copy of the Louvre harp.
29:23This reproduction should make it possible to understand how the harp was made
29:29and reveal the secrets of its ancient craftsmanship.
29:33I can try to make it and I have to think about how to hollow the body.
29:39It's a very deep body, so maybe it's…
29:43Maybe you need X-ray to have an idea for the body.
29:46Yeah, that would be nice.
29:47We can analyze everything what is inside and can maybe find also some hidden traces of some nails
29:55or some ancient repair jobs.
29:58Analyses carried out at the Louvre revealed the harp was made using four different varieties of wood,
30:22from disparate regions, chosen for their resistance or their light weight.
30:31Sycamore fig for the body, jujube for the tuning pegs, maritime pine for the neck,
30:39and Lebanon cedar for the tailpiece.
30:44Using species of wood with similar properties, the harp begins to come back to life.
30:59A harp that performed for the pharaohs.
31:09The documentation on the music of ancient Egypt shows that it's an art made for the gods and the king.
31:16There is no place of spectacle.
31:18The musicians are not produced on a scene.
31:21We could almost say that they are workers.
31:24The goal is to complete the rite as it is necessary.
31:27In such a ceremony, we need musicians.
31:29We need a lot of musicians to show the force and the power of the king.
31:35Thanks to the x-rays taken of the harp, the ingenuity of the Egyptian luteers,
31:58who fixed a tailpiece under the skin around the sound box, can be seen,
32:03showing how the strings were attached.
32:07Master of the pan who sucks, the 번age of the wind is purged på t dados might be seen.
32:26Super.
32:29But while the luteer's technique is now clear,
32:33But while the luthiers' technique is now clear, the archaeo-musicologists still don't know what kind of music was played on the instrument.
33:03So, okay. Amazing. These look very similar.
33:18Gabonese harpist Yannick Essono Ndong uses instruments that are related to the Egyptian harp.
33:27He can help answer questions about the use of this ancient object, like how the strings are secured and tuned.
33:47Yannick begins by turning the harp over.
33:52Only that, that means that when we regained it, we had to put strength.
34:00We needed strength.
34:02That's why we needed this attachment and this position to be able to hold the arms.
34:09So, I think that she was really very tired.
34:12It's my opinion.
34:14She was very tired.
34:15And it's because we did it well, that she allowed to stay for hours and hours in playing without being accorded.
34:23So, this one has the manches of the harp.
34:26Yes.
34:27But, it's also a support for the harp when we play the harp when we play the harp.
34:33D'accord.
34:34So, it means that when the harpist is lifted, it allows it to maintain well the body.
34:42D'accord.
34:43And so, this hand, the left hand, she serves to do the accompaniment.
34:49Yes.
34:50So, you mean that with the left hand, you only play the first chords?
34:53Yes.
34:54D'accord.
34:55And the right hand, she serves to do the melody.
34:57When it's new, when it's new, when it's new, it takes several days to keep an accord.
35:05And so, I've tried to adjust it to a little bit with notes that are similar to the harp that I play,
35:12which is the harp to eight chords in the Gabon.
35:27Well done.
35:28You cannot go away again.
35:29And so, it throttle.
35:30Let's say a little bit of force with best.
35:54I agree.
36:25While music was played at the court of the pharaohs, its main function was religious.
36:35Dendera, north of Luxor, is the site of the largest temple dedicated to Hathor, the Egyptian
36:43goddess of music, dance, joy and pleasure.
36:49Music played a central role here.
36:55The first time I entered into the temple of Hathor, in this room, I had a physical sensation
37:03of the sound.
37:04It's a very particular room, which resonates when we talk about it.
37:08And what's right about it is these columns, which are very numerous.
37:15We're in a forest of columns that represent the goddess.
37:18A significant instrument in the cult of the goddess, the sistrum is a sort of rattle that
37:31is shaken.
37:32It starts the ritual by attracting the attention of Hathor to please her and appease her wrath.
37:42The appeasement of the goddess allows the Nile to rise, bringing life back to the desert
37:49land of Egypt.
38:21And this temple continues to work even today.
38:26So, the Egyptian temple is a space that was completely closed to the public.
38:30Nobody penetrates.
38:31It's the creation of the world that is there that we must maintain daily.
38:35And I always asked the question of how the ancient Egyptians who did not access to the
38:44divinity, since she was inside the sanctuary, could enter in contact with her.
38:48And there, I realize that there are openings that let us enter the sun, and that the sound
38:55that I pronounce could be heard from outside.
38:58At the same time, there are drums, there are harps, there are luthes, there are cistres.
39:02So, we can imagine all this sound that developed in this space, which meets these columns.
39:07And I thought, if the ancient Egyptians didn't know the acoustics of the acoustics,
39:12would they, at least from a point of view empiric, they did not have tried to make
39:16participate the full exterior to what was happening inside.
39:20Can an archaeo-acoustic study of an Egyptian temple help answer this question?
39:27Acoustician Olivier Varusfel has installed microphones inside and outside the temple of
39:35Hathor to assess the sound intensity.
39:39So, this is the original engine.
39:46And then, if I am putting you into the Pronaos.
39:51Okay.
39:52Yeah.
39:53Ah, yes.
39:54Then, we move over.
39:55This is approximately here.
39:58Okay.
40:00Then, after, there is also an outside angle.
40:05It's going to be in M16, here.
40:10So, here, we have no sound direct.
40:14We have the sound through the floor,
40:17and then, thanks to the opening,
40:19we hear a little echo from the outside.
40:24Well, it's confirmed, then.
40:26Yeah.
40:27I started to interest other monuments
40:30of the same time,
40:31which are much smaller and smaller,
40:33but with the same characteristics.
40:34It's to say that we find musicians on the column
40:37and we find them semi-ouvertes.
40:40So, they can enter the light of the day
40:42and, of course, they let out the sound
40:44which is produced inside.
40:45So, there is a real research at the time.
40:48It's not a coincidence.
40:49There is a real research.
40:50I can't say that they knew the acoustics,
40:52but in all cases,
40:54in terms of the apprehension,
40:55the way to approach the divin,
40:58they knew this population
41:00who wanted to participate
41:02by allowing them to listen to what happened.
41:05The Roman Empire,
41:19influenced by the great civilizations that preceded it,
41:22absorbed the sound traditions of the ancient Mediterranean world.
41:26Evidence of these influences,
41:31in particular those of ancient Egypt,
41:34can be found in Pompeii.
41:37He said that the design was paid by a thief.
41:40In fact, you're saying that there is a temple of Isis
41:43to Pompeii.
41:45To look at it like that,
41:46I don't think it looks like an Egyptian temple.
41:48How do we know that it's an Egyptian temple?
41:49It's an Egyptian temple.
41:50It's an Egyptian temple.
41:51It's an Egyptian temple.
41:52It's an Egyptian temple.
41:53It's an Egyptian temple.
41:54It's an Egyptian temple.
41:55It's an Egyptian temple.
42:04These murals, now in the Museum of Naples,
42:08show the importance of Egyptian music in the Roman world.
42:12Instruments found in Pompeii also attest to this.
42:16We found a lot of sisters.
42:19We know that they used the procession,
42:21this sound object.
42:23There was a circulation of instruments in the Roman Empire
42:27and a brassage.
42:30In Pompeii, other remains reveal the considerable
42:33musical influence of the Greek world.
42:36There are two theatres, including an Odeon,
42:39where musicians and singers performed.
42:42These are Greek festivals.
42:45It's music and poetry.
42:48There are not more than 900 people in this little theatre.
42:53And, above all, a better acoustic,
42:55because there was a wooden roof
42:58that allowed the sound to the sound.
43:01It's a type of monument
43:04that shows the Greek influence in Pompeii.
43:07In the luxurious house of Menander,
43:12the frescoes are inspired by Greek mythology
43:16and, in particular, the Iliad.
43:18In the depiction of the Trojan horse,
43:21an aulos player is present.
43:23In other parts of the city,
43:26perfectly preserved auli have been found.
43:29But the Roman instrument is known as a tibai
43:34and its performer a tibaisen.
43:37The tibai is more than a Greek aulos.
43:40The instrument has been improved by the Romans.
43:44There was begun,
43:46Mechanismen to find.
43:48The first one,
43:49the we know,
43:50are Schieber,
43:51the tonlöcher,
43:52the outside of the spielbaren Bereich
43:55of the fingers.
43:56That are cylinders,
43:57that are nahtless.
43:58That must be perfect round,
44:00because they must be
44:01without reining together.
44:03The metalschichten
44:04are only a part of a millimeter,
44:07thick, maybe a third of a millimeter.
44:10Also, that is very enormous,
44:12that the metal is still hanging out
44:14without it too much to form.
44:16That is something,
44:17that you can't build with modern machines
44:19even with modern machines.
44:29In Pompeii,
44:30volcanic ash has helped preserve paintings,
44:33wall engravings and artefacts.
44:36They describe a world steeped in music.
44:41However,
44:42as in Egypt,
44:43no Roman musical scores
44:45have come down to us.
44:47If we take the theater pieces
44:57written by Terence,
44:59a Latin author,
45:00we have preserved the didas cali,
45:03in a sense,
45:04the livret,
45:05like the opera,
45:06and we have the name
45:08of Tibicene,
45:09who played during the piece.
45:12So we know
45:13that there was a Tibicene
45:14who intervened
45:15throughout the piece
45:16at several moments,
45:17but all the music is lost.
45:19It's explained
45:20especially
45:21by the oral transmission
45:22of the culture of the music.
45:24The musicologists thought
45:26that it was a lack of consideration
45:28of the music
45:29than not to note it.
45:32And in fact,
45:33it's a very classical vision
45:34of the music,
45:35that the music
45:36exists through the partition.
45:38So the purpose
45:40was to believe
45:41that the Romans
45:42only did the Greek music.
45:44And it's true
45:45that the quintessence
45:46of the music
45:47in the eyes of the Romans,
45:48like the quintessence
45:49of the culture,
45:50remains still hellenic.
45:51But for all,
45:52there is a whole
45:53repertoire local.
45:54There are uses
45:55that are typically Romains.
45:57For example,
45:58the combination of the timbers
45:59and instruments,
46:00that's something
46:01that we don't find
46:02at the Greeks.
46:03The idea
46:04of putting an organ
46:05on the scene
46:06with a tibia,
46:07a tambourine.
46:08So we see
46:10that the Romans
46:11have only taken
46:13to the Greeks
46:14some elements
46:15and for the rest,
46:17they have developed
46:18their own musical culture.
46:21An exceptional discovery
46:24made in Pompeii
46:26in the late 19th century
46:27confirms their originality.
46:30The unearthing
46:31of several Cornuas,
46:33a Roman trumpet,
46:35played by an instrumentalist
46:37specific to the Roman world
46:39called the Cornison.
46:41It's a trumpet
46:42that was used
46:43in the military world
46:45to give the signs
46:47to the Legion.
46:48We know
46:49that it's a trumpet
46:50that resonates
46:51during funerals,
46:52during funerals,
46:53during funerals.
46:54We say
46:55that the sound of the bronze
46:56allows us to
46:57remove the bad minds.
46:59It's the trumpet
47:00that announces
47:01the meetings
47:02of local assemblies.
47:04A martial and ceremonial
47:06instrument,
47:07the Cornum
47:08was also
47:09an important sound
47:10element
47:11of the Roman circus
47:13during the great
47:14popular games.
47:15This is the famous
47:17podium of the amphitheater
47:18which was covered
47:19with a glass
47:20and,
47:21luckily,
47:22we have
47:23aquarellés
47:24of all the scenes
47:25that decorated
47:26the podium.
47:27It's on
47:28one of these
47:29fresques
47:30which was represented
47:31by a trumpet player
47:33and, curiously,
47:35equipped in gladiators.
47:36In any case,
47:37we have all the reasons
47:38to believe
47:39that the Corniken
47:40played at the beginning
47:41during the
47:42procession
47:43which allowed
47:44to arrive
47:45in the arena
47:46without a doubt
47:47to announce
47:48the beginning
47:49of the games.
47:50Perhaps
47:51to sound the
47:52mise-à-mort,
47:53but not to forget
47:54that the mises-à-mort
47:55are rare.
47:56And,
47:57without a doubt,
47:58to announce
47:59the end of the games.
48:00The amphitheater,
48:01on the visual level,
48:02is a monument
48:03very well built
48:04with this kind of ellipse.
48:05But,
48:06on the acoustic level,
48:07it's not an edifice
48:08that is adapted
48:09to sound.
48:10So the need
48:11to use
48:12instruments
48:13martial
48:14sound
48:15powerful,
48:16powerful.
48:17And,
48:18on the top,
48:19the trumpet,
48:20the dead body
48:21should sound.
48:22How did
48:23these four-metre-long
48:24trumpets sound
48:25in amphitheaters
48:26or on battlefields?
48:28In the 19th century,
48:30researchers attempted
48:31to recreate
48:32the sound
48:33of the instrument.
48:38The Musical Instrument
48:40Museum in Brussels
48:41houses
48:42the oldest copy
48:43of a Cornum.
48:44created by Victor-Charles
48:46Maillon,
48:47a Belgian collector
48:48and instrument maker.
48:50It was inspired
48:51by the Cornua found
48:53in Pompeii.
48:54Victor-Charles Maillon
48:55will build
48:56the répliques,
48:57the facsimilies
48:58as they call them,
48:59which are
49:00slightly reinterpreted copies.
49:02But,
49:03they are based
49:04very strongly
49:05on the archaeological
49:06vestiges.
49:07archaeological
49:08and that is
49:09quite specific
49:10to his approach.
49:11So,
49:12unlike others
49:13based on
49:14iconography,
49:15he will
49:17have access
49:18to first
49:19hand with
49:20objects.
49:21There is a
49:22part of
49:23reinterpretation
49:24regarding
49:25the copy
49:26because the
49:27archaeological
49:28objects
49:29are incomplete
49:30or in
49:31very bad
49:32state.
49:33of
49:35m
49:36right?
49:40i
49:41what
49:42a
49:43m
49:44what
49:45I
49:46I
49:47I
49:48I
49:49I
49:51.
49:58.
50:01.
50:06.
50:10.
50:12.
50:14.
50:16.
50:20.
50:43Modern technology makes it possible to determine the sonic characteristics
50:47of the Pompeii cornum more accurately.
50:52By creating a virtual model of the instrument,
50:55from the precise record of its shape and metallurgical characteristics,
51:00the virtual object can then undergo acoustic tests.
51:05The objective is to determine the acoustic signature of the cornum
51:10and its harmonic potential.
51:13.
51:14.
51:15.
51:16.
51:17.
51:18.
51:19.
51:20.
51:21.
51:22.
51:23.
51:24.
51:25.
51:26.
51:27.
51:28.
51:29.
51:30.
51:31.
51:44.
51:45.
51:46.
51:47.
51:48.
51:49.
51:50.
51:51There is a sequence of peaks of resonance.
51:54I think I calculated it to 1500 or 2000 Hz, I don't remember.
51:59We can see it on the curve, so there is a lot of resonance.
52:07It represents the notes that it is possible to play on the corner.
52:14All the acoustic results are processed by computer
52:18to achieve the most faithful reproduction of the sound,
52:21bringing the Pompeii Cornum back to life.
52:48From the dust of excavation sites to the most advanced research laboratories,
52:57music archaeology allows us to better understand the place of music
53:03and musicians in ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
53:08And while ancient Egyptian and Roman music may be lost to us,
53:15the miracle of the surviving Greek musical scores
53:19gives us an idea of what moved our ancestors.
53:24This small fragment of papyrus lying forgotten in a biscuit tin
53:31in a Louvre store room is the most recent of these miracles.
53:35We have the title, the genre, we have the author
53:39and we have an incredible version of Médée.
53:42This Carquinos had the sounds in his ears,
53:46in his head and in his poetic creation.
53:48Tecna, tecna.
53:51My children, my children.
53:52We have partitions.
53:54We can read them.
53:56Well, we can transcribe them.
53:58After that, it's work to go and sing.
54:02Even though most of the work has disappeared,
54:08Anni Bellis is able to bring Carquinos' Médéa back to life
54:13for a brief moment with the help of bass baritone singer
54:16Frédéric Albu.
54:20Les femmes ne chantaient pas dans le théâtre grec.
54:23Les auteurs de notes sont notées de manière absolue.
54:26Si on est capable de les lire, on ne peut pas avoir d'hésitation.
54:28Et Médée est une basse.
54:30C'est très impressionnant parce qu'elle est une basse,
54:32parce que c'est une femme qu'on craint.
54:34C'est une magicienne.
54:35Elle appartient au monde des ténèbres.
54:37Elle est sombre.
54:38Donc, je me retrouve avec ce personnage-là.
54:40Et c'est extraordinaire parce que les Grecs
54:42projettent littéralement toutes leurs peurs potentielles
54:46à propos des femmes sur cette femme qui devient un peu un symbole.
54:49Et c'est ça que je dois défendre.
54:50Ce qui est probablement le plus difficile pour le public d'aujourd'hui,
54:53mais en même temps un facteur fascinant,
54:55c'est que ça ne ressemble à rien de ce qu'on connaît.
55:00Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
55:05Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada
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