{"id":419,"date":"2016-08-30T14:21:14","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T14:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ripm.org\/cnc\/?p=419"},"modified":"2023-06-27T17:49:55","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T17:49:55","slug":"the-hymn-to-apollo-the-most-important-find-of-the-nineteenth-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnc.ripm.org\/?p=419","title":{"rendered":"The “Hymn to Apollo”: “the most important musical find of the nineteenth century”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Announcement\"<\/p>\n

[The Musical Times<\/em>. Vol. XXXV (June 1, 1894):584]<\/p>\n

In May 1893, the \u00c9cole Fran\u00e7aise d\u2019Ath\u00e8nes unearthed, at the Athenian Treasury in Delphi, two of the oldest surviving musical compositions, the hymns to Apollo. The discovery sparked great interest and contributed in the late nineteenth century to a growing awareness\u00a0 of ancient Greek music and a desire on the part of some composers to seek inspiration therein. \u00a0This awareness is reflected, for example, in Felix Mendelssohn\u2019s Antigone <\/em>\u00a0and Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns\u2019s Antigone <\/em>and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In this month’s Curios, News, and Chronicles<\/em> we focus on how the \u00a0discovery of the first of two Delphic hymns \u00a0was reported in the musical press and Gabriel Faur\u00e9\u2019s arrangement of it.<\/p>\n

After the German classical scholar Otto Crusius, the philologist Henri Weil, and French archeologist Theodore Reinach restored, analyzed, and transcribed the hymn, the first public performance of this melody took place on March 26, 1894 in the presence of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece at a soir\u00e9e organized by the French School.\u00a0 Based on a comment in The Musical News, <\/em>it did not generate a great deal of enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

\"MusicalNews\"<\/p>\n

[Musical News,<\/em> Vol.VI, No. 162 (Saturday, April 7, 1894):327]<\/p>\n

Later the work was performed in several European cities, after which the same journal underscored its importance, the \u2018stir\u2019 it was creating and published photographs of the ashlar blocks containing the inscribed hymn.<\/p>\n

\"MNewsBetter\"<\/p>\n

[Musical News.<\/em> Vol. VI, No. 173 (June 23, 1894):579]<\/p>\n

\"ashlar1\" \"ashlar2\"<\/p>\n

[Musical News<\/em>. Vol. VI, No. 173 (June 23, 1894):582]<\/p>\n

The Musical Times<\/em> went as far as to refer to the hymn as “the most important musical ‘find’ of the nineteenth century,” and published a transcription of it in modern musical notation in an extra supplement to one of its issues.<\/p>\n

\"Important\"<\/p>\n

[The Musical <\/em>Times<\/em>. Vol. XXXV (June 1, 1894):386]<\/p>\n

\"Picture1\"<\/p>\n

[Transcription of the Hymn to Apollo, The Musical <\/em>Times.<\/em> Vol. XXXV (June 1, 1894):386-7]<\/p>\n

On April 12, 1894 Reinach presented the discovery at the \u00c9cole des Beaux-Arts to the members of the Association pour l’Encouragement des \u00c9tudes Grecques en France. After the presentation there was a performance of an arrangement of the work by Gabriel Faur\u00e9 with the composer himself at the harmonium.<\/p>\n

The hymn continued to be discussed years after it was discovered. For example, Music: A Monthly Magazine<\/em>, published in 1897 a translated version of an article by the Czech Ludvik Kuba, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, in Prague. In the article, Kuba discussed the significance of the hymn\u2019s discovery and the difficulties of deciphering ancient Greek music, given the very few surviving examples of music from this period.<\/p>\n

\"Picture2\"<\/p>\n

[Music: A Monthly Magazine<\/em>. Volume XI, Number 4 (February 1897):398]<\/p>\n

In the video below, you can listen to Faur\u00e9’s arrangement of the Hymn for voice and piano, performed by the French soprano, Ren\u00e9e Doria. From today\u2019s perspective does it still merit the title the most important musical find of the nineteenth century?<\/p>\n