Magic of the Kithara: Hymn to Alpheus
56For my first video of 2024, here is a new track for my future album in progress - for 2025!
"Magic of the Kithara" will feature new music, for the recreated ancient Greek kithara - the large wooden lyre, performed by the professional musicians of classical antiquity. This piece will probably be included as a track on my new album in progress, currently under construction on Bandcamp & due for release on 1st January 2025:
https://michaellevy.bandcamp.com/album/magic-of-the-kithara
In ancient Greek mythology, like most river gods, Alpheus was a son of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-wife,Tethys.
Alpheus was a passionate hunter and fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, but she fled from him to the island of Ortygia near Syracuse, and metamorphosed herself into a well, after which Alpheus became a river, which flowing from the Peloponnese under the sea to Ortygia, there united its waters with those of the well Arethusa.
This piece attempts to evoke the feeling resting by a river, shimmering in the rays of the sun, by use of the the distinctively dreamy ancient Greek Hypolydian Mode - the equivalent intervals as F-F on the white notes of the piano, but heard here, in the intense focus of just intonation.
As no surviving actual ancient Greek kithara has yet been discovered, the recreation was based upon the many illustrations seen on countless ancient Greek vases, sculptures and artwork.
The kithara reached its pinnacle during the 5th century BCE. There is plenty of controversy about the construction - the curious spring-like structures clearly illustrated below the crossbeam to which the strings are attached, could either be interpreted as structural (providing equal & opposite reaction to the downward pull of the strings on the slender arms of the kithara, as most academic scholars believe), or maybe even evidence of some form of mechanical vibrato/portamento mechanism!
My ancient Greek kithara was recreated in modern Greece, by Luthieros:
https://luthieros.com
For more detailed information on the kithara of classical antiquity, please also see my own website blog:
https://ancientlyre.com/the-kithara-of-ancient-greece-rome
Many thanks for watching!
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