The Music of Ancient Greece

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         (online piano)                

            In ancient Greece, (c. 500 B.C.E) the Ionian philosopher / mathematician Pythagoras 

      (c. 570 - 495 BCE) developed the first theory of music.   He recognized that musical notes 

      and their natural harmonies are based on mathematical ratios.  (3:2 for the 5th harmony of 

      any note, 2:1 for an octave).  

            So, if we say the C on a piano oscillates at a frequency of 100 hertz, the 5th note up 

      the scale, G, oscillates at a 3:2 ratio of the C, or 150 hertz.  The C above the first C (the 

      octave) oscillates at a 2:1 ratio, or 200 hertz. 

 

            Pythagoras created the seven note scale.  Pythagoras' system was used throughout 

      the Middle Ages.

           In the Renaissance, 5 notes were added to the scale giving us the 12 note scale we 

      still use today.  

          The white keys in the scale in an octave were essentially the notes Pythagoras chose.  The 5 black keys were added in the Renaissance. 

(The 12 notes of the scale in the cycle of 5ths:   E♭–B♭–F–C–G–D–A–E–B–F♯–C♯–G♯)

            With the fall of the Western Roman Empire (c. 400) ancient Greek culture is lost in Italy,

      France, and Spain.  (It had never reached England or Germany in any significant way).  It 

      would be kept alive in the Eastern Roman Empire (the Byzantine Empire) based in 

      Constantinople.  

             Ancient Greek thinking would find its way back into western Europe in the High Middle 

      Ages followed by Roman thought in the 1400s.  The revival of ancient thought would spark 

      changes in religion, politics, science and the arts in western Europe.  The results would be 

      Renaissance humanism followed by the invention of opera (c. 1600).

                     video -  Rediscovering Ancient Greek Music  (2017)  15:40