Rievocare la musica greca antica

Abstract

When Ettore Romagnoli was invited in 1914 to stage classical dramas for the ancient Greek theatre of Syracuse, he attempted to re-create their ancient original characteristics, i.e. a combination of poetry, music, and dance. One of Romagnoli’s aims was to create music for contemporary plays, which recalled ancient Greek music, and he succeeded thanks to the collaboration with the composer Giuseppe Mulè. Indeed, for all the tragedies, Mulè and Romagnoli aimed at re-enacting ancient Greek music. This paper will highlight how both authors pursued their ambitious goal following different criteria: the re-elaboration of particular elements of Sicilian folk music; the re-creation of pieces inspired by both the description of Greek music in ancient sources and the musical fragments; the use of instruments which can reproduce specific sound effects.