All Topics  
Terpander

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Terpander
 
 
  Topics Terpander Topic Home

Terpander (Greek ???pa?d???), of Antissa in Lesbos
Lesbos Island

Lesbos is a Greece List of islands of Greece located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1632 Square kilometre with 320 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest Greek island and the largest of the numerous Greek islands scattered in the Aegean....
, was a Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 poet
Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
 and citharede who lived about the first half of the 7th century BC.

About the time of the Second Messenian War
Messenian Wars

The first two Messenian Wars were wars between Messenia and Sparta in the 8th century BC and 7th century BC centuries BC.*First Messenian War...
, he settled in Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
, whither, according to some accounts, he had been summoned by command of the Delphic Oracle, to compose the differences which had arisen between different classes in the state. Here he gained the prize in the musical contests at the festival of Carnea (676-2 BC; Athenaeus
Athenaeus

Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greeks rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century A.D. The Suda only tells us that he lived in the times of Marcus ; but the contempt with which he speaks of Commodus shows that he survived that emperor....
, 635 a.).

He is regarded as the real founder of Greek classical music, and of lyric poetry; but as to his innovations in music our information is imperfect.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Terpander'
Start a new discussion about 'Terpander'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Terpander (Greek ???pa?d???), of Antissa in Lesbos
Lesbos Island

Lesbos is a Greece List of islands of Greece located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of 1632 Square kilometre with 320 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest Greek island and the largest of the numerous Greek islands scattered in the Aegean....
, was a Greek
Ancient Greece

The term Ancient Greece refers to the period of History of Greece lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman Republic conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth ....
 poet
Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
 and citharede who lived about the first half of the 7th century BC.

About the time of the Second Messenian War
Messenian Wars

The first two Messenian Wars were wars between Messenia and Sparta in the 8th century BC and 7th century BC centuries BC.*First Messenian War...
, he settled in Sparta
Sparta

Sparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the Eurotas River in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From circa 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars....
, whither, according to some accounts, he had been summoned by command of the Delphic Oracle, to compose the differences which had arisen between different classes in the state. Here he gained the prize in the musical contests at the festival of Carnea (676-2 BC; Athenaeus
Athenaeus

Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greeks rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century A.D. The Suda only tells us that he lived in the times of Marcus ; but the contempt with which he speaks of Commodus shows that he survived that emperor....
, 635 a.).

He is regarded as the real founder of Greek classical music, and of lyric poetry; but as to his innovations in music our information is imperfect. According to Strabo
Strabo

Strabo was a Ancient Greeks history, geography and philosophy....
 (xiii. p. 618) he increased the number of strings in the lyre from four to seven; others take the fragment of Terpander on which Strabo bases his statement to mean that he developed the citharoedic nomos (sung to the accompaniment of the cithara or lyre
Lyre

The lyre is a string instrument well known for its use in classical antiquity and later. The recitations of the Ancient Greece were accompanied by lyre playing....
) by making the divisions of the ode seven instead of four. The seven-stringed lyre was probably already in existence. Terpander is also said to have introduced several new rhythms in addition to the dactylic, and to have been famous as a composer of drinking-songs.

According to Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th century philosophy Germans philosophy and classical philology. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science, using a distinctive German language style and displaying a fondness for metaphor and aphorism....
 in The Gay Science
The Gay Science

The Gay Science [German language: Die fr?hliche Wissenschaft ], is a book written by Friedrich Nietzsche, first published in 1882 and followed by a second edition, which was published after the completion of Also sprach Zarathustra and Beyond Good and Evil, in 1887....
, Terpander once quelled a riot
Riot

A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence, vandalism or other crime....
 by means of music
Music

Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
 and dance therapy
Dance therapy

Dance therapy, or dance movement therapy is the Psychotherapy use of movement and dance for emotional, cognitive, social, behavioural and body conditions....
.

No poems attributed to Terpander survive complete, and very few lines of his are quoted by later Greek writers; it must be regarded as doubtful whether he worked in writing.

Terpander is rumored to have died choking on a fig when the fruit was thrown in appreciation of one of his performances