Ptolemaic Music Fragments and Remains of Sophocles (Junior ...

50 M. L. West
The ‘accidentals’ are mainly used to create semitone or minor third intervals that vary the basic
structure of the tetrachord. As noted above, the exharmonic N is especially prominent in the B
fragments. In B1 it alternates insistently with U (minor third), but appears also next to P (semitone); in
B3 it alternates with L (minor third), and with the exharmonic T (tone, as it were f# g# in the key of F).
In C6 again we find minor thirds (T M, U N U); so too in C13 and 16 (M T oscillating), 29, 38, 41 (N U N,
resolving with a rising semitone to M); in C8 and 41 descending semitone slides (P T U [also in the Zeno
papyrus], L M N); descending semitones also in C21 (T U), 28 (G D), 37 (P T), 40 (N P). The leap from U
to D (diminished sixth) in C44 is exceptional. 6
Not much can be said about the relationship between melody and accent, as the identification of
words is often uncertain. There is reasonable agreement in B1, so far as it goes, 7 and in C13 i 4; 14; 15
ii 6(?); 42.2; on the other hand there appear to be clashes in C1 i 4; 4. 1; 6. 7; 13 ii 2; 15 i 3; 16.2; 43.2.
A large measure of disagreement should be an indication of strophic composition. I have sometimes
referred to the rise or fall of the melody as a criterion for choosing between different possibilities for
accentuation or word division, but it is clearly not a very dependable one.
Here now are the fragments of the ‘tragic’ group.
B1 (31 fr. b: verso of A1). A piece of unmistakably tragic character. The insistence on the two notes N U
and the interval of a minor third is remarkable.
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ºU N U N— N N≥ ª
ºn≥e iwimoi ee axionton≥e≥rat≥ª
ºN≥ U N U N≥ ª
ºo≥d≥e≥ iwpopoiwçd≥a≥ª
º U N ª
ºm≥anth≥ ≥ª
º N≥ P≥ ª
ºp≥oç≥ ≥ª
º N≥ ª
5 ºh≥paiç ª
ºN N ª
ºd≥e≥t≥ª
. . .
1–2 Word-spacing as shown. Typically tragic exclamations: duvsthºne (?), ijwv(i) moi, e] e{ … ijw; povpoi, sung as follows:
So far as I know, the spelling ijwvi is not found elsewhere, though w[i moi is well attested. The letters e≥rat≥ are turned under.
a[xion to; gevra" not excluded 2 Perhaps tºovde 3 e.g. ojloivºman, ejºmavn t∆ 5 pai'"? Thetis lamenting Achilles? A space
after; line-end?
6 Perhaps it resolved to G; cf. the sequence U G D in C28.
7 ‘Agreement’ is shorthand for the code set out in Ancient Greek Music, 199.