A live performance of "Orpheus's Lyre" - a new from my new album in progress, "Magic of the Kithara". Originally featured on my 2013 single of the same title for the harp-like timbre of my 10-string treble lyre, this new arrangement of the piece for recreated ancient Greek kithara transforms the melody, by the elegant, deeper timbre of the kithara, the lyre of the professional musicans of ancient Greece.
Due for release on all the usual digital music platforms on 1st January 2025, each and every one of the tracks for "Magic of the Kithara" can be previewed, as they are created, only on Bandcamp:
michaellevy.ba...
This composition was inspired by the timeless ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice:
"Eurydice and Orpheus were young and in love. So deep was their love that they were practically inseparable. So dependent was their love that each felt they could not live without the other. These young lovers were very happy and spent their time frolicking through the meadows. One day Eurdice was gaily running through a meadow with Orpheus when she was bitten by a serpent. The poison of the sting killed her and she descended to Hades immediately.
Orpheus was son of the great Olympian god Apollo. In many ways Apollo was the god of music and Orpheus was blessed with musical talents. Orpheus was so sad about the loss of his love that he composed music to express the terrible emptiness which pervaded his every breath and movement. He was so desperate and found so little else meaningful, that he decided address Hades. As the overseer of the underworld, Hades heart had to be hard as steel, and so it was. Many approached Hades to beg for loved ones back and as many times were refused. But Orpheus' music was so sweet and so moving that it softened the steel hearted heart of Hades himself. Hades gave permission to Orpheus to bring Eurydice back to the surface of the earth to enjoy the light of day. There was only one condition - Orpheus was not to look back as he ascended. He was to trust that Eurydice was immediately behind him. It was a long way back up and just as Orpheus had almost finished that last part of the trek, he looked behind him to make sure Eurydice was still with him. At that very moment, she was snatched back because he did not trust that she was there. When you hear music which mourns lost love, it is Orpheus' spirit who guides the hand of the musicians who play it" (Taken from Thomas Bulfinch and retold by Juliana Podd in Encyclopedia Mythica)
In this piece, I explore transposing between the incredibly poignant-sounding ancient Greek Phrygian mode (this was misnamed the "Dorian" mode in the Middle Ages) to evoke the yearning of Orpheus for his forever lost love, and the dreamy, sensual & feminine-sounding ancient Greek Hypolydian mode (misnamed the "Lydian" mode in the Middle Ages), to paint a picture of Eurydice - the lost love for which he forever yearns...
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 recreated ancient Greek kithara was hand-made in modern Greece by Luthieros:
www.luthieros.com
For more detailed information on the kithara of classical antiquity, please also see my own website blog:
ancientlyre.co...
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