Musician, Lyric Poet (7th century BC)
Terpander’s life and work are intermixed with mythical elements. According to Suda he was a descendent of Homer while according to other legends he was a descendent of Hesiod. When and where Terpander was born is also not known but is estimated to have been born in the island of Lesbos around the 7th century BC. He was one of the greatest ancient Greek musicians and one of the founders of lyric poetry.
According to tradition, Terpander travelled around Greece singing the works of Homer and Hesiod, as well as songs that he had written. After the 1st Messenian War that plaged Sparta, Terpander was called by the Oracle of Delphi to go to Sparta in order to alleviate their passions with his music. Around 676 BC Terpander won first place in the Carnean musical contest in Sparta. He won 1st place 4 times in the Pythean musical contest, which were held only every 9 years. His fame skyrocketed to the point where being placed second after Terpander as a musician was a high privilege.
Terpander was a musical genius who brought many innovative changes to music and lyrical poetry. He reconstructed and perfected the lyrical element of music, introduced the 7-string kithara (lyre) into music, invented the varviton, a musical intrument and founded a musical notation system and the Terpandreian Laws of music, which were musical tracks used to sing Homeric verses and verses from other epics. Tradition also marks him as a very special reformer of literary lyricism. He founded a new type of lyrical poetry which he termed “Νόμοι” (Laws) and was the first to write poems accompanied with musical notes. He wrote numerous lyrical poems almost none of which survive today.
Bibliography
- “Terpandros”. Helios New Encyclopaedic Dictionary. Passas, I. Athens, 1946. Print.
- “Terpandros”. Live-pedia.gr. Web. Retreived on September 23, 2016.
- «Ποιος ήταν ο Τέρπανδρος;». Τέρπανδρος Λόγος και Τέχνη. WordPress.com. Web. Retrieved on September 23, 2016.
