Posted on 09/30/2026 9:30:21 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Seikilos Epitaph is the earliest surviving music composition, written in ancient Greek in the 1st or 2nd century CE. Isn't it amazing we're playing a tune 2000 years old?
I made 2 versions. The first one's just the melody. The second adds simple accompaniments.
Tuning: G, A, B, C D E F G A B C' D' E' F' G' A' Seikilos Epitaph (The Oldest Complete Tune)
- Lyre Harp Cover & Tutorial | 0:52
Samantha on Mars | 43.4K subscribers | 25,046 views | January 23, 2022
Seikilos epitaph YouTube search
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
https://protesilaos.com/interpretations/2022-10-12-seikilos-epitaph/
While alive shine
Grieve none at all
Life amounts to little
Time demands the end
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph
In English the poem translates as: “As long as you’re alive, shine, don’t be sad at all; life is short, time asks for its due” per Rohland (2022). Landels (1999) provides the alternative translation: “As long as you live, let the world see you, and don’t make yourself miserable; life is short, and Time demands his due”.
“the Seikilos Epitaph is not the absolute first or oldest musical piece in human history, but it is the oldest surviving complete song with fully readable musical notation.”
The Oldest Complete Song: Created around the 1st or 2nd century CE in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), it features both lyrics and specific pitch notation written on a stone monument.
Other musical recordings are older, but they are incomplete. For example, the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal dates back to around 1400 BCE, but it only survives in broken pieces and tuning instructions rather than a fully intact melody. Sumerian cuneiform tablets from around 1900 BCE contain music theory and tuning guides, but they cannot be fully played today like the Seikilos Epitaph. Curse of being a music major.
wy69
Feels Like Rain | 4:50
John Hiatt | 23K subscribers | 64,520 views | December 12, 2018
🎵 Hey, FR has at least one topic about the Hurrian hymn. 🎶
Pleasant music Good vibrations BUMP!
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Nat King Cole | 521K subscribers | 4,428,751 views | May 10, 2017
Composer Lyricist: Jimmy van Heusen
Composer Lyricist: Sammy CahnThe September Of My Years | 3:21
Frank Sinatra | 3.04M subscribers | 155,847 views | July 25, 2018
“Good beat... easy to dance to”
— American Bandstand
That certainly gives a whole new meaning to "classical" music!
It's interesting that the ancient Greeks developed a pentatonic (five tone) scale independently of its development centuries earlier in China.
“...FR has at least one topic...”
I find it interesting that the writer(s) are determining any of them to be the first songs. Long before there were musical instruments the songs were done in voice and maybe with a clap, a foot stomp, or some other man made sound. And they weren’t harmonized but just a single melody that very few performed as music was not a lot more than a sound and Kacey Kasum wasn’t born yet.
Even the lute wasn’t recognized as invented until just before 3100 BCE. And it was quite the technology as early long-necked lutes appeared in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) prior to 3100 BCE, using turtle shells or carved wood for the body and animal skin for the soundboard. It wasn’t a Fender Stratocaster, but pretty cool for that time frame.
wy69
Kassia, a Byzantine-era composer, has a decent body of surviving work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioWWIiG_sHc
Painting: by Philippe de Mazerolles, French painter and miniaturist, active in Paris and Bruges. He decorated several books for Charles the Bold and the king of England. Born unknown, died 1472 Bruges..Early 16th Century Venetian Lute Music, Paul O'Dette | 1:13:03
HarpsichordA6 | 70.6K subscribers | 784,019 views | June 7, 2014
Composition, baroque lute: Naochika SogabeREFUGE - Relaxing Meditation Lute Music (European Oud)
for meditation, yoga, studying | 11:44
Music for Spirit - Nao Sogabe | 133K subscribers | 1,985 views | April 5, 2020
The Osmonds are an American family music group who reached the height of their fame in the early to mid- 1970s. Currently consisting of a duo of original members Merrill Osmond and Jay Osmond, the group had its best-known configurations as a quartet (billed as the Osmond Brothers) and a quintet (as the Osmonds). The group has comprised siblings who are all members of a family of musicians from Ogden, Utah and have been in the public eye since the 1960s.
The Osmond Brothers began as a barbershop quartet consisting of brothers Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay. They were later joined by younger siblings Donny and Jimmy, both of whom enjoyed success as solo artists. With the addition of Donny, the group became known as the Osmonds; performing both as teen idols and as a soft rock band, their peak lasted from 1971 to 1975. Their only sister Marie, who rarely sang with her brothers at that time, launched a successful career in 1973, both as a solo artist and as Donny's duet partner. By 1976, the band was no longer producing hit singles; that year, they transitioned into television with Donny & Marie, a popular variety show that ran until 1979.
A revival of the original Osmond Brothers lineup in the 1980s achieved moderate success in country music, and both Donny and Marie separately made comebacks in their respective fields in the late-1980s. The Osmonds have sold over 77 million records worldwide. The quartet continued to perform through their 50th anniversary in 2007, at which point Alan and later Wayne retired due to health issues; Jimmy was recruited after Alan's retirement, with the group performing as a trio until Jimmy suffered a stroke and retired in 2018. Alan's son David Osmond performed with the group in 2019. On October 14, 2019, the original Osmond Brothers quartet reunited for CBS' The Talk for their sister Marie's 60th birthday, billed as the last appearance for the lineup. The brothers performed "The Last Chapter," written as a farewell song and introduced in 2018. Donny & Marie ended an 11-year Las Vegas residency on November 16, 2019. Merrill and Jay continue to perform and tour, as does Donny as a solo artist.The Osmonds - Are You Up There? (1972) | 2:19
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Lyrics
Kapsberger by Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580-1651)
Recorded 09-24-2026 at St James the Apostle Catholic Church in McDonough GAKapsberger by Kapsberger - Charles Iner, Theorbo | 2:48
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00:00 - Francesco Spinacino (XV cent.- after 1507) Ricercare
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05:35 - Simone Molinaro (ca. 1565-ca. 1613) Fantasia I
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11:30 - Cesare Negri (c.1535-c.1605) Lo spagnoletto -- Il bianco fioreItalian Lute Music of the Renaissance (c.1535 - after 1600) | 14:10
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John Dowland (1563 - 1626)Dowland -- Sir John Langton, his Pavan
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Xenos (pronounced @Ksenos@) from Koroni was cantor of St. Sophia, Konstantinopolis, in the 11th century.
He was born in Koroni, Peloponnese, Greece. He was a very educated man and an excellent musician.Byzantine Secular Music-The Nightingale Kratima | 10:00
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