epigonion

The epigonion was invented, or at least introduced into Greece, by Epigonus of Ambracia, a Greek musician of Ambracia in Epirus, who was admitted to citizenship at Sicyon as a recognition of his great musical ability and of his having been the first to pluck the strings with his fingers, instead of using the plectrum.{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1911|p=689}} cites Michael Praetorius, Syntagma musicum, tom. I, c. 13, p. 380;

Salomon van Til, Sing-Dicht und Spiel-Kunst, p. 95.

The instrument, which Epigonus named after himself, had forty strings.{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1911|p=689}} cites Pollux, Onomasticon, lib. iv. cap. 9, 59.

It was undoubtedly a kind of harp or psaltery, since in an instrument of so many strings some must have been of different lengths, for tension and thickness only could hardly have produced forty different sounds, or even twenty, supposing that they were arranged in pairs of unisons. Strings of varying lengths require a frame like that of the harp, or of the Egyptian cithara which had one of the arms supporting the cross bar or zugon shorter than the other,{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1911|p=690}} notes for an illustration, see Kathleen Schlesinger, Orchestral Instruments, part ii. "Precursors of the Violin Family", fig. 165, p. 219. or else strings stretched over harp-shaped bridges on a sound-board in the case of a psaltery.{{sfn|Schlesinger|1911|p=689}}

File:A modern reconstruction of a epigonion (trigonon), Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology.jpg, Athens, Greece.]]

Juba II, king of Mauretania, who reigned from 30 BC, said that Epigonus brought the instrument from Alexandria and played upon it with the fingers of both hands, not only using it as an accompaniment to the voice, but introducing chromatic passages,{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1911|p=690}} cites Ap. Athen. l.c. and a chorus of other stringed instruments, probably citharas, to accompany the voice. Epigonus was also a skilled citharist and played with his bare hands without plectrum.{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1911|p=690}} cites Athenaeus, iv. p. 183 d. and xiv. p. 638 a.

Unfortunately, we have no record of when Epigonus lived. Vincenzo Galilei{{harvnb|Schlesinger|1911|p=690}} cites Dialogo della musica antica e moderna, ed. 1602, p. 40. has given us a description of the epigonion accompanied by an illustration, representing his conception of the ancient instrument, an upright psaltery with the outline of the clavicytherium (but no keyboard).{{sfn|Schlesinger|1911|p=690}}

In 2008, members of the Ancient Instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application (ASTRA) project used physical modeling synthesis to simulate the epigonion. The instrument was simulated using historical records and its audio output (music) was rendered digitally. The first digital audio rendering of the Epigonion,{{cite web|url= http://www.astraproject.org/examples/dufay.mp3| title=  | url-status= usurped| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090317213850/http://www.astraproject.org/examples/dufay.mp3 | archive-date= 2009-03-17}}(no title) released by ASTRA, has a duration of one minute and 57 seconds and took about four hours to render. Due to the complexity of this process, the ASTRA project uses grid computing,{{Cite web |url=http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1000550 |title=grid computing |access-date=2009-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090822185907/http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1000550 |archive-date=2009-08-22 |url-status=dead }} to model sounds on hundreds of computers simultaneously.

The epigonion is part of the Lost Sounds Orchestra,{{Cite web |url=http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1001954 |title=Lost Sounds Orchestra |access-date=2009-08-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902021150/http://www.isgtw.org/?pid=1001954 |archive-date=2009-09-02 |url-status=dead }} alongside other ancient instruments which ASTRA has recreated the sounds for, including the salpinx, the aulos, the barbiton, and the syrinx.

ASTRA describes the sound of their modelled epigonion as "metallic, crisp and bright, with a quite different timbre in the low and high range".{{cite web |title=The Instruments |url=http://www.lostsoundsorchestra.org/index.php/astra/the-instruments |publisher=ASTRA |date=28 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328123445/http://www.lostsoundsorchestra.org/index.php/astra/the-instruments |archive-date=2014-03-28 }} Recordings ASTRA's reconstructed epigonion:

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120216140756/http://www.astraproject.org/examples/dufay.mp3 Dufay recording]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110726193418/http://www.dante.net/upload/wav/ScarlattiSonataDMinor.wav Scarlatti Sonata in D Minor recording]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110726193108/http://www.dante.net/upload/wav/ScarlattiSonataGMajor.wav Scarlatti Sonata in G Major recording]

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{EB1911|first=Kathleen |last=Schlesinger |authorlink=Kathleen Schlesinger |wstitle=Epigonion |volume=9 |pages=689–690}}

{{Greek musical instruments}}

Category:Ancient Greek musical instruments