Salvete,
A quick comment re: ancient Greek sources on music. Probably the most
famous passage is the discourse on the meaning and purpose of music in
Plato's Republic. Most of the writings on music from the Hellenistic
period are really more concerned with theories of intonation, not
performance practice. In fact we have precious little material to tell
us exactly how, why, and under what various circumstances the Greeks
played music. Yes, we know that the great plays included musical
interludes and possibly background, that Sappho sang her lyrics to the
barbitos, and that the Homeric epic cycles may have been chanted to a
musical accompaniment. What we don't know is much about their
performance practices. It's fair to say that Greek writers on music
tended towards the theoretical rather than the practical aspects of music.
Check out this Wikipedia page for some further resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_ancient_Greece
Curiously, we know even less about Roman music. Papyrus survives better
in arid climates such as found in the Levant, so we have a lot more
Greek sources.
Valete,
dp
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