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Story of the Flute
Although unfortunately none of the music played on these ancient flutes has survived, the names of many Ancient
Players
of Notecelebrated players have been preserved by classical authors. The Thebans were esteemed the greatest performers, and when their city was destroyed their chief anxiety was to recover from the ruins a statue of Mercury with this inscription: "Greece has declared that Thebes wins the prize upon the flute." Olympus, a Phrygian poet and composer about the year 630 B.C., has been credited, by Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, with the introduction of the instrument into Greece from Asia. He is referred to in The Knights of Aristophanes, "Let us weep and wail like two flutes breathing some air of Olympus." Pronomus, of Thebes (c. 440 B.C.), who taught Alcibiades, could play in three modes on his flute. Terpander (c. 680 B.C.) is said to have once quelled a tumult by his flute, and also to have invented notation. The flute of Telaphanes of Samos is said to have had equal power over man and brute. Philoxenes, another famous player, was a notorious glutton, and wished that he were all neck, so that he could enjoy his food more! Pindar—himself a flute-player—has written an ode (the twelfth) in praise of Midas "the Glorious," a Sicilian, twice winner of the prize for flute-playing at the Phrygian games. Pliny says that Midas was the inventor of a flute called πλᾰγίαυλος, or tibia obliqua or vasca, which had a small tube, almost at right angles to the main pipe, containing a reed, through which the player blew, holding the
Players
of Notecelebrated players have been preserved by classical authors. The Thebans were esteemed the greatest performers, and when their city was destroyed their chief anxiety was to recover from the ruins a statue of Mercury with this inscription: "Greece has declared that Thebes wins the prize upon the flute." Olympus, a Phrygian poet and composer about the year 630 B.C., has been credited, by Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, with the introduction of the instrument into Greece from Asia. He is referred to in The Knights of Aristophanes, "Let us weep and wail like two flutes breathing some air of Olympus." Pronomus, of Thebes (c. 440 B.C.), who taught Alcibiades, could play in three modes on his flute. Terpander (c. 680 B.C.) is said to have once quelled a tumult by his flute, and also to have invented notation. The flute of Telaphanes of Samos is said to have had equal power over man and brute. Philoxenes, another famous player, was a notorious glutton, and wished that he were all neck, so that he could enjoy his food more! Pindar—himself a flute-player—has written an ode (the twelfth) in praise of Midas "the Glorious," a Sicilian, twice winner of the prize for flute-playing at the Phrygian games. Pliny says that Midas was the inventor of a flute called πλᾰγίαυλος, or tibia obliqua or vasca, which had a small tube, almost at right angles to the main pipe, containing a reed, through which the player blew, holding the
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