Whereas the composition exists generally in written musical notation, the improvisation is caused by spontaneous process of making music with unfixed notes or without any notation. There is no doubt that the earlier the age was, the less notation system was developed and improvisation was practiced more. Ancient music historically covers the music from the invention of letters until the medieval times and regionally the music from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel and Greece. The music of each region had different musical characteristics but the tendency of improvisation was common according to the historical reconstruction. It would be well-matched for the brilliant lyre with a bull head from Mesopotamia to accompany the Epic of Gilgamesh. It is difficult to reconstruct the ancient Egypt music because the text material of the music is insufficient. The reconstructed instrument could bring the sound of the instrument and it often makes the pseudo-music, which comes from the imagination of composers or scholars. Many improvised Israelite songs are orally transmitted. One of the famous examples is Schema Israel, which reflects their religious confession. In comparison to other ancient musics, the ancient Greek music remains the most generous archeological evidence. The reconstruction of the ancient Greek music depends on the systematical system but it is performed in improvised style as well.

A¨gypten hat wegen seiner eigenen Kulturscha¨tze aus Dreitausend jahrelange Geschichte sta¨ndig die Reisenden und Historiker bezaubert und deren Interesse erweckt. Doch solange das Schrifttum schweigt bis zur Entzifferung der Hieroglyphen,konnte die Geschichte A¨gyptens gar nicht wissenschaftlich wahrgenommen werden Die Rezeption der alta¨gyptischen Musilk in der Musikgeschichtsschreibung war nichtsoviel anders.Von einer wissenschaftlichen A¨gpytologie kann erst seit der Entzifferung der Hieroglyphenschrift durch Jean F. Champollion im Jahre 1822 gesprochen werden.Nach der Entstehung und Ausbreitung der vergleichenden Musikwissenschaft um diese Jahrhunderwende ermo¨glicht die intensive Forschungen u¨ber die a¨gyptische Musik Die Vertiefung der a¨gyptischen Musik ist erst bei Hans Hickmann gelungen.Besonders viel verdanken wir seinen Erforschungen, weil er wa¨hrend seines langja¨hrigen Aufenthalts in A¨gypten die Rekonstruktion der a¨gyptischen Musikkultur durch seine u¨ber 150 vero¨ffentlichen Schiften beitragen hat.Eine musikwissenschaftliche Untersuchung u¨ber die alta¨gyptische Musik bedeutetim engeren Sinne eine musikarcha¨ologische Untersuchung. Musikarcha¨ologie ist eine interdisziplina¨re Forschung, die auf Grundlage der Musikwissenschaft und Archa¨-ologie neue Kenntnisse zu gewinnen sucht. Musikarcha¨ologische Artefakte sind in erster Linie Musikinstrumente oder archa¨ologische Funde, auf denen Musikinstrumente be. deren Auffu¨hrungspraxis dargestellt sind. Als drittes Material sind die schriftlichen Texte zu nennen. Wie sich das Wissen u¨ber alta¨yptische Musik erweitern la¨-Bt,liegt in der Hand der Musikarcha¨logie selbst, die aus der Perspektive der A¨-gyptologie und interdisziplina¨ren Forschung gefo¨rdert werden mu¨Bte.

Music, melody, harmony, rhythm, symphony, orchestra, organ, chorus, chord, tone and so on, the world owes these words to the Greeks. Ancient Greek culture was permeated with music. However, the subject, "Music in Greek Life" is practically ignored by all of us. Sometimes its very existence seems to be barely acknowledged. We can learn about music in ancient Greek by several ways; the evidence of archaeology and art; the innumerable references to music and music-making scattered through Greek literature from the eighth century B. C. onwards; specialist writing on music, e. g. Aristoxenus of Tarentum; non-literary documents, especially inscriptions, occasionally also papyri; actual musical scores. In ancient Greek culture, music, song and dance were seen as being, together with orderly sacrifices to the gods and athletic facilities for men, the most characteristic manifestations of a civilized community in peacetime. The Greek thought above all of the music and song associated with the public worship of the gods. Not everything, however, had to be subordinated to the god's needs. A paean or dithyramb might contain much that had little relevance to the deity being honoured. Offering prizes for the best singer or instrumentalist was a natural development. In B. C. 5th century, there were competitions for rhapsodes at the festival of Asclepius at Epidaurus. There must have been many opportunities for hearing epic song other than at festivals, but festivals will have been a common setting. In the society portrayed in the Homeric poems it is music and song that provide the normal entertainment of the household. Much of the elegiac and lyric poetry of the seventh, sixth, and fifth centuries was composed to be sung at the symposium. Certainly at Athens in the fifth century symposiasts regularly sang songs or excerpts from 'classic' poets. The ability to play the lyre was not uncommon among the archaic nobility. While the men made merry, the women of the household also were singing too in their own quarters. Children's songs must not go unmentioned. The picture has been deliberately limited to the Archaic and Classical periods (eighth to fourth centuries), in order to maintain a semblance of coherence.

The purpose of this thesis is to give a perspective on the music theory of Ancient Greece & Rome through the study of original texts. Nine major theorists' treatises are discussed under the separate title, repectively. And also 7 minor theorists' treatises or theories are mentioned also in the course of discussion in relation to the major one. The rise of Western music theory can be traced back to the time of Pytagoras. His mathematical calculation of intervals set up the long tradition of treating music as mathematical scholarship. And the other branch of music theory was established soon also. That was an empirical one initiated by Aristoxenus who was a pupil of Aristotle. And then these two branches interacted in the course of development of music theory. That is, although most of the ancient theorists belonged to the Pytagorian school, those representatives such as Euclid·Ptolemy·A. Quintilian accommodated some of Aristoxenus' theory. Theorists represented the Aristoxenian school were Cleonides(cf. footnote 3) and Cassiodorus(cf. footnote 23). The topics dealt with in ancient treatises were intervals, scales, modes, scale systems, rhythm, tuning, notation, ethos of music, and Pytagorian concept of music of spheres. Intervals were discussed in depth particularly in relation to tuning (Ptolemy), tetrachord which was the basis of scales (Aristoxenus, A. Quintilian), and modes (Ptolemy, Gaudentius). The scale systems of the Greater Perfect system and the Lesser Perfect system became the norm throughout the ancient times. Of the rhythm, feets mentioned first by Aristoxenus were clearly explained and expanded by St. Augustine. Information on Greek notation relies on Alypius. Ethos of music and the idea of music of spheres were presented in length especially by Ptolemy and Boethius.