The music of political life: an ancient metaphor

Music is deeply rooted in our culture, and we often use metaphors or metonyms deriving from our musical experience. We recognize “political dissonance”; we are glad when people are “in tune” with us; we enjoy “harmony” in family relations; we notice ambitious people trying to “play the first violin”; we are annoyed by the behavior of “primadonnas” in politics or in our work place; and when we retire from our professional lives, we “sing our swan song”. Unsurprisingly, metaphors originating in musical experience play a significant part in ancient Greek mentality because of the role of music –especially choral song and dance– in the education of boys and girls in the Greek polis. E.g. the word nomos, originally designating custom, later law, is the word used for an early type of melody and later for musical composition; the unmarried man leads the life of a “single flute” (monaulos bios); and the idea of harmonia, originating in a well-tuned musical instrument, was used as a metaphor for concord and stability in the city-state. This talk approaches the impact of musical experience and musical theory on Greek thought and mentality by examining how metaphors from music were used in order to describe political phenomena and to characterize forms of political organization. Aristotle, in particular, often compared the citizen-body with a chorus, and other Greek authors compared a state with a musical composition, commented on the “harmony” of a constitution, and used musical theory to explain political change. These metaphors derive from experience with musical performances, especially with the circular dance that symbolized harmony and equality, but also with the increasing significance of the chorus leader, the soloist, and the professional specialist. Music as a metaphor for political life is attested as late as in the Byzantine period. And more recently, Fellini’s movie Proba d’orchestra presents an orchestra as a metaphor for Italian politics.