Ancient Celtic music

This article is about the music and instruments of the ancient Celts until late Antiquity. For the modern folkloristic genre and its history see Celtic Music.

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The ancient Celts had a distinct culture, which is shown by their very sophisticated art work. Especially the late La Tène culture is characterized by a high aesthetic level, which must have also left traces in Celtic music and musical practices. Music will surely have been an integral part of this ancient cross-European culture, but with only very few exceptions its melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and tonal characteristics have been lost. Deductions rely primarily on Greek and Roman sources as well as on archaeological finds and interpretations including the reconstruction of the Celts' ancient instruments.

In 54 BC Cicero wrote that there were no musically educated people on the British isle. Independent of the validity of Cicero's remark the situation was different for the Gallic regions. By the time of Augustus, musical education must have widely gained ground in Gaul, otherwise Iulius Sacrovir couldn't have used the erudite Gauls as a decoy, after Sacrovir and Iulius Florus had occupied the city of Augustodonum during the Gallic insurrection in 21 AD. The Gauls took great pride in their musical culture, which is shown by the remark of Gaius Iulius Vindex, the Gallic rebel and later senator under Claudius, who shortly before the arrival in Rome called emperor Nero a malus citharodeus ("bad cithara player") and reproached him with inscitia […] artis ("ignorance of the arts"). However, Celtic music culture was spread inhomogeneously over Europe. Maximinus Thrax, the Dracian-Roman emperor of Gothic descent, annoyed his fellow Romans because he was unable to appreciate a mimic stage song.

Most of the information on ancient Celtic music centers on military conflicts and on maybe the most prominent Celtic instrument of its time, the carnyx.

The carnyx

A Roman tropaeum with a carnyx
© VRoma (Used by permission)

The carnyx (plural: carnyces; Greek: κάρνυξ—"karnyx"—or rarely: καρνον—"karnon") was a Celtic-Dacian variant of the Etruscan-Roman lituus and was called crwth by the Gauls. The carnyx belongs to the family of brass instruments. It was an ſ-shaped valveless horn made of beaten bronze and consisted of a tube approximately 1 to 1 1/2 meters in length, whereas the diameter of the tube is unknown. Archaeological finds date back to the Bronze Age, and the instrument itself is attested for in contemporary sources between ca. 300 BC and 200 AD. The carnyx was in widespread use in Britain, France, parts of Germany, eastwards to Romania and beyond, even as far as India, where bands of Celtic mercenaries took it on their travels. Since the Gauls and other Celtic peoples used the instrument as a symbol of their independent musical culture, an attempt was made to derive the Etruscan lituus from the carnyx, but without success.

Gallic coins show the carnyx behind the head of the goddess Gallia or held by a chieftain, a charioteer or a Gallic Victoria. On British coins the instrument is seen swung by mounted Celtic warriors or chiefs. Roman coins, e.g. those heralding Caesar's victory over Gaul, depict the carnyx on Roman tropaea as spoils of war. Other depictions are known from the Augustus statue of Prima Porta. In addition the instrument is carried by Gauls on Trajan's Column.

The carnyx' most prominent feature is the bell, which was constructed as an animal head, either as one of a serpent, a fish, a bird, a wolf, a horse, an ass or a wild boar. The earliest depiction shows the head of a dragon and was found on Aetolian victory coins from the 3rd century BC, which commemorate the expulsion of the Gallic warriors, who marauded the Delphi sanctum. Behn (1912) interpreted the many bell types as distinguishing features of the various Celtic clans and chiefdoms. Others have suggested a mythological component, which is the most logical explanation, since the Deskford Carnyx in Scotland was a sacrificial offering, of which the possibly dismantled head could have been the key element. The sound of the carnyx was described as lugubrious and harsh, maybe due to the loosened tongue of the bell.

Playing techniques and features

The carnyx was held vertically so that the sound would travel from more than three meters above the ground. Reconstructions have shown that the instrument's embouchure must have been cut diagonally, so the carnyx could be played in a similar fashion as a modern-day trumpet, i.e. with vibrating lips, however blown from the side. Due to the absence of valves, melodies were created by producing harmonics with overblowing techniques, as the reconstructional work by John Kenny has convincingly shown. The fairly wide bell guaranteed a very high playing volume. The best surviving bell of a carnyx was found in North East Scotland as part of the so-called Deskford Carnyx and featured a movable tongue. In addition the bronze jaw of the animal head may have been loosened as well in order to produce a jarring sound that would surely have been most dreadful when combined with the sound of a few dozen more carnyces in battle. The demoralizing effect of the Gallic battle music must have been enormous: When the Celts advanced on Delphi under Brennus in 279 BC, the unusual echoing effects of the blaring horns completely overawed the Greeks, before even a single fight had commenced.

Use of the carnyx

Since most ancient Roman sources are based on bellicose encounters with the Celtic chiefdoms, the carnyx is today mostly seen as an instrument used during warfare, as Polybius e.g. reports for the battle of Telemon, Gallia Cisalpina, in 225 BC, where the Gauls used the instrument together with other brass instruments to frighten the Roman enemy. The limitation to acoustic or psychological warfare is however erroneous. Brass instruments were regularly used as a means of communication during battle, relaying orders for troop positioning, movement and tactics, also by the Gauls. Other sources confirm that the Gauls kept their military order even in situations of military mishaps. The musicians of their army camps played their horns to ensure a cohesive and controlled retreat. After the victory of Marius near Vercellae, his Roman rival Catulus Caesar reserved a Cimbrian signaling horn from the loot for himself. That Cicero saw the nonexisting musical education of the British Celts as a sure guarantee for a quick and easy victory of Rome, shows how strategically important music, musicians and instruments must have been for the Roman and Celtic armies alike.

Furthermore, the instrument can be seen in action on the famous Gundestrup cauldron in the depiction of a warrior initiation ritual (2nd or 1st century BC), a clear evidence for the use of the instrument outside of the purely military realm. The ritual use of the instrument is further supported by the Deskford Carnyx, which was shown to have been a sacrificial offering to an unknown god.

Other Celtic instruments

Brass instruments

In his accounts of the battle of Telemon, Polybius clearly distinguishes between trumpet- and horn-like instruments played by the Gallic warriors. In general the Celtic peoples had a variety of instruments at their disposal. Aside from the carnyx, at least two other brass instrument types are known from Roman and Greek depictions.

The Celtic horn

The Celtic horn was a large, oval-curved horn with a thin tube and a modestly large bell, not unlike the Roman cornu, especially since it also had a crossbar as a means of supporting the instrument's weight on the player's shoulder. On a Pompeian fresco, the horn is carried by a female dancer, and a Gallic warrior carries a broken exemplar, fastened together by a (leather?) band, on a Capitoline sculpture.

The Celtic trumpet

The Celtic trumpet was similar to the straight Roman tuba and came in different lengths. A Celtic musician is depicted playing the instrument on a late Greek vase. A related instrument is probably the early mediaeval Loch Erne horn that was found in Ireland.

Other brass instruments

Many regional variants of the Celtic horns are known and came in different shapes, sizes and diameters, like the Loughnashade Trumpa from Ireland and similar horns from Scandinavia and other regions. Couissin (1927) documented a third Celtic wind instrument type with a bent horn, similar to the Caledonian Caprington Horn or the infamous prehistoric Sussex horn that was however lost and of which only drawings and reproductions survive. It is not known whether the horn mentioned by Couissin was a fragment of another Celtic horn or a simple cow horn of the rural population, a bowed horn-instrument known all across Europe.

Woodwinds and similar instruments

Bone and stone flutes are known since the Stone Age. Later wooden flutes were introduced, corresponding to the Roman fistulae, but also woodwinds made of tubes and pipes, similar to a pan flute.

Percussion and dance

Crotales (hand bells) are known since the Bronze Age. They were sometimes built with a ring and could be strapped to the player's apparel. Weapons and shields—apart from their use for rhythmic noises on the battlefields—must have been widely adopted as percussion instruments, but the only sources in this respect are on the Gallaecian and Celtiberian culture: In his epic on the second Punic war Silius mentions the exotic songs of the Gallaecian military allies, to which they beat the rhythm on their shields. Celtiberian weapon dances are reported for the funeral of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. The most famous dances of Hispania however were performed by the Gaditanae, the women of Gades in Hispania Baetica, which were so popular in Rome that special teachers from Spain were hired for Roman music education. The dancers used hand clappers as an accompanying instrument, creating a lascivious dance similar to modern-day castanet performances. If the Celts used drumming instruments like the Roman tympanum is unknown, but very likely.

The Celtic lyre

Not much is known about this instrument, only that it was used by Celtic bards and that it was well-known in Rome, where it was called lyra. The Goths invoked their tribal gods with prayers and chants, which they accompanied by lyre play. By the time of the Barbarian Invasions in the 5th century the lyre had become the most important stringed instrument of the Germanic tribes. It was a six-stringed wooden lyre with hollow ledger arms and wooden vortices in the ledger rod.

Celtic use of Roman instruments

Since many Celts, especially Gauls and Germans, became part of the Roman army, they must have also used Roman instruments, especially during battle. However, only one source seems to have been passed down: At the time of emperor Claudius' inauguration, the troops stationed in Germania and Pannonia mutinied. When an unexpected lunar eclipse commenced, the insurgent Pannonians feared the anger of the gods and ordered their musicians to play against their perdition aeris sono, tubarum cornuumque concentu, i.e. with their tubae and cornua.

Chant

The Romans have left us a variety of sources on chants from various regions. Sallust mentions the Spanish custom of ancestral songs honoring their military deeds. The recital of "barbaric songs" is reported for a member of the Celtiberian infantry during the battle of Cannae in 216 BC, as he was attacked by the Roman consul. National songs are already attested by Tacitus for the Caledonians. Livius reports Gallic war songs that were heard at the river Allia. After the Gallic victory (ca. 387 BC) the city's inhabitants had to endure the dissonant battle chants. A sole Gallic warrior is reported to have gone into a fight singing. Livius on the other hand only describes the Roman Titus Manlius, who would defeat him in 361 BC, as remaining in defiant silence to concentrate all his anger on the impending fight. In 218 BC the Gauls resisted the enemy commander Hannibal and his troops during his crossing of the Rhône with furious battle cries and the demonstrative clashing of their swords and armor. Since many of the Gauls and Germans joined Caesar's army after his victory over Gaul, their war chants were added to the Roman oeuvre of army songs: When 2000 soldiers from the Gallic cavalry defected to Octavian before the battle of Actium, they didn't only cheer for Caesar but presented genuine Gallic war songs.

Germanic chants

The Roman sources on Germanic chants are not based on ethnographical topica, but originate from actual experiences. The primary attributes of Germanic singing can be derived from the accounts on the Germanic tribes by Publius Cornelius Tacitus. As scant and recapitulary Tacitus' observations might be, it is possible to deduce two discrete music genres, the war chant (barditus) and the heroic songs.

Barditus: the battle song

Among other heroes and gods the Germans especially worshipped Heracles as their god of war with their battle songs. The warriors inferred the outcome of the battle from the character of the barditus and also accompanied their cries with the beating and rattling of their weapons and armour, which directly parallels the custom that the Gauls exhibited at the Rhône (see above). The fact that the name barditus also describes the trumpeting of an elephant might be a hint that also wind instruments were used, but this must remain pure speculation. It is more feasible that Tacitus used the term for purely objective reasons, since Germanic war songs would not be expected to come as a particularly aesthetic experience. The most important aspect was namely the intonation before the battle, and the abrupt start of the barditi doesn't speek for music with words. The characterization as an acoustic crescendo rather points at noisy battle clamor than a normal song with lyrics.

The Germans fighting for Aulus Vitellius Germanicus went into battle singing, after they had been surround by Othonian enemy forces. In his account of the Batavian rebellion lead by Gaius Iulius Civilis Tacitus contrasts the hesitant attitude of the Roman soldiers with the sullen Batavian chants. In the accounts of Ammianus the raw, dull and thundering battle songs described by Tacitus alludes to the Germans fighting on the Roman side. The fact that he mentions "Romans" intoning Germanic songs clearly shows how extensively the Roman army had been enforced with Germanic troops.

Heroic songs

Although Tacitus doesn't distinguish between the barditus and the heroic songs, his choice of words implies a second genre. Tacitus' cumulation of alliterations is probably the first mention of rhyme in Europe, an early form of the German Stabreim, which became widely popular in the Mediaeval Ages.

The Romans were acquainted with Germanic heroic songs, e.g. from the poetic and musical Nachleben of Arminius. The Tacitus source can be seen as the first testimony of early Germanic heroic songs. Festive singing is also attested for the night of the Roman advance in the Ems region in 15 AD. In 26 AD the insurgent Thracians were surprised by the attack of the Roman consul and general Poppaeus Sabinus during a feast with dance and singing. The Sicambri, who fought for the Roman side, countered the situation with defiant songs of their own, which could be evidence that the Celts knew improvisation as well as the ancient tradition of singing contests, which are e.g. reported by Virgil. The Goths sang heroic songs to worship their ancestors, and their tradition of tribal songs is well attested. After the battle of Campus Mauriacus the Goths were heard singing dirges for their fallen king.

The Romans as biased ethnographers

Elephant treading a carnyx
© Harlan J. Berk (Used by permission)

The Roman historians and poets were often interested in foreign music, especially the music of the Gaulic and Germanic Celts, but the priority of their literary aims over a detailed ethnographical observation remained a common characteristic of Roman historiography.

The preferral of political goals, especially in the Roman reports on their military campaigns, can be exemplified by C. Iulius Caesar, who twice mentions Gallic signaling horns in his Bellum Gallicum. The instrument was used in Alesia by orders of Vercingetorix to alarm his troops, and the Belgian tribe of the Bellovacians used it to summon a council of war, after they had been defeated by the Romans in 51 BC.

Caesar calls the instrument a tuba, although the correct term must have been known to him, so it's unclear if it was a carnyx or the Gallic trumpet (see above). Here the interpretatio Romana obscures the ethnographical detail, although it can be derived from the many illustrations on victory reliefs that the distinctiveness of the Gallic horns had not been passed unnoticed by the Romans. In Caesar's case, ethnographical details are in most cases only presented as long as they are beneficial as a foil for Roman behavior. An example is Caesar's detailed description of the Gallic women's opportunistic behavior, where their inconstantia is used to contrast the magnitudo animi of the Roman military. Furthermore the colorful account helped to play down Caesar's military setback in Gergovia.

A good example of how many Romans viewed the Germanic Celts is given by the soldiers after the triumph of Lepidus and Plancus 43 BC in Spain. For their songs the soldiers improvised lyrics that used the term germani ("brothers", "Germans") for their fellow Romans to ambiguously allude to the barbaric proscriptions of the second triumvirate.