SYNAULIA

Synaulia is a team of musicians, archeologists, paleontologists and choreographers dedicated to the application of their historical research to ancient music and dance, in particular to the ancient Etruscan and Roman periods. The name comes from the Ancient Greek "συναυλία" (sunaulía), which in ancient Rome referred to a group of instruments consisting mainly of wind instruments. The group was founded and at first sponsored by the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, Netherlands in 1995 by Italian paleorganologist Walter Maioli and choreographer and anthropologist Natalie Van Ravenstein. In the absence of a system of musical notation for the periods in question, the reconstruction and study of ancient musical expression was based on comparative studies of iconography, textual analysis, social studies and customs, also drawing from paleorganology, ethnomusicology, archeology and historiography. The richness of the iconographic documentation, the abundance of tested theories and numerous literary connections facilitated the study and reproduction of a wide range of antique musical instruments, helping to determine, among other points of interest, their melodic and harmonic possibilities and acoustic quality. Armed with this historical information, the group's research was then subdivided into several main research branches. The first branch was dedicated to wind instruments. The research led to the reconstruction of instruments such as syrinx, fistulae, tibiae, cornu, tuba, bucina, iynx, and rhombus. The second branch dealt with string instruments: among others the lyra, cithara, sambuca, cordae and pandura were reconstructed. Synaulia recorded two volumes for Amiata Reciords so far: Music forom Ancient Rome vol. 1 - Wind Instruments and Music from Ancient Rome vol. 2 - String Instruments. These are a hypothetical reconstruction of the music of Imperial Rome, using replicas of original instruments , rebuilt by Walter Maioli and his research group. This unique recordings, , have been highly acclaimed in the international press and media. Extensive reportage on, and documentaries about this production, have been made by several television companies in Europe, in the US and Japan. Produced in collaboration with the Museo della Civilta' Romana in Rome, and recognized by the Italian academic world for its authenticity, this fascinating project is still in fieri. A third vol. will be published soon.