Hi jeidsath, excuse me the late reaction!
This was a knocked up recording of the Bacchae intro made on the spot just to react to the message, so there shall be things I would have done differently.
I’m actually trying to follow the advice of Dionysius Thraix, that is «Ἀνάγνωσις ἐστι ποιημάτων… Ἀναγνωστέον δὲ καθ’ ὑπόκρισιν, κατὰ προσῳδίαν, κατὰ διαστολήν.» Where “by διαστολὴ we understand the contained meaning”. (The word has some meanings, among others separation, distinction and, another expansion; this expansion is often mentioned in the writings of the metricians where a long can be 2, 3, or even 4 times longer. Also, it’s remarkable in the Bankes and other papyri that selectively some long syllables have been marked with a long sign, which could indicate a special lengthening on that place; at least this is how I interpret it).
Ιf the first criterion above, of recreating speech from reading is “ὑπόκρισις”, that is imitation or reproduction of real life speaking, then I still have to meet a person speaking in one steady tempo…
What I often hear by other people recording Greek, is their fixation on ictus and a steady tempo (not rhythm) throughout. But, the even term “ictus” in this context is just a couple of hundred years old, if I understand it well and never spoken of in Anc. Greek.
Also this steadiness of both (tempo & rhythm) is in reality already disturbed by enjambement or resolution; the (discussion of) different durations among the longs (also short vowels).
These happen so often that one cannot speak of a “special effect” anymore and I find they point to the dominance of phrasing more than anything else. I can’t imagine listeners/viewers of ancient performances willing to be hypnotized by not understanding the spoken text for hours listening to a repeated pattern etc.
Of course in an educative environment one is inclined to just keep steady timing and that has its purpose, however to perform is another chapter often ignored.
A different point is, my ἀπορία: What should one consider the expressive means of a reciter (ῥαψῳδός) which could lead Plato to describe Ion’s artistic profile in comparison with other performers? If they all had to realize the same task and epic/operatic score, how could he be the “star” claimed to be?
The “mu-ne” is a way to make a syllable long by position sound longer, for increasing its duration. People do it sometimes here in Greece in everyday speech, especially in the provinces, so I’ve copied this practice. “Normal” educated speech in Greece considers it unsofisticated though, like other prosodies that seem to have existed in the ancient form of the language. It’s my solution also in the case muta-cum-liquida when they have to create a long by position. Funny is that sometimes the same combination appears twice in a verse, one time in a syllable scanned short, then with a long one…
But, as always, I may miss something in my practice, so feel free to inform me!
)
You really manage to overcome your native phonology - ancient Greek is a nightmare to English speakers, and not just vowel quantity, but the vowel system in general, as well the aspirated vs. unaspirated stops and all the rest…