Uploaded January 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Excerpt from my live lyre performances at the British Museum, flanked by mighty marble sculpture from the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World!
This performance, my first live performance of any kind since the dawn of the pandemic, formed part of a British Museum Member's Evening event on 23rd January 2023.
The piece heard here, is my track "Nero's Lyre", an original composition for recreated ancient lyre, inspired by the lament Nero was said to have sang as he watched Rome burn during the Great Fire of 64 CE, accompanied by his lyre.
For countless hours more "Musical Adventures in Time Travel", please see all my official artist links below!
Subscribe:
youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
ancientlyre.com
Digital Music Artist Profiles:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
iTunes & Apple Music:
itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Amazon:
amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com
Facebook Page:
facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
twitter.com/AncientLyre
Instagram:
instagram.com/mlevy1400bce
Patreon:
patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music
Excerpt from my live lyre performances at the British Museum, flanked by mighty marble sculpture from the Mausoleum of Halikarnassos - one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World!
This performance, my first live performance of any kind since the dawn of the pandemic, formed part of a British Museum Member's Evening event on 23rd January 2023.
The piece heard here, is my track "Nero's Lyre", an original composition for recreated ancient lyre, inspired by the lament Nero was said to have sang as he watched Rome burn during the Great Fire of 64 CE, accompanied by his lyre.
For countless hours more "Musical Adventures in Time Travel", please see all my official artist links below!
Subscribe:
youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
ancientlyre.com
Digital Music Artist Profiles:
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
iTunes & Apple Music:
itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Amazon:
amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
michaellevy.bandcamp.com
Facebook Page:
facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
twitter.com/AncientLyre
Instagram:
instagram.com/mlevy1400bce
Patreon:
patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music



![Orpheus Tamed the Animals: Mythological Music for Ancient Greek Lyre
A live performance of my piece, Hymn to Astraeus (Ancient Greek God of the Dusk), from my 2022 album, Orpheus Tamed the Animals: Mythological Music for Ancient Greek Lyre. Available from all the usual digital music platforms, CD quality audio can also be downloaded from Bandcamp:
https://michaellevy.bandcamp.com/album/orpheus-tamed-the-animals-mythological-music-for-ancient-greek-lyre
In ancient Greek mythology, Astraeus is a second-generation Titan, descended from Crius and Eurybia. Appropriately, as god of the dusk, Astraeus married Eos, goddess of the dawn. Together as nightfall and daybreak, they produced many children who are associated with what occurs in the sky during twilight.
They had many sons, including the four Anemoi (winds): Boreas, Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus and the five Astra Planeta (Wandering Stars, i.e. planets): Phainon (Saturn), Phaethon (Jupiter), Pyroeis (Mars), Eosphoros/Hesperos (Venus) and Stilbon (Mercury).
He is also sometimes associated with Aeolus, the Keeper of the Winds, since winds often swell up around dusk [source - Wikipedia]
In attempting to convey the feeling of dusk, I use the distinctively dark & introspective qualities of the ancient Greek Hypodorian Mode - misnamed the Aeolian mode by scholars during the Middle Ages, this mode consists of 2 conjoined tetrachords, forming the equivalent intervals as A-A on the white notes of the piano (but heard here, in the pristine, pure focus of just intonation). I feature a repetitive motif in the left hand later in the piece to evoke the chirping rhythm of cicadas at dusk. I also feature the use of harmonics, to musically evoke the shimmering rays of the setting sun.
Subscribe:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=Klezfiddle1
Official Artist Links:
Official Website:
http://www.ancientlyre.com/
Digital Music Artist Profiles:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Dx2vFEg8DmOJ5YCRm4A5v
iTunes & Apple Music:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/michael-levy/id4324920
Amazon:
http://amzn.to/2zmJph3
Bandcamp:
https://michaellevy.bandcamp.com/
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/beautifullyre
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AncientLyre
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/mlevy1400bce/
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/Michael_Levy_Ancient_Lyre_Music Orpheus Tamed the Animals: Mythological Music for Ancient Greek Lyre](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_twcvM-u7AI/mqdefault.jpg)






