What is the oldest song that we still know the tune to?

by LadyLandshark
dtxvsk

The oldest melody which is known to have survived in its entirety is the Song of Seikilos, which was composed in Greece around 200 BC. The song, which was written by a man named Seikilos in memory of his recently-passed wife, was found engraved on a pillar in her grave.

https://youtu.be/9RjBePQV4xE

This video contains the most authentic reproduction of the melody that I could find. Other videos add harmony, usually the kind that would not actually have been used until the late medieval period

veluna

A strong contender is this Sumerian song written an estimated 3,400 years ago. Bonus: It would make a really annoying ringtone!

Voyageur

The Epitaph of Seikilos is generally regarded by music historians as the earliest example of clearly notated music that we can interpret with a decent degree of certainty. Dates are uncertain but it dates to approximately the first century AD. It's quite a beautiful tune, I think.

inspiredsquare

What would be the oldest "common" song we still know? Like a tune the average joe would recognize? I assume something like a nursery rhyme?

The_Alaskan

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, we have already had to remove a number of poor quality responses in this thread, including many asking about the deleted comments, which merely compound the issue. In this thread, there have been a large number of incorrect, speculative, or otherwise disallowed comments, and as such, they were removed by the mod-team. Please, before you attempt answer the question, keep in mind our rules concerning in-depth and comprehensive responses. Answers that do not meet the standards we ask for will be removed.

Additionally, it is unfair to the OP to further derail this thread with off topic conversation, so if anyone has further questions or concerns, I would ask that they be directed to modmail, or a META thread. Thank you!

ponte92

The Hurrian songs from the ancient Amorite city of Ugarit are widely regarded as the earliest form of music notation found, even though there is evidence of music a long way back with flutes found that are 42,000 and 43,000 years old. It is from around 1,400 BCE and its a collection of 36 hymns. The problem being there is no accurate way to tell whether we transcribe it in a correct way or not. So all the recordings you will hear a very different.