Orphic Hymn to Selene

Orphic Hymn to Selene (the moon)
Translation from the Greek by Kristin Mathis (mysteriamundi.substack.com)
Music and performance by Katina Mitchell
Painting by Ross Caliendo
These hymns, dating from about 400-450 BC, are incantations: invocations containing magic words. In Western music the seven strings of Apollo's lyre are the notes making up the medieval modes, and I have taken much inspiration from medieval modes and chant in my composition of these songs. The era of medieval music is the earliest period of Western music whose notation is available to us, and the middle ages were a time of devoted interest in music as a study of numbers, a human echo of the movements of celestial bodies and the music of the spheres. Medieval music emphasized physics in music and the sonority of perfect intervals in Pythagorean tuning, and I have aimed to maintain these values in my newly-composed songs.
My motivation for setting these texts to music was a desire to sing the "magic words" myself, in my mother tongue. I wanted the songs to feel intentional, accessible, and sacred, and I also wanted to pursue a musical style that honors the heritage of improvisation and oral tradition. I hoped to experience the ways I might myself be changed through my interpretation, reflection, and time investment singing these ancient words--how I might initiate a further awakening to the memory of my human inheritance, in the Orphic tradition, as a child of Earth and Starry Sky. The modern translations by Kristin Mathis are committed to depth and accessibility, honoring the multiple meanings of the original Greek.

[@lukagagloshvili4384]

Your adorable 🥰 btw beautiful voice and song