The history of music is as old as humanity itself. Archaeologists have found primitive flutes made of bone and ivory dating back as far as 43,000 years, and it’s likely that many ancient musical styles have been preserved in oral traditions.
When it comes to specific songs, however, the oldest known examples are relatively more recent.
The earliest fragment of musical notation is found on a 4,000-year-old Sumerian clay tablet, which includes instructions and tunings for a hymn honoring the ruler Lipit-Ishtar.
Hurrian Hymn No. 6
But for the title of oldest extant song, most historians point to “Hurrian Hymn No. 6,” an ode to the goddess Nikkal that was composed in cuneiform by the ancient Hurrians sometime around the 14th century B.C.
The clay tablets containing the tune were excavated in the 1950s from the ruins of the city of Ugarit in Syria. Along with a near-complete set of musical notations, they also include specific instructions for how to play the song on a type of nine-stringed lyre.
“Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is considered the world’s earliest melody, but the oldest musical composition to have survived in its entirety is a first century A.D. Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.” The song was found engraved on an ancient marble column used to mark a woman’s gravesite in Turkey.
“I am a tombstone, an image,” reads an inscription. “Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance.”
The column also includes musical notation as well as a short set of lyrics that read: “While you live, shine / Have no grief at all / Life exists only for a short while / And time demands its toll.”
Modern Interpretations of Oldest Song
The well-preserved inscriptions on Seikilos Epitaph have allowed modern musicians and scholars to recreate its plaintive melodies note-for-note. Dr. David Creese of the University of Newcastle performed it using an eight-stringed instrument played with a mallet, and ancient music researcher Michael Levy has recorded a version strummed on a lyre.
There have also been several attempts to decode and play “Hurrian Hymn No. 6,” but because of difficulties in translating its ancient tablets, there is no definitive version. One of the most popular interpretations came in 2009, when Syrian composer Malek Jandali performed the ancient hymn with a full orchestra.
FAQs
The “Hurrian Hymn” is the earliest known song to be recorded in writing, dating to around the 13th century BCE. The text of this hymn is concerned with the promotion of fertility. It refers to the making of offerings and libations to the moon goddess, Nikkal.
What is the oldest known song in history? ›
“Hurrian Hymn No. 6” is considered the world's earliest melody, but the oldest musical composition to have survived in its entirety is a first century A.D. Greek tune known as the “Seikilos Epitaph.” The song was found engraved on an ancient marble column used to mark a woman's gravesite in Turkey.
What was the first piece of music in history? ›
Hymn To Nikkal
The first known form of musical notation is a stone tablet found in Ugarit, an ancient city in the north of Syria, dating back to around 1400BC. The song itself, the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal (Goddess of Orchards), is the earliest known musical score in the history of any significant size.
What is the oldest known form of music? ›
The oldest surviving written music is the Hurrian songs from Ugarit, Syria. Of these, the oldest is the Hymn to Nikkal (hymn no. 6; h. 6), which is somewhat complete and dated to c.
What is the first song ever made in the world? ›
The Hurrian Hymn was discovered in the 1950s on a clay tablet inscribed with Cuneiform text. It's the oldest surviving melody and is over 3,400 years old.
What was the first musical ever? ›
The first original theatre piece in English that conforms to the modern conception of a musical, adding dance and original music that helped to tell the story, is generally considered The Black Crook, which premiered in New York on September 12, 1866.
What is the oldest complete music? ›
The “Song of Seikilos” (also known as the “Seikilos Epitaph”) has been dated to the 1st or 2nd century CE and is widely considered to be the oldest complete musical composition.
What is the oldest song still played today? ›
Although interpretations of the melody may vary, modern scholars and musicians have reconstructed and performed the "Hurrian Hymn No. 6," making it one of the oldest known musical compositions still played and appreciated today.
How far back does music go? ›
Making music is a universal human trait that goes back to at least 35,000 years ago. Explore the evidence for some of the world's earliest musical instruments.
When was the first era of music? ›
The first fully acknowledged era in classical music was the Renaissance period, beginning in around 1400. There was, however, all sorts of music before that, much of it laying the foundations for the composers who were to come – and this all is what we refer to today as the Early period.
No historical evidence exists to tell us exactly who sang the first song, or whistled the first tune, or made the first rhythmic sounds that resembled what we know today as music. But researchers do know it happened thousands of years ago. The earliest civilizations throughout Africa, Europe and Asia had music.
What is the oldest pop song? ›
The song is called 'After the Ball' by Charles Harris. It was written in 1891 and debuted in 1892. Sheet music was one of the metrics used to determine the popularity of a song.
What was the first sound of music? ›
The book's first film treatment was the West German movie Die Trapp-Familie (1956; The Trapp Family). It was reworked as a stage musical, The Sound of Music, with songs by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, which opened on Broadway in 1959 and won six Tony Awards.
What is the oldest song known to man? ›
The “Hurrian Hymn” is the earliest known song to be recorded in writing, dating to around the 13th century BCE.
What was the first piece of music ever recorded? ›
The first-ever piece of music to be recorded was the French folk song “Au clair de la lune”, sung by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville . He recorded it on April 9th, 1860, using his invention, the Phonautograph .
What was the first popular song? ›
The song is called 'After the Ball' by Charles Harris. It was written in 1891 and debuted in 1892. Sheet music was one of the metrics used to determine the popularity of a song.
What is the oldest music alive? ›
Ray Anthony is currently the oldest musician in the world! He was a professional trumpeter who learned how to play this instrument from the time he was a young child. He joined Glenn Miller's band and played the trumpet in it for about a year. Anthony went on to form his own musical group after WWII ended.
