Terpander

Terpander (tûrpăn`dər), fl. c.675 B.C., musician of Lesbos, one of the earliest founders of Greek classical music. Upon somewhat doubtful evidence, Terpander is credited with having completed the octave and adding the sixth and seventh strings to the kithara. He was also known as a poet, teacher, and composer.

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Terpander 

Born in the first half of the seventh century B.C. in Antissa, on the island of Lesbos. Greek poet and musician.

Terpander lived in Sparta. Only fragments of his poetic works remain, and the authorship of many of these is not certain. He was one of the best citharists in Greece and is said to have improved the cithara. The high nome, a genre of religious song in hexameter with a high tessitura, accompanied by a cithara, and the instrumental prelude to ritual songs are said to have been his creations. Terpander reputedly favored the mixolydian mode. Development of the scolion, a genre of drinking song, is credited to him.

REFERENCES

Radtsig, S. I. Istoriia drevnegrecheskoi literatury, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1969. Page 145.
Atichnaia literatura, 2nd ed. Edited by A. A. Takho-Godi. Moscow, 1973. Page 79.
Groningen, B. A. van. “A propos de Terpandre.” Mnemosyne, 1955, series 4, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 177–91.