# Martin Litchfield West · Person

> British classicist whose 1994 article read the Hurrian texts as melody on a descending scale. In The Hurrian songs of Ugarit.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPES4Y7AW/martin-litchfield-west  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Hurrian songs of Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)[People](https://mysteriesdept.com/people)Martin Litchfield West

Person · in 1 mystery

# Martin Litchfield West

British classicist whose 1994 article read the Hurrian texts as melody on a descending scale. **1937–2015.**

[The Hurrian songs of Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)[1 event][1 source]

Martin Litchfield West is british classical scholar (1937 to 2015), Oxford, author of Ancient Greek Music and of the 1994 melodic reading of the Hurrian texts (1937–2015), and appears in the record of Hurrian songs of Ugarit as british classicist whose 1994 article read the Hurrian texts as melody on a descending scale.

One event on the site involves West: West publishes a melodic reading on a descending scale; Gurney reconsiders the direction (1994).

Two questions rest in part on what West did or said, among them “Does the Babylonian tuning series, and so the h.6 scale, run upward or downward?”, which stands open: 3 answers, none ahead.

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## In the mysteries

**The Hurrian songs of Ugarit**

British classicist whose 1994 article read the Hurrian texts as melody on a descending scale. · 1 event

[The mystery ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)

[Does the Babylonian tuning series, and so the h.6 scale, run upward or downward?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBJK95SB/does-the-babylonian-tuning-series-and-so-the-h-6-scale-run)Open: 3 answers, none ahead

[What do the interval names and numerals in the notation of h.6 instruct a performer to play?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/questions/QST0DEDVBCYE714/what-do-the-interval-names-and-numerals-in-the-notation-of-h)Open: 5 answers, none ahead

## What Martin Litchfield West did 1

1994[West publishes a melodic reading on a descending scale; Gurney reconsiders the direction](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/events/EVT0DEDRG8QT4BY/west-publishes-a-melodic-reading-on-a-descending-scale)

with [Oliver Robert Gurney](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPFHCBDC7/oliver-robert-gurney)

## Worked with 1

[OR

**Oliver Robert Gurney**

Hurrian songs of Ugarit

](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs/people/FIG0DEDPFHCBDC7/oliver-robert-gurney)

## Sources 1

[The Babylonian Musical Notation and the Hurrian Melodic Texts](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHFB9BGX1/the-babylonian-musical-notation-and-the-hurrian-melodic)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Martin Litchfield West [Person FIG0DEDPES4Y7AW]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDPES4Y7AW
```

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Key

**FIG** 0DEDPES4Y7AW

Record

Person

Born

1937-09-23

Died

2015-07-13

Occupation

classicist, proposer of a melodic reading

Identity

British classical scholar (1937 to 2015), Oxford, author of Ancient Greek Music and of the 1994 melodic reading of the Hurrian texts

In

[Hurrian songs of Ugarit](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/hurrian-songs)

Version

1

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[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

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