Review of E.J. Bakker, ed., Authorship and Greek Song: Authority, Authenticity and Performance (Studies in Archaic and Classical Greek Song, Vol. 3), Leiden - Boston: Brill.

The innovative idea shared by all the essays in the volume consists in the identification of authority as the cornerstone of a poetic piece of art, independent from both the context of its original performance—considering its reperformances in different times and contexts—and its performers, within a wider and more variegated cultural landscape than the original context of a given song. Such an approach especially highlights the idea of the survival of songs through generations, beyond the social and political context, the performers, and the audience of their first performance, from a panhellenic perspective.