Music and Pathos in Aeschylean Tragedy (original) (raw)
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Music, Dance, and Meter in Aeschylean Tragedy
A Companion to Aeschylus, edited by Jacques Bromberg and Peter Burian. Malden: Wiley Blackwell., 2022
As we read the surviving texts of Greek tragedy, it can be hard for us to remember that this art form was intrinsically a musical one. Tragedy as a genre was originally thought of as primarily choral, defined by the music and movement of its chorus: Aristotle tells us that it developed from the dithyramb, a choral song performed by fifty men or boys in honor of Dionysus to the accompaniment of a pair of pipes called the aulos (1449a10-11); in his Laws Plato presents tragedy as a type of choral dance representing what is "serious" (814e-17d); and the wealthy Athenian who financed a tragic production at a festival was known as a chorēgos ("chorus leader"). For the fifth-century audiences of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the singing and dancing of the chorus (and occasionally one or more of the actors too), combined with the accompanying tunes of the aulos-player, must have been one of the most memorable parts of every live performance. In the case of Aeschylus, whose plays feature a noticeably higher proportion of choral lyrics than those of the younger tragedians, this aspect of their performance would have been absolutely vital to its success and impact. It is therefore all the more frustrating that none of the melodies or dance moves remains-we are left instead with seemingly silent scripts. And yet we can trace some distinctive characteristics of Aeschylus's musical style, both from the texts of the plays themselves and thanks to some references to his music and choreography in ancient testimonia. Of the latter, the fullest account is in Aristophanes' Frogs (405 bce), in which the characters of Aeschylus and Euripides have an extraordinary showdown in Hades that culminates in each parodying the other's lyrics (1249-1364). The main feature of Aeschylean music highlighted here is the monotonous repetitiveness of his rhythms combined with bombastic language; the parody also riffs on his melodies and choreography. Euripides, in contrast, is the newer, trendier tragedian, mixing together many different rhythms and types of song, giving extensive monodies to professional actors and including a range of melodic tricks. This scene is valuable in giving us a sense of which aspects of these tragedians' musical styles were best remembered by a late fifth-century audience. There are CHAPTER 18
Music, Soundscapes and Performance in Greek Tragedy
Estudis Escènics, 2023
This article sets out, firstly, a general overview of the presence of music in Greek theatre. Secondly, it discusses the interpretive possibilities derived from the study of the theatrical text to extract systematic information about the performance of music and soundscapes in drama, especially in tragedy. The results are compared with the musicological evidence and the theatrical devices and spaces, together with their acoustic conditions for sound projection. In the text, the background for the performance of sound is largely provided by nature and the phenomena triggered by the four elements as instruments of deities, as we can see in Greek mythology and the archetypal imaginary of ancient Greeks. Besides, there is human nature, which is revealed through the dramatic action itself and the expression of pain, emotion and passion by characters. In tragedy, these references are used as highlights within the narrative and as resources for creating images or evoking soundscapes. Moreover, based on the Pythagorean conception, the universe would also have a sound translation in music as a reflection of the harmony of the spheres. This philosophical consideration, which is linked to the theoretical aspects of ancient Greek music, presumably had a materialisation on stage by performing movements conceived in an astral sense. The article presents some results and reflections from the tragedies analysed, in particular the passages that suggest sound effects or indicate the use of music with a determined function. Among these expressions, the scenes which involve manifestation of deities, lamentation songs, funerary rituals and Bacchic worship occupy a privileged place. Many soundscapes and hymns identified give shape to the sacred framework perpetuated by the Hellenic tradition, in which the community gets involved within and beyond the story.
This keynote contribution explores the fundamental role of the tragic chorus in transferring the quintessentially tragic and Dionysian emotions, esp. terror and fear, onto the audience. Particularly Aeschylus uses the terror-struck or horrifying chorus as an engine of the plays. Running the gamut from fight and threat to flight and paralysis the chorus becomes an echo-chamber of voices that range from extra-linguistic utterances driven by purely bodily or psychophysical reactions to thoughts about consequences and confrontation to judgments and rational reflection. On the example of the Oresteia the paper demonstrates how the abstract concept of alarming “revenge” (erinys) in its personification Erinys, the driving force of the plot in the first two plays of the trilogy, surprisingly becomes a concrete chorus of Erinyes in the Eumenides. The mise en scène of fear then serves to publicly display how Athens manages to polarize fear on a friend-foe-axis so that tragedy becomes in the truest sense learning through emotion: pathei mathos.
Secundum quasdam suas partes": Renaissance Readings of the Lyric Structures of Greek Tragedy
2021
This article aims to offer a contribution to the study of the reception of metrical forms and related performative features from classical to Renaissance tragedy. In particular, it focuses on how the reader of ancient Greek drama perceived its performative varieties, and therefore it is concerned with the continental prehistory of the English reception of the lyrical performance of Greek tragedy. It first deals with how Greek plays were presented in printed editions, and then moves on to consider Aristotle's Poetics with regard to the description of the linguistic resources of the tragic poiesis, in particular the use of rhythmos, metron, and melos, and their varying pertinence to the different structures of tragedy. In this respect, the article discusses a curious misreading of a passage of the Poetics that was to affect its interpretation as well as the reception of the notion of tragedy and the reuses of ancient versifications over time. Keywords: Greek tragedy; Aristotle'...
Greece & Rome CHORAL PROJECTIONS AND EMBOLIMA IN EURIPIDES' TRAGEDIES
In this paper I argue that in Euripides’ hands choral projections, especially those in which the chorus takes on another identity, become a tool to create moments of pure ritual choreia in full accordance with the tragic chorus’s original intention. The fact that odes constructed with choral projections appear to be less dependent upon the dramatic plot of the play (the so called embolima) does not diminish the importance of the chorus. Instead, it shows the dynamic character of choral projections for retaining the original intention of the tragic chorus with moments of pure ritual atmosphere and frequently implied dionysiac choreia in the context of the Great Dionysia. In particular, some patterns of choral projection in Euripides’ later plays, as in the dancing dolphin(s), offer a fresh approach to the poet’s role in the innovative spirit of the contemporary New Music, since they seem to have inspired finely detailed descriptions in contemporary dithyrambic poets, who tried to reproduce patterns of Euripidean lyrics along with impressive musical compositions.
The Tragic Chorus in Ancient Times and Nowadays: Its Role and Staging
ИСТРАЖИВАЊА, 2016
In this paper we shall try to clarify the role of the chorus in the origin and development of the ancient tragedy. We can rightly say that it represents the pinnacle of intellectual and artistic expression of the Greek civilization. We will point out historical circumstances and facts related to the existence of the chorus; the place the chorus has in Greek society and on the stage as well as its characteristics will also be discussed.In the second part of this paper, possibilities of reviving the ancient drama, especially tragedy on the modern scene, shall be discussed. Should one aspire towards a more faithful imitation or a creative interpretation? What are the difficulties a director is facing when he has to decide what to do with the chorus? Is there only one answer or are there more?