The Music of Tragedy : Performance and Imagination in Euripidean Theater

The Music of Tragedy offers a new approach to the study of classical Greek theater by examining the use of musical language, imagery, and performance in the late work of Euripides. Naomi Weiss demonstrates that Euripides’ allusions to music-making are not just metatheatrical flourishes or gestures towards musical and religious practices external to the drama but closely interwoven with the dramatic plot. Situating Euripides’ experimentation with the dramaturgical effects of mousik e within a broader cultural context, she shows how much of his novelty lies in his reinvention of traditional lyric styles and motifs for the tragic stage. If we wish to understand better the trajectories of this most important ancient art form, The Music of Tragedy argues, we must pay closer attention to the role played by both music and text. Cover 1 The Music of Tragedy 4 Title 6 Copyright 7 Dedication 8 CONTENTS 10 Acknowledgments 12 Abbreviations 14 Note on Editions and Translations 16 Introduction: In Search of Tragedy’s Music 18 1. Words, Music, and Dance in Archaic Lyric and Classical Tragedy 40 Before Tragedy: Imaginative Suggestion in Archaic Choral Lyric 42 Metamusical Play in Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Early Euripides 53 2. Chorus, Character, and Plot in Electra 76 Electra and the Chorus 78 Performed Ecphrasis 92 Choral Anticipation and Enactment 108 3. Musical Absence in Trojan Women 117 The Paradox of Absent Choreia 121 New Songs and Past Performances 133 Performing the Fall of Troy 147 4. Protean Singers and the Shaping of Narrative in Helen 157 Birdsong and Lament 161 New Music 184 Travel and Epiphany 196 5. From Choreia to Monody in Iphigenia in Aulis 208 Spectatorship, Enactment, and Desire 210 Past and Present Mousikē 221 Choreia and Monody 241 Conclusion: Euripides’ Musical Innovations 250 Works Cited 264 General Index 284 Index Locorum 294 "The Music of Tragedy offers a new approach to the study of classical Greek theater by examining the use of musical language, imagery, and performance in the late work of Euripides. Naomi Weiss demonstrates that Euripides' allusions to music-making are not just metatheatrical flourishes or gestures towards musical and religious practices external to the drama but closely interwoven with the dramatic plot. Situating Euripides' experimentation with the dramaturgical effects of mousikē within a broader cultural context, she shows how much of his novelty lies in his reinvention of traditional lyric styles and motifs for the tragic stage. If we wish to understand better the trajectories of this most important ancient art form, The Music of Tragedy argues, we must pay closer attention to the role played by both music and text"--Provided by publisher. The Music of Tragedy offers a new approach to the study of classical Greek theater by examining the use of musical language, imagery, and performance in the late work of Euripides. Naomi Weiss demonstrates that Euripides' allusions to music-making are not just metatheatrical flourishes or gestures towards musical and religious practices external to the drama but closely interwoven with the dramatic plot. Situating Euripides' experimentation with the dramaturgical effects of mousik e within a broader cultural context, she shows how much of his novelty lies in his reinvention of traditional lyric styles and motifs for the tragic stage. If we wish to understand better the trajectories of this most important ancient art form, The Music of Tragedy argues, we must pay closer attention to the role played by both music and text.