Everything about Dithyrhamb totally explained
The
dithyramb was originally an
ancient Greek hymn sung to the god
Dionysus. Its wild and ecstatic character was contrasted by
Plutarch with that of the
paean.
Dithyrambos seems to have arisen out of this song: just as
paean was both a hymn to and a title of
Apollo,
Dithyrambos was an
epithet of Dionysus as well as a song in his honor. Greeks recognized in the epithet "he of the miraculous birth" and constructed an
etymology to confirm this. According to
Aristotle, the dithyramb was the origin of the
Ancient Greek theatre, and one may recognize as a dithyramb the chorus invoking Dionysus in
Euripides'
The Bacchae.
Plato, in
The Laws, discussing various kinds of music, mentions "the birth of Dionysos, called, I think, the dithyramb".
Form
In Athens dithyrambs were sung by a
Greek chorus of up to fifty men or boys dancing in circular formation (there is no certain evidence that they may have originally been dressed as
satyrs) and probably accompanied by the
aulos. They would normally relate some incident in the life of Dionysus. The leader of the chorus later became the solo protagonist, with lyrical interchanges taking place between him and the rest of the chorus.
Competitions between groups singing dithyrambs were an important part of festivals such as the
Dionysia and
Lenaia. Each tribe would enter two choruses, one of men and one of boys, each under the leadership of a
choragos. The results of dithyrambic contests in Athens were recorded with the names of the winning teams and choregoi recorded but not the poets, most of whom remain unknown. The successful choregos would receive a statue which would be erected - at his own expense - on a public monument to commemorate his group's victory.
History
The first dithyrambs were composed in
Athens around the seventh century BC. Their inspiration is unknown, although it was possibly non-Greek, as the word is of unknown but probably non-Greek derivation. The form soon spread to other Greek city-states, and dithyrambs were composed by the poets
Simonides,
Pindar, and
Bacchylides (only the latter's works have survived in anything like their original form). Later examples were dedicated to other gods but the dithyramb subsequently was developed (traditionally by
Arion) into a literary form. According to Aristotle, it evolved into the
Greek tragedy, and dithyrambs continued to be developed alongside tragedies for some time. The clearest sense of dithyramb as proto-tragedy comes from a surviving dithyramb by Bacchylides
1
2, though it was composed after tragedy had already developed more fully; as a dialogue between a single actor and a chorus, it's suggestive of what tragedy may have resembled before
Aeschylus added a second actor. By the
4th century BC the genre was in decline, although the dithyrambic competitions didn't come to an end until well after the
Roman takeover of Greece.
Dithyrambic compositions have rarely been written in
English, although one notable exception is
Alexander's Feast by
John Dryden (written
1697). A wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing is still occasionally described as
dithyrambic.
Footnotes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Dithyrhamb'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://dithyramb.totallyexplained.com">Dithyramb Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
