Choral poetry
Choral lyric in general, in contrast to monodic lyric poetry, is poetry expressly intended for performance by a choir or part of a choir.
Greek choral poetry
The Greek choral lyric developed in the 7th century BC. Around or in Sparta . At the time of the mature archaic , choral poetry was an important link between epic and tragedy . The texts, written exclusively in the Doric dialect , were performed by choirs with musical accompaniment. It was customary to separate men and women as well as boys and girls choirs. The performances were tied to certain social occasions ( Gymnopedie ) or celebrations of the gods ( Karneen ). The choral lyric emerged from old elements of the workers' songs. String instruments or flutes were used to accompany the performances of different lengths, which could last up to an hour.
Important representatives of the Greek choral lyric are:
Germanic choral poetry
Germanic choral poetry has not survived, but has been attested. Tacitus mentions the singing of "Hercules songs " before the battle, the Byzantine Priskos reports of "Scythian" songs that were sung by Gothic girls at Attila's court , Gregory the Great reports a sacrificial song of the Lombards and Adalbert von Bremen of a cult song a festival of sacrifice in Uppsala .
Modern choral poetry
In the Attic comedy in Aristophanes and Menander and in the Roman tragedy in Seneca the chorus becomes less important. In modern times the original ancient unity of dance, song and poetry dissolves and the choir emerges as a community of singers and here in particular the opera choir on the one hand and the theater choir on the other hand, which takes on the role of admonishing and commenting in the drama, according to the Role of the choir in ancient drama.
The meaning and function of such a theater choir has been controversial since the 17th century. Skeptics like François Hédelin ( La Pratique du Théâtre , 1657) and John Dryden ( Essay of Dramatic Poesy , 1688) were opposed by enthusiastic supporters like André Dacier ( Poétique d'Aristote , 1692). Friedrich Schiller saw in the prologue of The Bride of Messina (1803) the usefulness of the choir in that it strengthens the connection between the plot of the piece and the moral content of the performance. Pieces in which a choir plays a role include John Milton's Samson Agonistes (1671), Jean Racines Esther (1689) and Athalie (1691), Percy Bysshe Shelleys Hellas (1822), Johann Wolfgang Goethes Faust II (1832) and finally TS Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral (1935).
literature
- Dieter Burdorf, Christoph Fasbender, Burkhard Moennighoff (Hrsg.): Metzler Lexicon literature. Terms and definitions. 3. Edition. Metzler, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-476-01612-6 , p. 123.
- M. Hopman: Chorus. In: Roland Greene, Stephen Cushman et al. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. 4th edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton 2012, ISBN 978-0-691-13334-8 , pp. 244–246 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- Otto Knörrich: Lexicon of lyrical forms (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 479). 2nd, revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-520-47902-8 , p. 37.
- Albin Lesky : History of Greek Literature. Francke Publishing House. Berlin / Munich 1971. ISBN 3-7720-0050-9 . Page 214–243.
- Gero von Wilpert : Subject dictionary of literature. 8th edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-520-84601-3 , p. 134.
Individual evidence
- ^ Tacitus Germania 3