The frogs
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| Title: | The frogs |
| Original title: | Bátrachoi |
| Genus: | comedy |
| Original language: | ancient greek |
| Author: | Aristophanes |
| Premiere: | approx. 405 BC Chr. |
| Place of premiere: | Athens |
| Place and time of the action: | In the underworld and on the way there |
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The frogs ( ancient Greek Βάτραχοι Bátrachoi ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes . It was probably premiered in 405 BC. Chr.
content
Dionysus penetrates into the underworld in order to lead Euripides back to this world . There he becomes the arbiter in a contest between the said poet and Aeschylus , at the end of which Aeschylus is chosen as the winner and returns from the afterlife .
dramaturgy
Two storylines are linked with one another: Dionysus' journey into the underworld as an adventure story based on the model of Herakles cannot, however, serve to identify the hero, since crossing the border is not a challenge. The hero is identified “off-screen”. The second storyline is the competition between poets, which cannot be decided by either philological or scientific criteria. Only Pluton's intervention brings the storylines together and Aeschylus triumphs because he is currently the better choice.
reception
One of the most important works by the English composer Walter Leigh is his incidental music for Aristophanes' The Frogs from 1936.
The musical composer Stephen Sondheim made the subject matter of his piece The Frogs , which was performed in the swimming pool of Yale University in the mid-1970s. In 2004 there was a Broadwayrun in a revised version with additional songs. The stars Nathan Lane and Roger Bart acted under director Susan Stroman .
Text editions and translations
- Niklas Holzberg (Ed.): Aristophanes, The Frogs. Reclam, Stuttgart 2011 (with translation)
- Aristophanes: Βάτραχοι: The Frogs of Aristophanes. The Greek Text Revised. Bell, London 1902 ( digitized version )
