The Greek Chorus

Author(s): H. D. F. Kitto
Source: Educational Theatre Journal , Mar., 1956, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Mar., 1956), pp. 1-8
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3203909

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 THE GREEK CHORUS
H. D. F. KITTO

With the Chorus, the modern knowpro-

practically nothing; we have some
ducer of a Greek play has to dotheoretical
what he information about the scales,
but is
can. The purpose of this article thenot
miserable remains of actual
Greek
to tell him what he ought to do, music are in any case of much
but to
enquire what happened in the Greek
later date than the plays which we are
theatre. When a choral ode was being
considering. The outlook is not prom-
performed, what did the Greekising, but nevertheless something can be
audience
see and hear? recovered.

Since there are no records or descrip-

The proofs are simple that the choral
tions of any performance, no stage-direc-
performance was indeed a combination
tions in the MSS., nothing but theof bare
the three arts of poetry, dancing, and
words of the text, it is quite impossible
singing. It is known that the chorus
to answer the question in any was
detail.
accompanied by the aulos, a kind of
Nevertheless, in one way or another it Then, etymology tells us some-
clarinet.
is possible to form some kind of general
thing. The Greek verb choreuo, "I am
picture. The first point is that what the
a member of the chorus," has the sense
Greek audience heard and saw was some-
"I am dancing." The word "ode" means
thing that we are not likely to see not
andsomething recited or declaimed, but
hear today: a combination of lyric "apo-
song." The "orchestra" in which the
etry, dancing and singing, integrated chorus had its being is, literally, a danc-
with drama. I use the word "dance" in
ing-floor. In the theatre of Dionysus, in
the Greek sense, meaning any ordered Athens, the orchestra was a full circle
physical movement. What the move- eighty feet in diameter. We cannot sup-
ments were like, we cannot tell; we shall
pose that so large a space was contrived
find reason to believe that they covered
in order that the chorus should stand
a big emotional range, and thatabout they in it, doing nothing in particular;
were not, in the ordinary sense, picto- nor can we suppose that a chorus, danc-
rially mimetic. As for the music, ing we
poetry, should speak it, and not sing
it. And since it is impossible to suppose
H. D. F. Kitto, whose authoritative and il-
luminating Greek Tragedy is probably that dramatic poets should have written
as widely
esteemed in this country as in Europe, is Pro-
lyric poetry of a high order, dramatical-
fessor and Chairman of the Department of
Greek and Dean of the Arts Faculty at the ly important and intellectually dignified,
University of Bristol. For a number of years unless they were sure that the words
he served as Chairman of the Consultative
Committee on Drama, responsible for the
would be heard and understood, we
policies of the Department of Drama. His must assume a vocal style and technique
forthcoming book, Form and Meaning in
Drama, is now in the press. that made this possible. That means

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2
EDUCATIONAL THEATRE JOURNAL

choric stanza what we have discovered

that modern musical settings of Greek
choruses in four parts are fundamental-
is not really a literary form, like the
ly mistaken: they make it impossible metrical
to structure of an English lyric,
hear the words in comfort. The Greeks,
but the ground-plan of a music-dance
in fact, did not develop harmony, andmovement. The natural speech-rhythm
one of the reasons, I think, is that theyof the words will not have suffered
thought the words important. Of themuch distortion-no more, usually less,
three allied arts, the Greeks themselves
than in a good musical setting of an
put the poetry first; and next to the English lyric; often it will be no more
poetry, I suspect, they would put thethan the prolongation of a final or
dance. penultimate syllable. Nevertheless, the
Other evidence, even more decisive, metrical structure will have been con-
can be drawn from the metres which the ceived aurally and spatially, in terms of
dance and tune, not simply as poetry.
dramatic poets used, in their lyrical pas-
sages. Not always, but very often, they This being so, having at least the rhyth-
are such as cannot be read, metrically- mical ground-plan of the dance, we can
except with extreme artificiality-for here and there, very dimly, form some
the reason that they are not speech- kind of picture of the sort of thing that
was happening in the orchestra. The
rhythms at all, but music-rhythms. This
demands explanation. dance-figuration and the music have
gone beyond recall, but at least the
The basis of all spoken verse-thythms
rhythm remains, imbedded in the text,
in Greek-for example, the epic hexa-
and sometimes that will tell us some-
meter and the iambic trimeter of dra-
thing.
matic verse ("blank verse," so to speak)
-is the distinction between long and For example, there is the first choral
short syllables, the long being, conven-passage in the Seven Against Thebes.
tionally, twice the length of the short.In early Greek tragedy the entrance-
But in lyric verse one finds that a long of the chorus, the "parodos," is
song
syllable may be equal in length to two, normally composed in anapaests: uu-
uu,- uu- uu-, with variants. The
three, four or even five short syllables.
The inference is that one is confronted reason is plain enough: this is a normal
not with unsupported speech; for that march-rhythm, in regular four-time; suit-
cannot plausibly or effectively makeable therefore for the processional en-
such distinctions in the length of sylla-trance of a chorus. But in the Seven
bles. Only music can do this. (Song is(quite an early play) the dramatic situa-
not restricted to eighths and quarters, tion is that Thebes is being besieged by
but can use three-eighths and mimims, the army of Polyneices and defended by
his brother Eteocles; the chorus, women
naturally and accurately.) These, then,
must be music-dance rhythms. Many a of Thebes, are in a state of panic, which
lyric passage, set down in plain longsEteocles has at all costs to allay; there-
and shorts, looks chaotic and quite un- fore he tells them that he himself, the
rhythmical; but as soon as one sees thatKing, will stand as the Theban cham-
they are music-rhythms and makes thepion at one of the seven gates, and it is
necessary elementary adjustments, all isbecause of this that he meets his own
well. brother in mortal conflict. That is to

This means that when we have prop- say, the panic of the chorus is an impor-
erly analysed the metrical structure of atant element in the plot. For that reason

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THE GREEK CHORUS 3

Aeschylus writes the parodos omen

not in ofthe
the eagles and the hare, and
usual anapaests but in dochmiacs.
the anger of Artemis, with its threat of
retribution
As a purely literary fact, this is inter- to come, upon Agamemnon.
(c) Fourbe-
esting to students of Greek drama, stanzas in trochees. The tro-
cause the dochmiac, being in its simplest is a slow six-time rhythm;
chee, -u -u,
the justification for calling it "slow" is
form u- - u-, is an uneven rhythm,
that
peculiar to tragedy, and used in Aeschylus
mo- regularly uses it for pas-
ments of stress-whether grief sagesorofwild
grave or anxious reflection.
joy or solemn earnestness. But it is This section one might call a Hymn to
Zeus: Zeus is the ultimate Cause, the
more than a literary fact; it is also a
musical and choreographic fact. What god who came and conquered, and es-
the audience saw was the chorus enter- tablished the principle that out of suf-
ing not to a steady four-time march fering should come understanding. (d)
rhythm, but to a rhythm which, in mod- Six stanzas mainly in iambics. This is
the
ern terms, consists of bars of eight beats rhythm to which I wish to call par-
divided not 4-4 but 3-5, a most uneven, ticular attention. Its basic form is quite
unsettled rhythm. When we consider simple: u- u- u- u- u- u-. In this
this rhythm in connection with the ter- form Aeschylus uses it only when he
ror which their words express, and with wants a particularly smooth effect, as
the size of the orchestra, we are surelywhen he speaks of the vision of the
loved
justified in picturing, as best we may, a one that appears to the sleeper,
swirling, tumultuous movement de- and glides away as he tries to grasp it.
Normally, he uses one or more prolonga-
signed by Aeschylus to make visible the
idea of panic. tions ("dotted notes"): a common form
is u- (u)- (u)-- u- (u)-. About
Another play, the Agamemnnon, en-
this rhythm there is nothing more to
ables us to go much further, because
say, at the moment, other than that it
here Aeschylus happens to use the cho-
was obviously slow, and capable of
rus on an almost architectural scale, and
being made weighty. This rhythm, and
this gives us unusually firm ground on
presumably a certain dance-figuration
which to stand. We shall have to con-
which was built on it, predominates in
sider the first three odes of the play infourth section of the ode; it is inter-
the
some detail.
rupted from time to time by more agi-
First ode. This is a long movement
tato rhythms-vv. 198-202, for example,
which takes up twenty minutes in per- the chorus is describing the an-
when
guish of the two Kings when they have
formance. It has a very clear structure,
in four parts. (a) A prelude, in to choose between giving up the expedi-
ana-
tion and killing Iphigenia. The sub-
paests, the march-rhythm (vv. 40-103).
The general sense is: Zeus sent thestance
two of the six stanzas is: Artemis
holds
Kings to Troy, to take vengeance, by up the fleet by adverse winds;
Agamemnon is confronted with the
war, on Paris for his crime. We re-
bitter choice; a mad frenzy sweeps him
mained at home, too old to fight-
into the crime of killing his daughter;
Queen Clytemnestra, why are you light-
ing the fires of sacrifice? Has news the chorus fears that the prophet's fore-
come?
(No reply from the Queen.) (b) Three of ill to come will prove true.
boding
It is unusual in Greek drama for one
long stanzas in steadily-moving dactyls.
This section describes the disturbing
rhythmic figure to be sustained through

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4 EDUCATIONAL THEATRE JOURNAL

as many as six stanzas; what happens sorrow and mourning which it brought
next is still more remarkable. to Greece. It still continues-and it re-
turns to Agamemnon: how he brought
The second ode consists of seven
death,
stanzas. The first six may be summar- not, this time, to Iphegenia, but
to countless Greek warriors, calling
ised as follows: Paris sinned, and by
downon
his sin he has brought destruction upon himself a public curse.
himself and on his city; Helen sinned,
Is it fanciful to say that in this dance-
bringing sorrow to the house of figure,
Mene- whatever it was, Aeschylus was
laus and mourning to every homebuilding
in up, in the orchestra, a visual
Greece, as urns containing ashes were
image of hybris and its inevitable retri-
sent home in place of the living menI think not; but there is more
bution?
who had set out; bitter anger is rife
to come.

against the two Kings who beganThe thethird ode consists of four pairs of
war, and this is like a public curse rest-
strophes and antistrophes, in contrast-
ing upon them, a curse that surely ingwill
rhythms. These too are worth look-
be fulfilled. Such is the substance of the
ing at. In the first pair, the chorus sings
ode; the remarkable thing is its out-
again of Helen; this time, how she
ward form: with the exception of aruin to Troy: the Trojans wel-
brought
short refrain appended to each comed
stanza,her with bridal songs, but their
and of a brief excursion into a different
songs of gladness turned to cries of grief
rhythm when the anger of the people is and mourning. For this, Aeschylus uses
mentioned, the whole ode is composed two rhythms; one of them, a gay, lilting
in one rhythm, and it is the same iambic rhythm that goes by the name Anacre-
rhythm, and presumably the same dance- ontic, was regularly and naturally used
figure, that we were watching in the in association with the ideas of love,
fourth section of the first ode.
wine, gaiety and the like. Here it is
This is a fact that we can use. The used of Helen, who stole from her silken
second ode starts with the reflection that chamber and crossed the sea, with armed
Zeus has struck down Paris for his crime. men in pursuit; and of the Trojans,
We, with our modern naturalistic ideas who "changed their tune; and Priam's
about drama, naturally say: "The Ar- ancient city cries loud upon Paris, whose
accursed marriage has brought them
give Elders are expressing their joy and
thankfulness that victory has come deathat and lamentation." The irony is
last." But this is all wrong; we can, grim enough even in the plain text; how
much more so, if we could see the ele-
dimly, see their dance, as it is the same
dance which we saw when they were
gant and dainty dance in which it was
singing about the anger of Artemis and visually expressed!
the frenzy which drove Agamemnon to
The second strophe and antistrophe
sacrifice his daughter. Therefore, when
tell the simple parable of the cowherd
now they begin to sing and dance about
who made a pet of a lion cub: when it
the sin and the manifest punishment of
was young, it gave delight to all; but it
Paris, there is no joy, no exultation; the
dance makes us think of Paris and Aga-
grew up, fulfilled its true nature, and
made the cattlesheds run with blood.
memnon together, both of them sinners,
one of them already destroyed by his These two stanzas are composed in yet
crime. And as the dance continues, it another rhythm, the Glyconic.
presents to us the sin of Helen, and the The beginning of the third strophe I

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THE GREEK CHORUS 5

from the house? This family is bound

will quote in the "isometric" translation
of Professor George Thomson:fast to Ruin." The reason why the
And so it seemed once there came to Ilium
dance is repeated is surely plain: Cly-
A sweet-smiling calm, without cloud, serene,
temnestra, in her turn, has made herself
beguiling,
A rare gem set in crown of riches . . .
subject to the law of Hybris and Ate,
and the dance has been associated with
Back it all comes in a rush, visible to this, and nothing else, from the be-
our eyes; Agamemnon's sin at Aulis, ginning.
the
crime and the destruction of Paris, the
In the Agamemnon therefore, thanks
mourning and the indignation of the
to the architectural scale on which the
Greeks-for this, once more, is the iam-
dance is used, we can see what a power-
bic dance, now so fully charged with ful dramatic instrument it could be, at
associations. If we had any doubts be-
least in the hands of a dramatist capable
fore, they are surely ended when we of using it-a powerful extension of the
hear and see the last pair of stanzas of
poetry, an extra channel through which
this ode: "Among evil men ancient Hy- the emotional and intellectual signifi-
bris breeds new Hybris, until the day ofcance of the drama could be conveyed
reckoning comes. Justice shines bright to the audience.
in the smoky cottage, and rewards the
I do not know of any other play in
upright man; but she flees with averted
which we can so nearly get an impres-
gaze from the golden palaces of the sion of what went on in the orchestra of
guilty. Justice leads everything to the
the Greek theatre, though the first cho-
end appointed." Here, for the moment,
ral passage of the Antigone may be
this long-sustained iambic dance ends;
worth considering from this point of
and as it ends-Enter Agamemnon, inview.
a chariot, with Cassandra. Justice-and
the dance-have brought him to the It consists of two strophes with their
end appointed. two antistrophes, and after each of these
four stanzas there is a short section, six
After an interval of about 750 verses
or eight verses, in the anapaestic metre;
the iambic rhythm returns, for oneeight sections, therefore. We will con-
strophe and antistrophe (vv. 1530-6 andsider them one by one.
1560-6). Why? Clytemnestra is standing
over the two bodies; she has declared
(i) The chorus enters not to the ana-
paestic march-rhythm which had become
that she has justly killed Agamemnon in
traditional, but to glyconics. The gly-
retribution for his killing of Iphigenia.
conic (a metre used, in a stereotyped
In the strophe the chorus says: "I know
form, by Horace) can be described as a
not where to turn, what to think. The
four-bar phrase, of which the first or
House has fallen. This torrent of blood
second or third bar is in four-time, the
makes me shudder. Destiny is whetting
others in three-time-a plastic dance-
retribution on a fresh and deadly whet-
rhythm therefore. This means that the
stone, preparing some other blow." In enters, not processionally, but
chorus
the antistrophe it says: "Accusation dancing.
con- In the first scene, the two girls
fronts accusation; it is hard to judge.
alone have been in the orchestra; now
The despoiler is despoiled, the slayer
it is filled by the chorus, exulting in their
slain. But while Zeus remains on his deliverance from the destruction that
throne this law remains: the doer must
Polyneices' army had threatened. The
pay. Can the accursed brood be driven
penultimate verse of the strophe is

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6
EDUCATIONAL THEATRE JOURNAL

worth attention. Instead of the normal that passes from four-time to three-time:
-u- u- uu- it has the form uuu -uu- uu- uu- u- (u)-
uuu- uu-. The chorus is describing There follow two verses in four-time,
the headlong flight of the enemy, "gal- one in six-time, and three in three-time.
loping faster and faster." It is perhapsI offer a more or less isometric trans-
legitimate to infer that the swift flight lation:
was mirrored in the dance, as well as in I I I

the words. Since antistrophe corresponds Heav-ily

earth did he fall, and
I ,

exactly to strophe, we shall wait with lie there,

some interest to see what happens in HeHe who
who with
withtorch in in
torch hishis hnd, and possssed
hand, and possessed
the penultimate verse of the antistrophe.
with fren-zy,
(2) "He had come to destroy us, in all
the fierce panoply of war." This section Breathed forth bitterest hate,
is in the marching anapaestic metre and Like some fierce tempestuous wind.
no great imagination is required to see So it fared then with him;
how suitable such a movement is to the , IF

sense. Yet we have to be careful, for we And of the rest, each met his own

shall find reason to suppose that these

Terrible doom, given by the great
dances were not straightforward mimes.
War-god, our deliverer.
(3) The antistrophe repeats the more
plastic glyconic movement. The generalThese are vivid and energetic rhythms,
sense is: "He hovered over our city likesuggesting that the dance too was vivid
an eagle thirsting for our blood-but heand energetic. The long, unbroken
is gone!" The penultimate verse, this rhythmic phrase of the first two verses,
time, may be rendered, "Terrible clatter one might say, represent pictorially the
of arms repelled him;" again the hurry- fall of Capaneus from the turrets to the
ing short syllables reflected perhaps inground; but we must not hastily assume
the physical movement, have obviousthat the chorus mimed this, for exactly
point. the same rhythmic structure, presum-
(4) "For Zeus hates arrogance, and the ably therefore the same dance-figure,
most arrogant of our foes he struck will appear in the antistrophe, and
down from the battlements in the mo- there such a mime will be impossible.
ment of his triumph." This time there(6)isOnce more we are in the march-
no suggestion in the anapaests ofrhythm:
an "Except for the two brothers,
army on the march; neverthelessjoined
one in hatred, who divided their in-
can see that the contrast betweenheritance
(4) with the sword." But it is not
and (3)-between reflectiveness and
a march-unless indeed one chose to say
emotional description, between athat the verses have the quality of a
regu-
lar and a liquid movement-is as funeral
nat- march-for it is the solemnity
ural and effective as was the contrast of the mood, in contrast with the energy
between (2) and (1). of the preceeding stanza, that makes the
(5) "Down he fell, heavily, toregularity
the of the anapaests so suitable.
earth. So did all our other assailants (7) "Yet do we see in our midst, and
meet their doom." This second strophe acclaim with gladness,
and antistrophe are built on much Victory, glorious Victory, smiling,
stronger and more varied rhythms. They welcome."

begin with a swinging six-bar phrase"Come," the antistrophe continues, "let

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THE GREEK CHORUS

all go to temple and shrine,words,

and which
thank becomes so tiresome, as a
the gods with night-long dances, guided that ordinary politeness
literary device,
compelsisone
by Theban Dionysus." Here again theto assume that Euripides
was thinking
energy, this time the energy given by re- of the musical effect first,
lief and thankfulness. This time the two
and of the poetry second.
long, swinging phrases have nothing toBut there is a more general point
do with falling; rather do they express
which may be worth considering briefly:
an upsurge of confidence. Certainly one
the dramatic value, in these plays, of
musical phrase can convey either idea;
music and the dance in themselves,
so too, I suspect, did Sophocles' dance-
apart from any vague picture that we
figure here. may be able to form of the particular
(8) "But here comes Creon. Why typehas of dance. It is quite plain that the
he summoned this assembly of Elders?"
Greek dramatists used "lyrical relief" in
This is the last of the four anapaestic
much the same way that Shakespeare
used what is innocently called "comic
systems, delivered, perhaps, by the cho-
rus-leader solo; it accompanies, evident-
relief." A typical instance is the last
ly, the incoming of the King withode his in Oedipus Rex, the one that fol-
bodyguard, and the retiring of the cho-
lows the short and almost unbearably
rus to its permanent station in the or-
tense scene of Oedipus and the two
chestra, the simplest possible use of shepherds.
the At the end of the scene
march-rhythm. Oedipus makes his exit; so, incidentally,
do the two shepherds whose well-meant
It is, of course, very easy to see what
actions have led to this awful result:
one is looking for, but I hope that this
analysis of a fairly elaborate choral these two men had an exit of something
movement will not make too great de- thirty yards, plenty of time for the
like
mands on the reader's benevolence, and audience to think many thoughts about
will suggest, once more, that the Greekthem. Then the chorus, beginning re-
motely, sings: "0 you generations of
chorus, as a body of dancers, did have
an important contribution to make to men, even while you are yet alive I
the total dramatic effect. count you as next to nothing...
About their dance nothing definite can
A few other passages could be cited,
be said; the rhythm is the very common
similar to the one from the Antigone,
glyconic, which was found suitable to
about which one could reasonably say
many different moods. But although we
that the dance-rhythm suits the sense
and mood. On the other hand, there are cannot form any precise idea of what
the chorus did, at least we can appreci-
many in which the reason for the choice
ate, in a general way, the dramatic effect
of rhythm is not obvious, where one can
of music and movement at such a mo-
form no impression at all what the
ment: a liberation rather than a relax-
dance may have been like. One thing
at least is evident, both from internal ing of tension.
evidence and from the criticisms and A different example of the dramatic
use of music and the dance can be
parodies of Aristophanes, that in certain
of Euripides' later and non-tragic found plays earlier in the same play, at Iocas
the choral style became distinctlyta's first entrance. Anger, suspicion
oper-
atic. Roulades, the singing of one and sylla-
self-confidence have swept Oedipu
ble to several successive notes, became to the very limit of injustice; he has con
common; so too did the repetition demned
of Creon to death. In the struc-

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8 EDUCATIONAL THEATRE JOURNAL

and Clytemnestra, who are only the

ture of the play, this incident has ex-
god's unconscious instruments. There-
hausted its function once it has shown
fore he keeps her aloof from them, and
how unjust and blind Oedipus is. Soph-
ocles does not want the sentence to gradually draws our attention to the
be carried out; on the other hand, he fact; he keeps her silent for nearly three
hundred verses, and towards the end of
does not want Oedipus to be dissuaded
by rational argument. Therefore, upon
the passage he so contrives things that
Iocasta's appearance, he makes theher silence becomes almost deafening,
and her aloofness bewildering. At last,
chorus dance at him, in a heavy five-
time rhythm which Aeschylus too usedafter repeated appeals from Clytemnes-
in similar circumstances (Supplices 418 tra and the chorus to take some notice
of what is going on-at last she begins
ff.). So is a dramatically sufficient force
of persuasion brought to bear upon to move. She descends from the chariot
Oedipus; it is swift, and it does not what she descends into is the eighty-
and
impinge upon the conception of his foot circle of the Greek orchestra. We
character so far established. There are can be quite certain that Aeschylus, as
several passages in Greek tragedy-the his own producer, saw to it that his
behaviour of the chorus while Medea is Cassandra made full use of the space
murdering her children is one-which available; as she moves about in it, be-
wilderment and expectation are raised
are not fully intelligible until we think
of the chorus, partly at least, in termseven higher. Her first utterance gives
of ballet. the clue to it all: "Apollo! My destroy-
But it was not only the chorus that er!" Of course it is sung; the metre
sang: there is no play in which at leastcertifies the fact, and at such a moment,
in a play which is in any case one-half
one of the actors does not, at some point
or other, take wings and soar into lyric, to use plain speech would be an
music. In certain late plays, the Orestes anticlimax.
and Phoenissae for example, the elab- The scene which begins here does in
orate solo aria is no more than an
fact reveal an interesting and quite in-
telligible
operatic adornment; in the really tragicpattern, when one looks at
plays it was very different. theMostmetres;
of for by delicate gradations
Antigone's last scene is sung, Cassandra
not said;is made to descend from the
and the fact (as I try to showlevel
in my
of impassioned song, accompanied,
forthcoming Form and Meaning inby dancing, to the sobriety of
I suppose,
Drama) is important to the balance "blank verse,"
and while the chorus, con-
meaning of the whole play; but there
trariwise, as if catching fire from Cassan-
is an equally striking example dra,which
ascends from plain "blank verse" to
will need less argument-Cassandra's the level of singing and dancing.
first utterance in the Agamemnon. What the modern producer is to do
Aeschylus is doing all he can, which about this is another matter; but if he
is a great deal, to make his audience relies throughout on speech he is, so to
understand that Cassandra is really the speak, representing in three dimensions
victim of Apollo, not of Agamemnon a drama that was conceived in four.

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