No abstract

No abstract

The aim of this paper is to explore the poetic function of mousikē in Euripides' Cyclops. The plot unfolds through flashes of playful utterances that relate to Greek song culture. Each of these subversively pokes fun at the dichotomy between the civilised and the uncivilised. Forms of and references to choreia and mousikē, embedded in the performative context of the satyr-drama, function on two levels: on the level of plot (traditional myth put on stage), they constitute a weapon against the giant; on the level of community and emotions, they reveal that, by the end of the 5 th century, protection offered by culture becomes vulnerable.

This paper aims to show how Aeschylus uses abrupt shifts of musical register in order to explore or to express what characters for some reason cannot verbalize. After specifying what is meant by an ‘abrupt shift of musical register’, I analyse the dramatic function of this effect by examining the three instances in Aeschylus where an epirrhematic section turns abruptly into an amoibaion (Ag. 1072–1177 and 1407–1576) or vice versa (Supp. 825–910). In Aeschylus’ dramaturgy, the lyric/epirrhematic dialogue between a character and the chorus, embedded as it is in Greek mousikē and song-dance culture, seems inherently open to communicating on an additional, wordless ʻchannelʼ.