Music in Roman Comedy
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 4/19/2012
EAN 9781107006485, ISBN10: 1107006481
Hardcover, 470 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
The plays of Plautus and Terence were profoundly musical: large portions of all the plays were sung to accompaniment, and variations in melody, rhythm and dance were essential elements in bringing both pleasure and meaning to their performance. This book explains the nature of Roman comedy's music: the accompanying tibia, the style of vocal performance, the importance of dance, characteristics of melody, the relationship between meter and rhythm, and the effects of different meters and of variations within individual verses. It provides musical analyses of songs, scenes and whole plays, and draws analogies between Roman comedy's music and the music of modern opera, film and musical theatre. The book will change our understanding of the nature of Roman comedy and will be of interest to students of ancient theatre and Latin literature, scholars and students working on the history of music and theatre, and performers working with ancient plays.
Introduction
1. Tibiae and tibicines
2. Song
3. Dance
4. Melody and rhythm
5. Meters
6. Arrangement of verses and variation within the verse
7. Musical structure
8. Polymetry
9. Pseudolus
10. Adelphoe
Conclusion
Appendix I. The meters of Roman comedy
Appendix II. Characters and meters
Appendix III. Musical features by play
Appendix IV. Exceptions to the ABC pattern
Appendix V. Polymetric passages.
'Awesome in scope and ambition …' Greek and Roman Musical Studies