Editing Dithyramb

{{Short description|Literary and music genre}}
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[[File:Relief flute player Glyptothek Munich.jpg|thumb|300px|[[Classical Athens|Attic]] [[relief]] (4th century BCE) depicting an ''[[aulos]]'' player and his family standing before [[Dionysos]] and a female consort, with theatrical [[masks]] displayed above]]
The '''dithyramb''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d||ɪ|θ|ɪ|r|æ|m}};<ref>{{cite book |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/longman-pronunciation-dictionary/page/229/mode/2up |first=John C. |last= Wells |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow, England |year=2000 |orig-date=1990 |edition=new |isbn=978-0-582-36467-7 |page=229}}</ref> {{langx|grc|διθύραμβος}}, ''dithyrambos'') was an [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greek]] [[hymn]] sung and danced in honor of [[Dionysus]], the god of [[wine]] and [[fertility]]; the term was also used as an [[epithet]] of the god.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%2326816 Dithurambos], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', at Perseus. ''Dithyrambos'' seems to have arisen out of the hymn: just as ''paean'' was both a hymn to and a title of [[Apollo]], ''Dithyrambos'' was an [[epithet]] of Dionysos as well as a song in his honour; see Harrison (1922, 436).</ref> [[Plato]], in ''[[Laws (dialogue)|The Laws]]'', while discussing various kinds of music mentions "the birth of Dionysos, called, I think, the dithyramb."<ref>Plato, ''Laws'',  iii.700 B.</ref> Plato also remarks in the ''[[Republic (Plato)|Republic]]'' that dithyrambs are the clearest example of poetry in which the poet is the only speaker.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Plato|title=Republic|url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0167:book=3:section=394c&highlight=diqura%2Fmbois}}</ref>

However, in ''[[Apology (Plato)|The Apology]]'' Socrates went to the dithyrambic poets<ref>
{{cite book
 |author1              = John Curtis Franklin
 |editor-last1         = Kowalzig
 |editor-first1        = Barbara
 |editor-last2         = Wilson
 |editor-first2        = Peter
 |date                 = 27 June 2013
 |chapter              = 'Songbenders of Circular Choruses': Dithyramb and the 'Demise of Music'
 |title                = Dithyramb in Context
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=uGm43LzqPNoC
 |publication-place    = Oxford
 |publisher            = Oxford University Press
 |page                 = 232
 |isbn                 = 9780199574681
 |access-date          = 21 March 2025
 |quote                = In the ''Apology'' (21e–22c), Socrates relates how he went in turn 'to the tragedians, the dithyrambic poets, and all the others' to test their ''sophia'' [...].
}}
</ref>
with some of their own most elaborate passages, asking their meaning, but got a response of, "Will you believe me?" which "showed me in an instant that not by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration; they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Plato |title=The Republic &#124; Edited by Robert Hutchins and Mortimer Adler |url=http://www.feedbooks.com/book/678/apology}}</ref>

[[Plutarch]] contrasted the dithyramb's wild and [[Ecstasy (philosophy)|ecstatic]] character with the [[paean]].<ref>Plutarch, ''On the Ei at Delphi''. Plutarch himself was a priest of Dionysos at Delphi.</ref> According to [[Aristotle]], the dithyramb was the origin of [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] [[tragedy]].<ref>[[Aristotle]], ''[[Poetics (Aristotle)|Poetics]]'' (1449a10–15): "Anyway, arising from an improvisatory beginning (both tragedy and comedy—tragedy from the leaders of the dithyramb, and comedy from the leaders of the [[Fertility rite|phallic processions]] which even now continue as a custom in many of our cities), [tragedy] grew little by little, as [the poets] developed whatever [new part] of it had appeared; and, passing through many changes, tragedy came to a halt, since it had attained its own nature"; see Janko (1987, 6).</ref> A wildly enthusiastic speech or piece of writing is still occasionally described as ''dithyrambic''.<ref>[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dithyrambic Definition of dithyrambic]. [[TheFreeDictionary.com]].</ref>

==History==
Dithyrambs were sung by choirs at [[Delos]], but the literary fragments that have survived are largely [[Classical Athens|Athenian]]. In Athens, dithyrambs were sung by a [[Greek chorus]] of up to fifty men or boys dancing in circular formation, who may or may not have been dressed as [[Satyr]]s, probably accompanied by the ''[[aulos]]''. They would normally relate some incident in the life of [[Dionysus]] or just celebrate wine and fertility.

The ancient Greeks laid out the criteria of the dithyramb as follows:
* special rhythm
* ''[[aulos]]'' accompaniment in [[Phrygian mode]]<ref>Harvey (1955). [[Aristotle]] records the failed attempt to set it in [[Dorian mode]], in his ''[[Politics (Aristotle)|Politics]]'' (8.7).</ref>
* enriching text
* considerable narrative content
* originally [[Antistrophe|antistrophic character]]

Competitions between groups, singing and dancing dithyrambs were an important part of the festivals of Dionysus, such as the [[Dionysia]] and [[Lenaia]]. Each tribe would enter two choirs, one of men and one of boys, each under the leadership of a ''[[coryphaeus]]''. The names of the winning teams of dithyrambic contests in Athens were recorded. The successful ''[[choregos]]'' would receive a statue that would be erected—at his expense—as a public monument to commemorate the victory. However, most of the poets remain unknown.

The earliest mention of dithyramb, found by [[Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge|Sir Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge]],<ref>Pickard-Cambridge, Sir Arthur Wallace. 1927. ''Dithyramb, Tragedy and Comedy''. Second edition revised by T. B. L. Webster, 1962. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-814227-7}}</ref> is in a fragment of [[Archilochus]], who flourished in the first half of the seventh century BCE: "I know how to lead the fair song of the Lord Dionysus, the dithyramb, when my wits are fused with wine." As a literary composition for chorus, their inspiration is unknown, although it was likely Greek, as [[Herodotus]] explicitly speaks of [[Arion]] of [[Lesbos]] as "the first of men we know to have composed the dithyramb and named it and produced it in [[Corinth]]."<ref>Pickard-Cambridge, Sir Arthur Wallace. 1927. ''Dithyramb Tragedy and Comedy''. Second edition revised by T. B. L. Webster, 1962. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-814227-7}}</ref>

The word ''dithyramb'' has no known origin, but is frequently assumed not to be derived from Greek.<ref>[[Robert S. P. Beekes|R. S. P. Beekes]] has suggested a [[Pre-Greek]] eymology (''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 333–4).</ref> An old hypothesis is that the word is borrowed from [[Phrygian language|Phrygian]] or [[Pelasgian language|Pelasgian]], and literally means "Vierschritt", i. e., "four-step", compare ''[[Iamb (poetry)|iamb]]'' and ''[[thriambus]]'', but H. S. Versnel rejects this etymology and suggests instead a derivation from a cultic exclamation.<ref name="Versnel1970">{{cite book|last=Versnel|first=H. S.|title=Triumphus: An Inquiry Into the Origin, Development and Meaning of the Roman Triumph|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pPjBSq2jCrcC&pg=PA16|access-date=2 January 2015|year=1970|publisher=Brill Publishers|location=Leiden, Netherlands|isbn=90-04-02325-9|pages=16–38|chapter=I. 2 Θρίαμβος}}</ref> Dithyrambs were composed by the poets [[Simonides of Ceos|Simonides]] and [[Bacchylides]], as well as [[Pindar]] (the only one whose works have survived in anything like their original form).

Later examples were dedicated to other gods, but the dithyramb subsequently was developed (traditionally by [[Arion]]) into a literary form.<ref>Feder, (1998, 48).</ref> According to [[Aristotle]], [[Classical Athens|Athenian]] [[tragedy]] developed from the dithyramb; the two forms developed alongside one another for some time. The clearest sense of dithyramb as proto-tragedy comes from a surviving dithyramb by Bacchylides, though it was composed after tragedy had already developed fully.<ref>See [http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/042reading1dithyramb.htm USU.edu] and [http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/kvhrtgn/CLT%20Readings/A%20DITHYRAMB.htm UFL.edu] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060727023728/http://web.clas.ufl.edu/users/kvhrtgn/CLT%20Readings/A%20DITHYRAMB.htm |date=2006-07-27 }}.</ref> Bacchylides' dithyramb is a dialogue between a solitary singer and a choir. It is suggestive of what tragedy may have resembled before [[Aeschylus]] added a second actor instead of the choir.

In the later 5th century BCE, the dithyramb "became a favorite vehicle for the musical experiments of the poets of the 'new music'."<ref>Christopher G. Brown, "Dithyramb," in N.G. Wilson (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece'', Routledge, 2006</ref> This movement included the poets [[Timotheus of Miletus]], [[Cinesias (poet)|Cinesias]], [[Melanippides]], and [[Philoxenus of Cythera]]. By the 4th century BCE the [[genre]] was in decline, although the dithyrambic competitions did not come to an end until well after the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] takeover of Greece.

==Modern dithyrambs==
Dithyrambs are rare in [[English language]] literature. In [[German literature]] they appear more frequently, and from the 19th century several compositions were inspired by them.

===Literature===
[[John Dryden]]'s "[[Alexander's Feast (Dryden poem)|Alexander's Feast]]" (1697) is a notable example of an English language dithyramb.

[[Friedrich Schiller]] wrote a ''Dithyrambe'' in 1796. [[Nietzsche|Friedrich Nietzsche]] composed a set of ''[[Dionysian-Dithyrambs|Dionysos-Dithyramben]]'' in 1888/89.<ref>See the comprehensive commentary in [[Andreas Urs Sommer]], Kommentar zu Nietzsches Der Antichrist. Ecce homo. Dionysos-Dithyramben. Nietzsche contra Wagner (= Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (Hg.): Historischer und kritischer Kommentar zu Friedrich Nietzsches Werken, vol. 6/2), Berlin / Boston: Walter de Gruyter 2013</ref> The poetry cycle ''Dithyrambischer Herbst'' by Austrian poet [[Alfred Grünewald]] was published in 1920.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alfred Grünewald|title=Dithyrambischer Herbst|year=1920|publisher=Hans Heinrich Tillgner Verlag|place=Potsdam}}</ref>

===Music and dance===
From the 19th century dithyrambs appear frequently in [[classical music]], as well in vocal as instrumental compositions.

[[Franz Schubert]] wrote a song for bass voice based on Schiller's ''Dithyrambe'' ({{D.}} 801, published as Op. 60 No. 2 in 1826). Schubert's earlier attempt at setting the same poem for a more extended vocal ensemble had remained unfinished ({{D.|number=47}}, 1813). Schubert's [[Wanderer Fantasy|Fantasie in C Major, Op. 15 (D.760)]], often called the "Wanderer Fantasy", was referred to as "the splendid Wanderer-Dithyramb" by [[Franz Liszt]] in his letter to Professor Siegmund Lebert of December 2, 1868.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Maurice J. E. |date=1951 |title=Schubert's 'Wanderer' Fantasy |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/934078 |journal=The Musical Times |volume=92 |issue=1306 |pages=540–542 |doi=10.2307/934078 |jstor=934078 |issn=0027-4666|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Johann Friedrich Reichardt]] (in ''Schillers lyrische Gedichte'' volume 2, published around 1809) and [[Wilhelm Taubert]] (Op. 144 No. 2, 1864) were other composers setting Schiller's poem. Other composers basing vocal music on dithyrambs include [[Giuseppe Verdi]] ("[[Brindisi (Song Verdi)|Brindisi]]", No. 6 of his 1845 ''[[Album di Sei Romanze (Verdi)|Album di Sei Romanze]]''), and [[Max Bruch]] (Op. 39, {{circa}} 1871). [[Othmar Schoeck]]'s 1911 [[List of compositions by Othmar Schoeck#Lieder|''Dithyrambe'', Op.&nbsp;22]] is based on an unnamed verse by [[Goethe]].<ref>''Werk- und Nachlassverzeichnis Othmar Schoeck (1886 – 1957)''. Zentralbibliothek Zürich. p. 29. See also [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=6588 Dithyrambe 'Alles geben die Götter, die unendlichen'] at The LiederNet Archive, and: Marcel Reich-Ranicki. [https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/frankfurter-anthologie/marcel-reich-ranicki-in-der-frankfurter-anthologie-alles-geben-die-goetter-von-johann-wolfgang-von-goethe-12603935.html "„Alles geben die Götter“ von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"] in ''[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]]'', 4 October 2013.</ref>

Instrumental dithyrambs were composed by [[Robert Volkmann]] and [[Hermann Ritter]]. [[Nikolai Medtner]] composed several dithyrambs, including a set of three for solo piano as his Opus 10. Additionally, the final movement of his first violin sonata carries the title, and the last of his ''Vergessene Weisen'' Op. 40 is a ''Danza ditirambica''.

The last movement of [[Igor Stravinsky]]'s ''Duo Concertant'' for violin and piano is entitled ''Dithyrambe''. [[Richard Edward Wilson]]'s 1983 ''Dithyramb'' is for oboe and clarinet. [[Wolfgang Rihm]] composed a 30-minute work, ''Concerto'', in 2000, with the subtitle ''Dithyrambe'' and a scoring for string quartet and orchestra.

In 1961 the American choreographer [[James Waring]] created a dance piece entitled ''Dithyramb'' with music and objects by the Fluxus artist [[George Brecht]].

The Swedish composer, Ture Rangström, 1884–1947, wrote an early symphonic poem, “Dithyramb” in 1909, revised in 1948 by Kurt Atterberg.

==See also==
* [[Iambus (genre)]]
* [[Thriambus]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
* Armand D'Angour: "How the Dithyramb Got Its Shape." ''Classical Quarterly'' 47 (1997) 331–351.
* {{cite book| last = Feder| first = Lillian| title = The Handbook Of Classical Literature| year = 1998| publisher = Da Capo Press| isbn = 978-0-306-80880-7 }}
* {{cite book| author = E. D. d Francis| title = Image and Idea in Fifth Century Greece: Art and Literature After the Persian Wars| year = 1990| publisher = Routledge| isbn = 978-0-415-01914-9 }}
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle= Dithyrambic Poetry | volume= 8 |last= Gosse |first= Edmund William |author-link= Edmund Gosse | pages = 323&ndash;324 |short= 1}}
* {{cite book| author = Jane Ellen Harrison| title = Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion| year = 1922| publisher = Princeton University Press| isbn = 978-0-691-01514-9 }}
* Harvey, A. E. 1955. "The Classification of Greek Lyric Poetry." ''Classical Quarterly'' 5.
* {{cite book| author = Aristóteles| title = Poetics I| year = 1987| publisher = Hackett Publishing| isbn = 978-0-87220-033-3 }}
* [[Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge|Pickard-Cambridge, Sir Arthur Wallace]]. 1927. ''Dithyramb Tragedy and Comedy''. Second edition revised by T.B.L. Webster, 1962. Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]], 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-814227-7}}.
* —. 1946. ''The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens''.
* —. 1953. ''The Dramatic Festivals of Athens''.
* Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane. 2003. ''Tragedy and Athenian Religion''. Oxford: Oxford UP.
* {{cite book| author = Constantine Athanasius Trypanis| title = Greek Poetry: From Homer to Seferis| year = 1981| publisher = Chicago : University of Chicago Press| isbn = 978-0-226-81316-5| url-access = registration| url = https://archive.org/details/greekpoetryfromh00tryp}}
* {{cite book| last = Wiles| first = David| title = The Masks of Menander: Sign and Meaning in Greek and Roman Performance| year = 2004| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-0-521-54352-1 }}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{EB1911 poster|Dithyrambic Poetry}}
* [http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/clasdram/chapters/042reading1dithyramb.htm Bacchylides, "The Theseus Dithyramb"] – composed c. 500 BCE ({{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212126/http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/clasdram/chapters/042reading1dithyramb.htm |date=3 March 2016}})
* [[IMSLP]]:
** Vocal: {{IMSLP2
|work=Schillers lyrische Gedichte (Reichardt, Johann Friedrich)
|cname=<br>"Dithyrambe" in ''Schillers lyrische Gedichte'' (Vol. 2) by Johann Friedrich Reichardt
|work2=Dithyrambe, D.801 (Schubert, Franz)
|cname2=<br>"Dithyrambe", Op. 60 No. 2 (D 801) by Franz Schubert
|work3=Songs for Voice and Piano (Verdi, Giuseppe)
|cname3=<br>No. 6 of ''Sei Romanze'' (1845) by Giuseppe Verdi
|work4=List of works by Wilhelm Taubert
|cname4=<br>"Dithyrambe", No. 2 in ''Dichtungen v. Fr. v. Schiller'', Op. 144 by Wilhelm Taubert
|work5=List of works by Max Bruch
|cname5=<br>''Dithyrambe'', Op. 39 by Max Bruch
}}
** Instrumental: {{IMSLP2
|work=Dithyrambe und Toccate, Op.4 (Volkmann, Robert)
|cname=<br>''Dithyrambe und Toccate'', Op. 4 by Robert Volkmann (1851)
|work2=3 Dithyrambs, Op.10 (Medtner, Nikolay)
|cname2=<br>3 Dithyrambs, Op.10 by Nikolay Medtner (1898-1906)
|work3=Dithyrambe, Op.74 (Ritter, Hermann)
|cname3=<br>''Dithyrambe'', Op. 74 by Hermann Ritter (1907)
|work4=Violin Sonata No.1, Op.21 (Medtner, Nikolay)
|cname4=<br>Violin Sonata No.1, Op.21 by Nikolay Medtner (1909-10 — movements: Canzona, Danza, Ditirambo)
|work5=Forgotten Melodies III, Op.40 (Medtner, Nikolay)
|cname5=<br>"Danza ditirambica", No. 6 in ''Forgotten Melodies III'', Op.40 by Nikolay Medtner (1919-1920)
}}
* [http://www.lieder.net/lieder/find_titles.html?pat=Dithyramb Dithyrambs] at The LiederNet Archive
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[[Category:Ancient Greek theatre]]
[[Category:Hymns to Dionysus]]
[[Category:Religious music]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek music]]