Melizein Pathe or the Tonal Dimension in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon: Voice, Song, and Choreia as Leitmotifs and Metatragic Signals for Expressing Suffering

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the traditionally text-focused field of classical philology has experienced the advent of a new paradigm of performance, especially Greek philology, particularly in drama research, where an emphasis on the media beyond the text-the consideration of voice, choral arrangement, musicality, lyric poeticity, performativity, and rituality as they pertain to a total work of art-has become apparent. 1 As is well known, the chorus represents a multimedia and multimodal element, performing songs comprising voiced content, dance as a rhythmic bodily movement, and musical accompaniment. Chorality is predominately associated with ritual, honoring the gods and educating via a comprehensive explanation of the world steeped in mythical contexts. Tragedy * I want especially to thank Niall Slater not only for organizing the excellent conference "Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World XI: Voice and Voices" at Emory University (September 17-21, 2014) but also for editing this volume. I also express my thanks to the anonymous referee for reviewing my contribution, giving me thoughtful criticism, and saving me from many errors. For discussion and feedback I am grateful to them, to the fellow-participants at the orality conference, and to gracious audiences at Rome, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Graz, and Regensburg. Last but not least I thank my student assistant Austin Diaz for helping me with a first translation and correcting my English.