Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CHORUS (Gr. xopbs)Z

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 271 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.

Encyclopedia Home :: CHA-CHR

Spread the word:

del.icio.us it!

See also:

CHORUS (Gr. xopbs)Z

CHORUS (Gr. xopbs)Z properly a See also:

dance, and especially the sacred dance, accompanied by See also:

SONG

song, of See also:

ancient See also:

GREECE

Greece at the festivals of the gods. The word xop6s seems originally to have referred to a dance in an enclosure, and is therefore usually connected with the See also:

root appearing in Gr. xbpros, hedge, enclosure, See also:

Lat. hortus, See also:

GARDEN (from O. Fr. garden, mod. Fr. jardin; this, like our words " garth," a paddock attached to a building, and " yard," comes from a Teutonic word for an enclosure which appears in Gothic as gards and O. H. Ger. gart, cf. Dutch gaarde and Ger. .garten)

garden, and in the Eng. " yard," " garden " and " See also:

Barth." Of choral dances in ancient Greece other than those in See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of See also:

DIONYSUS (probably = " son of Zeus," from & Os and vv(7os, a Thracian word for " son ")

Dionysus we know of the Dance of the See also:

Crane at See also:

DELOS

Delos, celebrating the See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape of See also:

THESEUS

Theseus from the See also:

LABYRINTH (Gr. Xa(3vpcvOos, Lat. labyrinthus)

labyrinth, one telling of the struggle of See also:

APOLLO (Gr. 'A2r6XXwv,'Airkkhwv)

Apollo and the See also:

PYTHON

Python at See also:

DELPHI (the Pytho of Homer and Herodotus; in Boeotian inscriptions BeA4oi, on coins Aa)tg5oi)

Delphi, and one in See also:

CRETE (Gr. Kp;rrrr; Turk. Kirid, Ital. Candia)

Crete recounting the saving of the new-See also:

BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born See also:

ZEUS

Zeus by the See also:

CURETES (Gr. Kobprjres and KovA-res)

Curetes. In the chorus sung in honour of Dionysus the ancient See also:

Greek See also:

DRAMA (literally "action," from Gr. Snail, act or do)

drama had its See also:

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

birth. From that of the See also:

winter festival, consisting of the rcwpos or See also:

BAND

band of revellers, chanting the " phallic songs," with See also:

RIBALD

ribald See also:

DIALOGUE

dialogue between the See also:

LEADER, BENJAMIN WILLIAMS (1831– )

leader and his band, sprang " See also:

COMEDY

comedy," while from the dithyrambic chorus of the See also:

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

spring festival came " tragedy." For the See also:

HISTORY

history of the chorus in Greek drama, with the See also:

GRADUAL (Med. Lat. gradualis, of or belonging to steps or degrees; gradus, step)

gradual subordination of the lyrical to the dramatic See also:

side in tragedy and its See also:

TOTAL

total disappearance in the See also:

MIDDLE

middle and new comedy, see DRAMA: Greek Drama. The chorus as a See also:

FACTOR (from Lat. facere, to make or do)

factor in drama survived only in the various imitations or revivals ,of the ancient Greek See also:

THEATRE (BEarpov, " a place for seeing," from OeacOae)

theatre in other See also:

LANGUAGES

languages. A chorus is found in See also:

Milton's See also:

Samson Agonistes. The Elizabethan dramatists applied the name to a single See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character employed for the recitation of prologues or epilogues. Apart from the uses of the See also:

TERM

term in drama, the word " chorus " has been employed chiefly in See also:

MUSIC

music. It is used of any organized See also:

BODY

body of singers, in See also:

OPERA (Italian for " work ")

opera, See also:

ORATORIO

oratorio, See also:

CANTATA (Italian for a song or story set to music)

cantata, &c., and, in the See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form " See also:

CHOIR (0. Fr. cuer from Lat. chorus; pronounced quire, and until the end of the 17th century so spelt, the spelling being altered to agree with the Fr. chceur)

choir," of the trained body of singers of the musical portions of a religious service in a See also:

CATHEDRAL

cathedral or See also:

church. As applied to musical compositions, a " chorus " is a See also:

composition written in parts, each to be sung by See also:

groups of voices in a large body of singers, and differs from " See also:

GLEE

glee " (q.v.), where each See also:

PART

part is for a single See also:

VOICE (Fr. voix, from Lat. vox)

voice. The word is also used of that part of a song repeated at the See also:

close of each See also:

VERSE (from Lat. versus, literally a line or furrow drawn by turning the plough, from vertere, and afterwards signifying an arrangement of syllables into feet)

verse, in which the See also:

AUDIENCE (from Lat. audire, to hear)

audience or a body of singers may join with the soloist.

In the See also:

early middle ages the name chorus was given to a See also:

PRIMITIVE

primitive bagpipe without a See also:

DRONE

drone. The See also:

INSTRUMENT (Lat. instrumentum, from insincere, to build up, furnish, arrange, prepare)

instrument is best known by the Latin description contained in the apocryphal See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter of St. See also:

Jerome, ad Dardanum: Chorus quoque simplex, pellis cum duabus cicutis aereis, et per primam inspiratur per secundam voacem emittit." Several illumihated See also:

MSS' from the 9th to the t ith See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century give fanciful drawings, accompanied by descriptions in barbarous Latin, evidently meant to illustrate those described in the letter to See also:

DARDANUS

Dardanus. The See also:

ORIGINAL

original MS., probably an illustrated transcript of this letter, which served as a copy for the others, was apparently produced at a See also:

time when the See also:

ROMAN

Roman bagpipe (See also:

TIBIA

tibia utricularia) had fallen into disuse in See also:

COMMON

common with other musical See also:

INSTRUMENTS

instruments, and was unknown except to the few. The Latin description given above is correct and quite unmistakable to any one who knows the primitive form of bagpipe; the illustrations must therefore represent theeffortofanartisttodepict an unknown instrument from a description. Virdung, Luscinius and See also:

PRAETORIUS, MICHAEL (1571_1621)

Praetorius seem to have had See also:

ACCESS (Lat. accessus)

access to a MS. of the Dardanus letter now lost, and to have reproduced the drawings without understanding them. In a MS. of the 14th century at the See also:

BRITISH

British Museum,2 containing a See also:

CHRONICLE (from Gr. Xpovos, time)

chronicle of the See also:

WORLD

world's history to the See also:

DEATH

death of See also:

King See also:

EDWARD

Edward I., the chorus is mentioned and described in similar words to those quoted above; in the margin is an elementary See also:

SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

sketch of a primitive bagpipe with See also:

BLOWPIPE

blowpipe and chaunter with three holes, but no drone. Bagpipes with drones abound on sculptured monuments and in miniatures of that century. See also:

GERBERT, MARTIN (172o-1793)

Gerbert gives illustrations of the fanciful chorus from the Dardanus letter and of two other instruments of later date; one of these represents a musician playing the See also:

PLATERSPIEL, BLATERPFEIFE

Platerspiel,the other the bagpipe known as chevrette, in which the whole skin of the See also:

animal (a kid or See also:

pig), with See also:

head and feet, has been used for the bag. Edward See also:

BUHLE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB (1763-1821)

Buhle,3 in his admirable See also:

WORK

work on the musical instruments in the illuminated MSS. of the middle ages, points out that Gerbert,4 who gives the See also:

DATES

dates of his two MSS. as " 6th and 9th centuries," has a singular method of reckoning the date of a MS.; he refers to the See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age of a MS. at the time of See also:

writing (18th century), not to the date at which it was produced. The MS. containing the two figures of musicians mentioned above, instead of being ascribed to the 6th century, was six centuries old when Gerbert wrote in 1774, and dates therefore from the 12th century. It is interesting to See also:

note that Giraldus Cambrensis b mentions the chorus as one of the three instruments of See also:

WALES (Cymru, Gwalia, Cambria)

Wales and See also:

Scotland, ascribing See also:

SUPERIOR

superior musical skill to the latter.

Historians See also:

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

record that King See also:

James I. of Scotland was renowned for his skill as a performer on various musical instruments, one of which was the chorus.6 This bears out the traditional belief that the bagpipe had been a Scottish attribute from the earliest times. The word " chorus " occurs once or twice in See also:

French See also:

MEDIEVAL

medieval poems with other instruments, but without indication as to the See also:

KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind of instrument thus designated. The word was probably the French See also:

EQUIVALENT

equivalent for the Platerspiel. See also G. Kastner, Danses See also:

des morts (pp. 200 to 202, pl. xv., No. 103) ; and Dom Pedro Cerone, El Melopeo y See also:

MAESTRO

maestro (See also:

Naples, 1613), p. 248. (K.

End of Article: CHORUS (Gr. xopbs)Z

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
CHORUM

[next]
CHOSE (Fr. for " thing ")