A Greek chorus, or simply chorus (), in the context of ancient Greek tragedy, comedy, satyr plays, and modern works inspired by them, is a homogeneous, non-individualised group of performers, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action. The chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison, and sometimes wore masks.
Dramatic function
Plays of the ancient Greek theatre always included a chorus that offered a variety of background and summary information to help the audience follow the performance. They commented on themes, and, as August Wilhelm Schlegel proposed in the early 19th century to subsequent controversy, demonstrated how the audience might react to the drama. According to Schlegel, the Chorus is "the ideal spectator", and conveys to the actual spectator "a lyrical and musical expression of his own emotions, and elevates him to the region of contemplation".
Some historians argue that the chorus was itself considered to be an actor. Scholars have considered Sophocles to be superior to Euripides in his choral writing. Of the two, Sophocles also won more dramatic contests. His chorus passages were more relevant to the plot and more integrated in tragedies, whereas the Euripidean choruses seemingly had little to do with the plot and were often bystanders. Aristotle stated in his Poetics:
The chorus represents, on stage, the general population of the particular story, in sharp contrast with many of the themes of the ancient Greek plays which tended to be about individual heroes, gods, and goddesses. They were often the same sex as the main character. In Aeschylus' Agamemnon, the chorus comprises the elderly men of Argos, whereas in Euripides' The Bacchae, they are a group of eastern bacchantes, and in Sophocles' Electra, the chorus represents the women of Argos. In Aeschylus' The Eumenides, however, the chorus takes the part of a host of avenging Furies.
In the surviving tragedies, the choruses represent:
Aeschylus: Agamemnon - Elders of Argos The Eumenides - Furies The Libation Bearers - Enslaved Women The Persians - Elders of Susa Prometheus Bound - Oceanids Seven Against Thebes - Theban Women The Suppliants - The Danaïdes
Sophocles: Ajax - Sailors from Salamis Antigone - Elders of Thebes Electra - Mycenaean Women Oedipus at Colonus - Elders of Colonus Oedipus Rex - Elders of Thebae Philoctetes - Sailors of Neoptolemus Women of Trachis - Trachinian Women
Euripides: Alcestis - Elders of Pherae Andromache - Phthian Women The Bacchae - Theban Maenads Children of Heracles - Elders of Athens Electra - Argive Women Hecuba - Enslaved Trojan Women Helen - Enslaved Greek Women in Egypt Heracles - Elders of Thebes Hippolytus - Troezenian Women, Attendants to Hippolytus Ion - Women in the Service of Creusa Iphigenia in Aulis - Chalcidian Women Iphigenia in Tauris - Enslaved Greek Women in Taurica Medea - Corinthian Women Orestes - Argive Women The Phoenician Women - Phoenician Women Rhesus - Trojan Sentinels The Suppliants - Mothers and Sons of the Fallen Thebans The Trojan Women - Trojan Noble Women
Choral structure and size
No record beyond the words of the script has survived to describe what an ancient Greek audience might have seen and heard during a performance of a choral ode, but a study of those words, including etymology and other even more decisive evidence, makes it possible to derive a general idea that a performance of choral ode was a mix of lyric poetry, dancing and singing joined together with drama. According to scholar H. D. F. Kitto: "The Greek verb choreuo, 'I am a member of the chorus', has the sense 'I am dancing'. The word ode means not something recited or declaimed, but 'a song'. The 'orchestra', in which a chorus had its being, is literally a 'dancing floor'."
The lines of choral odes provide evidence that they were sung. Normal syllabic structure has long sounds that are twice the length of short sounds. However, some lyrics in Greek odes have long syllables that are equal to 3, 4 and 5 shorter syllables. Spoken words cannot do that, suggesting that this was a danced and sung rhythm.
The chorus originally consisted of fifty members, but some later playwrights changed the size. Aeschylus likely lowered the number to twelve, and Sophocles raised it again to fifteen. Fifteen members were used by Euripides and Sophocles in tragedies. The chorus stood in the orchestra. There were twenty-four members in comedies.
Stage management
The chorus performed using several techniques, including singing, dancing, narrating, and acting. There is evidence that there were strong rhythmic components to their speaking.
