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48-648: Cantata Profana (subtitled A kilenc csodaszarvas [ The Nine Enchanted Stags ], Sz . 94) is a work for tenor , baritone , double mixed chorus and orchestra by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók . Completed on 8 September 1930, it was premiered in London (in an English translation by M. D. Calvocoressi ) on 25 May 1934 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Wireless Chorus, conducted by Aylmer Buesst ; tenor Trefor Jones and baritone Frank Phillips were

96-482: A thymele , or altar. Before the introduction of multiple, interacting actors by Aeschylus , the Greek chorus was the main performer in relation to a solitary actor. The importance of the chorus declined after the 5th century BCE , when the chorus began to be separated from the dramatic action. Later dramatists depended on the chorus less than their predecessors. As dialogue and characterization became more important,

144-441: A chorus and festivals. In other examples, poets and playwrights use the term choros to refer to female group performances. Although this usage existed, it was not common. Plato referred to women dancing Corybantic dances with choral language, but contextual evidence indicates to scholars Budelmann and Power that he does not regard it on the same level as traditional Greek choruses. Additionally, both Sophocles and Pausanias refer to

192-560: A close. The work concludes with the two choirs recapitulating the narrative. As the chorus finishes its retelling of the story, the tenor returns with an impassioned flourish on the words, "from cool mountain springs". The work ends as it began, with an ascending scale, but this time in an inverted form of the opening scale. Bartók once confided to Bence Szabolcsi that the Cantata Profana was "his most profound credo". This has engendered much discussion of possible interpretations of

240-406: A collective voice on the action of the scene they appear in, or provide necessary insight into action which has taken place offstage. Historically, the chorus consisted of between 12 and 50 players, who variously danced, sang or spoke their lines in unison, and sometimes wore masks. A common theory for the origin of the Greek chorus stems from the ancient Greek poet Arion's invention of the tragedy,

288-434: A few measures later, gradually building larger and larger diatonic clusters, until the first true melody appears as if out of a mist. Two choirs sing of the nine sons knowing of nothing but the hunt. The B section of the first movement, marked Allegro molto , is a fugue describing the hunt. Drums and horn calls punctuate the music through this section, while the chorus describes the hunters wandering farther and farther into

336-490: 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 large section of

384-429: A shirt and coat but Only foliage; Nevermore their feet will Walk on houses' floors but Only in the sward; Nevermore their mouth will Drink from cups and jugs but From the clearest springs. Bartók translated the original Romanian into Hungarian and entrusted a German translation to Bence Szabolcsi . In 1955, Robert Shaw created a new English translation. The original Romanian text has not appeared in any of

432-508: A singing chorus that serves a similar purpose as the Greek chorus, as noted in Six Plays by Rodgers and Hammerstein : "The singing chorus is used frequently to interpret the mental and emotional reactions of the principal characters, after the manner of a Greek chorus." The idea of the greek chorus as a tactic in musical theatre is significant in winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, A Strange Loop , in which six "Thoughts" follow around

480-418: A story of generational conflict. The transformation of the sons into stags may also be viewed as a rite of passage: ritual death followed by transfiguration, leading to a new life in a "pure" and natural state of being. The theme of the piece is the inspiration for the film Cantata by Miklós Jancsó . Sources Andr%C3%A1s Sz%C5%91ll%C5%91sy Szőllősy studied composition under Zoltán Kodály at

528-409: Is Sz. 116 and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is Sz. 106. This article about a Hungarian composer is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Greek chorus A Greek chorus ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : χορός , translit.   chorós ) in the context of ancient Greek tragedy , comedy , satyr plays , is a homogeneous group of performers, who comment with

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576-486: Is similar to the Greek chorus as both generally conclude the drama of the plot, "bridg[ing] the space from the dramatic action back to every-day life." The musical Little Shop of Horrors features a modern version of a Greek Chorus in the form of characters Crystal, Ronnette, and Chiffon, whose songs provide narration to the play. A Greek chorus is also used in the Woody Allen film Mighty Aphrodite , in which

624-661: The Franz Liszt Academy of Music where he was a professor of music history and theory from 1950 until his death. He was awarded a Ph.D. from the University of Budapest . He won numerous prizes and awards for his own compositions, including Distinguished Composition of the Year 1970 at UNESCO's International Rostrum of Composers in Paris for Concerto No. 3 for sixteen strings , and the 1971 Erkel Prize . In 1985 he won

672-475: The Greek theatres were so large, the chorus' actions had to be exaggerated and their voices clear so that everyone could see and hear them. To do this, they used techniques such as synchronization, echo, ripple, physical theatre and the use of masks to aid them. A Greek chorus was often led by a coryphaeus . They also served as the ancient equivalent for a curtain, as their parodos (entering procession) signified

720-847: The Kossuth Prize – the highest official recognition of the Hungarian state – and in 1987 he was proclaimed Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. He became a member of the Széchenyi Academy of Literature and Arts in 1993 and was awarded the Széchenyi Prize in 1997. Szöllősy's musicological writings include books on Bartók, Kodály , and Arthur Honegger . The Szőllősy index includes all of Bartók's compositions as well as his musicological writings. For instance, Concerto for Orchestra

768-703: The Thyiades as a choros. Budelmann and Power agree with the mainstream conclusion that female choruses were a minor part of Greek choral culture, but posit that these ensembles did exist outside of the civic performances dominated by traditional Greek choruses. They were not allowed to perform at major events like the City Dionysia , where female characters were instead portrayed by male ensemble members. Instead, they performed at polis festivals, private performances, female-only festivals, and outside urban areas. Female choreia at private performances included

816-485: The cithara , an ancient lyre-like instrument. German poet and philosopher Friedrich Schiller also tried to use the chorus in his tragedy The Bride of Messina . After it was performed in March 1803 at Weimar, the performance was celebrated by students but denounced by critics. They specifically critiqued his use of the chorus. German poet Schiller Carlyle said that "the chorus retarded the plot, dissipating and diffusing

864-523: The dekatê and weddings . T he dekatê, or the tenth day after birth where the child is given a name, were generally small-scale events attended by close friends and family. Greek weddings during the time period featured dancing and singing by both genders, together and separately, but were very different from formal choral performances. Female choreia also existed outside of Athens, but performances were segregated by gender. Plutarch and Aristophanes' Lysistrata both refer to women dancing at Kolias in

912-416: The 8th century BC, there are depictions of female ensembles or female members performing alongside men in mixed choruses. However, these examples disappear by the 5th century. There is not a lot of evidence in Greek literature for female choruses. Much of it is indirect reference, which scholars have then parsed for clues. For example, Euripides ' character Electra complains about her inability to perform in

960-548: The Classical period, in honour of Demeter and Aphrodite, respectively. The chorus performed using several techniques, including singing, dancing, narrating, and acting. There is evidence that there were strong rhythmic components to their speaking. They often communicated in song form, but sometimes spoke their lines in unison. The chorus had to work in unison to help explain the play as there were only one to three actors on stage who were already playing several parts each. As

1008-465: The Greek chorus extensively in his writings, including " Art and Revolution ". His longest work, Der Ring des Nibelungen , ( The Ring of the Nibelung ) is based in the style of Oresteia with parallels in rhythm and overall structure (both have three parts, with the exception of Das Rheingold , the prelude to The Ring of the Nibelung ). Montgomery also argues that Wagner's use of the orchestra

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1056-444: The beginning of performances to make certain that Dionysus continued to be honored. The Greek playwrights of the 5th century paid homage to the chorus' musical and choreographic origins. They did so by incorporating dance and sung odes into their work. For example, Aeschylus and Euripides either composed accompaniments to their own tragedies or had accompaniments commissioned, and Sophocles accompanied at least one of his plays on

1104-453: The beginnings of a play and their exodos (exit procession) served as the curtains closing. The layout of ancient Greek theatres had an orchestra component, quite literally "dancing space," which were generally flat. There, the chorus would perform and interact with the actors. Originally, these spaces were simply dirt, but transitioned to paved ground in the Classical period, sometimes with marble. These orchestra areas sometimes also featured

1152-467: The chorus made less of an appearance. However, historian Alan Hughes argues that there was no such thing as decline, but rather the slow dissolution of one form into another: At their best, they may have become performance art, blending music, lyrics, and dance, performed by polished choreutai and accompanied by distinguished musicians. That is neither improvement nor decline: it is simply change. Musical theatre and grand opera sometimes incorporate

1200-494: The chorus most often expresses grief simultaneously with the main characters, calling them "grief-leaders." Some historians argue that the chorus was itself considered to be an actor. Scholar Albert Weiner considers that it is better when a chorus is "integrated into the fabric of the play" and more resembles a unified character. Since Euripides' choruses seem less unified, Sophocles' choruses more often received praise, and Euripides' choruses criticized for having little to do with

1248-421: The chorus upon their entrance into the performance. Throughout the tragedy, episodes, where characters and chorus converse, and stasima, where the chorus performs a stasimon (choral ode), at the end of each episode to summarize and contextualize events, are interspersed. In the exodus , or the play's final scene, the chorus performs a song imparting some message or moral before exiting. Paul Woodruff argues that

1296-534: The dialogue by increasing the number of actors and reducing the role of the chorus in his works. They also played a role in the Athenian polis, with members of a chorus forming life-long bonds as they performed this civic duty. It is thought that choruses had their start in Dionysian dithyrambs , hymns and dances in honor Dionysus, and then other characters began to be incorporated. Satyr-plays were then added to

1344-466: 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". In the Greek tragedy, the chorus makes their first entrance in the parados , or the song performed by

1392-425: The father pleads with his sons to come home. "Everything is ready," he says, "the lanterns are lit, the table is set, the cups are filled and your mother grieves". Here again the chorus prepares the stag's reply: "we can never return, our antlers cannot pass through doorways, only roam the forest groves". "Never can they go." is chanted by the chorus as the music grows ever softer and the second movement quietly draws to

1440-588: The featured soloists. The source texts which Bartók used to create the libretto were two Romanian colinde that he collected from Transylvania in April 1914. Colinde are ballads which are sung during the Christmas season, although many colinde have no connection to the nativity of Jesus and are believed to have pre-Christian origins. The story concerns a father who has taught his nine sons only how to hunt; they know nothing of work and spend all of their time in

1488-410: The forest. The final section of the first movement begins as the hunt music dies down; the mood suddenly becomes quiet and mysterious as the hunters reach the haunted bridge and are then transformed. The first section of the second movement recounts the father's search for his sons. A variant of the fugue subject, now Andante, provides the melodic material for the chorus to narrate the father's trek to

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1536-624: The forest. One day, while hunting a large and beautiful stag, they cross a haunted bridge and are themselves transformed into stags. The father takes his rifle and goes out in search of his missing sons. Finding the stags gathered around a spring, he drops to one knee and takes aim. The largest stag, his eldest son, pleads with his father not to shoot; the father, recognizing his son in the stag, begs them to come home. The stag then replies that they can never come home, as their antlers cannot pass through doorways and they can no longer drink from cups. In an English translation created much later, Bartók retains

1584-449: The haunted bridge. As the father sees nine fine stags at a spring, he takes aim with his rifle. The music becomes more and more agitated until the largest stag calls out. Here begins the tenor solo, which is the voice of the stag imploring the father not to take aim at his children, lest they should have to kill him. In the manner of a Greek chorus , the chorus interjects the father's recognition of his sons. The baritone solo then begins as

1632-450: The king at hand. Their text can thus be mined into in order to gain insight into the political and societal situations of the time, with particular obedience to the position of the general member of society. In the surviving tragedies, the choruses represent: Aeschylus : Sophocles : Euripides : No record beyond the words of the script has survived to describe what an ancient Greek audience might have seen and heard during

1680-590: The piece. It has been suggested that the Cantata is an expression of Bartók's humanistic ideal of a brotherhood of all people and nations and ultimately of individual freedom, possibly in response to the Great Depression or the rise of fascism in Europe. On the surface, the story is a simple parable , a morality tale about the consequences of not teaching one's children their proper place in society, or as

1728-549: The plot. Aristotle stated in his Poetics : The chorus too must be regarded as one of the actors. It must be part of the whole and share in the action, not as in Euripides but as in Sophocles. 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

1776-409: The position of the latter. The chorus thus comes not only to represent the hierarchical positioning of the general Greek society at the time, but their text provides insight into political thoughts and ideals. In reference to Atreus, the text spoken by the chorus oscillates between positive, negative, and neutral connotations; they critique the monarchy, but prescribe necessary points of indifference to

1824-511: The protagonist, Usher, and represent his "perceptions of reality". During the Italian Renaissance , there was a renewed interest in the theatre of ancient Greece. The Florentine Camerata crafted the first operas out of the intermezzi that acted as comic or musical relief during the dramas of the time. These were based entirely on the Greek chorus, as historian H.C. Montgomery argues. Richard Wagner discussed Greek drama and

1872-497: The published versions of Cantata Profana . Cantata Profana is divided into three continuous movements : the first movement describes the hunt and the magic transformation, the second recounts the father's search for his sons and his encounter with them, and the third recapitulates the narrative. The overall A–B–A ′ structure exemplifies Bartók's use of arch form . The work opens with an ascending non-diatonic scale: D-E-F-G-A ♭ -B ♭ -C. This scale firmly establishes

1920-407: The same gender 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 some cases, the greek chorus

1968-565: The six-syllable versification of the original Romanian text. Below is his translation of the text from the third movement: Once upon a time there Was an aged man, he Had nine handsome boys. Never has he taught them Any handicraft, he Taught them only how to Hunt in forests dark. There they roamed, hunted All the year around, and Changed into stags in Forests dark and wild. Never will their antlers Enter gates and doors, but Only woods and shrubs; Never will their bodies Wear

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2016-413: The stage where the chorus danced and sang is the 'orchestra' which is translated to mean 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

2064-451: The stationary chorus, and satyrs' verses. In Aristotle's Poetics, he writes that "[Tragedy's] beginnings, certainly, were in improvisation [autoschediastikês], as were also those for comedy, tragedy originating in impromptus by the leaders of dithyrambic choruses, and comedy in those of the leaders of the phallic performances which still remain customary in many cities." The role of the chorus fluctuated. For example, Aeschylus foregrounded

2112-469: The sympathies." In 1910, Sir William Ridgeway published The Origin of Tragedy, in which he argued that as Greek tragedy originated from the dithyramb, the tragic genre itself stemmed from Dionysian traditions. All of the extant plays of the ancient Greek theatre include 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

2160-469: The themes of the play, making imagistic references to hunger by way of communicating themes of desire, which in Thyestes manifests by way of literal hunger and consumption, but also in the pursuit of revenge. Despite serving as clarifying voices, the greek chorus is not always omniscient; the knowledge they lack sometimes speak to a distance in status between the chorus and a protagonist by way of emphasizing

2208-471: The tonal center of D and provides the framework for much of the melodic content of the Cantata . The opening gesture is immediately followed by a paraphrase of the first two bars of Bach 's St Matthew Passion . Bartók offers no explanation of why he chose to include this quotation in what is otherwise a secular work, although some theorists believe that the piece is modeled on the Passion . The choirs enter

2256-421: Was a danced and sung rhythm. The chorus consisted of fifty members at the start of the 5th century B.C. It was likely Aeschylus who lowered the number to twelve, and Sophocles who raised it to fifteen. The size stayed at fifteen to the end of the 5th century B.C. Fifteen members were used by Euripides and Sophocles in tragedies . There were twenty-four members in comedies . In terms of gender, starting from

2304-434: Was used as an intermediary between their represented population and the audience, particularly in terms of moral evaluation. In Seneca's Thyestes , the chorus details the offstage events of the play in gruesome detail, specifically creating visceral descriptions of the murders of Thyestes' sons, evoking disgust on behalf of the immoral behavior of Atreus. In the same play, the chorus is thought to have agency in communicating

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