scholarly journals Translating Commonplace Marks in Gascoigne and Kinwelmersh's Jocasta

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-84
Author(s):  
Carla Suthren
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Classical Drama ◽  
The Moment

This essay locates the moment at which commonplace marks were ‘translated’ from printed classical texts into English vernacular drama in a manuscript of Gascoigne and Kinwelmersh's Jocasta, dated 1568. Based on a survey of the use of printed commonplace marks in classical drama between 1500 and 1568, it demonstrates that this typographical symbol was strongly associated with Greek tragedy, particularly Sophocles and Euripides, and hardly at all with Seneca. In light of this, it argues that the commonplace marks in the Jocasta manuscript should be read as a deliberate visual gesture towards Euripides. In this period, commonplace marks evoked printed Greek rather than Latin tragedy, and early modern readers might bring such associations to the English dramatic texts in which these marks also appeared, including the First Quarto of Hamlet (1603).

The Orchestra as Acting Area in Greek Tragedy

Ramus ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Ley ◽  
Michael Ewans
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Close Relation ◽  
Central Problem ◽  
Classical Drama ◽  
Considerable Experience

For some years past there has been a welcome change of emphasis towards the consideration of staging in books published on Greek tragedy; and yet with that change also a curious failure to be explicit about the central problem connected with all stagecraft, namely that of the acting-area. In this study two scholars with considerable experience of teaching classical drama in performance consider this problem of the acting-area in close relation to major scenes from two Greek tragedies, and suggest some general conclusions. The article must stand to some extent as a critique of the succession of books that has followed the apparently pioneering study of Oliver Taplin, none of which has made any substantial or sustained attempt to indicate where actors might have acted in the performance of Greek tragedy, though most, if not all, have been prepared to discard the concept of a raised ‘stage’ behind the orchestra. Hippolytus (428 BC) is the earliest of the surviving plays of Euripides to involve three speaking actors in one scene. Both Alcestis (438 BC and Medea (431 BC almost certainly require three actors to be performed with any fluency, but surprisingly present their action largely through dialogue and confrontation — surprisingly, perhaps, because at least since 458 BC and the performance of the Oresteia it is clear that three actors were available to any playwright.

Schütz's Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? and the Politics of the Thirty Years War

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-408
Author(s):  
Derek Stauff
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Persecution ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Devotional Writings

For early modern Lutherans Heinrich Schütz's Saul, Saul, was verfolgst du mich? would have evoked fears of religious persecution. Its text, from the narrative of Paul's conversion in Acts 9, appears in seventeenth-century devotional writings and confessional polemics about persecution. Moreover, recently uncovered archival evidence shows that Schütz performed his concerto in 1632 at a state-sponsored political festival marking the first anniversary of the Battle of Breitenfeld, a major Protestant victory in the Thirty Years War. Here Schütz's concerto clearly stoked fears of persecution, because the celebrations touted the battle as a victory over Catholic oppression. The political context in 1632 might also explain some of the piece's most notable features. Its unusually brief text and vivid music do not illustrate the whole story of Saul's conversion but solely the moment at which Christ intervened to put a stop to persecution. Schütz's listeners would have heard in Saul's example a parallel to the victory they were celebrating in 1632 and the persecution they feared from their Catholic and imperial adversaries. This performance of Saul, the only one known from Schütz's lifetime, shows how his music partook in a broader campaign of Protestant propaganda designed to reinforce the confessional and political divisions that fueled this phase of the war.

European Calvinism: history, providence, and martyrdom

1997 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 227-252
Author(s):  
Andrew Pettegree
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
New Beginning ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Conceptual Problems ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Mind ◽  
The Church

For students of the Reformation one of the main conceptual problems is undoubtedly the distance between the mind-set of our age and theirs. We look at the Reformation as a new beginning, the moment when the Church fragmented into competing Churches, and one of the fundamental developments of the Early Modern Age: a term which in itself presents a view of progress and change as one of the determining characteristics of the age.Contemporaries, however, had a very different perception; they saw the movement for evangelical reform as one of renovation and renewal. They believed that they were attempting to recover what was best in the past of the Church, which had since become hopelessly corrupted. With others of their contemporaries they despised innovation. One can surely only understand Martin Luther if one recognizes the depth of his conservatism; that his personal crusade was to a large extent fuelled by a sense of moral outrage and indignation at what the papacy had done to his Church.

Doxology as Suspension of the Tragic

1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-120
Author(s):  
Joseph C. McLelland
Keyword(s):  
Classical Theism ◽  
Classical Drama ◽  
Hidden God ◽  
The Moment

“The suspension of tragedy is accomplished by what appears in our midst as a presence of more significance, a ‘weight of glory’ that shifts the balance in the human drama. The ‘comic sense of life,’ as we may term it, sees things as caught up in a wider horizon, weighted toward gospel. Just as in classical drama the moment of recognition provides a shift in orientation, so the gospel story tells of a hidden God and the surprising joy he proves to be when recognized. This sort of cognition contributes to a kind of ‘comic epistemology,’ sadly missing from classical theism.”

scholarly journals Andronikos I Komnenos: A Greek Tragedy

2011 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry J. MAGOULIAS
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Byzantine Empire ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
Classical Drama ◽  
12Th Century ◽  
The Aesthetic

<span style="line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; color: black; font-size: 12pt">The Annals of Niketas Choniates depict Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos (1183-1185) in certain aspects of his lifestyle as a mirror image of his first cousin, Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). The life and death of Andronikos I Komnenos provide us with a window into the aesthetic, moral, intellectual, religious, economic and emotional world of Byzantine society in the 12th century. It was thanks to the Byzantine empire that the ancient texts were preserved and transmitted. Ancient Greek culture and reason, in particular, continued to inform Christian values while, at the same time, both could be in radical conflict. The tragic reign of Andronikos as presented by Niketas Choniates conforms to Aristotle's principles of classical drama, but there is a fundamental disagreement between the author of the Poetics and the historian as to what constitutes tragedy, which underlines this conflict.</span>

Israeli Theatre

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurit Yaari
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
The State ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
Classical Drama ◽  
Important Development ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Reading Study

This chapter reviews the state of Israeli theatre today, seventy-two years since the production of Racine’s Phaedra at Habima Theatre, and sums up its notable achievements, and the myriad forms, styles, artists, and institutions that together provide fertile ground for Israeli theatre’s encounters with classical drama. An overview of the seventy-two years of reception of Greek tragedy in Israeli theatre (1945–2017) demonstrates clearly that the most important development appears to be that local theatre makers have relinquished previous preconceived ideas about classical Greek drama and performance and of Aristotle’s theatrical doctrine, in favour of personal reading, study, research, and decoding of the classical works. It also presents the young and talented artists that are bringing the results of their studies and experimentations to the translation, writing, directing, and acting of classical drama to the Israeli stage, and using that drama to deliver innovative and challenging productions for today’s audiences.

scholarly journals El linaje de Aza durante los siglos XIII y XIV: declive y resurgimiento = The Aza Lineage during the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Decline and Resurgence.

2019 ◽  
pp. 225
Author(s):  
Iván García Izquierdo
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Family Members ◽  
Social Hierarchy ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Plateau Region ◽  
Alfonso X ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Moment

El linaje de Aza fue un modesto grupo aristocrático castellano que adquirió cuotas de poder y cierta notoriedad durante algunas fases de su existencia. Historiográficamente su interés ha pasado un tanto desapercibido a ojos de los especialistas. De hecho, para la etapa comprendida entre los siglos XIII y XIV sólo contamos con un trabajo específico elaborado en época moderna por el genealogista Luis de Salazar y Castro, bastante cuestionable en algunas partes de su relato. Nuestra propuesta trata de acercarse a este grupo nobiliario en ese mismo intervalo temporal, con especial atención al trayecto que transcurre entre los reinados de Alfonso X y Alfonso XI, tratando de superar la mera concepción dinástica en base a dos objetivos. El primero, posicionando a sus integrantes dentro de la escala social del momento. El segundo, calibrando su alcance económico y su capacidad señorial en la Meseta Norte.AbstractThe Aza lineage was a modest Castilian aristocratic group that acquired quotas of power and certain fame during certain phases of its existence. However, it has received relatively little attention on the part of scholarship throughout the ages. In fact, for the period between the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries, there is only one study by the early-modern genealogist Luis de Salazar y Castro, of questionable merit in certain aspects of his narrative. We seek to examine this aristocratic group over that same period, and with special attention to the trajectory between the reigns of Alfonso X and Alfonso XI of Castile, going beyond a merely descriptive dynastic approach by concentrating on two questions: Firstly, we will consider the position of the family members within the social hierarchy of the moment; and, secondly, we will gauge the family’s economic power and its seigneurial capacity in the northern plateau region (Meseta Norte).

A Playwright Relaxed or Overworked?

1963 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 123-130
Author(s):  
R. Sri Pathmanathan
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Old Comedy ◽  
The Third ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Grotesque

Having been associated with a recent production of Euripides' Cyclops in the original Greek at Ibadan, I feel prompted to reply to Peter Arnott's charges against Euripides' adaptation of the well-known episode in Homer's Odyssey, ix. We know very little about the origin and nature of satyric drama, and it seems unfair to discuss the structure of the Cyclops on a priori grounds or to compare it with the form of Greek tragedy. We do not subject Old Comedy to this kind of treatment because we are aware in this case of the dissimilar elements which came together to produce the disjointed articulation that Old Comedy displays. It may well be that ‘the pattern of decline’ in the composition of the choruses and episodes noted by Arnott is not the result of hasty composition and overwork but is merely indicative of a looser structure allowed by the conventions of the satyr play. On the other hand, the intervention of the chorus in the Cyclops is always eminently dramatic— not too long-drawn-out or too brief—and gives a life and impetus to the play which modern audiences, unfamiliar with the choral tradition of Greek tragedy, miss in more regularly constructed plays. The ‘miserable couplet’ which serves as exodos is not unparalleled even in tragedy, although the iambics in place of the more usual anapaests are certainly unexpected. In general, the choral odes are admirably suited to the grotesque personalities of the satyrs; they include two haunting lyrics, lines 495–502 and 511–18 (unfortunately somewhat mutilated) which rank in rhythm and imagery with some of the best of Euripides, and at the moment of greatest tension, in the third and fourth stasima, are commendably brief and onomatopoeic.

Wisdom in Dialogue with Greek Civilization

2021 ◽  
pp. 154-172
Author(s):  
Michael C. Legaspi
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Wisdom Literature ◽  
Late Antique ◽  
Book Of Job ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
Greek Civilization

This article surveys attempts to explore the relation of the so-called Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible—the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes—to figures and texts within Greek civilization. “Classical” and “biblical” texts have furnished a two-sided wisdom discourse within Western culture throughout the late antique, medieval, and early modern periods. Nevertheless, focused, comparative examinations of Wisdom texts in the two streams of tradition have not featured prominently in modern critical treatments of Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. This article provides a brief review of essential backgrounds: the old dialectic between “Athens” and “Jerusalem” as well as modern attempts to distinguish “Hebrew thought” from “Greek thought.” The final section of the article turns to more recent examinations of specific parallels between the book of Ecclesiastes and Greek skepticism, the book of Job and Greek tragedy, and the book of Proverbs and virtue ethics.

Race, Culture, and Class

2019 ◽  
pp. 339-358
Author(s):  
Richard Drayton
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
International Society ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Social Imaginaries ◽  
Global Middle Class ◽  
History Of ◽  
Western European ◽  
Internal Integration ◽  
The Moment

This chapter takes a broader perspective, demonstrating that the middle class in every society has been both “middle” in terms of status, and “middle” in terms of its capacity for engagement with social groups above or below. The history of the global middle class is in essence the history of global processes of mediation. The post-1500 early modern forms of globalization had three key effects. First, the moment of European hegemony in the period from circa 1750 to 1950 was correlated with the internal integration of Western Christendom and its diasporas on the basis of ideas of “civilization” and “whiteness” and with an ever-expanding external regime of links between Western European and non-European social formations. Second, connected to these processes of integration and external linkages was the production, and growth in importance, of mediating groups in every corner of the globe, of which the European bourgeois was a local and privileged expression. Third, linked to this violent integration of international society, and the associated primacy of mediation and mediators, was a process of standardization of social imaginaries, manners, and customs, a pressure toward the reduction of specific complexity into general categories, toward uniformity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document