Mahindra Humanities: "Ludic Music in Ancient Greek and Roman Theater"

Date: 

Tuesday, October 11, 2016, 6:00pm

Location: 

Barker Center, Rm. 133, 12 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

 

Timothy Moore, Washington University in St. Louis

Synopsis

Theater in ancient Greece and Rome was emphatically musical: extensive parts of almost all plays were performed to the accompaniment of a wind instrument called the aulos in Greek, tibia in Latin. An essential part of ancient theater’s music was its ludic nature. After examining briefly several examples of this phenomenon from both Greece and Rome, this paper reviews in detail the playful musical patterns of Mostellaria, a comedy by the Roman playwright Plautus.

About the Speaker

Timothy J. Moore is John and Penelope Biggs Distinguished Professor of Classics at Washington University in St. Louis. His publications include Artistry and Ideology: Livy’s Vocabulary of Virtue, The Theater of Plautus, Music in Roman Comedy, Roman Theatre, a translation of Terence’s Phormio, and articles on Latin literature, the teaching of Greek and Latin, ancient music, American Musical Theater, and Japanese comedy.

Cosponsored by the Department of the Classics.