Euripide e la Nuova Musica. Tradizione e innovazione nella produzione letteraria della seconda metà del V sec. a.C.

The dissertation proposes a comparative study of lyric and dramatic production in the second half of the fifth century B.C. within the so-called ‘New Music’, especially in connection with the poet who, according to the ancient sources, comes into very close contact with this musical and poetic movement, that is Euripides. The intention is to point out the mutual interferences between works belonging to literary genres that are normally considered distinct (such as those of dithyramb, nomos and tragedy). An analysis of lyrical fragments and Euripidean passages from a linguistic, thematic and performative point of view highlights that later Euripidean drama and lyric poetry within the above-mentioned chronological limits have the same features: 1) Mannerism: the style is extremely ornate. The examination gives evidence of attention to sound effects through an high incidence of figures of repetition (alliteration, anaphora and anadiplosis). Common characteristics are the abundant use of neologisms and compound adjectives and the presence of elaborate periphrastic phrases and enigmatic expressions. 2) Archaism: both ‘new’ lyric poets and Euripides in his later plays employ a terminology deduced from the previous poetic tradition, which they intend to renew looking for new forms and new meanings. The tendency to archaism produces also references to choruses of Nereids, choreographic movements of dolphins and motions of stars: the emphasis on circularity may possibly be an allusion to the archetipical forms of cult dances. 3) Mimetism: in addition to a poetic language that adapts to the music, there are examples of orchestic and musical mimesis, based both on cases of self-referentiality and on description of natural sounds and movements. These images are able to evoke the music and the choreia on stage and the dramatic performance becomes extremely expressive and “spectacular”. 4) Dionysism: later Euripidean drama and dithyramb of the second half of the fifth century B.C. mention elements that are very evocative of the Dionysian sphere, such as wine or the sound of the aulós. Furthermore, words and gestures of characters are presented as a result of a violent force that, even if it is not related to the possession of Dyonisus and not specifically compared to bacchic madness, is described in a manner allusive to the lack of control typical of Dyonisiac frency. The analysis demostrates that Euripides did not confine himself to accept the innovations introduced by the lyric poets, but experimented himself with music and language and was a leading exponent of the so-called New Music.