Sweeping in scope, this work provides a much-needed challenge to the narrative of decline that has persisted in discussions of the chorus of fourth-century drama. In approaching this difficult topic, J. builds on a growing body of research treating the history of drama into the fourth century (E. Csapo et al. [2014], J. Hanink [2014], E. Stewart [2017], Csapo/P. Wilson [2020]), which has had surprisingly little to say about the chorus. Likewise, while there has been much recent interest in the dramatic chorus of the fifth century (J. Billings et al. [2013], R. Gagné/M. Hopman [2013], C. Calame [2017]) and in other genres of fourth-century lyric (T. Power [2010], P. LeVen [2014]), this particular topic has received relatively little attention. As J. admits, this gap is due in part to the paucity of evidence. But she also draws attention to the outsized importance that has been placed on the omission of choral odes in fourth-century dramatic texts, and a dismissive comment on contemporary choruses in Aristotle's Poetics. In addition to contextualising and deftly refuting these arguments, J. brings together a vast array of evidence, both textual and material, to portray the dramatic chorus’ ‘continued variety and creativity in performance throughout the Classical period (c. 500–323)' (p. 243).
In Chapter 1 J. reviews the historical evidence for dramatic choruses with an eye to the practical – the where, when, who and how of recruiting and training choruses for an ever-increasing number of performances in Attica and beyond. Of special interest is the dismissal of two widespread misconceptions: that dramatic choruses were made up exclusively of citizens and that touring productions typically used local choruses. J. follows others in stressing the continuity of practice between the fifth and the fourth centuries, and this is reflected in the integration of sources from both periods. While this makes it difficult to isolate fourth-century practices, it allows for more meaningful discussion by topic (e.g. her helpful discussion of chorodidaskaloi [p. 27]).
Three central chapters provide case studies of how the chorus is used in the surviving dramatic texts. Chapter 2, ‘New Tragedy’, begins with Rhesus as ‘our sole example of a complete fourth-century tragedy’ (p. 53). In J.'s reading, the chorus’ ‘fragmented voice’ (p. 69) reveals an exceptional degree of individualism. Within the tragic fragments, in turn, J. identifies moments of choral prominence in several choral papyri associated with Astydamas (adesp. 649, Hector fr. 1 col. 1, Heracles Plays the Satyr fr. 4 TrGF). The chapter closes with a non-dramatic song (Philodamus’ Paean to Dionysus), as a possible parallel for dramatic choral song.
In Chapter 3 J. reviews the evidence for reperformance of fifth-century drama and proposes that interpolations within the canonical tragedies form a further corpus of tragic fragments. Composed for ‘revivals’ sometime before the recension of tragedy in the 330s, these alterations provide ‘a valuable window into later theatrical culture’ (p. 92), including choral practice. Thus, in J.'s view, the ‘expansion of choral parts’ in Iphigenia in Aulis indicates that music-loving audiences had attention for more than monody, while the chorus’ divided exit in the revised ending of Seven Against Thebes shows that ‘new themes and fresh perspectives can be cast over “old” plays in these revivals’ (p. 111). This innovative approach to ‘interpolations’ is of obvious value, despite a possible methodological difficulty: the passages J. treats have sometimes been excised because of their alleged unsuitability, so that, when J. goes on to argue that they ‘interacted superbly with the first performance text’ (p. 102), it potentially undermines the original identification. (Why, for example, should we suppose that it is a revival producer who is ‘consciously recalling the style of earlier tragedy’ [p. 98] in the IA parodos, rather than Euripides himself?) This is a minor issue, however, and by no means undermines the larger case that potential interpolations have much to offer our understanding of tragedy.
Chapter 4 highlights the liveliness of comic choruses from Aristophanes to Menander. In a delightful treatment of the Assembly Women prologue, J. argues that cultural familiarity with choral training would augment the humour of a female chorus ‘rehearsing’ to enter the assembly dressed as men and that their ‘double transvestitism’ (p. 116) would require exceptional acting from choral performers. Equally intriguing is her consideration of the lyric exchange with Cario in Wealth, which connects the dramatic chorus to other contemporary song genres. Even in the case of New Comedy J. destabilises the image of the chorus as a standardised band of revellers with no connection to the dramatic plot.
Chapter 5, playfully titled an ‘Interlude’, addresses directly the evidence behind the narrative of choral decline. J. argues that the absence of choral odes in late classical papyri and manuscripts (sometimes with the mark χοροῦ or χοροῦ μέλος) is better understood as a shift in textual practice than as a reflection on the quality of the lost odes. Her exacting argument assesses everything from the layout of the papyri to quotations in post-classical authors indicating familiarity with fourth-century choral odes. Second, J. reconsiders Poetics 1456a25–32, where Aristotle's ambiguous description of embolima has been taken as conclusive evidence that choral odes were replaced with interchangeable ‘interludes’ in this period. J. carefully undermines this understanding of the text, suggesting instead that Aristotle may be criticising contemporary poets for ‘puffing up their odes … with longer odes supporting sensational New Music’ (p. 165). This new reading is very attractive and deserves more attention (though J. does not address Problems 19.15, which would complicate her assertion of ‘complex and unorthodox modulation’ [p. 163] in choral song).
The final two chapters explore how portrayals of the chorus in fourth-century sources are not impartial, but rather ‘configured and deployed for their associative power’ (p. 168). Chapter 6, ‘Chorus and Festival’, explores the ritual and political associations of the chorus and how these are exploited in monuments and literature, especially in relation to choral sponsorship (choregia). Chapter 7, ‘Chorus and Society’, traces the use of choral imagery in Xenophon and Plato as ‘a paradigm for good leader/led dynamics’ (p. 204). J. identifies a ‘break in tactic’ (p. 217) between Plato's earlier dialogues and the Laws, where Plato emphasises the ‘receptivity and malleability of the choral body’ (p. 233) and the role of leaders in controlling choral content. Highlighting how Plato's political agenda produces ‘a profoundly distorted picture of the chorus’ (p. 204), J. warns against some historians’ ‘easy equation’ (p. 213) of Platonic choreia and real dramatic practice.
Taken together, the volume provides a captivating portrait of the fourth-century dramatic chorus as a vibrant institution in the theatres and imaginations of the Greek-speaking world. As J. notes, ‘the relative anarchy of the evidence becomes an advantage’ (p. 131) in destabilising existing generalisations, and it is in these negative arguments that she is especially compelling. Beyond a refreshing emphasis on variety of practice, J.'s positive claims are more limited, and the refuted narrative of decline is not clearly replaced by a new impression of choral development in the fourth century. In some places (especially Chapters 2 and 3) the generalised claims J. offers can feel overstated, being based on case studies rather than on an exhaustive survey. More work is needed to consider J.'s approach within the full catalogue of tragic choral fragments, which are helpfully listed (pp. 76–7, 71 n. 50), but not discussed as a body. One might also hope that future research will look more closely at the musical aspect of the dramatic chorus in this period. J. makes some fascinating connections to recent work on the New Music, but does not fully address how these revolutionary musical innovations fit into her narrative of choral continuity.
These wishes for further expansion are not criticisms, however, so much as a testament to the quality and interest of the ideas presented. The book is a valuable addition, both for its definitive refutation of choral decline and for its treatments of underappreciated sources that meaningfully augment our understanding of the variety of choral practice throughout the classical period.
