Laura Viidebaum on Sophokles and μουσική

cf. Part II paper A2 Sophocles

This lecture will discuss both the 'musical' aspects (broadly construed) of Sophocles' tragedies -- the extent of sung parts, instruments used, the reception of/judgement on his musical skill ('Sophocles the honeybee') -- but also the importance of μουσική as a broader cultural ideal and an additional means of self-fashioning for the poet. We will take a look at music in its associations with both religion and education, and try to locate Sophocles' role in the contemporary preoccupations with μουσική. Given our limited sources on the musical aspects of Sophocles' tragedies, this is also a point where the comparison with Sophocles' contemporaries (most notably with Euripides, Aeschylus and Aristophanes) and critics becomes fruitful.