Aeschylus' Agamemnon: The Guard

The opening scene of Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Oresteia, featuring Clytemnestra's inimitable guard, perched upon the roof of the House of Atreus. Performed in Ancient Greek, using A. P. David's new theory of the Greek accent. Choreographed and directed by Miriam Rother, with David and Jordan Gannon, drawing exclusively from images in ancient vase painting and statuary. See http://danceofthemuses.org

Category:

Education

Tags:

• humanities
• performing
• arts
• Aeschylus
• Agamemnon
• Oresteia
• Ancient
• Greek
• tragedy
• iambic
• trimeter

[amirthanayagamdavid]

The rhythm actually comes from a new theory of the Greek accent, based on Sidney Allen's work, set it out in The Dance of the Muses: Choral Theory and Ancient Greek Poetics, my recent book (Oxford 2006). We also followed, as best we could, Allen's analysis of ancient pronunciation. Since I am unaffiliated and therefore unable to teach students (and dancers) what I know, such performances remain, I'm sad to say, hard to come by.

[SCWguqin]

I certainly appreciate the accurate pronunciation. You and your players are perhaps the first performers with whom I have no disagreements on that score. (Why is this so hard to come by?)