Ludic Music in Ancient Greek and Roman Theater

Theater in ancient Greece and Rome was decidedly musical. In each major theatrical genre—tragedy, comedy, mime, and pantomime—actors sang, chanted, or danced to the accompaniment of a two-piped, double-reed instrument, called aulos in Greek, tibia in Latin. Metrical patterns in the plays reveal which passages were performed to accompaniment and tell us much about the rhythmic patterns of the songs. This evidence reveals that although its effects could be very serious, music had great ludic potential on the ancient Greek and Roman stage. By adding an unusual song early in his Frogs, for example, Aristophanes guaranteed his audience would appreciate that his version of the underworld is far from serious. The opening song of Sophocles’ satyr play Ichneutai played an important role in the relief it brought from the seriousness of the three tragedies that preceded it. In the so-called “Charition mime,” an exuberant combination of song or chant, dance, and instruments brings to a climax the play’s farcical burlesque of a tragic plot. In Mostellaria, by the Roman comic playwright Plautus, musical choices reinforce a sustained emphasis on the play’s ludic nature.