Dithyramb

[2] Plato, in The Laws, while discussing various kinds of music mentions "the birth of Dionysos, called, I think, the dithyramb.

which "showed me in an instant that not by wisdom do poets write poetry, but by a sort of genius and inspiration; they are like diviners or soothsayers who also say many fine things, but do not understand the meaning of them.

In Athens, dithyrambs were sung by a Greek chorus of up to fifty men or boys dancing in circular formation, who may or may not have been dressed as Satyrs, probably accompanied by the aulos.

As a literary composition for chorus, their inspiration is unknown, although it was likely Greek, as Herodotus explicitly speaks of Arion of Lesbos as "the first of men we know to have composed the dithyramb and named it and produced it in Corinth.

[12] An old hypothesis is that the word is borrowed from Phrygian or Pelasgian, and literally means "Vierschritt", i. e., "four-step", compare iamb and thriambus, but H. S. Versnel rejects this etymology and suggests instead a derivation from a cultic exclamation.

Franz Schubert wrote a song for bass voice based on Schiller's Dithyrambe (D 801, published as Op.

15 (D.760), often called the "Wanderer Fantasy", was referred to as "the splendid Wanderer-Dithyramb" by Franz Liszt in his letter to Professor Siegmund Lebert of December 2, 1868.

[19] Johann Friedrich Reichardt (in Schillers lyrische Gedichte volume 2, published around 1809) and Wilhelm Taubert (Op.

Wolfgang Rihm composed a 30-minute work, Concerto, in 2000, with the subtitle Dithyrambe and a scoring for string quartet and orchestra.

In 1961 the American choreographer James Waring created a dance piece entitled Dithyramb with music and objects by the Fluxus artist George Brecht.

The Swedish composer, Ture Rangström, 1884–1947, wrote an early symphonic poem, “Dithyramb” in 1909, revised in 1948 by Kurt Atterberg.