The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-09
LECTURE ON THE GREEK DRAMA.
Professor Perrin Talks of Dionysus and
 His Worship.

Greek department or 1dle university
 gave very interesting talk on "The
 Evolution of the Greek Theater" to a
 large audience at College street hall on
 Friday night. The lecturer sketched the
 points of difference and of similarity
 between the classic and the modern
 theater He said in part:
 "In the great days of the Athenian
 drama there was no such thing as
 play having a run Indeed, repetition
 of a successful play was rare. It was
 given once for all as religious offering
 at an annual religious celebration. The
 spectator was, more or less consciously,
 worshipper. The theater adjoined a
 temple and was within the temple pre- ern parallel The Greek drama was an
 integral part of the religion and cultus of Dionysus, not a. genius of wines and vines merely, but the the germinal prln- ciple in universal life. As such he nas his passion, death and resurrection. The
 
 impulse to give expression to strong feeling in dance or song, or both, is unl- versal. Choral song and dance flourish ed long among Greek country people before city poets developed and perfect ed them.
 ''The Dionysiac vintage hymns were rude, turbulent, passionate, but rich in tragic contents. In Attica, whence the cultus of Dionysus had made its way from Thebes, the Dionysiac dithryamb slowly developed into tragedy. The choral songs of a Greek play are not musical interludes put between original dialogues, but the original nucleus out of which the dialogues grew.
 Even a choral song by fifty voices can be dramatic as the singers lose themselves more and more in their themes. Divide the chorus, and won- derful antiphonal effect is secured. The introduction of a recital role by the leader was followed by it's delegation to second member of the chorus, and the leader then became-Dionysus. Next, when both reciter and actor assumer two or more roles, both dialogue and action were diversified and enriched. The actor then passed from persona tions of Dionysus, or his relatives, friends and foes, to those of any gods or heroes whatever. In 'Pentheus brought out by Thespis at Athens in B. C. 536, the story of Dionysus was still material for the tragic plot. The most startling innovation made by Phryni- chus was his selection of recent histori- cal events for dramatization. When he brought out his drama of the capture of Miletus the whole theater burst into tears, and the people sentenced him to pay a fine of a thousand drachmas for recalling to them their own misfortunes. They likewise made a law that no one should ever again exhibit that piece says Herodotus.
 "Fortunately the 'Persians' has come down to us. The play was given by two actors and chorus with it's leader or representative. One of the actors took the part of Atossa, widowed queen mother of Xerxes and also of Xerxes, as mother and son are not brought to- gether in the action; the other actor took the part of the messenger and of the Darius-ghost, the proto type of the ghost in Hamlet The play is, of course, full of wars and fightings, as is even to a greater degree the same poets Seven Against Thebes, which, as Aris- tophanes testifies, made every nearer long to go to battle. Sophocles present. ed his tragedies in groups of four, but freed himself from the restriction of single myth for ali Each play was in dependent of the other three. The tet- ralogy was inorganic. Hence each play of Sophocles is larger and more com plete than any single play of Aeschylus His resources, too, were increased by the state. He had three actors at his disposal, which made it possible for him to enrich the characterizations, enliven the dialogues and quicken the action. Thus we get such delicate character foils as Ismene to Antigone, Chrysothe- mis to Electra, with initial stages of a secondary plot. He was the poet-lau- reate of the Athenian empire, of the golden Periclean age. He celebrated Salamis as youth of sixteen and died two years before the fall of Athens. From career so rich and tranquil as was his we expect, and not in vain rich and tranquil, well-poised art.
 'Euripides the Human, with his | dropping of warm tears infused into | the old mythical framework of his dra- | mas the hot, human passions of himself | and his fellow-men, with no shielding | cloak of ideaism. He showed men and | women as they are, Sophocles as they | should be, as the ancient verdict had | it.''
 Professor Perrin also said that all | Euripdes great plays are constructed | on this general scheme: 1, prologue; 2, | chorus entry; 3, episode (dialogue); 4, choral song; 5, episode; 6, choral song; z, episode; 8, choral song; g. exodus. Professor Perrin then sketched the rise of the comedy until the time when it became a caricature of local characters | and officials, as if one now should pre- sent a caricature of the mayor of city | to it's inhabitants. He spoke highly of | the contributions of Aristophanes to Greek litera .ure, and said in closing | that he was prepared to deny the beliefs r of his youth regarding stage in Greek theater and was prepared, with many others, to dispute European schol- ars who assert that there was one. This point he expects to discuss at his next lecture. April 20, on An Athenian Trag- edy-the Antigone of Sophocles."
 ACCIDENT TO YALE LAUNCH.