La parodia musicale di Eschilo nelle Rane di Aristofane

Musical parody of Aeschylus in Aristophanes’ Frogs Much attention has been devoted by critics to the complex polymetry that Aeschylus employs in Aristophanes’ Frogs with the intention of parodying Euripides’ musical style in the two subsequent monodies in ll. 1308-1328 and 1331-1363, which contain those extraordinary musical innovations that have established Euripides as an exponent of the avant-guarde of the so-called New Music. Less attention has been given to the a solo songs performed by Euripides, in ll. 1264-1277 and 1284-1295, to parody Aeschylus’ musical style, probably on account of its apparent monotony, repetitiveness and uniformity: the meters and rhythms of Aeschylus’ songs probably appeared excessively simple and regular, especially when compared with the meters and rhythms of Euripides’ songs subsequently parodied by Aeschylus. However, analysis of the ancient colometries identifiable in the mise en page of the manuscript tradition of these songs can help to reveal the power of the sound portrait and the opulence of the musical design in Aeschylus’ plays.