Musical Structure and the Interpretability of Agamemnon 1513–20

Abstract:

This article situates the amoebaeon Agamemnon 1407–1576 within the musical structure of the play. Employing a criterion of interpretability in performance, it demonstrates how even the most complex choral and musical passages remain interpretable when a play is experienced linearly in performance. The amoebaeon, as preserved, is not interpretable however: the repetition of the second ephymnion (lines 1513–20) is intrusive, and it prevents the audience from appreciating Aeschylus’s musical structure. Further, lines 1513–20 do not conform to Aeschylus’s use of refrains elsewhere. Interpretability is restored if this passage is deleted.