著者

横山 義志

出版者

日本演劇学会

雑誌

演劇学論集 日本演劇学会紀要 (ISSN:13482815)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, pp.1-25, 2011 (Released:2018-01-12)

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Why did the Europeans invent a non-musical theatre? We can find the origins of this idea in Aristotle and Peripatetics theory on acting. Recent studies have shown that the modern Occidental theories of acting have been largely inspired by the actio theory of Roman rhetoric. The conceptual association between the actor and the orator is Aristotle's invention.The Peripatetic thinkers use the term “acting (hupokrisis)” especially to criticize Demosthenes. For the Peripatetics, his discourse was as much vulgar as the acting of theatre actors, because he spoke to please the masses. This critique reflects the political context, which opposes the pro-Macedonian Peripatetic school and the anti-Macedonian democratic orator.In Peripatetic rhetoric, the indicator of vulgarity is the tendency to sing and to dance, which aims to enhance the sensational reaction of the audience. This criterion is applied not only to the orators, but also to the stage actors — in Poetics, Aristotle invents, in a way, a theoretical non-musical theatre, excluding the singing actors.This is tentative to establish a new model of “true-saying”, which could be substituted for the archaic and Platonic model, based on the magical power of singing. This Aristotelian new model of true-saying founded the modern European theatre, as well as science and capitalism.

著者

横山 義志

出版者

日本演劇学会

雑誌

演劇学論集 日本演劇学会紀要 (ISSN:13482815)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.55, pp.43-65, 2012

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<p>In my previous article "Aristotle's Theory on Acting", I showed that Aristotle's idea was a theoretical source of the European modern non-musical and prosaic theatre. But we can find another theoretical source which defends a musical and versified theatre in the thought of Middle Stoa, especially of Diogenes of Babylon (c. 240-c. 152BC), restored thanks to a new edition of Philodemus' <i>On Music</i> (2007).</p><p>Referring to Plato's theory of musical education, Diogenes justifies the Hellenistic form of the tragedy performance, focusing on the solo chant of "tragic singers [tragôidoi]". This celebration of musical theatre is also based on the Stoic view of language and religion, which favours musical and versified speeches, considered as a natural manifestation of the greatness of gods and virtuous men, and as an auto-celebration of the life itself. According to Heraclides Ponticus, a pupil of Plato, Diogenes affirms that the musical acting practice can lead to all virtues. This theory considers the acting [hupokrisis] not as an act of disguising ("hypocrisy"), but as the means of constructing oneself as a virtuous man, referring to the model of "tragic singers" who construct their musical body through everyday training. This way of thinking about the musical, acting body offers a vision totally different from Aristotle's, who considered the same kind of body as the body of a slave.</p>

著者

横山 義志

出版者

日本演劇学会

雑誌

演劇学論集 日本演劇学会紀要 (ISSN:13482815)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.52, pp.1-25, 2011

---

<p>Why did the Europeans invent a non-musical theatre? We can find the origins of this idea in Aristotle and Peripatetics theory on acting. Recent studies have shown that the modern Occidental theories of acting have been largely inspired by the <i>actio</i> theory of Roman rhetoric. The conceptual association between the actor and the orator is Aristotle's invention.</p><p>The Peripatetic thinkers use the term "acting (<i>hupokrisis</i>)" especially to criticize Demosthenes. For the Peripatetics, his discourse was as much vulgar as the acting of theatre actors, because he spoke to please the masses. This critique reflects the political context, which opposes the pro-Macedonian Peripatetic school and the anti-Macedonian democratic orator.</p><p>In Peripatetic rhetoric, the indicator of vulgarity is the tendency to sing and to dance, which aims to enhance the sensational reaction of the audience. This criterion is applied not only to the orators, but also to the stage actors — in <i>Poetics</i>, Aristotle invents, in a way, a theoretical non-musical theatre, excluding the singing actors.</p><p>This is tentative to establish a new model of "true-saying", which could be substituted for the archaic and Platonic model, based on the magical power of singing. This Aristotelian new model of true-saying founded the modern European theatre, as well as science and capitalism.</p>

著者

横山 義志

出版者

日本演劇学会

雑誌

演劇学論集 日本演劇学会紀要 (ISSN:13482815)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.55, pp.43-65, 2012

---

<p>In my previous article "Aristotle's Theory on Acting", I showed that Aristotle's idea was a theoretical source of the European modern non-musical and prosaic theatre. But we can find another theoretical source which defends a musical and versified theatre in the thought of Middle Stoa, especially of Diogenes of Babylon (c. 240-c. 152BC), restored thanks to a new edition of Philodemus' <i>On Music</i> (2007).</p><p>Referring to Plato's theory of musical education, Diogenes justifies the Hellenistic form of the tragedy performance, focusing on the solo chant of "tragic singers [tragôidoi]". This celebration of musical theatre is also based on the Stoic view of language and religion, which favours musical and versified speeches, considered as a natural manifestation of the greatness of gods and virtuous men, and as an auto-celebration of the life itself. According to Heraclides Ponticus, a pupil of Plato, Diogenes affirms that the musical acting practice can lead to all virtues. This theory considers the acting [hupokrisis] not as an act of disguising ("hypocrisy"), but as the means of constructing oneself as a virtuous man, referring to the model of "tragic singers" who construct their musical body through everyday training. This way of thinking about the musical, acting body offers a vision totally different from Aristotle's, who considered the same kind of body as the body of a slave.</p>