Teaching code

4S007394

Teacher

Eleonora Rocconi

Coordinator

Eleonora Rocconi

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-FIL-LET/02 - GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Period

2 A, 2 B

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The course offers a comprehensive insight of the metres and the rhythms of the Greek poetic tradition, with specific attention to: (a) the relation existing between metrics and textual interpretation; (b) the literary analysis of the texts. The course focuses on: - Prosody - Greek lyric metre - The textual transmission of poetry and its philological and exegetical tradition - The ancient sources on metrics - Ancient Greek music and rhythms. Students will become familiar with the specific vocabulary of the discipline, and will apply it to the textual and metrical analysis. They will also be able to recognize the main poetical forms, considered under a critical perspective and placed within the frame of the history of the discipline on a case-by-case basis (with special reference to companions, monographs, essays, and lexica focused on the topic). Knowledge of Greek language is mandatory.

Prerequisites and basic notions

The student need to have an adequate knowledge of the ancient Greek language and of the authors and texts of Greek literature.

Program

Topics and contents
The course aims to illustrate the fundamental theoretical principles of ancient Greek metric and rhythmic disciplines and their relationships with musical performance, in order to provide useful tools for the reading and interpretation of Greek poetic texts. The main topics of the course will be: • The fundamental notions of metrics and rhythms (meter, rhythm and word; prosody and strophic; recited verses and lyrical verses; meters / rhythms and poetic genres). • Theoretical reflection: birth and development of metric science (derivationist system vs. metra prototypa) and of rhythmic science (Aristoxenus), production of the related treatises. • From theory to practice: meter and rhythm in Greek musical documents. • Case studies: the meters and rhythms of ancient drama (selection of passages with reading, analysis and commentary).

Bibliography for the exam
Handbooks:
• C. Martinelli, Gli strumenti del poeta. Elementi di metrica greca, Bologna, Cappelli Editore, 1995.
• B. Gentili, L. Lomiento, Metrica e ritmica. Storia delle forme poetiche nella Grecia antica, Milano, Mondadori Università, 2003.
Critical essays:
• R. Pretagostini, Le teorie metrico-ritmiche degli antichi. Metrica e ritmo musicale, in Lo spazio letterario nella Grecia antica, direttori G. Cambiano, L. Canfora, D. Lanza, I. La produzione e la circolazione del testo, 2. L’ellenismo, Roma, Salerno editrice, 1993, pp. 369-391;
• M. Ercoles, La metrica greca oggi: principali tendenze. Aggiornamento, in P. Maas, Metrica greca, Cesena, Stilgraf, 2016, pp. 197-267.
• E. Rocconi, Metro e ritmo nelle fonti di scuola aristossenica, «Lexis» 26, 2008, pp. 283-294.
The musical documents analysed during the course may be found in:
• E. Pöhlmann, M.L. West, Documents of Ancient Greek Music. The Extant Melodies and Fragments, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, 2001.
Other texts, aimed at deepening specific topics, will be indicated during the course.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Face-to-face lectures. After an introductory part on the fundamentals of the discipline, some case studies will be examined, which will involve a seminar involvement of the course participants.

Learning assessment procedures

OBJECTIVES, CONTENTS AND METHOD OF THE EXAM
The oral exam will verify:
- the knowledge of the texts indicated in the bibliography and of the topics presented during the lectures;
- the ability to think critically about the main topics discussed, especially the most problematic ones;
- the capacity of reading metrically the most important recited verses (exameter and iambic trimeter) and of describing the lyric verses;
- the capacity of relating the metrical aspects with the musical documents.
Non-attending students have to read an additional essay, to be agreed with the teacher.

Evaluation criteria

The evaluation of the exam will take into account the level of assimilation of the contents, the capacity for critical reflection on individual technical issues as well as the ability to communicate the concepts learned in a clear and relevant way, placing them in an organic historical and conceptual framework.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

EVALUATION OF THE EXAM
Each of the parts described above will be assigned a score, divided as follows:
- (up to a maximum of) 22 points
- (up to a maximum of) 4 points
- (up to a maximum of) 2 points
- (up to a maximum of) 2 points
The sum of the scores of the evaluations will form the final mark, expressed out of thirty.

Exam language

Italiano