Dithyramb
Ancient Greek choral song in honor of Dionysus.
What it means
The dithyramb is a genre of ancient Greek choral lyric: a hymn in honor of the god Dionysus, sung during Dionysian festivals in alternation between a chorus and a leading soloist. It was marked by a passionate, ecstatic expression that matched the wild, celebratory character of the Dionysian cult.
From these stormy, exuberant songs of praise developed the later figurative meaning of the word dithyrambic, denoting rapturous, wildly enthusiastic praise, a sense the word still carries today.
Musical use
The earliest evidence for the dithyramb appears as early as the seventh century BCE in Archilochus, though Arion of Lesbos is regarded as its true perfecter, adding a more tragic, serious pathos around 600 BCE to what had previously been a purely wine-inspired song of praise to Dionysus. Greek tragedy is thought to have grown out of this development of the dithyramb during the sixth century BCE.
In later Greek musical history the dithyramb increasingly lost its cultic seriousness, turning, partly through the greater use of solo elements by Philoxenus, into a virtuosic, elaborately ornamented showpiece.