What does chorus mean?

Answer 1

A choir or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. A vocal ensemble which sings in a church, or sings exclusively sacred music, is called a choir, whereas an ensemble which performs the non-soloist parts of an opera or musical theatre production (or sometimes an oratorio) is called a chorus. For most other ensembles those two words may be used interchangeably. Other equivalent terms, often used in the names of choirs to provide variety, include chorale. There are also terms for more specific types of choir, such as glee club, barbershop quartet, and Madrigal group. A choir usually has eight or more singers, typically with two or more singers on each part; a chorus is typically larger still, with many singers on each part. Smaller vocal ensembles are usually called trios, quartets, quintets, etc. (e.g., barbershop quartet), or a vocal group or singing group. and,,,,,,,,,,, In tragic plays of Ancient Greece, the chorus (choros) is believed to have grown out of the Greek dithyrambs and tragikon drama. The chorus offered background and summary information to help the audience follow the performance, commented on main themes, and showed how an ideal audience might react to the drama as it was presented. They also represent the general populace of any particular story. The chorus usually communicated in song form, but sometimes the message was spoken. It was the playwright's job to choreograph the chorus. In early tragedy, all parts were played by a single actor; because the actor left the stage often to change roles, the chorus was especially dominant. It is thought to have numbered approximately 50 singing and dancing members (choreutai) circa 508. Tragedy came to be composed of episodes separated by choral odes. In these odes, the chorus would chant rhythmically, so they could be viewed as one entity rather than individuals. In the second generation of Athenian tragedy the chorus often had a more substantial role in the narrative; in Euripedes's Bacchae, for example, the chorus, representing the frenzied female worshippers of Dionysus becomes a central character in itself. Although Aeschylus reduced the chorus to 12 members, it remained critical to his productions. Under Aeschylus, the chorus played such key roles as the protagonist in The Suppliants, and the antagonist in The Eumenides. Sophocles increased the chorus to 15 members, although the choral odes became only tenuously related to the dramatic action. The Sophoclean chorus was divided into two sub-choruses of 6 (hemichoria) and a leader (koryphaios); the number of actors increased from two to three. The leader of the chorus interacted with the characters in the play, and spoke for the general population (the play's public opinion). This change favoured the interaction between actors and thus brought ancient greek tragedy closer to the modern notion of dramatic plot. The size of the tragic chorus continued to waver, settling for a time at 3 members. Use of the chorus can be seen not only in Ancient Greek tragedies, but also in more recent works such as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
a chorus is where someone is singing, dancing, or talking simultaneously

Answer 2

Chorus means in unison. The use of a chorus in literature (and indeed the word) arises from dramatic traditions of Ancient Greece. The chorus was a group that often danced and chanted in unison to enhance the presentation of the drama. The chorus could act as narrator introducing and setting scenes and letting the audience know about off stage action. During the action of the play the chorus could also enter in to the action representing a mob, crowd or other amorphous group in the story. As time went on the Chorus was frequently reduced to a single performer who commented on the action who might at times join in the doings as a sort of Joe Citizen type. The tradition has been carried forward ever since in different permutations and guises. For instance, see The Prologues to the first two acts of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Sometimes the chorus is given another name such as narrator (e.g. the stage manager in Our Town), or a character in a story may serve as a chorus/narrator by both partaking in the action and commenting on it to the audience. More rarely in poetry the term chorus arises in another sense that of a repeated refrain such as in used in writing out lyrics to a song. Here, the origin is again the ancient Greek chorus.

Answer 3

The chorus is a group of people (or sometimes even one person) who recite(s) the prologue/introduction to each act in Shakespeare's plays. In Romeo and Juliet, the prologue and introductions are all in Sonnet form. The prologue to Romeo and Juliet simply gives a sense of what the play is about, and the introductions to the rest of the acts sort of summarise what is to come as well. I guess the chorus is sort of like an overture in an Opera; it sets the mood. Also, because the audience in Shakespeare's day was so rude and often extremely noisy, the prologue actually tells the audience to be quiet and pay attention.

Answer 4

a part of a song, that is repeated after a verse

Answer 5

a chorus in musical theatre is the ensemble who play mostly non-speaking roles. They make up crowd scenes and sing many musicals numbers as a collective group.

Answer 6

A chorus in a song is a verse that is repeated through the song.. a chorus can also be a choir of people singing

Answer 7

The Chorus of a Poem is the part where you repeate a word or a phrase.

Answer 8

A chorus sometimes called an ensemble will sing in the backround in big musical .numbers and occasionally dance

Answer 9

It is the main line of a song, the one that is repeated every once in a while.

Answer 10

don't know