CHORUS, in dramatic poetry, one or more persons present on the stage during the representation, and supposed to be bystanders without any share in the action.
Tragedy, in its origin, was no more than a single chorus, who trod the stage alone, without any actors, singing dithyrambics or hymns in honour of Bacchus. Thespis, to relieve the chorus, added an actor, who rehearsed the adventures of some hero; and Æschylus, finding a single person too dry an entertainment, added a second, at the same time reducing the singing of the chorus to make way for the recitation. But when once tragedy began to be formed, the recitative, which at first was intended only as an accessory in order to give the chorus a respite, became a principal part of the tragedy. At length, however, the chorus became inserted and incorporated into the action; sometimes it was made to speak, and then the chief, called coryphæus, spoke in behalf of the rest; but the singing was performed by the whole company; so that, when the coryphæus struck into a song, the chorus immediately joined.
The chorus sometimes also joined the actors, in the course of the representation, with their plaints and lamentations on account of any unhappy accidents which had befallen them; but the proper function, and that for which it seemed chiefly retained, was to show the intervals of the acts. While the actors were behind the scenes, the chorus engaged the spectators; their songs usually turned on what was exhibited, and contained nothing but what was suited to the subject, and had a natural connection with it, so that the chorus concurred with the actors in advancing the action. In modern tragedies, except those of Mæson, and some few others, the chorus is laid aside, and fiddles and other musical instruments supply its place. M. Dacier regards this retrenchment as injudicious, and conceives that it robs tragedy of a great deal of its lustre; he therefore thinks that it ought to be re-established, not only on account of the regularity of the piece, but also to correct, by prudent and virtuous reflections, such extravagancies as may fall from the mouths of the actors when under the excitement of violent passion. M. Dacier has also observed that there was a chorus or grex in the ancient comedy. But this has been suppressed in the new comedy, because it was used to reprove vices by attacking particular persons, in the same way as the chorus of the tragedy has been laid aside to give the greater probability to those kinds of intrigue which require secrecy.