Chorus (theater)

Chorus (theater), in the theater, a group of singers and dancers who take part in a drama and are accompanied by music. The term chorus was used originally by the ancient Greeks in Attic drama of the 6th and 5th centuries bc. The word came to mean in particular the group of dancing singers who took part in the play, but was also applied to the parts of the composition itself that the singers performed. At pauses in the acting the chorus sang lyrical passages and performed dance movements, which contributed to the progress of the drama or served as comment on the play itself. In Elizabethan drama the name chorus was given to a single character whose role was to comment on the action of the play, usually in a prologue or epilogue. In the modern theater the chorus is a group of singers and dancers who provide a suitable accompaniment for the action of a musical play. See Drama and Dramatic Arts.

In music, the chorus is a vocal composition in which each part is sung by a number of singers, as distinguished from a duet, trio, or quartet, in which each part is sung by a solo singer. The term also denotes the entire body of vocalists performing a choral composition. Choruses may be written for one part (unison) or for two, three, four, five, or more parts; the voices are usually divided into soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass groups. See Choral Music.