Terpsichore
Encyclopedia
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Terpsichore (icon; Τερψιχόρη) "delight of dancing" was one of the nine Muses, ruling over dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....

 and the dramatic chorus
Greek chorus
A Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....

. She lends her name to the word "terpsichorean" which means "of or relating to dance". She is usually depicted sitting down, holding a lyre
Lyre
The lyre is a stringed musical instrument known for its use in Greek classical antiquity and later. The word comes from the Greek "λύρα" and the earliest reference to the word is the Mycenaean Greek ru-ra-ta-e, meaning "lyrists", written in Linear B syllabic script...

, accompanying the dancers' choirs with her music. She is sometimes said to be the mother of the Siren
Siren
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...

s by Achelous
Achelous
In Greek mythology, Achelous was the patron deity of the "silver-swirling" Achelous River, which is the largest river of Greece, and thus the chief of all river deities, every river having its own river spirit. His name is pre-Greek, its meaning unknown...

. Her name comes from the Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 words τέρπω ("delight") and χoρός ("dance").

Historical references

  • Terpsichore figures among her sisters in Hesiod
    Hesiod
    Hesiod was a Greek oral poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. His is the first European poetry in which the poet regards himself as a topic, an individual with a distinctive role to play. Ancient authors credited him and...

    's Theogony
    Theogony
    The Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins and genealogies of the gods of the ancient Greeks, composed circa 700 BC...

    .
  • When The Histories
    Histories (Herodotus)
    The Histories of Herodotus is considered one of the seminal works of history in Western literature. Written from the 450s to the 420s BC in the Ionic dialect of classical Greek, The Histories serves as a record of the ancient traditions, politics, geography, and clashes of various cultures that...

    of Herodotus
    Herodotus
    Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

     were divided by later editors into nine books, each book was named after a Muse. Terpischore was the name of the fifth book.

Modern references

  • In the Fred Astaire
    Fred Astaire
    Fred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...

    /Ginger Rogers
    Ginger Rogers
    Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....

     feature film Swing Time
    Swing Time
    Swing Time is a 1936 RKO musical comedy film set mainly in New York City and stars Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Helen Broderick, Victor Moore, Eric Blore and Georges Metaxa, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Dorothy Fields...

    (1936), Lucky (Astaire), when asked by Mr. Gordon, why he wishes to learn to dance, answers: "To flirt with terpsichory". He then proceeds to take a dance lesson with Penny (Rogers), culminating in one of the greatest paired tap routines ever committed to film.
  • "Terpsichore" is the title of a large collection of dance tunes collected by Michael Praetorius
    Michael Praetorius
    Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns, many of which reflect an effort to make better the relationship between...

    , some originating with Pierre-Francisque Caroubel
    Pierre-Francisque Caroubel
    Pierre-Francisque Caroubel was a French violinist and composer.Caroubel was born in Cremona. He lived in Paris from 1576 and collaborated with Michael Praetorius at the court of the Duke of Brunswick at Wolfenbüttel...

    .
  • In an episode called "Quick-Quick Slow Death" of the UK crime agent series The Avengers
    The Avengers (TV series)
    The Avengers is a spy-fi British television series set in the 1960s Britain. The Avengers initially focused on Dr. David Keel and his assistant John Steed . Hendry left after the first series and Steed became the main character, partnered with a succession of assistants...

    , a dance institute is called Terpsichorean Training Techniques Inc.
  • Terpsichore is also found in François Couperin
    François Couperin
    François Couperin was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.-Life:Couperin was born in Paris...

    's "Second Ordre" from the Pièces de clavecin.
  • Terpsichore is also found in the third version (HWV 8c) of Handel
    HANDEL
    HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

    's opera Il pastor fido (1712). This opera is sometimes referred to as Terpsicore and Il pastor fido.
  • The eighteenth century French dancer and courtesan Marie-Madeleine Guimard named the private theater in her private palace (1766) the Temple of Terpsichore.
  • British 32-gun frigate
    Frigate
    A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

     HMS Terpsichore commanded by Captain Bowen participated in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)
    Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797)
    The Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife was an amphibious assault by the Royal Navy on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Launched by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson on 22 July 1797, the assault was heavily defeated, and on 25 July the remains of the landing party ...

    .
  • Rita Hayworth
    Rita Hayworth
    Rita Hayworth was an American film actress and dancer who attained fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars...

     plays Terpsichore in the 1947 film Down To Earth
    Down to Earth (1947 film)
    Down to Earth is a musical comedy starring Rita Hayworth, Larry Parks, and Marc Platt, and directed by Alexander Hall. It is a sequel to the 1941 film Here Comes Mr. Jordan, also directed by Hall. Edward Everett Horton and James Gleason reprise their roles from the earlier film, but Roland Culver...

    .
  • T.S. Elliot in the poem 'Jellicle Cats' from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
    Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats
    Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is a collection of whimsical poems by T. S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It is the basis for the record-setting musical Cats....

     (1939), refers to the 'terpsichorean powers' of Jellicle Cats as they dance by the light of the Jellicle Moon.
  • In the film McLintock!
    McLintock!
    McLintock! is a 1963 comedy Western starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, and loosely based on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The film is notable, perhaps even infamous, for its two spanking scenes, in which mother and daughter are each paddled with coal shovels: the daughter by her...

    Drago introduces an exhibition of new dance steps as Terpsichorean.
  • Olivia Newton-John
    Olivia Newton-John
    Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

     plays the muse Terpsichore as Kira in the 1980 film Xanadu
    Xanadu (film)
    Xanadu is a 1980 romantic musical fantasy film written by Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The title is a reference to the poem "Kubla Khan, or, A Vision in a Dream: A Fragment" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which is quoted in the film. Xanadu is the name of the Chinese province...

    .
  • Russian singer Origa
    Origa
    Origa is a Russian singer who works mostly in Japan....

     sings a song, "Tersicore".
  • The Terpsichorean Muse is referred to by John Cleese
    John Cleese
    John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

     in the Cheese Shop sketch
    Cheese Shop sketch
    The Cheese Shop is a well-known sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.It appears in episode 33, "Salad Days". The script for the sketch is included in the book The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus : All the Words, Volume 2.-Origins:...

     of Monty Python's Flying Circus
    Monty Python's Flying Circus
    Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...

    .
  • The Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn song "Come Dance with Me
    Come Dance with Me (song)
    "Come Dance With Me" is a popular song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn as the title track for Frank Sinatra's 1959 album of the same name....

    " (popularized by Frank Sinatra
    Frank Sinatra
    Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

    ) includes the words "what an evening for some Terpsichore."
  • Terpsichore is a technique used by the royal guard Neferpitou in the manga
    Manga
    Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

     Hunter x Hunter.
  • In the Les Luthiers
    Les Luthiers
    Les Luthiers is an Argentine comedy-musical group, very popular also in several other Spanish-speaking countries such as Paraguay, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba and Venezuela. They were formed in 1967 by Gerardo Masana, during the height of a period of very...

    ' Unen canto con humor comedy show is referred in a sketch by Daniel Rabinovich and Marcos Mundstock
    Marcos Mundstock
    Marcos Mundstock, born May 25, 1942, in Santa Fe, Argentina, is a musician, writer, comedian and former broadcaster and copywriter, most famous for being a founding member of Les Luthiers, their emcee, and writing many of their libretti and lyrics...

    , but Daniel improperly pronounces her name, calling her "Esther Píscore".
  • In the 1947 movie Down to Earth
    Down to Earth
    - Media :* Down to Earth , an Indian science and environment magazine* Down to Earth , a 1999 non-fiction book by Tim Winton and Richard Woldendorp* Down to Earth , a 1983–1987 television series...

    Terpsichore is annoyed and visits earth to change a musical that depicts her in a bad light.

External links

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