ABSTRACT
Wagner was not the first to imagine his composition as a Gesamtkunstwerk, a work of art that drew into its compass multiple forms of representation. Homeric epic is no less multifaceted; not only does the performer accompany his recitation by playing on the lyre, assuming first the role of one character and then of another, but within his poem he evokes and even supplies selections from a full range of other types of compositions and modes of instrumentation: funerary laments, wedding songs, paeans, the pan-pipe tunes that shepherds play, harvest songs, and even full-fledged choral performances complete with youths and maidens dancing. The distribution of booty is, of course, the nub of the dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon, but the lyre’s inclusion amid the spoils does more than take us back to a time when the hero could claim his proper share and group concord was consequently maintained.
