Comus

In Greek mythology, Comus (Ancient Greek: Κῶμος) is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He is a son and a cup-bearer of the god Bacchus. Comus represents anarchy and chaos. His mythology occurs in the later times of antiquity. During his festivals in Ancient Greece, men and women exchanged clothes. He was depicted as a young man on the point of unconsciousness from drink. He had a wreath of flowers on his head and carried a torch that was in the process of being dropped. Unlike the purely carnal Pan or purely intoxicated Dionysos, Comus was a god of excess.

Comus in art

Description of Comus as he appeared in painting is found in Imagines (Greek Εἰκόνες, translit. Eikones) by Philostratus the Elder, a Greek writer and sophist of the 3rd century AD.

Lorenzo Costa depicted Comus in his painting The Reign of Comus.

Comus appears at the start of the masque Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue by Ben Jonson and in Les fêtes de Paphos (The Festivals of Paphos), an opéra-ballet by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville.

Comus (Arne)

Comus is a masque in three acts by composer Thomas Arne. The work uses a libretto by John Dalton (1709-1763) that is based on John Milton's 1634 masque of the same name. The work premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 4 March 1738.

History

Comus was Arne’s first major success, and the masque enjoyed regular revivals throughout his lifetime. The work boasts some of his finest music with songs like "Now Phoebus sinketh in the West" and "Would you taste the noontide air" displaying a fresh lyrical style. The work was published in 1740 but without the recitatives and choruses. The original score containing the additional music is now lost, but a copy of that score, made around 1785, does exist with all of the original music and some additional pieces taken from Handel’s L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato that supplement Arne’s limited chorus writing.

Roles

Synopsis

A lady is lost in the forest where the magician Comus dwels; masquerading as a shepherd he entices her to his palace. A spirit warns the lady’s two brothers that their sister is in Comus’s control. They are waylayed by Comus’s stooges. The spirit supplies the brothers with an enchanted potion to help them thwart Comus’s spell over the lady. A banquet is organized in Comus’s palace and the lady, succumbed to the power of the spell, is diverted by the songs and dances of the festivities. Comus forcefully encourages her to drink from his cup but the brothers dash in just in time, putting Comus to flight. The nymph Sabrina frees the lady from the magician's spell and all rejoice the triumph of virtue in the masque's final chorus.

Comus (band)

Comus are a British progressive folk band which had a brief career in the early 1970s; their first album, First Utterance, gave them a cult following which persists. They reunited in 2009 and have played several festivals and released a new album.

History

Comus was formed in 1969 by fellow art students Roger Wootton and Glenn Goring who developed their musical style performing in folk clubs in and around Bromley in Kent. The band was named after Comus (a masque by John Milton), and is also from the name of the Greek god Comus. The band grew from the early folk duo to the six piece ensemble that David Bowie came to appreciate. They appeared regularly at his Arts Lab project in Beckenham, Kent. He also invited them as support act for a 1969 concert at London's Purcell Rooms.

Their first album, First Utterance, with cover art by Wootton and Goring, appeared in 1971. The music is largely acoustic art rock (also described as acoustic metal and acid folk) that blends elements of Eastern percussion, early folk and animal-like vocals. The lyrics involve violence, murder, mental disorder and the mystical.