A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of

grief Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to whom or animal to which a Human bonding, bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, ...

, often in

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

, or

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

form. The grief is most often born of

regret Regret is the emotion of wishing one had made a different decision in the past, because the consequences of the decision one did make were unfavorable. Regret is related to perceived opportunity. Its intensity varies over time after the decisi ...

, or

mourning Mourning is the emotional expression in response to a major life event causing grief, especially loss. It typically occurs as a result of someone's death, especially a loved one. The word is used to describe a complex of behaviors in which t ...

. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something that they regret or someone that they have lost, and they are usually accompanied by wailing, moaning and/or

crying Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state or physical pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, joy, and fear. Crying can also be caused by relief from a period ...

. Laments constitute some of the oldest forms of writing, and examples exist across human cultures.

History

Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

have been laments. The Lament for Sumer and Ur dates back at least 4000 years to ancient

Sumer Sumer () is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. ...

, the world's first urban civilization. Laments are present in both the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' and the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', and laments continued to be sung in elegiacs accompanied by the

aulos An ''aulos'' (plural ''auloi''; , plural ) or ''tibia'' (Latin) was a wind instrument in ancient Greece, often depicted in art and also attested by archaeology. Though the word ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or as " double flute", ...

in classical and

Hellenistic In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Greece. Elements of laments appear in ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ) is an Old English poetry, Old English poem, an Epic poetry, epic in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 Alliterative verse, alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and List of translat ...

'', in the

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

Veda FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...

s, and in

ancient Near Eastern The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Ne ...

religious texts. They are included in the Mesopotamian City Laments such as the

Lament for Ur The Lament for Ur, or Lamentation over the city of Ur is a Sumerian lament composed around the time of the fall of Ur to the Elamites and the end of the city's third dynasty (c. 2000 BC). Laments It contains one of five known Mesopotamian ...

and the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. In many oral traditions, both early and modern, the lament has been a genre usually performed by women: Batya Weinbaum made a case for the spontaneous lament of women chanters in the creation of the oral tradition that resulted in the ''

'' The material of lament, the "sound of trauma" is as much an element in the

Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

as in the genre of

pastoral elegy The pastoral elegy is a poem about both death and idyllic rural life. Often, the pastoral elegy features shepherds. The genre is actually a subgroup of pastoral poetry, as the elegy takes the pastoral elements and relates them to expressing grie ...

, such as Shelley's "Adonais" or

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold (academic), Tom Arnold, literary professor, and Willi ...

's "Thyrsis". The

Book of Lamentations The Book of Lamentations (, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible, it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megillot ("Five Scroll ...

or ''Lamentations of Jeremiah'' figures in the Old Testament. The ''

Lamentation of Christ The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus was crucified, his Descent from the Cross, body was removed from the cross and his friends mourned over ...

'' (under many closely variant terms) is a common subject from the ''Life of Christ'' in art, showing Jesus' dead body being mourned after the

Crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...

. Jesus himself lamented over the prospective fall of Jerusalem as he and his disciples entered the city ahead of his passion. A lament in the Book of Lamentations or in the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

, in particular in the Lament/Complaint Psalms of the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. ''

Michael D. Coogan, ''A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009) 370 These laments, too, often have a set format: an address to God, description of the suffering/anguish from which one seeks relief, a petition for help and deliverance, a curse towards one's enemies, an expression of the belief of ones innocence or a confession of the lack thereof, a vow corresponding to an expected divine response, and lastly, a song of thanksgiving. Examples of a general format of this, both in the individual and communal laments, can be seen in Psalm 3 and Psalm 44 respectively. The '' Lament of Edward II'', if it is actually written by

Edward II of England Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...

, is the sole surviving composition of his. A heroine's lament is a conventional fixture of

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

opera seria ''Opera seria'' (; plural: ''opere serie''; usually called ''dramma per musica'' or ''melodramma serio'') is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to abou ...

, accompanied usually by strings alone, in

descending tetrachord In music theory, the descending tetrachord is a series of four notes from a scale (music), scale, or tetrachord, arranged in order from highest to lowest, or descending order. For example, --- , as created by the Andalusian cadence. The descendi ...

s. Because of their plangent cantabile melodic lines, evocatively free, non-

strophic Strophic form – also called verse-repeating form, chorus form, AAA song form, or one-part song form – is a song structure in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same music. Contrasting song forms include through-composed, ...

construction and adagio pace, operatic laments have remained vividly memorable soprano or mezzo-soprano

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

s even when separated from the emotional pathos of their operatic contexts. An early example is Ariadne's "Lasciatemi morire", which is the only survivor of

Claudio Monteverdi Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi (baptized 15 May 1567 – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, choirmaster and string instrument, string player. A composer of both Secular music, secular and Church music, sacred music, and a pioneer ...

's lost ''Arianna''.

Francesco Cavalli Francesco Cavalli (born Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni; 14 February 1602 – 14 January 1676) was a Venetian composer, organist and singer of the early Baroque period. He succeeded his teacher Claudio Monteverdi as the dominant and leading op ...

's operas extended the ''lamento'' formula, in numerous exemplars, of which Ciro's "Negatemi respiri" from '' Ciro'' is notable. Other examples include Dido's Lament ("When I am laid in earth") (

Henry Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, Dido and Aeneas, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version o ...

, ''

Dido and Aeneas ''Dido and Aeneas'' (Z. 626) is an opera in a prologue and three acts, written by the English Baroque music, Baroque composer Henry Purcell with a libretto by Nahum Tate. The dates of the composition and first performance of the opera are uncer ...

''), " Lascia ch'io pianga" (

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel ( ; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well-known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concerti. Born in Halle, Germany, H ...

, '' Rinaldo''), "Caro mio ben" ( Tomaso or Giuseppe Giordani). The lament continued to represent a musico-dramatic high point. In the context of

opera buffa Opera buffa (, "comic opera"; : ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramma bernesc ...

, the Countess's lament, " Dove sono", comes as a surprise to the audience of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's ''

The Marriage of Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (, ), K. 492, is a ''commedia per musica'' (opera buffa) in four acts composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienn ...

'', and in

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote man ...

's '' Barber of Seville'', Rosina's plaintive words at her apparent abandonment are followed, not by the expected lament aria, but by a vivid orchestral interlude of storm music. The heroine's lament remained a fixture in romantic opera, and the Marschallin's monologue in act 1 of ''

Der Rosenkavalier (''The Knight of the Rose'' or ''The Rose-Bearer''), Op. 59, is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from Louvet de Couvrai's novel ''Les amours du cheva ...

'' can be understood as a penetrating psychological lament. In modernity, discourses about

melancholia Melancholia or melancholy (from ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval, and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly depressed mood, bodily complain ...

and trauma take the functional place ritual laments hold in premodern societies. This entails a shift from a focus on community and convention to individuality and authenticity.

Scottish laments

The purely instrumental lament is a common form in piobaireachd music for the Scottish bagpipes. "MacCrimmon's Lament" dates to the Jacobite uprising of 1745. The tune is held to have been written by Donald Ban MacCrimmon, piper to the MacLeods of Dunvegan, who supported the Hanoverians. It is said that Donald Ban, who was killed at Moy in 1746, had an intimation that he would not return. A well-known Gaelic

lullaby A lullaby (), or a cradle song, is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for (or sung to) children (for adults see music and sleep). The purposes of lullabies vary. In some societies, they are used to pass down cultural knowl ...

is " Griogal Cridhe" ("Beloved Gregor"). It was composed in 1570 after the execution of Gregor MacGregor by the Campbells. The grief-stricken widow, Marion Campbell, describes what happened as she sings to her child. "" ("Lament for the Children") is a pìobaireachd composed by Padruig Mór MacCrimmon in the early 1650s. It is generally held to be based on the loss of seven of MacCrimmon's eight sons within a year to

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

, possibly brought to Skye by a Spanish trading vessel. Poet and writer

Angus Peter Campbell Angus Peter Campbell (; born 1952) is a Scottish award-winning poet, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and actor. Campbell's works, which are written mainly in Scottish Gaelic, draw heavily upon both Hebridean mythology and folklore and the ma ...

, quoting poet Sorley MacLean, has called it "one of the great artistic glories of all Europe". Author Bridget MacKenzie, in ''Piping Traditions of Argyll'', suggests that it refers to the slaughter of the MacLeod's fighting Cromwell's forces at the Battle of Worcester. It may have been inspired by both. Other Scottish laments from outside of the piobaireachd tradition include "Lowlands Away", "MacPherson's Rant", and "Hector the Hero".

Lament in Ancient Greece

Ritual lament was intertwined with aspects of performance in Ancient Greece. Originally practiced as a part of funerary rites, lamentation was considered a musical and feminine form of expression that was used to appease the deceased. As lament was brought into popular culture, specifically Greek theater and literature, men participated in the tradition as well, but the act of lamentation itself was still closely associated with women. Performed primarily by women during the próthesis step of the burial, ritual lament in the Archaic and

Homeric Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his authorship, Homer is ...

periods was a ritualized expression of emotion imbued with musical elements. The lament involved both verbal and physical actions, such as singing, wailing, tearing of the clothes, and beating the breast, all of which contributed to the sound of lamentation. Depictions of lament can be found on vessels, funerary plaques, and other archeological remains, where the imagery of the women’s expressive actions contrast with the more static poses of the men. The gendering of ritual lamentation reflects the

gender roles A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gende ...

of the time, wherein women were perceived to be more prone to emotion in contrast to men, who were seen as creatures of logos. In the Archaic and Homeric ages, lament was understood to be divided into two distinct parts: gôos and thrënos. Moving into the Classical period, however, gôos and thrënos were often used as interchangeably, particularly in Athenian

tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

. Lamenting women appeared in works by well-known tragedians, such as Cassandra's lament in

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' '' Agamenon'', Electra's lament in

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

' ''

Electra Electra, also spelt Elektra (; ; ), is one of the most popular Greek mythology, mythological characters in tragedies.Evans (1970), p. 79 She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, ''Electra (Sophocles play), Electra'' by Sophocles and ''Ele ...

'', and Hecuba's lament in

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

Trojan Women''. Tragedians also developed another genre of lament, kommos, that appeared exclusively in tragedies. Ritual lament also inspired male poets, who adopted the practice into more literary forms. Written laments could be addressed to the divine or personalized for a poet’s close friend. Ritual Lament in Athens During the Age of Solon’s Laws Athenian policymaker Solon placed restrictions on women’s participation in funerary rites. Solon’s laws set limitations on women’s dress and behavior, controlling the way that women were allowed to appear in public for funerary occasions. His laws also had an impact on the burial proceedings in relation to women’s roles, as he forbid “laceration of the flesh by mourners,” “bewailing” and the use of set lamentations. These policies could have been made to address the level of noise that accompanied the ritual lament step of funerals and to curb extravagance from the wealthy. However, Plutarch comments that Solon’s laws concerning women seemed, in general, “very absurd.” He expressed that Solon’s laws were rather unfavorable towards women, using examples such as Solon’s policies on sexual assault. Modern interpretations of these changes comment on the disruptive potential of the lament on a political level. In Athens, where logic and rationality were valued, the emotional nature of the lament was not viewed favorably by men in power. Lament During the Festival of Adonia The connection between lamentation and femininity is made apparent in the Athenian festival of Adonia. An event held exclusively for women, by women, the main purpose of this festival was to mourn the death of Adonis, the lover of the goddess Aphrodite. During this festival, women participated in collective lamenting. Women took to the rooftops to perform their lament and held a procession in the streets. In fragments of Sappho’s work, a lament for Adonis appears. Sappho’s work gives insight on some of the activities that may have occurred during this festival. In her poem, Sappho calls on women to engage in actions such as “beating your bosoms” and “rending your tunics.” These actions are the same activities that women would do for burial rituals. The Greek poet Bion also wrote a Lament for Adonis. His poem records the ritual laments of Adonia in hexameter, unlike Sappho, who wrote in lyric meter. Throughout his lament, he makes frequent references to Aphrodite, who also referred to by the name Cytherea. His words show the close association between Adonis and Aphrodite. Sappho and Bion’s works are also demonstrative of how the tradition lament expanded from oral to literary form. References to the Adonia is made in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. In the play, the male characters express a distaste for the Adonia, particularly due to the loud nature of the lamentation process. In fact, there is a scene in the ''Lysistrata'', a play by Aristophanes, where the lamentations of the women celebrating the Adonia drown out those of the male characters who are attempting to hold an Assembly. Modern interpretations of this festival have drawn upon the disruptive characteristic of the Adonia to suggest that the festival was a form of subversion. Firstly, the Adonia was not only organized strictly by women, but also was a celebration that was not associated with the state. The exclusion of men in the entirety of the festival process is demonstrates female agency. Furthermore, during the Adonia, Athenian women were allowed to be in public and to make their voices heard in a dramatic manner. The festival allowed women the opportunity to create a type of independent community as well as to present their voices and bodies in the public sphere. Athenian women were expected to remain in the household, whereas men were the ones who engaged in politics, business, and agriculture. It is argued that women embraced this festival because Adonia permitted them to subvert gender roles in a socially acceptable way. Types of Musical Lament *; Gôos : Performed by the close female relatives of the deceased, gôos was a spontaneous expression of grief. Gôos involved wailing, tearing of the hair, outstretched arms, and beating of the breast. *; Thrënos : The gôos was accompanied by the thrënos, consisting of a set dirge, usually performed by hired musicians. In comparison to gôos, thrënos was more organized and musically polished. The singing often contained praise for the deceased. *; Kommos : Kommos emerged in the Classical era on the stage of Athenian tragedy. Like ritual lament, kommos is performed by female characters in conjunction with the play’s choral mourners in an expression of dramatic grief.Margaret Alexiou, The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, second ed. (Cambridge University Press) 2002. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_AlexiouM.Ritual_Lament_in_Greek_Tradition.2002.

Musical form

There is a short, free musical form appearing in the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

and then again in the Romantic periods, called lament. It is typically a set of harmonic

variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individual ...

homophonic Homophony and Homophonic are from the Greek language, Greek ὁμόφωνος (''homóphōnos''), literally 'same sounding,' from ὁμός (''homós''), "same" and φωνή (''phōnē''), "sound". It may refer to: *Homophones − words with the s ...

texture, wherein the bass (

Lament bass In music, the lament bass is a ground bass, built from a descending perfect fourth from tonic to dominant, with each step harmonized.Brover-Lubovsky, Bella (2008). ''Tonal Space in the Music of Antonio Vivaldi'', p.151-52. . The diatonic vers ...

) descends through a tetrachord, usually one suggesting a minor mode.

Notes

External links

Greek laments (''Thrênoi, Moirológia'')

Andrea Fishman, "Thrênoi to Moirológia: Female Voices of Solitude, Resistance, and Solidarity" ''Oral Tradition'', 23/2 (2008): 267–295

Roderick Beaton, Folk Poetry of Modern Greece, Cambridge University Press, 2004Greek lament song (Mοιρολόϊ – ''Moiroloi'')
from

Mani Mani may refer to: People * Mani (name), (), a given name and surname (including a list of people with the name) ** Mani (prophet) (c. 216–274), a 3rd century Iranian prophet who founded Manichaeism ** Mani (musician) (born 1962), an English ...

, performed in a funeral
Greek lament song (Mοιρολόϊ – ''Moiroloi'')
from

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

, instrumental {{Authority control Social philosophy Traditions Genres of poetry Death customs Melancholia Oral communication Behavior Grief Funeral orations Death music