Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram, (22 January 1904 – 3 January 1993) was a British classicist, an authority on Greek tragedy and ancient Greek music.

Life

Reginald Pepys Winnington-Ingram was born in

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

on 22 January 1904, the son of

Rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

Charles William Winnington-Ingram and his wife Ida Vera Maude (née Chambers). His uncle was Arthur Winnington-Ingram, the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

from 1901 to 1939.Melville Henry Massue: ''

The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal Melville Amadeus Henry Douglas Heddle de la Caillemotte de Massue de Ruvigny (26 April 1868 – 6 October 1921) was a British genealogist and author who was twice president of the Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland. He styled ...

; being a complete table of all the descendants now living of Edward III, King of England.'' 1905, S. 596. Winnington-Ingram was educated at

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

and studied at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. Afterwards, he was lecturer at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. From 1934 to 1948 he was Reader in Classics at Birkbeck College, London. Then he was Professor of Classics at

Westfield College Westfield College was a small college situated in Hampstead, London, from 1882 to 1989. It was the first college to aim to educate women for University of London degrees from its opening. The college originally admitted only women as students and ...

from 1948 to 1953. From 1953 until his retirement in 1971, he was Professor of Greek Language and Literature at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. He also served as Director of the

Institute of Classical Studies The Institute of Classical Studies is a research institution associated with the University of London and a member of the School of Advanced Study. The institute is a national and international research institute in the languages, literature, hi ...

at the University of London. He was also President of the

Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic studies, Hellenic Studies, known as the Hellenic Society, was founded in 1879 to advance the study of Greek language, Greek literature, literature, Greek history, history, Greek art, art and Classical ar ...

from 1959 to 1962, and of the London Classical Society. The

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

conferred an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

on him. In his later years he visited the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

several times, taking the post of

Visiting Professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

and teaching at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. From 1938 until her death in 1992, Winnington-Ingram was married to Mary Cousins. He died on 3 January 1993 in London.

Research

Winnington-Ingram was one of the leading scholars of Greek tragedy and

ancient Greek music Music was almost universally present in ancient Greek society, from marriages, funerals, and religious ceremonies to theatre, folk music, and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry. This played an integral role in the lives of ancient Greeks. ...

. He published groundbreaking studies on

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 ...

Bacchae ''The Bacchae'' (; , ''Bakkhai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthum ...

, and on the work of

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In the field of ancient music, he edited

Aristides Quintilianus Aristides Quintilianus (Greek: Ἀριστείδης Κοϊντιλιανός) was the Greek author of an ancient musical treatise, ''Perì Musikês'' (Περὶ Μουσικῆς, i.e. ''On Music''; Latin: ''De Musica'') According to Theodore Kar ...

' ''On Music''. Easterling cites him as writing the entry on ''Greek Music'' in the Grove Dictionary of Music. In 1963, Winnington-Ingram initiated the King's College Greek Play, an annual performance of a Greek drama by the students of

Selected works

* ''Mode in Ancient Greek Music'' (1936) * ''Euripides and Dionysus'' (1948) * ''Aristidis Quintiliani De musica libri tres'' (Edited, 1963) * ''Sophocles. An interpretation'' (1980) * ''Studies in Aeschylus'' (1983)

References

External links

* P. E. Easterling
''Obituary: Professor R. P. Winnington-Ingram''
in: ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 23 January 1993
Entry in the archive of King’s College, London
* King's College, London
''Greek Play''
(including ''History of the Greek Play'' and ''Greek Play Archive'') {{DEFAULTSORT:Winnington-Ingram, R. P. English classical scholars Scholars of ancient Greek literature Academics of Westfield College Academics of Birkbeck, University of London Academics of King's College London Academics of the University of Manchester Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Clifton College Fellows of the British Academy RP