coryphaeus

Noun

coryphaeus (plural coryphaeuses or coryphaei)

1. (historical, Ancient Greece) The conductor or leader of the chorus of a drama.
   • Then the coryphæus finishes the remaining part of the strophe. But when they have returned to order, Bacchus again interposes by beginning the antistrophe β', which the coryphæus ought to have done.1830, Gottfried Hermann, Gottfried Hermann, translated by John Seager, Hermann's Elements of the Doctrine of Metres, page 165
   • The chorus, that is those members of the komos who have not become specialized as actors and continue singing and dancing, are headed by a coryphaeus, who sometimes addresses them, exhorting them to action, or to begin the song or the rite, or else anticipates or summarizes their words, or...1975, Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, “Festival, Comedy and Tragedy: The Greek Origins of Theatre”, in Christopher Holme, transl., [1972, Festia, Comedia y Tragedia], page 250

   Synonyms:

   coryphée

2. (broadly) The chief or leader of an interest or party.
   • Of the work which I have done, it becomes me not here to speak, save only as relates to the Satanic School, and its Coryphæus, the author of Don Juan.1822, Robert Southey, Mr. Southey's Reply to Lord Byron: Blackwood's Magazine, volume 11, page 94
   • Among those rare exceptions, fortunately, was that coryphaeus of modern thought in the humanities, Professor Roman Jakobson.1986, Ladislav Matejka, I. R. Titunik, Translators' Preface, V. N. Vološinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, page vii

   Synonyms:

   coryphe, coryphée

3. The leader of an opera chorus or another ensemble of singers.