coryphée meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

coryphée

noun

UK /kɒɹɪˈfeɪ/ · US /kɑɹɪˈfeɪ/

Etymology Borrowed from French coryphée, from Latin coryphaeus, from Ancient Greek κορυφαῖος (koruphaîos, “leader of the chorus in an Ancient Greek drama”), from κορῠφή (korŭphḗ, “top of the head, crown”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head, top; horn”)) + -ῐος (-ĭos, suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘belonging to, pertaining to’).

› Synonym of coryphaeus.

Broadcasting, Drama, Dramaturgy, Entertainment, Film, Lifestyle, Media, Television, Theater Historical The conductor or leader of the chorus of a drama.

The piece [...] contains a passage for men's voices marked "Les Travailleurs," topped by a tenor solo (in alto clef) marked "Coryphée," a term originally meaning leader of the chorus, as in a Greek tragedy. [...] [T]he aforementioned "Coryphée" line grows out of a recitative for first tenor.1986, Ralph P. Locke, “The Rue Monsigny and Salle Taitbout: Music in the Formative Years”, in Music, Musicians and the Saint-Simonians, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, part 3 (Practice), page 86:
Two coryphées, or coryphæi, the term for the leader of a Greek chorus, were stationed in towers on either side of the stage. A device borrowed from Léon Chancerel's Mission de Jeanne d'Arc, the coryphées are present for the entire length of the drama. Like the messenger, they commented upon the action in a Manichean dialogue: one cheering on Joan of Arc, the other deriding her.2013, Lucie Kayas, Christopher Brent Murray, “Olivier Messiaen and Portique pour une fille de France”, in Christopher Dingle, Robert Fallon, editors, Messiaen Perspectives, Farnham, Surrey; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, →ISBN; republished volumes 1 (Sources and Influences), Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, 2016, →ISBN, page 52:

Broadly The chief or leader of an interest or party.

It was likewiſe cuſtomary to drink hard at theſe kinds of feaſts; yet it ſeems, according to the ſame author [Posidonius], that the coryphee, or head-gueſt, always began firſt, and put the cup, or rather pitcher, about to his next neighbour, till it had gone round: for, it ſeems, they all drank out of the ſame veſſel, and no man could drink till it came to his turn, nor refuſe when it did.1748, George Sale et al., “The Antient State of the Gauls, to Their Conquest by Julius Cæsar, and from thence to the Irruption of the Franks”, in An Universal History, from the Earliest Account of Time. […], volume XVIII, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, […]; A[ndrew] Millar, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, book IV (The History of the Carthaginians), section IV, pages 630–631:
[...] Louis the Fourteenth,—that glory, / That Coryphée of all crown'd pates, / That pink of the Legitimates— [...]1823, Thomas Brown, the Younger [pseudonym; Thomas Moore], “Fable VIII. Louis Fourteenth’s Wig.”, in Fables for the Holy Alliance, Rhymes on the Road, &c. &c., London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], →OCLC, page 62:

4 more examples

And now, whip—whip—whip—as fast as St. Francis [of Assisi] himself, or St. Dominic Loricatus, coryphee of flagellants, could himself have flagellated.1834, [Edward Moor], “Fragments—Second. Paganism—Papacy—Hinduism—Nuns—Coronation—&c. &c.”, in Oriental Fragments, London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 107:
Dined with Bryan: company, Shiel, Wyse, and a Mr. Finlay. Talked of an infinity of subjects, Shiel giving some good mimicries of Dan, and having evidently no vast respect for his great Coryphée.1836 February 27, Thomas Moore, “[Diary of Thomas Moore.] 1836.”, in Lord John Russell [John Russell, 1st Earl Russell], editor, Memoirs, Journal, and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, volume VII, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, published 1856, →OCLC, page 145:
Beneath this dramatic duel of "coryphées" on the open political scene, shifts have taken place in the relations between classes, and, no less important, profound changes in the psychology of the recently revolutionary masses.1937, Leon Trotsky, “The Soviet Thermidor”, in Max Eastman, transl., The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is It Going?, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Doran & Company, →OCLC, page 88:
Even the coryphee of the Annales school, Fernand Braudel, affirms the historian's traditional concern about time – although, as we will see below, he himself did more than any other historian to undermine the profession's preoccupation with time, movement and development.1980, Ilse N. Bulhof, “Structure, Development, and Progress: Dilthey’s Views on the Concrete Course of History”, in Wilhelm Dilthey: A Hermeneutic Approach to the Study of History and Culture (Martinus Nijhoff Philosophy Library; 2), The Hague; Boston, Mass.: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, →DOI, →ISBN, page 187:

A ballet dancer ranking above a member of the corps de ballet and below a soloist.

Mademoiselle Coralie Montmorrillion, a talented artiste from the grand opera, at Paris, and now principal coryphée at the theatre royal— [...]1839 March, William E[vans] Burton, “Leaves from a Life in London. No. VI. Coralie, the Coryphee.”, in William E[vans] Burton, editor, Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and American Monthly Review, volume IV, number III, Philadelphia, Pa.: William E. Burton, […], →OCLC, page 157:
A newspaper was in his hand, joy in his eyes, and as many capers in his toes as would make the fortunes of a Coryphée.1841 March, Phelm O’Toole, “An Irish Love Adventure”, in Bentley’s Miscellany, American edition, volume VII, New York, N.Y.: Published by Jemima M. Mason, (late Lewer,) […], →OCLC, page 241:

4 more examples

The Coryphées now arrive, as well as the Corps de Ballet; the former holding a higher rank and receiving a higher salary than the latter. They are pretty trim-built girls, with sallow faces and large eyes—the pallor that overspreads their features resulting from cosmetics and late hours. They work very hard, and get very little sleep; but they appear to be very merry amongst themselves for all that.1847, Albert [Richard] Smith, “Of the Morning Rehearsal”, in The Natural History of the Ballet-girl, London: D. Bogue, […], →OCLC, page 27:
Go into the wealthiest and gayest quarters of the town and you shall see maidens of fifteen tripping along in scores with their young cheeks bechalked and bedizened in a manner that almost puts to the shame a coryphée of the grand opera.1866 August 18, “Painted Ladies”, in The Round Table: A Saturday Review of Literature, Society, and Art, volume IV, New York, N.Y.: The Round Table Association, […], →OCLC, page 40, column 3:
The sick throw away their crutches and dance like coryphées, the enfeebled strain to lift logs and boulders, [...]1981, T[homas] Coraghessan Boyle, Water Music, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, 2006, →ISBN, page 305:
Alarmed at what was to be performed there, New York's clergy had been threatening hellfire and damnation for weeks to all who went to see the dozens of beautiful coryphées imported from Milan, Berlin, Paris, and London in "as little as the law allows" promised by the management.1988, Russell Sanjek, “The American Musical Theater 1865–1909”, in American Popular Music and Its Business: The First Four Hundred Years, volume II (From 1790 to 1909), New York, N.Y.; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part 2 (1861 to 1909), page 303: