three movements, viz. a moderately quick binary movement, a short slow movement, and a lively finale. Thus Mozart, at the age of twelve, used his 7th symphony as the overture to La Finta semplice, and Haydn's maturest symphonies are still called overtures in some early editions. La Finta giardiniera, written by Mozart in his eighteenth year, marks the differentiation of the opera overture from the independent symphony, since it contains the usual first movement and slow movement, but the curtain rises with what sounds like the beginning, of the finale.
The sonata style was not at first invariably associated with what we now call sonata form, nor indeed was that form at first the most favourable to the dramatic expression desirable for operatic music. Hence the overtures of Gluck are generally in forms based on the contrast of loosely knit passages of various textures; forms which he probably learned from San Martini, and which may be found in the concertos of Vivaldi, so many of which were freely transcribed by Sebastian Bach. These methods are no less evident in the symphonies of Philipp Emmanuel Bach, which thus occupy an analogous place, away from the normal line of the sonata style. The differentiation between symphony and overture was of immense importance in raising the dignity of the symphony; but the style was more essential than the form; and in Mozart's and Haydn's mature works we find the sonata form as firmly established in the overture as in the symphony, while nevertheless the styles and scope of the two forms are quite distinct. Mozart's most elaborate overture, that of Die Zauberflöte, could not possibly be the first movement of one of his later symphonies; nor could the finale of his “Jupiter” symphony (which has often been compared with that overture because of its use of fugato) conceivably be used as the prelude to an opera.
See also Music; Sonata Forms; Instrumentation; Overture; Scherzo; Variations.
SYMPHOSIUS, or Symposius, the name given to the author of a collection of 100 riddles of uncertain date, but probably
composed in the 4th or 5th century A.D. They have been
attributed to Lactantius, and identified with his Symposium, but this view is not generally accepted. The style and versification of the riddles, each of which consists of three hexameter lines, are good. They were written to form part of the entertainment at the Saturnalia.
Text in E. Bährens, Poetae latini minores, vol. iv.; there is a good French metrical version by E. F. Corpet (1868); monograph by W. T. Paul (Berlin, 1854); see also Teuffel, Hist. of Roman Literature, 449 (Eng. trans., 1900).
SYMPOSIUM (Gr. συμπόσιον, a drinking party, from συμπίνειν, to drink together, σύν, with, and πίνειν, to drink, root πο, cf. Lat. potare, to drink, poculum, cup), the convivial drinking which took place alter a great banquet, accompanied by intellectual or witty conversation, and by music or dancing performed by slaves or attendants. The term has been applied in modern usage, due to Plato's Symposium, to a collection of opinions of different writers on a given subject.
SYNAGOGUE (συναγωγή) , literally “assemblage,” is the term
employed to denote either a congregation of Jews, i.e. a local
circle accustomed to meet together for worship and religious
instruction, or the building in which the congregation met.
In the first sense the word is a translation of כנסת, keneseth
(assemblage), in the second of בית הכנסת, bēth hakkeneseth (house
of assemblage). Further the term is often used to denote the
system of Judaism, as when the “Synagogue” is contrasted
to the “Church.” The germ of the synagogue, that is, of
religious assemblages dissociated from the ancient ritual of the
altar, may be found in the circle of the prophets and their
disciples (see especially Isa. viii. 16 seq.); but the synagogue as
an institution characteristic of Judaism arose after the work of
Ezra, and is closely connected with the development of Judaism,
to which his reformation gave definite shape. From the time
of Ezra downwards it was the business of every Jew to know the
law; the school (bēth hammidrāsh) trained scholars, but the
synagogue, where the law was read every Sabbath (Acts xv. 21), was
the means of popular instruction. Such synagogues existed
in all parts of Judaea in the time of Ps. lxxiv. 8 (probably a
psalm of the Persian period); in Acts xv. 21 it appears that
they had existed for many generations “in every city.” This
held good not only for Palestine, but for the Dispersion; in
post-Talmudic times the rule was that a synagogue must be
built wherever there were ten Jews. In the Dispersion the
synagogue filled a greater place in the communal life, for on
Palestinian soil the Temple enjoyed a predominant position.
In this sense the synagogue is a child of the Dispersion, but this
does not imply that it was a product of the Hellenic diaspora.
For the Aramaic papyri discovered at Assuan show that in the
5th century B.C. the Egyptian Jews had their place of worship in
Syene long before Greek influences had begun to make
themselves felt. The fact that the Books of the Maccabees never
refer to synagogues is not evidence that synagogues were
unknown in Judaea in the Maccabean period. These books refer
mostly to a time of war, when assemblages in the cities were
impossible; their interest, moreover, is concentrated in the
Temple and the restoration of its services. During the second
Temple there is no doubt but that public worship was organized
in the provinces as well as in the Jewish settlements outside the
Holy Land. And though the name “synagogue” varies with
προσευχή (“place of prayer”), it appears that everywhere the
assemblage was primarily one for instruction in the law; the
synagogue, as Philo puts it, was a διδασκαλεῖον. Prayer, in
the more restricted sense, invariably accompanied the instruction,
and several parts of the extant liturgy go back to the 3rd
century B.C. A formed institution of this sort required some
organization: he general order of the service was directed by one
or more “rulers of the synagogue” (ἀρχισυνάγωγοι, Luke xiii. 14;
Acts xiii. 15), who called on fit persons to read, pray and
preach; alms were collected by two or more “collectors ”
(gabbāē ṣedāqā); and a “minister” (ḥazzān, ὑπηρέτης, Luke iv.
20) had charge of the sacred books (preserved in an “ark”)
and of other ministerial functions, including the teaching of
children to read. The discipline of the congregation was enforced
by excommunication (ḥērem) or temporary exclusion (niddūi),
and also by the minor punishment of scourging (Matt. x. 17),
inflicted by the ḥazzān. The disciplinary power was in the
hands of a senate of elders (πρεσβύτεροι, γερουσία), the chief
members of which were ἄρχοντες. The principal service of the
synagogue was held on Sabbath morning, and included, according
to the Mishnah, the recitation of the shema (Deut. vi. 4-9,
xi. 13-21; Num. xv. 37-41), prayer, lessons from the law and
prophets with Aramaic translation, a sermon (derāshah) based
on the lesson (Acts xiii. 15), and finally a blessing pronounced
by the priest or invoked by a layman. On Sabbath afternoon
and on Monday and Thursday there was a service without a
lesson from the prophets; there were also services for all feast-days.
Synagogues were built by preference beside water, in
order to avoid proximity to the idol temples, rather than, as
some think, for the convenience of the ceremonial ablutions
(cf. Acts xvi. 13). Remains of very ancient buildings of this
class exist in several parts of Galilee; they generally lie north
and south, and seem to have had three doors to the south, and
sometimes to have been divided by columns into a nave and
two aisles.
Modern synagogues are mostly built of oblong shape, with a gallery for women. Since the middle ages, Renaissance and Moorish types of decoration have been generally favoured, but there is nowadays a great variety of types. The ancient synagogue of Alexandria (destroyed by Trajan) was a basilica. A number of recent synagogues have been built in octagonal form. The main interior features of the synagogue are the “ark” (a cupboard containing the scrolls of the law, &c.) and the almemar (or reading-desk, from the Arabic al-minbar, pulpit). This is sometimes in the centre, sometimes at the eastern end of the building. The Talmud prescribed an elevated site for the synagogue, but this rule has been impossible of fulfilment in modern times. The synagogues are theoretically “orientated” — i.e. the ark (which worshippers face during the principal prayer)
