Terpsichore is usually depicted sitting down, holding alyre, accompanying the dancers' choirs with her music. Her name comes from theGreek words τέρπω ("delight") and χoρός ("dance").
WhenThe Histories ofHerodotus were divided by later editors into nine books, each book was named after a Muse. Terpsichore was the name of the fifth book.
Terpsichore is also found inFrançois Couperin's "Second Ordre" from thePièces de clavecin.
The third version (HWV 8c) ofHandel's operaIl pastor fido (1712) includes a new prologue written in 1734 titledTerpsicore.
The eighteenth century French dancer and courtesanMarie-Madeleine Guimard named the private theater in her private palace (1766) the Temple of Terpsichore.
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