Oedipus rex

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Other musical works on the same subject include the opera Oedipe by George Enescu, "Oedipus Rex" by Tom Lehrer, and Oedipus Tex by P. D. Q. Bach.

Operas by Igor Stravinsky
The Nightingale (1914) Mavra (1922) Renard (1922) Oedipus rex (1927) Perséphone (1934) The Rake's Progress (1951) The Flood (1962)
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Oedipus rex is an "Opera-oratorio" by Igor Stravinsky scored for orchestra, soloists, and male chorus. The libretto was written by Jean Cocteau in French and then translated by Abbe Jean Daniélou into Latin (the narration, however, is performed in the language of the audience).^[1] The work is sometimes performed in the concert hall as an oratorio, as it was in its original performance in the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Paris on May 30, 1927,^[2] and its American premiere the following year given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Harvard Glee Club; it has also been presented onstage as an opera, the first such performance being at the Vienna State Opera on February 23, 1928. It was subsequently presented three times by the Santa Fe Opera in 1960, 1961, and 1962 with the composer in attendance.

This period of Stravinsky's music is an example of neoclassicism. He had considered setting the work in Ancient Greek, but decided ultimately on Latin, in his words "a medium not dead but turned to stone."^[3]

A production directed by Julie Taymor starring Philip Langridge, Jessye Norman, Min Tanaka, and Bryn Terfel was performed at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto in Japan in 1992 and filmed by Taymor for television. Another filmed rendition survives from 1973 when Leonard Bernstein conducted it during his 6th and last lecture for the Charles Eliot Norton chair at Harvard University.

Roles

Instrumentation

The work is scored for 3 flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets in B-flat and A (3rd doubling clarinet in E-flat), 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 4 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, tambourine, "military" snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, piano, harp and strings.

Synopsis

Act 1

The Narrator greets the audience, explaining the nature of the drama they are about to see, and setting the scene: Thebes is suffering from a plague, and the men of the city lament it loudly. Oedipus, king of Thebes and conqueror of the Sphinx promises to save the city. Creon, brother-in-law to Oedipus, returns from the oracle at Delphi and declaims the words of the gods: Thebes is harboring the murderer of Laius, the previous king. It is the murderer who has brought the plague upon the city. Oedipus promises to discover the murderer and cast him out. He questions Tiresias, the soothsayer, who at first refuses to speak. Angered at this silence, Oedipus accuses him of being the murderer himself. Provoked, Tiresias speaks at last, stating that the murderer of the king is a king. Terrified, Oedipus then accuses Tiresias of being in league with Creon, who he believes covets the throne. With a flourish from the chorus, Jocasta appears.

Act 2

Jocasta calms the dispute by telling all the oracles always lie. An oracle had predicted that Laius would die at his son's hand, when in fact he was murdered by bandits at the crossing of three roads. This frightens Oedipus further: he recalls killing an old man at a crossroads before coming to Thebes. A messenger arrives: King Polybus of Corinth, who Oedipus believes to be his father, has died. However, it is now revealed that Polybus was only the foster-father of Oedipus, who had been, in fact, a foundling. An ancient shepherd arrives: It was he who had found the child Oedipus in the mountains. Jocasta, realizing the truth, flees. At last, the messenger and shepherd state the truth openly: Oedipus is the child of Laius and Jocasta, killer of his father, husband of his mother. Shattered, Oedipus leaves. The messenger then reports the death of Jocasta: she has hanged herself in her chambers. Oedipus broke into her room and put out his eyes with her pin. Oedipus departs Thebes forever as the chorus at first vents their anger and then mourns the loss of a king they loved.

References