Links: Tragedy and New Opera (A Work in Progress)

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Links to sites about productions of Greek tragedy

The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford

This Archive is an excellent resource for researchers, as an inter-disciplinary research project which seeks to gather information on all known productions of Greek and Roman drama.

A historical listing of operas based on the Oresteia

Title                           Composer                                        Date of Premiere                   

1. Oresteia,              Sergei Taneyev (1856-1915)             Oct. 29, 1895

opera in in 3 acts                                                                 Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg

Russian Libretto by A. Wenckstern, after Aeschylus

Comments: Taneyev's Oresteia sets each of the three tragedies of Aeschylus' trilogy, one tragedy per act.  The libretto is reasonably faithful to Aeschylus' original, though severe cuts are made.  In addition, many lines not in Aeschylus are added to the libretto.  The order of events in Agamemnon (Act I) is slightly changed, as Aegisthus makes an appearance near the beginning of the opera (in the tragedy, he appears only in the final scene).

The cast is as follows:

Agamemnon, bass

Clytemnestra, contralto

Aegisthus, baritone

Cassandra, soprano

Elektra, soprano

Orestes, tenor

Apollo, baritone

Pallas Athena, soprano

Sentinel (Watchman), bass

Judge of the Areopagus, bass

Slave, bass

Title                                      Composer                                        Date of Premiere                   

2. Agamemnon                    Darius Milhaud (1892-1974)     

    French libetto by Paul Claudel, after Aeschylus

    Comments: Milhaud's Agamemnon is the first in his trilogy of short opera-oratorios based on Aeschylus' Oresteia.  Correspondence between composer and librettist testifies to the accuracy of Claudel's setting; much attention was paid to the distinction between lyric and spoken metrical passages, for example.   These opera-oratorios are very brief treatments of the subject. 

Title                                       Composer                                        Date of Premiere                   

3. Les Choephores                Darius Milhaud

    French libetto by Paul Claudel, after Aeschylus' The Libation Bearers

Title                                        Composer                                        Date of Premiere                   

4. Les Eumenides                   Darius Milhaud

    French libetto by Paul Claudel, after Aeschylus' The Eumenides

Title                                         Composer                                        Date of Premiere                   

5. Oresteia: Memory Theatre  Liza Lim (b. 1966)

    (Opera) in Seven Parts

    Text devised by Liza Lim and Barry Kosky, with reliance on an English translation of the Oresteia     

    by Tony Harrison (1981).

Cast:

Vocal -

Soprano

2 mezzo-sopranos

Male soprano

Tenor

Baritone

Instrumental -

piccolo/alto flute

oboe/English horn

clarinet/bass clarinet

trumpet/piccolo trumpet

trombone

Turkish baglama saz

electric guitar

viola/viola d'amore

cello

double bass

percussion

Recording: Elision Ensemble, 1993 DISCHI RICORDI, Milano, 1994. CRMCD 1030.

Title                                         Composer                                        Date of Premiere                   

6. JUSTICE                            Roger Reynolds (b. 1934)                 May, 1999 
                                                                                                        2nd Theatre Olympics, Shizuoka, Japan

Commissioned by the Library of Congress, with further support from the 2nd Theatre Olympics.

JUSTICE was given its USA premiere at the Library of Congress on Nov. 30, 2001.

Performers:  

Soprano

Actress

Percussionist

Real-time computer sound spatialization

Computer-processed sound

JUSTICE is part of a six-part project entitled "The Red Act Project," within which the composer has assembled texts from Aeschylus and Euripides.  The entire set is as follows:

1.  The Red Act Arias

2.  The Red Act Arias Suite

3.  JUSTICE

4.  A Crimson Path

5.  ...brain ablaze...she howled aloud

6.  ILLUSION