Composer's Introduction to the Score of The Libation Bearers. 

Just as the individual movements of a multi-movement piece of music have distinct characteristics and play a particular role relative to their place in the overall work, so does The Libation Bearers have a distinct personality with regard to its surrounding "movements," Agamemnon and The Furies.  Briefly, The Libation Bearers may be thought of as the middle movement of a three-movement symphony, the "slow" movement, in effect.  Whereas Agamemnon, the first opera, is heroic and extroverted, treating with subjects on a large scale, The Libation Bearers is intimate (if no less horrific), detailing the events which unfold within Agamemnon's former palace. 

The mood and atmosphere of The Libation Bearers is nocturnal, private, mysterious: from the opening passages in which Klytemnestra's nightmares are told, to the climax in which the ambivalent and tortured hero Orestes stands over the corpses of his mother Klytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, this second work contains little of the grandeur of its predecessor and all of that former work's horror.   Indeed, the structure of the two works is strikingly parallel (a point often noted by scholars), but The Libation Bearers strikes me as the shadowy sister of Agamemnon. 

Thus, the music of this second opera, is more intimate, more genuinely mournful, yet punctuated with moments of violence as intense, if not more so, than those in Agamemnon.  The middle work of the trilogy is a fevered nightmare, in which events happen in secret, and dark forces hinted at but yet unseen (the Furies, for example). 

Despite these differences, the compositional procedure of the score reflects and parallels that in the first opera.  The principal characters and concepts each are given characteristic motives; and, as in earlier operatic tradition, important motives first heard in Agamemnon return in the second opera (such as the "Death chord," associated with Agamemnon's murder in the first opera). 

New characters appear in this opera - most importantly, Orestes (tenor), the protagonist of this second drama, and the figure after whom the entire cycle (the Oresteia) is named.  Two motives are associated with him.  

Orestes' sister Elektra (soprano) appears only in the first half of The Libation Bearers and at no other place.  Her role is important, however, in that she and the household slaves help Orestes achieve his task of killing Klytemnestra.  She sings one aria, "Have Pity on Me," addressed to her dead father Agamemnon's shade, and joins her long-lost brother in a jubilant duet of reunion ("O Beloved Treasure"). 

Klytemnestra appears in this opera, as well (indeed, she is the only character to appear in all three of the tragedies of the Oresteia), and her motives also reappear.  Aegisthus similarly makes a very brief appearance; and, like Agamemnon in the first opera, his death cries are heard from offstage. 

Household servants - a Slave (bass-baritone) and a Nurse (contralto) - also appear.  The Nurse sings a blues-influenced aria ("A Baby Cannot Speak") - the style of her music reflects her low social standing, with which the blues are generally associated.  The Slave plays a very small comprimario role, with only a few lines. 

Likewise, Orestes' friend Pylades (baritone), who accompanies him on stage most of the time, sings only one line in the opera (and, indeed, has only one short speech in Aeschylus' tragedy).

The Chorus of Trojan Slaves is a women's chorus, SSAA.  Ths music of the chorus falls into two categories: mournful and slow, or agressive and fast.  Each style reflects the prevalent and constrating emotional states of the Chorus: slaves who mourn their lost homeland of Troy and lament their current fate, but who also detest their new (and likely, very cruel) mistress Klytemenstra, and indeed push a reluctant Orestes forward in his task of killing his mother. 

Scene 1 

The opening scene of the opera features a modified quotation of an actual Greek folk dirge, a recording of which I heard while living in Greece in 2001-02.  This melody was captured on tape by a woman attending a wake in a northern Greek village: the plaintive melody, one of many sung (and perhaps improvised) by the women of the village, struck me as the ideal melody to convey the songs of mourning which the Chorus sang while processing to the grave of Agamemnon to pour libations on his tombs.  To know that the women also were mourning for their own dead as well as Agamemnon adds an additional layer of sorrow to the music. 

Orestes and Pylades, who entered before the Chorus, have hidden themselves to watch what the Chorus is doing: Orestes also recognizes his sister Elektra leading the women.

Scene 2

The Chorus mourns its fate and laments its station, overheard by a concealed Orestes and Pylades. 

Elektra comes forward to pour libations on her father's tomb, singing her aria ("Have Pity on Me").

Scene 3

Orestes, now sure of the identity of his sister, comes forward to present himself.  After convincing his sister, through several proofs, of his identity (set to an arioso), the pair join in singing their joyous duet, "O Beloved Treasure."  This duet is not entirely harmonious, however, despite its bright E-major lyricism: the characters sing different words, reflective of their differing emotional states.  Elektra is overflowing with joy; Orestes is clearly preoccupied, his mind already centered on the terrible task awaiting him.  The musical lines of the two differ, so that their "duet" is as much two simultaneous lines as two lines sung together. 

Scene 4

Having completed their duet, Orestes and Elektra join the Chorus in summoning the spirit of Agamemnon to rise from his grave to bless their enterprise.  The "Kommos" is the extended ensemble number by which the participants attempt - ultimately unsuccessfully - to raise Agamemnon's ghost.  (Aeschylus employed a similar device, successfully, in his Persians, in which Queen Atossa and her courtiers manage to raise the spirit of the dead king Darius). 

The number is modelled upon classical Turkish music: the introduction, featuring a flute solo over a nebulous accompaniment, resembles the "ney taksim," or cadenza which often begins Classical Turkish instrumental pieces.  (The "ney" is a type of Turkish flute).  Following this, the Kommos proper begins, slowly, in a 7/8 meter, divided 2 + 3+ 2.   The Chorus, Orestes, and Elektra each take turns summoning the spirit of Agamemnon; the music increases gradually in tempo and in volume until a first climax, at the middle of the Kommos. 

This middle section, the "eye" of the Kommos' hurricane, in a manner of speaking, serves to highlight one particularly gruesome detail of Agamemnon's murder.  The Chorus Leader relates to Orestes that the corpse of Agamemnon was mutilated - its hands and feet severed - by his murderers. 

The second part of the Kommos then begins, this time in 7/8 meter divided 2 + 2+ 3: the 3 placed at the end adds intensity and forward propulsion to this second section, which takes on added fuel.  The music again builds to an even faster and louder climax (the Chorus begins chanting a repeated motive, "Akouson es faos malone", from ancient Greek), until a final powerful solo by Elektra closes the Kommos.  Agamemnon's spirit has not arisen, and this lack of sanction casts a further pall over the enterprise, adding to the opera's nightmare feeling. 

Afterward, the Chorus Leader tells Orestes of Klytemnestra's nightmares: Orestes recognizes himself as the snake to which his mother gave birth, and takes renewed courage to accomplish his task.  Together with Elektra and the Slaves, they plot their conspiracy.

Scene 5

Orestes and Pylades arrive, disguised as travellers, at the palace of Klytemnestra and Aegisthus.  A ritualized knocking, with three knocks and calls for admittance, reflects the "Sacrifice-Ritual" of Agamemnon, in which Klytemnestra comes out and orders Kassandra into the palace three times.

Klytemnestra's first appearance, and her feigned horror at the (false) news of Orestes' death is deliberately overwrought: a very long and florid vocalise underscores the too-much sorrow of her reaction. 

The Chorus, in its violent vein, sings "The Anvil of Justice is Set in Stone" as Orestes, Pylades, and Klytemnestra enter the palace. 

Scene 6

The events of the opera are unexpectedly interrupted by Orestes' childhood Nurse (contralto), who has been sent by Klytemenstra to tell Aegisthus of Orestes' death.  Her bitter task, and her sincere sorrow, set her apart from so many of the other characters in the drama, who act under some species of deception.   Her scene and aria, "A Baby Cannot Speak," represents genuine emotion, and a statement from a character of low social status.  The blues, with which this aria is tinged, reflect this as well as her sorrow; additionally, the swinging 12/8 feel of the meter may be thought of as suggesting a rocking cradle, as well. 

The Chorus intervenes to have the Nurse change her message, and have Aegisthus come alone to hear the news; upon her exit, the Chorus' next outburst is also in violent mode ("Hear Us, O Gods"). 

Scene 7

From this point until the end of the opera, the music runs continuously without pause, a departure from the number-opera structure of Agamemnon.  Aegisthus enters on recitative, enters the palace and is killed; after this, the Agon, the climax of the work, commences.  The Slave enters first, crying in horror at the murder he has just witnessed, and calling for the Queen.  Upon hearing of Aegisthus' murder, Klytemnestra suddenly realizes that the disguised stranger is her son.  Upon the moment of this realization, Orestes and Pylades enter to confront her: Orestes, powerful, few notes.  Klytemnestra tries every means at her disposal - first, soft, cooing music - then, as her attempts are still unsuccessful, more violent.  Pylades' single line serves to cement Orestes' resolve, and the quick exchange of vocal lines in this Agon ends with the Queen being pulled offstage, as a thumping Greek rhythm (which is used at this point in the tragedy) underlies the Chorus' triumphant singing. 

Scene 8

The final scene begins with the presentation of the bodies: Orestes, tortured, stands over the two corpses.  His recitative and aria, "Hold it out in a Circle," are highly chromatic, soft, slow-moving, to reflect his ambivalent state (unlike the triumphant, bloodthirsty cries of Klytemenstra at the parallel moment in Agamemnon).

The music suddenly gathers speed as Orestes, sensing already the madness coming upon him, announces his determination to travel to Delphi and be purified of his crime by Apollo (thus setting up the third opera).  Then, at the very last, he sees the Furies coming (whom no one else can yet see).  Driven mad, he is pursued from the stage, and the Chorus concludes the drama with a final chorus. 

The final music heard in the opera is one of the mourning motives first heard in the opening scene of lament.