Agamemnon (opera)

Last updated

Agamemnon is an opera in one act by composer Felix Werder. Werder used his own libretto for the work which is based on Gilbert Murray's English language translation of the Ancient Greek tragedy Oresteia by Aeschylus. The work was composed in 1967 with the title The Agamemnon of Aeschylus, and was first performed under that name in that year on ABC radio. Afterwards Werder reworked some of the music and retitled the piece Agamemnon for the opera's first staged performance at the Grant Street Theatre in Melbourne on 1 June 1977 in a production led by conductor Hiroyuki Iwaki. The opera uses Twelve-tone technique in its composition and is structured in 25 sections. [1]

Roles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agamemnon</span> Figure from Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Iphigenia, Electra, Laodike, Orestes and Chrysothemis. Legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. Agamemnon was killed upon his return from Troy by Clytemnestra, or in an older version of the story, by Clytemnestra's lover Aegisthus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeschylus</span> 5th century BC Athenian Greek tragedian

Aeschylus was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is largely based on inferences made from reading his surviving plays. According to Aristotle, he expanded the number of characters in the theatre and allowed conflict among them. Formerly, characters interacted only with the chorus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aegisthus</span> Figure in Greek mythology

Aegisthus was a figure in Greek mythology. Aegisthus is known from two primary sources: the first is Homer's Odyssey, believed to have been first written down by Homer at the end of the 8th century BC, and the second from Aeschylus's Oresteia, written in the 5th century BC. Aegisthus also features heavily in the action of Euripides's Electra, although his character remains offstage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cassandra</span> Mythological prophetess and princess of Troy

Cassandra or Kassandra in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be believed. In modern usage her name is employed as a rhetorical device to indicate a person whose accurate prophecies, generally of impending disaster, are not believed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orestes</span> Figure in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness and purification, which retain obscure threads of much older ones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electra</span> Figure from Greek mythology

Electra, also spelt Elektra, is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies. She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, Electra by Sophocles and Electra by Euripides. She is also the central figure in plays by Aeschylus, Alfieri, Voltaire, Hofmannsthal, and Eugene O'Neill. She is a vengeful soul in The Libation Bearers, the second play of Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy. She plans out an attack with her brother to kill their mother, Clytemnestra.

<i>Oresteia</i> Trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus

The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of Atreus and the pacification of the Furies.

Agamemnon may refer to:

Felix Werder AM was a German-born Australian composer of classical and electronic music, and also a noted critic and educator. The son of a distinguished liturgical composer, he composed all his life. His published and recorded music includes symphonies, chamber music for all combinations, solo concerti, choral works and operas.

Jani Christou was a Greek composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clytemnestra</span> Figure from Greek mythology

Clytemnestra, in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' Oresteia, she murders Agamemnon – said by Euripides to be her second husband – and the Trojan princess Cassandra, whom Agamemnon had taken as a war prize following the sack of Troy; however, in Homer's Odyssey, her role in Agamemnon's death is unclear and her character is significantly more subdued.

<i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i> Opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck

Iphigénie en Aulide is an opera in three acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck, the first work he wrote for the Paris stage. The libretto was written by François-Louis Gand Le Bland Du Roullet and was based on Jean Racine's tragedy Iphigénie, itself based on the play Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides. It was premiered on 19 April 1774 by the Paris Opéra in the second Salle du Palais-Royal and revived in a slightly revised version the following year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Live by the sword, die by the sword</span> Proverb found in the Christian Gospel of Matthew

"Live by the sword, die by the sword" is a proverb in the form of a parallel phrase, derived from the Gospel of Matthew : "Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword."

Leben des Orest is a grand opera in five acts with words and music both by Ernst Krenek. It is his Op. 60 and the first of his own libretti with an antique setting. The score is inscribed with the dates of composition: 8 August 1928 – 13 May 1929, and includes indications of recommended cuts made for the first production. It premiered at the Neues Theater in Leipzig on 19 January 1930, and opened at the Kroll Opera House in Berlin in early March of the same year.

Reflections of the Oresteia in the arts and popular culture show the influence of the classic trilogy of tragedies by Aeschylus.

In Greek mythology, Thrasos is the personified concept of boldness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Headlam</span> British classical scholar and poet (1866–1908)

Walter George Headlam was a British classical scholar and poet, perhaps best remembered for his work on the Mimes of Herodas. He was described as "one of the leading Greek scholars of his time."

Aurel Stroe was a Romanian composer, philosopher and linguist. In 2002 he was awarded the Herder Prize from the University of Vienna; and in 2006 he was awarded the Promaetheus Prize by the Anonimul Foundation.

<i>LOrestie dEschyle</i> Opera by Darius Milhaud

L'Orestie d'Eschyle is a French-language opera by Darius Milhaud based on The Oresteia triptych by Aeschylus in a French translation by his collaborator Paul Claudel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vittorio Gnecchi</span> Italian composer

Vittorio Gnecchi (1876-1954) was an Italian composer.

References

  1. Thérèse Radic. "Agamemnon", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 15, 2015), (subscription access) Archived 2008-05-16 at the Wayback Machine