Antigone (opera)
Encyclopedia
Antigonae written by Carl Orff
, was first presented on 9 August 1949
under the direction of Ferenc Fricsay
in the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg
, Austria
. Antigonae is in Orff's words a "musical setting" for the Greek tragedy by Sophocles
of the same name
. However, it functions as an opera
.
Orff used the German
translation of Sophocles' play by Friedrich Hölderlin
(1770-1843). The original play was written in 442 BC
and the German translation copies faithfully the mood and movement of Greek tragedy.
school by about 50 years. In this way Orff creates unusual sound effects that captures both the drama
tic and psychological
setting of the original Greek tragedy with emotional color ranging from the ecstatic
to the orgiastic
. Much of the singing is performed a cappella
.
Frequently an ostinato
in the orchestra builds up an almost unbearable tension which is resolved only in the final bars of the piece. Orff frequently uses the technique called Singstimmen
, which is half way between singing and speaking, somewhat like Schönberg's Sprechgesang
, but still within the tonal language of work.
The sense of antiquity
is often enhanced when the text is treated psalmodically in a manner resembling Gregorian Chant
. Another early device found in Antigone is the melisma
, where many notes are assigned to a single syllable, which is found as well in the music of other ancient and modern culture
s.
The structure of the work, its heavy emotional content, its novel fabrics of sound, all demand more of the listener than required in the usual opera performance. While Antigone has never been very popular, it has set new standards for the orchestra, the singers and the committed listener.
between the armies of the two sons of Oedipus
: Eteocles
and Polynices
. King Kreon (Creon
), who ascended the throne
of Thebes after both brothers are killed in battle, decrees that Polynices is not to be buried. Antigonae, his sister, defies the order, but is caught. Kreon decrees that she be buried alive in spite of the fact that she is betrothed to his son, Haemon
. The gods, through the blind prophet Tiresias
, express their disapproval of Kreon's decision, which convinces him to rescind his order, and he goes to bury Polynices. However, Antigonae has already hanged herself rather than be buried alive. When Kreon arrives at the tomb where she was to be interred, his son, Haemon, attacks him and then kills himself. Finally, when Kreon's wife, Eurydice
, is informed of Haemon's and Antigonae's death she, too, takes her own life. At the end of the play, and the opera, Kreon is the only principal left alive.
(*) At several points, the strings are struck with various items, including Wooden Drum stick
s on the higher strings, Timpani
sticks on the lower strings, and also a Plectrum
.
The percussion section requires 10-15 players to perform on the following instruments:
(*) These are Orff Schulwerk
instruments.
For the percussion, Carl Orff insisted on using the right kind of instruments. The two bells must be of typical shape; tubular bells and "plate" bells are not acceptable. The castanets must be of the type without handles, e.g. those only connected together via a string.
Carl Orff also gave extensive performance directions that should be taken into account at performances. For instance, some of the 12 pianists switch to other pianos at several sections. In another place, the entire trumpet section should move to just behind the stage, in action, before returning back into the orchestra.
Carl Orff
Carl Orff was a 20th-century German composer, best known for his cantata Carmina Burana . In addition to his career as a composer, Orff developed an influential method of music education for children.-Early life:...
, was first presented on 9 August 1949
1949 in music
-Events:*February 4 – Ljuba Welitsch makes her Metropolitan Opera début in Salome.*September 5 - Wagnerian tenor Walter Widdop appears at The Proms, singing "Lohengrin's Farewell", the day before his sudden death at the age of 51....
under the direction of Ferenc Fricsay
Ferenc Fricsay
Ferenc Fricsay was a Hungarian conductor. From 1960 until his death, he was an Austrian citizen.Fricsay was born in Budapest in 1914 and studied music under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ernst von Dohnányi, and Leo Weiner. Fricsay had a meteoric rise to fame, making his first appearance as a...
in the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Antigonae is in Orff's words a "musical setting" for the Greek tragedy by Sophocles
Sophocles
Sophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
of the same name
Antigone (Sophocles)
Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 442 BC. Chronologically, it is the third of the three Theban plays but was written first...
. However, it functions as an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
.
Orff used the German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
translation of Sophocles' play by Friedrich Hölderlin
Friedrich Hölderlin
Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...
(1770-1843). The original play was written in 442 BC
442 BC
Year 442 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vibulanus and Helva...
and the German translation copies faithfully the mood and movement of Greek tragedy.
The music
With this work Orff drew a line in his musical output, setting up a demarcation between pre-Antigonae and post-Antigonae style. Hölderlin's translation into lines of ecstatic German inspired the declamatory technique Orff uses for the first time in much of Antigonae. It pre-dates a similar style of the minimalistMinimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
school by about 50 years. In this way Orff creates unusual sound effects that captures both the drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
tic and psychological
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
setting of the original Greek tragedy with emotional color ranging from the ecstatic
Ecstasy (emotion)
Ecstasy is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of his or her awareness. Because total involvement with an object of our interest is not our ordinary experience since we are ordinarily aware also of other objects, the ecstasy is an example of altered state of...
to the orgiastic
Orgy
In modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
. Much of the singing is performed a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
.
Frequently an ostinato
Ostinato
In music, an ostinato is a motif or phrase, which is persistently repeated in the same musical voice. An ostinato is always a succession of equal sounds, wherein each note always has the same weight or stress. The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in...
in the orchestra builds up an almost unbearable tension which is resolved only in the final bars of the piece. Orff frequently uses the technique called Singstimmen
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, which is half way between singing and speaking, somewhat like Schönberg's Sprechgesang
Sprechgesang
Sprechgesang and Sprechstimme are musical terms used to refer to an expressionist vocal technique between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, sprechgesang is a term directly related to the operatic recitative manner of singing , whereas sprechstimme is...
, but still within the tonal language of work.
The sense of antiquity
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
is often enhanced when the text is treated psalmodically in a manner resembling Gregorian Chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
. Another early device found in Antigone is the melisma
Melisma
Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.-History:Music of ancient cultures used...
, where many notes are assigned to a single syllable, which is found as well in the music of other ancient and modern culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
s.
The structure of the work, its heavy emotional content, its novel fabrics of sound, all demand more of the listener than required in the usual opera performance. While Antigone has never been very popular, it has set new standards for the orchestra, the singers and the committed listener.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 9 August 1949 (Conductor: Ferenc Fricsay Ferenc Fricsay Ferenc Fricsay was a Hungarian conductor. From 1960 until his death, he was an Austrian citizen.Fricsay was born in Budapest in 1914 and studied music under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ernst von Dohnányi, and Leo Weiner. Fricsay had a meteoric rise to fame, making his first appearance as a... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Antigonae | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Res Fischer Res Fischer Res Fischer was one of the few true German contraltos of the 1930s and 1940s, and was one of the most powerful singing-actresses of her day.... |
| A messenger | bass | Josef Greindl Josef Greindl Josef Greindl was a German operatic bass.Josef Greindl was born in Munich and studied at the Munich Music Academy with Paul Bender. His opera debut was in 1936, as Hunding in Wagner's Die Walküre in the State Theatre in Krefeld. He is remembered mainly for his performances in Wagner at Bayreuth,... |
| A guard | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Helmut Krebs Helmut Krebs Helmut Krebs was a distinguished German tenor in opera and concert, who sang a wide range of roles from Baroque to contemporary works.-Professional career:... |
| Eurydice | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Hilde Zadek Hilde Zadek Hilde Zadek is a German operatic soprano.After her hometown became Polish after World War I, her parents moved to Stettin in 1920, where Zadek spent her youth; however as a Jew she was forced to leave Germany in 1934, and settled in then Palestine, where she worked as a nurse in Jerusalem, while... |
| Haemon | tenor | Lorenz Fehenberger Lorenz Fehenberger Lorenz Fehenberger , was a German operatic tenor, particularly associated with the German and Italian repertories.... |
| Ismene | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Maria von Ilosvay |
| Kreon, | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Hermann Uhde Hermann Uhde Hermann Uhde was a German Wagnerian baritone. He was born in Bremen and died on stage of a heart attack during a performance in Copenhagen.... |
| Tiresias | tenor | Ernst Haefliger Ernst Haefliger Ernst Haefliger was a Swiss tenor.Haefliger was born in Davos, Switzerland and studied at the Zürich Conservatory. He studied with Fernando Capri in Geneva and Julius Patzak in Vienna.... |
Synopsis
The opera begins in the early morning following a battle in ThebesThebes, Greece
Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...
between the armies of the two sons of Oedipus
Oedipus
Oedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
: Eteocles
Eteocles
In Greek mythology, Eteocles was a king of Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. The name is from earlier *Etewoklewes , meaning "truly glorious". Tawaglawas is thought to be the Hittite rendition of the name. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without...
and Polynices
Polynices
In Greek mythology, Polynices or Polyneices was the son of Oedipus and Jocasta. His wife was Argea. His father, Oedipus, was discovered to have killed his father and married his mother, and was expelled from Thebes, leaving his sons Eteocles and Polynices to rule...
. King Kreon (Creon
Creon
Creon is a figure in Greek mythology best known as the ruler of Thebes in the legend of Oedipus. He had two children with his wife, Eurydice: Megareus and Haemon...
), who ascended the throne
Throne
A throne is the official chair or seat upon which a monarch is seated on state or ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer to the monarchy or the Crown itself, an instance of metonymy, and is also used in many expressions such as "the power behind the...
of Thebes after both brothers are killed in battle, decrees that Polynices is not to be buried. Antigonae, his sister, defies the order, but is caught. Kreon decrees that she be buried alive in spite of the fact that she is betrothed to his son, Haemon
Haemon
According to Sophocles' play Antigone, Haemon or Haimon , was the son of Creon and Eurydice.When Oedipus stepped down as King of Thebes, he gave the kingdom to his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, who both agreed to alternate the throne every year. However, they showed no concern for their...
. The gods, through the blind prophet Tiresias
Tiresias
In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus...
, express their disapproval of Kreon's decision, which convinces him to rescind his order, and he goes to bury Polynices. However, Antigonae has already hanged herself rather than be buried alive. When Kreon arrives at the tomb where she was to be interred, his son, Haemon, attacks him and then kills himself. Finally, when Kreon's wife, Eurydice
Eurydice of Thebes
In Greek mythology, Eurydice was the wife of Creon, a king of Thebes. She appears briefly in Sophocles' Antigone, to kill herself after learning that her son Haemon and his betrothed, Antigone, had both committed suicide, from a messenger. She thrusts a sword into her heart and curses Creon for...
, is informed of Haemon's and Antigonae's death she, too, takes her own life. At the end of the play, and the opera, Kreon is the only principal left alive.
Instrumentation
According to the score, which is published by Schott Music, Antigonae is scored for an unusual orchestra with a strong percussion section. This orchestra is to be well screened from the audience when the opera is performed.- 6 FluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s all doubling PiccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
s - 6 OboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s with which 3 double Cor AnglaisCor anglaisThe cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family.... - 6 TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s with mutesMute (music)A mute is a device fitted to a musical instrument to alter the sound produced: by affecting the timbre, reducing the volume, or most commonly both.- Musical directions for muting :...
- 4 HarpHarpThe harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
s - 6 Grand PianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
s with 2 players each* - 9 ContrabassContrabassContrabass refers to a musical instrument of very low pitch; generally those pitched one octave below instruments of the bass register...
es
(*) At several points, the strings are struck with various items, including Wooden Drum stick
Drum stick
A percussion mallet is an object used to beat drums and other percussion instruments. Some specialized mallets are called beaters, drumsticks.Note: See Rute .-Drum sticks:...
s on the higher strings, Timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
sticks on the lower strings, and also a Plectrum
Plectrum
A plectrum is a small flat tool used to pluck or strum a stringed instrument. For hand-held instruments such as guitars and mandolins, the plectrum is often called a pick, and is a separate tool held in the player's hand...
.
The percussion section requires 10-15 players to perform on the following instruments:
- 7-8 TimpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
(including a drum on high A) - LithophoneLithophoneA lithophone is a musical instrument consisting of a rock or pieces of rock which are struck to produce musical notes. Notes may be sounded in combination or in succession...
(Soprano-range) - 2-3 XylophoneXylophoneThe xylophone is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets...
s - 10 "Trough Xylophones" (2 Soprano-Xylophones, 6 Tenor-Xylophones, 2 Bass-Xylophones)*
- 1 Small wood drum
- 1 Large African slit-drum
- 2 high BellsBell (instrument)A bell is a simple sound-making device. The bell is a percussion instrument and an idiophone. Its form is usually a hollow, cup-shaped object, which resonates upon being struck...
in D(5) & E(5) - 3 GlockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
(2 high-range) - 4 pairs of Antique CymbalsZilZills, also zils or finger cymbals, are tiny metallic cymbals used in belly dancing and similar performances. They are called sājāt in Arabic. They are similar to Tibetan tingsha bells....
- 3 Suspended cymbalSuspended cymbalright|thumb|Classical suspended cymbalA suspended cymbal is any single cymbal played with a stick or beater rather than struck against another cymbal. A common abbreviation used is sus. cym., or sus. cymb. .-History:...
s (Turkish) - 3 pairs of Crash cymbalCrash cymbalA crash cymbal is a type of cymbal that produces a loud, sharp "crash" and is used mainly for occasional accents, as opposed to in ostinato. The term "crash" may have been first used by Zildjian in 1928....
s (Turkish) - Small Anvil
- 3 TrianglesTriangle (instrument)The triangle is an idiophone type of musical instrument in the percussion family. It is a bar of metal, usually steel but sometimes other metals like beryllium copper, bent into a triangle shape. The instrument is usually held by a loop of some form of thread or wire at the top curve...
- 2 Bass drumBass drumBass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
s - 6 TambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
s - 6 pairs of CastanetCastanetCastanets are a percussion instrument , used in Moorish, Ottoman, ancient Roman, Italian, Spanish, Sephardic Music, and Portuguese music. The instrument consists of a pair of concave shells joined on one edge by a string. They are held in the hand and used to produce clicks for rhythmic accents or...
s - 10 large Javanese GongGongA gong is an East and South East Asian musical percussion instrument that takes the form of a flat metal disc which is hit with a mallet....
s pitched in G(1), C(2), D(2), E(2), G(2), A(3), C(3), D(3), E(3) and F(3)
(*) These are Orff Schulwerk
Orff Schulwerk
The Orff Schulwerk, or simply the Orff Approach, is one of several developmental approaches including the Kodaly Method, Simply Music and Suzuki Method used to teach music education to students. It combines music, movement, drama, and speech into lessons that are similar to child's world of play...
instruments.
For the percussion, Carl Orff insisted on using the right kind of instruments. The two bells must be of typical shape; tubular bells and "plate" bells are not acceptable. The castanets must be of the type without handles, e.g. those only connected together via a string.
Carl Orff also gave extensive performance directions that should be taken into account at performances. For instance, some of the 12 pianists switch to other pianos at several sections. In another place, the entire trumpet section should move to just behind the stage, in action, before returning back into the orchestra.