Oedipus

Opera-oratorio composed by Igor Stravinsky, libretto written by Jean Cocteau based on a poem by Sophocles. Featuring Jessye Norman, Philip Langridge, and Bryn Terfel, among others, with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Shinyukai Male Chorus and Saito Kinen Orchestra.

L'Orchestre du Mai musical florentin (italien : Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino) est un orchestre symphonique italien fondé en 1929 par Vittorio Gui sous le nom Orchestre Stabile de Florence.

Both Pizzetti and Stravinsky were drawn to the subject of Oedipus Rex, but in very different contexts. The 24-year-old Pizzetti was commissioned to write Three Orchestral Preludes for use in a theatrical production. He wrote with an austere sense of orchestral colour, devoid of impressionism that favours the vaguely archaic, with modal inflections. Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio was written in his neo-Classical style, with a central role for narrator. In a stark, stylised and formal setting, the use of Latin, and Stravinsky’s instruction for the leading characters to wear masks, add timeless, impersonal elements to a work that culminates in catharsis.

L'Orchestre du Mai musical florentin (italien : Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino) est un orchestre symphonique italien fondé en 1929 par Vittorio Gui sous le nom Orchestre Stabile de Florence.

Here comes a fine recording of Mendellsohn's late Incidental Music to Oedipus (first performed in 1845). For those who do not know this great tragety by Sophokles it must be noted that this is "Oedipus in Colonus" and should not be confused with "Oedipus Rex" where King Oedipus tried to discover who is the man who killed his father and married his mother bringing misfortune to Thebes, but finally realizes that it was he who did it. His mother/wife, Iocasta hangs herself, he gets blind and becomes an outcast by his brother-in-law, Creon.

Less than four years separate the premieres of Les Noces and Oedipus Rex, yet they each represent high-points in two distinct phases of Stravinsky's career. Although the concept of Les Noces is highly innovative – a 'dance cantata' – the music remains rooted in Russian folk traditions. The opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex is the first great work of Stravinsky's neoclassical period.