Oedipus and Opera: More than Gesamtkunstwerk

We have reserved lunch table in Hall for Cluster members to meet with our speaker Cressida Ryan, followed by her talk in the Levett Room at 1:15, catered with cake and tea/coffee (all welcome).

Abstract

Both of Sophocles' plays about Oedipus have generated significant operas and related musical works. The relationship between Greek tragedy and opera is often discussed in Wagnerian terms as Gesamtkunstwerk, but I take a different approach, examining the works using a range of methodological approaches. My key examples for this paper are Antonio Sacchini's Oedipe à Colonne, Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, Mark-Anthony Turnage's Greek, and Lee Breuer and Bob Telson's The Gospel at Colonus. This last work reveals most explicitly my key framework for understanding these musical productions: the Oedipus at Colonus has the highest percentage of composers and music associated with it of any Greek play, which I argue is the result of a triangulation between Oedipus, music, and the development of Christian thought. I extend this analysis to consider other aspects of classical reception, including how "reading" music and words in the light of each other enhances our understanding of each work's religious and geopolitical context.