Oedipus Rex

Opera-oratorio by IGOR STRAVINSKY, 1927, first performed in concert form in Paris. The stage premiere took place in Vienna one year later.

In order to make the legend of Oedipus more timeless, Stravinsky arranged to have French playwright Jean Cocteau's LIBRETTO translated into Latin. The music follows this impulse; it is majestically static like a row of Greek marble columns. Significant musical phrases are relentlessly reiterated to drive their meaning into the mind of the listener; but Italian opera also provides models for Stravinsky (e.g., Jocasta's aria).

A somewhat ironic narrator recites the events in between the musical numbers.