''Oresteia'' (''Орестея'' in

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking countries in Southeastern Europe, Ea ...

) is an opera in three parts, eight tableaux, with music by

Sergei Taneyev Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev (, ; – ) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of musical composition, composition, music theorist and author. Life Taneyev was born in Vladimir, Russia, Vladimir, Vladimir Governorate, Russian Empire, to a cultur ...

, composed during 1887–1894. The composer titled this work, his only opera, a "musical trilogy". The

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

was adapted by A. A. Wenkstern from ''

The Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' () is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, 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 ...

'' of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

. The opera was premiered on at the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov. At the time, his name was spelled , which he romanized as Nicolas Rimsky-Korsakow; the BGN/PCGN transliteration of Russian is used for his name here; ALA-LC system: , ISO 9 system: .. (18 March 1844 – 2 ...

wrote that soon after the premiere, the Mariinsky management made cuts to the opera, which angered Taneyev. The best-known excerpt from ''Oresteia'' is the

entr'acte (or , ;Since 1932–35 the recommends this spelling, with no apostrophe, so historical, ceremonial and traditional uses (such as the 1924 René Clair film title) are still spelled . and ', , and ) means 'between the acts'. It can mean a pau ...

played before the second tableau of Part III, "The Temple of

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...

". This passage, as well as other themes from the opera, figured into one of Taneyev's other works, namely, his orchestral overture entitled ''Oresteia'' (1889). This overture—not included in the printed

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

of this opera—constitutes a separate 18-minute-long

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

based on themes from the trilogy. Passages in the overture echo the UK's and other nations' national anthem, "God Save the Queen", whose melody lies in antiquity. Harlow Robinson has noted that the opera avoids dramatic treatment of the murders of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Clytemnestra and Aegisthus, depicting those events off-stage.

Roles

Synopsis

Argos, before the Atrides palace.

Part 1: Agamemnon

Part 2: The Libation Bearers

''Tableau 1: The interior of the Atrides palace'' ''Tableau 2: An olive grove'' ''Tableau 3: Setting as in Part 1''

Part 3: The Eumenides

''Tableau 1: A deserted place on the seashore'' ''Tableau 2: Interior of Apollo's temple at Delphi'' ''Tableau 3: Athens''

Selected recordings

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

2709 097 (original LP issue): Victor Chernobayev, Lydia Galushkina, Anatoly Bokov, Nelli Tkachenko, Tamara Shimko, Ivan Dubrovin, Arkady Savchenko, Ludmilla Ganestova, Stanislav Frolov, Mikhail Pushkariev; Chorus and Orchestra of the Belorussian State Opera and Ballet; Tatyana Kolomizheva, conductor This performance was later released on two CDs on the Melodiya label, but is sadly long out of print. (Reference: Amazon/classical music/Taneyev:Oresteia) This performance appears to be now back in print on the Melodiya label. Some confusion, however, as the earlier Melodiya release says it was recorded in 1978, while the current one claims 1965. But same orchestra and conductor, and the current release is available at Amazon.

Performance History

*1895 Mariinsky Theatre *2011

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

*2013 Bard SummerScape - Directed by

Thaddeus Strassberger Thaddeus Strassberger (born 1976) is an American, Italian and Cherokee Nation citizen who works as an opera director and scenic, costume, lighting and video designer in over fifteen countries around the world. Biography Born in 1976, to parents of ...

and conducted by

Leon Botstein Leon Botstein (born December 14, 1946, in Zürich, Switzerland) is a Swiss-born American conductor, educator, historical musicologist, and scholar serving as the President of Bard College. Biography Botstein was born in Zürich, Switzerland, ...

. *2015

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

References

Bibliography

* ''100 опер: история создания, сюжет, музыка.'' '100 Operas: History of Creation, Subject, Music.''Ленинград: Издательство "Музыка," 1968, pp. 426–432. * Anastasia Belina. ‘Representation of Clytemnestra and Cassandra in Taneyev's * ''Oresteia''.’Studies in Musical Theatre 2:1, 2008, pp. 61–81.

External links

Piano-vocal score in PDF format
at th
International Music Score Library Project

The Russian libretto in a .zip file for Word

Review (in English) of a concert performance of Taneyev's 'Oresteia' in St. Petersburg, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oresteia (Opera) Operas Russian-language operas Operas by Sergei Taneyev 1895 operas Operas based on classical mythology Operas based on Agamemnon (Aeschylus play) Agamemnon Works based on The Libation Bearers Works based on The Eumenides Clytemnestra Cassandra