Oresteia (opera)


Oresteia is an opera in three parts, eight tableaux, with music by Sergei Taneyev, composed during 1887-1894. The composer titled this work, his only opera, a "musical trilogy." The Russian libretto was adapted by A.A. Wenkstern from The Oresteia of Aeschylus. The opera was premiered on at the Mariinsky Theatre. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov 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 played before the second tableau of Part III, "The Temple of Apollo at Delphi." This passage, as well as other themes from the opera, figured into one of Taneyev's other works, namely, his orchestral overture entitled Oresteia. This overture—not included in the printed score of this opera—constitutes a separate 18-minute-long symphonic poem based on themes from the trilogy.
Passages in the overture echo the UK's & 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

This performance was later released on two CDs on the Melodiya label, but is sadly long out of print.
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
2013. Bard Summerscape - Directed by Thaddeus Strassberger and conducted by Leon Botstein.
2015 Rostov-on-Don