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Elektra's Kleos Aphthiton:
Sophokles into Opera |
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Introduction. Theoretical Exposition:
Opera As Classical Nachleben and Interpretative Tool |
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Sophokles' Elektra is a heroine in the Homeric tradition, and she has truly gained the kleos aphthiton (), the "immortal fame," so beloved by Achilles. Different ages resonate this fame differently, but in opera it is as clear as ever. It leads to more understanding and appreciation of the Sophoklean original at the same time that it creates a new work of art. |
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Modern performances of ancient Greek tragedy involve us in a complicated system of what Aristotle calls and , "tying" and "untying." We see the conjunction of the ancient and the modern as we see ourselves in the ancient characters. Our individual problems may be insoluble, but we appreciate their resemblance to the problems others have always had, and thereby lift ourselves out of our own limited self-relevance and onto a higher plane of experience and suffering. It is katharsis squared, because superficially we seem to have even less in common with Agamemnon, Klytemnestra and Elektra than the original Greek audience did we do not believe in their gods; we do not live in small, integrated city-states; we do not share their values and aspirations but for this very reason, our response, as a modern audience, may be even more profound than that of the original audience two and one-half millennia ago in the Theatre of Dionysos. |
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If the modern performance is not just a translation of the original Greek text presented in spoken form by actors on a stage, but rather an operatic adaptation, with music and dance supplementing the text, then our experience is again enriched and elevated. Ancient Greek tragedy was originally presented in alternating passages of spoken and sung verbal exchanges: generally, the action moves forward in the dialogue sections spoken by the actors, and the chorus then provides commentary and meditation in their lyrics, which were accompanied by the flute, and choreographed. |
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At the end of the 16th century in Florence, a group, or Camerata, formalized ideas of Giovanni de' Bardi and Vincenzo Galilei (following the philologist Girolamo Mei) about ancient Greek music, and applied these |
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