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Oedipus's Drama as Opera Subject (abstract)

An overview of Oedipus's presence in Opera history, from the very first Oedipus by Henry Purcell at the end of the XVIIth. Century, to the most important opera versions composed in the XXth.: Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky and Oedipe by Georg Enescu. It is remarked how late opera composers started to set music to Oedipus drama, given that, at the beginning of the Opera development as music a genre, in the XVIIth century, most opera subjects were taken from Greek mythology. A reason could be that the opera public at those times, mainly the aristocracy, would like better bucolic or heroic subjects.

An Opera by Sacchini, Oedipe á Colonne obtained a great success at the end of the XVIIIth. Century. It consisted of a distorted version of Sophocles's original, including a happy and joyous end, in order to please Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and their court. Romanticism gave Oedipus new shapes, which have disappeared from theater scene.

A deeper analysis is made about the two great Oedipus operas composed in the first half of the XXth. Century: Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex and Enescu's Oedipe: the author makes some remarks about particularities in the text in both operas, and comments on the circumstances of their creation. The musical material of the century is considered to be the best possible way to express Oedipus's life drama.