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The Bassarids
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The Bassarids
The Bassarids (in German: Die Bassariden) is an opera in one act and an intermezzo, with music by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, after Euripides's The Bacchae.
The conflict in the opera is between human rationality and emotional control, represented by the King of Thebes, Pentheus, and unbridled human passion, represented by the god Dionysus.
The opera is constructed like a classical symphony in four 'movements':
Henze has noted that he quotes from Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion and the English Suite No. 6 in D minor. Auden and Kallman wrote of changes that they made to the Euripides original for the purposes of this opera.
It was first performed in a German translation by Maria Basse-Sporleder in Salzburg on 6 August 1966 conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi.
The first performance using the original English text was the US premiere, at the Santa Fe Opera on 7 August 1968. The composer conducted, and the staging was by director Bodo Igesz. A concert scheduled to be given by the BBC in London on 22 September 1968 was cancelled, so the British premiere was at the English National Opera in October 1974, with the composer conducting.
In October 1990, two concert performances sung in the original English were given at Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Vernon Hartman, Kenneth Riegel, and, in the role of Agave, Anja Silja. Christoph von Dohnányi, who was married to Silja at the time, conducted. This same production was repeated at Carnegie Hall in November 1990 at the New York premiere, which was attended by the composer.
In March 1968, The Bassarids was performed at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, conducted by Nino Sanzogno in an Italian translation by Fedele D'Amico. In June 2018, a production under the direction of Kent Nagano with the Vienna Philharmonic was performed in Madrid at the Auditorio nacional de musica before heading on to the Salzburg Festival for performances in July/August 2018. These performances were in English.
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The Bassarids
The Bassarids (in German: Die Bassariden) is an opera in one act and an intermezzo, with music by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, after Euripides's The Bacchae.
The conflict in the opera is between human rationality and emotional control, represented by the King of Thebes, Pentheus, and unbridled human passion, represented by the god Dionysus.
The opera is constructed like a classical symphony in four 'movements':
Henze has noted that he quotes from Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion and the English Suite No. 6 in D minor. Auden and Kallman wrote of changes that they made to the Euripides original for the purposes of this opera.
It was first performed in a German translation by Maria Basse-Sporleder in Salzburg on 6 August 1966 conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi.
The first performance using the original English text was the US premiere, at the Santa Fe Opera on 7 August 1968. The composer conducted, and the staging was by director Bodo Igesz. A concert scheduled to be given by the BBC in London on 22 September 1968 was cancelled, so the British premiere was at the English National Opera in October 1974, with the composer conducting.
In October 1990, two concert performances sung in the original English were given at Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Vernon Hartman, Kenneth Riegel, and, in the role of Agave, Anja Silja. Christoph von Dohnányi, who was married to Silja at the time, conducted. This same production was repeated at Carnegie Hall in November 1990 at the New York premiere, which was attended by the composer.
In March 1968, The Bassarids was performed at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, conducted by Nino Sanzogno in an Italian translation by Fedele D'Amico. In June 2018, a production under the direction of Kent Nagano with the Vienna Philharmonic was performed in Madrid at the Auditorio nacional de musica before heading on to the Salzburg Festival for performances in July/August 2018. These performances were in English.
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