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The Oresteia Project

Three contemporary operas on Aeschylus' ancient Greek tragic cycle
English libretti by Sarah B Ferrario (translated from the ancient Greek)
Music by Andrew E Simpson

Each opera is a one-act work of about 70-100 minutes, and can be performed separately. The operas exist in chamber ensemble versions; Agamemnon also has a full orchestral version.

Agamemnon (100 minutes), the first opera, relates King Agamemnon's triumphant return home from Troy and his murder at the hands of his Queen, Klytemnestra.
In The Libation Bearers (75 minutes), Orestes, the exiled son of Agamemnon and Klytemnestra, returns to Argos, killing his mother to avenge his father's death.
The Furies (90 minutes), the final work, sees Orestes, pursued by the furies, acquitted in a trial: justice replaces vengeance.
The Oresteia Project
Goals of the Project
The Operas in Performance
Roles by Opera

Watch Three Greek Operas
Agamemnon
The Libation Bearers
The Furies

More Information about Andrew Simpson's Three Greek Operas

Agamemnon
The Libation Bearers
The Furies

Goals of The Oresteia Project

Composer Andrew Simpson (faculty, Catholic University in Washington, DC) and librettist Sarah Ferrario (a classical scholar also on the faculty at Catholic U) asked a basic question: could the texts of Aeschylus' original tragedies serve as operatic libretti in their own right, without adaptation beyond translation and cuts? The Oresteia Project is an ongoing venture to answer this question, and to observe how ancient dramatic structures behave on a contemporary operatic stage. 

Ancient Greek drama, in performance in 5th-century BCE Athens, was a combination of speech, song, and dance. The chorus sang and danced, and the principal characters spoke and sung their roles. Although some commentators believe that the tragedies were sung all the way through, the majority of scholarly opinion notes that the meters of the ancient poetry varied according to the intended performative use of the words - that is, certain meters were spoken, certain meters were clearly intended to be sung.  

Noting that western opera was born around 1600 in an attempt to revive the imagined performance of tradition of ancient Greek tragedy, creating new operas to ancient Greek texts is entirely consistent with operatic tradition.

The libretti for each of the three operas has been translated directly from the ancient Greek, so every word in the libretti can be traced back to Aeschylus.

The libretti are much shorter than the plays themselves (Agamemnon alone consists of more than 1600 lines!), and so many cuts were necessary. However, Ferrario and Simpson have aimed to approximate, as much as possible, the proportions of the original dramas even with the cuts.

The music is fully contemporary. The structure of the operas resembles that of traditional operas, with arias, duets, recitatives and scenas, and - of course - choruses.

 

An excerpt from The Double Axe, suite from my three operas on the ancient Greek tragic cycle "The Oresteia." Music by me, English libretto translated from the ancient Greek by Sarah B. Ferrario. Premiere at the Harman Center for the Arts in Washington, DC, May 2019. I am conducting.

The Operas in Performance

Cross-disciplinary endeavor is central to the performance of tragedy, and has been the case with The Oresteia Project, as well. For the chamber and main-stage orchestral productions of Agamemnon, for example, a troupe of dancers participated in several of the choruses, helping to illuminate the text's imagery. For the semi-staged production of The Libation Bearers, silent films were commissioned by Chicago-based filmmaker Nicholas Ferrario to complement several of the choruses. And, as was the case with Agamemnon, the 2006 premiere production of The Furies featured a fully dancing chorus of twelve furies. 

Roles by Opera

Agamemnon
Klytemnestra, Queen of Argos: mezzo-soprano
Agamemnon, King of Argos: baritone
Kassandra, Trojan princess, captive of Agamemnon: coloratura soprano
Herald, member of Argive army: bass-baritone
Aegisthus, lover of Klytemnestra: tenor
Watchman: tenor
SATB chorus

The Libation Bearers
Orestes, son of Klytemnestra and Agamemnon: tenor
Elektra, sister of Orestes: lyric soprano
Klytemnestra: mezzo-soprano
Nurse: mezzo-soprano
Pylades, friend of Orestes: baritone
Aegisthus: tenor
Slave of the house: bass-baritone
SSA chorus

The Furies
Athena: soprano
Apollo: baritone
Orestes: tenor
Pythia, priestess of Apollo: mezzo-soprano
Ghost of Klytemnestra: mezzo-soprano
SSA chorus: Furies
SATB chorus: citizens of Athens

Klytemnestra reveals the corpses of Agamemnon and Kassandra to the Chorus
Jessi Baden, mezzo-soprano (Klytemnestra)

The Sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia: Chorus and Dancers

Agamemnon returns in triumph from conquered Troy

Catholic University Opera Theater
Hartke Theater, Washington, DC
April 2003 full-stage premiere production

Chorus, "Hear Us, O Gods"
Film by Nicholas Ferrario
Jeff Reuther, Orestes
Sibylla (chorus)
Catholic University Opera Theater, March 2004

Klytemnestra's ghost bids the Furies pursue and kill her son, Orestes
Charmaine McGilvery, Klytemnestra

Athena, hearing Orestes' call, arrives to give aid to him
Bridgid Eversole, Athena

The citizens of Athens welcome the now-kindly Furies into their city
Apollo (James Rogers), Athena (Bridgid Eversole),
Orestes (Alex Kugler), Furies and Chorus