| Antigone | |
|---|---|
| Opera byArthur Honegger | |
.jpg) Émile Colonne as Créon in the 1927 premiere | |
| Librettist | Jean Cocteau |
| Language | French |
| Based on | Sophocles'Antigone |
| Premiere | |
Antigone is anopera (tragédie musicale) in three acts byArthur Honegger to a Frenchlibretto byJean Cocteau based on the tragedyAntigone bySophocles. Honegger composed the opera between 1924 and 1927. It premiered on 28 December 1927 at theThéâtre Royal de la Monnaie with sets designed byPablo Picasso and costumes byCoco Chanel.[1][2]
Honegger had a passionate interest in theatre. Prior toAntigone, he had composed film scores and incidental music for plays as well as an oratorio,Le roi David, which he called a "dramatic psalm" and premiered in 1921.[3] From 1922 Honegger began thinking about adapting theGreek tragedyAntigone bySophocles as his first opera. He wrote that the plot is "not the standard anecdote of love which is the base of nearly all lyric theatre".[3] The decade between 1920 and 1930 saw several new operas based on works or themes from the past. LikeAntigone, Satie'sSocrates and Stravinsky'sOedipus rex were based on ancient Greek subjects while both Hindemith'sCardillac and Berg'sWozzeck were based on early 19th century German literature.
Honegger had fallen out withJean Cocteau in 1921 over Cocteau's reaction to hisLe roi David. Both Cocteau andMilhaud had called the work "treasonous" for its failure to adhere to the progressive principles of modern theatre and music which they espoused. However they resolved their differences and Cocteau agreed to collaborate with Honegger onAntigone.[1] In Cocteau's words, his adaptation was a "contraction" of the Sophocles play. He described his method of reworking it as like taking "photographs of Greece from an airplane."[4]Antigone was first performed as a play at theThéâtre de l'Atelier in Paris in 1922 with sets byPicasso, costumes byCoco Chanel, and incidental music by Honegger.[5] Honegger began composing the complete text of the play as a three-act opera in 1924 and completed it in 1927. Cocteau did not participate in the project during its composition stage and did not attend the premiere.[5]
Honegger had first offeredAntigone to theParis Opéra, but they rejected it as "too advanced" for the French public.[6] Instead, it premiered at theThéâtre Royal de la Monnaie on 28 December 1927 in a triple bill withLe pauvre matelot andShéhérazade[clarification needed] using the sets by Picasso and costumes by Coco Chanel that had been designed for the 1922 performance of the play.[1][7] The opera subsequently had eight more performances at La Monnaie between January and March 1928. In January 1928 it was also given in German translation at theGrillo-Theater in Essen, and in 1930 it was performed in English in New York by theAmerican Laboratory Theatre.[8] While the critical reception of these early performances was generally positive, the audiences were not enthusiastic.[3] This would change in 1943 whenAntigone finally received its French premiere at the Paris Opéra with Cocteau designing new sets and costumes for it. The critics called it a "masterpiece" and the audiences were "enthralled", even applauding in the middle of passages.[6] Despite that success, further performances of the opera have been sparse. It was revived by the Paris Opéra in 1952 and 1953. Aconcert performance in Turin by theOrchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Torino was broadcast live on Italian radio in 1958, and a concert performance in Paris by theOrchestre National de France was broadcast live on French radio in 1960.[9]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 28 December 1927[2] Conductor:Maurice Corneil de Thoran |
|---|---|---|
| Antigone | contralto | Simone Ballard |
| Ismène | soprano | Eglantine Deulin |
| Eurydice | mezzo-soprano | Melle Gerday |
| Créon | baritone | Émile Colonne |
| Hémon | baritone | P. Gilson |
| Tirésias | bass | Milorad Jovanovitch |
Honegger wrote in the preface of the score about his intention to "envelop the drama with a tight symphonic construction without the movement seeming heavy.[3] He was concerned about a clear rendition of the text, taking special care of the consonants, which he described as the "locomotive" of understanding.[3] He later expressed that French composers "show exclusive concern for the melodic design", neglecting diction.[3]Antigone is cited by Robert Dearling as the first classical work to make use of themusical saw, though the termflexatone is used,[10] and Geoffrey Spratt says that act 2, scene 8, "opens with a long treblemelismatic line of quite astounding expression and profundity—qualities in no small way attributable to its scoring forsaxophone and musical saw."[11]
The work has been described as austere, even severe, avoiding conventional lyricism.[3]
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