Perséphone (Stravinsky)
Perséphone | |
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Mélodrame by Igor Stravinsky | |
![]() The composer | |
Librettist | André Gide |
Based on | Persephone myth |
Premiere |
Perséphone (Persephone) is a musical work (mélodrame) for speaker, solo singers, chorus, dancers and orchestra with music by Igor Stravinsky and a libretto by André Gide.
It was first performed under the direction of the composer at the Opéra in Paris, on 30 April 1934 in a double bill with the ballet Diane de Poitiers by Jacques Ibert. The premiere was staged by the ballet company of Ida Rubinstein, with Rubinstein herself dancing and speaking the part of Persephone and the tenor René Maison singing Eumolphe.
It was also performed at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires under Stravinsky himself in 1936 with Victoria Ocampo, an Argentinean preeminent writer and intellectual, and then in Rio de Janeiro. It was reprised at the Colón in 1995 with China Zorrilla under Pedro Ignacio Calderón.
Other choreographed versions have included those of George Balanchine, Kurt Jooss (1955), Frederick Ashton (1961),[1] and Pina Bausch (1965). (Martha Graham's Persephone is accompanied by Stravinsky's Symphony in C.)
It was recorded by Stravinsky himself with Vera Zorina and also under André Cluytens (with Nicolai Gedda, 1955, Paris), Sir Andrew Davis (with Paul Groves, London), Michael Tilson Thomas (with Stuart Neill, 1999, San Francisco), and Esa-Pekka Salonen (with Andrew Staples, 2018, Finnish National Opera). A 2012 production at the Teatro Real, Madrid, directed by Peter Sellars with Teodor Currentzis conducting, was released on Blu-ray, paired with Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, Op.69, from the same 2012 production.[2]
Roles
- Eumolpe, tenor René Maison
- Perséphone, ballerina Ida Rubinstein
- Demetra-Dometer, ballerina Krakowska
- Mercure, dancer Anatole Viltzak
- Pluton, dancer
- Démophoon, dancer
Synopsis
The melodrama tells the story of the Greek goddess Persephone, in three parts:
- Perséphone ravie (The Abduction of Persephone);
- Perséphone aux enfers (Persephone in the Underworld);
- Perséphone renaissante (Rebirth of Persephone).
References
- Sources
- Casaglia, Gherardo (2005). "Perséphone, 30 April 1934". L'Almanacco di Gherardo Casaglia (in Italian).[dead link]
- Holden, Amanda (Ed.). The New Penguin Opera Guide. New York: Penguin Putnam, 2001. ISBN 0-14-029312-4
Further reading
- Levitz, Tamara: Modernist Mysteries: Perséphone. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-19-973016-2
- v
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musical dramas
- The Nightingale
- Renard
- The Soldier's Tale
- Mavra
- Oedipus rex
- Perséphone
- The Rake's Progress
- The Flood
- The Firebird
- Petrushka
- The Rite of Spring (discography)
- Les noces
- Pulcinella
- Apollo
- The Fairy's Kiss
- Jeu de cartes
- Danses concertantes
- Scènes de ballet
- Orpheus
- Agon
- Symphony in E♭
- Symphony of Psalms
- Symphony in C
- Symphony in Three Movements
- Scherzo fantastique
- Fireworks
- Funeral Song
- Four Études
- The Song of the Nightingale
- Circus Polka
- Ode
- Scherzo à la russe
- Greeting Prelude
- Movements for Piano and Orchestra
- Variations: Aldous Huxley in memoriam
- Canon on a Russian Popular Tune
- Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments
- Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra
- Violin Concerto in D
- Concerto in E♭ ("Dumbarton Oaks")
- Ebony Concerto
- Concerto in D
vocal
- Pastorale
- Pribaoutki
- Berceuses du chat
- Abraham and Isaac
- Elegy for J.F.K.
- "The Owl and the Pussy Cat"
- Zvezdoliki
- Ave Maria
- Babel
- Mass
- Cantata
- Canticum Sacrum
- Threni
- A Sermon, a Narrative, and a Prayer
- Requiem Canticles
pianola
- "Tarantella"
- Scherzo
- Piano Sonata in F♯ minor
- Four Études
- "Valse des fleurs"
- Three Easy Pieces
- Five Easy Pieces
- Étude for Pianola
- Piano-Rag-Music
- Les cinq doigts
- Three Movements from Petrushka
- Piano Sonata
- Serenade in A
- Concerto for Two Pianos
- Tango
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- Two Sketches for a Sonata
music
- Three Pieces for String Quartet
- Three Pieces for Solo Clarinet
- Lied ohne Name
- Octet
- Duo Concertant
- Elegy
- Septet
- Epitaphium
- Double Canon (in Memoriam Raoul Dufy)
- Bluebird Pas de Deux (from Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty)
- Monumentum pro Gesualdo
Parents |
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Wives |
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Children | |
Amanuensis |
- 4382 Stravinsky
- Igor Stravinsky (river cruise ship)
- Stravinsky (crater)
- Stravinsky Fountain
- Stravinsky Inlet
- Earnest Andersson
- Ernest Ansermet
- George Balanchine
- Ballets Russes
- Nadia Boulanger
- Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (film)
- Jean Cocteau
- Sergei Diaghilev
- Samuel Dushkin
- Arthur Lourié
- Monday Evening Concerts
- New York City Ballet
- Pierre Monteux
- Neoclassicism
- Petrushka chord
- Psalms chord
- Charles Ferdinand Ramuz
- Werner Reinhart
- Serialism
Category
Audio