Mendelssohn: Oedipus (Stage Music) - RSO Berlin, Stefan Stoltesz

Here comes a fine recording of Mendellsohn's late Incidental Music to Oedipus (first performed in 1845). For those who do not know this great tragety by Sophokles it must be noted that this is "Oedipus in Colonus" and should not be confused with "Oedipus Rex" where King Oedipus tried to discover who is the man who killed his father and married his mother bringing misfortune to Thebes, but finally realizes that it was he who did it. His mother/wife, Iocasta hangs herself, he gets blind and becomes an outcast by his brother-in-law, Creon.

In this follow-up tragety, Oedipus visits Athens accompanied by his daughter Antigone. The Athenias in the begining refuse to offer shelter being afraid that he will bring misfortune to them as in Thebes. However, King Theseus bravely declares that Oedipus is his guest, suggesting generosity of heart that defies possible misfortune in the name of hospitality. Meanwhile, back in Thebes, Creon learns from the Oracle that unless Oedipus returns and is buried there, peace will never arrive in the city. He tries to get him back (assisted by Oedipus' two daughters) but King Theseus protects him. The work is full of rituals paid to the Gods. In that respect it anticipates Wagner's Parsifal with its extended Grail-rituals in Acts I & III.

The music to "Oedipus" was written at the command of the King of Prussia in 1843, and was first produced at Potsdam, November 1, 1845. It contains a short introduction and nine choral numbers. The first and second choruses describe the entrance of Oedipus and Antigone into grove of the Eumenides, their discovery by the people, the story of his sorrows which he relates to them, his meeting with his daughter Ismene, and the arrival of Theseus the King. The third number, double chorus, is the gem of the work, and is often given on the concert-stage. The first strophe is begun by one choir in unison after a short but graceful introduction which is repeated at the end of the strophe in another form, and then the second choir begins the antistrophe, set to the same beautiful melody. At its close the music changes in character and grows vigorous and excited as the first choir sings the second strophe, with which shortly the second choir joins in eight-part harmony. The latter takes up the strain again in the second antistrophe, singing the praise of "the mother city," and the number closes with the united invocation to Neptune – an effect which has hardly been excelled in choral music. The fourth chorus, which is dramatic in its effect, tells of the assault of Creon upon Oedipus, and the fifth, his protection by Theseus, who comes to the rescue. In this number the double choirs unite in the appeal to the gods ("Dread Power, that fillest Heaven’s high Throne") to defend Theseus in the conflict. The sixth number ("When the Health and Strength are gone") is a pathetic description of the blind hero’s pitiful condition, and prepares the way for the powerful choruses in which his impeding fate is foreshadowed by the thunderbolts of Jove. The eight and ninth choruses are full of the mournful spirit of the tragedy itself, and tell of the mysterious disappearance of the Theban hero, engulfed in the opening earth, and the sorrowful lamentations of the daughters for the father whom they had served and loved so devotedly.

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