Prometeo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Prometeo | |
|---|---|
| Opera (Works) by Luigi Nono | |
.jpg) The composer in 1979 | |
| Librettist | Massimo Cacciari |
| Language | Italian |
| Based on | Myth of Prometheus, in texts by Aeschylus, Walter Benjamin, Rainer Maria Rilke and others |
| Premiere | |
Prometeo (Prometheus) is an "opera" by Luigi Nono, written between 1981 and 1984 and revised in 1985. Here the word "opera" carries the generic Italian meaning of "works", as in work of art, and not its usual meaning in English. Indeed, Nono scornfully labels Prometeo a "tragedia dell'ascolto", a tragedy of listening. Objectively it can be considered a sequence of nine cantatas, the longest lasting 23 minutes. The Italian libretto, by Massimo Cacciari, selects from texts by such varied authors as Aeschylus, Walter Benjamin and Rainer Maria Rilke and presents the different versions of the myth of Prometheus without telling any version literally.
Prometeo in its final form (1985) is scored for:[1]
- 5 vocal soloists (2 sopranos, 2 altos, 1 tenor)
- 2 speakers (one male, one female)
- choir (12 singers)
- 4 orchestral groups, each consisting of: flute/piccolo, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, 4 violins, viola, cello, double bass
- 7 glasses
- 6 instrumental soloists: bass flute/piccolo/C flute, contrabass clarinet/clarinet in B♭/clarinet in E♭, trombone/tuba/euphonium, viola, cello, double bass
- 2 conductors. Sounds from the vocalists and instrumentalists are electronically manipulated. The duration of the final version is given as 135 minutes.[1]
Nine sections
The work's nine sections are:[1]
- Prologo
- Isola Prima
- Isola Seconda
- Interludio Primo
- Tre Voci (a)
- Isola Terza – Quarta – Quinta
- Tre Voci (b)
- Interludio Secondo
- Stasimo Secondo
