Series | Lexis Supplements
Edited book | Classic and Contemporary Agamemnon
Chapter | Echi e silenzi: fortuna e sfortuna dell’Agamennone nel teatro musicale
Echi e silenzi: fortuna e sfortuna dell’Agamennone nel teatro musicale
Abstract
This essay aims to offer some considerations on the reception of Agamemnon in musical theatre. First of all, it will investigate the reasons why the presence of Aeschylus’ tragedy on the operatic stage is so scant, highlighting the reasons for the compositional and thematic choices that have left the drama in silence. Then, through some specific examples, it will analyse the presence of echoes of the Agamemnon since, as a tragedy, it had rarely been a source of a specific libretto. In contrast, the Atreus’ house protagonists have had ample fortune as characters in operas concerning, for example, the sacrifice of Iphigenia and not the Oresteia trilogy. The reflection on the reception of Aeschylus’ tragedy will then allow for advancing some general suggestions on a possible path of investigation within the study of the fortune of the ancient Greek classics in musical theatre.
Submitted: Dec. 22, 2021 | Accepted: March 15, 2022 | Published Dec. 13, 2022 | Language: it
Keywords Musical theatre • Opera • Ancient Greek drama • Classical reception studies • Libretto
Copyright © 2022 Giovanna Casali. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-632-9/013
