Tragedia Greca, Opera Italiana

Speranza There are few art forms whose birth is so well informed—and so well documented—as that of opera. In the later decades of the sixteenth century, a group of humanists who called themselves La Camerata weregathering regularly in Firence, as were so many other intellectual salons at that time, to discuss literature, art, and music. Among this particular assembly was one Vincenzo Galilei, an accomplished musical performer and theorist whose more scientific son would, decades later, shake the intellectual and spiritual landscape of Italy. During the 1570s and 1580s Galilei and the group's host, Giovanni de' Bardi, conte di Vernio, seem to have dominated the musical portion of La Camerata's discussions as a lively debate raged upon the "true" nature of Greek tragedy and especially upon the possible construction of its lost music. Fascinated with the expressive speech of ancient drama, the members of what we now know as the "Florentine Camerata" sought a way to set poetry to music so that its words would remain clear and unimpeded, yet be emphasized and supported by a flexible instrumental accompaniment. What they thus created is today called "recitative," and the dramme per musiche in which some of their associates employed it are traditionally honored as the first operas. Iacopo Peri's Dafne (1595), a setting in Italian of the Apollo-Daphne myth (best known to the Florentine Camerata, and to modern readers as well, from Ov. Met. 1.452–567), is lost. But his Euridice (1599), with a libretto by the poet Ottavio Rinuccini, does survive, and it is here that the history of Western opera—and our new course on the operatic reception of Greek tragedy—begins. There is an integral connection between these two creative genres -- tragedia greca, opera italiana -- from the time of opera's origins down to the present day. We should start with an appreciation of the cultural position of fifth-century Athenian drama and its influence upon Roman literature such as Ovid's Metamorphoses and Vergil's Aeneid, followed by a revision and historical survey of selected Italian, English, French, Russian, German, Greek, and American operas based upon the plots and concepts of Greek tragedy. There are four categories: 1) well-known works which we considered to be intellectually and artistically essential to our main focus (e.g., Peri's aforementioned Euridice, Gluck's two Iphigeneia operas, Strauss' Elektra); 2) somewhat lesser-known [End Page 52] works by leading composers which demonstrated important points about the reception of tragedy (e.g., Handel's Hercules); 3) works which were related to the course goals, but which also embodied significant developments in the history of music in general and opera in particular (e.g., Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Berlioz's Les Troyens);5 4) a selection of more obscure but highly instructive and teachable pieces (e.g., Taneyev's Oresteia, Theodorakis' Antigone). Operatic treatments of tragedies which the class members had experienced repeatedly at multiple levels of their educations, even as far back as high school (e.g., Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Antigone, Euripides' Medea), sparked lively responses as the students stretched themselves towards more sophisticated interpretations of what had once been comfortably familiar texts. Theodorakis' sympathetic portrayal of Medea in her hauntingly beautiful aria "Paidia o mikra" (Theodorakis, Medea, act 2, scene 12,cast from Medea's "deliberation speech" at Eur. Med. 1021–1080), for example, prompted a student who had once been moved primarily by the Euripidean heroine's dominating strength and will to reflect upon the tragic character in a new light. During her presentation, she focused instead at this point in the drama upon the horror of the choice at which Medea had arrived. Works which revealed a great deal about the lives and cultures of the audiences for which they were written (e.g., Vergil's and Purcell's versions of the Dido and Aeneas story on the political climates of Augustan Rome and Restoration England, respectively; Sophocles' Women of Trachis on the status of the woman and the wife in ancient [End Page 54] Athens; the works of Theodorakis on the complex relationship of modern Greece to ancient Greece) also fascinated class members and provoked thoughtful responses and questions. Among other points of discussion, the students tried to decide whether Purcell had really managed to restore to Dido in one aria ("When I am laid in earth," Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, act 3) the tragic pathos with which they felt Vergil had instilled her—and which librettist Nahum Tate had, in their eyes, all but removed for the sake of literary style and politics. They bristled at what they initially felt was the reduction of strong, vibrant, interesting tragic women to mere romantic interests, and at the intrusion of newly invented female characters into operas purely for the sake of love-duets. (We gently helped them to complicate their views both of tragic heroines and of the practical concerns of the early classical stage.) And like all audiences throughout operatic history, our students displayed a genuine interest in and taste for spectacle, even that which was experienced somewhat vicariously, through video and images. They were particularly taken by the mass suicide of the Trojan women at the conclusion of act 2 of Berlioz's Les Troyens and by Julie Taymor's evocative and highly symbolic staging of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, especially when we challenged them to analyze their own emotional responses to what they saw or imagined seeing and to compare their reactions with those of potential contemporary (to both the operas and the ancient literature) audiences. "Greek Tragedy and Opera" featured a half-hour presentation by each member of the class centering upon a full-length musical work (an opera, operetta, or musical theatre piece) from outside of the main course syllabus. Our students selected their presentation dates—and therefore their topics—on the first day of seminar, but the presentations themselves did not begin until week 6, which allowed ample time for the distribution and internalization of guidelines on length, content, and handout requirements. Most students elected to meet with one or both of the seminar instructors in advance of their presentations to receive any extra bibliographic recommendations, discuss special aspects of their respective topics, and ask questions. Although detailed secondary research was not explicitly required for any of the presentations, most students chose to read more about their composers and pieces in, e.g., The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,12 or to engage in some selective Web searches for additional information, particularly on living composers and their works.13 One of the most interesting and productive class discussions of the entire semester actually arose from one of our challenges: an error in the course reserves. Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide, we discovered,was only available to us at the moment in a recording of its reorchestration by Richard Wagner. Wagner's rich and interesting but anachronistic influence was apparent throughout, not merely in the thickened textures of the orchestral lines, but in entirely new passages of music which he had inserted into Gluck's much simpler and more transparent score. With Gluck's Enlightenment-era operatic "reforms" of both poetics and music occupying [End Page 58] such a significant position in the history of opera as a whole,16 we were left unable to teach this work's music through Wagner's revision. I quickly developed a new lesson on tragic reception and textual criticism based on the surviving state of Euripides' Iphigeneia in Aulis, and the "silent" comparison of this battered play with M-F. L. G. B. du Roullet's libretto for Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide proved surprisingly successful. Student interest in the problems associated with the ancient text was high: students were very eager to understand how and why our extant version may have been transmitted in this way, particularly after they saw the detailed textual-criticism symbols in the margins of Diggle's modern Oxford Classical Text,17 which we showed to them during class. A productive discussion ensued about whether or not du Roullet had managed to smooth over the shortcomings and oddities of the Euripidean play as received and whether or not his solutions may have provided any insights into the intended state of the original. In addition to the challenges, however, there were also some special opportunities. The opera being performed by CUA's School of Music during the semester in which this course was taught was Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), a piece filled with Masonic (and hence para-Egyptian) symbolism,18 arguably displaying mythological paradigms similar to those of the Orpheus myth. We invited our students to attend a particular performance before which we held a preconcert lecture and later engaged in a dialogue about these possible mythological associations in class.19 We also taught our own opera, Agamemnon, as part of the course repertory and outlined for the students the literary and musical creative processes involved from conception to practical realization. On the final day of seminar, the subject became not tragedy, but comedy, as we discussed the second half of Aristophanes' Frogs (focusing particularly upon the battle of words and wits between Aeschylus and Euripides), enjoyed A. E. Housman's "Fragment of a Greek Tragedy," and studied the influence of the operatic tradition upon Stephen Sondheim's musical Frogs.20 [End Page 59] Selected Discography N.B. All references, save those to the Handel Oreste and the Rameau Hippolyte et Aricie, are to recordings actually employed in this course. Many of these works are readily available in multiple other versions, and this list is not intended to be definitive, save for purposes of documentation. D. Argento, The Aspern Papers (Dallas Opera 1988), PBS Great Performances (1988), unreleased video recording. H. Berlioz, Les Troyens, C. Davis, conductor, Philips 416 432-2 (n.d.). ———, Les Troyens, J. Levine, conductor (live, Metropolitan Opera, New York, Oct. 8, 1983, evening performance), 3 laserdiscs, Pioneer Classics (1994). H. Birtwistle, The Mask of Orpheus, A. Davis and M. Brabbins, conductors (live, Royal Festival Hall, London, Apr. 11–12, 1996), NMC Recordings NMC D050 (1997). M.-A. Charpentier, Medée, W. Christie, conductor, Harmonia Mundi HMC 901139 (1984). L. Cherubini, Medea, T. Serafin, conductor, EMI Records CMS 7 63625 2 (1990). [End Page 60] G. Enesco, Oedipe, L. Foster, conductor, EMI Records CDS 7 54011 2 (1990). C. W. von Gluck, Alceste, G. Jones, conductor, Decca 436 234-2(1956). ———, (Neubearbeitet Richard Wagner, 1847), Iphigenie in Aulis, K. Eichhorn, conductor, Eurodisc 7796-2-RG, dist. BMG Classics (1988). ———, Iphigénie en Tauride, R. Muti, conductor (live, Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Mar. 14–26, 1992), Sony Classical S2K 52492 (1993). ———, Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridice), R. Fasano, conductor, RCA Victor Gold Seal 7896-2-RG (1990, originally released in 1966). G. F. Handel, Hercules, J. E. Gardiner, conductor, Archiv 2743 004 (1983). ———, Oreste, G. Petrou, conductor, MDG 60912732 (2004). ———, Semele, J. E. Gardiner, conductor, Erato 2292-45982-2 (1993). ———, Xerxes (Serse), J.-C. Malgoire, conductor, CBS 79325 (LP), Sony 36941 (CD) (1979). M. J. La Chiusa, Marie-Christine, D. Evans, conductor, RCA Victor 09026-63593-2 (2000). C. Monteverdi, Orfeo, N. Harnoncourt, conductor, Teldec 8.35020 ZA (1969). ———, Il Ritorno di Ulisse (Ulixes) in Patria, N. Harnoncourt, conductor, Teldec 8.35024 ZB (1971). W. A. Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, H. von Karajan, conductor, Deutsche Grammophon 410 967-2 (1980). J. Offenbach, La Belle Helène, M. Plasson, conductor, EMI 2701718 (1985). ———, Orphée en Enfers, M. Minkowski, conductor, EMI Classics 7243 5 56725 2 0 (1998). I. Peri, Euridice, R. de Caro, conductor, Arts Music 47276-2 (1995). H. Purcell, Dido and Aeneas,N. Harnoncourt, conductor, Teldec 8.42919, 242 959-2 (1983). J.-P. Rameau, Hippolyte et Aricie, M. Minkowski, conductor, Archiv Produktion 445-853-2 (1995). A. Simpson, Agamemnon, R. Garofalo, conductor (live, The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., Apr. 25–27, 2003), unreleased audio recording. S. Sondheim, The Frogs and Evening Primrose, P. Gemignani, conductor, Nonesuch 79638-2 (2001). R. Strauss, Elektra, Sir G. Solti, conductor, London 417 345-2 (1967). I. Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex, S. Ozawa, conductor, J. Taymor, director (Saito Kinen Festival, Matsumoto, Japan, 1992), Philips Video ASIN 6302993342 (1993). S. Taneyev, The Oresteia, T. Kolomizheva, conductor, Olympia OCD 195 A+B (1988). M. Theodorakis, Antigone, A. Chernoushenko, conductor, Intuition Int 3316 2 (2000). ———, Electra, M. Theodorakis, conductor, Intuition Int 3312 2 (2000). ———, Medea, M. Theodorakis, conductor, Intuition Int 3320 2 (2000). G. Verdi, Aïda, J. Perlea, conductor, RCA Victor 6652-2-RG (1968). R. Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen=1. Das Rheingold (Sir G. Solti, conductor, London 414 101-2 [1984]); 2. Die Walküre (Sir G. Solti, conductor, London 414 105-2 [1984]); 3. Siegfried (Sir G. Solti, conductor, London 414 110-2 [1984]); 4. Götterdämmerung (Sir G. Solti, conductor, London 414 115-2 [1985]). [End Page 61] Appendix A Abridged Course Syllabus for "Greek Tragedy and Opera," Fall 2003 Each numbered block represents one weekly meeting of the seminar. All ancient literary works and opera libretti were read in English translations; these were all assigned complete unless so marked, and ancient literature was sometimes assigned more than once if it was relevant to multiple musical works. Listening assignments, consisting of selected operatic excerpts ranging in total length from c. 20 to 100 minutes (but most often averaging about 30 to 40 minutes) were provided on separate handouts, with introductory musical terminology and study questions. Students completed the reading of opera libretti and all listening assignments by working with reserves in the Music Library. Lecture and Discussion Topics Course introduction ************** CONTENTS: Greek tragedy and its Roman and Renaissance receptions The Florentine Camerata and the birth of opera Some basic musical terms and concepts Music Library tour and orientation Assignments Vergil, Georgics 4.453–527 Ovid, Metamorphoses 10–11 (selections) I. Peri, Euridice, libretto+listening C. Monteverdi, Orfeo, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics ***************************** The Orpheus Story as tragedy and as philosophical and intellectual operatic source ***************************** Peri and Monteverdi: two Orpheus operas Assignments Vergil, Aeneid 4 H. Purcell, Dido and Aeneas, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Tragedy and politics Vergil in Rome and Vergil in the Renaissance Introduction to the European Baroque Tragédie lyrique, opéra-ballet, and the Masque Dido and Aeneas in Purcell's England Assignments Sophocles, Women of Trachis Ovid, Metamorphoses 9 (selections) G. F. Handel, Hercules, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Hercules narratives: Sophocles' Women of Trachis and Ovid's Metamorphoses Handel and Italian opera: artistic responses to ancient narratives Assignments Euripides, Medea M.-A. Charpentier, Medée, libretto+listening L. Cherubini, Medea, libretto+listening [End Page 62] Lecture and Discussion Topics Medea as (barbarian?) female in classical Athens Two operatic Medeas a century apart Assignments Euripides, Alcestis Vergil, Georgics 4.453–527 Ovid, Metamorphoses 10–11 (selections) C. W. von Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice, libretto+listening C. W. von Gluck, Alceste, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Another ("Orphic"?) journey back: the appeal of Alcestis Gluck and operatic reform French and Italian opera contrasted Student Presentation Topics J. Offenbach, Orphée en Enfers Assignments Euripides, Iphigeneia in Aulis Euripides, Iphigeneia in Tauris C. W. von Gluck, Iphigénie en Aulide,libretto, no listening C. W. von Gluck, Iphigénie en Tauride, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Euripides' two Iphigeneias Looking back to tragédie lyrique Student Presentation Topics G. F. Handel, Semele G. F. Handel, Xerxes (Serse) Assignments Euripides, Alcestis Vergil, Georgics 4.453–527 Ovid, Metamorphoses 10–11 (selections) W. Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Orpheus and Orphism transformed: resurrection stories Late classical opera: Singspiel and opera buffa Midterm Exam Assignments Euripides, Trojan Women Euripides, Hecuba (selections) Vergil, Aeneid 1, 2, and 4 Seneca, Trojan Women H. Berlioz, Les Troyens, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics The fall of Troy and the "Trojan tragedy" Grand opera Student Presentation Topics J. Offenbach, La Belle Helène C. Monteverdi, Il Ritorno di Ulisse in Patria [End Page 63] Assignments Aeschylus, Oresteia S. Taneyev, Oresteia, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Aeschylus' trilogy and its impact Russian opera and romanticism Student Presentation Topics J. La Chiusa, Marie-Christine ---- FERDRA: J.-P. Rameau, Hippolyte et Aricie Assignments Sophocles, Electra Euripides, Electra R. Strauss, Elektra, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Sophoclean individualism and the "Sophoclean hero" Sophoclean vs. Euripidean drama Late romantic opera in Germany and the expressionist movement Student Presentation Topics M. Theodorakis, Electra R. Wagner, Der Ring des Nibelungen Assignments Sophocles, Oedipus the King Seneca, Oedipus I. Stravinsky, Oedipus Rex, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics The Stravinsky libretto and its problems Neoclassicism in the twentieth century Oedipus—and Oedipus—for a new age Student Presentation Topics G. Enesco, Oedipe Assignments Sophocles, Antigone Euripides, Phoenician Women M. Theodorakis, Antigone, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Antigone as political figure, ancient and modern Modern Greece's relationship with ancient Greece Student Presentation Topics M. Theodorakis, Medea G. Verdi, Aïda Assignments Aeschylus, Agamemnon A. Simpson, Agamemnon,libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Can opera claim to be "faithful" to its source? Problems of "adaptation" vs. "translation" Greek tragedy and opera: an American composer's perspective Presentation Topics H. Birtwistle, Mask of Orpheus [End Page 64] Assignments Aristophanes, Frogs S. Sondheim, Frogs, libretto+listening Lecture and Discussion Topics Aristophanes and his world Greek comedy as tragic mirror The legacy of the operatic theatre in the contemporary American musical Student Presentation Topics D. Argento, Aspern Papers T. de Leeuw, Antigone Appendix B A Sample Short-Response Assignment Short-Response Essay 4: Berlioz and the "Trojan Tragedy" What we have been calling the "Trojan tragedy" is a large-scale narrative that evolved over time in Greek (and Roman) literature. Its basic outlines stretch all the way from the evil visions of Hecuba before the birth of Paris, through the Trojan War and the large-scale homecoming narratives of Odysseus and Agamemnon, down even to the deaths of some of the heroes in old age. We read no fewer than four different treatments of parts of the "Trojan tragedy" for our study of Berlioz's opera Les Troyens: Euripides' Trojan Women, part of Euripides' Hecuba, Seneca's Trojan Women, and excerpts from Vergil's Aeneid. The first three of these, of course, are actual tragic plays; the fourth is an epic poem. Here is something which Aristotle says about the relationship of epic plot to tragic plot: [A poet should] not make an [entire complete] epic structure into a tragedy—by an epic structure I mean one with a multiplicity of plots—as if, for instance, you were to make a tragedy out of the entire story of the Iliad. In the epic poem, owing to its length, each part assumes its proper magnitude. In the drama [made from an epic] the result is far from answering to the poet's expectation. The proof is that the poets who have dramatized the whole story of the fall of Troy, instead of selecting portions like Euripides [did] . . . either fail utterly or meet with poor success on the stage. (Arist. Poet. 18, tr. S. H. Butcher)22 Considering Aristotle's view as your starting-point, evaluate Berlioz's success in creating an opera from a diversity of ancient sources and stories, both tragic and epic. Was Aristotle right about the futility of trying to dramatize epic, or has Berlioz proven him wrong? How and why? Some things you might like to consider are the following: The overall structure of Berlioz's plot; act and scene divisions. The unity or disunity provided by the large number of characters. The choices of protagonists; Berlioz's changes from the ancient source texts (he was his own librettist for this work). [End Page 65] Whether Berlioz's choices with regard to length, size, and scale add up, in your opinion, to grandeur, "overkill," or inadequacy. "Success on the stage": Why is Les Troyens performed so infrequently? You may want to consider both practical and aesthetic reasons (recall the work's performance history, too, as discussed in class). The music: Are there any particularly wonderful or special musical moments that elevate your impression of the work or relieve lengthy sections? You should feel free to listen to extra music if this helps you make your points, although this is not required. Musicologists generally cite Vergil's Aeneid and Euripides' Trojan Women and Hecuba as Berlioz's main sources. You may therefore choose to omit Seneca from your discussion if you like. You must, however, still employ a variety of arguments based on all three study elements (libretti, music, and ancient literature) in order to be eligible for full credit. Footnotes 1. A convenient collection of sources on these events is C. V. Palisca, The Florentine Camerata: Documentary Studies and Translations (New Haven 1989), with additional references; the preceding summary is based upon the information presented in Palisca's introduction. 2. Strictly speaking, of course, there is no extant Greek tragedy available for students to study in conjunction with, for example, operas which treat the myths of Orpheus (perhaps the single most frequently represented subject in all of operatic history) or of Dido and Aeneas. We were able, however, to incorporate such works into our syllabus through careful, constant observation and discussion of what may have helped to make a narrative (arguably) "tragic" in both ancient and modern terms. 3. University premiere production: April 25–27, 2003, Hartke Theatre, CUA, Washington, D.C. Additional information on this production and on The Oresteia Project, of which Agamemnon comprises the first part, may be found via the gateway site at http://music.cua.edu/oresteia. 4. E.g., Antigonai and Oedipus Tyrannos, two less famous works by Karl Orff, the composer of the well-known Carmina Burana (1937). There are two recordings of Antigonai (one live, one studio) in existence, but one of these is out of print, and the other has never been commercially released; see J. Rockwell, "Going Beyond 'Carmina Burana' and Beyond Orff's Stigma," The New York Times (Dec. 5, 2003). Handel's Oreste (1734), an Italian pasticcio which treats events in the life of Orestes after his murder of Klytemnestra and which could have been studied alongside Euripides' Orestes, has only just received its first known commercial recording (see the discography at the end of this article). We hope to incorporate it into future versions of this course. 5. These works, of course, called for additional in-class treatment of some of the issues involved in the Roman reception of Greek tragic structures and concepts; the Purcell owes nearly all of its content to the "tragedy" of Dido in Vergil's Aeneid, and the Berlioz draws most of its plot structure from Vergil, as well. 6. The students generally read the libretti that were enclosed in their recordings, as most of the libretti in our course were not separately available in collected published translations, contra, for example, the libretti of Verdi, Puccini, and Wagner: e.g., N. Castel, The Complete Verdi Libretti (with International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions, word-for-word translations, a guide to the IPA, and notes on the Italian transcriptions), 4 vols. (Geneseo, N.Y., 1994–1996), and The Complete Puccini Libretti (with International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions and word-for-word translations), 2 vols. (Geneseo, N.Y., 1993–1994); see also G. Schirmer's Collection of Opera Librettos [sic] (New York, various dates). 7. E.g., librettist R. Calzabigi's introduction (in Gluck's voice) to Gluck's published (1769) score of his Alceste. The ghost-written introduction comprises an articulate statement of "operatic reform" aesthetics (English translation: P. Weiss and R. Taruskin, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents [New York 1984] 301–2); the Shakespearean intertexts in Berlioz's libretto for his Les Troyens (Lorenzo's opening speech in Merchant of Venice, act V, scene 1, is reworked by Berlioz in his act 4 duet between Aeneas and Dido); and Stravinsky's introduction to his (1926–1927) score of Oedipus Rex, discussing the unique staging he envisioned for this work, which he termed an "opera-oratorio." 8. A future version of this course might include appropriate secondary readings from, e.g., the following: P. Bauschatz, "Oedipus: Stravinsky and Cocteau Recompose Sophocles," CompLit 43.2 (1991) 150–70; Berlioz's correspondence on the conception and development of his Les Troyens (a good selection of this material is available in English in the extensive liner notes to the recording cited in the discography following this article); J. Chailley, The Magic Flute Unveiled: Esoteric Symbolism in Mozart's Masonic Opera: An Interpretation of the Libretto and the Music (Rochester, Vt., 1992), previously published as The Magic Flute, Masonic Opera, tr. H. Weinstock (New York 1971), itself a translation of Chailley's original La flûte enchantée: opéra maconnique. Essai d' explication du livret et de la musique (Paris 1968); J. J. Clauss and S. I. Johnston, eds., Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art (Princeton 1997), esp. M. McDonald's essay ("Medea as Politician and Diva: Riding the Dragon into the Future," 297–323), which includes a brief analysis of Theodorakis' Medea (1991); M. Ewans, Wagner and Aeschylus: The Ring and the Oresteia (Cambridge 1983); L. Hardwick, ReceptionStudies=G&R New Surveys in the Classics 33 (Oxford 2003); M. O. Lee, Athena Sings: Wagner and the Greeks (Toronto 2003); W. Mellers, The Masks of Orpheus: Seven Stages in the Story of European Music (Manchester 1987); Palisca (above, n.1); R. Parker, ed., The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera (Oxford 1994); C. Price, ed., Dido and Aeneas: An Opera, Norton Critical Scores (New York 1986); S. Sadie, ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, 4 vols.(New York 1992), and History of Opera (New York 1990); Theodorakis' and others' on-line commentaries upon his operas (www.mikis-theodorakis.net/indexenglish.htm, s.v. "Operas"); S. Walsh, Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex, Cambridge Music Handbooks (Cambridge 1993); J. Warden, ed., Orpheus: The Metamorphoses of a Myth (Toronto 1982), esp. W. S. Anderson's ("The Orpheus of Virgil and Ovid: flebile nescio quid," 25–50) and T. J. McGee's ("Orfeo and Euridice, The First Two Operas," 163–81) essays. 9. P. Mayerson (Classical Mythology in Literature, Art, and Music [Newburyport, Mass., 2001]) might be usable in some respects for basic background reading, but it contains too little direct treatment of musical works to be viable as a course textbook. 10. While the argument might be made that a course packet containing these items should have been created before the beginning of the seminar, we felt it was essential that our materials respond to the level and the needs of our class from week to week, particularly in the pilot version of this course. 11. Listening assessments of various types, of course, are standard examinations in current undergraduate music school curricula: see the accreditation guidelines published in the National Association of Schools of Music Handbook 2005–2006, 73–75 (accessible via the Association's Web site at http://nasm.arts-accredit.org). 12. S. Sadie and J. Tyrell, executive eds., 2nd ed. (New York 2000). 13. This was especially important for the two students who worked on Theodorakis' Medea (1991) and Electra (1993) for their presentations; much of the available information in English on this composer and his music is on the Web at his official site (above, n.8). 14. The student noted the political defiance of both Antigone and Rhadamis and the self-sacrifices of both Haemon and Aïda, and also saw an aesthetic connection between the deaths of Antigone and Haemon in the burial chamber and the suffocation of Rhadamis and Aïda in the vaults beneath the Temple of Ptah. He was therefore drawn particularly to Antigone's firm resolve and her destruction for the sake of love, although he admitted that Antigone's prioritization of her brother did not map perfectly onto the nineteenth-century romance and in fact pointed up the alienness of certain ancient values to modern sensibilities. For a musicological perspective on du Locle's convoluted arrival at Aïda's final storyline, see J. Budden, The Operas of Verdi, vol. 3, From Don Carlos to Falstaff (New York 1981) 163–66. Jon Solomon (Department of Classics, University of Arizona) recently proposed at the 2005 Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association that many of the names of Aïda's main characters are based upon Egyptian names referenced on the Rosetta Stone, which might help to support a creative ancient connection with the opera's plot. 15. On universities' recent efforts to acquaint themselves with the relevant new copyright laws regarding on-line postings of multimedia reserves, see D. Carnevale, "Slow Start for Long-Awaited Easing of Copyright Restriction," The Chronicle of Higher Education (Mar. 28, 2003) 29. 16. These "reforms" were of particular significance for our course because to an extent Gluck believed that he was seeking to draw opera closer to its origins—and to ancient tragedy: see, e.g., P. Howard, Gluck and the Birth of Modern Opera (London 1963). Additional useful information may be found in P. Howard, C. W. von Gluck: Orfeo, Cambridge Opera Handbooks (Cambridge 1981). 17. J. Diggle, Euripidis Fabulae, vol. 3, Oxford Classical Texts (Oxford 1994). 18. Chailley (above, n.8). 19. We do not consider this opera essential to our overall vision of this course's content; it was, rather, a good opportunity to incorporate what was currently taking place at the university. In future sessions of this course, we would hope to incorporate other live performances, whether at CUA or elsewhere in Washington, D.C. 20. A. E. Housman, "Fragment of a Greek Tragedy," Cornhill Magazine n.s. 10 (1901) 443–45. The poem was reprinted many times thereafter. Rarely do younger students of ancient Greek literature accumulate sufficient experience with tragedy, particularly in survey courses, to fully appreciate much of the humor of the battle of the tragedians in Aristophanes' Frogs. The opportunity to study this work with our class at the conclusion of the semester therefore represented both a culmination and a reward for them: in exchange for their hard work, they had earned the knowledge which let them laugh. Sondheim's Frogs is a delightful work which, though some thirty years old, recently received its first recordings (though, regrettably, without the dialogue between the musical numbers, either the original or the dialogue recently reworked by Nathan Lane for a 2004 revival). The piece recasts the conflict between Aeschylus and Euripides as a confrontation between Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw. 21. Because the support for the course was shared between two different divisions of CUA (the School of Music and the Department of Greek and Latin), the net cost to each division, whether measured in salary or in faculty time, was half what it would have been to either division alone if a single instructor had taken on the seminar. Further, the cross-listing of the class essentially meant that each division gained a course in its schedule in return for the outlay of a half-course of instructor time. Such calculations worked in the favor of all concerned when the team-teaching arrangements were in the planning stages and helped to hasten the approval of the course. 22. S. H. Butcher, Aristotle's Theory of Poetry and Fine Art, with a Critical Text and a Translation of the Poetics (London and New York 1895).