Saint-Saëns, Camille

Preface

Saint-Saëns, Camille – Antigone, Tragédie de Sophocle / Incidental Music to Sophocles’ play (Vocal Score, French libretto)

 

Information zu dem Werk: Vorwort zur Partitur:

Antigone – Tragédie de Sophocle
Mise à la Scène, Française par Paul Meurice and Auguste Vacquerie, R 317.
Antigone – Tragedy by Sophocles
Incidental Music for Sophocles’ play,
French translation by Paul Meurice and Auguste Vacquerie, R 317.

Premiere:
21-25 November 1893 by the Théâtre Français,
Théâtre antique d’Orange, Vaucluse, France

Publications:
Orchestral score: A. Durand & Fils, Plate D. & F. 7412, 1893.
Solo piano: Durand & Fils, Plate D. & F. 4737, 1893.
Tenor solo with piano: Hymne à Éros : extrait d’Antigone,Durand & Fils, Plate 4739, 1894.

Orchestration for the Incidental Music (excluding the spoken play):
tenor solo, male chorus, 4 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (in C), cymbals (pp. 82-86 march only), concert harp, and strings (only violins, violas, and cellos)

First Part
Entrance of Antigone p. 1
Chorus: Œil du jour p. 6
Chorus: L’homme est le grand prodige p. 17
Entrance of Ismène p. 29

Second Part
Chorus: Heureux celui qu’un dieu defend ! p. 30
Tenor Solo and chorus: Invincible Eros p. 41
Monologue for Antigone with Chorus p. 50
Chorus: Tu n’es pas la première p. 56

Third Part
Scene for Tiresias p.75
Chorus: Bacchus! Dans ce danger p.76
Exit of Eurydice p.87
Dialogue for Creon and Messenger with Chorus p. 88
Final Chorus: Le plus haut bien pour l’homme p. 93

The Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns was a short, witty, sarcastic French composer remembered mainly for his opera Samson and Delilah and the orchestral showpieces Danse macabre and Carnival of the Animals. One of the most prolific French romantic composers, he published nearly 300 compositions in his eighty-six years, describing himself as “an apple tree producing apples”. He composed the first film score in 1908.

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