''Agamemnon'' is an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

in one act by composer

Felix Werder Felix Werder AM (24 February 19223 May 2012) was a German-born Australian composer of classical and electronic music, and also a noted critic and educator. The son of a distinguished liturgical composer, he composed all his life. His published ...

. Werder used his own libretto for the work which is based on

Gilbert Murray George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...

's English language translation of the Ancient Greek tragedy ''

Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' ( grc, Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of th ...

'' by

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

. The work was composed in 1967 with the title ''The Agamemnon of Aeschylus'', and was first performed under that name in that year on ABC radio. Afterwards Werder reworked some of the music and retitled the piece ''Agamemnon'' for the opera's first staged performance at the Grant Street Theatre in Melbourne on 1 June 1977 in a production led by conductor

Hiroyuki Iwaki (6 September 193213 June 2006) was a Japanese conductor and percussionist. Biography Iwaki was born in Tokyo in 1932. Shortly after he entered an elementary school, he moved to Kyoto due to his father's transferral. He came to play the xyloph ...

. The opera uses

Twelve-tone technique The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...

in its composition and is structured in 25 sections. Thérèse Radic. "Agamemnon", ''Grove Music Online'' ed. L. Macy (Accessed October 15, 2015)
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Roles

*King Agamemnon (bass) *Aegisthus (countertenor) *Clytemnestra (soprano) *Cassandra (soprano)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agamemnon Operas 1967 operas 1977 operas English-language operas Operas based on Agamemnon (Aeschylus play)