''Antigona'' (''Antigone'') 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 libr ...

in three acts in Italian by the composer

Tommaso Traetta Tommaso Michele Francesco Saverio Traetta (30 March 1727 – 6 April 1779) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic r ...

. The libretto, by

Marco Coltellini Marco Coltellini (24 May 1724, in Montepulciano – November 1777, in Saint Petersburg) was an Italian opera tenor, librettist and printer. Biography Coltellini embarked on a career in the Church, but had to leave after fathering four daught ...

, is based on the tragedy ''

Antigone In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., & R ...

'' by

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or c ...

Performance history

''Antigona'' received its premiere at the

Imperial Theatre The Imperial Theatre is a Broadway theater at 249 West 45th Street ( George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1923, the Imperial Theatre was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

on 11 November 1772.

Roles

Synopsis

Background

The background to the opera is the myth of Oedipus. Oedipus has been expelled from Thebes, the city where he was king, after it was revealed he had killed his father and married his mother. He left four children:

Eteocles In Greek mythology, Eteocles (; ) was a king of Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without knowing his relationship to either. When the relationship was revea ...

Polynices In Greek mythology, Polynices (also Polyneices) (; grc, Πολυνείκης, Polyneíkes, lit= manifold strife' or 'much strife) was the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia and the older brother of Eteocles (according to Sophocles ...

and

Ismene In Greek mythology, Ismene (; grc, Ἰσμήνη, ''Ismēnē'') is the daughter and half-sister of Oedipus, daughter and granddaughter of Jocasta, and sister of Antigone, Eteocles, and Polynices. She appears in several plays of Sophocles: at ...

Creon Creon may refer to: Greek history * Creon, the first annual eponymous archon of Athens, 682–681 BC Greek mythology * Creon (king of Thebes), mythological king of Thebes * Creon (king of Corinth), father of Creusa/Glauce in Euripides' ''Medea' ...

, Oedipus' brother-in-law, declares that the vacant throne of Thebes will now be shared by the two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, ruling alternately, but the two have quarrelled. To prevent a war, Creon decrees the two should fight in single combat to decide who will be king.

Act 1

Eteocles and Polynices (played by

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

dancers) fight the single combat and kill each other. Adrastus now offers the crown to Creon, who declares that Eteocles shall be buried with full honours. Polynices, however, will be left unburied because he started a war on Thebes when he did not get his way. Polynices' sisters, Antigone and Ismene, are distraught. Antigone resolves to bury her brother in defiance of Creon's decree. Ismene hopes that Creon's son Haemon (who is in love with Antigone) will be able to persuade his father to show mercy to the dead Polynices.

Act 2

Antigone cremates Polynices by night. Haemon comes to warn her just before Adrastus and his guards arrive. Adrastus realises Creon's orders have been disobeyed. He believes Haemon is the culprit and arrests him. Creon sentences him to death, but Antigone arrives to explain that the cremation is all her own work. Creon condemns her to be walled up alive in a cave.

Act 3

Creon and the Thebans watch as Antigone is walled up in the cave. Adrastus brings news that Haemon has apparently committed suicide. Creon hurries back to Thebes. But Haemon has survived and reaches the cave where he intends to die with Antigone. He manages to reach her through a fissure in the rock. He shows the dagger he has brought which will enable them both to have a quick death and avoid slow starvation. At that moment there is a noise as soldiers break down the wall. Creon has repented his action and repealed the death sentence. He asks Antigone and Haemon to forgive his harshness. The opera ends with a marriage ceremony for the two rescued lovers.

Recording

*''Antigona'' –

María Bayo María Josefina Bayo Jiménez (born 28 May 1961 in Fitero) is a Spanish soprano. Bayo studied at the Conservatorio Navarro de Música Pablo Sarasate in Pamplona and the Hochschule für Musik Detmold The Hochschule für Musik Detmold is a univer ...

, Anna Maria Panzarella, Carlo Vicente Allemano,

Laura Polverelli Laura Polverelli (born 1967) is an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano who has sung leading roles in the opera houses of Europe and North America and has recorded on the Decca, Naïve, and Opera Rara labels amongst others. Polverelli was born in Sie ...

, Gilles Ragon, Les Talens Lyriques, conducted by

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 1 ...

(Decca, 2000)