''Gilgamesh'' is an

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

composed in 1972 by

Per Nørgård Per Nørgård (; 13 July 1932 – 28 May 2025) was a Danish composer and music theorist. Though his style varied considerably throughout his career, his music often included repeatedly evolving melodies, in the vein of Jean Sibelius, and a per ...

who also wrote the libretto based on the Babylonian ''

Epic of Gilgamesh The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic from ancient Mesopotamia. The literary history of Gilgamesh begins with five Sumerian language, Sumerian poems about Gilgamesh (formerly read as Sumerian "Bilgames"), king of Uruk, some of ...

''. The opera is subtitled ''Opera in Six Days and Seven Nights'', indicating that it is not a traditional opera. It was first performed by the Jutland Opera in

Århus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

on 4 May 1973. It received the 1974

Nordic Council Music Prize The Nordic Council Music Prize is awarded annually by NOMUS, the Nordic Music Committee. Every two years it is awarded for a work by a living composer. In the intervening years it is awarded to a performing musician or ensemble. The Nordic ...

History

Nørgård created ''Gilgamesh'' on a commission of the Musikdramatiska Skolan of Stockholm, supported by the Nordisk Musikfond (NOMUS), and completed it in 1972. He based it on the Babylonian ''

'', one of the earliest epic texts in history. The libretto mostly follows the sequence of events in the poetry, with some speeches directly quoted. Nørgård divided it into six days and seven nights, beginning with the creation of the world involving gods, demons, animals and humans, and ending with the rebirth of Gilgamesh. For a performance, the audience is placed on the two long sides of a rectangular room, while musicians and singers perform in the centre, all of them in costumes. A conductor, identified with the Sun God, is moving in a cyclic orbit among the performers between a northern and a southern desk. The opera was first performed in

on 4 May 1973 by the Jutland Opera in Århus. It received the

in 1974.

Recording

''Gilgamesh'' was recorded in 1973 by the Swedish Radio, with as a Tamas Veto conducting the

Swedish Radio Choir The Swedish Radio Choir is a professional choir. It is part of Sveriges Radio, the public radio broadcasting company of Sweden. The choir consists of 32 singers and their chorus master Marc Korovitch. Peter Dijkstra is the choir's most recent chief ...

and

Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

. It was combined with the composer's 1968 ''Voyage into the Golden Screen'', with

Oliver Knussen Stuart Oliver Knussen (12 June 1952 – 8 July 2018) was a British composer of contemporary classical music and conductor. Among the most influential British composers of his generation, his relatively few compositions are "rooted in 20th-cen ...

conducting the

Danish National Symphony Orchestra The Danish National Symphony Orchestra (DNSO; ), is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The DNSO is the principal orchestra of DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). The DRSO is based at the Koncerthuset () concert hall in Copenhagen. Histo ...

, as Dacapo DCCD 9001.

References

External links

Per Nørgård's Tragic Vision: A Comparison of Gilgamesh (1972) and Nuit des hommes (1996)
''Cambridge University Press'', 2023 * Bayley, Lynn René
Per Nørgård’s "Gilgamesh"
Artmusic Lounge, 21 April 2024 {{Epic of Gilgamesh Operas 1972 operas Operas by Per Nørgård Danish-language operas Works based on the Epic of Gilgamesh