''Ifigenia'' is a

tragic Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

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

Ildebrando Pizzetti Ildebrando Pizzetti (20 September 1880 – 13 February 1968) was an Italian composer of classical music, Musicology, musicologist, and Music criticism, music critic. Biography Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation ...

, who also wrote the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

with . The libretto is in

Italian language Italian (''italiano'' or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. Together with Sardinian, Italian is the least divergent language from Latin. Spoken by about 85 m ...

. It was premiered as a

radio broadcast Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

from

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

Auditorium in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

on 3 October 1950. In the same year, it received the first prize of

Prix Italia The Prix Italia is an international Television, Radio-broadcasting and Web award. It was established in 1948 by RAI – Radiotelevisione Italiana (in 1948, RAI had the denomination RAI – Radio Audizioni Italiane) in Capri and is honoured with the ...

radio annual award, that was held in Turin. The opera made its theatrical debut at Teatro Comunale in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

on 9 May 1951 during the 14th

Maggio Musicale Fiorentino The Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (English: Florence Musical May) is an annual Italian arts festival in Florence, including a notable opera festival, under the auspices of the Opera di Firenze. The festival occurs between late April into June annuall ...

festival.

Roles

Synopsis

The background is presented by a narrator: the gods were angry with the Greeks, have imposed King Agamennone to sacrifice his daughter, Ifigenia, as a condition for his fleet to gain fair winds for the Greek ships bound for

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...

. Ifigenia and her mother, Clitennestra were invited by Agamennone, believing that they were preparing for marriage ceremony between her and Achille. Upon arrival, Achille unveiled the truth to them, showing firmness towards the divine will. The king is relentless, beyond the wrath of the gods, he also fears the rebellion of the soldiers impatient to set sail. He calls upon Ifigenia and urges her to face the terrible trial with courage. The girl accepted her fate and surrender to the altar of sacrifice. In the

epilogue An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...

, when the mist descending to hide the sacrificial act is thinned out, a mysterious voice rises to ask why the eternal perpetuation of the war. But there was no answer, and the same voice, after the intervention of the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, which symbolically multiplies the painful question in several languages ''"Why? Pourquoi? Por qué? Warum? Why? Quare?"'', and chanting the prayer in Latin "Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine, quis substinevit?, irascaris, Domine. Dona nobis pacem" for all the victims and perpetrators.''Ifigenia'' – Tragedia musicale in un atto
L'Orchestra Virtuale del Flaminio site. Retrieved 15 July 2018

Recordings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ifigenia Operas by Ildebrando Pizzetti Italian-language operas 1950 operas Operas One-act operas Agamemnon Operas based on classical mythology