Oresteia (Орестея in Cyrillic) is an opera in three parts, eight tableaux, by Sergei Taneyev, composed during 1887-1894. (Strictly speaking, the composer titled the work a "musical trilogy.") The Russian libretto was adapted by A.A. Wenkstern from the The Oresteia of Aeschylus. The opera was premiered on October 29 [O.S. October 17] 1895 at the Mariinsky Theatre. The most well-known excerpt from Oresteia is the entr'acte played before the second tableau of Part III, "The Temple of Apollo at Delphi." This passage, as well as other themes from the opera, figured into one of Taneyev's other works, namely, his orchestral overture entitled Oresteia (1889). This overture -- not included in the printed score of this opera -- constitutes a separate 18-minute-long symphonic poem based on themes from the trilogy. The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first two letters) is an alphabet used to write six natural Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (also Taneev or Taneiev) (November 25 (old system??), 1856 - June 19, 1915), a pupil of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer, teacher, theorist and author. ... A libretto is the complete body of words used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. ... The Oresteia is a trilogy of tragedies about the end of the curse on the House of Atreus, written by Aeschylus. ... Aeschylus This article is about the ancient Greek playwright. ... October 29 is the 302nd day of the year (303rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 63 days remaining. ... In Britain and countries of the British Empire, Old Style or O.S. after a date means that the date is in the Julian calendar, in use in those countries until 1752; New Style or N.S. means that the date is in the Gregorian calendar, adopted on 14 September... 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The Maryinsky (or Mariinsky) Theatre (or Theater), is the St Petersburg theatre where the Mariinsky Ballet is located. ... Statue of Apollo at the British Museum Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn; Απελλων) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt), one of the most important and many-sided of the Olympian divinities. ... The theatre, seen from above Delphi (Greek Δελφοί - Delphoi; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece. ... Sheet music is written representation of music. ... A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, in one movement in which some extra-musical programme provides a narrative or illustrative element. ...

Characters and Setting

Part I. Agamemnon

• Agamemnon, king of Argos: bass
• Clytemnestra, his wife: alto
• Aegisthus, his first cousin: baritone
• Cassandra, a Trojan prisoner: soprano
• A Guard: bass

• People, female servants of Clytemnestra, warriors, captives, bodyguards.

The action takes place in Argos, before the Atrides palace. A basso (or bass) is a male singer who sings in the lowest vocal range of the human voice. ... In music, an alto is a singer with a vocal range somewhere between a tenor and a soprano. ... In music, a baritone (from Greek βαρυτονος deeply, heavily sounding) is a male voice of intermediate pitch, between bass and tenor. ... Look up Soprano in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In music, a soprano is a singer with a voice ranging approximately from the A below middle C to high C two octaves above middle C (i. ...

Part II. The Libation Bearers

• Clytemnestra: alto
• Ghost of Agamemnon
• Elektra, daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra: soprano
• Orestes, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra: tenor
• A Slave: bass

• Female servants of Clytemnestra

Tableau 1: The interior of the Atrides palace.
Tableau 2: An olive grove.
Tableau 3: Scenery of Part I. In music, a tenor is a male singer with a high voice (although not as high as a countertenor). ...

Part III. The Eumenides

• Orestes: tenor
• Apollo Loxias: bariton
• Pallas Athena: soprano
• Areopagite: bass
• Libation-Bearer: bass

• Furies, Athenian people, areopagites participating in the pan-Athenian procession.

Tableau 1: A deserted place on the seashore.
Tableau 2: Interior of Apollo's temple at Delphi.
Tableau 3: Athens.

Bibliography

• 100 опер: история создания, сюжет, музыка. [100 Operas: History of Creation, Subject, Music.] Ленинград: Издательство "Музыка," 1968, pp. 426-432.

External links

• The Russian libretto in HTML
• The Russian libretto in a .zip file for Word