A Literary and Symphonic Choral Evening
Antigone
Symphony Concert
Without regard for her own life, Antigone defies her uncle Creon, the ruler of Thebes. On pain of death, all are forbidden from burying her brother Polynices, who had attacked the city. Antigone wants to give her brother a dignified burial, and in doing so, shakes the state’s very foundations.
In Antigone, Sophocles’ 2500-year-old tragedy about resistance, the centrepiece is the chorus, which uncharacteristically takes sides here. Unable to resist the artistic challenge, Felix Mendelssohn composed the incidental music for a staging of Antigone. His composition is juxtaposed with literary texts based on the Antigone myth. Choir conductor David Cavelius and the choral soloists of the Komische Oper Berlin invite us to a literary symphonic evening that considers whether stubborn individuality can be reconciled with the common good.
Felix Mendelssohn [1809–1847]
Incidental music for the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, Op. 55, MWV M12
Robert Schumann [1810–1856]
Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74
Incidental music for the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, Op. 55, MWV M12
Robert Schumann [1810–1856]
Spanisches Liederspiel, Op. 74
Further Productions