Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex

Stephen Walsh

Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus rex is widely acknowledged as one of the most original music-theatre works of the twentieth century. This clear and concise guide is the first ever to be written on this work and it describes the music and its staging in close detail. It offers the first proper explanation of the plot and its relation to its literary sources and provides a fully documented discussion of the origins of Oedipus rex in Stravinsky’s own work and thinking. By placing the work in its social context Stephen Walsh paints a vivid picture of Parisian artistic politics in the twenties from which emerges one of the richest and most suggestive works of art of modern times.

Bibliographic Details

16 music examples

Contents

• Preface
• List of abbreviations
• 1. The exile finds a new home
• 2. Of masks, masses and magic
• 3. In which the music unfolds
• 4. How it all came to be known
• Appendix A. The libretto
• Appendix B. The Latin text and its setting
• Appendix C. Cast and orchestra
• Notes
• Select bibliography
• Index.