Prometheus

SYNOPSIS

In former times, the Titan Prometheus had helped Zeus to gain sovereignty over the gods. When the Titan however ignored the orders of the new ruler, bringing fire to humans and teaching them additional skills, he unleashed the rage of the father of the gods: as a result, the rebel Prometheus was chained to a rock surrounded by stormy seas by Zeus’ henchmen.
Left in isolation, Prometheus howls with pain. The daughters of the sea-god Oceanos swiftly approach him, sympathising with the chained Titan. Then Oceanos appears on the scene on his winged horse and agrees to plead to Zeus for mercy towards the tortured Prometheus on the condition that he will in future heed the orders issued by the father of the gods. The proud Prometheus refuses to comply and Oceanos leaves, abandoning his plans to help. A single consolation remains however for the Titan: he is the only one to possess knowledge of how the prophesised fall of the father of the gods can be hindered and it is Zeus’ intention to extract this secret through his enforced torture.
Io now suddenly rushes past. She had been transformed into a heifer by Zeus after his wife Hera had learned of his seduction of the Naiad. The mother of the gods had however seen through this ruse and took revenge by sending a gadfly to torment Io who was pursued by this insect all around the world. In her frenzy, Io had now come past the rock of Prometheus. She is briefly comforted by the Titan who has visionary gifts and tells the pursued Io that Zeus himself will transform her back into her human form. What is more, Io will bear a son to Zeus and the rescuer of Prometheus will be a descendent of his family. Io’s joy at this prophecy is however short-lived as the gadfly returns to torment her.
Prometheus has developed renewed self-confidence with his prophecy for Io. When Hermes approaches, sent by Zeus to prise the well-kept secret out of Prometheus, the latter remains steadfast and gives no answer. He cannot even be persuaded to give up his secret by the most terrible threats. The messenger of the gods departs enraged and Zeus’s revenge is not long in coming: his bolt of lightning strikes Prometheus’s rock which then sinks into the Tartaros.

COMMENTARY

In Orff’s opinion, only a musical interpretation of this Aeschylus play would guarantee a truly evocative action onstage. After resolving to set Aeschylus’s Prometheus desmotes to music, the composer however soon realised that neither a German nor Latin translation would be sufficient to convey the musicality of Ancient Greek, so he decided to use the original version of the text. He then soon established that there was no definitive declamatory form for the Greek verses, and was forced to employ his own methods of adapting Ancient Greek for a musical setting, bringing the verses in highly nuanced recitation to life and creating fluid transitions from the spoken word to sung texts.
The subject matter of Prometheus with its timeless accusations of monarchical wilfulness is an ancient myth on a universal theme which, despite finding its consummate form in Greek tragedy, has equal relevance for other parts of the world from Africa to the Far East; Orff therefore wished to make this universality audible in his incorporation of instruments encountered on his numerous cultural tours in the orchestration of this work. As a concrete example, he represents Io’s frenzied journey around the world with his selection of international instruments and allots the darabukka, a drum played by itinerant Arabic musicians, as her “leitmotif” instrument.