Medea

Background: Years ago, Pelias, King of Thessalia and uncle of Jason, instructed Jason and the Argonauts to bring back the Golden Fleece from Colchis which had been stolen by Aietes, Medea‘s father, while abusing the hospitality of the young Greek prince Phryxus. Phryxus, for his part, had stolen it from a temple in Delphi. Aietes and his son Absyrtus asked Medea as he was familiar with black magic for help against Jason; Medea, however, fell in love with Jason and helped him to come into possession of the Golden Fleece. Thus, she unintentionally was responsible for the death of her brother and the subsequent suicide of her father who cursed her love of Jason when she left Colchis. After the sudden death of Pelias, Jason, Medea, their two children and the nurse Gora were expelled from Thessalia. The plot of the opera starts with their arrival in Corinth which they had finally reached after a long odyssey and where King Creon is willing to take them in.

On the shore of Corinth: As a symbol of her break with her barbarian past, Medea secretly buries her magic instruments and the Golden Fleece. She learns from Jason that Creon hesitates to grant her sanctuary too. Creon and his daughter Creusa, who once loved Jason, appear; Creusa puts in a good word for Medea and the children. Jason relates his side of the events that led to the death of Pelias and proclaims his devotion to Medea. Creon allows them both to stay. In King Creon‘s hall: The guileless Creusa tries in vain to help Medea get accustomed to Greek customs. A herald announces to all that the council of the Corinthian league of towns has banished Jason and Medea on suspicion of being responsible for Pelias‘ death. Medea has to see that Jason renounces and disavows her to secure his honour and his right to stay in Corinth. Even the children are taken away from her. In the forecourt of Creon‘s castle: Medea‘s fate is sealed; even her children turn their back on her and the casket with her magic instruments and the Golden Fleece she buried are found by Creon. He forces Medea to hand the mysterious things over to him which she promises to do. However, she asks to be allowed to see her children one more time; her request is granted by Creon. Alone with Gora, Medea gives her two deadly gifts for Creusa: a poisoned dress and a bowl from which leaps an all-consuming fi re. Creon‘s palace goes up in flames; Creusa dies in the fire. Medea kills her children. In a wild secluded area: Jason and Medea meet one last time after the catastrophe. Jason, irrevocably ba- nished by Creon, only now becomes aware that Medea killed the children. Absolutely devastated, Jason lets her go; she will bring the Golden Fleece back to Delphi and submit to the sentence of the Delphic priests. After Troades, Medea is the second opera with which Aribert Reimann has written on the subject of Greek mythology. Instead of the ancient dramatic versions of Ovid, Euripides and Seneca he chose the fi ve-act dra- ma ‘Medea’ by Franz Grillparzer, the third part in his dramatic trilogy ‘Das goldene Vlies’ which was premiered in Vienna in 1821 as the basis for his libretto.

‘Reimann‘s tonal language for this work has become even more incredibly condensed. Speech and song are reduced to an absolute minimum, expressed in clear terse phrases, poetical and laconic. All that is between the lines—thoughts, justifi cations, premonitions and hopes—is reported by the solistically divided orchestral parts, commenting and anticipating from the orchestra pit. (...) Medea is the energetic powerhouse in this process, all others merely relate to her. She fi ghts for her life and her love, she snarls and rages, implores, demands and cringes and yet already knows (or rather the multiply divided strings who support her and the injurious woodwind know): her situation is doomed.’ (Eleonore Büning, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 25 May 2017)