Akhnaten

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Work data
Title: Akhenaten
Original title: Akhnaten
Original language: English, Egyptian, Akkadian, Aramaic
Music: Philip Glass
Libretto : Philip Glass, Shalom Goldmann, Robert Israel, and Richard Riddell
Premiere: March 24, 1984
Place of premiere: Stuttgart
Playing time: approx. 2 hours 8 minutes
Place and time of the action: Egypt , Amarna
14th century BC Chr., Present
people

Akhnaten (German: Echnaton ) is an opera by Philip Glass about the Egyptian king Akhenaten and the Amarna period . The text is in English, as well as in Egyptian and Akkadian languages . The world premiere took place in March 1984 under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies at the Stuttgart Opera House . Stylistically, the opera belongs to musical minimalism .

Origin and style

Akhnaten is the last work in Philip Glass's portrait opera trilogy, which began with Einstein on the Beach (1975) and was continued in 1979 with Satyagraha , an opera about Mahatma Gandhi . None of these operas is based on a continuous plot, but rather the intention of depicting a historical personality who, through his visionary ideas, brought about changes in the history of ideas. Glass referred to the spiritual roots and the environment. In his opera Akhnaten , for example, he also used pyramid texts from the Egyptian Old Kingdom and texts from the Amarna period. These are recited and commented on by the narrator or sung by the choir.

Glass composed Akhnaten in 1983. The Stuttgart premiere was subject to the restriction that the large opera house was being renovated at the time. Therefore it should take place in the small (theater) house. In the orchestra pit, however, there was not enough space for a classical orchestra. Therefore, Glass removed the violins in the composition, which gave the opera a deep, dark sound. He also used rhythm instruments for the first time in his operas, especially in the second scene of the first act. Except for these restrictions, the orchestra is roughly equivalent to an opera orchestra of the early 19th century with 48 musicians. The work, which is mostly in A minor, is predominantly calm and flowing and only becomes more agitated in dramatic scenes (storming the Temple of Amon, fall of Akhenaten).

Historical background

Akhenaten

In the Egyptian New Kingdom up to the time of Akhenaten, Amun was the imperial god and chief god of Egypt. Akhenaten broke this tradition by proclaiming Aton , the solar disk, as the only god and abolishing the Amun cult. In the 5th year of his reign he changed his maiden name Amenophis (Jmn-ḥtp ) ("pleasing Amun" or "Amun is satisfied") to Akhenaten ( 3ḫ n Jtn "who is useful / serving Aton") and founded a new capital Akhet-Aton ("Horizon of Aton", Amarna). Later there were riots ( iconoclasm ) of the Aton followers by scratching out the god name Amun on official monuments. They even made Amenhotep III by the name of Akhenaten's father . not stop. Akhenaten's religious reforms failed, and the cult of Amun was reintroduced under his second successor, Tutankhamun . Tutankhamun moved from Amarna to Memphis . Akhenaten fell into disrepair in the Ramesside period , at the earliest from Haremhab of a " Damnatio memoriae ".

After robbery excavations in the 19th century, some clay tablets in Akkadian were also put on the art market. Thereupon systematic excavations were carried out in Amarna, whereby an archive with the foreign policy correspondence from the later years of Amenhotep III. and the reign of Akhenaten came across. From these clay tablets in Akkadian , known as the Amarna Correspondence , extracts are quoted in the opera.

Historical inaccuracies

Amenophis (son of Hapu) , who appears in the opera as Amenhotep, scribe, chronicler and narrator, died in the 35th year of Amenhotep III's reign. and did not live to see Akhenaten's reign.

A violent fall Akhenaten, as it is claimed in the 2nd scene of the 3rd act, is not proven by any source.

content

Akhnaten is not an opera with a continuous plot, but a rather “symbolic” portrait with various episodes, in which the development and failure of Akhenaten are depicted.

Akhenaten, Nefertiti and two daughters worship Aton

The opera consists of the following parts

  • Act 1, year 1 of Akhenaten's government - Thebes
    • Scene 1: Burial of Amenhotep III.
    • Scene 2: Akhenaten's coronation
    • Scene 3: The window of the apparitions
  • Act 2, years 5 to 15, Thebes and Achetaton (Amarna)
    • Scene 1: The temple
    • Scene 2: Akhenaten and Nefertiti
    • Scene 3: The city - dance
    • Scene 4: Hymn (Akhenaten sings the great Aton hymn)
  • 3rd act, year 17 and present in Achetaton (= Amarna)
    • Scene 1: The family (with quotes from the Amarna letters)
    • Scene 2: attack and fall
    • Scene 3: The ruins (present)
    • Scene 4: epilogue

The language levels

The texts of the narrator, who often quotes from Egyptian texts and the Amarna letters and guides the audience through the plot, are in the original in English, but are presented in the respective national language. For the Stuttgart premiere, for example, the English texts by Thomas Körner were translated into German. In contrast, the soloists and the choir sing their texts in Egyptian, Akkadian or Biblical-Aramaic language. The Canticle of Akhenaten should always be sung in the local language as directed by the composer. After the recitation and the departure of Akhenaten at the end of Act 2, a background choir sings parts of Psalm 104 in Biblical-Aramaic language , which, although 400 years younger, bears a striking resemblance to the Amarna Sun Song.

In the Egyptian language of the time, which has been handed down in hieroglyphics and hieratic , no vowels were noted. Therefore, the vocalization in no way corresponds to the historical language. Glass and Goldmann write that they have chosen vowels that are easy to sing in order to redesign the rhythms and accents. The same applies to the Akkadian quotes from the Amarna letters. Akkadian recorded vowels, but is reproduced in opera as syllabic transcription and is therefore sometimes torn out of the word context. This makes connoisseurs of both languages ​​smile, but like Egyptian it was a desired stylistic device.

literature

  • Philip Glass and Shalom Goldmann, in: CD supplement, 1987
  • Mathias Sträßer: Philip Glass: Akhnaten (Akhnaton) . Meetings 1998–2005. (Review)
  • Lexicon of Egyptology, Volume 1, Wiesbaden 1975 to 1977

Discography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Glass and Goldmann, in: Supplement to CD, page 23.
  2. ^ Program booklet for the world premiere, Württembergische Staatstheater Stuttgart, 1984
  3. ↑ Introduction in the booklet to the CD, page 24, and in the libretto, ibid. P. 70, see discography.
  4. ↑ Supplement to CD, p. 23.