Six metamorphoses according to Ovid

The Six Metamorphoses after Ovid (op. 49) are six pieces for solo oboe composed by Benjamin Britten in 1951 . The work, which attempts to depict images from the Metamorphoses of the Roman poet Ovid , is dedicated to the oboist Joy Boughton, the daughter of the composer Rutland Boughton , a friend of Britten. It was premiered by her on June 14, 1951 at the Aldeburgh Festival .

shape

As the title suggests, the work consists of six pieces, all of which are headed as a program with a summary of the respective metamorphosis :

1. Pan who played upon the reed pipe which was Syrinx, his beloved.
2. Phaeton who rode upon the chariot of the sun for one day and was hurled into the river Padus by a thunderbolt.
3. Niobe who, lamenting the death of her fourteen children, was turned into a mountain.
4. Bacchus , at whose feasts is heard the noise of gaggling women's tattling tongues and shouting out of boys.
5. Narcissus who fell in love with his own image and became a flower.
6. Arethusa who, flying from the love of Alpheus the river god, was turned into a fountain.

Most of the pieces contain small pauses or fermatas between each phrase. A performance lasts approximately 12–15 minutes.