Antigone by Traetta, mer. 09 déc. 2015, Du (2015/2015), Dirigé par Vasily Barkhatov, Chef d'orchestre Attilio Cremonesi, Theater am Fleischmarkt, Vienne, Autriche

The Italian composer Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779) is one of the great reformers of the opera and stands at the interface between baroque and classical music. After the death of the Duke of Parma, he worked from 1768 as court conductor under Tsarina Catherine II in St. Petersburg. His opera Antigone was also written for the Russian court and was first performed on November 11, 1772. With her, Traetta embeds the spirit of ancient tragedy in an aesthetic that was progressive for the time. The title character is portrayed as an astonishingly complex character, and both the composition and the libretto by Marco Coltellini contain a lot of enlightening ideas, as self-determination and reason triumph over traditional ideas. Polynices and Eteocles, the sons of Oedipus, killed each other in a duel for the rule of Thebes. Her uncle Creon ascends the throne and orders that only Eteocles receive a state funeral. By paying her last respects to Oedipus' daughter Antigone, she obtains the death penalty for herself. But when Creon's son Haimon allegedly takes his own life out of mourning, the king reconsiders - contrary to Sophocles' instructions. He realizes that it was not the anger of the gods but his severity that caused the disaster. The young Moscow-born director Vasily Barkhatov has already worked in all of Russia's major theaters and will make his debut in Vienna with this production. The Bach Consort Wien performs in the orchestra pit under Attilio Cremonesi.