# Music based on Roman/Greek mythology?



## nefigah

Hello,

I'm just getting into classical music--please forgive the question if it's obvious!

A class I'm in requires reports on Greek/Roman mythology in post-1300 art. I'm curious if there is classical music that is themed on the subject?

Thanks!


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## Ciel_Rouge

Holst - The Planets Suite. Refers more to astrology but also mentions names of planets which come from names of Roman gods like Mercury or Venus.


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## fox_druid

I think there are plenty of them. Mostly baroque opera are about them; Hercules, Zoroastre, &c; till the humanist take place.


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## Elgarian

Stravinsky's _Persephone_ comes immediately to mind, as it's a myth in which I have particular interest - though I must say that on the two attempts I've made to listen to it, it just seemed like a bunch of more or less disconnected twiddles, plonks, toots, and bangs on a drum, to me. Certainly any connection between what I was listening to and this, one of the most profound classical myths, completely eluded me.


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## Alnitak

The only thing I know about mythology, is that the guitar has been created by a bearded god and given to a naked guy.


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## Chopinistic

Nefigah,

Fox-druid is correct - many Baroque Operas indeed have classical mythology as their subjects.

The first that comes to mind is Claudio Monteverdi's _L'Orfeo_ (1607), an opera based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, a guy who attempts to rescue his dead lover Eurydice from Hades, ruler of the underworld. It's a really awesome story with a very sad ending.

Anyway, check out the opera's wikipedia page - it has a lot of really good information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orfeo

Hope I helped,

Chopinistic


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## Isola

Albert Roussel's _Bacchus et Ariane_ Ballet / Suites for orchestra

Ravel's _Daphnis et Chloé _ Ballet / Suites for orchestra (can be counted for, I think.)

I've seen both live performance conducted by Ashkenazy and Dutoit. Thanks for bringing up this topic which reminds me I must get the CDs.


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## Chi_townPhilly

Interesting topic! (As unofficial memorial achivist of TalkClassical, I'd like to point out that) [T]his thread has a long-lost cousin, which can be found here.

In addition to the works mentioned there, and those already brought up here, let me add:
John Blow's opera _Venus & Adonis_.
Henry Purcell's opera _Dido & Aeneas_
Two citations for Prometheus-- Beethoven's ballet _The Creatures of Prometheus_, though not really an example of the best of Beethovenian inspirations, and Scriabin's orchestral work _Prometheus_.
Berlioz' sprawling opera _Les Troyens_.
A distant predecessor to Samuel Barber's work, Cherubini's _Médée_.
Richard Strauss "opera topics" _Daphne, Ariadne auf Naxos, _and _Elektra_.

Before I go, let me touch also on the issue of *portions* of works having a Greek/Roman mythological basis. I'm sure there are numerous examples, but the ones immediately known to me are the less famous "March & Procession of Bacchus" from Delibes' ballet _Sylvia_ and the much more famous dramatic soprano role for *Venus* in Richard Wagner's _Tannhäuser_.


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## Novelette

Good call on Berlioz!

Les Troyens is a magnificent tribute to Virgil's own masterpiece.

Also, Rameau's Zoroastre is set in Bactria--something of a minor innovation in a France wherein _almost_ all operas were themed on Roman or Greek stories, drama, myths, etc.


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## ahammel

Chopinistic said:


> The first that comes to mind is Claudio Monteverdi's _L'Orfeo_ (1607), an opera based on the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus, a guy who attempts to rescue his dead lover Eurydice from Hades, ruler of the underworld. It's a really awesome story with a very sad ending.


There is, as it turns out, an entire subgenre of operas on the Orpheus myth. Monteverdi's, Gluck's, and Offenbach's are the most famous, I believe. Debussy also had an unfinished crack at one, it seems.

Talking of Debussy, the _Prélude à l'àpres-midi d'un faune_ is loosely inspired by Greek myth by way of Mallarmé.

Stravinsky wrote an operatic setting of _Oediupus rex_, and Britten's _Rape of Lucretia_ is based on Roman legend.


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## hpowders

Funny! Les Troyens was today's project.


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## joen_cph

An old thread, but I´ll supply with a few more, lesser known titles:

Novak:"Pan", a large piano cycle: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Nov03/Novak_piano_works.htm

Carl Nielsen:"Pan & Syrinx", symphonic poem

Szymanowski:"Demeter" cantata http://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/demeter-op-37b-karol-szymanowski-1917

Enescu:"Oedipe", opera

Taneyev:"The Oresteia", opera

Ibert:"Bacchanale" for orchestra

Britten:"Young Apollo" for piano & strings;

Foulds:"Hellas Suite" http://landofllostcontent.blogspot.dk/2009/02/john-foulds-hellas-suite-of-ancient.html

Rudolph Simonsen: Symphony no.2, "Hellas" http://www.classicalcdreview.com/777229.html

Jules Mouquet:"La Flute de Pan", flute concerto (1906)

Sterndale Bennett:"Naiades-Ouverture"

Tartini: Sonata, Didone Abbandonata


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## csacks

The Ifigenias (in Aulis and in Tauris), by Gluck, based on Euripide´s tale about Agamenon´s daughter.
Castor and Pollux by Jean Philippe Rameau, are he first to came to my mind


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## ahammel

Takemitsu: _Orion and the Pleiades_


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## Alfacharger

The six existing symphonies based on Ovids's Metamorphoses by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.


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## hpowders

Practically every opera by Gluck.


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## Cosmos

This is a fun thread! Sorry for doubling on what others have mentioned, I just don't want to forget anything

Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, Dancers of Delphi, Syrinx
Handel - Hercules
Ravel - Daphnis et Chloe
Strauss - Daphne, Elektra, Ariadne of Naxos, The Egyptian Helena, The Love of Danae
Stravinsky - Persephone, Apollo, Orpheus

Finally, works with names related to classical mythology, but not "about" these figures:
Holst - The Planets (impressions of the planets, not the gods they're named after)
Mozart - Symphony 41 in C "Jupiter" (just a nickname)


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## KenOC

Just in case it hasn't been mentioned -- Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus.


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## PetrB

Carl Nielsen ~ Pan and Syrinx (Symphonic tone poem) / Helios Overture (Symphonic)

Igor Stravinsky ~ Persephone (Cantata) / Apollo (Ballet) / Orpheus (Ballet) / Oedipus Rex (Opera / Oratorio)

Carl Orff ~ Antigonae (Cantata)

Darius Milhaud ~ Les Choéphores, (Orestiean Trilogy No.2) (Cantata)

Samuel Barber ~ Medea (Ballet)

William Schuman ~ Song of Orpheus ('Cello Concerto)

Lucas Foss ~ Orpheus for cello or viola or violin and chamber orchestra (1972); a second later version (1983) titled Orpheus and Euridice for 2 violins, chamber orchestra and tape.

Elliott Carter ~ Syringa, for for mezzo-soprano, bass-baritone & 11 instruments.


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## EdwardBast

Don't think anyone mentioned Schubert's "Der Atlas" and "Ganymede." And since the OP surely doesn't care at this point, I'll add a couple from prog rock, just for fun: King Crimson's "A Sailor's Tale" (Islands, 1972) is a tone poem based on scenes from The Odyssey (the sirens, Scylla and Charybdis); Henry Cow's "Beautiful as the Moon, Terrible as an Army with Banners." (In Praise of Learning, 1975.)


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## KRoad

Nobody has mentioned a number of Händel's Oratorios - surely a must...


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## Fortinbras Armstrong

Offenbach wrote a number of operas based on classical mythology. For example, his first opera was _Orphée aux enfers _("Orpheus in the Underworld").

_La belle Hélène_ ("The Beautiful Helen").

BTW, here is the overture:






Go to about the one minute mark. and it sounds to me like the waltz from Tchaikovsky's _Sleeping Beauty_, written about 25 years later.


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## Fortinbras Armstrong

I just googled it, and discovered that Offenbach noticed it himself. See http://tinyurl.com/ka8ownv


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