712 THE SURVIVAL OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY
A supreme operatic masterpiece is the Oedipe of the Romanian composer
Georges Enesco (1881-1955); the brilliant score is set to a libretto by Edmond
Fleg, which embraces the whole legend of Oedipus.
Equally magnificent in its own way is King Roger by Karol Szymanowski
(1882-1937), a profound reinterpretation of the Bacchae; the Pentheus figure is
transformed into the historical twelfth-century King Roger of Sicily, who faces
the emotional challenge of the mysterious Shepherd and his religious message.
Hans Werner Henze (b. 1926) wrote an opera based on Euripides, The Bas-
sarids, another name for the Bacchae.
Yannis Xenakis (b. 1922), born in Greece, is representative of modern atti-
tudes, innovations, and techniques. A mathematician and architect as well as a
musician, Xenakis is a champion of mathematical and automatic music; in the-
ory and in practice he attempts to unite (in the ancient tradition of Pythagoras)
numbers and harmonies, with the help of modern electronic equipment. Among
Xenakis' compositions are an Oresteia and a Medea, which employ orchestra and
chorus.
Another Greek composer, Mikis Theodorakis (b. 1925), has won worldwide
renown for both his outspoken politics and his many and varied musical scores,
including a Lyrical Trilogy, comprising operatic settings of Euripides' Medea and
Sophocles' Electra and Antigone.
The twelve-tone (or "atonal") school of musical composition founded by
Arnold Schônberg has produced some works on classical themes; for example,
Egon Wellesz (1885-1974) wrote Alkestis (1924, libretto by Hofmannsthal) and
Die Bakchantinnen, both from Euripides.
We end this section with Jocaste by Charles Chaynes (b. 1935). Fiercely fem-
inist, this opera is intended to set free the traditional Jocasta and to speak to all
women who have been victimized by the selfishness of men. From Sophocles
and Euripides, Jocasta, who survives after Oedipus has blinded himself, becomes
the focal point of the tragedy.
Orff and Strauss. Carl Orff (1895-1982) has won considerable and deserved
renown with his operatic treatment of mythological subjects. In 1925 he adapted
Monteverdi's Orfeo; he wrote an Antigonae and subsequently Oedipus der Tyrann,
both of which follow Sophocles closely. His Prometheus is a dramatic tour de
force, which is of special interest to classicists since it is actually set to the clas-
sical Greek text of Aeschylus.
The operas of Richard Strauss (1864-1949) are among the greatest of the
twentieth century. His reworkings of Greek myth in terms of modern psychol-
ogy and philosophy are among the most rewarding artistic products of this or
any other age. Strauss was fortunate in having as his librettist for most of these
the brilliant dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929). Their collaboration
for Elektra (1909), a work based upon Sophocles but startling in the originality
of its conception, is a brilliant opera.^6 Both Hofmannsthal and Strauss were fas-
