Salammbô (Mussorgsky)

• Salammbô, a priestess (mezzo- soprano)
• Spendius, a Baleare (baritone )
• Matho ( bass)
• First Priest ( bass)
• Aminachar (baritone )
• Pentarchen (Tenor, Bass )
• Warriors, mercenaries, people of Carthage ( chorus)

Salammbô is an unfinished opera in four acts by Modest Mussorgsky, who also wrote the libretto in addition to the composition. The plot is based on the novel by Gustave Flaubert Salambo. Mussorgsky undertook with Salammbô 1863-1866 under the influence of Serov 's opera Judith his first attempt to create a grand opera, but made the work only partially completed. Parts of the composition he used in his later opera Boris Godunov. Salammbô was first fully orchestrated by Zoltán Peskó and 1980, first performed in concert.

Action

As a result of the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War it comes to a mercenary revolt. Carthage is besieged by Libyan mercenaries under the leadership of the warrior Matho, who manages the sacred veil ( Zaimph ) to rob the city. The veil covered otherwise the statue of the goddess Tanit in her temple. The priestess Salammbô, daughter of the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, sets off into the mercenary camp to retrieve the veil. There she seduces Matho, who is captured and executed after a night out with Salammbô.

Recordings

• Zoltán Peskó with Choir & Orchestra of the RAI Milano: Mussorgsky / Pesko. Salammbo, 1980, CBS Masterworks 79253, LP. ( The reviewer John B. Steane in Gramophone raised Peskós performance of the revival of the fragment shown, the performance is difficult to assess without a given score. )