The Bacchae

The Bacchae is a play on the classic Greek poet Euripides ( 480 BC *, † 406 BC). He wrote it shortly before his death in 406 BC as the third part of a tetralogy, winning 405 BC posthumously the first prize in the tragedy competitions in Athens.

Content

Bacchae ( mostly German Bacchae, see maenad and Bacchante ) are the worshipers of the god Dionysus ( Bacchus Latinized ).

Dionysus, son of Zeus and Semele, the god of wine and intoxication, is - returned to his native city of Thebes in order to take revenge on their inhabitants, who confess not his divinity - in human form. He lets all the women of the city in a delusion expire and leads them out to the mountain Cithaeron - including Agave, mother of Pentheus, ruler. Messengers report that the women lived with wild animals and smite with Thyrsosstäben against the rocks, so that wine out source. When they have disturbed that they had with superhuman powers destroys everything that came in their way.

The aim of Dionysus ' wrath is especially Pentheus, acting against the advice of the seer Teiresias and his grandfather Cadmus, to take up arms violence against Dionysos and the women. Which fails: both Dionysus and his Bacchae escape captivity and Dionysus and Pentheus meet. Finally, the blinded by the god Pentheus can persuade himself disguised as a woman orgies observed. Again, tell the messengers, as the two had made their way to Cithaeron, where Dionysus Pentheus 've placed on top of a tree. This observation posts is Pentheus undoing: the women discover him and rush him down. Desperately he tried to make himself known, but his mother does not recognize him, and together the women tear him apart. Agave returns with the head of her son, whom she still holds for the head of a slain mountain lions, to Thebes and recognizes only with the help of her father Cadmus, what she has done. Now Dionysus first appears in the form of God and proclaim the fate of the Thebans.

Interpretation

The orgiastic cult of Dionysus in Euripides is shown as an extreme manifestation of trance in mythical garb. The maenads run at night in the mountains, give out hunting, hunt game, which is torn alive and eaten raw. By some accounts can be found in the description of the behavior of the maenad perversion and reversal of the regular sacrifice and its function. Instead of the polis is the cult happening in the wilderness instead, it is hunted and killed in an unusual way and split (ie sacrificed ) and also the meat is eaten raw. In this sacrifice, which was attributed primarily the Maenads, the implicit rejection of state practice of sacrifice and general state values is seen to experience an alternative form of human existence.

Edits

Agawe. Cantata for voice, chorus and orchestra. Libretto: Zofia Szymanowska. Music (1917; Op 38: Karol Szymanowski, unperformed )
The Bacchae ( 1928-30 ). Opera in 2 acts. Libretto and music (Op. 44): Egon Wellesz. UA June 20, 1931 Vienna
Le Baccanti. Opera in a prologue and three acts ( 5 pictures). Libretto: Tullio Pinelli. Music ( 1941-44 ): Giorgio Federico Ghedini. UA February 21, 1948 Milan (Teatro alla Scala)
The Bacchae ( 1960). Film. Written by: Giorgio Stegani, Giorgio Ferroni. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni. Music: Mario Nascimbene
The Bassarids ( The Bassariden; 1964/65 ). Opera seria in an act with Intermezzo. Libretto: WH Auden and Chester Kallman. German version: Helmut Reinold and Maria Bosse Sporleder. Music: Hans Werner Henze. UA August 6, 1966 Salzburg ( Grosses Festspielhaus, directed by Gustav Rudolf Sellner, stage and costumes by Filippo Sanjust; Conductor: Christoph von Dohnányi ). - Revisions:

The Judgement of Calliope ( The judgment of Kalliope, 1991). A satyr play ( = from the Bassariden out dissolved Intermezzo ). UA October 29, 1997 Giessen ( City Theatre, directed by Guy Montavon; Features: Mark Väisänen, conductor: Michael Hofstetter )
The Bassariden (1992). Music drama in one act (without Intermezzo )

Dionysus in 69 theater performance. Directed by: Richard Schechner. UA 1969 New York City ( Performance Group )
Bacchanterna. Opera in 2 acts. Libretto: Ingmar Bergman ( after the Swedish Bacchae translation by Jan Stolpe [ * 1940 ] and Göran O. Eriksson [ 1929-1993 ] ). Music: Daniel Börtz. UA November 2, 1991 Stockholm (Royal Opera, directed by Ingmar Bergman )

Film for television (1993, directed by Ingmar Bergman )

Raoul Schrott: Bacchae. Edition: Hanser, Munich 1999 UA 2000 Vienna (Burgtheater, directed by Silviu Purcărete ).