P.D.Q. Bach - Oedipus Tex

Описание: P.D.Q. Bach - Oedipus Tex, a dramatic oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra (S. 150)

0:00 - Prologue: "Tragedy"
5:35 - Recitative: "Well"
6:20 - Aria with chorus: "Howdy there"
11:54 - Recitative: "And it wasn't long"
12:21- Duet with chorus: "My heart"
16:27 - Recitative: "But"
17:23 - Aria: "You murdered your father"
19:46 - Recitative: "When Billie Joe heard"
20:17 - Aria with chorus: "Goodbye"
23:03 - Recitative: "When Oedipus heard"
24:05 - Chorus and Finale

Peter Schickele as Oedipus Tex, baritone
Pamela South as Billie Joe Casta, soprano
Dana Kruger as Madam Peep, mezzo soprano
Frank Kelly as Narrator, tenor
The Okay Chorale
The Greater Hoople Area Off Season Philarmonic
Newton Wayland, conductor

It is becoming increasingly apparent that P.D.Q. Bach's importance lies not only in him having been the late eighteenth century's most iconoclastic, forward-looking and reckless composeg but also in his being the sole source of our knowledge concerning the presence of ancient Greeks in the new world. The discovery, in 1962, of his now-classic cantata, Iphigenia in Brooklyn, rocked the worlds of musicology and Hellenic studies, and dealt a severe psychological blow to Italian-Americans, still reeling from the dethronement of Christopher Columbus by Leif Ericson as the first European to reach these shores. Now the unearthing of P.D.Q.'s oratorio/opera, Oedipus Tex, establishes beyond any possible doubt that the Greeks predated (by more than a millenium) the Spaniards in what is now the American southwest. What next? It wouldn't surprise me if an as-yet-undiscovered P.D.Q. Bach manuscript indicates that Ulysses was actually looking for the Northwest Passage. having Oedipus Tex is, as far as this musicologist knows, unique in that it exists in both an oratorio and an opera version, the latter featuring spoken dialogue instead of recitatives. The oratorio version is also unique in that the recitatives are accompanied by a continuo group consisting of solo cello and keyboard harmonica - an authentic touch, since keyboard harmonicas were very popular among cowboys who had gone to conservatories. But the uniqueness doesn't stop there. The solo horn part calls for unparalleled instrumental growth in a quite literal sense; the opening movement is played on the mouthpiece alone, after which pieces of tubing are gradually added, movement by movement, until a complete French horn has been assembled by the time the finale really gets rolling. The influence of ancient Greek drama pervades Oedipus Tex. The inexorable turning of the wagon wheel of fate stops for neither high nor low, man nor woman, young nor old, with it nor out of it. In most performances the traditional three unities are observed: time, place and theatrical agent. And most audience members agree that by the end of a performance they have experienced catharsis - that feeling of calm you have after you vomit.

Oedipus Tex will certainly put the town of Thebes Gulch, Texas on the map, but that's not where it surfaced. The manuscript of this prototypically Western work was found, quite by chance, during a visit to San Antonio's most popular tourist shrine, the Alamo. (Few people, incidentally, are aware of the derivation of that name: it comes from the French, meaning "in the style of one of The Three Stooges.") Noticing something light-colored peeking out of a tear in the shirt worn by Davy Crockett, the present author received permission to open the case and examine it. Imagine his surprise when he found that the entire score of Oedipus Tex had been sewn into the shirt in a vain attempt to create a bullet-proof vest. Fortunately, it proved possible to reconstruct the missing notes, notes that were presumably buried with and within the body of the scout, politician, soldier and violinist (did you know that?) who became one of America's most famous and beloved martyrs.

P.D.Q. Bach desperately wanted to defend his reputation against the attacks of his detractors, and I think that, after hearing Oedipus Tex, we must all agree that he was just as successful as were the defenders of the Alamo.


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