Antigone (Mendelssohn)

Antigone (Op. 55; MWV M 12) is a suite of incidental music written in 1841 by Felix Mendelssohn to accompany the tragedy Antigone by Sophocles, staged by Ludwig Tieck. The text is based on Johann Jakob Christian Donner's German translation of the text, with additional assistance from August Böckh.

The music is scored for narrator, tenor and bass soloists, two men's choirs and orchestra. It includes an overture and seven choruses. The choruses are set in the style of Greek chorus, with strophes and antistrophes sung antiphonally by the two choirs, with additional passages of recitative.

The first performance took place at the New Palace, Potsdam on 28 October 1841. A public performance followed a week later at the Berlin State Opera on 6 November 1841. The music was published that year by Kistner in Leipzig, with a dedication to his patron, King Frederick William IV of Prussia.

Mendelssohn had been appointed as court composer to Frederick William IV, who had ascended the throne in June the previous year. The king had encountered Donner's translation of the play and passed it on to Tieck, the Vorleser (stage reader) of the court. Mendelssohn composed the music quickly. Tieck first mentioned the idea on September 9, 1841, and the first full stage rehearsal was six weeks later.

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