The Bassarids
| The Bassarids Die Bassariden |
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| Opera by Hans Werner Henze | |
The composer in 1960
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| Librettist | |
| Based on |
The Bacchae by Euripides |
| Premiere | 6 August 1966 Salzburg |
The Bassarids (in German: Die Bassariden) is an opera in one act and an intermezzo, with music by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, after Euripides's The Bacchae.
The conflict in the opera is between human rationality and emotional control, represented by the King of Thebes, Pentheus, and unbridled human passion, represented by the god Dionysus.
A noteworthy feature of the opera is its construction like a classical symphony in four 'movements':
Henze has noted that he quotes from Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion and the English Suite in D minor. Auden and Kallman wrote of changes that they made to the Euripides original for the purposes of this opera.
It was first performed in a German translation by Maria Basse-Sporleder in Salzburg on 6 August 1966 conducted by Christoph von Dohnányi.
The first performance using the original English text, as well as the US premiere, was at Santa Fe Opera on 7 August 1968, with the composer conducting and a staging by director Bodo Igesz. The opera was also given in London on 22 September 1968, and was revived at English National Opera in October 1974, with the composer conducting.
In October 1990, two concert performances sung in the original English were given at Severance Hall in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus with soloists Vernon Hartman, Kenneth Riegel, and, in the role of Agave, Anja Silja. Christoph von Dohnányi, who was married to Silja at the time, conducted. This same production was repeated at Carnegie Hall in November 1990 at the New York premiere of the music, which was attended by the composer.
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