![]() The libretto was crafted from existing letters and documents sung in their original languages-the individual scenes set by a Scribe who introduces the action in the language of the audience. ![]() All three of these original productions broadened the scope of what could be considered operatic, and their staging and theatrical innovation revolutionized the way music drama is performed.īy any definition Akhnaten was an idiosyncratic figure, so Glass and his three co-librettists chose to honor this with a deliberately unconventional opera. Akhnaten, which LA Opera opens this Saturday November 5, 2016, in an exciting new production, is the third part of the so-called “portrait” trilogy of Glass’s operas, each of which tackles the subject of a historical individual whose ideas changed the world.įirst, there was Einstein (the astounding Einstein on the Beach, 1976), Gandhi ( Satyagraha, 1980) and finally the eponymous Egyptian Pharaoh in Akhnaten (1984), which has a powerful, mesmerizing score filled with driving rhythms and exquisite choral harmonies. Philip Glass may be an acknowledged master today but when his opera Akhnaten premiered in 1984 he was still the “bad boy” of Minimalism who had dared to invade the world’s opera houses. ![]() ![]() Sure, one man’s ideas can change the course of history, but at what cost? After his death, succeeding Pharaohs did their best to erase every trace of the man who had dared to displace the many gods of Egypt and create the first monotheistic religion in recorded history. Today, over three millennia after his reign, Egyptologists still debate theories about his life and relative importance. Egyptian Pharaoh Akhnaten was not just provocative in his lifetime.
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