El mito de Andrómeda y Perseo en la historia de la óperaJean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806), Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) y Salvatore Sciarrino (1947)

Abstract

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES: This thesis is defined within the continued existence of Classical Mythology and its objective is to hold a research on the treatment and influence that the story of Perseus and Andromeda has had on opera over three periods of the history of Music: Classicism, Impressionism and the twentieth century. This piece of work originates in Ovid's approach to the legend of Perseus and Andromeda in the canonical version of the myth found in "Metamorphoses", 4.604-803 and 5.1-235. Our objective is to examine the impact of this myth on opera by evaluating the literature production and musical work of the following authors: Ovid, Pierre Corneille, Philippe Quinault, Giambattista Varesco, Michael Veber-Nino- and Salvatore Sciarrino as for literature; and Jean-Baptiste Lully, Johann Michael Haydn, Jacques Ibert and Salvatore Sciarrino for their musical work. METHODOLOGY: The research process has been performed in three phases according to the following methodology: The starting point of this study is the evaluation of Ovid's legend, as well as other authors' who have also spread this myth, whether basing their work on Ovid's directly or not. Then, we analysed the literary treatment of the myth found in the libretti of the four operas chosen within different music styles and periods. Finally, we studied the musical resources used by the composers in their operas to interpret the classical myth of Perseus and Andromeda. The three phases mentioned above bring us closer to the objectives of this research. The first one pictures the objective of this study; with the second one, we get to know the context and characteristics of the objective; and the third one sets out the purpose of this research work within a music and text adaptation context. CONCLUSION: Through history, the different Arts have always been linked together and, once again, literature and music have been of great influence in the history of opera. In fact, the aesthetic, literary and musical evolution have been responsible for the wide range of conceptual differences that arise when interpreting the story of Perseus and Andromeda in Lully, Haydn, Ibert and Sciarrino's operas. Through the four operas analysed, we can see how Lully, Haydn, Ibert and Sciarrino, either by using a continuous bass, virtuosistic arias, impressionistic harmonies and syllabic texts or electronic orchestration, they all have interpreted the ancient legend of Ovid's Metamorphoses, in Corneille's Andromède or Laforgue's Moralités Légendaires. Those who relate the most to the classical Ovidian myth are Lully or Haydn, whereas this closeness is less obvious in Ibert's work and gets even further away from the legend in Sciarrino's, specially due to the tragic end that the Italian composer adds to his opera. In this thesis, the meaning of the text and the profound connection between text and music via a wide variety of languages and composition processes, once masterfully interrelated and assembled together by the composer, make the influence of the Ovidian myth turn into true masterpieces