Akhnaten

Opera Lirica

Musica di Philip Glass
Libretto di Philip Glass, Shalom Goldman, Robert Israel, Richard Riddell e Jerome Robbins

Fonti Letterarie: Oedipus and Akhnaton di Immanuil Velikovskij
Prima rappresentazione: Staatsoper, Stuttgart, 24 marzo 1984

Ruoli

• Akhnaten (Controtenore)
• Nefertiti, moglie di Akhnaten (Contralto)
• Regina Tye, madre di Akhnaten (Soprano)
• Horemhab, generale e futuro faraone (Baritono)
• Gran sacerdote di Amon (Tenore)
• Aye, padre di Nefertiti e consigliere del faraone (Basso)
• Le figlie di Akhnaten (3 Soprano e 3 Contralto)
• Scriba (narratore)
• Piccolo coro (Sacerdoti)
• Grande coro (il popolo d’Egitto)

Libretto eng – Akhnaten

ACT I

(Year 1 of Akhnaten’s Reign Thebes.
The opera begins with an orchestral Prelude.
The curtain rises towards the end of the Prelude,
revealing the Scribe in the funeral setting. He
delivers the Refrain, Verse 1 and Verse 2 of the text
as the Prelude is completed. In the moments of silence
before the funeral begins, he continues his speech
through Verse 3)

Prelude

(Text: Recited by the Scribe from the Pyramid Texts
of the Old Kingdom)

SCRIBE

Refrain
Open are the double doors of the horizon
Unlocked are its bolts

Verse 1
Clouds darken the sky
The stars rain down
The constellations stagger
The bones of the hell hounds tremble
The porters are silent
When they see this king
Dawning as a soul