Prometheus

Prometheus is an opera by Carl Orff. The opera's Greek text is based on the drama (Greek: – Promētheús desmṓtēs – Prometheus Bound) by Aeschylus, the only surviving part of his Prometheus trilogy. Since Aeschylus's text in Ancient Greek has been directly set to music without alterations or cuts, Orff's score qualifies as one of the most typical examples for the operatic genre of Literaturoper. The premiere took place on March 24, 1968, at Staatstheater Stuttgart under the direction of Ferdinand Leitner in a production by Rudolf Sellner with sets and costumes by Teo Otto. Roles Synopsis The titan Prometheus, who has been placed in Scythian iron chains because of his alleged fire robbery, does not want to reveal to the Olympic ruler Zeus a secret knowledge that he claims to possess. Hermes asks Prometheus one last time to finally name the hetaerae who would cost Zeus and his followers their eternal rule. When Prometheus refuses, he is struck by lightning and thunder from an earthquake which throws him into the shadowy realm of the Hades. Kratos (Greek: "Power") and Bia (Greek: "Violence"), the servants of Zeus, drag Prometheus to the Caucasus mountains, where, at Zeus' command, the reluctant Hephaistos chains Prometheus to a rock of the Caucasus. Hephaistos takes pity on Prometheus, but is also afraid of Zeus and his accomplices.