Recommended for Grades 6-12
In this resource, you will:
- Learn the opera’s background and synopsis
- Meet the opera’s composer
Iphigénie en Tauride
by Christoph Willibald Guck
Iphigénie en Tauride
by Christoph Willibald Gluck
A quick overview of Gluck’s 1779 opera based on the stories of King Agamemnon’s family following the Trojan War.
Premiered
1779
Music by
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Libretto by
Nicolas-François Guillard
Language
French
Background
Iphigénie en Tauride is a 1779 opera based on the play Iphigenia in Tauris by the ancient Greek dramatist Euripides which deals with stories concerning the family of Agamemnon in the aftermath of the Trojan War.
The ultimate source of the drama was Euripides’ tragedy Iphigenia in Tauris. Because of its simplicity and heroic themes this work had a particular appeal for 18th-century proponents of Neo-classicism and there were several dramatic versions in the late 1700s. Gluck had composed another opera on the Iphigenia theme, Iphigénie en Aulide (1774).
Recycling music was common practice among 18th century composers. The borrowings Gluck made are numerous, and many scholars feel that they constitute a “summing up” of the artistic ideals he pursued throughout his career as a composer. He knew that his earlier Italian-language operas and the ballets and opéras comiques he had written for Vienna were never likely to be played again, whereas the French had a tradition of keeping successful operas in the repertory. Recycling was thus a way of saving some of his most outstanding musical ideas.
Unusual for a French opera, Iphigénie contains only one short divertissement (an opportunity for dance and spectacle): the chorus and dance of the Scythians in the “Turkish” style at the end of the first act. This was so out of the ordinary that, after the first five performances, with Gluck’s acquiescence, the authorities of the Paris Opéra added ballet music by François-Joseph Gossec to the finale, with Jean-Georges Noverre’s choreography.
The opera contains Gluck’s most famous piece of psychological instrumentation, “Le calme rentre dans mon cœur.” As Donald Grout describes it:
“Orestes, left alone after Pylades has been arrested by the temple guards, falls into a half stupor; in pitiable self-delusion he tries to encourage the feeling of peace that descends on him momentarily, singing Le calme rentre dans mon cœur. But the accompaniment, with a subdued, agitated, sixteenth-note reiteration of one tone, and with a sforzando accent at the first beat of every measure, betrays the troubled state of his mind, from which he cannot banish the pangs of remorse for his past crime. It is perhaps the first occurrence in opera of this device of using the orchestra to reveal the inward truth of a situation, in distinction from, even in contradiction to, the words of the text—a practice that Richard Wagner was later to incorporate into a complete system.”
When a critic complained about the contradiction between Orestes’ words and the musical accompaniment, Gluck replied: “He’s lying: he killed his mother.”
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Synopsis
Act I
Scene: The entrance hall of the temple of Diana in Tauris.
There is no overture; the opera begins with a short passage evoking calm before turning into a depiction of a great storm at sea. Iphigenia, sister of Orestes, is the high priestess of Diana in the temple of Tauris, having been transported there magically by the goddess when her father Agamemnon attempted to offer her as a sacrifice. Iphigenia and her priestesses beg the gods to protect them from the storm (Grands dieux! soyez nous secourables).
Although the storm dies down, Iphigenia remains troubled by a dream she has had, in which she envisioned her mother Clytaemnestra murdering her father, then her brother Orestes killing her mother, and finally her own hand stabbing her brother. She prays to Diana to reunite her with Orestes (Ô toi qui prolongeas mes jours). Thoas, King of Tauris, enters. He too is obsessed with dark thoughts (De noirs pressentiments): the oracles, he tells her, predict doom for him if a single stranger escapes with his life. (The custom of the Scythians, who inhabit Tauris, is to ritually sacrifice any who are shipwrecked on their shores).
A chorus of Scythians comes bringing news of two young Greeks who have just been found shipwrecked, demanding their blood (Il nous fallait du sang). After Iphigenia and the priestesses depart, Thoas brings in the Greeks, who turn out to be Orestes and his friend Pylades. After asking them for what purpose they came (they have come to retrieve Diana’s statue and return it to Greece, though they do not divulge this), Thoas promises them death and has them taken away.
Act II
Scene: An inner chamber of the temple
Orestes and Pylades languish in chains. Orestes berates himself for causing the death of his dear friend (Dieux qui me poursuivez), but Pylades assures him that he does not feel dispirited because they will die united (Unis dès la plus tendre enfance). A minister of the sanctuary comes to remove Pylades. Orestes half falls asleep (Le calme rentre dans mon coeur), but he is tormented by visions of the Furies, who wish to avenge his slaying of his mother (whom Orestes killed for murdering his father Agamemnon).
Iphigenia enters and, although the two do not recognize each other, Orestes sees an astonishing likeness between her and the slain Clytaemnestra seen in his dream. She questions him further, asking him the fate of Agamemnon and all Greece, and he tells her of Agamemnon’s murder by his wife, and the wife’s murder by her son. In agitation, she asks of the fate of the son, and Orestes says that the son found the death he had long sought, and that only their sister Electra remains alive. Iphigenia sends Orestes away and with her priestesses laments the destruction of her country and the supposed death of her brother (Ô malheureuse Iphigénie). She and the priestesses perform a funeral ceremony for Orestes (Contemplez ces tristes apprêts).
Act III
Scene: Iphigenia’s chamber
Iphigenia is drawn to the stranger who reminds her of her brother Orestes (D’une image, hélas! trop chérie). She tells Orestes and Pylades she can persuade Thoas to save one of them from the sacrifice (Je pourrais du tyran tromper la barbarie) and asks the one who is spared to carry word of her fate to her sister Electra in Argos. Both men readily agree, and Iphigenia chooses Orestes to survive.
But on her exit, Orestes insists that Pylades agree to switch places with him as Orestes cannot bear the thought of his friend’s death and sees dying as an escape from his own madness; Pylades, on the contrary, is glad at the thought of dying so Orestes can live (Duet: Et tu prétends encore que tu m’aimes and aria for Pylades: Ah! mon ami, j’implore ta pitié!). When Iphigenia returns, Orestes insists that she reverse her decision, threatening to kill himself before her eyes if she does not. Reluctantly, she agrees to spare Pylades instead and sends him to carry her message to Electra. Everyone but Pylades departs and he closes the act by promising to do everything possible to save Orestes (Divinité des grandes âmes!).
Act IV
Scene: Inside the temple of Diana
Iphigenia wonders how she can ever carry out the killing of Orestes, since somehow her soul shrinks from the thought of it. She asks the goddess Diana to help her steel herself for the task (Je t’implore et je tremble). The priestesses bring in Orestes, who has been prepared for sacrifice (Chorus: Ô Diane, sois nous propice). He tells her not to lament him, but to strike, telling her it is the will of the gods. The priestesses sing a hymn to Diana as they lead Orestes to the altar (Chorus: Chaste fille de Latone). While she wields the knife, Orestes exclaims Iphigenia’s name, leading her and the priestesses to recognize him and stop the ritual slaughter.
The happy reunion of sister and brother is cut short at news that Thoas is coming, having heard that one of the captives was released and intent on the blood of the other. The king enters wildly, ordering his guards to seize Orestes and promising to sacrifice both him and his sister. At that moment, Pylades enters with a band of Greeks, cutting down Thoas where he stands.
The resulting rout of the Scythians by the Greeks is halted by a dea ex machina appearance of Diana, who commands the Scythians to restore her statue to Greece (Arrêtez! Écoutez mes décrets éternels). She also issues pardon to Orestes for murdering his mother, sending him to be king over Mycenae and bidding him restore Iphigenia to her country. As Diana is carried back into the clouds, everyone sings a concluding chorus of rejoicing at having the favor of earth and heaven restored to them (Les dieux, longtemps en courroux).
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Meet the Artists
Listen to the Story
Anonymous, Iphigénie en Tauride, 17th century. Oil on canvas. Musée des beaux-arts de Brest [].
Presented by Washington National Opera, host Saul Lilienstein takes you through the musical world of Gluck’s 1779 opera based on the stories of King Agamemnon’s family following the Trojan War, Iphigénie en Tauride.
Watch an Excerpt
Boston Baroque: “Ô malheureuse Iphigénie” from Iphigénie en Tauride with Soula Parassidis.
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