Posts Tagged ‘world renown’

Opera Circle gave this year two spectacles important for its up-to-date achievements. These were “Dido and Aeneas” by H. Purcell and “Thamos, King of Egypt” by W. A. Mozart. Since the first work was already described in Forum, let’s discuss the opera “Thamos, King of Egypt”. Is it only an opera or something more? Was it written just by Mozart? What should we call this kind of a spectacle where music, solos and assembly of singers, choruses, poetic and philosophical recitations, and dance (represented by many ballet interludes) are equally important?

When it comes to libretto we have a certain novelty. It was written by two authors: T. Ph. Baron von Gebler, a dramatist living in Mozart’s time, and Dorota Sobieska, whose part was substantial. Sobieska kept main plots and likeness of characters extending the legend written a long time ago for theater. The incidental music was mainly choral. In order to make it a full show the music needed to be expanded to include new arias and interludes, a task given to Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian by birth, Kent State University professor, and a composer of world renown. This seemingly very risky experiment turned out to be a success. The classical music of Mozart is juxtaposed in this new piece with the music of the XXI century. The enriched language of modern composition added to the piece a lot of lyrical quality and Egyptian character based on the folklore, because the action of the story is placed in ancient Egypt.
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