Spatio-Temporal Dynamics in Sophocles' Oedipus the King

Abstract

��� A work as complex as Stravinsky’s Oedipus not only invites but calls for approaches from a variety of angles. If anything, the kaleidoscopic nature of the articles devoted to the piece in this volume reflects this necessity. My perspective, that of a classicist with a special interest in drama, complements the field of vision in an obvious way. But there is no way of denying my roots: Stravinsky is nothing but my point of departure, and I am ultimately interested in the Sophoclean play. Let me make two related personal remarks at this point. One is that I hasten to confess narrowsightedness. I am, currently at any rate, mainly interested in theatrical aspects of ancient drama, and this considerably shapes my field of vision within academia and outside of it. No lecture, no concert, no committeemeeting, no dentist appointment passes without my thinking about the theatrical aspects of these (social) dramas in performance. I am confident that nowadays few will doubt the importance of a theatrical approach, not least because it opens up a whole universe of further issues as soon as theatricality is taken beyond technical aspects towards its broader aesthetic, sociological, psychological, and ideological contexts. But even so, no one is safe from tunnel-vision. There was never a question, in hindsight, that my look at Stravinsky, let alone Sophocles, would be a theatrical one. The second personal remark is of greater importance. Being part of a Stravinsky symposium once again brought home to me the selling-point of both interdisplinary and reception-oriented approaches: the fact that they make you look both ways. I now definitely know more about Stravinsky than before. But approaching Sophocles through Stravinsky taught me even more. My journey to Sophocles via Stravinsky will focus on two interconnected features of the opera-oratorio, one big and one small. The small one is the prima facie insignificant fact that at the end of Cocteau’s libretto Oedipus leaves Thebes as an exile and beggar, whereas Sophocles opted for a different closure. There Oedipus asks for exile, but upon Creon’s arrival the issue becomes subject to heavy contention and ends up being resolved in a manner that is more than surprising: for the time being Oedipus is to remain in the palace, while Creon sends for another oracle from Apollo in Delphi. The big feature, and the one I would like to start with, is Stravinsky’s well-known strategy of turning his opera-oratorio into something static and monumental. This, I shall argue, picks up on something intrinsic