Oedipus



Oedipus
A Harry Partch Trust Fund First Edition

Oedipus
(as recorded in 1954)

Scenes

  1. Introduction and Plague
  2. Creon returns from the oracle with a message
  3. First Chorus
  4. Tiresias, the blind prophet, denounces Oedipus
  5. Second Chorus
  6. Odeipus accuses Creon of conspiring against him
  7. He questions Jocasta about the murder of Laius,
  8. And tells her of his visit to the oracle
  9. Third Chorus
  10. Jocasta finally knows that Oedipus is her son
  11. Fourth Chorus
  12. Oedipus questions the herdsman who gave him away as an infant,
  13. And realizes the full force of his fate
  14. Fifth Chorus
  15. A messenger delivers news of Jocasta's self-hanging
  16. Oedipus re-enters, blind
  17. Instruments, voices, and dancers bring the drama to a climax
  18. Final Chorus and Coda

Gate 5 Ensemble of Sausalito, conducted by Jack Hohensee
    Oedipus - Allan Louw
    Chorus Spokesman - Pierce Murphy
    Jocasta - Sue Bell Starck
    Complement of women's voices:
      Elizabeth Foster
      Barbara Hyde
      Ginger McFadden
      Joanna Nakamura
      Mary Whittier
    Pat Wright - Tiresias
    Herdsman - Harry Partch
    Solo Soprano passages - Elizabeth Foster
    Priest - Edward Bode
    Creon - John King
    Chorus - Larry Dukore
    Corinthian Stranger - Ralph Cook
    Messenger - Gerd Stern
Additional Notes: This was the only complete recording of Oedipus that Partch would be able to release, and it was accomplished on two red Vinylite records. The copy I have was one of Harry's, which you can tell by the faint red pencil H. P. in the upper right-hand corner. If you look closely, you can see the remains of the word Bad in blue pencil over the center, which must have referred to either a bad pressing or a worn-out copy; the marking had been mostly erased. Of course, the dark ink marks are not scribbles, but Gordon Onslow-Ford's stylization of Oedipus' mask.

The front and back covers are pages reproduced from the score itself, with Oedipus proclaiming:
    "Oh! Oh! All brought to pass! All true! Here O Light! naked before men, I shall look my last upon you, for I am accursed in marriage, accursed in blood, and in my coming into the world I am accursed!"
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