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Oedipus
(as recorded in 1954)
Scenes
- Introduction and Plague
- Creon returns from the oracle with a message
- First Chorus
- Tiresias, the blind prophet, denounces Oedipus
- Second Chorus
- Odeipus accuses Creon of conspiring against him
- He questions Jocasta about the murder of Laius,
- And tells her of his visit to the oracle
- Third Chorus
- Jocasta finally knows that Oedipus is her son
- Fourth Chorus
- Oedipus questions the herdsman who gave him away as an infant,
- And realizes the full force of his fate
- Fifth Chorus
- A messenger delivers news of Jocasta's self-hanging
- Oedipus re-enters, blind
- Instruments, voices, and dancers bring the drama to a climax
- 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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