Preface

Summary

Since the present series of Music Handbooks is younger cousin to an earlier (and continuing) series devoted exclusively to opera, it may seem perverse to include in it a study of a work which most enthusiasts – starting with the composer himself – have regarded as an opera. There is a reason for this but no real excuse. The reason, quite simply, is my own opportunism, backed up by the publishers' tolerance. Invited to contribute to the Cambridge Music Handbooks, I suggested Oedipus rex knowing perfectly well that I could defend the choice on the grounds of the work's notorious generic ambiguity, even though I fully intended to prove beyond doubt that that ambiguity is a myth. It is true, of course, that Oedipus has often been given in concert form, ever since its Paris première on a theatre stage but with no production and no sets or costumes beyond black drapes and sombre garments. Today it is perhaps more often staged than in the past; but it still more than survives as a concert work, and for this reason – if for no other – I hope it will not be thought of me that ‘scripsi quod nefastum est’.

Certainly, no excuse is needed for devoting a whole book to Oedipus. Of all Stravinsky's works outside the popular early ballets, it is perhaps the most widely admired and certainly one of the most frequently played.