Prometheus
for Percussion Ensemble (6 players)

Details:

“Prometheus” was composed in the spring of 1975 during my stay in Munich. The work was conceived as a complete scene for my opera, also called “Prometheus,” in which the percussionists are on stage as the main "actors." With the help of dancers, projections, and a dazzling array of lighting effects, the opera re-enacts the story of Prometheus. Earlier and later in the opera there are singing soloists and a chorus, and an orchestra of many brass and wind instruments added to the percussion. Strings are used only for a few lyrical sections. The percussion group is made up of six players, five of whom are surrounded by a large phalanx of drums, cymbals, gongs, bells, wood, skin, metal and mallet instruments. The slide whistle is even used to suggest the wind on the high mountain that Prometheus is chained to. The sixth player is represented by the four timpani, and is somewhat set apart from the others because he is the musical image of the hero--Prometheus. The timpani cadence is the high point of the scene, with the lighting throwing everything on the stage into a silhouette, except for the face and hands of the timpanist. The work is built around the concept of a God choosing to bring fire and energy to mankind; he imparts the gift of work and the freedom for man to choose his own destiny. The five big bass drums explode in stretto-like passages suggesting the anger of the Gods. Ultimately Prometheus is punished, but man once tasting freedom, becomes the winner. “Prometheus” was composed under a Guggenheim Fellowship and was first performed by Paul Price's Manhattan School Percussion Ensemble in 1976.
Instrumentation: Percussion Ensemble (6 players)
Duration: 13’30”
Composed: 1975
Published by: Soundspells Productions