"Spectators!" "You are about to hear a Latin version of king Oedipus" "This version is an opera-oratorio based on Sophocles' tragedy" "But it preserves only a certain monumental aspect of its various scenes" "I shall recall the story as we go along" "Oedipus, unknown to himself, contends with supernatural powers" "He contends with those sleepless deities who watch us from a world beyond death" "At the moment of his birth a snare was laid for him" "And you will see the snare closing on Oedipus" "Now our drama begins!" "Thebes is prostrate." "After the Sphinx, a plague breaks out" "The chorus implores Oedipus to save his city" "He has vanquished the Sphinx:" "he promises" "The plague falls on us" "Thebes is dying of plague" "From the plague preserve us for Thebes is dying" "Oedipus, the plague has come" "Free our city from plague!" "Preserve our dying city!" "Citizens!" "I shall free you!" "I shall free you from the plague!" "I, illustrious Oedipus, love you" "I, Oedipus, shall preserve you" "Save us, save our city, Oedipus!" "Save us, famous Oedipus!" "What must be done, Oedipus that we may be delivered?" "The brother of my wife was sent to consult the oracle" "Creon was sent to the god" "He is asking of the oracle what must be done" "May Creon make haste!" "hall, Creon!" "We hearken!" "Speak!" "We greet you and hearken!" "Creon, the brother-in-law of Oedipus, has returned from Delphi" "The oracle demands that Laius' murderer be punished" "The assassin is hiding in Thebes" "At whatever cost, he must be discovered" "Oedipus boasts of his skill in dealing with the powers of darkness" "He has solved the riddle of the Sphinx" "He will discover and drive out the assassin" "The god has answered:" "Avenge Laius!" "Avenge the crime!" "Discover the murderer!" "The murderer is hiding in Thebes" "The murderer of the king is hiding" "He must be discovered!" "Purge Thebes!" "Purge Thebes of its stain!" "Avenge the death of the king of the slain king Laius!" "The murderer is hiding in Thebes" "He must be discovered, for the god demands he be driven from us" "He infects Thebes with plague" "Apollo has spoken, the god" "You cannot solve the ancient crime" "I shall scour Thebes" "The criminal dwells in Thebes" "The god has spoken" "He has spoken to you" "He must deliver himself to me" "Entrust this task to me" "I shall scour Thebes" "I shall drive him out of Thebes" "You cannot solve the ancient crime" " The criminal dwells in Thebes" " The god has spoken" "I solved the riddle of the Sphinx" "Again I shall divine the riddle, I, illustrious Oedipus" "Again I shall preserve Thebes" "I, Oedipus, shall divine the riddle" "Solve it!" " I promise to divine" " Solve it, Oedipus, solve it!" "Illustrious Oedipus speaks:" "I promise, I shall divine it" "Oedipus questions Tiresias Tiresias, the seer, the fountain of truth" "Tiresias will not answer" "He already realises that Oedipus is a plaything of the heartless gods" "This silence angers Oedipus" "He accuses Creon of desiring the throne for himself and Tiresias of being his accomplice" "RevoIted by the injustice of this attitude, Tiresias speaks" "This is the oracle:" "The assassin of the king is the king" "God of Delos, we are waiting" "Minerva, daughter of Jove Diana enthroned and you, Phoebus, splendid archer, come to our aid!" "For swiftly rushes the winged evil" "Death follows hard upon death and corpses lie unburied in heaps" "Drive forth cast into the sea the dreadful Mars who, unarmed, murders our people, howling madly" "And you, Bacchus, come swiftly with your torch to burn out the most infamous of all the gods" "hall, Tiresias, famous man, prophet!" "Tell us what the god demands!" "Speak quickly, learned priest!" "I cannot speak" "I am not allowed to speak" "To speak would be a sin" "Oedipus, I cannot!" "Force me not to speak!" "Beware lest I speak!" "Illustrious Oedipus, allow me to be silent!" "Your silence accuses you!" "You are the murderer!" "Pitiable man, I speak" "Since you accuse me, I speak" "I shall speak what the god has said" "No word will I conceal" "The murderer is in your midst" "The murderer is near you" "He is one of you" "The king is the king's murderer" "The king slew Laius" "The king slew the king" "The god accuses the king!" "The murderer is the king!" "The king must be driven from Thebes" "A guilty king pollutes the city" "The king is the king's murderer" "Envy hates the fortunate" "You made me king" "I saved you by answering the riddles and you made me king" "The riddle had to be solved, who was to solve it?" "You, famous man, prophet?" "It was solved by me and you made me king" "Envy hates the fortunate" "There is one who wants my place" "Creon wants the king's place" "You have been bribed, Tiresias!" "I shall lay bare this plot!" "Creon would be king" "Who freed you from the riddles?" "Friends!" "It was I, famed Oedipus, I" "Envy hates the fortunate" "They want to destroy the king famed Oedipus, your king" "Glory!" "All praise to Queen Jocasta in plague-ridden Thebes!" "ln plague-ridden Thebes all praise to our queen!" "All praise to Oedipus' wife!" "The dispute of the princes attracts Jocasta" "You will hear her calm them and shame them for raising their voices in a stricken city" "She proves that oracles lie" "An oracle predicted that Laius would perish by the hand of her son" "Whereas Laius was murdered by thieves at the crossing of three roads from Daulis and Delphi" "Three roads, crossroads!" "Mark well those words!" "They horrify Oedipus" "He remembers how, in Corinth, before encountering the Sphinx he killed an old man where three roads met" "If Laius of Thebes were that man what then?" "Oedipus cannot return to Corinth having been threatened by the oracle with a double crime killing his father and marrying his mother" "Oedipus is afraid" "Are you not ashamed, princes to bicker and howl in a stricken city raising up your personal complaints?" "Princes, are you not ashamed?" "Are you not ashamed, in a stricken city to contest your personal quarrels?" "Are you not ashamed to clamour before everyone to raise up your personal broils in a stricken city?" "Are you not ashamed, princes?" "Oracles are not to be trusted" "They always lie" "Oracles they are all liars" "By whom was the king to be slain?" "By my son" "well, the king was slain" "Laius died at the crossroads" "Oracles are not to be trusted" "They always lie" " Laius died at the crossroads" " The crossroads!" " Oracles are not to be trusted" " The crossroads!" " They always lie" " The crossroads!" "Beware of oracles!" "I am afraid suddenly, Jocasta" "I am terribly afraid" "Jocasta, listen!" "Did you speak of the crossroads?" "I killed an old man when I was coming from Corinth killed him at the crossroads" "Oracles are always liars" "Oedipus, beware of oracles!" "They tell lies" " I am suddenly greatly afraid" " Beware of oracles!" " A great fear has come on me" " Let us go home!" "I killed a man at the crossroads" "Let us return home quickly!" " I want to find out the truth" " There is no truth here" "There is truth, Jocasta" "I want to see the shepherd" "He still lives, he who witnessed the crime" "Jocasta, I must find out the truth" "I must know!" "A messenger, announcing that king Polybus of Corinth is dead reveals to Oedipus that he is only an adopted son of the king" "Jocasta understands" "She tries to draw Oedipus back, in vain" "She flees" "Oedipus supposes she is ashamed of being the wife of an upstart" "Oh, this lofty, all-discerning Oedipus!" "He is in the snare" "He alone does not know it" "And then the truth strikes him" "Oedipus falls." "He falls headlong!" "The shepherd who knows all is here and the messenger of dread tidings" "Polybus is dead" "Old Polybus is dead" "He was not Oedipus' father" "Polybus got him from me" "I took him to the king" "He was not Oedipus' real father" "His adopted father, by my doing!" "His adopted father, by your doing!" "I found on the mountain the child Oedipus abandoned on the mountain, the infant Oedipus his feet pierced his feet wounded" "I found the infant Oedipus on the mountain and took to the shepherd the child Oedipus" "I am about to hear a prodigious tale" "Oedipus was born of a great god and a nymph of the mountain on which he was found" "Silence was better, not speech" "Indeed he found the infant Oedipus by father, by mother abandoned on the mountain his feet pierced, tied" "You should not have spoken" "This should always have been hidden" "Silence was better, not speech" "Surely we shall hear a prodigious tale" "I shall find out Oedipus' lineage" "Jocasta is ashamed, she flees" "She is ashamed of Oedipus the exile, ashamed of Oedipus' parents" "I shall find out Oedipus' lineage" "I shall find out my origin" "Surely we shall hear a prodigious tale" "I shall find out Oedipus' lineage, the origin of my exile" "I, an exile, exuIt" "On the mountain he was found, abandoned by his mother" "He is the son of Laius and Jocasta" "Slayer of Laius, his parent" "Husband of Jocasta, his parent" "It would have been better never to speak this thing" "Abandoned by Jocasta, he was found on the mountain" "I was born of whom divine law forbade" "I have lain with whom divine law forbade" "I have slain whom divine law forbade" "All now is made clear!" "And now you will hear the chorus recount the horrible end of Jocasta" "The queen locks herself in her room" "She tears her hair." "She grieves" "Oedipus pounds on the doors" "He breaks open the lock and enters" "His eyes behold a terrible sight" "Oedipus takes the golden pin from the queen's hair" "He pierces his eyes" "He must show himself to all as an incestuous monster, a fatherkiller, a fool!" "Gently, very gently his people drive him away" "Farewell, king Oedipus!" "We loved you!" "The divine Jocasta is dead!" "In her chamber she tore at her hair" "She shut herself in, crying aloud" "And Oedipus rushed in and pounded on the doors, howling wildly" "The divine Jocasta is dead!" "And when he broke open the lock, everyone beheld the woman hanging" "And Oedipus, rushing headlong, loosened her and laid her down" "And with a golden pin plucked from her, he gouged out his eyes" "The black blood flowed" "The divine Jocasta is dead!" "The black blood flowed" "The black blood gushed forth" "Oedipus howled and cursed himself" "He shows himself to all" "Behold through the open doors behold the sad spectacle!" "Behold the most horrible of all sights!" "The divine Jocasta is dead!" "Behold!" "Oedipus the king appears a most foul monster!" "Lo, Oedipus the king!" "Lo, the blind king, the parricide king!" "Poor king Oedipus, solver of riddles" "He is here!" "Lo!" "Lo!" "Oedipus the king!" "Farewell, Oedipus!" "I loved you, I pity you" "Wretched Oedipus I lament the loss of your eyes" "Farewell Oedipus, our poor Oedipus!" "I loved you, Oedipus" "I bid you farewell, Oedipus, I bid you farewell" "Narrative transl. e.e. cummings (c) 1 949 Boosey  Hawkes lnc." "Subtitling:" "Mary Adams (c) 1 994 Philips Classics"