Leader of the chorus and composer of the music John Knowles Paine. Prompter George L. Kittredge.
The scene is laid in front of the palace in Boetian Thebes. The chorus is composed of Theban old men. Œdipus speaks first. The managers request all the spectators to remain sitting until the postlude is ended. Immediately after the last chorus has been sung there will be a pause for those who wish to go out. After this the doors will be closed.
After the play, horse-cars (ἅμαξαι ἱπποσιδηροδρομικαὶ) will be ready for those who want to go to the city.
Wilsons, printers. (Οὐιλσῶνεσ τύποις ἔγαψαν.)
The story of the Theban hero, his ignorance of his own parentage, his dismay at the revelation of the oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother, his quarrel with the former, resulting in the very tragedy he was seeking to avoid, his solution of the riddle of the sphinx, the reward of the Queen’s hand which Creon had promised, leading to the unfortunate marriage with his mother, Jocasta, thus completing the revelation of the oracle, does not need description in detail. The marriage was followed by a pestilence that wasted Thebes, and at this point the plot of the drama begins. It concerns itself with the efforts of Œdipus to unravel the mystery of the death of his father, Laius, which lead to the discovery that he himself was the murderer, and that he had been guilty of incest with his own mother. Jocasta hangs herself, and Œdipus, rushing frantically into the palace, beholds her, and overwhelmed with horror at the sight and the fulfilment of the oracle, seizes her brooch-pin and blinds himself. In the Œdipus at Colonos the sequel is told. The hero dies in the gardens of the Eumenides, happy in the love of his daughters and the pardon which fate grants him.
The music to the tragedy is thoroughly classical in spirit, and has all the nobility, breadth, dignity, and grace characteristic of the Greek idea. The principal lyric movements of the chorus, the choral odes, of which there are six, comprise the scheme of the composer. The melodramatic practice of the orchestra accompanying spoken dialogue only appears to a limited extent in the third ode; and the chorus, as narrator, is accompanied by music only in the seven last lines of the play, which form the postlude. The orchestral introduction, which is treated in a very skilful and scholarly manner, epitomizes the spirit of the work. The odes are divided as usual into strophes and antistrophes, assigned alternately to a male chorus of fifteen and full chorus. The first (“Oracle sweet-tongued of Zeus”), which has the genuine antique dignity and elevation, is a description of the sufferings of the people from the pestilence which has wasted Thebes since the unnatural marriage of Œdipus and Jocasta, and a fervent prayer to the gods for aid. The second (“Thou Delphic Rock, who can he be?”) concludes the scene where the blind prophet Teiresias arrives upon the summons of Creon and accuses Œdipus of the crime, accompanying the accusation with dark hints of further guilt. In this ode, which is specially noticeable for its rich and graceful treatment, the chorus expresses its disbelief of the charges. In the third scene, Creon enters to protest against the accusations of Œdipus, but a quarrel ensues between them, which results in the menace of death to the former. Jocasta appears, and upon her intercession Creon is allowed to depart. In the ode, the chorus joins in this appeal to Œdipus,—a strong, vigorous number, the effect of which is heightened by the intervening spoken parts of Creon, Œdipus, and Jocasta, with musical accompaniment. The fourth ode (“O may my Life be spent in Virtue”) is a vigorous denunciation of the impiety of Jocasta in speaking scornfully of the oracles. The fifth ode (“If I the Prophet’s Gift possess”) is full of idyllic grace and sweetness, realizing in a remarkable degree the old Grecian idea of sensuous beauty. It is a speculation upon the divine origin of Œdipus, after the messenger relates the story of the King’s exposure in his childhood upon Mount Cithæron, and contains a charming tenor solo. The last ode (“O Race of mortal Men”) bewails the vicissitudes of fortune, and is full of the tragic significance of impending fate. The work comes to a close with the postlude:—
“Ye who dwell in Thebes our city, fix on Œdipus your eyes,
Who resolved the dark enigma, noblest liver and most wise.
Glorious like a sun he mounted, envied of the popular throng,
Now he sinks in seas of anguish, quenched the stormy waves among.