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Works for the stage by Bohuslav Martinů: The Greek Passion H. 372 I and H. 372 II

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2015

Abstract

This article commemorates the 15th anniversary of the world premiere of the first (co called "London") version of Bohuslav Martinů's opera The Greek Passion composed in 1954-7to the motives of the novel Christ Recrucified by Nikos Kazantzakis. The premiere took place at the summer opera festival in Bregenz in July 1999.

After providing a brief survey of Bohuslav Martinů's life and career, the author draws a comparison of this first version with the better-known definite version performed for the first time in Zurich in June 1961, and also with the opera Ecce homo (1987) to the same plot by the recently deceased Hungarian composer Sándor Szokolay.