About the work
Philip Glass's „Akhnaten" was premiered in Stuttgart in 1984 and concludes as the third work in Glass's „portrait trilogy" about great historical visionaries — after „Einstein on the Beach" (science) and „Satyagraha" (politics), here religion. The libretto, compiled by Glass and collaborators from ancient Egyptian, Hebrew and Akkadian texts, sets the life of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten (c. 1350 BC).
Plot
Act I — Accession: After the death of his father Amenhotep III, Akhnaten ascends the throne. Funeral ritual and coronation. Act II — Religion: Akhnaten establishes the sun god Aten as sole god (the first monotheistic religion in history) and bans the old gods. He founds a new capital, Akhetaten (modern Amarna). Love scene with Queen Nefertiti. Hymn to the Sun — Akhnaten sings alone the famous hymn, whose text is astonishingly close to Psalm 104. Act III — Decline: Akhnaten falls into religious ecstasy and neglects the empire. Enemies overrun the borders. A group of priests of the old religion murders him (symbolically in the work); the old religion is restored. In the closing scene tourists stand in Amarna's ruins — Akhnaten has become history.
Cultural significance
Akhnaten is Glass's most theatrically ambitious work and has experienced a second great wave of success since Phelim McDermott's ENO/Met production (2016/2019, with Anthony Roth Costanzo as Akhnaten). The mime choreography with juggler-movements has become an iconic stage language. Akhnaten is regarded as the most significant contribution to „minimal music opera" — repetitive structures, archaic texts, ritualised scenes. The Hymn to the Sun belongs to the modern concert repertoire for countertenor.