About the work
Carl Orff's "Prometheus" sets Aeschylus's "Prometheus Bound," the only surviving part of his Prometheus trilogy, to its unaltered original Ancient Greek text. Werner Thomas advised Orff on the Ancient Greek. Ferdinand Leitner conducted the premiere on 24 March 1968 at the Staatstheater Stuttgart, directed by Gustav Rudolf Sellner with sets and costumes by Teo Otto.
Plot
The Titan Prometheus is chained to a rock in the Caucasus by Zeus as punishment for stealing fire. Across nine scenes he receives visitors, among them Io, transformed into a cow, whose future fate he foretells, and rejects every attempt to reconcile him with the father of the gods.
Cultural significance
Because the Ancient Greek text is set to music directly, without cuts or alterations, "Prometheus" is considered a prime example of a "Literaturoper." Its unusual scoring, combining an electronic organ with percussion instruments from around the world, together with its hermetic language, have kept this rarely performed work at the edge of the repertoire.