About the work
Savitri is a one-act chamber opera by Gustav Holst to his own libretto, based on the story of Savitri and Satyavan from the Mahabharata. Composed in 1908 as his Opus 25, it was not premiered until 5 December 1916, at Wellington Hall in London, performed by students of the London School of Opera.
Plot
Death comes to claim the woodcutter Satyavan at his appointed hour. His wife Savitri receives Death as a guest and, in return, is granted one wish; she asks for "fullness of life" — including children — which can only be fulfilled if Satyavan is returned to her. In this way she wins him back from Death.
Cultural significance
With a chamber ensemble of barely two dozen musicians, a wordless women's chorus and bitonal writing separating the mortal and supernatural spheres, Savitri marks Holst's turn away from the Wagnerian pathos of his earlier operatic attempts. Its professional premiere in 1921 at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, under Arthur Bliss, secured the work's reputation as a distinctive, intimate form of opera.