"Sita”
Opera in three acts by Gustav Holst | World premiere
Foto: Martin Kaufhold
Saarland State Theatre, Saarbrücken, Germany:
<< Just in time for the Holst Year, which marks the 150th anniversary of the British composer's birth,
The Saarland State Theatre is presenting the long-overdue premiere of the most ambitious work of his first creative period: the opera "Sita".
The culture of India inspired Holst to create several works.
"Sita" is based on an episode from the Indian national epic "Ramayana," embedded in the vast Hindu family tree of gods and the eternal cycle of incarnation:
Sita, daughter of the earth, and the hero Rama must endure a grueling battle against the villain Ravana.
The large-scale work, inspired by Holst's Wagnerian model, was completed by the composer in 1906 for a competition, but narrowly missed first place.
The score has long slumbered in the British Library, awaiting rediscovery. >>
Original page in German: https://www.staatstheater.saarland/detail/sita
Youtube trailer:
Libretto - in English and German: https://www.staatstheater.saarland/fileadmin/user_upload/Spielzeit/2024_2025/Bildergalerie/Sita/2425_SST_Sita_Libretto_eng-dt_.pdf
Comment by PK: can we see it as a sign of awakening of collective consciousness in culture? After 118 years of sleeping beauty in the drawer, as a friend of mine phrased it, an opera dedicated to the topic of the Ramayana is premiered. The English composer Gustav Holst has also set other interesting themes from Vedic literature into music, I am hearing.