The Epic of Gilgamesh
Bohuslav Martinů:
THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH, H 351
Oratorio for soloists, narrator, mixed choir and orchestra
Libretto in original English version
The Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition VI/2/1
Edited by Aleš Březina
BA 10571, cloth band score (25,5 x 32,5cm)
· First ever scholarly-critical edition
· Detailed preface and critical commentary by the editor (Eng/Cz)
· Well-endowed Facsimiles section
· Awarded the Best Edition 2016
For fourteen long years Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959) mused over a composition “of the genre of Cavalieri's ‘Rappresentatione di anima e di corpo’”, before finally composing his masterly choral work at the turn of December 1954 and January 1955, thus creating one of the most impressive choral scores of the 20th century. He compiled the libretto from the texts of one of the oldest extant works of literature, the Ancient Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, which fascinated him with its themes of friendship, love, and death.
The greatest contribution of this first scholarly-critical edition is the discovery and first publication of the composer's detailed requirements for a semi-theatrical staging of the work and the extension of the Narrator's role in accordance with Martinů´s original intentions. The well-endowed facsimiles section includes, among others, the complete draft of the work.
Further documents which are not included in the volume:
DOCUMENTS AND REVIEWS (transcriptions and translations): Download
DOCUMENTS – originals
PROGRAMME: Download
REVIEWS – originals