Aribert Reimann’s and Mikis Theodorakis’ Opera Medea: Euripidean Medea Crossing Borders

This paper investigates two relatively recent adaptations of Medea’s myth by Aribert Reimann and Mikis Theodorakis for opera, in an attempt to find out the convergent and the divergent elements employed by the two composers who come from different cultural and music environments. The transformation of the dramatic text into the libretto in each case constitutes the central research question of the paper. On the one hand, it reveals the specific music-dramaturgical choices made, and on the other, it enlightens the way the two composers conceptualize musically the dramatic text. Moreover, the paper focuses on how the central dramaturgical motifs of the libretto are reflected through music. It will ultimately attempt to investigate, through the specific operatic works of the aforementioned composers, the path the myth of Medea has followed crossing diachronic and cultural borders from Euripides till our days.