The Epic of Gilgamesh (Martinů)

Background#

Maja Sacher visited the British Museum and brought back to Switzerland the booklet about the clay cuneiform tablets concerning Gilgamesh she had seen. Martinů was very much taken with the subject (he had in 1919 created a work based on another Babylonian theme, Istar) and in September 1948 he urged his friend Sacher to obtain a complete translation; this was one by the archaeologist Reginald Campbell Thompson. However, Martinů wrote his text in English, based on the translation in hexameters by Campbell Thompson, The Epic of Gilgamish (1928), Martinů would have preferred to compose it to a text in Czech and, according to his biographer Miloš Šafránek, he regretted hearing too late about the recent Czech translation of the epic by poet Lubor Matouš. Later, Ferdinand Pujman translated Martinů’s text on the basis of Matouš’ work for what became Epos o Gilgamešovi. The composer began work around Christmas in 1954 and finished on 18 February 1955, keeping in close contact with the Sachers the whole time. They are entitled ‘Gilgamesh’, ‘The Death of Enkidu’, and ‘Evocation’ where Gilgamesh summons Enkidu from the world of the dead. Parts of the text are transplanted – for instance the first section contains elements of the Third Tablet and the final section comes from the Tenth Tablet.

Synopsis#

• Part 1, “Gilgamesh”: The people describe the horrors of their ruler and ask Aruru to create a companion for Gilgamesh so that he may be distracted; Aruru creates Enkidu; Gilgamesh learns about the hunter and has him brought under his influence through a sexual seduction; Enkidu accepts the woman’s approaches and goes into the city; Enkidu’s herd no longer wants to be with him and flees; Gilgamesh and Enkidu fight each other.
• Part 2, “Death of Enkidu”: The fight in the past, they become friends; but Enkidu falls ill and dreams that he will die; which he does, after twelve days of pain. Gilgamesh cries for him; he seeks eternal life, but cannot find it.
• Part 3, “The Incantation”: Gilgamesh comes to realize that he has not been able to learn the mystery of immortality; Enkidu has to come to life again by an incantation and tell him; in a conversation with his spirit, all that is heard are the words: “I saw”. This is an example of comparative text; Campbell Thompson and Martinů:

Performance history#

The premiere of the oratorio took place on 24 January 1958 with the Basel Chamber Orchestra and the Basel Chamber Choir conducted by Paul Sacher, and it received further performances in Martinů’s lifetime, including one in Vienna where the soloists were Marilyn Horne, Murray Dickie, Otto Wiener and Walter Berry, conducted by Sacher. The United Kingdom premiere in 1959 was conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent, who had been very impressed with it on hearing during a visit to Prague; Alvar Liddell was the narrator, and it was recorded. Vernon Handley conducted the work in Guildford in 1970. Having made a studio recording for Supraphon in 1976, Jiří Bělohlávek conducted a performance in the Festival Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Jack Shepherd as narrator in 1995, issued on CD by the BBC. A staged version of the work was presented for the first time by the Brno National Theatre in April 2019 produced by Jiří Heřman, with choreography by Marko Ivanović, with Jiří Brückler in the title role, coupled with Dido and Aeneas. In 2014, Aleš Březina’s critical edition of the Epic of Gilgamesh was published by Bärenreiter within the Bohuslav Martinů Complete Edition. Subsequent operas on the subject have been Gilgamesh by Per Nørgård (1972) and an opera by Volker David Kirchner (2000), among others.