Perséphone

Like The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky’s “melodrama” for voices, dancers and orchestra Perséphone (1934) relates ancient myth and ritual to the archetypal pattern of the cycle of the seasons. Perséphone’s descent into Hades and her return to earth explicitly parallel the death of nature in winter and the return of life in spring. But the contrast between these two masterpieces is extreme. Where The Rite roars its originality in the listener’s face, and the fate of the chosen girl is depicted with elemental savagery, Perséphone is gentle, exquisitely restrained, delicate, and its originality impresses, if that’s quite the word, by stealth. As in other Stravinsky works from his so-called “neo-classical” period, the musical language seems familiar and strange at the same time, an experience rather like viewing a Classical or Romantic painting through frosted glass. But it is also surprisingly tuneful, with some of the most touching lyricism in all Stravinsky. Keen to underline his anti-Romantic stance, Stravinsky insisted that he was more interested in the sound of the words than in the meaning of André Gide’s libretto (to Gide’s chagrin). Yet the key elements of the story are enhanced beautifully by the music. We feel Perséphone’s Christ-like compassion for the lost souls in Hades, the growing warmth of their response and the sense of quiet joy spreading through the earth as she returns. Stravinsky’s involvement with religious subjects was lifelong, but no other work of his holds out the possibility of redemption so movingly.