Among the ancient Greek themes that have been inspiring artistic creation for centuries, tragedy has had a special place by offering the opportunity for an extraordinary diversity of approaches and (re)interpretations. In the nineteenth century, the philhellenic movement and the literary, philological and poetic interest in ancient Greece that emerged thanks to factors such as the archaeological excavations, the revival of open theatres and the creation of various festivals, encouraged the glorious return of the myths of the Labdakids and the Atreids in Europe, especially in France and Greece. In particular, this great revival took place during the unstable economic and socio‐political conditions of the twentieth century, instigating serious reflection on the progress of humanity, mostly through numerous theatrical productions.
Considering Greek tragedy as their ancient inheritance, Greek and French composers adopted different and often very original ways to create the music accompanying these performances. Much of this incidental music showed a considerable preoccupation with experimentation, thus innovation, which relates to different compositional aspects, such as the instrumentation, the musical language (association of various sources: traditional, avant‐garde, extra‐European), the chorus treatment, the relationship between text, staging and music, or the function of the voice.
Pierre Boulez and Jani Christou wrote incidental music for the staging of the Orestie (1955, Compagnie Renaud‐Barrault) and of The Persians (1965, Theatre of Art), that paid a great attention to the vocal interpretation. Boulez used the chorus’s voice as a primordial instrument having a very demanding role, that joined the orchestra’s ensemble. On the other hand, Christou reduced the importance of the instrumental parts by ‘orchestrating’ the voices, namely by using the vocal timbre of the Persians’ chorus (which dominates the whole work) in a really inventive way. Focusing on the tragedy’s stage action and working closely with the text, both composers exploited the various possibilities and nuances of the voice, but adopted opposite and singular approache.