11th International Music Festival Phnom Penh
13 - 17 November 2014

Music and Myths

Mythology has long inspired artists, writers, musicians and composers in Cambodia, in Asia at large and Europe. While the Ramayana Epos in various forms ("The Reamker" in Cambodia) is widely known in Asia, in Western Classical Music the Opera is the most common form which retells mythic stories. Rama and Sita and Orpheus and Eurydice are some of the timeless figures which feature frequently in the world of performing art.

The influence of particular Greek Mythology has been dealt with in Philosophy, Science, Literature, Fine Arts, and Architecture. However, it is a curious fact that influence on Music has been much less acknowledged or discussed.

From the 16th Century on, early Operas by Monteverdi (Italy), Lully and Rameau (France) and Christoph Willibald Gluck (Germany) almost exclusively drew from mythological subjects. Mythology continuo inspire to contemporary musical works.

This festival program is focusing on Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714-1787) a leading German composer of the second half of the 18th Century.
He paved the way for the "Vienna Classic" – to Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and beyond.

Relevant composers

Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1700-1775)
Giuseppe Sarti (1729-1802)
Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799)
Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)