Gilgamesh, The Journey to the Gods

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Description

Recording of Barry Truax's Gilgamesh, The Journey to the Gods, a music theatre work for singers and 12 four-channel tapes. The work is based on the legend of the Sumerian god-king, as told in the Epic of Gilgamesh which dates from the 3rd millennium, B.C., 1500 years before Homer. In the epic, Gilgamesh is part god, part man, who is responsible for the building of the first walled city, Uruk, and other feats of technology. He has become close friends with Enkidu, a "wild man" reared by animals but then tamed and civilized to become Gilgamesh's heroic companion. However, Gilgamesh … continued below

Physical Description

4 sound recordings (57 min., 2 sec.)

Creation Information

Truax, Barry 1972/1973.

Context

This audio recording is part of the collection entitled: Mnemothèque Internationale des Arts Electroacoustiques and was provided by the UNT Music Library to the UNT Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. More information about this recording can be viewed below.

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UNT Music Library

The UNT Music Library supports the scholarly and performance research needs of the College of Music by collecting and preserving monographs, reference works, periodicals, printed music, and sound recording formats, as well as subscribing to electronic databases for research and streaming music. Special collections are a particular strength of the Music Library's holdings.

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  • Main Title: Gilgamesh, The Journey to the Gods
  • Series Title: MISAME

Description

Recording of Barry Truax's Gilgamesh, The Journey to the Gods, a music theatre work for singers and 12 four-channel tapes. The work is based on the legend of the Sumerian god-king, as told in the Epic of Gilgamesh which dates from the 3rd millennium, B.C., 1500 years before Homer. In the epic, Gilgamesh is part god, part man, who is responsible for the building of the first walled city, Uruk, and other feats of technology. He has become close friends with Enkidu, a "wild man" reared by animals but then tamed and civilized to become Gilgamesh's heroic companion. However, Gilgamesh taunts the gods who declare that one of them must die, and here the story of the musical work begins, with the death of Enkidu. Gilgamesh reacts with anger, nostalgia for the glorious past, a prayer to the gods, and finally he commands them as King to reverse the death, all to no avail. At the end of the first half of the work, a supernatural "God voice" heard through the loudspeakers challenges Gilgamesh to come on a journey of quest for the secret of immortality. The second half begins with a tone poem (tape 7) called The Journey to the Gods (the composer's first computer music composition), following which Gilgamesh is engaged in an inner journey of fantasy, totally removed from his people. The librettist describes the work as a "tragedy of mortality"; the ancient epic is even simpler - it says of Gilgamesh: "He was wise, he saw mysteries and knew secret things, he brought us a tale of the days before the flood. He went a long journey, was weary, worn out with labor, and returning engraved on a stone the whole story." The 12 Tapes from Gilgamesh were realized at the Institute of Sonology in Utrecht, Netherlands. Tapes 1, 3, 4a, 7, 8 & 10 have been performed as solo works in concert. Tape VII is the first computer music composition to be realized with real-time frequency modulation synthesis as developed by John Chowning of Stanford University.

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4 sound recordings (57 min., 2 sec.)

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Mnemothèque Internationale des Arts Electroacoustiques

Sound recordings of electroacoustic music from the archive of the International de musique électroacoustique de Bourges (IMEB). The works were created in the IMEB studios or submitted by participants of the Festival Synthèse or the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition. Access is restricted to the UNT community.

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  • 1972/1973

Added to The UNT Digital Library

  • May 27, 2021, 11:18 a.m.

Description Last Updated

  • June 22, 2021, 12:21 p.m.

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Truax, Barry. Gilgamesh, The Journey to the Gods, audio recording, 1972/1973; Bourges, France. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1808636/: accessed June 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Music Library.

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