[Philip Glass](https://www.eno.org/composers/philip-glass/) is a contemporary
American composer born in 1937. His vast musical output includes opera,
symphonies, chamber music, songs and film scores. His compositions, which he
calls ‘‘music with repetitive structures’, are renowned for their minimalist
musical style.

_[Satyagraha](https://eno.org/whats-on/satyagraha/)_ , written in 1979 and
premiered in 1980, is the second in the trilogy of ‘portrait’ operas, the
others being _Einstein on the Beach_ (1975) and
[_Akhnaten_](https://www.eno.org/operas/akhnaten/) (1983).

_Satyagraha_ is not a conventional opera. Many scholars have called it a
‘para-opera’: a work that intends to oppose the musical and dramatic
expectations of Western operatic audiences. The opera is scored for nine solo
voices, chorus and a greatly reduced orchestra comprising only strings and
woodwind to create a distinctive instrumental colour without percussion, horns
and brass. In typical eighteenth and nineteenth-century opera, arias, duets
and chorus numbers were clearly differentiated in their contrasting musical
styles and formed new sections in the musical score.

In contrast, the music of Satyagraha is written in continuous through-flowing
scenes where solo, ensemble and chorus singing form part of one musical
atmosphere, weaving in and out of the whole, and emotions are conveyed through
changes in musical texture. This musical structure builds on the beginnings of
the through-composed structure of opera championed by composers such as
[Wagner](https://www.eno.org/composers/richard-wagner/) and
[Strauss](https://www.eno.org/composers/richard-strauss/) in the late
nineteenth century with operas such as
[Salome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_(opera)) and [The Ring
Cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Ring_des_Nibelungen).

Glass’ compositions typically involve short repeated musical phrases, often
using repeating rhythms and musical phrases that slowly morph over time on top
of a stable tonal harmony, creating an atmospheric sound world that can be
perceived as a suspended moment in time. In _Satyagraha_ , for example,
typical features of ‘minimalism’ are used in a variety of ways throughout the
opera, as illustrated in the scanned score extracts in the Photo Gallery: in
Act 2, Scene 2 short arpeggio orchestral patterns are repeated above a simple
bass line ; solo vocal lines are written in linear, syllabic phrases that
outline the tonal harmony of the music section, as in the example from
Gandhi’s opening scene in Act 1; the ensemble sections are composed in many-
layered homophony above ascending repetitive arpeggio figures, as seen in the
beginning of Act 3.

**Have a listen to the score…**

Act 1 Scene 1: Linear solo lines (Vocal Score) in Satyagraha

Act 2 Scene 2: Repetitive orchestral patterns (Vocal Score) in Satyagraha

Act 3: Homophonic ensemble writing (Vocal Score) in Satyagraha

Related Content: Satyagraha: StagingLearn about director Phelim McDermott’s concept for this production