Textual analysis

Conversation with Ben Ellin - composer

Ben Ellin and Terry Davies have composed music for Iphigenia. Ben has been in Sheffield during the rehearsals of the show and has spent time observing the play as it has developed. Ben and Terry work closely with the director Anna Mackmin to decide what kind of effect they are trying to create with each piece of music, and to work out where to place music against or under the text.

Ben explained that there are three layers to the music that he and Terry have composed: Purity (and corruption thereof), Ritual and the World of the Gods.

1. Purity (and corruption thereof)
The composers have created clear, clean sounds using harp, guitar and voice and simple consonant harmonies and textures.

2. Ritual
There are 4 ritual moments in the play:
• the pillow fight
• Iphigenia's first menstrual blood
• the pre-wedding dance
• Iphigenia's sacrifice.
Each ritual moment is marked with music, often using modal not dia-tonic harmonies. There are musical links between the vocal material used in the pre-wedding dance and at the end of the play. The same two notes that underscore the Witch's speech (in minor 2nd inverted to major 7th) are repeated by the girls (in semitones). 22b (1/2 way through)

3. World of the Gods
Together with Sound designer Huw Williams, Ben and Terry have created sound worlds that are used in layers to underscore the play. We hear the breath of the Gods whenever there are references to destiny or fate in the text.

Music cues for scene one - pages 2 - 5
As the play starts and the characters walk on stage, they are accompanied by the voice of Dominic-Charles Rouse (Messenger/Soldier) off stage and the breath - the sound of the Gods

The Witch's voice is amplified using a microphone to make her voice seem 'other worldly'. A harp plays under her second speech - a motif that we hear again during the ritual slaughter of Iphigenia. There is a strong pulse to this musical phrase that echoes the ticking of time or the hands of fate.

When Calchas calls Agamemnon to the ritual area, we hear Agamemnon's motif, played on a French horn. The connotations of brass are used to hint at the power and military might that the King has. Very often opposites are the key to a scene working, as the eye sees one thing and the music can enhance or play against it.

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