Satyagraha

From the Staatsoper Stuttgart 1983 Produced and designed by Achim Freyer, Satyagraha is conducted by Dennis Russell Davies. Glass's opera evokes impressions of Gandhi's years in South Africa and his development of the philosophy of satyagraha (a Sanskrit word meaning 'love/strength') as a political and revolutionary tool. The text is drawn from the great Hindu spiritual treatise, the Bhagavad Gita, and sung in the original Sanskrit - a sacred language which is no longer spoken. This device enhances the ceremonial quality of the work and complements the ritual atmosphere built up by Glass's hypnotic music.