Scene studies

Antigone tells Ismène about Creon’s decree forbidding their brother Polynices’ burial. She resolves to act; Ismène refuses to help out of fear. The expanded introduction establishes the main theme through electronic textures, then moves gradually into Honegger’s music as the characters enter.

Antigone has confessed her act. Creon orders her arrest and that of her sister; the Coryphée then laments the family’s fate. Synthesizer parts grow from the preceding orchestral action into an extended transition. The alto saxophone’s statement of the main theme supplies material for transformed textures that lead into the lyrical solo.

Tirésias warns Creon of the consequences of leaving Polynices unburied. Newly composed synthesizer voices and carefully placed repetitions expand the short original passage, creating a sustained musical space around the seer’s warning.