What is "antigonae"

Antigonae (Antigone), written by Carl Orff, was first presented on 9 August 1949 under the direction of Ferenc Fricsay in the Felsenreitschule, Salzburg, Austria, as part of the Salzburg Festival. Antigonae is in Orff's words a "musical setting" for the Greek tragedy of the same name by Sophocles. However, it functions as an opera.

Orff used the German translation of Sophocles' play by Friedrich Hölderlin. The original play was written in 442 BC, and the German translation copies faithfully the mood and movement of Greek tragedy.