PROGRAMME
Come aboard the Odyssée Sonore musical-visual adventure and let yourself be swept away in a world of legends and myths, from the birth of the very first sounds to the creation of multi-instrumental epics.
In the beginning, before life or the world existed, Chaos reigned. The universe was indescribable, constantly changing, an endless void.
Mother Earth
Love and desire
Night
the shadows of the underworld
The hellish abyss
the depths of the underworld
The union of Tellus the Earth and Uranus the Sky gave birth to Saturn, king of the Titans, and Ops, Goddess of Abundance. From their entrails were created the gods of the first generation:
Saturn freed his mother, Tellus, from Uranus’ forced embrace that kept her offspring imprisoned within her. Using a sickle, he castrated his father, allowing Tellus to break free from his hold.
Ops created, with Saturn, the first generation of the Olympian gods. She gave Jupiter into the care of Tellus because Saturn consumed all her children out of fear one of them would usurp his throne.
The first daughter of Saturn and Ops, Vesta was protector of the peace on Olympus, and played no part in any fighting. Symbolised by the sacred fire, she was worshipped by the Vestals, priestesses that took turns night and day to ensure the sacred fire never went out.
Jupiter was the king of the gods and of Olympus. He was the source of all celestial phenomena, such as thunder and lightning, yet his destructive side was tempered by the fact the was also the protector of cities.
Born of the extramarital affair between Metis and Jupiter, Minerva was a warrior goddess, but also the protector of the countryside. She is also known as the goddess of war strategy, as opposed to Mars who was the god of brutal war.
Dive into the waters of the lake of Mnemosyne, daughter of Uranus and Tellus. Her union with Jupiter led to the birth of the Muses, who awoke and emerged from the water singing before making their separate ways across the Earth. Each one possessed a special talent to inspire the creations of the world of men.
Eldest of the Muses, epic poetry
Muse of lyric poetry and also erotic poetry
Muse of music
Muse of history
Muse of eloquence, the ability to learn and to remember
Muse of astronomy and geometry
Muse of song and tragedy
Muse of dance
Muse of comedy
Greek and Roman mythology is teeming with creatures and heroes. Just like the gods, the majority of these creatures came from Greek mythology and were adopted by the Romans. The Minotaur, Cyclops and many other monsters can be found throughout the myths. Now’s your chance to meet them!
Saturn freed his mother, Tellus, from Uranus’ forced embrace that kept her offspring imprisoned within her. Using a sickle, he castrated his father, allowing Tellus to break free from his hold.
Ops created, with Saturn, the first generation of the Olympian gods. She gave Jupiter into the care of Tellus because Saturn consumed all her children out of fear one of them would usurp his throne.
The first daughter of Saturn and Ops, Vesta was protector of the peace on Olympus, and played no part in any fighting. Symbolised by the sacred fire, she was worshipped by the Vestals, priestesses that took turns night and day to ensure the sacred fire never went out.
Jupiter was the king of the gods and of Olympus. He was the source of all celestial phenomena, such as thunder and lightning, yet his destructive side was tempered by the fact the was also the protector of cities.
Born of the extramarital affair between Metis and Jupiter, Minerva was a warrior goddess, but also the protector of the countryside. She is also known as the goddess of war strategy, as opposed to Mars who was the god of brutal war.
Ceres was the goddess of farming and the harvest. Her daughter, Proserpina was kidnapped by Pluto who wanted to marry her. As a result, Ceres stopped fertilising the soil. Faced with a situation that would quickly become critical for the mortals, a compromise was found: Proserpina would live in Hell with Pluto but be able to come to the surface for 9 months to see her mother, which would make the soil fertile once more. Thus were created the seasons.
Pluto was Jupiter’s brother and king of Hell and the underworld. Unlike what many believe, he was neither evil nor malevolent and did not torment his subjects. He was famed for kidnapping Proserpina, his niece, who actually ended up ruling over the kingdom of the dead at his side.
Another brother of Jupiter, Neptune ruled over the seas and oceans. He was the protector of sailors and horses. He is often feared by mortals since he is known to create whirlpools and earthquakes.
Her role primarily concerned women and all stages of their lives, along with weddings. She spent her life with Jupiter, her husband, and like him she ruled over atmospheric phenomena. Her beauty was only matched by her jealousy, and she proved to be of limitless ingenuity when it came to wreaking vengeance for Jupiter’s many occasions of adultery.
Diana was the goddess of the moon, sister to Apollo the god of the sun. Growing up, she developed a love of hunting and the animals of the forest. She was the protector of nature, the Amazon people, chastity, and young girls before they wed.
According to myth, Venus was said to be born of the foam of the sea fertilised by Uranus. Her name even means “born of foam” in Greek. She was the goddess of love, beauty, and chivalry, yet was also linked to fertility.
Apollo was Diana’s twin brother. As soon as he was born, he demanded a bow and arrow, and this weapon became his primary trait. Apollo could do works of good and evil, be benevolent or malevolent, firing his arrows at his enemies. He was protector of music and poetry, while also being a healer, god of arts, and god of divination.
Mercury was the son of Jupiter and Maia, the eldest of the Pleiades. As well as being the god of trade, he was also protector of flying creatures. He is described as being nimble-footed and ingenious, although this quality also made him tricksy. He was constantly moving and even sometimes sent on missions by Jupiter to send messages to his hidden mistresses.
He was the busiest god of Olympus, sometimes taking souls to hell as the messenger of Pluto and Proserpina, and often came to the aid of heroes such as Perseus and Hercules. His winged sandals enabled him to fly.
Mars was the illegitimate son of Jupiter and Juno, and was not much liked by the other gods of Olympus. He was the king of violent war, battle and also guardian of agriculture. His Greek name, Ares, signified “curse” or “killer”. He is famed for his relationship with Venus. Mars was greatly feared by humans and none in Ancient Greece worshipped him, although he was very popular among the Romans and even had a temple in his name in Rome.
Vulcan was one of a kind, the only Olympian whose powers were not innate. He actually acquired his mastery over fire and blacksmithing by teaching himself. He was the son of Jupiter and Juno and is nicknamed “the lame one” as, according to legend, his father threw him from the top of Mount Olympus in a fit of rage. Though known for being ugly and having a deformed face, he married his great-aunt Venus, the most beautiful of all the goddesses. Enraged on discovering her affair with Mars, he threw a net he created himself over them both exposing their adultery to all the other gods. Legend has it that Vulcan’s forge is located beneath Mount Etna, the volcano Vulcano (in the Aeolian Isles), or below Vesuvius itself.
Eldest of the Muses, epic poetry
Muse of lyric poetry and also erotic poetry
Muse of music
Muse of history
Muse of eloquence, the ability to learn and to remember
Muse of astronomy and geometry
Muse of song and tragedy
Muse of dance
Muse of comedy
Homer’s Cyclops were one-eyed man-eating creatures of giant proportions. They lived on the island of Hypereia, each in a cave with their family. The most famous of the cyclops was Polyphemus whose eye was gouged out by Ulysses.
Cerberus was the guardian of the underworld. He took the form of a three-headed dog with a dragon’s tail. He terrified all those who came to Hell and was even more petrifying to those who tried to escape. Theseus fought him when he went to rescue Persephone, but only Hercules ever managed to defeat him.
This creature had the body of a man and the head of a bull, and was the spawn of the queen of Minos and a white bull sent to her by Poseidon. The Minotaur was imprisoned in a palace built by Dedalus called the Labyrinth, famed for having a layout so complicated that it was impossible to escape. The king Minos introduced a ritual to keep the Minotaur fed, ordering the city of Athens to provide seven young women and seven young men every nine years to be sacrificed as prey to the Minotaur.
This creature was fire-breathing half goat, half lion with a serpent’s tail. Born of Typhon and Echidna, she was killed by the hero Bellerophon who threw a block of lead into her mouth so when she started to breathe fire she burned her own insides.
The Centaurs were wild creatures with the body of a horse and the torso and head of a man. Chiron, a particularly wise and learned centaur, became the private tutor of several heroes, including Jason and Achilles. When he was hit by a poisoned arrow during battle, Chiron was granted mortality by Jupiter and found his resting place in the stars. Hence what we call the Centaurus constellation today.
Mother Earth
Love and desire
Night
the shadows of the underworld
The hellish abyss
the depths of the underworld
We end our journey in the sky, among the stars. Like a never-ending ballet, these galaxies swirl with billions of stars, dictating the fates of men. Like the Greeks before them, the Romans were constantly looking up to the stars in search of their destiny. The starred canopy of heaven has long inspired the people on Earth, a source of hundreds of myths and beliefs. The destiny of each and every being is written in the stars. Our fates are governed by the dance of the stars and planets above us, where the gods live, and ever has man gazed up at them with dreams of adventure and glory.
