Stravinsky's genius for the stage is here represented by two very different works. Oedipus Rex (1927) is the fruit of a collaboration with Jean Cocteau, in which the tragedy of Sophocles is pared down to make an opera-oratorio of overwhelming impact. Composer Judith Weir explores the surprising way in which this is achieved: the Latin text has an immediacy which is sometimes even comic, and the vibrant rhythms are reminiscent of the Italian operatic tradition - which David Nice explores further in his analysis of the score. The libretto of The Rake's Progress (1951) by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman is one of the greatest English opera texts. In a brilliant survey of the composition period, Roger Savage examines the contributions of the different collaborators.