Philip Glass

Satyagraha - Act 3

The second in Glass' trilogy about men who changed the world, Satyagraha's sub-text is politics. The opera is semi-narrative in form and deals with Mahatma Gandhi's early years in South Africa and his development of non-violent protest into a political tool. (Satyagraha is a Sanskrit word meaning 'truth force'). Each act is dominated by a single historic figure (non-singing role) overlooking the action from above: the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore in Act 1, the Russian author Leo Tolstoy in Act 2, the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. , in Act 3.

The music from the conclusion of Act 3 has been beautifully arranged and adapted for Organ solo by Michael Riseman and Donald Joyce.