Oedipus rex (opera) of his father, husband of his mother. Shattered, Oedipus leaves. The messenger reports the death of Jocasta: she has hanged herself in her chambers. Oedipus breaks into her room and puts out his eyes with her pin. He departs Thebes forever as the chorus at first vents their anger, and then mourns the loss of the king they loved. Many insights to this opera are found in Leonard Bernstein's analysis of it in his sixth and last Norton lecture from 1973. Bernstein stated that "Oedipus Rex" is the most "awesome product" of Stravinsky's neoclassical period. Much of the music borrows
Oedipus Rex some versions, the servant gives the infant to the shepherd). The shepherd names the child Oedipus, "swollen feet", as his feet had been tightly bound by Laius. The shepherd brings the infant to Corinth, and presents him to the childless king Polybus, who raises Oedipus as his own son. As he grows to manhood, Oedipus hears a rumour that he is not truly the son of Polybus and his wife, Merope. He asks the Delphic Oracle who his parents really are. The Oracle seems to ignore this question, telling him instead that he is destined to ""mate with [his] own