Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex was based on Sophocles’ classic tragedy Oedipus Tyrannus. Jean Cocteau wrote the libretto for Stravinsky in French, the text was then translated into Latin. Le speaker speaking in the audience’s native language with a detached voice is added to the opera-oratorio to narrate the events of the story throughout. With its mixed genres, the juxtaposition of the dead language and the vernacular, the contrast of the spoken word and the music performance, and the intertexual references in the music, a strong dialectical tension is created. This study is a critical review of the narrative mode of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex. For a very long time, literature on Oedipus Rex has mainly focused on the presentation of its music. However, as an opera-oratorio, Oedipus Rex is composed to stage. This study aims at investigating the theatrical significance of the work, for its theatrical presentation is influential and profound in 20th century music theatre. Of particular note is the use of le speaker. The narration inserted in between each musical episode creates a sense of ambivalence in the storytelling. The work is therefore a bold challenge to the way stories have been told in theatre over the past centuries. The discussion concludes with the analysis of Julie Taymor and Seiji Ozawa’s film version of Oedipus Rex in 1992. With Japanese elements infused in the work, the dramatic tension between the spoken word and the music performance is further polarised. This production is an example of how a combination of the spoken word and the music performance pushes the Oedipus story further away from Sophocles’ original. / published_or_final_version / Music / Master / Master of Philosophy