[2] Although loosely based on Euripides' play Medea,[3] neither Barber nor Graham desired to use the legend literally in the ballet.
Instead, these mythical figures served rather to project psychological states of jealousy and vengeance which are timeless.
As the tension and conflict between them increases, they step out of their legendary roles from time to time and become the modern man and woman, caught in the nets of jealousy and destructive love; and at the end resume their mythical quality.
[1] Beside Medea and Jason there are two other characters in the ballet, the Young Princess whom Jason marries out of ambition and for whom he betrays Medea, and an attendant who assumes the part of the onlooking chorus of the Greek tragedy, sympathizing, consoling and interpreting the actions of the major characters.
Early in 1947 Barber extracted from the ballet a seven-movement suite for full orchestra.