OPERA
GLASS
In the Penal Colony (2000) Opera. Libretto (English) written by Rudolph Wurlitzer based on the tale by Franz Kafka.
A Madrigal Opera (1979) Opera. Duration: 35’ Cast: S, Mz, A, T, Bar, B Orch: vn(va)
Duration: 80’ Cast: T, Bar [=B]; 2 actors Orch: str [min 1.1.1.1.1)
The work, written for the Dutch theatre artist Rob Malasch, is conceived as an abstract music theatre work which would be ‘completed’ by the various future directors. It is for this reason that though the work has a clear emotional shape, it has no specific theatrical content.
Based on Kafka’s short story of the same title, In the Penal Colony describes an execution planned for one of the prisoners of the ‘colony’ for which an execution machine is routinely used. The material itself is allegorical and though at first the story appears to address the question of capital punishment, in fact Kafka uses it as a platform to explore, extensively and poetically, issues of humanism, idealism and transfiguration.
Publisher: Dunvagen
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1988) Opera in three acts. Libretto (English) by Doris Lessing based on her novel. Duration: 180’ Cast: 2S, Mz, A, 2T, 2 Bar, 2 B; SATB chorus Orch: 2(I/pic).2.2+bcl(Ebcl).2/4331/timp.3perc/hp/str
Publisher: Dunvagen
The Juniper Tree (1985) Opera in two acts; music by Philip Glass and Robert Moran. Libretto (English) by Arthur Yorinks based on the Brothers Grimm.
Doris Lessing’s philosophical/mystical novel tells of an Eden-like planet plunged into an ice age that is extinguished of all life. Guided by the overlords from Canopus, an extraterrestrial civilisation, the people of Planet 8 learn to accept their individual deaths and evolve into a collective universal soul (the ‘Representative’ of the title) that survives physical destruction.
Duration: 90’ Cast: 3S, Mz, Trb, T, 2Bar, B; children’s voices; SATB chorus Orch: 1.0.1+bcl.1/1110/2perc.2kbd(syn,cel)/str(1.1.1.1.1)
Glass and fellow composer Robert Moran collaborated in virtual equality on the composition of The Juniper Tree. A Glass scene is followed by a Moran scene, with transitions composed by each. The result is a fascinating hybrid, each composer holding on to his own identity while melding with the other. The famous Grimm fairy tale tells of a Wicked Stepmother who murders her stepson and serves him up in a stew to his unsuspecting father. The boy’s sister buries her brother’s bones under a juniper tree and the child’s spirit returns as a singing bird which wreaks vengeance on the evil Stepmother before being restored to life in the bosom of his family. One of the most tuneful operas in the Glass repertory.
Publisher: Dunvagen Libretto for sale
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1997) Opera in two acts. Libretto (English) by Doris Lessing. Duration: 133’ Cast: 2S, 2Mz, T, 2Bar, B; SATB chorus; off-stage SATB chorus Orch: 2(pic).2.2(Ebcl)+bcl.2/3.3.2+btbn.1/perc/2syn/vn.vc
The second part of Glass’s trilogy based on Doris Lessing’s Canopus in Argos series is set in the indeterminate lands of the Zones – strange realms which encircle the Earth. Zone Three, a peaceful, contented, matriarchal paradise, is ruled by the gentle Queen Al-Ith; the neighbouring Zone Four island given to war and chaos, controlled by brutal warrior-king, Ben-Ata. Their marriage, a melding of the extreme male and female principles, threatens to destabilise the entire galactic empire.
Publisher: Dunvagen Libretto for sale
Kepler (2009) Opera in two acts with prologue and epilogue. Libretto (German and Latin) by Martina Winkel. Duration: 105’ Cast: 2S, Mz, T, Bar, B; SATB chorus Orch: 2.pic.2(ca).2.cbcl(cl).2/4.3.3.1/5perc/cel.pf.hp/str
Publisher: Dunvagen
Monsters of Grace (1997) Digital opera in three dimensions.
A portrait opera on the life of German mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer, and a key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. He is best known for his eponymous laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers based on his works Astronomia nova, Harmonices Mundi, and Epitome of Copernican Astronomy. These works provided the foundation for Newton‘s theory of universal gravitation.
Duration: 70’ Cast: S, Mz, 2Bar Orch: fl(bfl.cl.ssx).fl(pic.bfl.ssx).tsx(ssx.asx)/3kbd
‘Over the last three years, Bob Wilson and I have been meeting to work on a new theater piece, “Monsters of Grace”. Since “Einstein on the Beach” in ‘76, we have come together on several occasions to make new work, but unlike those projects, with this present work, we have had a real opportunity to sit together and engage in a new world of ideas. Of course image, music, and structure are at the root of what we are thinking. We are, moreover, addressing a challenge of a new technology and it’s impact on a developing artistic view. It is fair to say that as an ongoing process, it is still fluid, elusive, and for us, full of surprise.’ (Philip Glass)
Publisher: Dunvagen
The Lost (2013) Opera. Libretto (German) by Rainer Mennicken after Peter Handke’s Spuren der Verirrten. Duration: 135’ Cast: 2 Actors, male dancer, female dancer; 3S, 2Mz,2T, Bar, B; SATB chorus; male and female dancers, children and bit players Orch: 2+pic.2.2+bcl.2/4.3.2+btbn.1/timp.4perc/hp.epf/str
Publisher: Dunvagen
Based on the play Footprints of the Lost by contemporary Austrian writer Peter Handke. It depicts a seemingly endless stream of characters in small and large groups as they continuously cross the stage from right to left throughout the opera. Numerous stories and vignettes of ordinary life ebb and flow in this strangely abstract yet concrete narrative. Publisher: Dunvagen
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