GRUNDMAN - GUINOVART
OPERA Jorge Grundman
Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
Born 1961, Madrid, Spain
Born 21 November 1932, Hellerup, Denmark; died 27 June 2016, Copenhagen, Denmark
Cinco horas con Mario (2015) Opera. Libretto (Spanish) by the composer and Miguel Delibes.
Sol går op, Sol går ned (The Sun Rises, The Sun Sets) (2011) A Performance of music and acting. Libretto (Danish); spoken text by Ursula Andkjær Olsen, sung text from Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs.
Duration: 115’ Cast: S, 3Mz, T, B; chorus Orch: 2.2(ca).2.2/2.1.0.0/timp.cym+vib+tbells/hp/str
Cinco horas con Mario by Miguel Delibes is one of the key works of Spanish literature. In the opera the bells announce a death knell and the inhabitants of the small town gather around the person who reads the obituary to learn the identity of the deceased. They head for the home of Carmen, Mario’s widow, to express their condolences. Acquaintances and family members regret the loss and remember his dearest moments until they all leave. Carmen feels alone and starts a dialogue with her deceased husband. Memories and reproaches coexist with Carmen’s interpretation of the Bible, allowing her to draft not only Mario’s life, but also the lives of the persons around Mario. Thus, her honeymoon, suspicions of infidelity, her childhood, wishes, her children, and the war between the two opposing sides of Spain are Carmen’s recurring themes from an emotive, innocent, or even funny point of view. Nevertheless, Carmen is hiding a terrible truth that has chased her during her whole life and that she has concealed from Mario.
Duration: 85’ Cast: S, Bar, B; SATB chorus Orch: cl, 3tbn, perc, egtr, bgtr, vn, va, vc
The young lovers sing text from Song of Songs, while the old Solomon looks at the young couple singing love songs to each other and despairs. All the while, stage workers are trying to clear out the mess on the stage (or is it the World?) and discuss what’s for lunch in the canteen. Resignation, love, beauty and common sense are present in a mixture very characteristic of Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen, who wrote: ‘The stage hands and the other persons on the stage move about each in his or her own world, in their own bubbles. Like worlds circling around each other, each preserving his/her own identity. Sometimes resulting in chaotic collisions, a tangled sound, where not everyone can count on being heard! Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Albert Guinovart Born 1962, Barcelona, Spain
Publisher: Unión Musical Ediciones
Alba eterna (2009) Opéra-ballet. Libretto (Catalan) by Jordi Faura.
Louis Gruenberg Born 22 July 1884, Brest-Litovsk, Russia; died 10 June 1964, Beverly Hills, CA, USA
Duration: 120’ Cast: S, Mz, T, Bar; dancer Orch: 1[pic].1[ca].1[bcl].1/1.0.0.0/perc/pf/str
The Emperor Jones (1933) Grand Opera in two acts, a prologue and an interlude. Libretto (English) by Kathleen de Jaffa after Eugene O’Neill.
A couple, Celsa and Horaci, live a contemplative life until their son, Erasme, returns from abroad. He tells them that he is in love with a dancer called Alba and that they want to marry. As a wedding present, Horaci is building a clock to stop time in order to keep the couple young, strong, and beautiful. When Horaci sees Alba dancing in the theatre, he becomes fascinated by her beauty in the same way that Erasme did. Celsa realises this and plots to steal the beauty she lost from Alba. Ares, the director of the theatre, takes advantage of Alba and steals her vital energy and her beauty. Celsa pities her and tries to help her. Horaci finishes the clock and decides to place it in the theatre, while Ares has killed Celsa for menacing her existence. Alba kills the director and instead of going back to Erasme, she places herself in the centre of the theatre and with a hypnotic music becomes the toy ballerina of a music box.
Translation available: German Duration: 100’ Cast: Mz, T, Bar; dancers; SATB chorus Orch: 3333/4331/timp.perc/hp.pf.cel/str
The burly Brutus Jones is serving a life sentence in a chain-gang for the murder of a friend. He kills a guard and escapes on a ship to a small Caribbean island where, with the help of the Cockney trader Henry Smithers, he dominates the natives and soon becomes Emperor Jones. His position enables him to loot and ravish; in his revolver he keeps a silver bullet, said to be the only bullet potent enough to kill him. The natives plan his downfall because of his arrogance. Smithers, in whom Jones has confided that he intends to leave and go elsewhere with all the island’s riches, tells him that the natives are uprising. Jones, sceptical at first, soon realises he must flee. He starts to make his way through the forest, only to be pursued by his own fears and the sound of native drums. Frightened by his conscience, he wears himself out in the tangled ways of the jungle; hallucinations finally overtake him, and he falls to the ground, begging the Almighty for mercy. Suddenly he sees the natives approaching and, in final terror, he kills himself by firing the silver bullet into his own head. After a dance the natives leave. Henry Smithers inspects the body and remarks: ‘Dead as a herring, but you died in grand style anyhow’.
Publisher: Unión Musical Ediciones
Azar (1998) Opera. Libretto (Spanish) by Rosario Curiel. Translation available: Catalan Duration: 58’ Cast: 2S, 2T, 2Bar Orch: 1.1.1.1/1.1.0.0/perc/pf/str
Chance gathers six characters together at a certain point in time and space. The place may be a metro carriage and time is unknown. The characters are: David, a young Philosophy student full of questions but without answers, who must go to take an exam; Salva, a young construction worker, who hardly survives with a temporary contract and who is about to pass a test for the renewal of it; Irene and Alba, students fascinated by Alba’s happiness, as she is about to meet a boy whom she expects to change her life forever; and Teo, a young rapper immersed in the pain of his brother’s death, which happened one day earlier at a street fight; and Kaos, a strange character living between nihilism and alcoholism, who has had a tough life. An unexpected event then happens: the metro suddenly stops and they turn to focus on their projects and expectations.
Publisher: GunMar Music
Publisher: Unión Musical Ediciones 50
CAT08195 Chester Opera-Ballet Brochure 2017.indd 50
12/04/2017 13:09