Opera
The king of the other country
Chamber opera in 2 acts for soprano, baritone, 6 singers in minor roles accompanied by chamber orchestra
Libretto by Fleur Adcock
The king of the other country was written for the students of the Sydney Conservatorium Opera School and first performed by them with Jane Manning (soprano), Geoffrey Chard (baritone) and the Flederman Ensemble conducted by Myer Fredman.
About the work
Somewhere in Britain, Isabel is sitting in the garden of her isolated cottage on a long, hot summer evening, singing a lullaby to her daughter. Her husband comes and admonishes her. It is dangerous to sit out alone at night. A year ago he had met this strange man, who, it’s said, might be the king of the other country.
Isabel considers this nonsense, but her mother supports her husband. Isabel asks her sister to sit in the garden with her, but, tiring of her chatter, sends her back inside. Alone in the garden, singing to her baby in her cradle, she is approached by a distinguished man and his gentleman attendant, who, after some conversation, reveal their true identities. ‘I am the king of the other country, and you are coming to be my bride.’ The king sweeps her off her feet and abducts her to the other country.
After a night spent in lovemaking in the other country, Isabel asks the king if she can return to visit her daughter. The king agrees, but she must wear a golden cloak to keep her safe. After she returns home, she eventually comes to realise that it is not one night that has passed, but many years …
Cast
The 2 major roles for soprano and baritone were written for professional singers. The minor roles are for 2 tenors, 4 sopranos and 2 mezzo-sopranos. Singers in minor roles also double as chorus, and some of the solo parts can be doubled.
Instrumentation
This work is scored for flute (doubling piccolo), clarinet in B flat, clarinet in E flat, bass clarinet, trombone, piano/celesta/harpsichord, piano/chamber organ, harp, timpani, percussion (3 players) and strings.
Score
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
The Pirate Moon
Opera in 2 acts for 12 singers and orchestra
Libretto by Anna-Maria dell’Oso
The Pirate Moon was commissioned for the singing students of Anthea Moller, to celebrate the opening of the new music building at the Auckland University School of Music. The premiere took place there in 1986 conducted by John Elmsly.
About the work
Early in 1985, I was asked to write this chamber opera for the singing students and an ensemble consisting of the staff and students of the School of Music. It is in 2 acts, set in the world of the Futuries, with a prologue and epilogue set on a west coast beach.
The choice of subject in an area bordering on science fiction was dictated by the fact that the majority of singers were women, and I wanted to stay away from stereotypical themes.
I gave an abstract story line based on 2 ideas to the librettist — a story concerning the encounter with a UFO on a west coast beach by a young couple, and the other, a theme I’ve often worked with, the misunderstandings that arise between groups of different cultures or beliefs.
Anna dell’Oso, who was at the time looking into women’s mythology, drew on 2 quotations, one from Plutarch, ‘This is … an oracle shared by Night and the Moon …The voice was the Sibyl’s … who sang of the future as she was carried about on the face of the moon’, and the other from Macbeth ‘You can look into the seeds of time, and say which will grow and which will not.’
Cast
There are 3 main roles for mezzo-soprano, baritone and soprano, with 7 minor principals (mainly women) who double as a small SATB chorus.
Instrumentation
The Pirate Moon is scored for: flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone, keyboards, percussion (3 players), tape and strings.
Score
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
The Tinker’s Curse
Children’s opera for 6 adult soloists, 2 children’s choirs, 10-piece ensemble and 6-piece children’s percussion ensemble
Libretto by Joan Aiken
The Tinker’s Curse was written with a grant from 1YC Telethon Trust for the Year of the Child while I was composer-in-residence for Northern Arts, United Kingdom.
About the work
The Tinker’s Curse was tailored for performance in Cumbria, United Kingdom, involving local schools and musicians. Because of publishing deadlines not being met, the performances were cancelled. The story is particularly appropriate for Northern England or Scotland, but maybe not appropriate elsewhere.
This opera is dedicated to my parents, Marjorie and Ivan Whitehead.
Synopsis
Act 1
A travelling tinker, seeking shelter in a moorland house, is killed for his possessions and his body is thrown in the lake, and his angry ghost, lamenting, promises ill fortune to any who hear his voice.
Many years later a young couple settle in the house. When his wife is in labour, the husband, who wants a son, runs off to fetch the doctor. His wife hears the ghost of the tinker, and when her husband returns, his wife has died in childbirth, but the child, a girl, is alive. The husband refuses to accept the situation.
14 years later, the child, Helen, who has been born deaf, is teased by the local children, and admonished by her father, who considers her useless and lazy. She tries to play with the other children, but it is discovered that she has the ability to find what is lost. She is befriended by Andy, who explains how people should talk to her.
The doctor comes past, and recognises the place where the tragedy took place many years before. Eventually, with Andy’s help, he can talk to Helen, who helps him find his watch, lost 14 years before. The doctor tests her hearing, and says he can give her an operation which will restore her hearing.
Act 2
The second act begins in the hospital, with the nurses and matron. The operation takes place successfully — it’s an operation quite outdated today — and everything is finally resolved back home outside the cottage.
Cast
The cast consists of 6 adult soloists and 2 childrens’ choirs.
Instrumentation
The opera is scored for string and wind quintets with childrens’ percussion (6 players). It can be accompanied by piano.
Score
Buy or borrow the score from SOUNZ.
Tristan and Iseult
Opera for 4 singers, mimes and puppets accompanied by a 14-piece ensemble
Libretto by Malcolm Crowthers and Michael Hill
The first performances of Tristan and Iseult were given from 4 to 9 April 1978 at the Maidment Theatre during the Auckland International Festival with Jane Manning (soprano), Robert Oliver (tenor), Roger Wilson (baritone) and Graeme Wall (tenor), conducted by William Southgate and directed by Ros Clark.
The costumes for the original production were designed by Priscilla Pitts and the set was designed by Gretchen Albrecht. 7 banners were arranged to hang in a semi-circle on stage, each banner having its own colour variations linking it to parts of the opera.
About the work
The opera tells the story of the old Cornish legend of the 2 lovers, Tristan and Iseult, in which Tristan, fights and kills the Morholt which was threatening King Mark’s Cornish kingdom, but is badly wounded.
His boat drifts to Ireland, where he is healed by Iseult. Back at court, King Mark says he will only marry the owner of a hair of gold, and Tristan volunteers to find this woman. The woman is Iseult, and when Tristan is bringing her back to court they are becalmed, and thirsting, unknowingly drink a love potion intended for King Mark and Iseult. The consequences of this drive the rest of the story.
Drawing on sources going back to the 12th century, the librettists reduced the story to its simplest structure, producing a text of 13 short scenes. They conceived the work as a sort of mediaeval court masque, introduced by troubadours, who tell the story, but are gradually absorbed into it as the momentum grows, preparing for further transformation in the madness scene, in which various events are telescoped so that it becomes uncertain whether the events are real or occur only in the minds of the separated lovers.
As with the libretto, the music moves freely between various levels. For the first, I drew on 2 early sources — the 14th century dance Lamento di Tristan, and Belle Douette. A second level is the quasi-plainsong music of the narrators, a third the ballad-like style describing Tristan’s heroic or not-so-heroic adventures where puppet action predominates, and the fourth related to my usual style of writing, which prevails in the scenes in which the action between the main protagonists takes place.
This is no place to go into the technical details of the piece, but at this time I was working using magic squares — which have been associated with the sun, moon and planets at least since mediaeval times — as a major element in my writing. As a ‘conceit’, music derived from the square of Jupiter represents King Mark, Venus represents Tristan and Iseult, Mars the battle scenes, the moon the orchard in moonlight, and so on.
Cast
The opera is written for 2 tenors, baritone, mezzo-soprano, a minimum of 4 mimes and puppets.
Instrumentation
Tristan and Iseult is scored for flute (doubling alto flute and piccolo), oboe, clarinet (doubling bass and E flat clarinets), horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion, harp and string quintet.
Score and recording
Price Milburn Music published the vocal score and libretto of Tristan and Iseult in 1977.
Tristan and Iseult — publication
Buy or borrow the score, parts and libretto from SOUNZ.
A recording by Peter Crowe has been lodged at the Alexander Turnbull Library and may be accessed with permission.
Award
Tristan and Iseult won a special APRA Silver Scroll award in 1978.
Reviews
The Composers’ Association Newsletter from October 1978 features a review of the premiere season. Borrow it from SOUNZ.
‘I loved this Tristan and Iseult because here we have a beautiful and archetypal tale of conflict between loyalty and love, told and acted out with supreme economy and clarity in a combination of sound and movement unsullied by romantic lushness or gothic fancy, but with the uncluttered strong lines of Romanesque architecture.’
— Robert Leek, Radio Talk