Peabody Opera Theatre presents
Les mamelles de Tirésias
music by Francis Poulenc
text by Guillaume Apollinaire
L’enfant et les sortilèges
music by Maurice Ravel
text by Colette
Hajime Teri Murai, conductor
The Peabody Concert Orchestra
Eileen Cornett, principal coach
Garnett Bruce, stage director
Dirk Durossette, set designer
Michael Montgomery, costume designer
Douglas Nelson, lighting designer
Jeanne DiBattista Croke, wig and make-up designer
Wednesday–Saturday, March 16–19, 2011, at 7:30 PM
Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall
Peabody Conservatory of Music
1 East Mt. Vernon Place
Baltimore, Maryland
Admission $25 / Seniors $15 / Students with ID $10
Box Office: 410-234-4800, or book online
Peabody Opera home
The two one-act operas in this program show aspects of the French fascination with the world of fantasy. Les mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias) is a satirical play by Guillaume Apollinaire, performed in the shadow of one war in 1917; Francis Poulenc’s setting of it emerged from the shadows of another, in 1947. Tired of her life as a housewife, Thérèse gets rid of her breasts (they turn into balloons and float away) and turns herself into a man, compounding the insult by dressing her husband as a woman. But the husband proves so successful at raising babies that a population crisis erupts which can only be resolved by a return to normal gender roles. The libretto for L’enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Enchantments, 1925) is by the novelist Colette. It tells of a naughty boy who is locked up in his room by his mother, but wrecks the place in a tantrum, only to be punished when the various objects come to life. Outside in the twilight, there are other creatures to reprove the child – but the garden is also filled with the richness of life, enabling the boy to redeem himself and seek forgiveness. This production, with charming designs by Dirk Durossette and Michael Montgomery, is yet another collaboration between the Peabody Conservatory and Temple University in Philadelphia.
Set model by Dirk Durossette
Stage director Garnett Bruce writes: The most refreshing definition of Surrealism that I have found asks us “to open vistas of the arts through close observation of the dream state and the free play of thought—making manifest repressed mental activities.“ It’s a definition I keep going back to and applying to our Surrealist opera of Thérèse losing her balloon-breasts, changing her sex (as well as her name), and then returning to her husband. It also can be equally applied to the Lyric Fantasy of Ravel & Colette—where the child’s bad behavior is viewed from several different points of view—a view from objects and animals that seldom speak directly to us. What is real, what is perceived, what is expressed, but above all what is learned?
It is the lessons within both of these operas which linger long after the melodies have faded. The creativity of our composers in taking us on this journey has consumed our department the past few months. Poulenc writes devilishly difficult phrases and rhythmic changes; Ravel asks for myriad colors and instrumentation—and the theater demands these stories be told with a certain humanity. Puppets and animation could do better justice to angry clocks and dangerous fire, to wacky gamblers and pompous policemen, but the inherent human element of both of these pieces must never be lost. We’ve placed our cast in a world where all is not what it may seem—but for the audience, it is live and therefore real. Painters and poets and composers of the early 20th century worked to expand and challenge the minds of their musicians as well as their listeners. Some of what you see may strike you as absurd—but look for the lesson beneath the surface, for in discovering the layers within these compositions, we will all discover something more about ourselves.
Poulenc and Apollinaire (painting by Marie Laurencin, 1907)
Tirésias in the Greek myths chose to live for seven years as a woman. Upon returning to society as a man he remarked that the women of the world had far more benefits (and more pleasure) than the men. A theater director explains his simple goal for the play: to encourage those who have hardly made any children to put aside their differences and make more children. The housewife Thérèse complains of the drudgery of life in Zanzibar and dreams of a better future. By changing her sex, she sets out to take over the world—and do a better job of it. Her husband, attempting to humor her, wears a dress—but is then subject to the not-so-subtle overtures of the Gendarme. Two so-called friends (Lacouf and Presto) continue to crop up when they are least expected, killing each other and returning time after time. The Husband creates a scheme to repopulate Zanzibar without women at all—causing a rift between the sexes. A journalist comes to report on the claims the Husband has created of 40,049 children in just one day, but is ushered out without answers. The husband soon realizes one of his offspring is out of control—and the Gendarme complains there is no way to feed all the new arrivals in Zanzibar. Off to the fortune teller they go in search of a solution—whereupon the husband is reunited with Thérèse, and the ensemble encourages each other (and everyone around them) in a raucous accelerando to “scratch that itch and make children!“
Colette and Ravel
When the child is reprimanded for not finishing his homework, he throws a tantrum upsetting the animals (a caged squirrel and the house cats), breaking dishes, and earning the wrath of the furniture. The fire almost burns him. The shepherds on the wallpaper lament being torn from their partners. The characters from his favorite book appear only to fade away because the book has been torn apart and now he can never know the end. His math homework terrifies him with a cascade of incorrect sums and an unrelenting professor. Seeking solace, he flees outside, but the trees and animals of the forest also conspire to chastise the child for his selfish and angry behavior. Only when he comes tothe aid of a frightened little squirrel do the animals realize the good that he has in him, and lead him back to utter the final word of the opera: “Maman!”
Les mamelles de Tirésias is presented by arrangement with Alphonse Leduc-Robert King, Inc., sole renting agent in the United States of America, Canada, and Mexico for Editions Heugel.
L'enfant et les sortilèges is presented by arrangement with Boosey & Hawkes, Inc., Sole Agent in the US, Canada and Mexico for Durand S.A. Editions Musicales, a Universal Music Publishing Group company, publisher and copyright owner.
CAST
Since these are both ensemble operas, the majority of singers in the production perform different roles in each production on different nights. Only a few roles in each opera are listed here; the first-named singer appears at the Wednesday and Friday performances, the second-named sings at the Thursday and Saturday ones.
| Theatre Director | Christian Waugh Nathan Wyatt | ||
| Thérèse | Kisma Jordan Amber Schwarzrock | ||
| Le Mari, her husband | Stephen Campbell Jayson Greenberg | ||
| Le Gendarme, keeper of the peace | Jisoo Kim Nathan Wyatt | ||
| Child | Erica Hamby Mary-Lacey Rogers | ||
| Fire/Princess/Nightingale | Sarah Hayashi Lisa Perry | ||
| Saran Erdenebat • Yoonjee Ha • Jeremy Hirsch • Tyler Lee • Yun Kyong Lee • Kristina Lewis • Michael Maliakel • Michael Rainbow • Alexandra Razskazoff • Elizabeth Reeves • Alexander Rosen • William Schaller • Andrew Spady • Jocelyn Thomas • Alison Tynes • Tessa Wegenke • John Williams • Chen Yu | |||