Where, Pray Tell, Are the Americans?
by James L. Paulk ©2006
Thomas Adès: The Tempest. Santa Fe Opera. July 29, 2006. American Premiere.
Although he is a relative newcomer to opera, with only two having been produced to date, and though even his concert music hasn’t been performed in the U.S. that much, Thomas Adès has joined most short lists of the most important emerging composers in the new century, lists which he frequently tops. Other names on these lists, or at least on mine, would include Kaija Saariaho and Pascal Dusapin. [Where, you might ask, are the Americans? Yes, there have been a lot of new American operas written lately. But perhaps our system—which depends more on wealthy donors, focuses on pandering to public tastes, and makes filling the seats a necessity and failure an impossibility—is inherently less likely to produce great music. Elsewhere, with more public funding, there is a greater emphasis on building a more sophisticated audience, and more of a willingness to take risks.]
Born in 1971, British, and Cambridge-educated, Mr. Adès is, at the moment, better ! known for his concert work, even though it was his first opera, Powder Her Face , that brought him to international attention. His chamber and symphonic output, almost all of which has been recorded by EMI, reflects the eclecticism that has come to be associated with his name. This is a guy (and I’m focusing only on his vocal writing for this article) whose Life Story , based on a Tennessee Williams poem, features a soprano, instructed to sing in the style of Billie Holiday, accompanied by two bass clarinets and string bass. His America: A Prophecy , commissioned by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, has extraordinarily dense orchestral writing (his specialty) alternating with a clear-voiced mezzo and chorus. The latter, with lyrics like “they will come from the East… your cities will fall,” proved eerily prophetic when it was followed in short order by the 9/11 disaster. He likes to play around with transcriptions, including that of “Cardiac Arrest,” a “Ska-rock classic,” and an homage to Brahms, a joint project with Alfred Brendel.
Back to Powder Her Face , first performed at the Cheltenham Festival in 1995. It’s a chamber “jazz and sex” opera with a smallish but quite busy orchestra (my recollection from hearing it at BAM in 1998 is that it must be quite difficult to play) and four singers, each of whom sings multiple roles. The libretto is a lightly provocative look at the Dutchess of Argyll, whose divorce was a great scandal in 50’s London. She married up, as W would say, then settled into a rather frisky lifestyle involving the household staff, until her shocking downfall. Mr. Adès’ score is a send-up of the music of the era, big bands and such, but it also plays around with Richard Strauss and Stravinsky. Nostalgia with an edge, the treatment is utterly original every single time.
Mr. Adès didn’t return to opera until late 2004, when Covent Garden commissioned The Tempest . After a few stops, this project has found its way to Santa Fe Opera, where it opened July 29th, in a splendid new production by Jonathan Kent. There have been many operatic assaults on Shakespeare’s The Tempest , we were told at a morning seminar, and pretty much all of them have failed. Oddly not mentioned anywhere was perhaps the most successful one, by John Eaton. Its 1985 premiere took place, wow, right here at Santa Fe Opera, to mixed reviews. Mr. Eaton is still around, and has been quite busy with smaller music projects since his Tempest , the libretto for which was written by Andrew Porter. According to Schirmer, it featured a large orchestra with electronic instruments, plus both a jazz trio and a Renaissance ensemble onstage. And, get this, it included microtonal music. It was apparently a bit wild for the audience, and almost certainly would be now, but if someone wants to revive it, I’ll give them a contribution.
Sorry, back to the Adès Tempest . Mr. Adès and his librettist, Meredith Oakes, have abandoned Shakespeare’s beautiful text, and substituted something bordering on doggerel (they’ve also left out most of the more memorable speeches). It wouldn’t make for pleasant reading, but it seems to work for Adès’ music. Which is the point: try reading some Wagner libretti some time. Few of the composers who have tried setting Shakespeare in English have succeeded (Britten’s Midsummer Night’s Dream is the exception), the text doesn’t leave space for the composer.
In this Tempest , Prospero has created a utopia, with Ariel and Caliban as elements of himself. He wants revenge, so he allows intruders in, ruining his creation. And, in the end, hope lies with the younger generation. The original play has, of course, been pared down to focus on this vision. The opera opens with violent storm music, an unruly take on Britten, and with the survivors of the shipwrecked cruise ship climbing on stage from the sea, which would seem to be the orchestra pit (somehow, there was a pool at the foot of the stage with room for them to climb out of) onto a sand beach. The production makes fantastic use of trap doors and other trickery to create a magical dream world, all with a wink to the audience, to let us consider the essential meaning of the work.
This is one tough opera to cast. The role of Ariel in this opera (sung here by the amazing Cyndia Sieden) has been compared to “the Queen of the Night on crack.” She starts on a high E and pretty much stays there all night. Without titles, you really wouldn’t make out much of her singing. Prospero is written for a baritone, but the high notes again limit available choices. Rod Gilfrey sang and acted with a certain nobility, but seemed a bit young for the role. Caliban here is much more sympathetic than in the original play. And, at least in this production, the requirement that he spend the evening virtually naked on stage probably affects casting as much as the voice. Tenor William Ferguson was a good candidate in both respects, and had the athleticism the part required. Tenor Toby Spence and mezzo Patricia Risley were excellent as the young lovers.
Adès’ score sometimes features a kind of dry string writing that again brings Britten to mind, as does his Balinese gamelan techniques. There is often no key center, and there are many orchestral textures at work here. But things get tonal from time to time, and there is a hauntingly beautiful love duet for Miranda and Ferdinand. And a closer study reveals that the duet is built from the earlier storm music, just as Prospero’s earlier patterns recur during an epilogue, when Caliban and Ariel regain the island. Indeed, this is a work that rewards careful repeat listening. And there will almost certainly be plenty of opportunities.
[…] LIVE EVENTS Diversity Comes to the Upper West Side: ACA Festival 2006/ Leo Kraft/ BLC , 11 Where, Pray Tell, Are the Americans? / James L. Paulk, 13 A Whale of an Event / BLC, 14 No Pussyfooting on the Pedals / BLC, 15 A Musical Event with Punch / Joseph Pehrson, 16 The Trendy Way with Supové /Joseph Pehrson, 16 Coming Full Circle / BLC, (added comments by Mark Greenfest), 17 […]