Ça Ira

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Work data
Original title: Ça Ira
Original language: French (original libretto)

English (premiere)

Music: Roger Waters
Libretto : Nadine Roda-Gil , Etienne Roda-Gil
Premiere: November 17, 2005
Place of premiere: Auditorium Parco della Musica , Rome
Playing time: about 3 hours
Place and time of the action: France, 1789-1793

Ça Ira is an opera about the French Revolution in three acts, composed by Roger Waters based on a libretto by Nadine and Étienne Roda-Gil . The first performance of the work took place on November 17th, 2005 in the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome .

action

Ça Ira tells the story of the French Revolution in the form of a circus in which the various characters, such as Louis XVI. or Marie-Antoinette are spectators or even participants in the arena . The central figure of the opera is the ring master . Waters admitted to having changed the historical events a little because the reality was "a bit inadequate".

layout

The opera was written for a full orchestra , four vocal soloists , a choir and a children's choir . Musically, Ça Ira is in places based on the works of Hector Berlioz , Johannes Brahms , Giacomo Puccini (whom Waters himself mentions as inspiration) and Vincenzo Bellini . Similarities to Waters' work as a rock musician were noted by some critics.

Emergence

The songwriter Étienne Roda-Gil and his wife Nadine wrote the libretto for Ça Ira in 1989, as part of the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution , which came to Waters through a mutual friend. He began to compose the associated music shortly afterwards and had already completed a demo recording after six weeks . The then French President François Mitterrand was enthusiastic about this demo, according to Waters, and suggested that Ça Ira be premiered at the Opéra Bastille . After conductor Daniel Barenboim was fired, this plan failed, as Waters later explained in an interview, because of the reluctance of the French opera directors to have an opera written by an English bassist. From 1997 onwards, Waters began to translate the libretto into English at the urging of Sony . With the orchestration Waters was supported by composer, conductor and arranger Rick Wentworth , since Waters could hardly read notes himself.

Part of the opera was performed publicly for the first time in 2002 when the overture was played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra during a concert for the Countryside Alliance on October 16 . On May 1, 2004, another (pre-recorded) part of the opera was played along with a laser show during the celebrations for Malta's accession to the EU .

On November 17, 2005, more than 15 years after the libretto was written, a concert premiere of Ça Ira took place in the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome . Both Etienne (2004) and Nadine Roda-Gil (1990) had already died at this point. Almost a year later, on August 27, 2006, the opera was staged more fully in Poland for the first time.

reception

Ça Ira received very mixed reviews in general. While some publications praised the opera, and there were even standing ovations at the premiere in Rome , the composition was often criticized as "too conventional" and "unoriginal". The British music magazine Gramophone described Waters' utilization of the orchestra as "competent but not very original" and Allan Kozinn compared Ça Ira more to a musical than an opera. Allmusic's David N. Lewis called the structure "enormously monochromatic and boring for the average opera listener," but noted that Ça Ira would be considered "above average" if Andrew Lloyd Webber were the name above the title, not Roger Waters.

admission

On September 27, 2005 (before the world premiere) a studio recording of Ça Ira was released as a double CD, produced by Waters and Wentworth. The singers Bryn Terfel ( baritone ), Ying Huang ( soprano ) and Paul Groves ( tenor ) can be heard there. The release also includes a bonus DVD with the making-of of the opera.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Roger Waters - Ça Ira. In: brain-damage.co.uk. Retrieved November 8, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Thomas Migge: Roger Waters' revolutionary opera . In: Deutschlandfunk . ( deutschlandfunk.de [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  3. ↑ a b c Waters Ça Ira. In: Gramophone. January 9, 2013, accessed November 8, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Jessica Bliss: Roger Waters' opera to make US premiere in Nashville . In: The Tennessean . ( tennessean.com [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  5. ↑ a b c Anastasia Tsioulcas: Waters' New Concept . In: Billboard . August 27, 2005. Nielsen Business Media, Inc., August 27, 2005 ( google.at [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  6. ^ A b David N. Lewis: Roger Waters: Ça Ira (There Is Hope). In: Allmusic. Retrieved November 8, 2018 .
  7. ^ A b Roger Waters: French Revolution . In: The Independent . October 4, 2005 ( independent.co.uk [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  8. ^ Alan Riding: Do You Hear the People Sing? Isn't that Puccini? Or Pink Floyd? In: New York Times . ( nytimes.com [accessed November 9, 2018]).
  9. ^ EU welcomes 10 new members. In: CNN.com. May 1, 2004, accessed November 8, 2018 .
  10. ↑ a b Ca Ira Rome November 2005 . In: Pink Floyd - A Fleeting Glimpse . ( pinkfloydz.com [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  11. ↑ James Kirkup: Obituary: Etienne Roda-Gil . In: The Independent . June 4, 2004 ( independent.co.uk [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  12. ↑ Roger Waters Dark Side Tour 2006 - August 25 Ça Ira - Poznan, Poland - Pink Floyd - A Fleeting Glimpse . In: Pink Floyd - A Fleeting Glimpse . ( pinkfloydz.com [accessed November 9, 2018]).
  13. ↑ David Wild: Ca Ira: Music Reviews. In: Rolling Stone. October 20, 2005, accessed November 8, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Jonathan Wingate: 'Rock stars can do opera. Music is music ' . September 28, 2005, ISSN  0307-1235 ( telegraph.co.uk [accessed November 9, 2018]).
  15. ^ Roger Waters Rome "Ca Ira" concert update. In: brain-damage.co.uk. Retrieved November 8, 2018 .
  16. ↑ a b Allan Kozinn: When Rockers Show Classical Chops . September 28, 2005 ( nytimes.com [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Pink Floyd's Roger Waters' Classical Opera 'Ca Ira' Debuts at # 1 on Billboard's Classical Traditional Chart. In: Sony. Retrieved October 5, 2005, November 9, 2018 (American English).