The Orphan

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Work data
Title: The orphan
Original title: The Orphan
Shape: Opera in two acts and six scenes
Original language: Old Chinese , Italian , French , English , Spanish , German
Music: Jeffrey Ching
Libretto : Jeffrey Ching
Literary source: Ji Junxiang, Pietro Metastasio , Voltaire , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe a . a.
Premiere: November 29, 2009
Place of premiere: Theater Erfurt
Playing time: about 100 minutes
Place and time of the action: Duchy of Jin (晉) during the Chinese Zhou Dynasty (周, in what is now Shanxi Province ), in the early 6th century BC. Chr.
people

Singer

  • Elpenor, the orphan, son of Osmingti and Arfisa, 15 years old ( soprano , German)
  • Arfisa, sister of the Duke of Jin, mother of Elpenor, married to Osmingti; later Der Geist Arfisas (soprano, Spanish)
  • Osmingti, brother-in-law of the Duke of Jin, father of Elpenor, married to Arfisa; later Der Geist Osmingtis ( alto or countertenor , English)
  • Alsingo, retired senior court official, loyal friend of Osmingtis; later The Spirit of Alsingo ( Haute-Contre , Italian)
  • Étan, middle-aged general of the Duke's army, obliged Osmingti for his promotion; later Der Geist Étan ( baritone , French)
  • Dag-Ngans-Kagh, high official at the Duke's court, jealous of Osmingti ( bass , old Chinese)
  • Vengeance backstage, courtiers ( choir )

actor

  • Cheng Ying (I), doctor
  • A European monarch of the baroque era with his court
  • Ghosts of the men, women and children of Osmingti's clan who were murdered by Dag-Ngans-Kagh
  • Dignitaries of the Chaoxian, Wonu and Tufan embassies

dancer

  • Cheng Ying (II), doctor
  • The severed and gutted body parts of Dag-Ngans-Kagh

The Orphan (dt .: The orphan ) is an opera in two acts and six scenes. It comes from the pen of the Filipino composer Jeffrey Ching . He also wrote the libretto, which varies between ancient Chinese, Italian, French, English, Spanish and German. The opera premiered on November 29, 2009 in the Erfurt Theater .

action

The action of the opera takes place in China in the 6th century BC. The high-ranking official Dag-Ngans-Kagh has his rival Osmingti executed with his wife Arfisa and the entire family. Only her newborn son is rescued by the doctor Cheng Ying with the help of General Étan and the loyal official Alsingo. In order to protect the orphan from Dag-Ngans-Kaghs stalking, Cheng Ying exchanges him with his own son, who is then also murdered. Dag-Ngans-Kagh thinks Cheng Ying is loyal and raises his supposed son to be his own successor, since he has no children of his own. After fifteen years, Cheng Ying reveals his true identity to the orphan. He confronts Dag-Ngans-Kagh with his crimes at court. Dag-Ngans-Kagh is sentenced to death and dismembered alive.

Exordium and Overture

In front of the closed curtain, court official Dag-Ngans-Kagh recited two lines of ancient Chinese verse, which the doctor Cheng Ying simultaneously translated and gestured (No. 1): “Man does not mean it with the tiger, but the tiger means it certainly not angry with people! ”The curtain rises to the sounds of the overture (No. 2).

first act

Scene 1

In their apartment in the palace, Osmingti and Arfisa hear, kneeling, as Dag-Ngans-Kagh reads their death sentence. It's a long list that includes their most distant relatives (No. 3). Osmingti is dressed in an 18th century English costume, his wife Arfisa in black Spanish lace. She is apparently pregnant. After the lecture is over, Dag-Ngans-Kagh withdraws. Arfisa takes her little son out of the robe in which she had kept him hidden. She hands him over to Cheng Ying, who leaves with him (No. 4). Osmingti and Arfisa say goodbye to each other (No. 5) and kill themselves according to the judgment: Osmingti stabs herself, and Arfisa hangs herself with a string of her robe (No. 6).

Scene 2

Dag-Ngans-Kagh has since learned of the orphan's survival. He gives orders to guard all exits of the palace. Anyone caught trying to smuggle the child out should be executed along with their family (No. 7). Cheng Ying rushes out of the palace gate with the baby hidden in his medicine bag. He is stopped and confronted by General Étan, who is dressed in French (No. 8). Cheng Ying claims the bag only contains medicinal herbs. Étan lets him go several times and then calls him back (No. 9). Finally, he snatches the bag from Cheng Ying and warns him not to attempt to escape (No. 10). In the following interrogation, Cheng Ying explains his motivation. Although Étan has discovered the child, he allows himself to be softened and recommends Cheng Ying to hide the child in the mountains. Cheng Ying expresses his submissive thanks several times. He begs Étan to wait a few more years before persecuting him, but then gives up and asks for a quick death (No. 11). But Étan swears secrecy (No. 12). As proof of his loyalty he throws himself into his sword and takes the secret with him to the grave (No. 13). Cheng Ying escapes with the child.

Scene 3

In front of the closed curtain, Dag-Ngans-Kagh orders the killing of all children up to the age of six months (No. 14).

The old court clerk Alsingo, a loyal friend of Osmingti, meditates in his mountain hut in Italian on the course of life (No. 15). Cheng Ying greets him respectfully and tells him what happened (No. 16). He hands over the orphan Alsingo. Together they think about how to save it. To Alsingo's surprise, Cheng Ying has also brought his own son, whom he has dressed in the orphan's clothes. In order to dampen Dag-Ngans-Kagh's anger and distract him from the real orphan, Cheng Ying's son is to be sacrificed. Ching Ying takes the orphan back and gives his son Alsingo. He praises the nobleness of Cheng Ying (No. 17). Cheng Ying leaves with the orphan to get Dag-Ngans-Kagh. In anticipation of his imminent death, Alsingo performs a ceremony in honor of his ancestors (No. 18).

At dawn, Cheng Ying leads Dag-Ngans-Kagh to the hut. Alsingo can only helplessly comment on how Dag-Ngans-Kagh stabs the wrong child to death in the presence of his father (No. 19). Then Dag-Ngans-Kagh also kills Alsingo and triumphs over his victory (No. 20).

Second act

Scene 1

Fifteen years later, Dag-Ngans-Kagh remembers his life in front of the closed curtain. At the time of the massacre he was already sixty years old and had no heir. Since he saw a loyal follower in Cheng Ying, he had brought up his (supposed) son under the name Elpenor in the palace and appointed him to be his successor (No. 21). An orchestral ritornello represents the boy's military skills (No. 22).

The curtain goes up. Elpenor strolls through the dark forest, dressed in a Prussian military garb from the time of Frederick the Great . The ruins of mourning statues can be seen in a clearing. Elpenor longs to grow up and fight (No. 23). Cheng Ying, who had been watching the boy for a while, steps out. He shows him a scroll with a picture of Osmingti's suicide and tells him the story of his parents and the rescue of their orphan (No. 24). Elpenor is shaken. Cheng Ying reveals to him that he is that child himself. The spirits of Arfisa, Alsingo, Osmingti and Étan appear singing in the clearing (No. 25). Elpenor watches them and finally collapses in horror. Cheng Ying catches him. The ghosts disappear again. While Cheng Ying shakes Elpenor awake, calls for vengeance can be heard from afar. Elpenor only wants to die to be reunited with his real father. Since the calls for revenge continue, he thinks about it and now swears vengeance himself.

Scene 2

Dag-Ngans-Kagh receives testimonials from the Chaoxian, Wonu and Tufan ambassadors. He is at the height of his power. During the ceremony, Elpenor and Cheng Ying enter the palace unhindered with a retinue of armed men. Elpenor observes the haughty demeanor of Dag-Ngans-Kagh with disgust (No. 28). He identifies himself as Osmingti's son and confronts Dag-Ngans-Kagh for the massacre of his family. Cheng Ying watches them while his men keep the Dag-Ngans-Kagh guards in check. The orphan is ready to kill Dag-Ngans-Kagh, but hesitates at the last moment and leaves the verdict to the authorities. The gates of the audience hall open to let in the duke's court. The courtiers condemn Dag-Ngans-Kagh to a slow and agonizing death.

Scene 3

To the sounds of festive music, the audience hall is transformed into a court of execution. The Emperor Qianlong observes the ceremony from a European baroque throne. Dag-Ngans-Kagh is dismembered alive. First, the ears, mouth, eyes, nose, and tongue are removed, then the blood vessels, skin and hair, muscles, flesh and bones, and finally the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys. The individual body parts dance to the triumphant chants of the courtiers, a solo quintet from the orphan and the four ghosts, as well as instrumental interludes. After a final orchestral ritornello, the orphan hands Dag-Ngans-Kagh's head on a tray to the emperor, who signals his approval with a nod. Meanwhile, Cheng Ying receives a sword from the four spirits with which he kills himself.

layout

libretto

The plot of the opera is based on historical events from ancient China. The oldest accounts of this can be found in the 8th book of Zuozhuan from the 4th century BC. More detailed explanations are in the 43rd chapter of the Shiji by Sima Qian from the 1st century BC. The two versions differ significantly from each other.

According to the Shiji , Zhao Shuo (called Osmingti here) succeeded in 596 BC. Chr. A military victory, and he married the elder sister of the late Duke Cheng. After intrigues by Tu'an Gu (Dag-Ngans-Kagh), his family was murdered. Only the newborn heir to the throne, Zhao Wu, survived. In order to mislead the usurper, Cheng Ying and Gongsun Chujiu (Alsingo) took up a foster child and dressed him in his robe. Gongsun Chujiu and the false heir to the throne were then murdered by the men of Tu'an Gu. Zhao Wu was secretly raised by Cheng Ying. Han Jue (Étan) announced its existence in 582 when Duke Jing became seriously ill. Tu'an Gu was executed and the Zhao family rehabilitated. In 577, Cheng Ying committed suicide. In 545, Zhao Wu was appointed Prime Minister of Duke Ping.

In Zuozhuan most of these names are not mentioned. There it is reported that Zhao Zhuangji (Arfisa), mother of the heir to the throne, initiated the massacre. Because of her relationship with Zhao Ying, her husband's brother, this was in 589 BC. Was banished by his brothers Zhao Tong and Zhao Kuo. In 592 she accused these two of treason, whereupon the duke sentenced them to death. Their possessions were confiscated and their families were murdered. Zhao Zhuangji was able to openly raise her son Zhao Wu in the Duke's palace. He was appointed head of the Zhao family by the Duke.

These traditions were processed in the Chinese drama 趙氏孤兒 ( Zhaoshi gu'er , dt .: The orphan of Zhao ) by Ji Junxiang (Hi-Him-Siang) at the time of the Yuan Dynasty (14th century) . It was published in French in the historical work Description de la Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise by Jean-Baptiste Du Halde in 1735 and was the first ever Chinese drama to be translated into a European language. It was later translated into other languages ​​and formed the basis for numerous other works such as Pietro Metastasio's opera libretto L'eroe cinese (1752), Voltaire's L'orphelin de la Chine (1755), Arthur Murphy's play The Orphan of China (1759) and Tomás de Iriarte's Spanish Voltaire translation El huérfano de la China (around 1770). There was also an anonymous German adaptation with the title Der Chineser oder die Gerechtigkeit des Schicksales (1774) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play fragment Elpenor (1781).

The composer and librettist Jeffrey Ching explained his working method in the preface to the libretto. Accordingly, he took over the basic elements of Ji Juanxiang's acting and relocated the action to the Europe of the time of the Enlightenment . He used about five percent of the dialogues and verses. Since the orphan's youth was not dealt with in any of the arrangements, he adopted the names Osmingti and Arfisa from a passing remark in Murphy's play. He named Étan after Voltaire, Alsingo after Metastasio. He also included the other works mentioned in the form of text quotations in the respective original language, so that all five European languages ​​can be heard simultaneously in the quintet of the second act. The people involved use the yuan mandarin of Ji Junxiang's time for their conversations. In the arias, on the other hand, they use the original languages ​​English, Spanish, French, Italian or German of the 18th century. The villain Dag-Ngans-Kagh only sings lines by Ji Junxiang, but transcribed into the language of the early Zhou period. Both Chinese languages ​​are no longer in use today and are 1000 years apart. The doctor Cheng Ying performs a simultaneous spoken translation of the Chinese texts in parallel with the singers - in the case of Old Chinese in the form of a grammatical replica, otherwise as spoken chant with the intonation of the five tones of the Mandarin of the Yuan period. Since he is very busy in this function and also has his own role, his scenic actions can be represented by a dancer.

music

As Jeffrey Ching wrote in the preface to the libretto, the melodic material of the opera is based on the melodies that were already used in Chinese opera of the Yuan dynasty and that were also explicitly stated in Ji Junxiang's play. Ching assigned them to the same parts of the plot as Ji Junxiang whenever possible, even if the text came from one of the other sources. As a rule, a few of these melodies were sufficient for each scene. In the first act, the first scene is based on a single Yuan melody, the second scene on three and the third scene on two (one of which appears in two variants). According to Ching, there is also a strength in this limitation, as he was able to give the otherwise completely different music numbers within each scene a certain cohesion. As an example, he cites the three solos by Dag-Ngans-Kagh, which are based on Korean Confucian music, Tibetan Buddhist chant and Japanese Gagaku and each preceded by an homage to Henry Purcell , Jean-Philippe Rameau and Antonio Sacchini . However, the successive pairs are each based on the same Yuan themes.

Of the total of thirty music numbers, only six are based on music that does not date from the Yuan period. No. 1 and No. 20 have no melodic content at all. Nos. 2 and 19 are based on the overture to Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie . No. 6 is a fugal chromatic bass line to the Yuan melody of No. 5, and No. 25 is based on a bass line from the introduction to the oratorio The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Numbers 23, 24, 26, 27 and 29 in the second act combine yuan music with motifs by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach or his style.

Music numbers

The thirty musical numbers are designated as follows in the libretto:

Exordium & Overture

  • No. 1 "Exordium - The Evil of Dag-Ngans-Kagh" (Percussive Rant with Speech)
  • No. 2 "Overture" ("La battaile entre Zhao Mengfu et Jean-Philippe Rameau")

First act, scene 1

  • No. 3 "The Cunning of Dag-Ngans-Kagh: A Forged Decree" (Chant with Speech)
  • No. 4 "Cheng Ying Receives His Charge" (Arioso with Tonal Recitation)
  • No. 5 "Osmingti and Arfisa's Last Farewell" (Duet)
  • No. 6 "The Deaths of Osmingti and Arfisa" (Pantomime I / Contrapunctus I and Pantomime II / Contrapunctus II)

First act, scene 2

  • No. 7 "The Swiftness of Dag-Ngans-Kagh: The Palace Encircled" (Chant with Speech)
  • No. 8 "Étan Accosts Cheng Ying" (Premier air d'Étan)
  • No. 9 "The First Interrogation" (Speech and Arioso with Tonal Recitation)
  • No. 10 "Étan Threatens Cheng Ying" (Deuxième air d'Étan)
  • No. 11 "The Second Interrogation" (Tonal Recitation and Arioso)
  • No. 12 "Étan's Oath of Secrecy" (Troisième air d'Étan)
  • No. 13 "Étan's Death and the Orphan's Escape" (Pantomime III / Contrapunctus III)

First act, scene 3

  • No. 14 "The Rage of Dag-Ngans-Kagh: A Cruel Decree" (Chant with Speech)
  • No. 15 "Alsingo's Meditation" (Cavatina Alsingo)
  • No. 16 "Cheng Ying's Proposal" (Tonal Recitation, Secco Recitative, and Accompanied Recitative)
  • No. 17 "Alsingo Exhorts Cheng Ying" (Aria di bravura Alsingo)
  • No. 18 "Alsingo Sacrifices to the Spirits of his Ancestors" (Pantomime IV / Chaconne I: "Catalog d'oiseaux vivaldiens")
  • No. 19 "Finale I - Alsingo's Death" (Reprise de l'Ouverture / Trio with Speech and Tonal Recitation)
  • No. 20 "Dag-Ngans-Kagh Triumphant" (Percussive Rant with Speech)

Second act, scene 1

  • No. 21 "Dag-Ngans-Kagh Names his Heir" (Percussive Rant and Chant with Speech)
  • No. 22 "The Orphan's Martial Prowess" (Ritournelle Équestre)
  • No. 23 "The Orphan Muses Alone" (fantasy with song)
  • No. 24 "Cheng Ying Shows the Orphan a Painted Scroll" (Contrapunctus IV / Tonal Recitation and Arioso)
  • No. 25 "The Orphan Encounters the Shades of the Sorrowing Dead" (Quinteto)
  • No. 26 "The Orphan Swears Vengeance on his Ancestral Foe" (L'Einschnitt / Duet with Tonal Recitation, Offstage Chorus, and Cabaletta)
  • No. 27 "The Orphan Rides out to Meet his Ancestral Foe" (Entrescène: Reprise de la Ritournelle Équestre)

Act two, scene 2

  • No. 28 "Dag-Ngans-Kagh Receives the Homage of the Foreign Ambassadors" (Contrapunctus V / Processional Music for Three Ensembles)
  • No. 29 "The Orphan Confronts Dag-Ngans-Kahg With his Crimes and Sentence is Pronounced" (Variazioni a quattro / Trio and Chorus with Tonal Recitation and Speech)

Second act, scene 3

  • No. 30 "Finale II - The Execution of Dag-Ngans-Kagh" (Pantomime V / Chaconne II with Quintet and Chorus)

Instrumentation

The orchestra is large. In addition to 46 strings, the opera requires twelve brass and woodwinds, a glass harmonica, a harp, various keyboard instruments and a large drum set.

Work history

At the world premiere on November 29, 2009 in the Great House of the Erfurt Theater , Samuel Bächli conducted the Opera Choir of the Erfurt Theater, the Erfurt Philharmonic Orchestra and the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha . The direction was directed by Jakob Peters-Messer . The stage was by Markus Meyer, the costumes by Sven Bindseil, the choreography by Pascale-Sabine Chevroton and the dramaturgy by Arne Langer. Andión Fernández (The Orphan), Marisca Mulder (Arfisa), Denis Lakey (Osmingti), Marwan Shamiyeh (Alsingo), Máté Sólyom-Nagy (Étan), Sebastian Pilgrim (Dag-Ngans-Kagh) sang. The role of Cheng Ying was taken over by Peter Umstadt (speaker) and Julien Feuillet (dancer). In 2010 the opera was awarded the Erfurt audience award “Best Opera”.

No. 26 from the second act was arranged by the composer Jeffrey Ching for soprano, clarinet / bass clarinet, violin, cello and piano and published separately under the title The Orphan Swears Vengeance on his Ancestral Foe .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Orphan (Premiere November 29, 2009) at the Theater Erfurt ( Memento from March 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Jeffrey Ching: Preface to the libretto (English) , accessed on April 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ Erfurt, Theater - THE ORPHAN CHILD. Performance review of December 3, 2009 on operapoint.com , accessed April 18, 2016.
  4. ↑ Program The Orphan. Theater Erfurt, 2009/2010 season.
  5. ^ Biography of the director Jakob Peters-Messer at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden , accessed on April 18, 2016.
  6. ^ Cycle of world premieres at Theater Erfurt ( Memento from April 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).
  7. ↑ The Orphan swears vengeance on his ancestral foe from Edition Gravis , accessed on April 18, 2016.