Kalîla wa Dimna (Opera)

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Opera dates
Title: Kalila and Dimna
Original title: Kalîla wa Dimna
Shape: Opera in one act
Original language: Arabic, French
Music: Moneim Adwan
Libretto : Fady Jomar and Catherine Verlaguet
Literary source: Ibn Al-Muqaffa: Kalīla wa Dimna
Premiere: July 1, 2016
Place of premiere: Théâtre du Jeu de Paume, Aix-en-Provence
Playing time: approx. 1 ½ hours
people
  • Kalîla, narrator
  • Dimna, her brother, courtier
  • La mère du roi, the king's mother
  • Chatraba, poet
  • Le roi, the king

Kalîla wa Dimna is an Arabic opera with spoken French narrative texts by Moneim Adwan (music) with a libretto by Fady Jomar and Catherine Verlaguet based on Ibn al Muqaffa's Kalīla wa Dimna . It is the first Arabic-language opera. The world premiere took place on July 1, 2016 at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume as part of the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence .

action

With the words "If you kill a poet, he will be revived in a thousand songs", the narrator Kalîla introduces the opera.

Kalîla's brother Dimna is determined to win the king's trust in order to get a position at court. Kalîla advises against it, but Dimna would rather die than go on living without ambition. The king himself suffers from his loneliness. Even his mother can't calm him down. Therefore, Dimna easily succeeds in making friends with him. He becomes his closest confidante. The mother admonishes the king not to trust Dimna.

When the popular poet Chatraba comes to the city, the king is curious but fears the power of his verses. Dimna visits Chatraba and persuades him to visit the king. Chatraba initially has reservations, as he blames the king for the sufferings of the people. But finally he gives in and comes to the palace. Contrary to expectations, Chatraba and the king get on well, and Chatraba stays at court.

Due to the growing friendship between the king and Chatraba, Dimna feels neglected and betrayed. In order to take his old place again, he decides to sow distrust between them.

Kalîla notices her brother's emotional state and warns him of the consequences of his plan, but cannot dissuade him. She tells a fable about a lion who lives in his cave with a raven, a camel, a wolf and a jackal. When the lion falls ill and can no longer hunt, the friends go hungry. One after the other, the raven, the jackal and the wolf offer themselves as food for the others. But the raven would only be a small bite, the jackal would cause stomach ache, and the wolf meat is poisonous. So only the camel is an option. It wishes the other good appetite. The others laugh as if they hadn't expected anything else. The moral: whoever kills you is the one you trust the most.

Dimna now tells the king that Chatraba is inciting the people against him with hidden messages in his verses. The king consults with his mother, who reminds him that a king has no friends and cannot trust anyone. His only friends are the throne, power and the crown.

Next, Dimna tells Chatraba that the king is angry with him. He also plans to raise taxes, which will increase poverty in the country. Dimna's treachery comes to fruition: When Chatraba and the king meet, there is an argument and the king banishes Chatraba. Chatraba comments on this with the words that Kalîla already mentioned in the introduction and invokes freedom.

Kalîla tells the progress of the story: Chatraba is executed without trial. The people continue to sing their songs and accuse the king of murder. The king suffers again from his loneliness. His mother points out Dimna's intrigue. The king has him arrested. When Kalîla visits her brother in the dungeon, she hopes in vain for a sign of repentance - he had no other choice.

In the final ensemble, everyone summarizes their motives and decisions again.

layout

Although the work is referred to as an “opera”, it is more like a Singspiel due to the spoken text . Arabic melodies in Arabic are linked by French texts by a narrator.

Instrumentation

The opera's chamber music instrumentation consists of only three European and two oriental instruments:

Work history

The opera Kalîla wa Dimna by the Palestinian composer Moneim Adwan is the first opera in Arabic. It is a commission from the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence . It was produced in 2016 in collaboration with the Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Dijon and with the support of the Abu Dhabi Festival and premiered on July 1, 2016 at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume in Aix-en-Provence.

Adwan used a collection of oriental animal fables from the 8th century, the Kalīla wa Dimna attributed to Ibn Al-Muqaffa for his opera . He worked on the work for five years. The basis was the story of the lion and the bull, which are torn apart by the devious jackal Dimna. The template was adapted by the two librettists Fady Jomar (a Syrian author living in Germany) and Catherine Verlaguet. They replaced the animal characters with humans.

Ranine Chaar (Kalila), Moneim Adwan (Dimna), Mohamed Jebali (King), Reem Talhami (King's mother), Jean Chahid (Chatabra) sang at the world premiere on July 1, 2016 at the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume. Zied Zouari was in charge of the musical direction, Olivier Letellier was responsible for the production, Philippe Casaban and Éric Charbeau for the stage, Nathalie Prats for the costumes and Sébastien Revel for the lighting. The instrumental soloists were Zied Zouari (violin), Yassir Bousselam (violoncello), Selahattin Kabaci (clarinet), Abdulsamet Çelikel (Kanun) and Wassim Halal (percussion).

A recording of the performance was shown on the Internet on Arte Concert .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich: Mahnzeichen - Scheherazade, emancipated. Performance review. In: Opernwelt from September / October 2016, p. 18.
  2. ↑ a b c Kalîla wa Dimna. Performance information on the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence website , accessed February 8, 2017.
  3. ↑ a b Guillaume Tion: "Kalîla wa Dimna", fables et sables chauds. Report on the genesis of the opera on liberation.fr, accessed on February 8, 2017.