Klothó - Thread of the Tales
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| Title: | Klothó - Thread of the Tales |
| Shape: | Magical opera in eight scenes |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Martyna Kosecka |
| Libretto : | Martyna Kosecka |
| Literary source: | Chinese and Croatian fairy tales and stories, etc. a. by Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić |
| Premiere: | April 22, 2017 |
| Place of premiere: | Comedy Theater Zagreb |
| Playing time: | approx. 1 ½ hours |
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Klothó - Thread of the Tales is a “magic opera ” in eight scenes by Martyna Kosecka (music and libretto). The world premiere took place on April 22nd, 2017 in the Komedija Theater in Zagreb at the opening of the 29th Zagreb Music Biennale.
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A narrator introduces the opera: a long time ago a sea daughter went ashore from the shady depths of the sea to live with her husband. Back then there was uninterrupted daylight there, and she was gradually longing for a bit of the usual darkness again. Her husband sent four of his maidservants, the "day fairies", to the realm of the great serpent on the sea floor to ask them for part of the shadows. The snake gave them a bag filled with night, which they were not allowed to open under any circumstances until they had returned to the sea daughter. But on the way back there were strange noises from nocturnal animals from the bag. The servants could not resist the temptation and opened the sack, whereupon the night and its animals escaped. So night came to earth.
The almighty King Shā, who has already achieved all of his goals, suffers from boredom. He decides to give his subjects an impossible task: for his entertainment, they should confuse the threads of life spun by the goddess Klothó.
Enter the fisherman Ēlles with his wife Reó and the tailor Vāri with his wife Athuō. The men complain of their miserable lives. They long for a life of wealth and abundance. Women, on the other hand, are content with their simple life. Criers proclaim the king's challenge to build a perfect bell with a long-range sound and a crystal sound. He who succeeds in doing this beckons wealth and eternal fame. The men want to accept the task.
Reó tells her husband a fairy tale: One day the sun, moon and wind were eating together with thunder and lightning. Her mother, the star, was waiting in the distance for her children to return. Sun and wind enjoyed the meal without thinking about their mother. The moon, however, brought her a little of every delicacy. As a punishment, the mother provided the sun with scorching rays and condemned the wind to constantly blow hot and dry out all living things, so that people would hate them. The moon, on the other hand, rewarded her. From now on it should appear fresh, calm and bright and become a symbol of blessing. Ēlles cannot be dissuaded from his plan. He calls on the goddess Eo to support him.
Vāri is confident that he can do the job, since bells and clothing are made of similar material. Athuō tells him a story: Children once met a man named Runoia in the forest who could hear music that no one else could hear, e.g. B. the evening song of the lilies to the stars. To compensate for this, he built a magical harp for the people, to the sounds of which even the trees, the wind, the sun and the moon responded. One day he came to the seashore. It was dark and quiet there, and no friend was around. As he played the harp here, a melody he had never heard before rang out - the music of the gods. He realized: “Anyone who has a harp has a true friend. Whoever loves music is loved by the gods. ”He wept tears of joy. A voice ordered him to enter the house of the gods. After the dark, Runoia was gone, but the harp remained and the tears on it had turned to pearls. Vāri now knows that people are connected to the gods through sound. He too prays to Eo for help.
A spell makes everyone fall asleep. The voice of Eos declares that people are ungrateful. She heard the prayers, but they were only demands without consideration. She always spoke to them and helped them, but people did not listen to her.
King Shā fears that people might succeed in building the bell. To prevent this from happening, he casts a spell that will make them lose all of their abilities. The narrator explains that Shā is now completely controlled by evil.
Gradually people are waking up again. They find that they are no longer capable of the simplest things. There is no longer any thought of building the bell. The women beg their husbands to return to their former happy lives. But they too have lost their skills: they can no longer even cook. Vāri suggests deceiving the king and presenting him with an old bell. The narrator points out the absurdity of this plan, which the king will see through. But they actually find an old bell, and even the women are confident. When the king comes and asks for a demonstration of the bell, however, it only makes a pitiful sound. The king is magnanimous and gives them a second chance. But if they don't succeed the next day, they face banishment or death.
After a dance by the goddess Klothó, the women discover that they have lost their voice. The men try to improve the bell - but before they are done, the king comes to see it. The men beg for mercy. The king allows them a third try, but if they fail again, they too will lose their voice or head.
Klothó dances again. The desperate men accuse Eo of forgetting them and curse them. The voice of the goddess rings out again: How can people expect goodness from her if in return she only experiences hatred from them? People trust false kings and believe in promises made by “dark hearts”. In doing so, they do not realize that happiness has already sent them to them. Their dream of a happy life can come true without effort, but they do not want to realize it. She pronounces a “gracious” curse: all humanity will remain as foolish as they. Suddenly the men feel like newborn. They urge women to give them their tools.
For the third time the king comes to inspect the bell. The men claim that she is almost done. The king allows them five more minutes on condition that they entertain him. The men tell him a story: a long time ago hills and stones fell from the sky and created the earth. Then people came and multiplied. Since there was still no death, they became too many until the Flood reduced their numbers. After the narrative ends, the men actually present a bell that satisfies the king - a silent paper bell. The people demand the promised reward. The king takes their minds off them. From now on, darkness will rule. There is nothing more than the bell.
The narrator has the final word again: The world is permeated with evil because wisdom has been banished from its face to the deepest level of hell. The guardian of the earth went on a search, found the home of wisdom abandoned and hesitantly searched further in the heart of fairy tales. But there the darkness screamed and aroused his doubts. Even in the deepest depths of darkness he only found eternal dark silence. The whole world has forgotten wisdom. The narrator begs Klothó not to let her die.
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music
The music is characterized by rhythmically expressive drum effects and dissonances, but occasionally also lyrically expressive.
libretto
The opera's libretto was written by the composer Martyna Kosecka herself. It is based on elements of various fairy tales and stories of Chinese and Croatian origin, including works by the writer Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić . Kosecka's decision to write the text in English has been criticized by some reviewers.
Work history
The soloists of the world premiere on April 22, 2017 in the Komedija Theater Zagreb and the performances on April 26 and 27 in the Croatian National Theater in Rijeka were Dario Berchich (narrator), Nicolas Rigas (Shā), Karol Bartosiński (Ēlles), Ingrid Haller ( Reó), Marko Fortunato (Vāri), Ivana Srbljan (Athuō), Dina Dehni Sow (Klothó) and Martyna Kosecka (Eo). The director was Krzysztof Cicheński, the set and costumes were by Julia Kosek, the visual design by Bartłomiej Szlachcic and the choreography by Dina Dehni Sow. The Ivan Noble Zajc Opera Orchestra of the Croatian National Theater performed under the direction of Berislav Šipuš. It was a production in collaboration with the Zagreb Music Biennale.
The production was selected for competition at the Armel Opera Festival 2017. The competitive role had Nicolas Rigas as King Shā. The performance took place on July 3, 2017 at MuTh Vienna and was made available by Arte as a video stream on the Internet.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Performance information on the website of the composer Martyna Kosecka , accessed on July 9, 2017.
- ↑ a b Zdenka Weber: Puno riječi, manje uvjerljive glazbe. Review (Croatian) on matica.hr, accessed on July 9, 2017.
- ↑ Fantastična opera Klothó otvorila 29th Muzički biennale Zagreb. Article from April 23, 2017 on magazin.hrt.hr (Croatian), accessed on July 9, 2017.
- ↑ Nakon praizvedbe na Muzičkom Biennalu, sjajna Riječka premijera opere “Klothó” on apoliticni.hr, accessed on July 9, 2017.
- ↑ Maja Stanetti: ambiciozan pokušaj. Review (Croatian) on klasika.hr, accessed on July 9, 2017.
- ↑ Information on the performance in Rijeka on hnk-zajc.hr, accessed on July 9, 2017.
- ^ "Klotho" de Martyna Kosecka @ Armel Opera ( Memento from July 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) in the Arte Mediathek, video no longer available.