Marnie (Opera)
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| Title: | Marnie |
| Shape: | Opera in two acts |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Nico Muhly |
| Libretto : | Nicholas Wright |
| Literary source: | Winston Graham : Marnie |
| Premiere: | 18th November 2017 |
| Place of premiere: | London Coliseum |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | England, 1959 |
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Marnie is opera in two acts by Nico Muhly (music) with a libretto by Nicholas Wright after the 1961 published novel Marnie by Winston Graham . It was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera New York and premiered as a co-production with the English National Opera on November 18, 2017 at the London Coliseum .
action
The opera is set in England in 1959.
first act
The employees of the accountant firm Crombie and Strutt in Birmingham go about their business and talk about their daily lives. Marnie Holland, one of the employees, helps customer Mark Rutland find a train to take him home. It's obvious that Mark likes it. When her boss, Strutt, offers to drive her home, she refuses. After everyone else has left the office, Marnie opens the safe and takes out money. She feels harassed by Strutt, wants to leave town and thinks about a new identity for her future.
Marnie gives her wheelchair-bound mother money for a new house that she allegedly won in a horse race. The mother suffers from the dampness of the old house and from loneliness. She accuses Marnie of leading an immoral life. Occasionally a little boy helps her. The neighbor Lucy brings pastries.
Strutt learns of the theft through his employees. He vows to track down Marnie.
At night, Marnie is plagued by fears. She hears voices and fears their actions will be exposed.
Marnie is applying under the name Maggie Hulbert to Halcyon Printing, the Rutlands company, in a different format. Although he recognizes her immediately, he doesn't show anything and hires her. It is a family business run by Mark as CEO and his brother, the womanizer Terry, as deputy. Marnie quickly recovers from the unexpected encounter that seems to have turned out well for her again.
Some time later, Marnie worked well in the company. Terry invites her to a game of poker that evening , and Mark asks her to sign up for the company's dance party. She answers both of them evasively. However, she accepts two tickets for a rose fair, to which Mark cannot go due to lack of time.
After work, Marnie goes to a pub with the other Rutland employees. There she meets Derek Traynor, who knows her from when she was still red-haired and who sold movie tickets under the name Martine. Marnie denies everything.
Marnie has accepted Terry's invitation to play poker and is meeting him and his friends Malcolm and Laura Fleet at his apartment. Marnie wins. After the Fleets leave, Terry tries to seduce them. When she rejects him, he becomes intrusive, but Marnie can tear herself away.
Mark and Terry's mother are unhappy with Mark's work. She thinks he's too soft-hearted and thinks Terry would be a more successful manager. A little later, Marnie arrives, who has been asked by Mark to revise a design drawing. Marnie speaks of her love for her horse Forio, and Mark admits he has been lonely since his wife's death. He confesses to Marnie that he fell in love with her. Marnie runs away.
Marnie wants to go into hiding again. When she opens the company's safe as usual, she is caught by Mark. As a distraction, she claims that she has loved him since they first met, but believed she was way below him. Mark gives her a choice: either she marries him or he reports her to the police. Out of necessity, Marnie decides to marry, but secretly swears revenge.
The boy brings in the mail for Marnie's mother. Below is a letter from Marnie, in which she announces that she will not be able to come for a while because her fate has unexpectedly turned. Since the letter comes with 50 pounds, the neighbor Lucy says that Marnie is not bad. The mother is not very kind to her daughter because she blames her for the death of her little brother.
On her honeymoon, Mark tells Marnie that he recognized her during the interview and knew then that she was a thief. He had been waiting for her at the vault to force her to become his wife. Since Marnie refuses to touch him, Mark tries to take her by force, but then lets go of her. She rushes to the bathroom and cuts her wrists.
Second act
After Mark's attack, Marnie decides to use her strength to never feel like a victim again.
Marnie tells Mark about her poker partners. The Fleets are speculators, and Terry intends to gain a higher status in the company. Since all available shares have been bought up recently, Mark believes his brother is trying to take over the company this way. Marnie continues to reject sex as a matter of principle. She also rejects his suggestion to go to a psychoanalyst. However, he can change her mind with the promise to convert his nearby pasture into a paddock for her horse.
Psychoanalysis brings back memories of her childhood in Marnie: a thunderstorm, a strange soldier at the window and a dead baby - the brother who, according to her mother, had suffocated as a child.
Marnie goes to her mother's summer party with Mark. The other guests comment on their appearance cynically. In an interview with Terry, she confesses that she hates her husband. Terry now knows about Marnie's background. He warns Marnie that he could easily destroy them both. Strutt also comes with his wife. He recognizes Marnie, but she assures them that they have never met. As a precaution, she wants Mark to take her home and goes to the car. Meanwhile, Strutt informs Mark of the results of his research and Marnie's various previous identities and thefts. Mark invites him to clear up for the next day. After Strutt leaves, Terry advises his brother to go to the police himself as he cannot cover up Marnie's past permanently. When he compares her to a prostitute, a fight breaks out between the brothers. Her mother and other guests rush over to separate them. Mark accuses Terry of wanting to take over the company behind her back. The mother then admits that she is buying up the shares herself so that Malcolm Fleet can reorganize the company. Mark had desecrated the memory of his father through his negligent administration.
On a hunting trip, Mark tells his wife that he has paid Strutt but does not trust him. During the hunt, Marnie identifies with the chased fox for a moment. She enjoys the ride on Forio. However, the horse panics and falls while jumping over a wall. Mark injures himself trying to help. Marnie has to shoot Forio and Mark is taken to the hospital. Terry assures Marnie that he will continue to pursue her, but he is doing it to save her.
During a visit to the hospital, Mark's mother shows incomprehension about his marriage to Marnie. She tells him about a phone call from Strutt who found out that Marnie's mother had died two days ago, not in the war. Marnie lied to him.
Mark makes another attempt to reconcile with his wife. However, she insists that he loves a ghost. When she leaves, she secretly takes his keys with her.
Marnie opens the company's safe, but gets a remorse and leaves the money behind. She wants to try to love Mark now.
Marnie is late for her mother's funeral. Lucy tells her that she has been confused lately. It wasn't Marnie who killed her little brother at the time, but her mother herself, who first wanted to cover up her pregnancy and then blamed Marnie.
Marnie tries to get rid of her guilty feelings and inwardly says goodbye to their various bogus identities.
Terry and Mark called the police after breaking into the office. Marnie admits everything and will probably go to jail. Mark promises not to let her down. Marnie cannot say anything about the future, but she finally feels free.
layout
orchestra
The orchestral line-up for the opera includes the following instruments:
- Woodwind : three flutes (2 and Piccolo , 1 alto flute), two oboe (also English horn ), three clarinets (also clarinet and bass clarinet ), two Fagotte (both also Kontrafagott )
- Brass : four horns , three trumpets (also piccolo trumpet ), two trombones , bass trombone , tuba
- Timpani , drums (four players)
- harp
- Piano (also celesta )
- Strings
libretto
Muhly, Wright and the director Michael Mayer relied directly on Graham's novel for the opera version instead of the well-known film adaptation by Alfred Hitchcock, which neglected many details and nuances, deleted characters or merged them with others, changed scenes and simplified the threads of the plot. They moved the action back to London and Buckinghamshire to better reflect the class problems addressed in the novel.
music
Each figure is assigned a specific musical instrument. Muhly intended to use his music to reveal the characters' secret intentions. For example, he underlined the fact that almost all characters tell the untruth through an accompaniment in which different instruments compete for supremacy. He cited as an example that when Marnie sees problems coming, she casually sings lively phrases while the oboe makes it clear that she is looking for a quick way out.
Muhly solved the dramaturgical problems of the psychoanalysis scene with the help of four "shadow marnies" who take turns on the analysis couch. These represent Marnie's fears, her multi-layered character traits and her evasive mechanisms and surround her throughout the course of the opera. Their singing style is characterized by only a slight vibrato , analogous to early music . Muhly intention an effect as if Marnies inner monologue a distorted recording of Tallis Lars of one chord of a forgotten motet the Tudor -time.
The fox hunt represents the climax on Marnie's emotional journey. It is portrayed from the point of view of the hunted, since Marnie identifies herself with the fox. The clatter of the hooves and the noises of the other participants in the hunt sound abstractly as if from a distance.
Work history
Marnie is Nico Muhly's third opera. It is a commission from the Metropolitan Opera New York. The libretto was written by Nicholas Wright based on the 1961 novel Marnie by Winston Graham , which was best known for Alfred Hitchcock's 1964 film adaptation ( Marnie ) . Muhly began composing about four years before the premiere. He and Wright fine-tuned details until shortly before the London premiere and deleted an entire scene at the last moment, which they replaced with a new short scene before the resumption in New York.
The world premiere was a co-production with the English National Opera . It took place on November 18, 2017 at the London Coliseum . The production was done by Michael Mayer , stage, videos and animations by Julian Crouch and 59 Productions Ltd, the costumes by Arianne Phillips , the lighting design by Kevin Adams and the choreography by Lynne Page. Martyn Brabbins conducted it . The soloists were Sasha Cooke (Marnie), Daniel Okulitch (Mark Rutland), James Laing (Terry Rutland), Alasdair Elliott (Mr. Strutt), Kathleen Wilkinson (Marnie's mother), Ella Kirkpatick (Marnie's mother in 1940), Lesley Garrett (Mrs. Rutland), Darren Jeffery (Dr. Roman), Eleanor Dennis (Laura Fleet), Matthew Durkan (Malcolm Fleet), Alexa Mason (Dawn), Susanna Tudor-Thomas (Miss Fedder), Diana Montague (Lucy), William Brady (little boy) and David Newman (Derek), and Charlotte Beamont, Katie Coventry, Emma Kerr and Katie Stevenson as the alter egos of Marie.
The premiere at the Metropolitan Opera took place on November 10, 2018. Robert Spano conducted here. The singers were Isabel Leonard (Marnie), Christopher Maltman (Mark Rutland), Iestyn Davies (Terry Rutland), Anthony Dean Griffey (Mr. Strutt), Denyce Graves (Marnie's mother), Janis Kelly (Mrs. Rutland), James Courtney ( Dr. Roman), Ashley Emerson (Laura Fleet), Will Liverman (Malcolm Fleet), Stacey Tappan (Dawn), Marie Te Hapuku (Miss Fedder), Jane Bunnell (Lucy), Gabriel Gurevich (little boy) and Ian Koziara (Derek ). Deanna Breiwick, Dísella Lárusdóttir, Rebecca Ringle Kamarei and Peabody Southwell sang in the double quartet. Tippi Hedren , the leading actress in Hitchcock's film adaptation, was in the audience and finally bowed with the performers.
The reviewer of the opera world felt the work as "low-stress evening entertainment that the audience appreciates noticeably". The score is "easy to digest, sometimes a bit sweet". The Bachtrack reviewer praised the excellent cast, stage, costumes and staging. He found the fox hunting scene visually, dramatically and musically impressive. Despite all the merits of the production, he missed a musical profile and compared the evening to watching a repeat of a Law & Order episode. The reviewer for the New York Times referred to Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande and Leoš Janáček's The Makropulos Affair , whose main female characters have a similarly complex character. He was disappointed that Marnie never really found theatrical life. The music seemed to him to be decorative rather than an integral part of the plot. The main problem is (as in Muhly's previous opera Two Boys ) that the atmosphere prevails over the drama. The world of sound is so overly polished and immutable that the restlessness of his musical style paradoxically feels static. The example mentioned by Muhly, in which the oboe reveals Marnie's true feelings, is barely perceptible to the listener. The Opera News reviewer was also impressed by the first-class production, but despite all the virtues he lacked a dramatic lift-off (“dramaturgical lift-off”). The Observer's reviewer was a bit overwhelmed by the many secondary characters and plot details. He criticized the music as a shiny, but irrelevant soundscape that does not fit a dramatic plot.
Recordings
- November 10, 2018 - Robert Spano (conductor), Michael Mayer (staging), Julian Crouch (stage), Arianne Phillips (costumes), Kevin Adams (lighting design), Lynne Page (choreography), orchestra and choir of the Metropolitan Opera New York.
Isabel Leonard (Marnie), Christopher Maltman (Mark Rutland), Iestyn Davies (Terry Rutland), Anthony Dean Griffey (Mr. Strutt), Denyce Graves (Marnie's mother), Janis Kelly (Mrs. Rutland), James Courtney (Dr. Roman ), Ashley Emerson (Laura Fleet), Will Liverman (Malcolm Fleet), Stacey Tappan (Dawn), Marie Te Hapuku (Miss Fedder), Jane Bunnell (Lucy), Gabriel Gurevich (little boy), Ian Koziara (Derek).
Video; live from the Metropolitan Opera New York.
Metropolitan Opera streaming service; Worldwide live broadcast in selected cinemas.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c work information from Wise Music Classical, accessed on June 27, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d e f Nico Muhly : Sex, sadism, blackmail: Nico Muhly on why Hitchcock's Marnie is an explosive heroine. In: The Guardian , November 10, 2017, accessed July 2, 2020.
- ↑ a b c d Dates of the world premiere on October 19, 2018 in the Metropolitan Opera archive , accessed on June 27, 2020.
- ^ Andrew Thurston: Mapping to Opera. How composer Nico Muhly (BUTI'96, '97) gets from a blank page to the Met. In: CFA Magazine of Boston University , accessed on July 2, 2020.
- ↑ ENO presents the world premiere of Nico Muhly's Marnie, conducted by ENO Music Director Martyn Brabbins on the English National Opera website , accessed on July 2, 2020.
- ↑ Yannick Boussaert: Marnie - Londres (ENO) on forumopera.com, November 18, 2017, accessed on July 2, 2020.
- ^ A b F. Paul Driscoll: Marnie. New York 2018 performance review. In: Opera News, October 19, 2018, accessed July 2, 2020.
- ↑ Wiebke Roloff: Easily digestible. Review of the performance in London 2017. In: Opernwelt , January 2018, p. 44.
- ^ Robert Levine: Superb production and cast can't make The Met's Marnie live. Review of the performance in New York 2018. In: Bachtrack, October 24, 2018, accessed July 2, 2020.
- ↑ Zachary Woolfe: Review: Nico Muhly's 'Marnie' Brings Hitchcock Into the 21st Century. In: The New York Times , November 19, 2017, accessed July 2, 2020.
- ↑ James Jorden: Nico Muhly Finds a Compelling Muse in the Met Opera's 'Marnie,' but His Score Can't Match Her Drama. In: The New York Observer , October 22, 2018, accessed July 2, 2020.
- ↑ Dates for the performance on November 10, 2018 in the Archives of the Metropolitan Opera , accessed on June 27, 2020.
- ↑ Marnie in the Metropolitan Opera streaming service , accessed on June 27, 2020.