Simón Bolívar (Opera)
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| Original title: | Simón Bolívar |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Thea Musgrave |
| Libretto : | Thea Musgrave |
| Premiere: | January 20, 1995 |
| Place of premiere: | Virginia Opera in Norfolk , Virginia |
| Place and time of the action: | 1790s to 1820 in South America in the life of Simón Bolívar |
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Simón Bolívar is an opera in two acts (prologue, 14 scenes and coda) by the Scottish composer Thea Musgrave , who also wrote the libretto . The work was composed between 1989 and 1992 and was premiered on January 20, 1995 at the Virginia Opera in Norfolk . The European premiere took place on March 31, 1995 at the Regensburg Theater under the direction of Hilary Griffiths . The action takes place in northern South America, from the end of the 18th century to 1820, and describes various stages in the life of the South American independence fighter Simón Bolívar . The original language of the opera is English, there is a translation into German by Claus H. Henneberg and Hilary Griffiths, the translation into Spanish was done by Lillian Garrett-Groag.
music
Simon Bolivar is Thea Musgrave's eighth opera. The spectrum of musical means, forms and styles in this opera is very broad. To Giacomo Puccini reminiscent, neo-romantic and lyrical notes and tonal melodies contrast with polytonal and atonal sets and even clocks of aleatoric closely related. Also, cluster and electronic sounds are not spared.
In addition to a “normal” opera orchestra with a focus on the percussion section and an unusually large number of deep instruments, there is a synthesizer , a wind machine and various tapes.
In addition, Musgrave uses some original songs and dances from South America from Bolivar's time (ball scene in act 1). So you come across a Galerone, a Trinitaria, a Pavane and a Tirana. There is even an original Inca song in the Quechuan language that his nanny sings for little Bolivar.
The composer also uses all the possibilities of contemporary music with regard to singing : arioso and recitative are just as much a part of the repertoire as declamation, movements with fixed pitches and free rhythm or, conversely, with free pitches and fixed rhythm, and even purely spoken words are available for Example at the end of Bolivar dictating his famous “Letter to the People”.
The form also integrates the familiar into the new: there are also arias , duets and ensembles with a choir .
Web links
- Simón Bolívar on the official website of Thea Musgrave ( Memento of March 16, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- Thea Musgrave: Simón Bolívar at the music publisher Chester Novello