The Angel of the Odd (Opera)
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| Title: | The Angel of the Odd |
| Shape: | Opera in one act |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | Bruno Coli |
| Libretto : | Edgar Allan Poe |
| Premiere: | June 7, 2014 |
| Place of premiere: | Teatr Wielki , Poznan |
| Playing time: | Around 1 hour |
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The Angel of the Odd ( The Angel of the Odd ) is a chamber opera in one act by Bruno Coli . It is a literal setting of the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe in the English original language and was performed for the first time on June 7, 2014 at the Teatr Wielki in Poznan.
action
Since it is a verbatim setting, the plot is identical to that of Poe's short story. The story is presented melodramatically by a narrator mainly in the first person , with individual passages being sung by the other roles.
On a cool November evening, the nameless narrator reads in the newspaper about a strange death. He is extremely upset about the recent accumulation of such apparently fictitious reports. Suddenly a strange creature appears next to him that is composed of a barrel and bottles with the inscription “cherry water”. It speaks to him with a strange German accent and describes itself as the "Angel of the Strange" ("te Angel ov te Odd"). The man tries to scare it away and throws a salt glass at him - but this only breaks the glass on his wall clock. The being gives him a drink of the cherry water and declares that it is responsible for all these inexplicable accidents. The man nibbles a few raisins, snaps the stalks at his visitor and finally drives the angel away. Then he lies down for his usual short afternoon nap, but does not wake up again until two hours later because one of the raisin stems has damaged his watch. As a result, he missed an important appointment when he wanted to extend his expired home insurance.
In the evening he goes to sleep, but accidentally leaves his candle burning. A rat sets the house on fire with it. The man has difficulty in saving himself with singed hair using an escape ladder provided by the bystanders - but this is knocked over by a pig, so that he falls and breaks his arm.
Due to his precarious financial circumstances, the man tries to marry a rich woman. The chosen one, however, disdains him when she discovers after another accident that he is wearing a wig because of the fire. Another woman is offended when he does not greet her when they meet - something caught his eye at that moment so that he could not see her.
The man now decides it is time to die. He goes to the next river and undresses to plunge into it. At that moment a crow steals "the most important part of his clothes". He runs after and falls off a cliff. A hot air balloon happens to be flying by and he can grab a rope hanging from it. In the basket of the balloon is the angel who makes him swear that he now believes in the strange. The man confirms this by nodding, but cannot make the required arm gesture because he has to hold on to the rope with his uninjured arm. The angel then cuts the rope. The narrator falls through the chimney of his rebuilt house into his dining room, where he finds the objects from his first encounter with the angel. So the angel of the strange took revenge.
Work history
The world premiere took place on June 7, 2014 at the Teatr Wielki in Poznan. The performers were students from the music academies in Poznan, Lodz and Wroclaw: Marcin Kluczykowski was the narrator (in Polish). Urszula Cichocka (angel), Hubert Walawski (the man), Julian Kuczyński (journalist) sang. The instrumental ensemble consisted of eight members of the Teatr Wielki. The musical direction was Grzegorz Wierus. Directed by Krzysztof Cicheński. The stage and costumes were designed by students of the Poznan Art University, Magda Fliisowska and Laura Skowron.
Another production took place in February 2016 together with Coli's other Poe one-act play The Tell-Tale Heart at the Teatro Verdi in Pisa. Here the text of the narrator was given in Italian. The performers were Adriana Bignani-Lesca (angel), Marcello Di Giacomo (narrator), William Hernandez Ramirez (journalist) and Gian Luca Pasolini (the man). Lorenzo Maria Mucci was responsible for the production and the set design. The costumes came from Massimo Poli. An ensemble of the Orchestra Arché played under the direction of the composer. This production was also played in June 2016 as part of the Hungarian Armel Opera Festival in the Thalia Theater Budapest. Adriana Bignani-Lesca won the associated competition for "best singer" in the role of angel. The performance was shown as a video stream on Arte Concert .
Web links
- Work information on the website of the Orchestra Arché
- “The Angel of the Odd” and “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Bruno Coli at the Armel Opera Festival on Arte Concert
Individual evidence
- ↑ Work information from Paperplane , accessed on August 10, 2016.
- ↑ Ernst Kopica: POZNAN (Posen) / Teatr Wielki: THE ANGEL OF THE ODD by Bruno Coli. Performance review in Online Merker , accessed on August 10, 2016.
- ^ The Tell-Tale Heart at Paperplane , accessed August 9, 2016.
- ↑ Information on the performance on February 25, 2016 in Pisa at eventiintoscana.it (Italian) , accessed on August 10, 2016.
- ↑ Performance of the Armel Festival on June 30, 2016 ( Memento from August 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 9, 2016.
- ↑ Armel Opera Festival 2016 - The winners have been announced! ( Memento of August 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved August 10, 2016.