The Tale of Lady Thị Kính
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| Title: | The Tale of Lady Thị Kính |
Scene from the Hát Chèo folk opera Quan Âm Thị Kính , 1972 |
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| Shape: | Great opera in two acts |
| Original language: | English |
| Music: | PQ Phan |
| Libretto : | PQ Phan |
| Literary source: | Vietnamese Hát Chèo folk opera Quan Âm Thị Kính |
| Premiere: | February 7, 2014 |
| Place of premiere: | Indiana University Opera Theater, Bloomington |
| Playing time: | about 2 hours |
| Place and time of the action: | Vietnam in the 10th century |
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Main role
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The Tale of Lady Thị Kính (German: The story of Mrs. Thị Kính ) is a great opera (original name: "Grand Opera") in two acts by PQ Phan (music) on its own libretto based on the old Vietnamese Hát-Chèo- Volksoper Quan Âm Thị Kính ("Our benevolent Buddha Thị Kính"). It premiered on February 7, 2014 at the Indiana University Opera Theater in Bloomington .
action
The overture is followed by a prologue in which the Buddhist monk Sư Cụ tells the framework of the story: A beautiful girl from the eastern village led a fair life and avoided all earthly temptations. She disguised herself as a man in order to pursue the path of enlightenment.
first act
Scene 1: The wedding
It's spring. The young Thiện Sĩ from a rich family has fallen in love with the beautiful but poor Thị Kính and asks her father Mãng Ông for her hand. The father agrees - beauty and wealth together make a perfect family. Thị Kính shows no will of his own in this matter, since it is the honor to obey the Father. She too accepts the bridegroom. Thiện Sĩ's mother Sùng Bà is outraged by the improper marriage of her son, but his father Sùng Ông shows understanding for the love marriage. Both families celebrate the wedding.
Scene 2: The fateful night
The marriage of Thị Kính and Thiện Sĩ is going well at first, and by the summer they are both happy together. Thị Kính sees her only job as serving her husband. Thiện Sĩ, on the other hand, studies a lot and for a long time. One evening when he went to sleep, exhausted, his wife notices a single long hair on his chin, which she believes is a bad omen, a symbol of an unrighteous man. Fearing that he won't let her remove it and that she won't be able to tear it out without waking him, she grabs a knife to cut it off. Thiện Sĩ, however, wakes up and believes that she wants to murder him. Startled by his screams, his parents appear. Sùng Bà, in particular, who had never come to terms with her daughter-in-law, who was socially far below her, insists on repudiation of Thị Kính. Their defense is ignored.
Scene 3: Entering the monastery
Thị Kính now lives again with her father, ostracized by the community. However, she has not given up her good intentions. She decides to turn to the eternal love of the Buddha , cuts her hair, disguises herself as a man and enters a monastery, where she takes the name Tiểu Kính Tâm.
Scene 4: Spring festival at the temple
The next spring festival attracts a lot of young people. For the village beauty Th Mầu, it is above all an opportunity to find a husband. Her four friends and later the choir comment on their efforts. The young monk Tiểu Kính Tâm (the disguised Thị Kính) attracts Thị Mầu in particular, and she tries to seduce him. Tiểu Kính Tâm, however, does not allow himself to be dissuaded from his chosen path. Thị Mầu must look for another lover.
Scene 5: Thị Mầu's affair with her servant Nô
The house servant Nô laments his fate. As the son of poor parents, all he has left is a life of hard work. Thị Mầu speaks out about her longings for love in his presence. The two get closer and begin a relationship.
Second act
Scene 6: Declamation
In the temple, Tiểu Kính Tâm ponders the meaning of his life. He feels guilty because he no longer cares about his old father. At the same time, he foresees troubled times.
Scene 7: Lý Trưởng and Vợ Mõ
Thị Mầu became pregnant by her servant. The village mayor Lý Trưởng steps in to take legal action against them. He goes to the house of the crier so that he can call the villagers to the meeting. Instead of the crier, however, he only meets his wife Vợ Mõ, who is difficult to persuade to take over her husband's job. After a few funny arguments, she gives in.
Scene 8: The trial
In front of the assembled village population, Lý Trưởng asks the pregnant Thị Mầu to name the child's father. At first she refuses. But when he offers to mitigate the sentence, she apparently gives in and accuses the young monk Tiểu Kính Tâm. This is brought in and asked to speak. Tiểu Kính Tâm barely understands the allegations and cannot defend himself properly. The mayor sentenced him to thirty lashes in hopes of persuading him to confess. Tiểu Kính Tâm, however, is ready to face the unjust judgment. The monk Sư Cụ appears and asks for mercy for him. In return, he offers money. The community accepts: punishment goes away, but money remains.
Scene 9: The market place
Sư Cụ fears that by supporting the sinner he has brought his temple into disrepute. Tiểu Kính Tâm refrains from revealing his true identity as a woman, although this could prove his innocence. He fears that this could further harm the temple. When he meets Sư Cụ, he tells the young monk that he has to leave the temple. He rejects Tiểu Kính Tâm's pleadings and pledges of innocence. Even if he was innocent, one had to obey the laws of the village. Tiểu Kính Tâm also accepts this injustice.
In the hope that it will be raised there, Thị Mầu places her newborn child in front of the temple door. Tiểu Kính Tâm hears his crying, takes it to himself and goes to the market square to beg.
Scene 10: The climb
In the market square, the villagers only show contempt for the fallen monk and the child born in sin.
On a cold day, Tiểu Kính Tâm realizes that he cannot go on living like this. He lays the baby in front of the temple, writes an explanatory suicide note with his life story and dies. Sư Cụ finds the child and the letter. While Sư Cụ looks at the letter, Thị Kính sings her words from the afterlife herself. Sư Cụ and the villagers ask her for forgiveness. Thị Kính is taken into nirvana as the female Buddha, Phật Quan Âm Thị Kính .
libretto
The work is based on the Vietnamese Hát Chèo (roughly: “People's Opera”) Quan Âm Thị Kính (roughly translated as “Our gracious Buddha Th Buddha Kính”), which was written around the 10th century and became the most famous piece of this genre. In the course of history it has been revised, shortened and expanded over and over again. Phan followed this tradition by adapting the work to the conventions of European grand opera.
The opera's libretto is written in English. Phan searched unsuccessfully for a while for a suitable librettist, but then decided to do the translation and adaptation of the original himself. The result is made up of 75% translated original text and 25% new text. He added to the choir texts, among other things, since the Vietnamese Hát-Chèo-Theater, which is usually carried out as a family production, does not provide for choirs. He deleted some of the comical characters of the original, whose texts would have been difficult to understand in a Western context. In return, he increased the dramatic tension by singing conflicting texts in ensemble scenes at the same time - in the Chèo the singers usually have to perform the same text in duets.
The title of the original Quan Âm Thị Kính is often translated as “Goddess of Mercy Thị Kính” (“Goddess of Mercy Thị Kính”). In fact, it does not mean a goddess, but a female Buddha, into whom Th den Kính transforms at the end of the plot. The word “grace” is also problematic as it implies forgiveness that is not the subject of the work. Thị Kính is all about peace and happiness for yourself and others. At no point does she criticize the actions of others and therefore does not need to forgive anyone. To get around these two inaccuracies, Phan chose a more neutral title for his opera and called it The Tale of Lady Thị Kính ("The Story of Mrs. Th Frau Kính").
music
While the Chèo tradition gets by with five to seven instruments, Phan's opera version in the sense of the western “grand opera” tradition requires a large orchestra.
Every single structural component - the author names melodies, modulations, scenes, acts and the entire opera - is designed in ascending form to represent a “transcendental journey”. The complexity of timbre, harmony, rhythm, orchestration, etc. increases in the course of Thị Kính's path until she reaches nirvana . Percussion instruments such as tuned gongs , tubular bells or the carillon play a special role in this process .
Work history
The Tale of Lady Thị Kính is the second opera by the Vietnamese composer PQ Phan after Lorenzo de 'Medici . He was commissioned in 2008 by the Jacobs School of Music , a faculty of Indiana University . He then created the first version of the libretto within 15 days, but then revised it in a long process. It took him two years to compose the music and completed it in early 2011. After a “workshop” he made further changes. He divided the opera into two instead of three acts, added the prologue, shortened the first scene and removed some illogical or comical passages that seemed difficult to understand.
The opera premiered on February 7, 2014 at their Opera Theater in Bloomington . David Effron was the musical director, Vincent Liotta directed, the stage was by Erhard Rom, the costumes by Linda Pisano and the lighting design by Todd Hensley. The singers and instrumentalists were professional singers as well as advanced music students and PhD students from the Jacobs School of Music. There were two different occupations of the solo roles, each performed twice. Recordings of both productions were broadcast on the internet.
Web links
- Program booklet for the world premiere production (PDF) on the Indiana University website
- Detailed work information (English) on the website of the composer PQ Phan
- IU Jacobs School of Music to premiere opera believed to be first set in Vietnamese culture (English) on the Indiana University website
- Announcement of the world premiere (English) on pizzicato
- Anvi Hoàng bàn: Review of the world premiere with set images (Vietnamese / English) on diacritics.org
- Peter Jacobi / Herald Times: Review of the world premiere (Vietnamese / English) on tranquanghai1944.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Role details on phanopera.com , accessed on April 11, 2017.
- ↑ Journey of an Opera (8) - The Marriage of Text and Music on phanopera.com, accessed April 12, 2017.
- ^ Journey of an Opera (3) - What's in the Title? on phanopera.com, accessed April 12, 2017.
- ↑ Journey of an Opera (4) - Day and Night of East-West Theater Traditions on phanopera.com, accessed April 12, 2017.
- ↑ Streaming video from the Jacobs School of Music (“More Seasons” → “2013–14 Season”).