by György Ligeti - The New York Times

37 Pages·2010·5.85 MB·English

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Alan Gilbert
Music Director
by György Ligeti

by György Ligeti
New York Philharmonic
New York Premiere May 27–29, 2010
by György Ligeti
Opera in four acts
to a libretto by Michael Meschke and György Ligeti, freely adapted from
Michel de Ghelderode’s play La Balade du Grand Macabre
New York Philharmonic
New York Premiere May 27–29, 2010
Conductor ALAN GILBERT
Director & Designer DOUG FITCH
Producer EDOUARD GETAZ
Production created by GIANTS ARE SMALL
Costume Designer CATHERINE ZUBER*
Lighting Designer CLIFTON TAYLOR*
Barbara Hannigan, soprano* GEPOPO
Kiera Duffy, soprano VENUS
Jennifer Black, soprano* AMANDA
Renée Tatum, mezzo-soprano AMANDO
Anthony Roth Costanzo, countertenor* PRINCE GO-GO
Melissa Parks, mezzo-sopranao* MESCALINA
Mark Schowalter, tenor* PIET THE POT
Eric Owens, bass-baritone NEKROTZAR
Wilbur Pauley, bass ASTRADAMORS
Peter Tantsits, tenor THE WHITE MINISTER
Joshua Bloom, baritone* THE BLACK MINISTER
Rob Besserer* ATMOSPHERICIST
Dennis Blackwell* RUFFIACK
Michael Riley SCHOBIACK
Steven Moore* SCHABERNACK
New York Choral Artists CHORUS OF SPIRITS;
Joseph Flummerfelt, director WHISPERING WALLS;
PEOPLE OF BREUGHELLAND

*Denotes New York Philharmonic debut

Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in …
Car Horn Prelude
Scene One
Countryside in Breughelland with remains of a decayed graveyard.
At one side a burial chamber.
piet the pot Dies irae, dies illa, solvet saeclum in …
O golden Breughelland,
that never knows a care,
fill all your children with delight!
O long lost paradise, where are you now?
Amanda and Amando enter entwined in each other’s arms.
amanda & amando O my dear darling!
As marble white ’neath heaven’s fire
glows thy form with love’s desire
beyond restraining!
Let us yield to ardent rapture!
enraptured am I by thee!
O bliss!
And here and now must show thee my love!
Love thee, I must love thee, I must!
So let us in our bliss together perish.
nekrotzar from the burial chamber,
distant, as if from the underworld
Perish, but not for bliss!
piet Oh, my!
All these heavenly twists and turnings!
Such curvings!
amanda & amando Like a long bow tightly spann’d,
trembling, oh, here in my hand.
I languish, blissful.
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piet Ha! Blissful!? piet Have mercy, Your Skinniness!
Have mercy, Your Ugliness!
amanda & amando With sweetest lust, see how my heart’s full!
I have done you no wrong!
piet Ha! I know what she’s full of! Just had a bit too much to drink,
have now and then hallucinations,
nekrotzar Lecherous worm!
hear horrible music.
amando Miserable scoundrel! That for the worm! Ah! Have mercy on Piet,
you mighty …
strikes Piet with his dagger

… friend!
piet Mercy, lord! I spoke no word! On Piet the Pot,
It came from above, so who spoke?
by trade wine-taster
The Almighty!
here in Breughella — la-la-la …
amanda & amando O, my dear darling!
nekrotzar Shut up!
amando By this vile rogue we are disturb’d! And rejoice to be still alive!
amanda O, how I ache! piet Oh, yes!
amando And I shall burst! nekrotzar Yet thou shalt perish!
amanda & amando Where is a place, a secret place, piet Oh, yes!
where our sighing will not be heard?
nekrotzar Your belly burst open!
They slowly leave the stage.
piet Oh, yes!
Nekrotzar appears suddenly from the tomb.
nekrotzar Your throat racked with thirst!
nekrotzar Away, you swagpot!
piet Amen!
piet Ah!
Wait! What is that you said?
nekrotzar Lick the floor, you dog! Racked with thirst? no!
You spoke of death, not punishment!
piet Yes, sir! Miaow!
Hey, friend! You go too far!
nekrotzar Squeak out your dying wish, you rogue! Hey! Look out!
nekrotzar Piet the Pot, your time runs out; amando Amanda!
so hear the bitter words of these my tidings: can do no more!
that all, all men on earth, must perish!
amanda Ach, my Amando!
piet Any fool knows that! Piet emerges out of the tomb with a scythe, a trumpet, and a cloak,
nekrotzar But no one knows the hour. and collides inadvertently with Amanda.
Or do you know it?
amando Peeping prick-head, Stupid dick-head!
nekrotzar Here tonight, as midnight strikes, Spank your monkey, stupid flunky!
you will espy a pale horse, now’s your chance, jiz your pants!
and on its back sits Death,
piet Ow!
and all hell follows behind!
So scream and howl and tremble! amanda rushes to the tomb
For there will be blood, There! There! Amando, see!
and fire will follow!
And nothing remain amanda & amando Here, here is free!
but dust and ash! disappear quickly into the tomb
chorus of spirits off-stage during Nekrotzar’s declamation nekrotzar Ha ha ha ha!
Hey! Give me my requisites, slave!
Destruction soon draws nigh,
thou art in peril great, Piet gives Nekrotzar scythe and trumpet and hangs a cloak over his shoulders.
for death will be thy fate!
Well? What d’you say to that?
piet But dust and a — Tell me, who am I?
chorus of spirits Take warning now, piet With a scythe?
at midnight thou shalt die! With a trumpet?
Bells?
piet Rot! And that bony face?
Tell me, with whom exactly have I the honor?
Those hollow eyeball sockets?
Those grinning jaws?
nekrotzar I bear the name of nekrotzar.
now I’m in deep shit!
piet And where does its bearer come from?
nekrotzar The will of the Almighty …
nekrotzar points to the grave
piet Oh, gruesome Lord Macabre!
From there!
Ha! I could make good use of you, nekrotzar … whose executor I am …
you are so … well fed … and yet still agile!
piet Oh, hear my pleading,
Go down that tomb!
my wailing, beseeching!
Left, right, left, look smart!
Bring out the instruments there; nekrotzar … sets me to work!
I need them — get a move on! —
piet Oh, please, sir, please,
for the bus’ness which I am doing night by night.
spare the people of Breughelland!
piet Ugh! How it stinks down here! Oh, please, oh, please!
amanda & amando O … ! nekrotzar I mow them blind!
The lovers appear, disheveled. piet Let the children live still!
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nekrotzar The good ones and the evil!
piet Oh, Breughelland!
nekrotzar Arise, night of triumph!
On to the city!
A horse! A horse!
You! You shall be my horse!
chorus of spirits Destruction soon draws nigh,
thou art in peril great,
for death will be thy fate!
Take warning now,
at midnight thou shalt die!
nekrotzar mounts Piet, who serves as a horse, with difficulty
Make room! Room for the Great Macabre!
The end of time has come!
The world! The world will meet its doom!
Gee-up, horse!
P iet whinnies dreadfully loudly and trots with Nekrotzar, riding piggy-back,
quickly offstage. The voices of Amanda and Amando come from the tomb.
amando Melting snow is thy breast,
close entwined rest, oh rest!
amanda Snow I was, yet now am flowing,
flower am I, brightly glowing.
amanda & amando Fire flower, blossom rose-red,
loving and loved till we are dead.

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