A Wedding (opera)
Encyclopedia
A Wedding is a comic opera
based on Robert Altman's 1978 film A Wedding
and was composed by William Bolcom
with a libretto written by Robert Altman
and Arnold Weinstein
.
commissioned the work, and the opera was first performed there on December 11, 2004. The premiere had stage direction by Altman and was conducted by Dennis Russell Davies
. The film's 48 characters were trimmed down to 19 on stage.
Since the premiere, A Wedding has seen performances at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, the University of Houston's Moores School of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Recently, the Music Academy of the West
commissioned Bolcom to write a chamber version of the opera, with a reduced orchestration. This reorchestration received its premiere on August 8, 2008 in Santa Barbara, California.
Scene 1. Rita, the wedding organizer, gives orders to the bartenders working at the reception.
Scene 2. Nettie, the grandmother of the groom, has not attended the ceremony. She is in her bedroom in the family mansion. Her daughter Toni, with husband Jules, appear, followed by her other daughter Victoria with husband Luigi—the parents of the groom—and the unmarried third daughter, Diana. Jules, a physician turned art dealer, examines Nettie with a stethoscope. Victoria, too, is unwell and has missed the ceremony. Diana is in love with Randolph, the butler, who tells her that all the invited guests (some 200 of them) have sent regrets. Nettie closes her eyes and dies. Rita enters and discovers Nettie's death.
Scene 3. In the ballroom, the groom's family meets Snooks and Tulip, the parents of the bride, and their older daughter Buffy (a silent role) as well as Tulip's sister Candace. Jules is immediately attracted to Tulip.
Scene 4. The women make small talk in the powder room. Victoria's mysterious illness is mentioned again.
Scene 5. The men have drinks in the "grotto," Luigi's basement kingdom—a replica of a Roman trattoria. Snooks declines alcohol and tells the story of how he found God (or vice versa).
Scene 6. Jules and Toni in Nettie's room; Jules tells his wife that her mother needs rest.
Scene 7. In the ballroom. Enter William Williamson, the only guest at the wedding who is not a family member. It turns out that he was hired by Rita to attend the ceremony and shake everyone's hand. Jules discreetly tells Luigi that Nettie has died. The band strikes up a dance. Jules sneaks off to take care of Victoria.
Scene 8. Jules gives Victoria, a drug addict, her morphine shot.
Scene 9. The dance is in full swing. Buffy—a silent role—indicates to Dino in pantomime that she is pregnant and that he is the father. Jules woos Tulip with an aria about his glamorous art collection, and makes an advance that terrifies the mother of the bride.
Scene 10. In the ladies' room, Tulip meets Victoria and notices the sudden change in her demeanor. Left alone, she sings an aria about Jules, who has begun to sweep her off her feet. Jules enters the ladies' room. They agree to have a secret tryst in Tallahassee in two weeks. Tulip sings another aria, "a woman in love," and is almost late for the cutting of the cake.
Scene 1. Enter Breedley, the best man who has missed the wedding because he spent the night in jail. Dino welcomes him and tells him about his predicament with Buffy.
Scene 2. In the ballroom, enter Aunt Bea (Nettie's twin sister, played by the same singer). Bea, also late for the ceremony, is an old socialist and shocks everyone with her wedding present, a painting featuring Muffin, the bride, in the nude, surrounded by factories and farms. Williamson, the hired guest, is the only one to defend the picture. Toni and Bea have a heated political argument. Then everyone heads for the cake table. Snooks wants to cover up the painting but Rita intervenes. He wants to punch her but Rita grabs his arm and bends it behind his back.
Scene 3. Breedley delivers an outrageous speech at the cake table. Immediately after, he spills the beans about Buffy's pregnancy to Candace, Tulip's sister. Tulip, who has just arrived after seeing Jules in the ladies' room, is horrified by the painting.
Scene 4. Luigi, alone in his grotto, feels homesick for Italy. Victoria enters. They reminisce about their past; Luigi doesn't get a chance to tell his wife that her mother has died.
Scene 5. Rita calls an emergency because of the appearance of a stranger, who turns out to be Donato, Luigi's brother, who speaks only Italian. Luigi, who has made a pact with his mother-in-law never to let any of his Italian relatives set foot in the house, threatens his brother with a knife. But Jules reminds him that, after Nettie's death, this pact is no longer valid. Luigi suddenly embraces his brother, who pulls a huge mortadella from a package. The two brothers sing a passionate duet in praise of Italian food, joined by the entire party.
Scene 6. Toni discovers that her mother is dead. The entire family assembles to hear the news. Aunt Bea, the last to leave the room, bumps into Mr. Williamson. They hit it off...
Scene 7. Dino complains to Breedley about how his irresistible charm has gotten him into trouble. Breedley drags his friend, who is completely drunk, into the shower to sober him up. Outside the shower, Muffin sings an aria about how she first met Dino. Rita enters and shows her affection for Muffin in a most inappropriate way. Muffin runs off. We see, through the shower door, Breedley and Dino naked in the shower, Breedley repeatedly trying to get Dino to stand up, and Dino falling down each time. Breedley comes out in a wet towel as Muffin arrives. She goes into the shower; she and Dino kiss.
Scene 8. Candace tells Snooks that Buffy is pregnant by Dino. There is a family conference at which Buffy, always in pantomime, reveals that she has slept with an entire military academy. Thus, Dino is not necessarily the father of her child.
Scene 9. Outside the mansion, Snooks and Tulip prepare to leave. Tulip says goodbye to Jules, till Tallahassee. An angry confrontation between the bride's and the groom's families is disrupted by the sound of a car crash. Dino's car was in an accident, and apparently the newlyweds were both killed. Brought together by common grief, all sing a chorale. But then, to general consternation, Muffin appears with Dino, freshly out of the shower. It was Breedley who had driven off in Dino's car and crashed it. Snooks, forgetting about his vow, demands champagne. Everyone dances in great joy.
Scene 10. Jules and Tulip meet secretly in the ladies' room. Tulip calls off the tryst in Tallahassee. Jules rejoins Victoria to give her one more shot of morphine. Diana goes off with Randolph, the butler.
Scene 11. Luigi leaves Victoria to return to Italy with his brother. Everyone says goodbye: "Weddings are the happiest events, but...when it's over, it gets real sad."
Woodwinds:
Brass
:
Harp
Percussion
:
Keyboard
Strings:
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
based on Robert Altman's 1978 film A Wedding
A Wedding
A Wedding is a 1978 black comedy film directed by Robert Altman, starring Carol Burnett, Lillian Gish, Geraldine Chaplin, Vittorio Gassman, Mia Farrow, Lauren Hutton, Craig Richard Nelson, Pam Dawber, Desi Arnaz, Jr., Paul Dooley, Dennis Christopher, and Howard Duff...
and was composed by William Bolcom
William Bolcom
William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, two Grammy Awards, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. Bolcom taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973–2008...
with a libretto written by Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
and Arnold Weinstein
Arnold Weinstein
Arnold Weinstein was an American poet, playwright and librettist, who referred to himself as a "theatre poet"....
.
Performance History
The Lyric Opera of ChicagoLyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
commissioned the work, and the opera was first performed there on December 11, 2004. The premiere had stage direction by Altman and was conducted by Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies is an American conductor and pianist. He studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School where he received his doctorate...
. The film's 48 characters were trimmed down to 19 on stage.
Since the premiere, A Wedding has seen performances at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, the University of Houston's Moores School of Music, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
Recently, the Music Academy of the West
Music Academy of the West
The Music Academy of the West is a music conservatory located in Montecito, California near Santa Barbara, California. Every year, it hosts a summer music festival for the community highlighted by concerts and workshops directed by famous composers, conductors, and artists.A yearly maximum of 135...
commissioned Bolcom to write a chamber version of the opera, with a reduced orchestration. This reorchestration received its premiere on August 8, 2008 in Santa Barbara, California.
Roles
| Role (in order of vocal appearance) | Voice type | Premiere Cast, December 11, 2004 (Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies Dennis Russell Davies Dennis Russell Davies is an American conductor and pianist. He studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School where he received his doctorate... ) |
|---|---|---|
| Rita Billingsley, the wedding directrix | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Maria Kanyova |
| Nettie, grandmother of the bride | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Kathryn Harries |
| Antonia, her daughter | mezzo-soprano | Beth Clayton Beth Clayton Laura Beth Clayton is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer, and a native of Malvern, Arkansas.-Education and early career:Clayton's father was a Methodist minister. She sang in church and then in musical productions in church camp and in high school... |
| Jules, her husband | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Jake Gardner |
| Victoria, Nettie's daughter, the mother of the groom | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Catherine Malfitano Catherine Malfitano Catherine Malfitano is an American operatic soprano. She is generally considered to be one of America's leading operatic sopranos... |
| Luigi, her husband, the father of the groom | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Jerry Hadley Jerry Hadley Jerry Hadley was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of Jenůfa , Susannah , and Candide... |
| Diana, Victoria's sister | mezzo-soprano | Patricia Risley |
| Randolph, the Corelli butler | bass | Mark Doss (alternated with Kevin Short Kevin Short Kevin Short is an American operatic bass-baritone. A graduate of Morgan State University, the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Juilliard School, he won the bass-baritone award for the Middle Atlantic region Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1989. From 1991-1998 he appeared annually... ) |
| Bartender | bass or baritone | Levi Hernandez |
| Snooks, father of the bride | baritone | Mark Delavan Mark Delavan Mark Delavan is an American operatic bass-baritone. He made his professional debut in 1986 at the San Francisco Opera in a small role in Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlos. He spent the next three years performing in numerous comprimario roles with the company... |
| Tulip, mother of the bride | soprano | Lauren Flanigan Lauren Flanigan Lauren Flanigan is an American operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the 1980s. She has enjoyed a particularly fruitful partnership with the New York City Opera, appearing with the company almost every year since 1990... |
| Buffy, sister of the bride | mute | Lauren Carter |
| Muffin, the bride | soprano | Anna Christy Anna Christy Anna Christy is an America soprano opera singer. She studied at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and made her debut in 2000 at New York City Opera as Papagena.... |
| Dino, the groom | tenor | Patrick Miller |
| Candace, Tulip's sister | soprano | Cynthia Lawrence |
| William Williamson, a hired guest | baritone | Timothy Nolen Timothy Nolen Timothy Nolen is an American actor and baritone who has had an active career in operas, musicals, concerts, plays, and on television for over four decades. He notably portrayed the title role in the first operatic presentation of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at the Houston Grand Opera in 1984... |
| Breedley, the best man | baritone | Brian Leerhuber |
| Aunt Bea, Nettie's sister | mezzo-soprano | Kathryn Harries |
| Donato, Luigi's brother | tenor | David Cangelosi |
| Waiters, maids, photographers, and security | ||
Act I
Introduction. Dino and Muffin's wedding ceremony at a church in suburban Chicago.Scene 1. Rita, the wedding organizer, gives orders to the bartenders working at the reception.
Scene 2. Nettie, the grandmother of the groom, has not attended the ceremony. She is in her bedroom in the family mansion. Her daughter Toni, with husband Jules, appear, followed by her other daughter Victoria with husband Luigi—the parents of the groom—and the unmarried third daughter, Diana. Jules, a physician turned art dealer, examines Nettie with a stethoscope. Victoria, too, is unwell and has missed the ceremony. Diana is in love with Randolph, the butler, who tells her that all the invited guests (some 200 of them) have sent regrets. Nettie closes her eyes and dies. Rita enters and discovers Nettie's death.
Scene 3. In the ballroom, the groom's family meets Snooks and Tulip, the parents of the bride, and their older daughter Buffy (a silent role) as well as Tulip's sister Candace. Jules is immediately attracted to Tulip.
Scene 4. The women make small talk in the powder room. Victoria's mysterious illness is mentioned again.
Scene 5. The men have drinks in the "grotto," Luigi's basement kingdom—a replica of a Roman trattoria. Snooks declines alcohol and tells the story of how he found God (or vice versa).
Scene 6. Jules and Toni in Nettie's room; Jules tells his wife that her mother needs rest.
Scene 7. In the ballroom. Enter William Williamson, the only guest at the wedding who is not a family member. It turns out that he was hired by Rita to attend the ceremony and shake everyone's hand. Jules discreetly tells Luigi that Nettie has died. The band strikes up a dance. Jules sneaks off to take care of Victoria.
Scene 8. Jules gives Victoria, a drug addict, her morphine shot.
Scene 9. The dance is in full swing. Buffy—a silent role—indicates to Dino in pantomime that she is pregnant and that he is the father. Jules woos Tulip with an aria about his glamorous art collection, and makes an advance that terrifies the mother of the bride.
Scene 10. In the ladies' room, Tulip meets Victoria and notices the sudden change in her demeanor. Left alone, she sings an aria about Jules, who has begun to sweep her off her feet. Jules enters the ladies' room. They agree to have a secret tryst in Tallahassee in two weeks. Tulip sings another aria, "a woman in love," and is almost late for the cutting of the cake.
Act II
Overture. The composer writes in the score: "The orchestra depicts a lone motorcycle coming from far away."Scene 1. Enter Breedley, the best man who has missed the wedding because he spent the night in jail. Dino welcomes him and tells him about his predicament with Buffy.
Scene 2. In the ballroom, enter Aunt Bea (Nettie's twin sister, played by the same singer). Bea, also late for the ceremony, is an old socialist and shocks everyone with her wedding present, a painting featuring Muffin, the bride, in the nude, surrounded by factories and farms. Williamson, the hired guest, is the only one to defend the picture. Toni and Bea have a heated political argument. Then everyone heads for the cake table. Snooks wants to cover up the painting but Rita intervenes. He wants to punch her but Rita grabs his arm and bends it behind his back.
Scene 3. Breedley delivers an outrageous speech at the cake table. Immediately after, he spills the beans about Buffy's pregnancy to Candace, Tulip's sister. Tulip, who has just arrived after seeing Jules in the ladies' room, is horrified by the painting.
Scene 4. Luigi, alone in his grotto, feels homesick for Italy. Victoria enters. They reminisce about their past; Luigi doesn't get a chance to tell his wife that her mother has died.
Scene 5. Rita calls an emergency because of the appearance of a stranger, who turns out to be Donato, Luigi's brother, who speaks only Italian. Luigi, who has made a pact with his mother-in-law never to let any of his Italian relatives set foot in the house, threatens his brother with a knife. But Jules reminds him that, after Nettie's death, this pact is no longer valid. Luigi suddenly embraces his brother, who pulls a huge mortadella from a package. The two brothers sing a passionate duet in praise of Italian food, joined by the entire party.
Scene 6. Toni discovers that her mother is dead. The entire family assembles to hear the news. Aunt Bea, the last to leave the room, bumps into Mr. Williamson. They hit it off...
Scene 7. Dino complains to Breedley about how his irresistible charm has gotten him into trouble. Breedley drags his friend, who is completely drunk, into the shower to sober him up. Outside the shower, Muffin sings an aria about how she first met Dino. Rita enters and shows her affection for Muffin in a most inappropriate way. Muffin runs off. We see, through the shower door, Breedley and Dino naked in the shower, Breedley repeatedly trying to get Dino to stand up, and Dino falling down each time. Breedley comes out in a wet towel as Muffin arrives. She goes into the shower; she and Dino kiss.
Scene 8. Candace tells Snooks that Buffy is pregnant by Dino. There is a family conference at which Buffy, always in pantomime, reveals that she has slept with an entire military academy. Thus, Dino is not necessarily the father of her child.
Scene 9. Outside the mansion, Snooks and Tulip prepare to leave. Tulip says goodbye to Jules, till Tallahassee. An angry confrontation between the bride's and the groom's families is disrupted by the sound of a car crash. Dino's car was in an accident, and apparently the newlyweds were both killed. Brought together by common grief, all sing a chorale. But then, to general consternation, Muffin appears with Dino, freshly out of the shower. It was Breedley who had driven off in Dino's car and crashed it. Snooks, forgetting about his vow, demands champagne. Everyone dances in great joy.
Scene 10. Jules and Tulip meet secretly in the ladies' room. Tulip calls off the tryst in Tallahassee. Jules rejoins Victoria to give her one more shot of morphine. Diana goes off with Randolph, the butler.
Scene 11. Luigi leaves Victoria to return to Italy with his brother. Everyone says goodbye: "Weddings are the happiest events, but...when it's over, it gets real sad."
Orchestration
A Wedding is scored for:Woodwinds:
- 3 FluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
s (3 dbl. PiccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
) - 3 OboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s (3 dbl. English Horn) - 2 ClarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s in Bb/A (1. also dbl. Eb Piccolo ClarinetPiccolo clarinetThe piccolo clarinets are members of the clarinet family, smaller and higher pitched than the more familiar high soprano clarinets in E and D. None are common, but the most often used piccolo clarinet is the A clarinet, sounding a minor seventh higher than the B clarinet. Shackleton also lists...
) - Bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...
(dbl. Eb Piccolo ClarinetPiccolo clarinetThe piccolo clarinets are members of the clarinet family, smaller and higher pitched than the more familiar high soprano clarinets in E and D. None are common, but the most often used piccolo clarinet is the A clarinet, sounding a minor seventh higher than the B clarinet. Shackleton also lists...
) - 2 BassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s - ContrabassoonContrabassoonThe contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
Brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
:
- 4 HornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s in F - 3 TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s in C (1. dbl. Piccolo Trumpet in Eb) - 2 TromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s - Bass trombone
- TubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
Harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
Percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
:
- TimpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
- 3 Percussion
Keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
Strings:
Sources
- Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
(December 11, 2004). "'Wedding’ opera debuts". Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Post-IntelligencerThe Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area... - Ross, Alex (January 3, 2005). "A Lovely Couple". The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
- Tommasini, Antony (December 13, 2004). "Bolcom Musically Weds the Old Money to New". New York Times
- Swed, Mark (August 11, 2008). "'A Wedding' at the Lobero Theatre". Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....