Tiriel (opera)
Encyclopedia
Tiriel is an opera by a Russia
n composer Dmitri N. Smirnov
in three acts (9 scenes) with a Symphonic Prologue to his own libretto
after a poem of the same title
by William Blake
.
Language: English
(also translated to Russian
and German
).
, Russia
. The libretto combines the text from Blake's early symbolic work "Tiriel
" (c1789) with the addition of five of his poems: the Introduction and The Divine Image from the Songs of Innocence (1789), The Tyger
and A Divine Image
from the Songs of Experience (1789-1794), and A Cradle Song from his Note-book (Manuscript Rossetti
, 1793).
The premiere took place on January 28, 1989, at the Stattheater, Freiburg
(Germany
) with subsequent performances on January 31, February 2, 11, 19, March 15, 30, and April 13.
Time and Place: at the dawn of time
Duration 113 minutes.
Eventually he comes to the ‘pleasant gardens’ in the Vales of Har, where he finds his own parents, Har and Heva, who are both quite senile and have become like children again. They invite Tiriel to help them catch birds and listen to Har’s singing in the ‘great cage’. In madness and dismay, Tiriel abandons them and sets out further on his wanderings.
Tiriel’s wild brother Ijim finds him, captures him and takes him back to his children who are living in what once was his own palace. Tiriel, ever madder and more enraged, curses his children yet more passionately, calling down thunder and pestilence and destroying them. Doing so, he sends his favourite daughter Hela mad. Nonetheless it is Hela who must guide Tiriel back to his parents in the Vales of Har.
On the way through the mountains they pass caves which are the home of another of Tiriel’s brothers, Zazel. Zazel, together with his sons, hurls dirt and stones at Tiriel and his daughter. Eventually Tiriel and Hela arrive once more at the tent in the Vales of Har, where Har and Heva live. In a final speech, Tiriel explains how his father’s laws and his own wisdom now ‘end together in a curse’. Cursing his parents, he dies. Over Tiriel’s body the goddess Mnetha sings a lullaby to the mankind who sleeps forever.
, London
, and Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski
, Hamburg
,
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n composer Dmitri N. Smirnov
Dmitry Nikolayevich Smirnov (composer)
Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov is a Russian and British composer.-Biography:He was born in Minsk into a family of opera singers and he studied at the Moscow Conservatory 1967-1972 under Nikolai Sidelnikov, Yuri Kholopov and Edison Denisov. He also studied privately with Webern's pupil Philip...
in three acts (9 scenes) with a Symphonic Prologue to his own libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
after a poem of the same title
Tiriel (Blake)
Tiriel is a narrative poem by William Blake, written c.1789. Considered the first of his prophetic books, it is also the first poem in which Blake used free septenaries, which he would go on to use in much of his later verse...
by William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
.
Language: English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
(also translated to Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
).
Creation history
The opera was composed during 1983-1985 in MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The libretto combines the text from Blake's early symbolic work "Tiriel
Tiriel (Blake)
Tiriel is a narrative poem by William Blake, written c.1789. Considered the first of his prophetic books, it is also the first poem in which Blake used free septenaries, which he would go on to use in much of his later verse...
" (c1789) with the addition of five of his poems: the Introduction and The Divine Image from the Songs of Innocence (1789), The Tyger
The Tyger
"The Tyger" is a poem by the English poet William Blake. It was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794 . It is one of Blake's best-known and most analyzed poems...
and A Divine Image
A Divine Image
"A Divine Image" is a poem by William Blake from the Songs of Experience, not to be confused with The Divine Image from the Songs of Innocence.-Text of the poem:A Divine ImageCruelty has a human heart,And Jealousy a human face;...
from the Songs of Experience (1789-1794), and A Cradle Song from his Note-book (Manuscript Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
, 1793).
Performance history
Freiburg
Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. In the extreme south-west of the country, it straddles the Dreisam river, at the foot of the Schlossberg. Historically, the city has acted as the hub of the Breisgau region on the western edge of the Black Forest in the Upper Rhine Plain...
(Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) with subsequent performances on January 31, February 2, 11, 19, March 15, 30, and April 13.
- German translation: Paul Esterházy
- Stage director: Siegfried SchoenbohmSiegfried SchoenbohmSiegfried Schoenbohm was an opera stage director. He was assistant of Walter Felsenstein.He worked at:Komische Oper Berlin ,...
- Decorations: Brigitte Friesz
- Costumes: Renate Schmitzer
- Choreography: Krisztina Horvath
- Conductor: Gerchard Markson.
Roles
- TirielTirielTiriel is the eponymous character in a poem by William Blake written c.1789, and considered the first of his prophetic books. The character of Tiriel is often interpreted as a foreshadowing of Urizen, representative of conventionality and conformity, and one of the major characters in Blake's as...
, the old and blind king – baritone: Rudolf Kostas - HarHar (Blake)Har is a character in the mythological writings of William Blake, who roughly corresponds to an aged Adam. His wife, Heva, corresponds to Eve...
, his father – tenor: George Maran - Heva, his mother – soprano: Melinda Liebermann
- Ijim, his brother – tenor: Grant Wollaber
- Zazel, his brother – bass: Jasse Ciston/Friedemann Kunder
- HelaHela (Blake)In the mythological writings of William Blake, Hela is the youngest of the five daughters of Tiriel. She is the only survivor of his curse. She denounces her blind father for what he has done; he curses her once more, turning her hair to Medusa-style snakes. She guides him to the Vales of Har....
, his daughter – soprano: Annette Robbert - Mnetha, nurse of Har and Heva – contralto: Kathrin Asman
- Myratana, Tiriel's wife – silent role: Elke Buerger
- Nightingale – dancer: Antoinette Laurent
- Tiger – dancer: Mauno Hyvaerinen
- Tiriel's sons (and daughter) – male chorus (or mixed chorus)
- Zasel's sons – male chorus
- Birds and flowers – dancers
Time and Place: at the dawn of time
Duration 113 minutes.
Synopsis
The blind and aged king, Tiriel, calls down curses on his sons whom he has summoned to observe their mother’s death. The sons bury their mother, but declare that they have tired of their father’s tyranny and now will rebel against it. So Tiriel sets off wandering into the mountains.Eventually he comes to the ‘pleasant gardens’ in the Vales of Har, where he finds his own parents, Har and Heva, who are both quite senile and have become like children again. They invite Tiriel to help them catch birds and listen to Har’s singing in the ‘great cage’. In madness and dismay, Tiriel abandons them and sets out further on his wanderings.
Tiriel’s wild brother Ijim finds him, captures him and takes him back to his children who are living in what once was his own palace. Tiriel, ever madder and more enraged, curses his children yet more passionately, calling down thunder and pestilence and destroying them. Doing so, he sends his favourite daughter Hela mad. Nonetheless it is Hela who must guide Tiriel back to his parents in the Vales of Har.
On the way through the mountains they pass caves which are the home of another of Tiriel’s brothers, Zazel. Zazel, together with his sons, hurls dirt and stones at Tiriel and his daughter. Eventually Tiriel and Hela arrive once more at the tent in the Vales of Har, where Har and Heva live. In a final speech, Tiriel explains how his father’s laws and his own wisdom now ‘end together in a curse’. Cursing his parents, he dies. Over Tiriel’s body the goddess Mnetha sings a lullaby to the mankind who sleeps forever.
Quotations
"It is important when presenting works like Tiriel in the West not to apologize for what might seem to be naïve. Russians feel the way they do because they want to, not because they can't do anything else. In this respect, the Freiburgers' musical performance struck me as exemplary..." (Gerard McBurney)Scoring
- Singers and actors: 7 singers; male chorus; actress; dancers;
- Orchestra: 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 saxophones, 3 bassoons, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, 4-5 percussion players (5 timpani, triangle, sonagli, cymbals, 3 gongs, claves, 3 temple blocks, 2 wood blocks, 2 bongos, 5 tom-toms, tambourin, side drum, guiro, bambusi, lion's roar, cassa rulante, bass drum, tam-tam, crotales, flexatone, tubular bells, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone), celesta, harp, and strings.
Publishers
Boosey & HawkesBoosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski
Hans Sikorski
Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski is an international sheet music publishing company with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany.The music publishing firm of Hans Sikorski was founded in 1935 and now comprises more than 30 publishers in several European countries and in the USA...
, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
,