Fall 2004:
Francis Poulenc's
La Voix Humaine
& Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi
Press:
"A woman who attempts to strangle herself with a phone cord, a scheming family that attempts to rewrite a will and two lovers who just want to be together make up the cast of characters.
This horror show appears courtesy of the University's School of Music.
Katrina Wilber, MN Daily
Production:
OCTOBER 28, 29, 30, 31: Ted Mann Concert Hall
TIMOTHY LOVELACE, conductor (La Voix Humaine)
YURI IVAN, conductor (Gianni Schicchi)
DAVID WALSH, director
JIM WENTING, set design
NICOLE SIMONEAU, lighting design
JULIE ANN RITHALER, costume & hair design
The Operas:
La Voix Humaine
Like Richard Strauss’ exploration of obsession and dependency in his operatic rendering of Oscar Wilde’s controversial play Salome, this harrowing psycho-drama penetrates the dark recesses of the human soul in search of answers to unanswerable questions.
Conceived by the great French filmmaker and playwright, Jean Cocteau, the piece centers on the telephone conversation of an elegant young woman with an unseen man who has been her lover and companion for the previous five years. It is apparent that the relationship has ended and that the woman is unable to come to terms with this new reality. The telephone represents a third and ambiguous character—the devil! On the one hand, it is a lifeline to the outside world for this woman, on the other, it is like a murder weapon, slowly and dispassionately destroying her hopes for reconciliation with her lover. At the end, the audience is left hanging, not knowing what course of action the woman will choose.
Francis Poulenc has mirrored the nuances and colors of Cocteau’s text with a score alternating recitatives of intense conversation with lush, expressive passages of sensuous lyricism. The “human voice” embodies an isolated soul, in thrall to a terrible fixation, which all the modern communication technology cannot prevent from turning against itself.
Photos
Gianni Schicchi
Perhaps the last great “buffa” opera in the Italian comic tradition, Giacomo Puccini’s one act mini-masterpiece Gianni Schicchi is both startling and fascinating because it emanates from the pen of a composer usually associated with great operatic tragedies, such as La Bohéme and Madama Butterfly.
Like his eminent Italian predecessor, Giuseppe Verdi, whose affinity for comic utterance came to light late in his career with the hugely successful Falstaff, Puccini surprises and delights us with the sheer wit and verve of his single comedy. Whether in his satirical depiction of the deceased Buoso Donati’s greedy, uncultured relatives, in his deft portrayal of the sly and inventive scheming of the title character, or in the almost self-parodic musical expression of the romantic young lovers, Puccini is clearly in top form both musically and dramatically. And, of course, arias such as “O mio babbino caro” are a reminder that Puccini was opera’s quintessential creator of “unforgettable” melodies!
Our production is updated to Florence of the late 20th–century, but with all of Puccini’s Italianate spirit left intact!