It is a question many people asked after
Sept. 11, 2001: Is there a direction and meaning in lives beyond
the individual’s own will? Writer Thornton Wilder posited that
question nearly 76 years ago through his novel "The Bridge
of San Luis Rey."
This month, Paula Kimper, composer of "Patience and Sarah"
– a gently lyrical chamber opera that was a highlight of the
1998 Lincoln Center Festival – will present an operatic version
of Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work, inspired, in part, by
the events of 9-11.
The production, part of American Opera Projects’ Opera America
Showcase, will be staged on March 28 at A.R.T./NY Space, 138
South Oxford St. in Fort Greene.
The composer writes in a program note, "[This story] could
be anywhere, anytime, any catastrophe; it could be New York City
in September 2001."
The opera, like Wilder’s novel, shows five characters, complete
strangers who have one thing in common: they are killed in the
collapse of a Peruvian bridge in 1714. The strands of their lives
are captured with precision and immediacy, rendering them indelibly
three-dimensional.
Charles Jarden, executive director of American Opera Projects,
also sees the parallels to 9-11.
"The plot allows us to think about those events, especially
because of how Wilder wrote the novel," Jarden told GO Brooklyn.
"By the time those five people get to the bridge, we know
them quite intimately. Such a parallel [to 9-11] brings up a
question: is tragedy random or is it part of a grand plan?
"Like all artists, Paula was deeply affected by that day."
"The Bridge" has been a highly cherished project for
the company from the beginning.
"We’ve been developing this opera with Paula for three or
four years," said Jarden. "She’s a joy to work with.
"It’s a very complex work," Jarden said. "Wilder’s
novel has extremely complicated subject matter, and so it’s difficult
for an opera to capture his tone, which is slightly ironic. But
Paula has managed to get that into the music by writing as she
normally writes – staying simple, direct and clear."
That musical clarity was strikingly evident in "Patience
and Sarah," and in this production, Kimper has even surpassed
that, Jarden said.
"She’s grown musically since ’Patience and Sarah,’ but everything
she composes is singer-friendly," he explains. "Paula
has a natural lyric gift, which makes everything flow simply
and with no clutter."
Since this performance is part of American Opera Projects’ "preview"
series, it will be a piano version of the work: just singers,
the score and the piano.
Jarden explained the effect of hearing the opera this way, without
ornamental orchestration: "When Paula composes an opera,
she starts with a piano score, which is smart in a practical
way, because you can show off its dramatic effectiveness before
adding the orchestral colors. In a workshop situation like this,
there’s no staging, just purely music. It’s admittedly bare-bones,
but you are able to concentrate more directly on the heart of
the drama through the music."
Mother and artist
Also on the American Opera Projects schedule this spring is a
full-scale production of "Marina: A Captive Spirit,"
a new, one-act chamber opera by Ditmars Park resident Deborah
Drattel, whose "Lilith" premiered at the New York City
Opera two years ago.
"We’ve engaged director Anne Bogart and a lot of the same
production and musical team that worked on ’Lilith,’ including
soprano Lauren Flanigan," Jarden said of "Marina,"
which runs May 1-4 in Manhattan.
"Marina" is based on the life and work of the 20th-century
Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva, and it was no coincidence that
Drattel became fascinated by her life and work.
"Both Deborah and [librettist] Annie Finch seemed to hit
on the same idea at the same time," said Jarden. "Deborah
had researched Russian history because she’s been working on
her ’Nicholas and Alexandra’ opera that was commissioned by the
Los Angeles Opera, and she and Annie decided to collaborate on
three one-act chamber operas about mothers who contend with their
creative versus maternal instincts.
"’How can one be a free-spirited, creative individual and
also be a caring mother?’ is what they seem to be asking. Marina
was a single mother with four children during a difficult time:
famine, no food, no money. Deborah has four children as well
and a working husband. So there may be echoes of Deborah in there
somewhere."
Staging "Marina" at the new, 99-seat DR2 Theater in
Union Square is also no accident.
"This opera is about confinement, the small spaces Russian
people had to live in at that time," said Jarden. "It’s
designed to take place on one stage, so the orchestra and the
nine-member cast are up there together, adding to the cramped
feel, and the intimate theater space will certainly add to this
confinement theme."
American Opera Projects presents Paula Kimper’s "The
Bridge of San Luis Rey," on March 28 at 7 pm at the A.R.T./NY
Space, 138 South Oxford St. between Atlantic Avenue and Hanson
Place in Fort Greene; and "Marina: A Captive Spirit,"
a staged production of a chamber opera by Deborah Drattel, May
1-4 at the DR2 Theatre, 103 East 15th St. in Manhattan. For more
information, call (718) 398-4024 or go to www.aopinc.org
on the Web.
