Operas of Broken Eros

Dark and brooding best describes Episode 3: So Noble a Heart from the four-part Tales from a Safe Distance, a mini opera showcase produced by the Decameron Opera Coalition.

 

For those readers who have not partaken yet of this vibrant, virtual—but not live—opera showcase, the Decameron Opera Coalition, a partnership of nine small opera companies spread across the United States are premiering in the month of October tiny operas running from 9 to 15 minutes long. The libretti are inspired from Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron in a contemporary update. The connecting opera is an extended piece called The Happy Hour by composer Peter Hilliard and librettist Matt Boresi.

 

On October 23, 2020, the Dresser partook of the premieres of Orsa Ibernata by composer Elizabeth Blood and librettist Danny Brylow, Seven Spells with music and words by Donia Jarrar, and The Sky Where You Are by composer Maria Thompson Corley and librettist Jenny O’Connell.

 

From the moment composer-soprano Elizabeth Blood begins intoning “brambles and weeds” with a trilled R, the listeners know they have entered sacred space set back in time to the medieval period. Orsa Ibernata produced by Milwaukee Opera Theater of Milwaukee, WI, features Danny Brylow’s libretto culled from two Decameron stories that settle on an unfaithful partner who is served up the lover’s heart and because of this, she or he commits suicide. The title of this work translates as “Hibernating Bear.” The Dresser is clueless how the title relates to the story. Additionally, there are two characters in this work and both parts are sung by Elizabeth Blood, though the Dresser is unsure about the identities of these characters. Nonetheless, Orsa Ibernata is The Dresser’s favorite opera of these three.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Seven Spells produced by Opera in the Heights of  Houston, TX involves a woman (mezzo-soprano Kaarin Cecilia Phelps)  who seems to be preparing for her wedding but is notified by cell phone that she has been jilted. Maria Thompson Corley’s music is accented by rolling arpeggios that tend to soothe rather than agitate. This makes for lamentation rather than deep despair, which the Dresser thinks muddles the story.

 

The Sky Where You Are seems to be the one opera so far not particularly inspired by a story from Boccaccio’s The Decameron. Produced by An Opera Theater of Minneapolis, MN, this work comes with a socio-political message about domestic abuse and how to deal with this heart-rending problem. The music scores at a high pitch given the anxiety of the abused woman Reyna (soprano Katherine Henly). The situation of the story is that Reyna calls her friend Jo (mezzo-soprano Anna Hashizume) for solace and advice while a man’s voice (baritone Justin Anthony Spenner) addressed to Reyna is heard but never seen.

 

Tickets are priced ridiculous low at $15 for all four segments of this opera. At this date, Episodes 1 through 3 and their talkbacks are available to be viewed at any time. The debut of the last segment airs as follows:

 

October 30, 2020 Episode 4: The Bolts of Fortune

• “Sourdough: Rise Up” (Resonance Works | Pittsburgh, PA)
• “Corsair” (Chicago Fringe Opera | Chicago, IL)
• “The Happy Hour” (Conclusion)

As is The Dresser’s practice, she give the last words to a contemporary poet. In “Breaking Up with Eros,” Annie Kim details the difficulty of breaking off a love relationship, something that the three mini operas of Tales from a Safe Distance, Episode 3: So Noble a Heart have extreme trouble with.

 

 

BREAKING UP WITH EROS

—ending with a line by Frank Bidart

This morning, for example, I miss
your heat: how you flare my skin

into a sun, whipping my cold
dead planets into orbit. To slip

beyond the body’s gate, glide
through its chain-link fence. 

I need to find something beyond
just the physical—I’ve had enough from

Column A—proof you’re more Apollo,
less Saturn Devouring His Son.

Mostly I want to be done with you.
Take a match to my fingers, grip

the shiny toilet with both hands, heave—.
Then it’s night again. I’m out,

walking back after dinner, the air soft 
as chalk on heavy paper, my pores

are open, ears open, I feel the bricks
of the courthouse crumbling, smell the ivy

crawling across them, bittersweet—
it’s you I want again, your monstrous

light knocking my stained-glass window, 
black ink of you raining swift down

parched map of me, blurring all my capitals.
That, at least, was irreparable.

 

by Annie Kim

from Eros, Unbroken

Operas asking for…love

  

Comically bawdy describes Episode 2: Prompted by Appetite from the four-part Tales from a Safe Distance, a mini opera showcase produced by the Decameron Opera Coalition.

 

For those readers who have not partaken yet of this vibrant, virtual—but not live—opera showcase, the Decameron Opera Coalition, a partnership of nine small opera companies spread across the United States are premiering in the month of October tiny operas running from 9 to 15 minutes long. The libretti are drawn from Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron in a contemporary update. The connecting opera is an extended piece called The Happy Hour by composer Peter Hilliard and librettist Matt Boresi.

 

On October 16, 2020, the Dresser enjoyed the premieres of Dinner 4 3 by composer Michael Ching and librettist Deborah Brevoort and The Roost by composer Marc Migó and librettist John de los Santos.

 

Dinner 4 3 produced by Fargo-Moorhead Opera of Fargo, North Dakota, features the story of a May-December couple who are equally unsatisfied with their partner’s sexual interaction, so they each resort to online dating with unexpected results. The title of this opera gives a clear hint for what comes about in this story. Michael Ching’s opening music has an expectant lilt accentuated by a rising stroke from the violin and a comic base answer from the bassoon. The ensuing music is sweet (when the husband tells the trophy wife he is traveling for business), sensuous (the wife sings to a snappy tango), and fluid (even the recitative moves along the narrative with interest). Mezzo-soprano Kate Jackman gives a standout performance as the wife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Roost produced by UrbanArias of Washington, DC concerns a pregnant couple who take up residence in the spacious house of the wife’s parents (who are at their beach house) only to discover that the air-conditioning is on the fritz. What makes this story particularly comic is that the husband is the partner who is most bothered by the heat and it’s the pregnant wife who wants sex. Additionally, we learn via an Internet call that Grandma-to-be doesn’t share the political beliefs of the expectant couple. Marc Migó’s music is appropriately edgy and produced only by piano and clarinet. The Dresser’s favorite musical number is sung by the anti-Democratic matriarch. Her music has a folk music sensibility. The scenery and video film (some of it photographed by drone) steal the show.  

 

 

Tickets are priced ridiculous low at $15 for all four segments of this opera. At this date, Episodes 1 and 2 and their talkbacks are what is available. The debut of other segments airs as follows:

 

 

October 23, 2020 Episode 3: So Noble a Heart

• “Orsa Ibernata” (Milwaukee Opera Theater | Milwaukee, WI)
• “Seven Spells” (Opera in the Heights | Houston, TX)
• “The Sky Where You Are” (An Opera Theater | Minneapolis, MN)

October 30, 2020 Episode 4: The Bolts of Fortune

• “Sourdough: Rise Up” (Resonance Works | Pittsburgh, PA)
• “Corsair” (Chicago Fringe Opera | Chicago, IL)
• “The Happy Hour” (Conclusion)

As is The Dresser’s practice, she give the last words to a contemporary poet. Grace Cavalieri always has a lot to say about love and its complications. Asking for love as both Diner 4 3 and The Roost do causes undue stress. In this time of national strife, we all need more love and more belly laughs.

 

THIS POEM IS ASKING FOR YOUR LOVE

 

This poem is not usually like this

I don’t know what came over it

It’s mostly violet under the sun

with a large yellow parasol and a pond

with a center that never freezes

I swear I had no idea

I’m so used to trees of hearts and

cherries within its branches

I can’t imagine

what woke this poem up

with a truth I never wanted

It called the tower window and said

I was alone

That in itself is a morbid lie

I have long shadows in Autumn and clouds

anytime there is a sky

In fact everything was going so well until

this poem wanted to undress me

and bring back my love

and hold me close and rub

my forehead when I had a fever

It had no idea what trouble could come

from this so I wrote it

then I ran from it

now I can erase it

to show I never needed it after all

because don’t you know, Poem,

if you have to ask for something

it’s not a gift.

 

by Grace Cavalieri

from What the Psychic Said

Tiny Operas That Make You Want More

 

 

On October 9, 2020, DecameronOpera Coalition, a partnership of nine small opera companies, debuted part I of Tales from a Safe Distance, the first video segment of what the Dresser believes to be opera for everyone. The music is accessibly tonal. The stories speaks to our contemporary situations. The singers are first rate professionals. The super imposed scenery and special effects tickle the imagination. The Dresser suggests that the strategy used by these opera companies is an update on Puccini who appealed to a broad audience and still commands big audiences.

During “Episode I: Both Gladsome and Grievous,” three tiny stories—“The Happy Hour,” “Everything Comes to a Head,” and “The Late Walk,” inspired by Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, aired musically in a time frame ranging from nine to thirteen minutes. The singers were geographically dispersed but often singing together.

 

The touchstone opera “The Happy Hour” starts with Peter Hilliard’s soothing piano and mellow horn as people in their various abodes pour drinks for themselves. Luca Pisaroni, Italian bass-baritone, mentions it is a notte fonda (late night) for him. In nine minutes, we learn this is a group of singers, meeting on Zoom to lament their isolation. “Here we are in our boxes. Stuck.” They vow to meet in person, “when the lockdown is over, if I’m not six feet below clover.” Matt Boresi’s libretto is snappy and fun with it’s easy poetry. The story turns when Luca suggests they tell stories to entertain each other.

 

 

“Everything Comes to a Head” is American baritone Jorell William’s tale to tell but he as Basil is also the head in the story, which is deliciously awful. His lover’s roommates have chopped him up because he has annoyed them in their kitchen. His lover Rosemary (Marjorie Maltais) hides Basil’s head in her potted herb, which is what? Yes, of course, basil which is now what the roommates want for the pasta they are cooking. The energetic music is by Rachel J. Peters. The clever libretto is by Margi Preus and Jean Sramek. Christina Baldwin is the able director and the fabulous superimposed sets are by Ann Gumpper. The producing opera company with hats off to them is Lyric Opera of the North, Duluth, MN.

 

“The Late Walk” by Bare Opera of New York was written by composer Jasmine Barnes with libretto by Nikolaus Hochstein Cox. It is a ghost story. The special effects with bats flying by is a perfect lead in to the Halloween season.

 

Tickets are priced ridiculous low at $15 for all four segments of this opera. At this date, Episode 1 and it’s talkback is what is available. The debut of the other segments airs as follows:

 

October 16, 2020 Episode 2: Prompted by Appetite

• “Dinner 4 3” (Fargo-Moorhead Opera | Fargo, ND)
• “The Roost” (UrbanArias | Washington, DC)

 

October 23, 2020 Episode 3: So Noble a Heart

• “Orsa Ibernata” (Milwaukee Opera Theater | Milwaukee, WI)
• “Seven Spells” (Opera in the Heights | Houston, TX)
• “The Sky Where You Are” (An Opera Theater | Minneapolis, MN)

October 30, 2020 Episode 4: The Bolts of Fortune

• “Sourdough: Rise Up” (Resonance Works | Pittsburgh, PA)
• “Corsair” (Chicago Fringe Opera | Chicago, IL)
• “The Happy Hour” (Conclusion)

During this time of national turmoil and uncertainty, the Dresser suggests we all need nurturing and time away from what is stressing us. Like that potato chip that poet Elaine Magarrell has become in her poem “You Are What You Eat,” the Dresser bets that once you see what the Decameron Opera Coalition is holding out, you will want more.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

 

When she was a child

Mother was mashed

brains and poultry tails,

the throwaway parts

no one else wanted.

She grew up to be a secret

chocolate bar in the kitchen

drawer. When he married

Father was lamb

with blood at the bone

but toward the end

he was coddled egg.

When we met, my husband

was Peking Duck.

I was Greek olives, dark

and glistening near

the aperitif. Now he is

water and scotch

and I am one potato chip.

 

by Elaine Magarrell

from The Madness of Chefs