related works
Along the Shores of Lorn : for symphony orchestra / Luc Brewaeys
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
picc fl ob eh cl cl-b 2fg 2h 2trp 2perc str
Genre:
Opera, musical theatre
Subgenre:
Opera
Scoring:
zang perc hp of vn vla vc tape
Genre:
Opera, musical theatre
Subgenre:
Opera
Het Operette Soupertje : One act opera / Erik Lotichius; text by the composer
Genre:
Opera, musical theatre
Subgenre:
Opera
Scoring:
Marty: Soprano; Adinda: Mezzo-soprano: Beno: Tenor; Pierre: Baritone; Couperus: Baritone.
Ensemble: Flute; Clarinet; Alto-Saxophone; Horn; Trombone; Double-bass; Piano; Percussion.
composition
L’uomo dal fiore in bocca : Opera in one act / Luc Brewaeys; libretto by the composer after Luigi Pirandello / Torquato Tasso
Other authors:
Brewaeys, Luc
(Composer)
Description:
This work was commissioned by the Belgian National Opera. Bernard Foccroulle, the director, proposed me the theatre text by Luigi Pirandello and after reading it I immediately felt it was an extremely suitable text for me to set. I worked on the original text, which was too long for a 45-minutes opera, together with my wife Birgit Van Cleemput. We had done this before (as far as in 1989) for "Non lasciate ogni speranza". The piece starts as a dialogue but evolves into a monologue of "the man with the flower in the mouth". In the course of the play the wife of the man is mentioned, but since she's not speaking we got the idea to "transpose" the presence of the woman by adding three female voices to the orchestra in the pit. For musical reasons I want them to remain "present" till the end of the work, so we needed to find another (preferably also italian) text to be sung. We finally chose a poem by Torquato Tasso : "Vivrò fra I miei tormenti" which we felt is close to the emotional context of the Pirandello play.
The work is -in a sense- also a Tuba concerto, as the tuba is the instrumental counterpart of "l'uomo". In the center of the opera "l'uomo" sings an almost 5-minutes long "aria" along with the tuba without any other instrument. At the end, the tuba also plays the last reminiscence of the main musical gesture.
The first performance took place on February 9, 2007 at the Royal National Opera (La Monnaie) in Brussels. Patrick Davin conducted the orchestra of the National Opera, Davide Damiani sang the title role, Stephan Vanaenrode played his alter-ego on the tuba while Yves Saelens sang the client role. Frédéric Dussenne staged the work with stage design by Vincent Lemaire.
I dedicate this score to Johan Huys, a dear friend wo has given me much of advice and who always has been one of my best musical critics, also -by the way- during the composition of this opera. I also dedicate the score to the memory of my father in law and composer Werner Van Cleemput who passed away last summer.