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| The Io Passion | |
|---|---|
| Chamber opera by Harrison Birtwistle | |
 The composer in 2008 | |
| Librettist | Stephen Plaice |
| Language | English |
| Premiere | |
The Io Passion is a chamber opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a libretto in English by Stephen Plaice. It was commissioned jointly by the Aldeburgh Festival, Almeida Opera and the Bregenz Festival in Austria.
The Io Passion was premiered at the Snape Maltings as part of the Aldeburgh Festival on 11 June 2004 in a production directed by Stephen Langridge. It was then performed in July 2004 at the Almeida Theatre in London and at the Bregenz Festival. The work had its German premiere in Berlin on 7 November 2008 in a production by the Berliner Kammeroper, directed by Kay Kuntze .
Reviews have generally been favourable, particularly in respect of Birtwistle's music. The composer's virtuosic use of a chamber ensemble, rather than the huge orchestral and electronic forces deployed, for instance, in The Mask of Orpheus , is generally seen as having produced an intensely atmospheric and psychologically insightful score.
Some critics found The Io Passion dated in its attitudes to sexuality. "The notion that a holiday fling on a Greek island - however intense the connection, however heavy with meaning, however supernatural - might be analogous to the rape of Io by Zeus is peculiar enough. That that analogy might be titillating to someone whose former lover has effectively become her stalker smacks of the era when liberal men would chomp on their cigars while discussing the female orgasm." [6]
Others, like "Alban Nikolai Herbst", found more unsettling depths beneath apparent glibness. Discussing a scene in which ferocious argument leads to a passionate kiss, he wrote,
Harrison Birtwistle's opera, then, does not merely concern itself with the truth of the mythical parable - how the ancient Cretan matriarchy was conquered by invading tribes, how the Mother Goddess was usurped by a Zeus whose barbarian horniness knew no bounds... That is a sinister and accurate picture, the picture of the powerlessness of cultures. But still, it isn't that simple. Something else is working through these characters and gods, something beyond their own will. Zeus is not merely an overpowerer. Io also wants to be overpowered, even though after the event, with the full righteousness of an emancipated woman, she denounces his raw aggression. Relations here are not merely not simple. They are complex... There is that scene with the kiss. And it rings true. [3]
The Io Passion is scored for a chamber ensemble. The "rich circadian cycle of nocturnes and aubades for string quartet and basset clarinet is punctuated by ravishing ariettas, spluttered outbursts of unresolved argument and high-arching angular recitative". [6]
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 11 June 2004 (Conductor: Alan Hacker ) |
|---|---|---|
| Woman 1, also Hera | non-singing role | Teresa Banham |
| Woman 2, also Hera | soprano | Claire Booth |
| Woman 3, also Io | soprano | Amy Freston |
| Man 1, also Inachus and the Gadfly | baritone | Sam McElroy |
| Man 2, also Zeus | non-singing role | Joseph Alessi |
| Man 3, also Hermes | baritone | Richard Morris |
A man, outside a house, and a woman, within it, watch and wait. The man posts a letter. The woman swats away a fly which is irritating her.
The same scene is re-enacted in variations of increasing complexity, gradually unveiling layers of stories from the past. The man and the woman met at Lerna in Greece, the venue of one of the Mysteries of the ancient world, and the place where Zeus seduced the priestess Io and turned her into a heifer to hide her from his jealous wife, Hera. Hera sent a gadfly to madden the heifer, and Io roamed the world trying to flee it.
The intense, compulsive passion of the lovers at Lerna awoke the ancient gods, who scented sacrifice. An outrage was committed, which has never been avenged. Back in the city, the woman refuses to see the man, clinging to her domestic routine and trying to deal with the terrible manifestation they witnessed in Greece. But neither the gods nor the man will leave the woman alone, and the civilised veneer of her existence is gradually stripped away.
Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia, which means the same. Eris's Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Roman counterpart is Concordia. Homer equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona. The dwarf planet Eris is named after the goddess.
In ancient Greek religion, Hera is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women in childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Olympus, sister and wife of Zeus, and daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. One of her defining characteristics in myth is her jealous and vengeful nature in dealing with any who offend her, especially Zeus' numerous adulterous lovers and illegitimate offspring.
Zeus is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such as Jupiter, Perkūnas, Perun, Indra, and Dyaus.
Io was, in Greek mythology, one of the mortal lovers of Zeus. An Argive princess, she was an ancestor of many kings and heroes, such as Perseus, Cadmus, Heracles, Minos, Lynceus, Cepheus, and Danaus. The astronomer Simon Marius named a moon of Jupiter after Io in 1614.
In Greek mythology, Inachus,Inachos or Inakhos was the first king of Argos after whom a river was called Inachus River, the modern Panitsa that drains the western margin of the Argive plain.
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Iris is a daughter of the gods Thaumas and Electra, the personification and goddess of the rainbow and messenger of the gods, a servant to the Olympians and especially Queen Hera. Iris appears in several stories carrying messages from and to the gods or running errands, but has no unique mythology of her own. Similarly, very little to none of a historical cult and worship of Iris is attested in surviving records, with only few traces surviving from the island of Delos. In ancient art, Iris is depicted as a winged young woman carrying a caduceus, the symbol of the messengers, and a pitcher of water for the gods. Iris was traditionally seen as the consort of Zephyrus, the god of the west wind and one of the four Anemoi, by whom she is the mother of Pothos in some versions.
The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall.
Argus Panoptes or Argos is a many-eyed giant in Greek mythology.
Jealousy in religion examines how the scriptures and teachings of various religions deal with the topic of jealousy.
Punch and Judy is a chamber opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a libretto by Stephen Pruslin, based on the puppet figures of the same names. Birtwistle wrote the score from 1966 to 1967. The opera was first performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, which had commissioned the work, on 8 June 1968, with David Atherton conducting the English Opera Group. The premiere cast included John Cameron as Mr Punch.
Poseidon is the name of a DC Comics deity who is based on the Greek god of the same name. Due to his status as Greek god of the sea, the character has figured primarily in stories relating to two of DC Comics' main superhero properties: Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
"Down to Earth" is a Wonder Woman story arc, marking the start of writer Greg Rucka's four-year run on Wonder Woman.
The Incredible Hercules was an ongoing comic book series written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and published by Marvel Comics. The series starred the mythological superhero Hercules, his sidekick Amadeus Cho, the seventh-smartest person in the world, and half-sister Athena.
Graeme Peter Crump, known professionally as Peter Graeme and as 'Timmy' Crump to friends and family, was an English oboist and academic teacher. He was best known as the principal oboist of the Melos Ensemble.
Dialogues of the Gods are 25 miniature dialogues mocking the Homeric conception of the Greek gods written in the Attic Greek dialect by the Greek author Lucian of Samosata. There are 25 dialogues in total. The work was translated into Latin c. 1518 by Livio Guidolotto, the apostolic assistant of Pope Leo X.
The Corridor is a chamber opera composed by Harrison Birtwistle to an English language libretto by David Harsent. It premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival on 12 June 2009. The title refers to the corridor through which Orpheus and Eurydice passed as he was leading her from the underworld.
Elizabeth Atherton is a British lyric soprano. Born and brought up in London, she is the daughter of conductor David Atherton. She studied at Trinity College, Cambridge and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama with Patricia MacMahon. She is a winner of the Maggie Teyte Prize and the Handel Singing Competition.
Andrew Watts is a British classical countertenor.
Joseph Phibbs is an English composer of orchestral, choral and chamber music. He has also composed for theatre, both in the UK and Japan. Since 1998 he has written regularly to commissions for Festivals, for private sponsors, and for the BBC, which has broadcast premieres of his orchestral and chamber works from the Proms and elsewhere. His works have been given premieres in Europe, the United States and the Far East, and he has received prestigious awards, including most recently a British Composer Award, and a Library of Congress Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation Award. Many of his works have been premiered by leading international musicians, including Dame Evelyn Glennie, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin, Sakari Oramo, Vasily Petrenko, Gianandrea Noseda, and the Belcea Quartet.
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