Till Death Us Do…was commissioned by The Funen Opera in 2003
Libretto: Kit Eichler
First performance: 2nd May, 2003, at the Funen Opera
First Cast: Anna: Anne Mette Balling, Carl: Jacob Næslund Madsen, John: Trygve Bjerkø
Solo voices: Soprano, Tenor, Baritone
Orchestra: Piano, Clarinet/bass clarinet , Cello
Duration: 75 min.
Publisher: Edition Wilhelm Hansen
Discography: On DVD by PaperMusic | See video | Music sample |
Programme Note:
The three childhood friends Carl, Anna and John make up the gallery of characters in Pape’s opera Till Death Us Do, a compact drama of the love of three people – a love that is both all-overpowering and impossible to realize properly. Beneath the apparently simple love triangle drama where two men love the same woman lies another story that is slowly revealed to the audience. Andy Pape has created music that manages both to be faithful to the emotional plot of the opera and to add the unspoken nuances that give the drama fullness. It is the music that gives the audience the first inkling that there is something more to the story than the scenario we see at the beginning of the opera, and at the same time the music furnishes the figures and plot with both depth and character. It is infinitely beautiful and incredibly effective – and there are only three singers and three musicians in the opera. Big music in a small format.
Reviews:
- “…Perhaps his best work ever, not least because the music dovetails so well with the highways and byways of the emotions. The arias are gentle, the duets seamless hymns, the few trios quite classical in expression. …Produced on a world stage with the same stars it would hardly do worse than various chamber pieces by well known masters.”
Søren Hallunbæk Schauser, Berlingske Tidende, 08/05/2004