Chamber Ensemble; Soprano
(Study Score)
SKU:
HL.49046449
(In
the Alps - an Animated
Concert) Study Score.
Composed by Richard
Ayres. Study Score.
Classical. Softcover. 192
pages. Duration 2700
seconds. Schott Music
#ED13705. Published by
Schott Music
(HL.49046449).
ISBN
9781540095688. UPC:
841886023383.
No.42
(In the Alps) could
perhaps best be described
as a melodrama. It
combines many of the
subjects that fascinate
me: the relationship of
text narrative and
musical narrative, the
history of opera, early
cinema, the theatrical
practices of the
nineteenthcentury, along
with the folk and popular
music of the Alpine
region. A girl (the
soprano), stranded on top
of an un-climbable
mountain peak as a young
baby, is taught to sing
by the mountain animals.
Young Bobli lives in the
village far below the
un-climbable peak. He was
born mute and
communicates with the
world by playing the
trumpet. Bobli hears the
soprano's song drifting
down into the valley. The
soprano listens to
Bobli's trumpet tunes
blown up to her by the
wind. They are both
enchanted. The three acts
are separated by
interludes describing how
three animals experience
time passing in relation
to a musical tempo. Like
any self respecting
melodrama the text and
music combine to depict
or imply a wide ranging
theatrical adventure, in
this piece starting at
the Creation (or the big
bang), a lonely
existence, scenes of
rustic village life, some
carpentry, many mountain
goats, unrequited love,
and ending in a quest
destined to fail. In a
live performance the text
[provided with the
performance material]
isto be projected on a
screen behind the
musicians in the style of
silent movie intertitles.
Richard Ayres.
