Hearing an unusual opera

We are back at Marlboro today, and we are hearing a very unusual work - a chamber opera by George Benjamin, titled Into the Little Hill. Benjamin is composer-in-residence at Marlboro this summer, and is an English composer, director and pianist. He has collaborated with Martin Crimp, who wrote the libretto. There are only two voices - a soprano and a contralto. There is a small orchestra accompanying them, conducted by Benjamin. The instrumentation is unusual: Bass flute (doubling flute and piccolo), two basset horns in F, contrabass clarinet, two cornets, trombone, cimbalom. Percussion: cymbals, guiro, whip, 2 crotales. Two violins (second doubling mandolin), two violas (second doubling banjo), two cellos, double bass (lowest string tuned to C). The music is atonal and dissonant, but with lyrical moments. It has an overall dramatic quality. What is it about? It is a re-telling of the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. But the story has been given a darker turn. A village is plagued by rats and the citizens want them removed. Here is a Wiki summary: Part One The opera opens with the angry Crowd calling for the extermination of the rats in their town. The Mayor suggests that they try to coexist peacefully with the rats, but the people insist singing, "kill and you have our vote". At night, the Mayor finds a mysterious man in his daughter's bedroom. The Stranger has "no eyes, no nose, no ears", and offers to charm the rats away in exchange for a large sum of money. The Mayor offers to pay twice as much if he is re-elected, and the Stranger forces him to swear on the bargain by his sleeping child. After an instrumental interlude, the Mayor's Child asks the Mother why the rats have to die, becoming agitated as she describes them wearing clothes and carrying suitcases and babies. The Mother reassures her that they will "die with dignity". Part Two The Mayor is re-elected and the Stranger comes to his office to collect his payment. When the Mayor insists that the rats "chose to leave of their own free will" and refuses to pay, the Stranger reminds him of their bargain and leaves. After another musical interlude, the townspeople discover that their children are missing. The Mother confronts the Mayor, asking "where is my child?". The Children respond that they are "inside the Little Hill ... with the angel under the earth". Here are Benjamin's notes: "INTO THE LITTLE HILL was commissioned by the Festival d'Automne à Paris, with contributions from the Ernst von Siemens Music Foudation; Opéra National de Paris; and Ensemble Modern, with contributions from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation Martin and I wanted to tell our lyric tale in the most direct and authentic way possible, not an easy task in the age of TV and cinema. Our solution - where the story-telling as well as the multiple roles are shared between just two singers - acknowledges at all times the artificial nature of sung drama, while still permitting dialogue and characterisation. Occasionally, particularly in heated moments, it approaches the naturalistic. Martin’s text remains faithful to the traditional myth of the Ratcatcher of Hamelin, though it evokes disturbing contemporary resonances too. It also reflects upon the power of music as well as its exploitation in today’s world. This work was very much a collaborative undertaking, from the beginning. All those involved tonight in singing, playing and directing were in place - and closely consulted - before a note of the score was written. The orchestration employs some highly unusual timbres, ranging from bass flute and cimbalom to banjo and basset-horns. The resultant sonority is often discreet and always, I hope, transparent, so that the vocal lines can occupy the foreground without struggle. Above all I wanted to embed these lines as clearly as possible into the harmonic environment that surrounds them. In this fusion, I believe, lies a crucial expressive resource on the lyric stage." This opera has had a largely positive reception. It has been variously interpreted as a "commentary on contemporary attitudes to immigration, a "satire on the way power corrupts" and "the tabloid fetishisation of the disappearance of children", a metaphor for genocide, a commentary on government cuts to arts funding, and a "parable about the power of music". Because they are coded as socially undesirable and described with clothes and suitcases, the plight of the rats has been read by several commentators as a reference to the Holocaust." There is a lunch break now. More opera this afternoon.

George Benjamin, composer.

George Benjamin, conducting the rehearsal of his opera.