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Music & Synopsis: Pero Šiša
Lyrics: Antonia Pavlović & Pero Šiša Premiere Performance:
August 28, 2008
Revelin Fort Dubrovnik, Croatia Libertas Choir Ballet of the Luka Sorkočević Art School Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra |
In co-production with:
conductor: Zlatan Srzić
stage director: Michael Vaccaro |
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Role
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Voice type
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Premiere cast
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Siren (Mermaid)
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soprano
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Zvetelina Simeonova
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Unhappy youth
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tenor
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Boiko Svetlanov
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Sea Fairy
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mezzosoprano
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Romana Vaccaro
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Father
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bass
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Berislav Puškarić
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Siren's sister I
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soprano
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Blanka Tkalčić-Breglec
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Siren's sister II
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mezzosoprano
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Tanja Šimić-Querioz
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Synopsis
ACT I
On a rock by the sea, sits an unhappy youth...life has not thrown its glance on him..., while darkness has made a nest in his soul. He looks into distance, full of melancholy, when he hears a magic tune which drawn him «beneath the rocky cliffs». Not believing his own eyes, he spots a beautiful woman on the shore, siting with her back turned towards him, and through the desert of his dreams he rushes to her...but she suddenly disappears into the depths. Bewildered, ...he sings... "you, covered in gold, sing a song that drives away fear; I am loosing my breath at the sight of your beauty...". The "exultant tune" is heard again, he realizes that it is not a woman, but a sea Siren...Alone among the silent cypress trees, swept by negligence, he sings a tune for her... "...come to me maiden, I have nobody, only the angels' songs which I treasure in my bosom..."
Although she had fled into the depths on seeing him... the Siren feels a rapture awakening in her as a result of "tunes of his sad soul" and, with a hidden desire, "if only I were a woman to love him..." ... and in mysterious restlessness begs the Fairy to grant her a day «on dry sun»...by ice... "since enchantment will not be swarmed by gold, if he does not become mine"... The Spirit of sea depths raises a storm...through heavy verse, gentle "notes of a sad soul" sink into the endless infinity...
However, the Fairy can be persuaded...in holy fear, she grants the body of a woman to the Siren..., but not the soul..."as you already have the soul of a siren"... In the burst of transformation and the charms of the Fairy, the Siren becomes a woman... and the fury of the sea threatens the solemn music, so that it shall never be played, not the happiness grieved..., an emptiness remains,...and the page of love is thorn out of the book of loving fancies...but in a secret wish of a mortally wounded heart, a hope still remains, giving rise to a musical "Intermezzo". The Fairy sings to the Siren, an aria full of foreboding and doubt... "the foot of a man is pulling you to the bottom"... Butterflies playfully follow the youth in their negligence and indifference... while the Fairy realizes that she cannot bring back the gentleness and the peace of the Siren's former life... The Siren's father appears suddenly, "ruler of the sea, spirit of depths, cliffs and rocks"... reminding her... horrified by the Fairy's charms... asking her forgiveness... but truth is stronger that all else and she suffocates, will no let her soul go...
The Siren goes through the procession of angels,... looks at the unhappy youth... her eyes see happiness, they do not see unhappiness... she sings the aria "My white angel"... singing of happiness in sorrow...although she feels herself that enchantment would come to an end "if she were to come out into the shore and loose all the charms of life, but would not be afraid"... Like a moving story from some unwritten fairy tale, on a picture turned old by time... broken by the lust and desire of man,...the power of "A hand from the skies" the unhappy youth does not understand... and sings "Oh, God, you have sent an angel into the hell of my life..." "...look upon me, Mother from heavens, see what the face of happiness looks like... should a man want for more when loved by a soul of a saint" ... The Siren...although fretting... wishes, at least, to be near him... "when the silver of the night is sprinkled over him... to kiss his sleeping brow..."... "The hand from heaven» breaks up the music,... while the angry father pleads in vain... The Siren swims up to "the heights, to see him, to fulfill her heart's desire..." The storm breaks again...but it also loses its strength...in face of the eternal and unreal love,... although the unhappy youth is aware that... the shiny star has fallen, far from all the happy charms... waves disappear... the foam of the angry sea is all that remains... weakness creeps in, a tranquillity,... even the last rose in his garden, full of weeds, will wither... it is too late... The father sings to the memory, "now, you are a woman, Oh, my child... don't leave, it is sorrow..." ..."I sent you your life by my breath, you are now taking it away, I sang to you on my lap, and you are forsaking me now ..."... The Siren's friends, with baskets full of happiness, dance "The Sea Waltz" ... urging her to her own salvation ... The youth is angry "why is this sea waltz so sad ...I am treasuring her like a drop of the sea on my palm..."...
... The Siren has become the most beautiful woman through the Fairy's charms, but "The Sea Waltz" is turned into the heavy "Marcia funebre" by the hand of a man ... The father sings "A dream in reality"... on the shores of memories ... "I am dreaming of you , you are married to death..." At the end of it all, from all chords of the heart, comes "Affetuoso possibile", with violins ablaze..., notes speak in a language of wishful escape into the myth, away from the brutality of living, the music speaks stronger than any human verse ...
ACT II
The Sea Fairy and the Siren's friend, is pleading with her not to go into "the darkness of the light" on the shore, knowing all along that it will be the end of her life...
The enamoured youth, conscious that this eternal and unreal happiness and love cannot last, since Siren will die when she comes onto the shore into desire's embrace... in his solemn sorrow and the sobbing of his soul, he sings a prayer ...
Two Fairies. the Siren's best friends, are trying to convince her, searching for her arms in the dancing waves, that earthly love is ephemeral, while the present life is beautiful ...at the same suspecting what will happen ...
The sea foams furiously with anger, lamenting its Siren, while beneath the rocky cliff, where sits her love, her «bright star«, singing an aria of longing... All cries, fury and sorrow are in vain ... she pays no heed ..., comes out in storm from the depths onto the beach, to the shore, onto the cliff where she had first set her eyes on the youth, even though she knows that it leads her to death ... and they sing a prayer together, their hearts broken with sorrow ...
In the wide open space of azure thoughts, through powerful musical-lyrical, yet painful notes, the Siren's soul is reflected, at the crossroads of loss in melancholy, of love and a glance into the deathly eternity ... The father implores her for the last time ... "return to your peace and happiness, blue world of the azure sea" ... but her wishes and desires, are stronger than all else, something is stronger than her (as it is in our lives) ... With her last breath the Siren sings "A dream in reality", and glancing again at her father, her friends, her loved one and the sea of her life ... she falls onto the shore of death, before the skies of love ... The youth, terrified, as if in disbelief, kisses the dead Siren, her death becomes his breath and he sings her "the Funeral aria", while the Sea Fairy curses herself through her "Lament", while in the chaos of the brutal and miserable truth ("Fairies Lament"), a soul forsakes the soul ... while the music leaves the heart ... everyone is looking at "the cold sun beyond the shore" ..., the place where the soul will go on dreaming for ever, the soul of "the blue flower of the azure sea" ... The Opera ends in a shattering musical motive and in strange notes that symbolize the Siren's soul ...
On a rock by the sea, sits an unhappy youth...life has not thrown its glance on him..., while darkness has made a nest in his soul. He looks into distance, full of melancholy, when he hears a magic tune which drawn him «beneath the rocky cliffs». Not believing his own eyes, he spots a beautiful woman on the shore, siting with her back turned towards him, and through the desert of his dreams he rushes to her...but she suddenly disappears into the depths. Bewildered, ...he sings... "you, covered in gold, sing a song that drives away fear; I am loosing my breath at the sight of your beauty...". The "exultant tune" is heard again, he realizes that it is not a woman, but a sea Siren...Alone among the silent cypress trees, swept by negligence, he sings a tune for her... "...come to me maiden, I have nobody, only the angels' songs which I treasure in my bosom..."
Although she had fled into the depths on seeing him... the Siren feels a rapture awakening in her as a result of "tunes of his sad soul" and, with a hidden desire, "if only I were a woman to love him..." ... and in mysterious restlessness begs the Fairy to grant her a day «on dry sun»...by ice... "since enchantment will not be swarmed by gold, if he does not become mine"... The Spirit of sea depths raises a storm...through heavy verse, gentle "notes of a sad soul" sink into the endless infinity...
However, the Fairy can be persuaded...in holy fear, she grants the body of a woman to the Siren..., but not the soul..."as you already have the soul of a siren"... In the burst of transformation and the charms of the Fairy, the Siren becomes a woman... and the fury of the sea threatens the solemn music, so that it shall never be played, not the happiness grieved..., an emptiness remains,...and the page of love is thorn out of the book of loving fancies...but in a secret wish of a mortally wounded heart, a hope still remains, giving rise to a musical "Intermezzo". The Fairy sings to the Siren, an aria full of foreboding and doubt... "the foot of a man is pulling you to the bottom"... Butterflies playfully follow the youth in their negligence and indifference... while the Fairy realizes that she cannot bring back the gentleness and the peace of the Siren's former life... The Siren's father appears suddenly, "ruler of the sea, spirit of depths, cliffs and rocks"... reminding her... horrified by the Fairy's charms... asking her forgiveness... but truth is stronger that all else and she suffocates, will no let her soul go...
The Siren goes through the procession of angels,... looks at the unhappy youth... her eyes see happiness, they do not see unhappiness... she sings the aria "My white angel"... singing of happiness in sorrow...although she feels herself that enchantment would come to an end "if she were to come out into the shore and loose all the charms of life, but would not be afraid"... Like a moving story from some unwritten fairy tale, on a picture turned old by time... broken by the lust and desire of man,...the power of "A hand from the skies" the unhappy youth does not understand... and sings "Oh, God, you have sent an angel into the hell of my life..." "...look upon me, Mother from heavens, see what the face of happiness looks like... should a man want for more when loved by a soul of a saint" ... The Siren...although fretting... wishes, at least, to be near him... "when the silver of the night is sprinkled over him... to kiss his sleeping brow..."... "The hand from heaven» breaks up the music,... while the angry father pleads in vain... The Siren swims up to "the heights, to see him, to fulfill her heart's desire..." The storm breaks again...but it also loses its strength...in face of the eternal and unreal love,... although the unhappy youth is aware that... the shiny star has fallen, far from all the happy charms... waves disappear... the foam of the angry sea is all that remains... weakness creeps in, a tranquillity,... even the last rose in his garden, full of weeds, will wither... it is too late... The father sings to the memory, "now, you are a woman, Oh, my child... don't leave, it is sorrow..." ..."I sent you your life by my breath, you are now taking it away, I sang to you on my lap, and you are forsaking me now ..."... The Siren's friends, with baskets full of happiness, dance "The Sea Waltz" ... urging her to her own salvation ... The youth is angry "why is this sea waltz so sad ...I am treasuring her like a drop of the sea on my palm..."...
... The Siren has become the most beautiful woman through the Fairy's charms, but "The Sea Waltz" is turned into the heavy "Marcia funebre" by the hand of a man ... The father sings "A dream in reality"... on the shores of memories ... "I am dreaming of you , you are married to death..." At the end of it all, from all chords of the heart, comes "Affetuoso possibile", with violins ablaze..., notes speak in a language of wishful escape into the myth, away from the brutality of living, the music speaks stronger than any human verse ...
ACT II
The Sea Fairy and the Siren's friend, is pleading with her not to go into "the darkness of the light" on the shore, knowing all along that it will be the end of her life...
The enamoured youth, conscious that this eternal and unreal happiness and love cannot last, since Siren will die when she comes onto the shore into desire's embrace... in his solemn sorrow and the sobbing of his soul, he sings a prayer ...
Two Fairies. the Siren's best friends, are trying to convince her, searching for her arms in the dancing waves, that earthly love is ephemeral, while the present life is beautiful ...at the same suspecting what will happen ...
The sea foams furiously with anger, lamenting its Siren, while beneath the rocky cliff, where sits her love, her «bright star«, singing an aria of longing... All cries, fury and sorrow are in vain ... she pays no heed ..., comes out in storm from the depths onto the beach, to the shore, onto the cliff where she had first set her eyes on the youth, even though she knows that it leads her to death ... and they sing a prayer together, their hearts broken with sorrow ...
In the wide open space of azure thoughts, through powerful musical-lyrical, yet painful notes, the Siren's soul is reflected, at the crossroads of loss in melancholy, of love and a glance into the deathly eternity ... The father implores her for the last time ... "return to your peace and happiness, blue world of the azure sea" ... but her wishes and desires, are stronger than all else, something is stronger than her (as it is in our lives) ... With her last breath the Siren sings "A dream in reality", and glancing again at her father, her friends, her loved one and the sea of her life ... she falls onto the shore of death, before the skies of love ... The youth, terrified, as if in disbelief, kisses the dead Siren, her death becomes his breath and he sings her "the Funeral aria", while the Sea Fairy curses herself through her "Lament", while in the chaos of the brutal and miserable truth ("Fairies Lament"), a soul forsakes the soul ... while the music leaves the heart ... everyone is looking at "the cold sun beyond the shore" ..., the place where the soul will go on dreaming for ever, the soul of "the blue flower of the azure sea" ... The Opera ends in a shattering musical motive and in strange notes that symbolize the Siren's soul ...