JUDGMENT of MIDAS Opera In

Opera in JUDGMENT OF MIDAS Two Acts

Kamran Ince with Crawford Greenewalt, Jr.

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Opera in ACT I (CD 1) ACT II (CD 2) Two Acts Scene 1: Frannie and Theo Scene 3: The Contest JUDGMENT OF MIDAS 1 “I bring you Sardis!” [8:31] 1 “Now, let the contest begin!” [2:23] Music by Kamran Ince :: Libretto by Miriam Seidel 2 “He hears my voice but not what 2 “I am the voice inside the reeds” [2:34] I say” [3:46] 3 “Help me cheer him on” [4:57] 3 “There were grand mosaics depicting 4 “I bring to all the light of reason” [3:35] Matthew DiBattista, tenor (Melik/Midas) :: Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano (Frannie) Gods and man” [1:09] 5 “I never heard such sounds before” [1:14] :: Gregory Gerbrandt, baritone (Theo) Jennifer Goltz, coloratura soprano (Pan) 4 “My music—it is respected but no one 6 “My incense is the sweet hyacinth” [2:12] Mikhail Svetlov, bass (the mountain god Tmolus) :: Phillip Horst, bass baritone (Apollo) loves it” [3:12] 7 “I call the truth from every soul” [4:46] 5 “Not for one day?” [2:06] 8 “I enter them, I fill them up” [4:16] Present Music :: Kevin Stalheim, artistic director 6 “He stumbled on a contest” [3:10] 9 “No! Wake up!” [1:22] (20 instruments with five Turkish ethnic instruments) 7 “those two Gods were day and 10 “I help you to hear your own tonality” [4:48] Marie Sander, flute :: Jan Bjorkman, piccolo :: Dileep Gangolli, clarinet :: Sunshine Simmons, bass clarinet night” [1:42] 11 “You’ve come back to me” [2:19] 8 “What’s that? I am not sure…” [1:20] 12 “Yes, we are back but something’s changed” [1:18] Matt Sintchak, alto saxophone :: Melissa Reiser, tenor saxophone :: Marc Vallon, bassoon 9 “Where did she go?” [1:56] Scene 4: The Judgment Don Sipe, trumpet :: Tom Schlueter, trumpet :: David Lussier, trombone Scene 2: The Gods 13 “One judge, one vote” [2:04] :: :: Mark Hoelscher, trombone/bass trombone Terry Smirl, percussion Carl Storniolo, percussion 10 “What’s going on!?” [1:39] 14 “Pan knows how to shake a girl/ Thomas Chess, ney :: Neva Özgen, kemence :: Güç Başar, ut :: Şehvar Beşiroğlu, kanun 11 “Your music made me live again!” [2:10] His music, it’s like the sound of wisdom” [2:13] Ozan Aksoy, saz :: Ann Lobotzke, harp :: Cory Smythe, piano :: Michèle Lekas, violin :: Eric Segnitz, violin 12 “I only want to listen!” [2:42] 15 “Who is it? Who will win?” [2:31] Margot Schwartz, viola :: Adrien Zitoun, cello :: Collins Trier, bass 13 “Did you hear that?” [1:21] 16 “The God of music” [0:53] 14 “Pan’s the one [2:21] 17 “Midas, he was a king” [1:38] 15 “Here’s the news: finally someone sides 18 “You have the ears of an ass!! I make it so!” [2:02] Milwaukee Opera Theatre Chorus :: Jill Anna Ponasik, artistic director with me” [3:06] 19 “Midas has the ears of an ass!” [2:13] Julianne Frey :: Leigh Akin :: Allison Hull :: Wesley Brown :: Nathan Wesselowski :: Scott Pullen 16 “I Tmolus” [2:33] Scene 5: Coda :: :: Doug Clemons Brian Myers Henry Hammond 17 “I’ll be the judge” [1:33] 20 “I’m a beast. I’ll only hear a rude cacophony” [3:00] 18 “This place is majorly weird” [1:17] 21 “I will never stop listening to you” [1:24] Kamran Ince, conductor 19 “Blessed Apollo” [2:27] 22 “My ears—they are hearing more—“ [1:53] 20 “It is I, Apollo” [2:35] 23 “They are those of the Gods” [1:38] Judgment of Midas was commissioned by Crawford Greenewalt, Jr., to mark the 21 “I accept the challenge” [1:24] 24 “There’s so much more than we knew” [1:28] 50th anniversary of the Sardis excavations in Turkey. The concert version was premiered 22 “You will both have equal time” [0:34] 25 “I promise to listen to cherish all your secret April 2013 in Milwaukee with Present Music and the Milwaukee Opera Theatre. The staged 23 Finale “I can’t believe we are really sounds” [1:40] premiere, under the direction of Ayta¸c Manizade with the composer conducting, took place here” [2:06] 26 Finale “We will listen” [1:53] at the Istanbul International Opera Festival in June 2015 with the Istanbul State Opera. Total Time = Total Time = THE COMPOSER Piano Quartet; Concerto for Orchestra, Turkish Instruments and Voices (2009) for the Turkish Ministry of Culture; Dreamlines (2008) to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Turkish Chamber The music of Turkish/American composer Kamran Ince bridges Anatolia and the Balkans to the West. of Architects; Music for a Lost Earth (2007); Gloria (Everywhere) (2007) for the Chanticleer The energy and rawness of Turkish and Balkan folk music, the spirituality of Byzantium and Ottoman Mass project (released on Warner Classics And on Earth, Piece); Turquoise (2006), a mix of court music, the tradition of European art music and the extrovert and popular qualities of the his works arranged by him for the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble (released on NBELive), and American psyche are the base of his sound world. These ingredients happily breathe in cohesion, 5th Symphony Galatasaray (2005) in honor of the infamous soccer club’s (winner of the and they spin the linear and vertical contrasts so essential to propelling his music forward. European and the World Super Cup in 2000) centennial celebrations. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as “that rare composer able to sound connected with Five Naxos CDs of Ince’s music have been released. They include Music for a Lost modern music, and yet still seem exotic,” Ince was born in Montana in 1960 to American and Earth, Galatasaray, Hammers & Whistlers, Constantinople, and Kamran Ince. His other CDs Turkish parents. He holds a Doctorate from Eastman School of Music, and currently serves as include In White and Passion and Dreams on Innova, Fall of Constantinople on Argo/Decca, Professor of Composition at University of Memphis and at MIAM Center for Advanced Research and Kamran Ince & Friends on Albany Records. in Music at Istanbul Technical University. His numerous prizes include the Rome Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Lili Boulanger Prize and the Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His Waves of Talya was named one of the best THE LIBRETTIST chamber works of the 20th century by a living composer in the Chamber Music Magazine. Miriam Seidel is honored to be involved with Judgment of Midas as its librettist, and has been His works are performed by such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, BBC part of all phases of its development by American Opera Projects. Before Judgment of Midas, Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, and such ensembles as the she conceived and wrote the libretto for Violet Fire, a multimedia opera about the inventor Nederlands Blazers Ensemble, Chanticleer Choir and the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. Concerts Nikola Tesla, with music by composer Jon Gibson. After a workshop production at Temple devoted to his music have recently been heard at the Holland Festival, CBC Encounter Series University in Philadelphia, Violet Fire received its world premiere at the National Theater, (Toronto), the Istanbul International Music Festival, Estoril Festival (Lisbon), TurkFest (London), Belgrade, Serbia, and its U.S. premiere at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival in and Cultural Influences in Globalization Festival (Ho Chi Minh City). In addition to symphonic New York. She has also been commissioned to write a radio play (Interference, with music by and chamber works, his catalogue also includes music for film and ballet. Commissions he has John J.H. Phillips) for New American Radio, and a dramatic monologue for InterAct Theatre in received include those from Ford Foundation, Fromm Foundation, Koussevitzky Foundation, Philadelphia. She is currently working on a new opera project, Art of Memory, with composer Jerome Foundation, Reader’s Digest and Pew Charitable Trust. Important projects include Kitty Brazelton, with a premiere planned at Hubbard Hall Opera in 2016. Songs in Other Words (2014) for Spark and Schleswig-Holstein Festival (released on a Berlin Her short fiction and essays have appeared in numerous literary magazines and Classics CD); Abandoned (2014), a dramatic work for Opera Memphis’ Ghost of Crosstown anthologies including Exquisite Corpse, Washington Square, Phoebe, and most recently, The Project; Fortuna Sepio Nos (2013), a piano trio for Arkas Trio; it’s a nasreddin for Berlin Aseroid Belt Almanac (Head & the Hand Press). She has also written extensively on visual art Counterpoint and Istanbul Festival; Zamboturfidir (2012) for Irish Arts Council for Yurodny and dance for journals including Art in America (as corresponding editor), the Philadelphia (Dublin) and Hezarfen (Istanbul); Symphony in Blue (2012) for solo piano for Istanbul Inquirer, and the magazines Dance, ARTnews, Attaché, Art on Paper, Glass, and Public Art Museum of Modern Art; Still, Flow, Surge (2011) for choir and orchestra for Present Music’s Review, as well as writing dozens of exhibition catalogue essays. She blogs about new opera, 30th anniversary; Far Variations (2009) for Arizona Friends of Chamber Music for Los Angeles contemporary art and other subjects at http://miriamseidel.com. JUDGMENT OF MIDAS between Pan and the great Apollo, God of light and reason, and patron of music, Two stories, inspired by a tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, interweave around the ancient city to be judged by Tmolus, god of the mountain. Theo enters to find Franny, and just of Sardis. A pair of lovers—a “serious’ composer and a pop singer, visiting the ruins of Sardis in time to witness the contest. as tourists—fall into the past and find themselves pulled into a mythic music contest said to have happened near there, between the Gods Apollo and Pan, and witnessed by a post- Scene 3: The Contest Golden touch King Midas. All three—Midas, Theo and Franny—find themselves transformed by Franny finds herself drawn to Pan’s wild and tangy sounds, while Theo is transported the contest and its aftermath; the lovers learn to hear, and to hear each other, in a new way. by the airier, more measured music of Apollo. Midas has no doubts at all of Pan’s superiority. As the two Gods trade competing turns, Pan escalates to stir up a wild PANdemonium, drawing Franny, the tree nymphs, and even Theo into a trancelike SYNOPSIS frenzy. Apollo brings them back to themselves with his final, meditative song. Setting: The setting includes two time periods: the present day—the ruins of Sardis, on the plains of Western Turkey; and a mythic ancient time—the Scene 4: The Judgment forested mountainside of Tmolus, in the land of Lydia, near Sardis. When Tmolus declares Apollo the winner, Midas explodes in outrage and attempts to overturn the judgment. An annoyed Apollo punishes Midas Scene 1: Franny and Theo for his poor musical taste by giving him the ears of an ass. Apollo and The story, inspired by a tale from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, begins with Theo and Franny, an Tmolus disappear; Pan exits, complaining he never gets any respect. unlikely couple—he a “serious” composer, she a successful pop singer—arriving at the ruins of Sardis. Their charming Turkish tour guide, Melik, points out the Scene 5: Coda sights, while Franny tries to engage Theo, who is lost in his latest composi- Franny and Theo, shaken by the experience and how it’s exposed tion. Excited by Melik’s description of the mythical music contest said to their differences, come close to breaking up. Midas, after cursing have happened here, Franny wanders off, following an elusive sound. his new ears, realizes he is hearing more—things only a God could hear. Theo and Franny, too, find they can hear in this strange new Scene 2: The Gods way—and realize they must also listen to each other’s sounds. They return to their own time, Franny, magically passing through an ancient mosaic, finds herself in celebrating their commitment to this expanded listening and hearing—of “the pounding of the mythic time of the music contest. She discovers Melik, who is now earth’s heart, the turning of the stars,” and the light in each other’s eyes. King Midas, following the old forest God Pan in the forest after having lost his golden touch. Midas praises Pan’s pipes, represented by Turkish folk instruments in the orchestra, unwittingly instigating a music contest JUDGMENT OF MIDAS broken by small round hills. Minimal sugges- MELIK Madame and Sir, Behold— FRANNY Look that way, the hills— tion of ruins closer by, perhaps in projection. I bring you Sardis! Can you take us there? LIBRETTO Home to Romans, once MELIK Madame, they are not hills CAST (in order of appearance) ACT I Before that—to the Greeks They are the burial mounds of the great MELIK (also plays role of MIDAS) Turkish tour SCENE 1: FRANNY AND THEO Before that—Persia ruled kings guide, middle-aged, enterprising and roguish The following are onstage, unmoving: Before that—city Gygus, even Croesus FRANNY Successful pop singer/performer. TMOLUS, CHORUS (as trees and animals), of the wealthy Lydians. Put there long ago, Her music is energetic with a bit of an edge. all clustered in one area. Filled with treasure— She and Theo are a couple. See the great ruins The finest carving— THEO Serious formalist composer, also Music begins: veiled, mysterious, anticipatory. Left behind at this crossroads Some say they’re all of gold. successful in his more rarefied sphere The group, illuminated in a silver light, flutters on the high plains FRANNY Gold! All made of gold! I want to MIDAS The king of legend, recovering from to the music as if disturbed in sleep. Light The rest you must imagine go inside! the trauma of his golden touch, but still a changes slowly to a daylight feeling, and the The rest you must imagine. MELIK Oh, no, Madame. Not even the sensualist and used to getting his own way group is hidden. FRANNY (captivated) Look, Theo, archeologists disturb their sleep. PAN Ancient, unruly god of the forest; Isn’t it the most amazing—most amazing— FRANNY Buried treasure! Treasure—treasure! predates the Gods of Olympus and would CHORUS sings wordlessly: whispering, wildest thing? (THEO murmurs as he makes notations) never be invited there murmuring, using st, sh, sch, kt, fst, ki, ti A city, rising out of nowhere! Theo, did you hear? TMOLUS Local god of the mountain; (very fast, unintelligible, creating a new MELIK (aside) Nowhere?! I would not say THEO is humming as he makes notations. rooted and dignified language made up of s, t, k sounds) that… Here and through next exchange, his own APOLLO Greek God of light and reason, THEO (to FRANNY—hugs or grabs her play- music weaves through. His music awakens one of the top Olympians and knows it ENTER MELIK, followed by FRANNY. fully) No—No way—you’re the wildest thing some of the animals. CHORUS Tree nymphs, animals, played by FRANNY is dressed more for the stage than around here! No—no—you’re the wildest FRANNY Can’t you leave your hardware in men and women the outdoors. thing around here! the car please? MELIK (with expansive gesture) Here we are! FRANNY Did you listen to Melik? THEO No! —I need to do this. The sounds Setting: The setting includes two time periods: Step carefully… THEO (in a tone belying his words) Very still aren’t right—the sounds still aren’t right. the present day—the ruins of Sardis, on the FRANNY (calling off in the direction from interesting… (THEO murmurs as above) plains of Western Turkey; and a mythic which she entered) Theo! Come on! THEO then buries his head in the notes he’s FRANNY (suggestively) I’ve got some software ancient time—the forested mountainside of THEO enters, distracted, carrying a mini-laptop making. FRANNY, frustrated, leaves him and waiting right here for you. Tmolus, in the land of Lydia, near Sardis. or some other digital device. He is dressed looks all around. THEO (spoken) Just a minute… Scene: a sense of openness, with a far horizon in black. FRANNY (spoken—frustrated) That’s it! When he’s near me The ANIMALS crowd around THEO. MELIK The way she lets it all go! She grabs for his handheld, they tussle over it. Why do I feel so alone—alone—alone? (spoken in Turkish, telling the ANIMALS to go Throws in her soul! THEO (spoken) Franny, no! FRANNY comes back to herself. She gives away) [Hey! Come on! Get away, get away!] She scares me! Oh, she scares me! FRANNY (playful) Now it’s mine! (repeat, a him his handheld back. They embrace, but Hadi! Hadi Hadi! Sizi keratalar Sizi! Hadi! But I need to hear it—I need to hear it total of four times) she looks distracted. Hadi Hadi! I need to bring my work to life! THEO (spoken, pleading) I just want to get FRANNY (to MELIK—a mix of embarrassment, FRANNY (spoken—noticing again THEO’s Bring it to life! your voice into my sounds— annoyance, longing) He’s always composing, withdrawal) I’m lost here—I’m lost FRANNY (spoken) Come on! You know my Always so composed! Can’t you come down to earth and listen? (spoken) style wouldn’t fit in your concerto. He’s very well respected You don’t know what you’re missing— Please! Just give me time THEO Maybe if I give it to the trumpets! — In his own world—own world… THEO (first line is spoken) Please! to work… the trumpets! Please, go on with your story. I—I have a deadline FRANNY Oh, I give up!! FRANNY (turning away) He actually loves my Through the following, THEO turns his attention I have a deadline Just this one day, voice back to his notations, humming at times. I—I can’t—can’t let it go I’ve left the band behind I know he loves my voice MELIK As I said, great kings are buried there. I can’t—can’t let it go The roadies, managers, the fans If only he’d listen There, you see I thought it was done A road trip, just the two of us To what I’m saying The gymnasium But I still can’t let it go For this one day — For this one day! He loves me so—or so he says from Roman times. The notes all in place If only he heard me The patterns all fit Out in this magical place And heard what’s in my heart There, where the kings The structure’s all good— A different world we’ve never seen or heard— refined their gold. Why isn’t it alive and moving? On this one day— On this one day— He hears my voice If it’s so – so perfect, But not what I say There, were grand mosaics Why is it so wrong? And you’re not listening! No, you’re not When he’s near me depicting gods and men. They say I’m a paragon listening! Why do I feel so alone—alone—alone? Behind the ANIMALS, the TREE NYMPHS/ of the form— FRANNY/THEO (singing their lines He loves me so CHORUS also appear. My music is respected simultaneously) Or so he says CHORUS Oh yes, we remember when the But no one—no one loves it! How can you compose If only he heard me kings were young! (repeat) FRANNY (spoken) You know that’s not true! How can I compose Heard what’s in my heart FRANNY and THEO are not aware of the THEO Oh no — it’s true —How can you live— He hears my voice NYMPHS and don’t hear their singing. THEO There’s something missing, I know – I know How can I live But not what I say has gone back to pecking at his handheld. Franny! I hear your voice (repeat) and never open up your ears I cannot set my work aside MELIK A contest, as I say, between two Gods. THEO (This exchange is spoken, through CHORUS (mixing with wordless singing) —or maybe it’s your heart— THEO/FRANNY A music contest? “Over there?”) Wait— Roaming… Roaming… Smooth as silk— (THEO is silent on this line) MELIK —Between two Gods: Pan and Apollo. FRANNY What’s that? smooth as silk Not for one day? THEO/FRANNY What kind of music did they THEO I’m not sure— I can barely hear… MELIK No reception here! even for one day! play? FRANNY Where’s it coming from THEO moves about, looking, repeatedly trying Not for one day? Not for one day— MELIK Who am I to say? Over there? and finally giving up on the cell phone through (heartsick) Oh, I don’t know how we ever— I only know they must have FRANNY wanders off, trying to get closer to the following: THEO Don’t! Don’t say it. (he pulls her to him) sounded very different the sound—into and among NYMPHS. THEO, THEO Franny!! We’ll make it work, I promise you. (They From each other… having turned back to MELIK, doesn’t notice. CHORUS Searching… We remember… embrace; after a moment, to MELIK) CHORUS We remember—we remember CHORUS continues to sing, Music growing. THEO Franny!! Please, tell us more. Those two Gods! Those two Gods! THEO The contest— Who won? CHORUS Signal fading… Sky and earth… MELIK All right—See that mountain? Like day and night—day and night MELIK Funny you should ask— THEO Franny!! And the river there? Sky and earth—sky and earth You see, in a way, CHORUS Call failed! Try again later! That’s where King Midas went— Smooth as sunlight—smooth as sunlight There were two judges. THEO runs off. FRANNY Midas! I’ve heard of him! The guy Rough as the bark—rough as the bark So it depends— MELIK Be careful! with the golden touch! We remember—we remember THEO Tell us! Tell us! Tell us! MELIK follows THEO off. MELIK The very same! (repeat four times) (continue with wordless whispering/murmuring, Franny, now listen, he’s got a story—story That river’s where using st, sh, sch, kt, fst, ki, ti sounds, fast, Tell us the story— (looking around) SCENE 2: THE GODS He washed the gold away. And after that, unintelligible, creating a new language made Franny? Where did she go? FRANNY re-enters. Light changes again. On a up on the mountain, up of s, t, k sounds) MELIK I don’t know! scrim, we see a huge, beautiful Roman-style You’ll never guess: MELIK Those two Gods were day and night THEO I can’t keep track of her, mosaic, depicting the players in the ancient He stumbled on a contest. Sky and earth She moves—moves too fast— music contest: Pan, Apollo, Tmolus, Midas. That is—a music contest! Smooth as sunlight, rough as bark (repeats MELIK (calling out) Madame! Madame! (to As she stands before it, the mosaic shimmers, This gets both THEO and FRANNY’s attention. previous three lines) THEO) I’m sure she’s fine, beckoning her. At the same time, we hear faint Through the following, we notice the mountain (spoken) They say that if you listen, even now, just wandering in the grass—examining the ruins. music off, a continuation from the last scene. god TMOLUS and NYMPHS again: they you may still hear… THEO On those high heels? (repeat) FRANNY It’s closer now! I can’t tell from shudder as if a breeze has blown through CHORUS hums wordlessly. THEO and She’ll break a leg— where— them. ANIMALS, having already awakened FRANNY both hear, but as if from a distance. (pulls out his cell phone and speed dials— Music grows. In it we can hear PAN’s pipes. and then returned, come alive again. CHORUS also moving, approaching or more desperate) Franny! Franny, pick up! FRANNY Who’s there? What is that you’re THEO/FRANNY What? beckoning FRANNY… No answer! playing? She passes through the mosaic somehow—it O great god Pan—my hero Pan— They help me forget my old life— Heat me up, rise my sap! may part or rise, or she may push it aside. My dearest Pan—o please— I only want to listen! Light changes. Music grows as TREE Please—please, please play more! You won’t know I’m here— Pan’s the one—you do it best! NYMPHS join in. FRANNY (aside) Has he gone crazy? I know Please, play more! You make me shiver, make me dance PAN enters, playing, ambling through the he’s changed somehow—somehow… PAN Human, did I hear you say Shake me up from root to branch TREES. As music continues, he playfully FRANNY watches the following, both My sounds are more beautiful than gold? Heat me up, rise my sap! (repeat four times) grabs at one TREE NYMPH, then another— confused and entranced. MIDAS I did? Well, I agree! Rise my sap! Rise my sap! (repeat) they resist, but also enjoy his sexy game. PAN (to MIDAS) Midas! I told you, Midas— PAN (mischievous) More wondrous than Pan’s the one—you do it best! FRANNY watches, enthralled and attracted. Stay away from here! The golden tones of the Sun God? You make me shiver, make me dance FRANNY What’s going on!? MIDAS But—I worship you! MIDAS Than the God Apollo? Well… Shake me up from root to branch MIDAS enters behind PAN and stops, as if PAN Silly human! (overcoming hesitation) Heat me up, rise my sap! (repeat four times) winded. (MIDAS and MELIK are one and the Go back and rule your subjects— Absolutely! Absolutely! Rise my sap! Rise my sap! same; the change will be indicated by a Do your kinging, or whatever thing you do! I – I would take your woodsy music any day TMOLUS wakes up—the singing has subtle change of costume, which we may MIDAS No! I won’t go back! Over anything that he could play. Now awakened him. see happening at this point—NYMPHS may The taste of gold’s still bitter in my craw. please—please… TMOLUS (disoriented) What’s going on? facilitate the change.) I’ve washed it off PAN (to CHORUS) Did you hear that? I said, what’s going on? MIDAS/MELIK (spoken) There you are! the touch that turned all things I loved to gold! (repeat eight times) PAN Ah, the mountain god—mountain god FRANNY (spoken) I’m sorry, I was just The touch that ruined me— Did you hear? awakes! (repeat ‘awakes’ six times) looking for— That made my life a joke to all the gods! I am the greatest! I am the greatest! Ah, the mountain god—the mountain god— MIDAS/MELIK (spoken) I’ve been looking I’ll stay here, where the river’s waters washed I am the greatest! Greatest! Greatest! Here’s the news—Here’s the news— for you all over! me clean. My pipes can beat the lyre— (repeat 3 times) Finally—Here’s the news—Here’s the news— MIDAS/MELIK approaches toward—not My soul was dead of great Apollo—of great Apollo! Finally someone sides with me FRANNY, but PAN. He falls on his knees Your music made me live again! PAN plays with renewed vigor; as CHORUS Someone sides with me behind PAN and pulls on his leg, interrupting (clinging to PAN’s leg again) Now I follow you! sings and moves along below, FRANNY joins there’s no respect for me—how I play my reeds an ongoing flirtation between PAN and a PAN Are you a man—or an ass? in, moving too. From Zeus—from Zeus— NYMPH. MIDAS Whatever you want me to be, I am CHORUS Pan’s the one (repeat eleven times) and from all the high and mighty— MIDAS O great god Pan—o wondrous Pan— You’re my kind of God, only you, O Pan! Pan’s the one—you do it best! all the high and mighty Gods above—Gods My hero Pan—o please— You make fools of everyone You make me shiver, make me dance above! Please—please play more! Including yourself! Shake me up from root to branch there’s no respect for how I play my own And your sounds are better than gold Heat me up, rise my sap! Syrinx (fondling his pipes) my dear Syrinx—my own Syrinx You must be crazy—crazy— THEO Franny! (he runs to her, they Noble and beautiful, I’ve waited so long—I’ve waited so long or a fool—or a fool. embrace) I’ve found you! Golden of countenance, and of gaze To hear it said—to hear it said—to hear it said: FRANNY Theo! I got lost—and now I’m here— Bearer of harmony My music is the best! (repeat) I, Tmolus, have listened to you long enough THEO But you’re all right? Noble and beautiful—noble and beautiful TMOLUS (pointing up) Better than Apollo’s, Your boasting has gotten out of hand—out of FRANNY Of course I am—but look! This place Benevolent one, come now you say? hand is majorly weird— Visit us on earth, who long PAN The whining of a gnat compared to mine. You dare to compare—dare to compare THEO Come on, let’s go— to hear your holy music—music—music—music TMOLUS What’s that? I can’t believe you Your pipes to the music of FRANNY I think they’re Gods or something, During the above, APOLLO appears. If said— The great God Apollo—the great God Apollo? and the trees know how to sing! possible he enters without walking, perhaps PAN (pointing at MIDAS) He said it! (to I have to hear that—hear that THEO (concerned, and not yet noticing standing on a rolling platform. Lighting MIDAS) Tell him! For myself—for myself. anything but her) Oh no. I don’t know what’s accentuates his divine aura. MIDAS may MIDAS I did! Pan’s music is the best. Let’s put your boasting—put your boasting to happened, but we’ve got to get you back. shield his eyes, and in other ways express The Sun God, by comparison— the test! THEO pulls on FRANNY but she resists. discomfort with APOLLO’s presence. A chirping songbird! Music starts to build. TMOLUS meanwhile has stood up and is FRANNY (aside to THEO) He sure knows how Pretty, yes, but in one ear A simple contest arranging himself for an official appeal. to make an entrance— And out the rest. I will call the Great Apollo here FRANNY Theo, listen!! You know that contest how to make an entrance TMOLUS I think my ears are going. We’ll listen to you both, between two Gods? It’s happening right THEO Please! I want to hear this! PAN and MIDAS We’ll say it louder! Each one in turn here, Right now! APOLLO (comfortable in his divine glow) (with music a parody of sweetness) Since I rule these parts, I’ll be the judge: THEO (looks around, finally seeing, then, Here I am! Apollo’s music may be sweet as honey, I’ll say whose music truly rules. confused) What? Who are these— It is I, Apollo but it’s ungodly boring! PAN Call away! (to MIDAS) We know who’ll FRANNY makes a motion to quiet THEO as The beautiful, the golden-haired, A big yawn! Can you hear us now? be the winner, Don’t we? TMOLUS rises to his full height, still above The one who lights your days. TMOLUS I heard you just fine, but can’t MIDAS You’ll whip his lights off him! He’ll be all the others somehow, and addresses (to MIDAS, THEO and FRANNY) believe my ears. well and truly stung! himself to the sky. THEO is now transfixed. Be careful there, you mortals I, Tmolus—I, Tmolus—I let you run free PAN & MIDAS I’ll/You’ll have him whimpering TMOLUS (slowly, with gravitas, addressing Don’t look too close. around, ’round here for mercy! himself to the sky) It is I, Apollo You chase my nymphs, I look the other CHORUS hums in agreement and excitement. Bless-ed Apollo The beautiful, the golden-haired way—other way— In the midst of the rising excitement and Phoebus, bringer of light The one who lights your days. And now you insult—now you insult— PAN’s preening, THEO runs in. The GODS, Who each day pierces the darkness My grandeur can be dangerous the great god Apollo? (repeat) NYMPHS etc. don’t notice the following. Reveals us to ourselves. To lesser ones—to lesser ones. But THEO looks, pulled toward APOLLO’s aura. through this) Here are my rules: Each of you APOLLO (not angry, just dismissive) I’ll To see this godly fight! APOLLO I’ve been called down to Earth—is will go in turn pulverize his sound! Shaking with delight / Godly fight! there some trouble? MIDAS Who’ll go first? (PAN / MIDAS / APOLLO intertwine here) I can’t believe we’re really here / This could TMOLUS (overcome by Apollo’s presence) TMOLUS (to MIDAS) Silence! Without a break in singing, CHORUS divides be what we’ve waited for Great God Apollo, Sorry to disturb you— APOLLO (indicating PAN, then himself) Age in half, moving into the following: The sounds we couldn’t hear / The key to APOLLO And you are? before beauty. CHORUS 1 / CHORUS 2 Now we’ll see that help free our ears TMOLUS Tmolus, God of this mountain. TMOLUS You will both have equal time Pan’s the best / Apollo’s sure to win this test I can’t believe we’re really here / This could APOLLO Tmolus! I remember now If you disagree, object to me Woods and earth will win the day / Not be what I’ve/we’ve waited for My son Phaeton flew too low I will be fair in listening when Sun God has his say Sounds! Ears! Sounds! Ears! Sounds! Ears! In my chariot, and set your trees on fire. And balanced in my decree Win the day / Has his say Sounds! / Ears! Sounds! Ears! Sounds! I did apologize for that? It is my nature. Woods and earth / Sun God’s rays Ears! TMOLUS As you see, Great One, they have FRANNY (to THEO) Oh my god— I can’t PAN/MIDAS and APOLLO also jump in at END OF CD I grown again. believe we’re really here points: APOLLO Then why have I been called? Is We’ll hear the sounds we couldn’t hear— PAN / MIDAS Play him to the ground! ACT II there a nubile nymph who needs my help? THEO This could be what I’ve waited for— (repeat) SCENE 3: THE CONTEST (TREE NYMPHS giggle and scatter, a little The key to help free my ear! APOLLO Pulverize! Pulverize! Everyone on stage as they were at end of afraid) PAN / MIDAS I’ll / You’ll eat him for lunch! FRANNY and THEO emerge again, reassert- last scene. TMOLUS Beg pardon, but old Pan APOLLO This won’t take long. ing themselves and bringing all together in TMOLUS Now, let the contest begin! has claimed he is your better PAN / MIDAS I’ll / You’ll eat him for lunch! their excitement and anticipation, except for All turn toward PAN. Music grows, offering a at making music. APOLLO This won’t take long. TMOLUS, PAN and APOLLO, who hold their taste of PAN’s music to come. If you agree to it, we’ll perform a test CHORUS My leaves are shaking with delight opposing stances: PAN (spoken) First—to know me is to know I’ll judge, and we’ll put all doubt to rest. to see this epic godly fight! FRANNY / THEO / CHORUS (sung with my dear Syrinx! (caresses the pipes) APOLLO (noticing PAN) Ah, Pan! While CHORUS hums with excitement, and “opposing” sides backing FRANNY and then My dear Syrinx… Still up to your tricks, I see. periodically repeats THEO) (sung—through following, one of the All right! I accept Shaking with delight I can’t believe we’re really here / This could NYMPHS may act part of SYRINX) The challenge, in respect Epic godly fight, be what I’ve waited for! Syrinx! Syrinx! Syrinx! Syrinx! My beloved to your longevity. the following punctuates CHORUS’s singing: I’ll hear the sounds we couldn’t hear / The key river nymph TMOLUS Then we’re agreed! (PAN and PAN / MIDAS I’ll / You’ll play him to the to help free my ear! [CHORUS …our ears!] Running away from my caress APOLLO take places opposite each other ground! (All together) My leaves are shaking with She turned herself to reeds delight Now I caress her as I play They worship me inside the grove seeming to notice them for the first time, I, Apollo of the golden lyre They pull me toward them Deep in the forest clearing and THEO seems to notice him for the first Why, I’m the god of Music. I’ve always known them—I’ve always known They lie down on the sacred fleece time too. Perfect in form and feature them… Receive my dreams at night THEO (spoken, through “He’s not who you Just so, I bring balance to all MIDAS Keep it down, you! They know me there—they know me there. think”) You! Some guide you are! CHORUS He measures tones to perfect length TMOLUS Are both sides done? MIDAS Guide? Are you two lost? comeliness of frequency PAN No way! I’ve still got more to play. My incense is the sweet hyacinth THEO If you don’t know— APOLLO They all worship me, the muses MIDAS (to THEO and FRANNY) See—the It is the ivy and the grapes FRANNY (to THEO) He’s not who you think! (nymphs take the role of Muses) contest isn’t over! It is the tang of pine sap MIDAS All right, you’ve wandered in— They orbit around my sun THEO Why not? It’s clear to me— It is the ash of last year’s fallen leaves. You’re lucky to be here! I bring to all the light of reason. FRANNY No! There’s more— (with CHORUS) I am the branches shivering Just stay and help me cheer him on to victory CHORUS His light grows strong through We’ve got to hear—we’ve got to hear! in the wind —to victory! rising day PAN I, Pan, son of—Oh, I don’t remember I am the lusting of the goat (repeat last two THEO Cheer which one? He lives in endless golden day If you think you know my parents you’re wrong! lines) TMOLUS Silence! Now hear the God Apollo! His light grows strong through rising day My secret is I’ve always been… (PAN alone) I am the voice inside the reeds All attention turns to APOLLO. He draws He lives in endless golden day (with CHORUS) I am the breath of the forest. himself up, at ease as the center of attention. APOLLO My light grows strong through rising As long as the leaves have shivered in the wind I am the branches shivering in the wind APOLLO I, Apollo, son of the Great God Zeus day The snake crawled round the bark I am the lusting of the goat —Where shall I begin? I live in endless golden day (repeats both The wolf looked up and howled at the moon I am the branches shivering in the wind I could sing of my amorous adventures, lines) The wolf looked up and howled at the moon (PAN alone) I am the voice inside the reeds but then this day might never end. APOLLO WITH CHORUS I/He live(s) in (repeat these four lines) (with CHORUS) I am the breath of the forest endless golden day (repeats) I’ve been there—I’ve been there. I am the breath of the forest There was the lovely Melia, and Cyrene, CHORUS (softer) Lives in endless golden day NYMPHS (singing for PAN) Your incense is Music dies away. Corycia, Chione, Acacallis, Lives in endless golden day the sweet hyacinth FRANNY (deeply affected) Theo, did you Daphne and Coronis—those did not go too Music up; then dies into hush. THEO has PAN with NYMPHS My/your incense is the hear that? It’s something else— well— been listening as if in a trance. sweet hyacinth So strange, so—I don’t know— Creusa, Thyria, Evadne—Evadne… THEO (overcome) I never heard such sounds NYMPHS It is the ivy and the grapes So—I don’t know… I’m afraid it’s too many to tell—too many to tell. before, PAN with NYMPHS It is the ivy and the grapes THEO (spoken) It’s strange all right— and yet it’s like I’ve always known them It is the tang of pine sap (repeat) MIDAS approaches THEO and FRANNY, They pull me toward them APOLLO (spoiling the mood) Wait! I’ve always known them (to TMOLUS) He’s cheating! He’s repeating! We heard all about the grapes and hyacinth I am the God of light! I am the God of light! not knowing fear—fear We know no fear—we know no fear—we know before! Light… not knowing fear no fear TMOLUS Sorry, Divine One. Let the God MIDAS Unfair! He interrupted! Let the God He enters us—he enters us Apollo have his say! Pan finish! I enter them— (repeat 2 times) He fills us up—He enters us MIDAS (gesturing toward PAN and TMOLUS gestures his assent. I fill them up— (repeat 2 times) CHORUS He enters us—he fills us up (repeat CHORUS) But he’s not done— PAN They come here still to worship me I intoxicate them— (repeat) 2 times) TMOLUS Silence! Silence! Silence! Shadows changing, light and dark I melt them— (repeat) FRANNY & THEO (over the previous, repeated APOLLO My followers seek me out not in the Playing pipes and tambourine They know no fear— (repeat 2 times) by CHORUS) Oh Gods—what’s happening? woods, Drinking down the sacred wine I enter them— (repeat 2 times) Oh Gods—I can’t stop—can’t stop but through the highest Oracle of all this From my young brother Through this and the following, FRANNY is FRANNY & THEO (over the previous, sung by world—Delphi! Delphi! Dionysus, Lord of the vine! caught up completely in the growing frenzy CHORUS) Oh Gods—what’s happening? Music gains urgency, CHORUS is agitated along with CHORUS and MIDAS. THEO is (repeat) They come from every corner of the world with the following. MIDAS joins in, and pulled in later, possibly by PAN himself. I can’t stop—can’t stop to hear my wisdom spoken there. FRANNY as well. THEO tries to get to FRANNY, but is THEO Franny! Franny!! I see the truth in every soul—in every soul PAN (some is sung by/with CHORUS, may disoriented by the music, and hemmed in PAN & CHORUS Streaming hair—the spiral I call the truth from every soul—from every soul include pauses and/or repetitions) by the swirling movement of the NYMPHS. dance— (repeat) My arrows land in every soul—in every soul I enter them FRANNY & CHORUS He enters me/us—he They won’t remember anything tomorrow! They pull truth from every soul—from every I fill them up enters us FRANNY, THEO, MIDAS, CHORUS Everything soul—every soul rushing moon cloud He fills me/us up—he fills us up—he fills us up and nothing I call truth from every soul (repeat) shaking earth He intoxicates me/us—he intoxicates us Everything and nothing every soul / every soul / every soul wind on crag PAN & FRANNY & CHORUS I melt them/He Everything and nothing (repeats, building a (CHORUS sings wordlessly under the following running fawn melts me/us—I melt them primal rhythm, continuing through PAN’s four lines) staggering bear They/I/we know no fear—They know no fear next lines) I shine for those in darkness bloody jaws FRANNY & CHORUS I/we know no fear—we PAN, FRANNY, THEO, MIDAS & CHORUS I/ My music pulls them up and out know no fear He enter/s them—I enter them Remembers for them light and air—light and air! Shaking earth CHORUS He enters us—he enters us He fills us up—I fill them up I am the God of light! I am the God of light! running fawn He fills us up—he fills us up—he fills us up He intoxicates us—He intoxicates us— Light… staggering bear CHORUS (as FRANNY and THEO moan) He He melts us—he melts us (Music, more wordless singing from bloody jaws intoxicates us—he intoxicates us They/we know no fear—we know no fear—we CHORUS) (APOLLO with CHORUS) He melts us—he melts us know no fear— FRANNY, THEO, MIDAS & CHORUS He FRANNY (woozy) There was dancing APOLLO & CHORUS The curving of the seashell, THEO Yes—I am me, and you are you! enters us—he enters us—he enters us— and a whirly wind of sound (looking down at the turning of the stars FRANNY Now I remember— FRANNY / THEO (simultaneous over CHORUS) herself) the lines invisible You’re my love. Oh Gods, what’s happening— (repeats 2 times) I think I turned into a tree… (faints away) the patterns one can hardly see that hold THEO That’s right—and you’re mine. I can’t stop, I can’t stop— THEO No! Wake up! Wake up! I won’t lose the Cosmos in its place— FRANNY & THEO You’ve come back to me THEO Franny! Franny!! you! I can’t! all this is my domain. It’s so good to return! Music has reached a swirling, fever pitch by I won’t lose you! I can’t! I can’t—I can’t—I FRANNY takes THEO by the hand, pulling Yes, you are mine, you’ve come back to me this time—and sustains as long as possible can’t—I can’t! him out of his music trance. Through the It’s so good to return—so god too return— at the edge of chaos. TMOLUS (to PAN) You began; now he must end. following, they enter the slow circling dance return… PAN & CHORUS We won’t remember Through the following, THEO, holding together—but unlike the others, they are FRANNY Now I remember—we are us anything tomorrow— FRANNY, pulls her to her feet, and they seeing each other as they move. Only PAN I got carried clean away— We won’t remember anything tomorrow! stand side by side, listening. and MIDAS stand to one side. Forgot my name, my hands, my face… Everything and nothing APOLLO (more meditative—as if chastened APOLLO / FRANNY & THEO / CHORUS THEO We both got swept along— Everything and nothing by the noise that has just ended) I call you back / You call me back / I call that chaos made us all insane. Everything and nothing I, Apollo, bring the light you back FRANNY It took us—it took us further than Everything and nothing of reason down to Earth to what you’re meant to be / to what I’m we’ve ever been— PAN I bring them panic! bring the light of reason down to Earth meant to be / You feel me pluck your string further than we’ve ever been! I bring them panic—and PANDEMONIUM!! down to Earth—down to Earth—down to Earth. Help you to hear / Help me to hear / Each FRANNY & THEO Then we heard this other When quiet finally returns, FRANNY falls Through the following, CHORUS slowly sounds a note sound— down with the others, spent. THEO also revives, stands, and begins a slow whirling your own tonality / my own tonality / Of so mysterious, so calm… so at peace. stumbles and falls down. dance, each with a sense of inward discovery. cosmic frequency Recall you to yourself / The sounding of another god PAN That is the God Pan’s song. THEO listens raptly, almost forgetting FRANNY. Recall me to myself / Soul’s own knowing Pulled us from oblivion… THEO makes his way to FRANNY, and lifts APOLLO I underlie the small and large And to the God in you. / And to the God in Rang us back to ourselves. her to sitting. Distances from near to far me. / Reverberating. Called us back to who we are THEO Franny! Franny! The stately dance of the planets Music up, soft, clear, evanescent. APOLLO Gave us reprieve to love again. FRANNY (disoriented) Who— Of humankind and Gods has been transported by his own song, FRANNY Yes we are back, THEO Are you— Dancing continues around APOLLO. along with everyone else. But something’s changed… FRANNY Are you? FRANNY, also listening, has begun to come FRANNY Now I remember— MIDAS I’m sure we’ve heard enough to THEO (as if remembering at that moment) back to herself. You are you— crown the winner. It’s me, Theo! What just went on? SCENE 4: THE JUDGMENT MIDAS (spoken) What! His music—it’s like the sound of wisdom FRANNY Theo, please— All turn toward TMOLUS. The mountain god You didn’t hear what I heard? FRANNY (the following lines interweave with THEO I don’t know what to think! raises himself for the proclamation. TMOLUS (indicating PAN) His pipes are pure intoxication! THEO’s next lines) TMOLUS Quiet! Let me think in peace! (as before, slow and mighty) I disagree! Pan moves me—moves me— CHORUS, briefly cowering back at the sound Thank you all, divine and human (sung) I, King Midas, declare the god Pan Pan moves me—moves me of his voice, goes silent, but quickly resumes You fauna, and you vegetation the winner! THEO Pure and right— its singing as above. TMOLUS raises a hand for lending us your kind attention. (spoken, to PAN) May I present your laurel! the sound behind the sound for his pronouncement. I, the judge, will make you wait MIDAS goes to put the laurel on PAN’s That I’ve been searching for, all along. TMOLUS I have considered carefully all no more for my decision. head. PAN looks quite pleased. Searching for— points and counterpoints The winner here is clear TMOLUS You can’t do that! Yes, he moved me too (CHORUS goes silent) I now declare the winner Superior in all ways I’m the judge Yes, he moved me too The Great God Apollo. beauteous of line, The one decider But Apollo brought you back! (repeat) CHORUS (whispering unevenly, then dying bountiful of inspiration Give it back. His music is like the sound of wisdom away) Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! Apollo! Apollo to humans, Gods and all the rest PAN, sheepish, starts to pull the laurel off. The sound behind the sound TMOLUS reaches out for the laurel, which The winner of this contest MIDAS It’s an outrage! I demand a recount! The sound that I’ve been searching for all MIDAS holds. MIDAS pulls it out of reach. is the Great God Apollo—Apollo—Apollo— TMOLUS (puzzled) One judge, one vote. along—all along. PAN No! Apollo! I vote for Apollo. If you take his side, then I don’t know MIDAS I can’t believe it, really can’t THEO & CHORUS (taking up the winner’s (indicating APOLLO, who is growing irked at If I know who you are How can you vote for him over Pan—Pan! name in buzzing counterpoint) this baffling delay) Or if we are too different to be one—one… (indicating PAN, appealing to all but Apollo! Apollo! Apollo wins! MIDAS (turning to THEO and FRANNY—spoken) MIDAS (spoken) Can’t you two agree on particularly to the TREE NYMPHS) The Great Apollo! The Great Apollo! Your heard it all— anything? FRANNY shows her sympathy for MIDAS. CHORUS Apollo! The Great Apollo! Help me here! (to TMOLUS) You see— They’re evenly divided! TMOLUS With all respect to Pan, who may Apollo! (repeat for total of six times) FRANNY He’s right— You must really reconsider! be older, Meanwhile, TMOLUS takes a laurel wreath Pan knows how to shake a girl down to her toes! TMOLUS arranges himself to think. With all respect to Pan who may have played provided by a NYMPH and goes to place He did me in! He tossed me up! CHORUS (Weaving multiple vocal lines— longer it on APOLLO’s head. APOLLO nods, He turned me around! He scrubbed me down! continuing under the following to just before and has ruled these woods as long as I unsurprised. PAN is miffed. MIDAS nearly He tossed me up! He turned me around! TMOLUS: “I declare the winner”) remember—as long as I remember explodes. Pushing himself through, he grabs He did me in! He did me in! Who is it? Who will win? Who’ll receive the With all respect to Pan, with all respect to the laurel wreath from TMOLUS, to the THEO But Apollo brought you back! (trying crown? (repeat for a total of ten times) Pan— shock of others. to put his feelings into words) At the same time: Respect to Pan—Pan—Pan— Apollo is the greater God! Apollo is the APOLLO Midas! Apollo questions you. Midas has the ears of an ass (repeat this THEO & FRANNY After all we’ve heard—after greater God! Is it true you prefer Pan’s music to my own? line for a total of 3 times) all we’ve heard, the God of music—the God of music—music— MIDAS (spoken) Yes, your honor. MIDAS (repeats and interweaves with We have gone through Don’t forget—don’t forget—don’t forget— APOLLO (indicating TMOLUS) He’s the judge above) NO! After all we’re heard, we have gone through— Pan’s music is for this place, but Apollo’s is Not I—or you. APOLLO (spoken) My work is done. I promise I will never stop listening to you— for all—Apollo’s is for all. Your taste in music shows PAN (spoken) Still no respect! listening to you. (with CHORUS) He wins. (repeat for a total You have the ears of an ass—ass—ass! Both GODS exit, in different directions. I want to—want to hear your song—hear your of seven times) (spoken) I make it so. TMOLUS pulls back. FRANNY has pulled song—song… MIDAS That’s it! I’ll take this to a higher court! APOLLO makes a light gesture. Somehow away from THEO, miserable. Let us be still and listen—me to you and you MIDAS starts trying to climb toward the sky. the ass’s ears appear on MIDAS’s head. to me. He could try to “climb” TMOLUS, or the MIDAS No! SCENE 5: CODA Both stand, looking at each other and listen- TREES, with little success. MIDAS dances around, trying but unable to MIDAS, on one side of stage, kneeling, ing. Music and voices of CHORUS begin to MIDAS (calling upward toward sky) Zeus! remove them. A shimmer of shock runs is flanked by CHORUS, who now move in swirl around them, at first like faint sounds Zeus! Zeus! Zeus! Zeus! Zeus! through CHORUS. sympathy for his suffering. FRANNY and of the forest, then growing. As sounds weave I want to make an appeal! Please, please— MIDAS No! No! No! (repeating his outburst THEO are on the other side, but separate into a mysterious whole, MIDAS, FRANNY I’m appealing to you! To you! To you! over CHORUS, below) from each other. and THEO listen in a state of fearful wonder. FRANNY (to MIDAS) Watch out! Don’t hurt CHORUS Look—look! What’s this— MIDAS (clutching his ears) I’m like a beast! MIDAS slowly comes to his feet. yourself! Look how he’s changed! Look at those ears! Can’t let the others see! MIDAS (spoken) What—what’s that I hear? FRANNY reaches for MIDAS, while THEO Music crescendoes, reflecting his turmoil. After the golden touch— I’m hearing… tries to hold her back. FRANNY (at same time) Oh my god! even more misery! I’m a beast… THEO What is it? APOLLO (peeved) Who is this mortal? CHORUS Look at those ears—ears—ears! FRANNY Poor man—poor man, he’s been MIDAS My ears—they’re hearing more! TMOLUS Midas. He was a king. CHORUS (lines are staggered at times punished They’re hearing more! APOLLO (spoken) Bring him here. between MEN & WOMEN) THEO Preferring one sound exclusively MIDAS, FRANNY, THEO (singing in round— MIDAS has by now fallen down from his Midas—Midas has the ears of an ass FRANNY & THEO Is that what I’ve done— each in their own parallel discovery—but attempt to storm the heavens. He is nudged (repeat) Not listening to your sound? FRANNY and THEO still aware of each other closer to APOLLO by some CHORUS members. He’s a man but he hears like an ass (repeat) MIDAS (clutching his ears) With these ears at some points, as music and voices build) Someone hands the laurel to APOLLO, who Midas has the ears of an ass Midas—Midas I fear I’ll hear only a rude cacophony! I hear the softness of the moss places it on his own head, and with this has the ears of an ass No more of Pan’s sweet music the reaching of the roots gesture goes into “official god” mode. He’s a man but he hears like an ass (repeat) I’m a beast… Ah, what a tragedy! I hear the air, the sunlight through the trees Midas—Midas—Midas has the ears of an ass I hear the voices of the rocks The shining of your eyes Gold and green, smooth and rough, the pulsing of the earth The pounding of earth’s heart light and dark the turning stars The turning of stars Music down finally. your lover’s shining eyes. (at this point they begin singing lines THEO (spoken, to FRANNY) Are you all right? together) I hear it all! FRANNY (spoken) Yes. Now it’s time to go. And if you do, you too may hear What they, and we, are hearing is a FRANNY pulls him along; they “return” by The keening of the moon spine-tingling interweaving of the music somehow passing through the mosaic. The blazing light— of both GODS. MIDAS goes off in the other direction. Brief The singing of the Gods—singing of the Gods. MIDAS, FRANNY, THEO & CHORUS My blackout. Lights up: Mosaic is gone. THEO ears/Our ears/Your ears (repeat for a total and FRANNY are at stage center. MIDAS/ And if you do, you might hear of five times) MELIK enters and approaches them as they the pulsing of the earth CHORUS ALONE Your ears sing. TMOLUS and CHORUS also appear, the turning stars MIDAS, FRANNY, THEO & CHORUS My surrounding them. your lover’s shining eyes. ears/Our ears/Your ears (repeat for a total THEO & FRANNY (together now in their new of eight times) discovery) There’s so much more than we And if you do you too may hear —they are those of the Gods! knew— The keening of the moon Not just one—the two of them, entwined! These ass’s ears of ours The blazing light Gold and green, smooth and rough, Part animal, part human, and part god’s (starting softly, then loud) Listen—listen— light and dark and They are a gift listen (repeat—total of eight times) woven into one—woven into one! As are our differences Listen… Listen... (directly to each other) I promise to listen— The music has become a celebratory synthesis They are those of the Gods! to listen of the sounds of Apollo and Pan—wildness Not just one—the two of them, entwined! To cherish all your secret sounds and order, earth and air, darkness and light Gold and green, smooth and rough, and all that can be heard with these ears in grand coexistence. light and dark and I’ll remember, and will listen well—listen well. woven into one—woven into one! (repeat Music, then CHORUS begins by humming. END two times) ALL We will listen—we will listen—we will— we— They are those of the Gods! We will listen—we will—we will Not just one—the two of them, entwined! And if you do, you too may hear THE PERFORMERS 60 different roles to date spanning the operatic repertoire from early to new. He has been on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and performed with Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Kevin Stalheim is the founder and Artistic Director of Present Music. Committed to commis- Boston Symphony Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, sioning new music and supporting residencies, he has worked closely and extensively with Cincinnati May Festival, New Orleans Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Opera Omaha, Tulsa Opera, many of the most important composers of our time. Opera Boston, Virginia Opera, Opera Colorado, Tanglewood Music Center, Long Beach Opera, In addition to serving as Present Music’s Artistic Director, Stalheim has participated on Boston Lyric Opera, and has appeared for seven straight seasons as principal artist with funding panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aaron Copland Fund, Meet the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Composer (now New Music USA), Chamber Music America, and the American Composer’s Forum. He was formerly a board member for the American Music Center in New York City. Hailed as “riveting” by the New York Times, and “delicious” by Opera News, versatile Stalheim received a Bachelor of Music Degree from Oberlin College and a Masters of Music mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer recently starred in Missy Mazzoli’s multi-media opera Degree in conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Song from the Uproar, written for her and the NOW Ensemble and recently released on CD by New Amsterdam Records. Upcoming and recent performances include the title role As producing artistic director of Milwaukee Opera Theatre, Jill Anna Ponasik collaborates with in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia with Opera Memphis, Handel’s Messiah with Virginia Symphony, community partners in dance, theatre, and music to generate new work and create innovative a John Zorn premiere at New York City Opera’s VOX showcase, Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America productions of existing operas that transform the landscape of contemporary lyric theatre. with Los Angeles Philharmonic, and a performance/recording of the Lord Nelson Mass with Recent highlights include “26” — a fantasy inspired by Italian songs and arias, Amahl and the Boston Baroque. Ms. Fischer has recorded and performed with Rebel Baroque Orchestra, Night Visitors — a toy theatre production, Jason Powell’s superhero opera Fortuna the Time American Bach Soloists, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Concerto Köln, Boston Modern Bender vs. The Schoolgirls of Doom!, Dominic Argento’s From the Diary of Virginia Woolf, Orchestra Project, the Boston Pops, American Opera Projects, Gotham Chamber Opera, Nautilus Music-Theater’s Meditations on Arion, the tango-opera Maria de Buenos Aires, The and premiered works by Elliot Carter, Nico Muhly, Lee Hoiby, Bernard Rands, and Bang on Eurydice Project — a three year collaboration with Carroll University, Guns N’ Rosenkavalier a Can. Ms. Fischer is represented by Barrett Vantage Artists. Visit www.abigailfischer.com and — a rock recital, Kelley Rourke and John Glover’s Lucy, and of course, the premiere of Kamran barrettvantage.com for more information. Ince’s Judgment of Midas, presented with Present Music in 2013. Jill Anna holds degrees from the University of Minnesota and the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. American baritone Gregory Gerbrandt is a rising star in the world of opera, bringing a dynamic www.milwaukeeoperatheatre.org blend of vocal ability and stage prowess while garnering critical acclaim around the globe. He has performed with opera and symphonic organizations on five continents, singing for Described as “brilliant” by Opera News, American tenor Matthew DiBattista, is continually in ambassadors and other officials from around the world. Prior to earning the degree of Master demand on some of the world’s most prestigious stages having performed opera and concert of Music from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music, Gerbrandt obtained works throughout the United States, as well as Italy, France, and Portugal. He has sung with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Northern Colorado, where he was twice awarded such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Seiji Ozawa, Keith Lockhart, Sir Andrew Davis and Robert the prestigious distinction of Scholar of the Year. Gerbrandt was also given the highest Shaw. Known for an exceptionally varied repertoire, Mr. DiBattista has performed more than recognition by his high school alma mater: induction into the prestigious Greeley West Hall of Fame. Highlighting his career, Gerbrandt has created the lead baritone in three world premieres. Metropolitan Opera bass Mikhail Svetlov is known for the unique range and beauty of his voice He is frequently asked to sing contemporary opera and has performed the lead role in new as well as for his outstanding acting ability, voice described by The Washington Post as “titanic, productions of A Streetcar Named Desire, Elmer Gantry, This is the Rill Speaking, The Gift of all encompassing, penetrating.” Mr. Svetlov is a winner of the Viotti Internatonal Competition, the Magi, and For a Look or a Touch. By contrast, Gerbrandt is in high demand to perform the nominated Grammy Award for recording of Stravinsky, also was honored two Telerama Awards prominent standards of Italian, French, and Russian opera. La bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor, (France) on Le Chant du Monde for the world premiere of Rachmaninov and Serov. A principal Le nozze di Figaro, Carmen, and Faust, as well as the title role in Don Giovanni, Il barbiere di soloist of the legendary Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow for more than a decade, he also soloist of Siviglia, and Eugene Onegin are just a sampling of his performed repertoire with Boston Lyric New York’s Metropolitan Opera, Milán’s Teatro alla Scala and London’s Royal Albert Hall. Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Santa Barbara, Central City Opera, Mikhail has been an acclaimed guest at the many of the world’s opera companies, Opera Sarasota, Nashville Opera, and the Teatro Nacional Sucre in South America. festivals and orchestras including: Carnegie Hall, Arena di Verona, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg Stadtsoper, Bayerische State Opera, Teatro Colón, the Salzburg, Edinburgh, Soprano Jennifer Goltz specializes in new chamber music, opera, and cabaret. Her reputation Bregenz, Santa Fe and Britten festivals, Genoa’s Teatro Carlo Felice, , L’Opera de Montreal, for interpretive sensitivity, vocal virtuosity, musical precision, and creativity as a performer has New York City Opera, Houston, San Diego and Florida Grand operas, Opera de Bellas Artes inspired Michael Daugherty, Robert Morris, Andrew Mead, Evan Chambers, Forrest Pierce, (Mexico), and many others. Stephen Rush, and many others to compose for her. Her collaboration with composer-pianist Logan Skelton spans two decades, two continents, and eight song cycles. She is the vocalist Hailed by Opera News for a “theatrical intensity [that] was harmonized by sheer vocal for the new music ensemble Brave New Works as well as a founding member; in recent years beauty” in his first performances of Orest in Elektra, Philip Horst has enjoyed many triumphs she has also appeared with Milwaukee-based Present Music. At the invitation of the composer, in German repertoire that include the title role of Wozzeck (New Israeli Opera); Mandryka in she performed Luciano Berio’s Circles at the Salzburg Music Festival’s Boulez and Berio Arabella (Oper Frankfurt, Theater St. Gallen); Simone in Eine florentinische Tragödie (Greek celebration with members of Klangforum Wien. Her premiere and subsequent performances National Opera); Pizarro in Fidelio (English National Opera); Orest in Elektra (Des Moines of John Berners’ unaccompanied monodrama Study on Peter have garnered international Metro Opera); and Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (San Francisco Opera). In the praise and prompted a follow-up opera, Jehanne. She has recorded for Naxos, Albany, realm of contemporary opera, he has joined Wexford Festival Opera as Lieutenant Horstmayer Centaur, MSR Classics, AMP, and Blue Griffin Records. Her recording of Arnold Schoenberg’s in Putz’s Silent Night, Palm Beach Opera as Tortsheiner in the world premiere of Moore’s Pierrot lunaire and Brettl-lieder with the Los Angeles-based ensemble Inauthentica was hailed Enemies, A Love Story; Washington National Opera for the Doctor in Maw’s Sophie’s Choice, by Gramophone as “captivating” and “brilliant… a voice full of subtle allure and sprightly and New York City Opera for Ulysses S. Grant in Thompson’s The Mother of Us All. energy.” In the early 2000s, she fronted the popular Klezmer band Into the Freylakh, with On the concert stage, he has sung Spohr’s Die letzten Dinge and Dessau’s Hagadah whom she released an eponymous CD and the recording The Shape of Klez to Come. shel Pesach (American Symphony Orchestra), Copland’s Golden Willow Tree (San Francisco In addition to degrees in Vocal Performance, she holds a Ph.D. in Music Theory from the Symphony), and Bernstein’s Dybbuk (New York City Ballet). University of Michigan. Present Music is one of the nation’s leading ensembles specializing in the commissioning ACKNOWLEDGMENTS and performance of new music. Founded and based in Milwaukee since 1982, Present Music has worked closely with many of the nation’s most exciting and important composers, and Recorded by Remote Planet, Rick Probst April 11, 12 ,13 2013 at Helene Zelazo Center has firmly established one of the largest audiences for new music in the country. Present for the Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.A. Music performances have been described as “crackling with wit and intelligence,” “wildly Edited by Işık Günsel Yılmaz during May-June 2013, at MIAM Center for Advanced Research varied,” “fun,” and “unpredictable.” in Music at Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Adding to the national catalog of innovative new music, Present Music has commissioned Mixed by Pieter Snapper during June 2013 at MIAM Center for Advanced Research in Music more than 50 major new works in the past 20 years. Composers who have worked in residence at Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey or have been commissioned by Present Music include Pulitzer-prize winning composers such as John Adams, Henry Brant, Caroline Shaw, and David Lang, and such luminaries as Michael Mastered by Pieter Snapper during July 2013 at Babajim Studios, Istanbul, Turkey Torke, Elena Kats-Chernin, Kamran Ince, Annie Gosfield, Bright Sheng, Jerome Kitzke. Present Photo of Kamran Ince and Crawford Greenewalt, Jr. by Leanne Ince Music also works with many of today’s most exciting emerging composers. Judgment of Midas is published by Schott Music Corporation (ASCAP), New York. Among the numerous important national grants Present Music has received are awards from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Multi-Arts Production Fund, the National Endowment for the Cover image by Crawford Greenewalt, Jr., who designed the mural based on mosaics of the Arts, the Reader’s Digest / Meet the Composer Commissioning Program, and the Aaron Late Roman era, 5th-6th centuries AD, which illustrate mythological stories and which are Copland Fund for American Music. Present Music is also the unprecedented, six-time winner found in Anatolia, Syria, and Jordan. of ASCAP/Chamber Music America’s Adventurous Programming Award, including first place for the 2009-2010 season. The ensemble has been broadcast on National Public Radio, For more than 50 years Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr. spent every summer at Sardis, the capital Wisconsin Public Radio, and Counterstream Radio, a project of the American Music Center. of the Lydians in western Turkey. The ancient city, now a romantic ruin in the foothills of the Tmolus mountains, was much more to him than the focus of his scholarly research. It was a Milwaukee Opera Theatre was founded in 1998 by Charissa York Glazner, an enterprising second home, and he was deeply connected to its history, its mythology and fairytales, the young soprano who recognized the need for a community-based professional opera company animals and plants that inhabited the landscape, and to the landscape itself. At the end of in the Milwaukee area. York collaborated with singers, directors, and instrumentalists who the day he often climbed the acropolis, whose cliffs are so steep that they were described by were committed to producing operas readily accessible to the community in which they lived the historian Polybius as “the strongest place in the world.” He knew the twists and turns of the and worked. During MOT’s premiere season (1999), the young company presented Mozart’s Pactolus stream, whose sands once shone with gold dust, making the Lydians the wealthiest Cosi fan Tutti. The box-office success of that production, coupled with extraordinary community people in the world, and which now trickles and croaks with frogs and fragrant mint. He spent support, allowed MOT to expand its season to three productions the following year. Currently, three summers excavating at the tumulus cemetery at Bin Tepe, across the valley from Sardis. MOT produces four to five projects each season, ranging from full productions to readings of At that time travel to this haunting landscape was arduous and time-consuming, and he lived new works, with special emphasis on local art and artists. at the foot of one of the colossal mounds, overseeing the slow tunneling within as the team searched — in vain — for a royal burial. The ancient city of Sardis and the modern landscape have inspired travelers and writers since antiquity, and Greenewalt devoted himself not only to understanding its archaeology, but also to a deep appreciation of the myriad paintings, plays, operas, histories, sculptures, fantasies, and other works of art inspired by the site, its history and legends; the city has remained alive since antiquity in the imaginations of these artists. It is fitting, then, that he wanted to contribute to this long tradition, and after hearing Ince’s Symphony No. 2 Fall of Constantinople, asked him to visit Sardis, share in his love for it, and record that enthusiasm in a symphony, Symphony No. 4 Sardis. He later turned to one of his favorite myths, the con- test between Pan and Apollo which took place on Mt. Tmolus behind Sardis, as the subject of the opera presented here, the Judgment of Midas. A skilled artist himself, one of Greenewalt’s contributions to the opera was the design for a mosaic for the stage backdrop, based on ancient models (and explained in a lengthy, scholarly report), bringing together his love of learning, art, music, landscape, and opera, and the myths and legends of his beloved Sardis.

This recording was made possible by the generous support of Present Music, John M. Kohler Opera in Foundation, Collins Kohler (in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Harvard Sards Expedition and Two Acts Greenie’s leadership of it), John Shannon, Jan Serr, Merops Foundation, MIAM Center for JUDGMENT OF MIDAS Advanced Research in Music at Istanbul Technical University, Foundation for Development of Istanbul Technical University, and University of Memphis Faculty Research Grant.

For their help in the creation of the opera, a special thanks goes to David Jackson, Ned Canty, Norman Ryan, Charles Jarden and American Opera Projects.

In memory of Crawford Greenewalt, Jr. Kamran Ince

Opera in Two Acts

JUDGMENT OF MIDAS JU D Music by Kamran Ince :: Libretto by Miriam Seidel TROY1562/63 GME N Matthew DiBattista, tenor (Melik/Midas) :: Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano (Frannie) Gregory Gerbrandt, baritone (Theo) :: Jennifer Goltz, coloratura soprano (Pan)

Mikhail Svetlov, bass (the mountain god Tmolus) :: Phillip Horst, bass baritone (Apollo) T O F MI D Present Music :: Kevin Stalheim, artistic director (20 instruments with five Turkish ethnic instruments) AS Marie Sander, flute :: Jan Bjorkman, piccolo :: Dileep Gangolli, clarinet :: Sunshine Simmons, bass clarinet Matt Sintchak, alto saxophone :: Melissa Reiser, tenor saxophone :: Marc Vallon, bassoon

Don Sipe, trumpet :: Tom Schlueter, trumpet :: David Lussier, trombone Mark Hoelscher, trombone/bass trombone :: Terry Smirl, percussion :: Carl Storniolo, percussion

Thomas Chess, ney :: Neva Özgen, kemence :: Güç Başar, ut :: Şehvar Beşiroğlu, kanun Ozan Aksoy, saz :: Ann Lobotzke, harp :: Cory Smythe, piano :: Michèle Lekas, violin :: Eric Segnitz, violin

AS Margot Schwartz, viola :: Adrien Zitoun, cello :: Collins Trier, bass

::

F MI D Milwaukee Opera Theatre Chorus Jill Anna Ponasik, artistic director Julianne Frey :: Leigh Akin :: Allison Hull :: Wesley Brown :: Nathan Wesselowski :: Scott Pullen T O Doug Clemons :: Brian Myers :: Henry Hammond

GME N Kamran Ince, conductor TROY1562/63

WWW.ALBANYRECORDS.COM JU D TROY1562/63 ALBANY RECORDS U.S. 915 BROADWAY, ALBANY, NY 12207 TEL: 518.436.8814 FAX: 518.436.0643 ALBANY RECORDS U.K. BOX 137, KENDAL, CUMBRIA LA8 0XD TEL: 01539 824008 © 2015 ALBANY RECORDS MADE IN THE USA DDD WARNING: COPYRIGHT SUBSISTS IN ALL RECORDINGS ISSUED UNDER THIS LABEL. Kamran Ince