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Propoetides Cover! PROPOETIDES Dean Michael Burry Doctor of Musical Arts Faculty of Music University of Toronto 2018 Italian translation Sara Maida-Nicol © Copyright by Dean Michael Burry 2018 PROPOETIDES from the opera Il Giudizio di Pigmalione (The Judgment of Pygmalion) Dean Michael Burry Doctor of Musical Arts Faculty of Music University of Toronto 2018 ABSTRACT Propoetides is the prologue to the opera Il Giudizio di Pigmalione (The Judgment of Pygmalion) and was inspired by the following description from Ovid’s Metamorphosis: “Nevertheless, the immoral Propoetides dared to deny that Venus was the goddess. For this, because of her divine anger, they are said to have been the first to prostitute their bodies and their reputations in public, and, losing all sense of shame, they lost the power to blush, as the blood hardened in their cheeks, and only a small change turned them into hard flints.” The fifteen-minute work is scored for seven soloists, women’s chorus, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion, piano and strings. This setting of the myth (the libretto by the composer, with Italian translation by Sara Maida-Nicol) places the sculptor Pygmalion as an Italian high-fashion magazine photo editor disgusted by Women’s Rights marchers who protest around him: a modern interpretation of the classical Propoetides. Photo editing techniques, including filtering, warping, cropping, layering, transparency, colour adjustment and cutting and pasting, are all incorporated into the score which explores, through tonality and dissonance, a violent dichotomy between equal human rights and traditional roles and models of women in society. Ovid’s story, and the opera’s libretto, builds on the idea of perfectionism. The ancient Greek notion of the golden ratio or divine proportion (1.618) has been exploited to rigidly define beauty for centuries and also is woven into the score of the opera, subtly influencing duration, harmony and texture. Propoetides theatrically and musically portrays the conflict for and against feminism, struggling against the kind of attitudes fostered both by Ovid’s myth two thousand years ago and the digitally altered, and influential, images so ubiquitous in modern media. !ii Table of Contents Characters…………………………………….iii Synopsis………………………………………iii Instrumentation……………………………….iv Explanation of vocal placement technique…..iv Libretto……………………………………….v Propoetides score……………………………..1 !iii Characters ORPHEUS (Orfeo), tenor PYGMALION (Pigmalione), baritone GALATEA, soprano VENUS (Venere), mezzo-soprano CYPRA (Cipra), a protestor, soprano ANA, a protestor, soprano TINA, a protestor, mezzo-soprano A CHORUS of Women Synopsis Pygmalion, a high fashion photo-editor sits at a sidewalk café table in a large city. A Chorus of Women describes the global problem of “Nasty Women” – woman who are not willing to shut up and accept their role in a patriarchal society. Pygmalion detests women who do not conform to his sense of beauty and demeanour and is disturbed when a group of three female protestors enter demanding “Women’s rights are human’s rights”. Orpheus, his “buddy”, intermediary with the chorus and narrator, ironically commiserates with him. Pygmalion’s boss, Venus, the CEO of Venus Style Magazine, enters, also criticizing the choices of these so-called “uncontrolled” women. After a moment of mutual disgust, Venus turns on Pygmalion, belittling him and demanding to see his latest work later that day. Pygmalion’s bitterness at being dominated by a woman is obvious. A woman, Galatea, sits at Pygmalion’s table and expresses interest. He perks up and begins flirting with her. Perhaps she is someone who can finally meet his standards. During the course of the conversation, Galatea changes from high heels into running shoes, and at the moment he is about to “move in for the kill” she dons a “pussy hat” and raises a sign in support of women’s rights. She joins the chanting protestors, Pygmalion falling further into misogyny. !iv Instrumentation Flute/ piccolo Oboe Clarinet in B-flat Bassoon Horn in F Percussion: Glockenspiel, kick bass drum, roto-toms (5), suspended cymbal, splash cymbal, small gong, mounted triangle, high and low woodblock, cowbell, tambourine (with skin), bell tree kick bass drum roto-tom roto-tom roto-tom roto-tom roto-tom suspended cymbal splash cymbal triangle ! large plastic maraca egg shaker small gong slapstick tambourine cowbell lo woodblock hi woodblock Piano Violin I (section) Violin II (section) Viola (section) Violoncello (section) Double Bass (section) Explanation of vocal placement technique Inspired by photo-editing software sliders, which smoothly adjust transparency, colour and saturation, Propoetides employs a technique of moving the placement of the vocal tone to different areas of the nasopharyngeal cavity, similar to warm- up exercises. As indicated, singers move the assigned vowel sound from a backward placement (throat) through a central placement (mixed) to a forward placement (in the mask or with a nasal quality). !v I diritti delle donne sono i diritti umani! PROPOETIDES CYPRA Libretto by Dean Burry Love Sex Hate Sexism Italian translation by Sara Maida-Nicol Amore Sesso Odio Sessismo ANA Café (Il bar) My uterus, my business! L’utero è mio e me Io gestico Io! (A trendy sidewalk café in the fashion district of some large TINA city.) Stop the war on women! (Un bar trendy nel rione di indumenti alla moda di una Basta la guerra sulle donne! qualsiasi città grande.) PROTESTERS CHORUS Women’s rights are human rights! In London, Toronto, Paris, New York, I diritti delle donne sono I diritti umani! A Londra, Toronto, Parigi, New York In Moscow, Beijing, Khartoum, Tel Aviv CHORUS A Mosca, Pechino, Khartoum, Tel Aviv Deny. Teheran, Tokyo, Negare. In Rome, Milan… Insult A Roma, Milano… Offendere cities full of riches seen and unseen Cut down città piene di ricchezze visibili e celate Tagliare hoarded and shared, Suffocate. ammassate e condivise da tutti, Soffocare. do they rejoice in their Nasty Women? Gioiscono delle loro donne indecenti? And they all of them Deny. E loro, tutti quanti Negare suck the blood from civilization. Insult. Succhiano il sangue della civiltà Offendere. Suck it and bleed from the thighs Cut down. Succhiarlo e sanguina dalle cosce Tagliare in the name of humanity! Suffocate. Nel nome dell’umanità Soffocare. ORPHEUS ORPHEUS How dare they. Like the men who dare to agree: Come osano? Come uomini che osano approvare: Turned by fate into Pussies CHORUS Trasformati in fighette dal destino Deny Wusses Negare Femminucce Insult and fucking nice guys. Offendere e fottuti bravi ragazzi. Cut down Luckily, Pygmalion was not one of those. Tagliare Per fortuna, Pigmalione non era uno di quelli. Suffocate. Soffocare. (The Protesters enter aggressively, carrying signs of protest for Women’s Rights.) PROTESTERS I dimostranti entrano in modo aggressivo, apportando Fight Like a Girl cartelli su cui si protestano i diritti delle donne) Lotta come una donzella Still Not Asking For It PYGMALION (looking up) (guardando su) Senza pretendere Oh, please no. Oh, per carità, no. (Venus, a wealthy fashion magazine executive enters and Not this crap again. stands hovering over Pygmalion.) Ancora queste cazzate. (Venere, una dirigente ricca di una rivista di moda entra stando addosso a Pigmalione. ORPHEUS ORPHEUS And Venus, the beautiful, What’s wrong, bro? E Venere, La bella, Che c’è, amico? The pretty Longing for love? La carina Cerchi l’amore? The Sexy. La provocante. PROTESTERS The Acceptable. Women’s rights are human rights! L’accettabile. !vi The Accommodating. La premurosa (Venus exits.) (Venere esce.) The Manufactured, man-made Goddess, La dea artificiale, creata dall’uomo ORPHEUS (motioning to Protesters) looked down on this fucking mess. (segnalando ai dimostranti) La quale vede da sopra questo casino sudicio. What’s the problem, Pygmalion? C’è un problema, Pigmalione? VENUS Don’t like what you see? What the hell have they got to complain about? Non ti piace quello che vedi? Ma di che cazza si lamentano? Better if they all moved to the forest PYGMALION Meglio se si trasferissero tutti nella foresta (OR nel bosco) Not my type, Orpheus. And run with the wolves… Non fa per me, Orfeo. Tra i lupi… Or just put themselves out of their misery… O semplicemente terminare la loro sofferenza… ORPHEUS Just keep it off YouTube, Tsk, tsk. Evitando YouTube, Ze-Ze. No one needs to see that. Nessuno vuolo verdelo. PYGMALION Can’t a guy have standards? VENUS Non si può essere esigente a riguardo? Maybe we can change them into Decent Women. Forse possiamo trasformarle in donne per rispettabili. CHORUS Deny PYGMALION Negare Under control. Insult Sotto controllo. Offendere Cut down VENUS Tagliare Pretty. Suffocate. Carine. Soffocare. PYGMALION PROTESTERS Quiet. My Body My Choice Quiete. (OR silenziose, tranquille) Il nostro corpo appartiene a noi sole VENUS and PYGMALION CHORUS Available-when-needed Women. But after it all, Donne servizievoli Ma, alla fin fine, those vulgar Nasty Women Quelle donne volgari e oscene Dared to deny Venus her divinity. PYGMALION Osarono negare a Venere e la sua divinità. Try some mascara. Dared to fight “The Man”. Mettiti un po’ di mascara. Osarono battersi contro “l’Uomo” VENUS Dared to stand up. A little cover-up. Ebbero il coraggio di resistere. Un po’ di trucco. Dared to not stay down. Ebbero il coraggio di resistere alla sottomissione. PYGMALION Dared to march. Concealer. Osarono marciare Maschera. Dared to scream till their voices and souls were raw. Osarono gridare fino a quando le loro voci e le anime erano VENUS and PYGMALION crude Would it kill you to wear some blush? Muori se non Io fai un po’ di rosare sul viso? CYPRA Keep Your Laws off My Body VENUS Non applicate le vostre leggi al mio corpo. Magazine cover presentation at nine AM tomorrow, Pyggie. Presentazione della copertina alle nove domani, Pigma’ ANA One hundredth issue of Venus Style. Open Hearts Make Open Minds La centesima edizione di Venere Moda Cuori aperti rendono le menti aperte Needs to be…perfect.
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