Michael Tippett Opera Synopsis

8/11/2019 Michael Tippett Opera Synopsis

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Michael Tippett - The Midsummer Marriage

Synopsis

Act I

It is Midsummer's Day. Young people assemble before dawn for the marriage of a run-away couple, Mark

and Jenifer. ut they are frightened by the strange inhabitants of a mysterious !emple "known as #ncients$

comeout at sunrise and dance. Mark arri%es and re&uests a new dance for his wedding-day, which is

refused. !hey go off and he sings of his lo%e for Jenifer, identifying it with the ardent song of the lark atdawn. Jenifer arri%es, in no way attired for a wedding. he has little time for Mark's ardour and ascends

some steps, disappearing from %iew. Mark, warned of the approach of Jenifer's irate father, (ing )isher,

lea%es in the opposite direction below ground.

(ing )isher, tries to trace his absconding daughter - attempting to bribe the young people there he knows tobe her friends. *e enlists first, his secretary ella, and her boyfriend, Jack, a mechanic, in trying to open

the gates of the temple so that he can locate her. (ing !hey are warned off drastic in%asi%e action by the

mysterious off-stage %oice, that of osostris the soothsayer. !hey continue and at the clima+ of their efforts,

Jenifer and Mark reappear, strangely transformed in character, as if at the mercy of inner forces. !heirdisagreement is now dramatised as a singing-contest, at the clima+ of which they go off anew, in directions

opposite to those of their original disappearance. (ing )isher is more determined than e%er to get to the

bottom of the situation but the young people remain radiant and carefree.

Act II

trephon, the young !emple dancer, is waiting to begin the Midsummer rituals, but is interrupted by the

chorus of young people, singing as they go by. ella arri%es with Jack and tries to get him to propose to her.

!hey sing tenderly of their prospects for marriage and settling down. #s they go into the shadow of the

wood to make lo%e, the dancersre-emerge and the ritual dances begin - dancesin which female predatorsattack males !he arth in #utumn "the *ound chases the *are$ !he /aters in /inter "the 0tter chases the

)ish$ !he #ir in pring "the *awk chases the ird$. In each of the first two dances, the *are and )ish,

respecti%ely, escape but the %iolent sacrificial end of the third is only a%erted when ella interrupts it, as if

waking from a nightmare. !he young couple resume their courtship.

Act III


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!he young people in the wood are singing and dancing after a meal. (ing )isher sends them off to fetch

osostris. /hile they are gone, he issues a challenge to the inhabitants of the temple, demanding the

disco%ery of his daughter Jenifer. !he chorus of young people return with Jack disguised as osostris.

ut then the real osostris appears. (ing )isher consults her and she reluctantly undertakes the burden of

her clair%oyance. %entually, she describes from the pictures in her bowl the ancient ritual of the 'Di%ine

Marriage.' (ing )isher loses patience and commands Jack to un%eil her. ut by now Jack prefers to choosehis own destiny. *e and ella lea%e together. (ing )isher himself un%eils osostris, but the %ision he sees

brings about his death.

)rom the death of (ing )isher springs the fourth of the 1itual Dances )ire in ummer "the %oluntaryhuman sacrifice$. #t its clima+, Mark and Jenifer reappear in an oriental pose of perpetual copulation.

Dawn breaks on another Midsummer Day. Mark and Jenifer, their &uarrel o%er and forgotten, meet at last

for their Midsummer wedding.

Michael !ippett

"re%ised Meirion owen,2334$

Michael Tippett - King Priam

ynopsis

!he theme of (ing 5riam is the mysterious nature of human choice, seen in the relations between 5riam,

(ing of !roy, *ecuba his wife, his sons *ector and 5aris, and their wi%es #ndromache and *elen.

Act I

In the crucial first scene, the 0ld Man, brought to interpret 5riam's disturbed dreams, foretells that 5riam'ssecond son, 5aris, still in the cradle, will cause 'as by an ine+orable fate his father's death'. *ecuba makes

an immediate and clear choice '!hen I am mother no longer to this child. !roy and the city's king are

sacred...6et the child be killed'. 5riam's response is not so single-minded '# father and a king'. !hough he

orders the child to be killed 7, he is troubled by compassion and conscience.

In an interlude, the chorus - made up of the 0ld Man, the Young 8uard and the 9urse - reflet on thesemoral problems.

!here follows a hunting scene. !he child 5aris has not been killed, but handed to a shepherd. 9ow, as

young boy, 5aris is re-united with his father 5riam and his brother *ector. 5riam, 'in a moment of

recognition' re%erses his choice, accepts paris as his son, and accepts the fate foretold for himself and !roy.

In scene :, the two sons ha%e grown to manhood. ut 5aris and *ector do not get on together. #fter*ector's marriage to #ndromache, 5aris goes to 8reece ' where Menelaus keeps open house in parta with

his wife, daughter of ;eus,


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women in his life *ecuba, #ndromache and *elen. y choosing #phrodite, he opts for *elen, and thus

sets in motion an ine+orable se&uence of e%ents that will lead to war and the death of 5riam.

Act II

In the war that follows, !roy is weakened by the now open &uarrel between *ector and 5aris, mademanifest in the opening scene.

!he action shifts to #chilles' tent, where the 8reek hero sits in his tent with his friend 5atroclus, sulking.

#chilles regains his manhood partially, allowing 5atroclus to fight *ector on his behalf.

/hen the action returns to the !ro=an camp, news is brought that *ector has killed 5atroclus the blood-

stained body is dragged back for all to see. ut this pro%okes the wrath of #chilles, whose ominous war-cry

now punctures the confidence of the !ro=ans and brings the act to a clima+ of barbaric %iolence.

Act III

In the opening scene, we hear the %iews of the women regarding the war and life's problems. #n *ecuba

remains the dutiful wife, mindful of her husband's regal position, the outcome of the war, the fate of the

city. #ndromache re-asserts her faith in the marriage bond, remaining the grie%ing widow. *elen remains

outside it all, the one figure who ne%er has to make a choice, faithful only to her inner passion.

In an interlude, the ser%ing-maids show they too are aware of the realities around them.

#chilles, roused to action by 5atroclus's death, kills *ector. In the second scene, 5aris brings news of this

to 5riam and his world collapses. In a dialogue with the chorus "9urse, Young 8uard and 0ld Man$, his

mind returns to the crucial first scene of the opera dimly he percei%es tnat in accepting his fate, he isaccepting the tragic destiny of mankind. !he 9urse concludes, 'Measure him time with mercy' and time isthen 'measured' in an instrumental interlude, during which the scene changes to #chilles's tent.

5riam now comes secretly to #chilles to beg for *ector's body. #chilles takes pity on him. !hey drink to

each other's death.

In another Interlude, *ermes enters as a Messenger of Death, both recapitulating the story and offering a

%ision of 'di%ine music' to 'melt our hearts>renew our lo%e.'

5riam, withdrawn into his tragic world, is now before the altar, as !roy burns. *ecuba and #ndromachecome to try and speak with him, but he tells 5aris to send them away. 0nly *elen is allowed into his

presence. 5aris is sent off to kill #chilles. 5riam is finally killed by #chilles's son 9eoptolemus.

Michael !ippett

"re%ised by Meirion owen, 2334$

Michael Tippett: The Knot Garden


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Synopsis of the action

!he scene is a high-walled garden, which sometimes takes the form of a labyrinth or rose-garden,

according to the inner situations in the drama. # city may be glimpsed in the distance. !he time is the

present. #lthough the action might take place within the space of a single day, the presentation is

discontinuous, more like the cross-cutting of a film.

Act I: Confrontation

!he orchestral 5relude depicts a storm - clearly a psychological storm, rather than a naturalistic one, for it

is like a dance that keeps breaking down, re-starting and again breaking apart. Mangus, a psychiatrist, is

seen lying on a couch, as the still point in the storm. Mangus dreams that he has the powers of 5rospero

"the magician in hakespeare's !he !empest$ and can thus set things right in the world. !he imaginaryknot-garden which he con=ures into e+istence is his medium for demonstrating his power he controls its

%arious transformations and manipulates people within it.

!he change of scene, here, as elsewhee, is marked by a brief musical flourish, 'Dissol%e' music, as !ippett

calls it.

!hea appears, tending to the flowers in the garden. Mangus offers to help, but she re=ects this for !hea thegarden represents her inner life, which she guards ?ealously.

)lora enters she is a disturbed adolescent in the care of !hea and her husband )aber, who follows &uickly

behind. !hea accuses )aber of se+ually harassing )lora. he goes with Mangus into the centre of the

garden. )aber curses !hea for the breakdown of their marriage and denies her accusations. 6ea%ing in a

mood of bitterness, he asks Mangus to tell !hea he has gone to work.

Mangus reflects on the causes of their marital dissent )aber's absorption in the outside world of business

!hea's retreat into the inner life. /as it predestined@ '#ll accident', he concludes so let's start from where

we are now.

In the garden, )lora tells !hea to e+pect the arri%al of her sister, Denise, later that day.

)lora, wandering around the garden, hums a children's counting-song which is interrupted by the arri%al of

Mel "a black writer$ and his gay lo%er Do% "a white musician$. !heir relationship has broken downand theonly way they can keep it ali%e is by pretending to be Aaliban and #riel "in !he !empest$ - hence the little

pantomime they enact together. #s they finish, Mangus and !hea appear, the latter carrying a tray of

cocktails and treating the scene before her with icy disdain. ut Mangus is more sympathetic and presages

further such play-acting he goes off with )lora to fetch more costumes.

!he three that remain take a cocktail each. !hea ga?es hypnotically at Mel and draws him away into the

garden. 6eft alone, Do% smashes his glass and howls like a dog in distress. )aber returns and is bewildered

by Do%'s bi?arre beha%iour. Do% bra%es it out, repeating his pantomime ditty to introduce himself and Mel.)aber is half-attracted to him.

!hea and Mel reappear, but before they can respond to the immediate situation, )lora rushes in to announcethe arri%al of Denise. Mangus anticipates a new dimension to the drama. )or whereas all the people

encountered so far are preoccupied with personal problems, Denise belongs to the public world of freedom-

fighting and resistance to tyranny, from which she bears the scars. *er long aria is often accusatory in tone

she cannot forget or forgi%e and she regards the others around her as somewhat fri%olous and superficial,beautiful but damned.


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eeking relief from all this tension, Mel starts up a blues. !he others =oins in, e+pressing their anguish as

indi%iduals. !he blues speeds up into a boogie-woogie as )aber adopts the traditional pose of the man

lea%ing behind the problems at home to seek respite in the night-life of the city.

#s the slow blues resumes, the hubbub intensifies. 1aising his %oice abo%e it all, Mangus confesses himself

impotent to pro%ide any resolution other than resorting to prayer.

Act II: Labyrinth

!he garden is now a ma?e. Mangus takes control of the successi%e meetings between the characters. ach

encounter is introduced by music based on the opening 'storm' prelude of #ct I, speeded up or slowed down

and harmonically conflated. )irst to appear are !hea and Denise, singing of their respecti%e fears. #s !hea

reaches out to Denise, she is drawn away and )aber is whirled on to replace her.

)aber complains to Denise of !hea's sulky withdrawal from their relationship. ut Denise, unable to

sympathise, simply asserts her own inner toughness. he is drawn away into the ma?e and replaced by

)lora.

)lora, singing her counting-song again, backs away frightened from )aber. *e finds this absurd and e+horts

her to grow up. !errified of his ad%ances, )lora retreats into the ma?e and is replaced by !hea.

!hea attacks )aber for what she percei%es as arrogant chau%inism, forcing him down onto the ground on allfours. *er attack on him is curtailed and she is replaced by Do%.

!his scene re%erses their first encounter in #ct I now it is )aber who is in a sorry state and Do%

uncomprehending. Do% howls ironically and )aber, e+pecting sympathy, becomes e%en more attracted to

him, as he is told of the breakdown of Do%'s affair with Mel. )aber is about to kiss him, but is drawn awayas Mel arri%es.

In a kind of song-and-dance routine, Mel reprimands Do% for mistaking physical attraction for a fully-fledged lo%e-relationship the lo%e between themsel%es is no more secure personally than it could be

racially. Mel's crucial ad%ice to Do% is, '8o turn your howls to music'. Do% is whirled off and replaced by

Denise.

Mel and Denise find some common ground in the fight for freedom, =ustice and dignity. !he song '/e shallo%ercome' emerges within the orchestral accompaniment and Mel =oins in at the clima+.

!he ma?e now appears to go into re%erse, with the characters returning in &uick succession.

Do% appears and mocks Mel. !hea returns and Mel mocks her. )lora enters, pursued by )aber and takes

refuge downstage. !hea and )aber confront each other briefly, then disappear.

/e now reach the turning-point of the opera from here onwards, there is hope of a resolution to all the

psychological turmoil.

Do% comforts )lora. *e persuades her to sing - which is how he, a musician and singer, normally copes

with distress - but all she knows is a chubert lo%e-song "orchestrated and embellished in !ippett's

%ersion$- moreo%er, a boy's song altogether a symbol of her adolescent immaturity and se+ual

ambi%alence.


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Do%, slightly more mature than )lora, responds by singing his own song - one that is idiomatically rooted in

the present, with the sounds of electric guitar and %ibraphone prominent. Do% sings of his childhood and

youth in the big cities, of his dreams of lo%e in the warm south and Aalifornian west. !he first stan?a of his

song is addressed to )lora, but with the second, he stands up to address the world Do% has begun toblossom into an artist. Meanwhile, the ma?e transforms itself into a rose-garden. Mel interrupts the

dialogue of the two innocents he claims it was he who taught Do% this song of lo%e, but dismisses it all as

false. !he rose garden fades.

Act III: Charade

Mangus has persuaded some of the characters to take part in a series of charades based on !he !empest.!hea and Denise comment on his illusions of power. In the first charade, Mangus-5rospero and )lora-

Miranda e+plore the imaginary island on their first day. !hey encounter Mel-Aaliban dumbly crawling

about and decide he should be 'ci%ilised'. 9e+t, they find Do%-#riel trapped in a tree. !hey release him, but

he flings himself on Mel-Aaliban. eparating them, Mangus warns that they should not e+ceed the limits ofplay-acting.

taying apart from the charades, !hea warns Mangus that human beings are bound to do more than act outa script. he encourages Denise to respond with more warmth to Mel. Denise, worried by the 'impurities' of

lo%e, resists.

)lora-Miranda sleeps, with Do%-#riel guarding her. Mel-Aaliban creeps up and leaps upon her, intendingrape. he runs off, screaming. Denise berates Mel-Aaliban for his beha%iour. Bnable to accept his sensual

nature, she goes off more upset still after being reminded of his gay relationship with Do%. ut with Do%'s

encouragement, Mel follows her.

!hea &uestions whether Mangus-5rospero is merely a dabbler in power, a pimp or %oyeur. *e promises a

scene of reconciliation to come.

!he ne+t charade is a game of chess between )aber-)erdinand and )lora-Miranda. he accuses him ofcheating and sends the chessboard flying. tanding up to him, she at last asserts her freedom.

)aber-)erdinand, feeling wronged, sets up the chessboard again to play with !hea. !his brings them

together again in what might become a true relationship.

Mangus-5rospero and )aber-)erdinand lea%e and as !hea sings of her loss of fear, the opening storm

prelude goes into re%erse, in a gently undulating rhythm.!here follows a trial scene in which )lora-Miranda and Mangus-5rospero decide the fate of Do%-#riel and

Mel-Aaliban. !he latter is allotted the role of sla%e. Do%-#riel taunts him about this and they start fighting

again.

1ealising that his magical powers don't really e+ist at all, Mangus calls a halt to the charade and strides to

the footlights. !he rest of the cast =oin him and agree that reconciliation is possible only through timid,momentary e+pressions of lo%e. haring in a %ision "that echoes a 8oethe poem$ of the whole of humanity

holding a magic net and dancing inseparably together "the opposite of what happened in the opening 'storm'

prelude$, they then make their final e+its.

Mel lea%es with Denise )lora radiantly anticipates a bra%e new world of maturity. Do%, the eternal loner,lea%es on his own, e%oking pity. Mangus disappears.


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It is night. !hea and )aber discard their daily preoccupations and turn to each other in a mood of

acceptance. #s the curtain falls in the opera, it rises in their li%es. !he storm-motif is transformed into a

final ecstatic musical gesture.

Michael Tippett - The Ice Break: Synopsis of the action

ACT I

Scene

In an airport lounge, 9adia and her son Yuri await the arri%al of her husband

6e%. 9adia compares her own terrifying %oyage into e+ile by ship with 6e%'s more sedate =ourney by air.he is almost ecstatic at the prospect of his arri%al. Yuri, who can't remember his father, becomes surly and

impatient with her. 9adia seems to hear 6e%'s %oice.

Scene !

!he telepathy between 9adia and 6e% is interrupted by the arri%al of 8ayle and *annah, who are there to

welcome 0lympion, a black champion figure whom they hero-worship. Yuri shows his resentment of hismother's beha%iour and re=ects *annah's account of 6e% as a political prisoner, half-insisting that like others

of his kind, 6e% had allowed himself to be trampled under foot.

Scene "

0lympion's fans in%ade the airport, sweeping *annah off with them.

Scene #

Yuri is =ealous of 8ayle's adulation of 0lympion. he hurries off after *annah and the fans, lea%ing Yuriwith his mother.

Scene $

9adia is an+ious about the plane's punctuality. Yuri remains preoccupied.

Scene %

!he fans return, heralding 0lympion's arri%al with an #merican-style cheer-leader routine, which

0lympion acknowledges.


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Scene &

6eft alone, 9adia suddenly recognises the soberly dressed man watching her as her husband.

Scene '

In 9adia's tiny apartment, she and 6e% e+change reminiscences. ut when they come to discuss Yuri, 9adia

is upset.

Scene (

ack in the airport lounge,0lympion's fans continue their celebration. *e leads them in an assertion of

black supremacy. Yuri, unable to contain himself, mocks them bitterly. !he white and black fans separateout. 8ayle is pro%oked into self-abasement before 0lympion. he throws herself at his feet and the black

fans e+hort him to take ad%antage of her. nraged, Yuri tries to attack 0lympion, but is felled with a blow0lympion kicks out at 8ayle as well and the scene ends in tumult.

Scene )

In the apartment, 9adia and 6e% discuss Yuri's beha%iour. #s the chorus shout in thedistance, Yuri

burstsinto the room, dragging 8ayle behind him. Meeting his father for the first time, he asks him, bitterly,

why he has come.

ACT !

Scene

It is night. In the apartment, 6e%, 9adia, Curi and 8ayle present their own sharply defined standpoints. 6e%

tries to calm the young ones but is rebuffed by Curi 8ayle, too, re=ects the dream of 'liberal charity' to

which 6e% and 9adia both hold. 8ayle and Yuri are drawn away intothe crowd of white people outside.

9adia is de%astated, but 6e% remains unshaken.

Scene !

0utside, as if enacting a (u (lu+ (lan ritual, the whites sing a hymn declaring their racial purity.

Scene "


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In another part of the city, 0lympion is about to lea%e *annah to =oin the black people outside. *annah

&uestions his automatic acceptance of leadership of the black mob.

Scene #

0ut in the street, the blacks welcome 0lympion into their ranks, masking him like themsel%es and striking

poses of aggression.

Scene $

*annah searches for some sense amid the %iolence.

Scene %

efore *annah has finished, the black and white mobs begin their ritual confrontation.

Scene &

9adia and 6e%, in their apartment, are so disconcerted bywhat is happening that they are almost incoherent.

9adia feels impotent and pessimistic, but 6e%, &uestioning his own pacifist principles, feels he must go insearch of Yuri.

Scene '

# riot ensues with casualties on both sides. the police arri%e and the crowd scatters.

Scene (

!he 5olice 6ieutenant challenges e%eryone to regard him in a good or bad light. 6uke, the doctor, re%eals

that 0lympion and 8ayle are dead. Yuri is disco%ered badly in=ured. *e is identified by 6e% and taken away

in an ambulance.

Scene )

5rompted by 6uke, 6e% finds comfort and sympathy in *annah.


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ACT "

Scene

9adia is dying. In the apartment 6e% reads to her the passage from 8oethe's /ilhelm Meisters /ander=ahre

about the reconciliation of /ilhelm and his son, #nticipating 6e%'s own reconciliation with Yuri.

Scene !

6uke and *annah arri%e and indicate that Curi may sur%i%e. !hey try to persuade 9adia to rela+, but sheonly wants 6e%.

Scene "

Disturbed by the imminence of his wife's death and by his son's hatred, 6e% is for a while unsure ofhimself. *e &uestions whether, as Yuri had suggested, he had 'flunked the struggle'. *annah reflects that

conflict is ubi&uitous-the world is full of ghettos but only rebirth matters as a goal.

Scene #

6e% and *annah are interrupted by 9adia, who is caught up in an intense %ision of her childhood, recalling

the sleigh running through the snow-bound forest, the ice breaking on the ri%er and, as she drifts into death,

the idyllic summers and the folk on the ri%er.

Scene $

#s 6e% cries out for 9adia to wait for him in 5aradise, the scene changes to disclose a crowd of paradise-seekers in%oking their cult hero, #stron. !his androgynous figure gi%es them a message, but is disconcerted

when they become too adulatory. *e debunks them and disappears.

Scene %

6uke, in his consulting room, persuades 6e% that, now 9adia is dead, he must accept responsibility for Yuri.

6e% agrees.

Scene &

#t the hospital, Yuri lies on a table, awaiting his release from encasement in plaster. *annah and 6uke

wheel him into the operating theatre, while 6e% waits apprehensi%ely outside. Yuri bursts from the plaster

=oyfully.


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cene 4

Young people rush through the hospital, repeating #stron's message of springlike renewal.

Scene (

*annah brings Yuri out of the operating theatre in a wheelchair. he helps him up and he goes to meet 6e%.

!hey are reconciled, but Yuri is shaky on his feet and both *annah and 6e% caution against o%er-optimism.

6e% &uotes 8oethe's words to the effect that the cycle of conflict and reconciliation is an eternal feature ofhuman e+istence.

Michael Tippett - *e+ ,ear

Synopsis of the action

Act I

!he action of the opera begins omewhere !oday, in a modern !error !own.

0nce upon a time there was a girl named Jo #nn.

Jo #nn was an orphan. he was brought up by a foster-mother, known as 9an. /hen she went to school, Jo

#nn dreamt that one day she would help and comfot all the other orphans in the world outside. !o achie%e

this goal, she ma=ored in child psychology. Meanwhile, 9an had adopted another orphan. *e was blackboy, called Donny, whose parents were probably Aaribbean or #frican. Donny's delin&uent beha%iour and

Jo #nn's memories of being an orphan ha%e now made her fearful of going out into the world to put her

knowledge and training into practice.

/hen the opera opens, the 5resenter and chorus depict the terror town outside and introduce Jo #nn. #lonein her room with her books, Jo #nn feels safe. he dreams of the day some inner resolution and couragewill induce her to go through the door out into the town, where she can help the abandoned waifs and

strays.

Donny bursts in on her re%erie. *e makes fun of Jo #nn's caring manner and %oice. )lapping his arms,

strutting and crowing like a cock, he retreats to his own room.

9an arri%es to fetch Donny and wanrs Jo #nn that she may o%erdo her caring compassion for 9an,discipline is also essential.

Donny ca%orts onto the stage and enacts a 'skarade'. a dance-se&uence punctuated by choral refrains in

which he con=ures up what he imagines to be his Aaribbean and>or #frican past - his roots the dancers =oin

in his bi?arre antics, mas&uerading as lions to frighten the spectators. Donny's 'skarade', in fact,

encapsulates his orphaned situation and sense of social re=ection.

In an Interlude, the chorus introduce to the world of 9owhere !omorrow - an imaginary realm in outer

space.

cene then opens in Merlin's laboratory. Merlin is a technological wi?ard and is showing off his new

computer. eside him is 5elegrin, the handsome young pilot and e+plorer. !hey discuss what to call the

computer, but the machine, in a fit of impatience, names itself.


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Merlin and 5elegrin toast their impending %oyage into the future. ut when the computer controls are

operated, only %isions from the past can be obtained, amongst them an image of Jo #nn's anguished face.

5elegrin is immediately fascinated and concerned about her troubled e+pression. 1egan, their boss,

interrupts orders Merlin to clear the screen. 1egan wants them to think only about the future her dream ise+clusi%ely of the =ourney into unknown time and space on which they will embark when the 9ew Year's

bell sounds.

6eft alone, 5elegrin retrie%es the picture of Jo #nn on the computer screen and holds it there. *e then

mo%es the space-ship into position, gets into it and it takes off.

In an Interlude, the chorus conducts us back to Jo #nn. !he space-ship lands. #s yet, 5elegrin and Jo #nncannot make actual physical contact. he realises he represents something special for her maybe from him

she might deri%e the strength of will to go out into the town and do her work amongst the children. 5elegrin

flies off again.

In a 5ostlude, the 5resenter reflects on the progress of the action and Merlin is seen attemptin to monitor

5elegrin's trip in the space-ship.

Act II

!he action begins outside in the town at night. !he 5resenter and dancers indicate that it is 9ew Year's

e%e. !he crowd enact the uni%ersal 9ew Year ritual. )irstly, a haman dances himself into a trance in

order to disco%er the identity of the scapegoat - the ad 0ld Year this happens to be Donny and the crowdnow hunt for him and symbolically beat him out "so that the 8ood 9ew Year$ can come in.

!he shattering sound of the Midnight bell une+pectedly signals the approach and descent of the space-ship.

Merlin appears and takes o%er as Master of Aeremonies. 5elegrin comes out of the space-ship. !he crowd

are pu??led and curious. Merlin orders 5elegrin to roll out a carpet for 1egan, but 5elegrin has alreadyrecogni?ed Jo #nn in the crowd and gone o%er to her, so Merlin takes charge of the carpet himself.

1egan emerges and demands to know where she has been brought and who e%eryone is. Donny sei?es the

opportunity to make a mockery of her and briefly she rises to the bait. 1egan realises now that she has been

tricked by 5elegrin into tra%elling back into the past. he confronts him. Jo #nn comes to his defence. 9an

supports her. #ltogether they sing of their separate dreams and apprehensions. ut now the crowd isgrowing resti%e. Donny, fantasi?ing that he might fly off in the saucer, indulges in more antics, this time

pretending he is a bird. 1egan and her companions resits Donny and the crowd, return inside the space-ship

and fly off.

In the final scene, the crowd, frustrated, turn on Donny and this time beat him up in actuality. Jo #nn

rescues him and takes him away, as the real 9ew Year bell rings and e%eryone =oins in singing #uld 6angyne.

Act III


13/13

It is 9ew Year's Day. !he chorus reflects on the contrast between the cruel and =oyous 9ew Year

celebrations. Jo #nn is back in her room with her books and dreams. 9an enters to bring Donny back into

her care for good. Donny arri%es and reminds them of the traumas of his childhood. #s 9an takes him off,

he gi%es Jo #nn a %ideo-cassette which, he says, contains his secret dreams. /hen they ha%e gone, Jo #nnplays the cassete. In the first of the three stan?as of Donny's dreamsong, he identifies first with a bird of

prey - the condor - and a beast of prey - the tiger Jo #nn, a potential %ictim or subordinate, recoils from

them all. Donny's dream "in the third stan?a$ of finding a metaphorical family amongst the whales that

Eboom their lo%e-song in the deepE is clearly more congenial to her.

5elegrin now lands in the space-ship and takes Jo #nn off with him. In an interlude, the chorus signals thechange of scene to an outdoor sacred place.

5elegrin now in%ol%es Jo #nn in a ritual, in which she has a choice she can choose to drink the blissful

waters of a fountain, which will enable her to forget both her worries and the abandoned children she cares

for or she can choose the bitter waters of a lake, which will ensure she remembers her past and her dutiesto other orphans. he samples both, but re=ects the fountain uin fa%our of the lake. #lready, thus, she has

displayed the will and the stamina to face up to her responsibilities. #nd this prompts Jo #nn and 5elegrin

to declare their lo%e for each other. Aoncluding the ritual, 5elegrin leads Jo #nn to a paradise garden, where

she is taught a dance that makes physically manifest her new-found freedom.

Ine%itably, they now must part. 5elegrin picks rose from the garden and holds it ready to gi%e to Jo #nn.!hey both lea%e.

In an Interlude, the paradise garden fades and the scene changes back to Jo #nn's room. !he 5resenter,

pre%iously unseen, comes on stage and tries to instil a sense of urgency into the action.

Jo #nn and 5elegrin arri%e in the space-ship. 5elegrin gi%es her the rose and instructs her to hold it high.

!hey are briefly o%ercome by lo%e. ut 5elegrin has to go and Jo #nn watches as he flies away for e%ershe then begins to dance towards the door, holding the rose high in her hand and the scene is transformed to

the laboratory of 9owhere.

Merlin is relie%ed when 5elegrin returns in the space-ship. 1egan tells 5elegrin he was tricked by Jo #nn,

but in a moment of silence, the rose he had gi%en her appears magically in his hand telling him she isfinally ready to go out into the world. *e then goes to the computer and manipulates the controls. 9owheredisappears.

Jo #nn, still wondering at her empty hand, opens the door and hears the noise of the town outside.

!he 5resenter speaks of the uni%ersal dream of '0ne humanity one =usticeE. Jo #nn goes through the door

and it shuts behind her.

Documents

Michael Tippett Opera Synopsis