An opera, with text by Alice Birch.
SYNOPSIS
Violet has been depressed for as long as she can remember. She lives in the largest house in the village with her husband, Felix and their maid – Laura. At the centre of the village is a clocktower.
Lights go on at six, bread rises in the ovens at seven and the front doors are opened at eight. Men work in fields and offices and women cook and sew, clean and raise their children. Roses are grown in front gardens, chickens and cats wander the village and everything runs like clockwork. Or at least, that is how it used to be. When time begins to disappear – at first imperceptible to everyone but Violet – it seems that their world has not been what they thought it was for some time. And, just as the world looks to be ending, Violet’s depression ebbs away and a violent, desperate yearning to suddenly live takes over. The mechanics of time being lost are reflected in the form of the storytelling – each scene takes place on a different day, as more and more time begins to fall away. Day One – when the change is noticed by no one but Violet, and then Day Three when three hours are lost, Day Five when five hours are gone, and so on, until light is lost and hope is vanishing.
DETAILS
Violet (soprano), Felix (baritone), Laura (mezzo soprano), Clockkeeper (tenor)
DURATION 85 mins
YEAR 2020
COMMISSION Co-commissioned by Britten-Pears Arts & Music Theatre Wales, with assistance from Theater Ulm
INSTRUMENTATION 13 players: fl(=picc).2cl(I=Eb.Cl,b.cl,II=cb.cl), tpt(=kalimba).tmb, perc(1: glsp/vib/tub bells/mar/bongos/2 toms/BD/tam-t/clave/WB/tpl.bl/guiro/mcas/metronomes), hp, 2vln.2vla.vc.db (pitch pipes played by fl, hp & db, dog clickers played by fl, cl I, vln I, vln II, vla I & vla II) – recorded sound
SCORE & PARTS For hire of performance materials, please contact promotion@fabermusic.com Which is all the more striking when you realise that it’s also a first for both Coult and Birch: his first opera score, her first libretto. Opera-making is a dark art. Great composers (Wagner, Beethoven) and great writers (Auden, Forster) have stumbled in early attempts, and it’s rare to see such complete assurance and alchemy between collaborators. – Alexandra Coghlan, The Telegraph ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This strikingly brilliant work certainly represents the finest joint UK operatic debut since Martin Crimp and George Benjamin collaborated on Into the Little Hill in 2006. – George Hall, The Stage ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Andrew Clements, The Guardian ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Richard Morrison, The Times ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ROLES
PRESS
Fierce and funny, magical and precise, it’s a dazzling piece – the best new British opera we’ve seen for some time.
Tom Coult’s darkly funny yet disturbing opera makes a significant splash at Aldeburgh…The result has been well worth waiting for…its momentum never flags…How do you finish an opera that deals with the end of time? Ultimately, it’s as good a conclusion as any to this highly accomplished and fascinating new work.
Soaring soprano lines for Violet, negotiated with fabulous poise by Anna Dennis, often over fragile, melting textures from the 14 players of the London Sinfonietta conducted by Andrew Gourlay, are contrasted with often blunt declamation for her husband, while the bells marking off time and the ticking of clocks are constant features of the wonderfully varied sounds he extracts from the ensemble, reinforced by electronics. There is real assurance about every gesture and texture, it’s tremendously accomplished; Coult clearly believes in the authenticity of what his opera is all about’
The composer Tom Coult and the writer Alice Birch have ingeniously combined the idea of mass extinction with personal emancipation…This is conveyed by Birch in clipped half-sentences that Coult sets in a striking score. Superbly played by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Andrew Gourlay, it meshes quasi-tonality with detuned effects and extraordinary sonorities…Throughout you get an ominous feeling of tick-tocking time draining away…A harrowing night out, but gripping.
FIRST PRODUCTION
Directed by Jude Christian. Co-produced by Britten Pears Arts and Music Theatre Wales.
Designer: Rosie Elnile – Costume: Cécile Trémolières – Lighting: Jackie Shemesh – Animation: Adam Sinclair – Sound Design: Sound Intermedia & Jasmin Kent Rodgman
Violet: Anna Dennis
Felix: Richard Burkhard
Laura: Frances Gregory
Clockkeeper: Andrew Mackenzie-Wicks
Ensemble: London Sinfonietta
Conductor: Andrew Gourlay
3 Jun 2022: Snape Maltings Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Suffolk, UK
5 Jun 2022: Snape Maltings Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, Suffolk, UK
8 Jun 2022: Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, UK
19 Jun 2022: Theatr Clwyd, Mold, UK
23 Jun 2022: Hackney Empire, London, UK (in association with Royal Opera House)
18 Jul 2022: Buxton International Festival, Buxton, UK
SECOND PRODUCTION
Directed by Rahel Thiel. Produced by Theater Ulm.
Designer: Maike Häber
Violet: Maria Rosendorfsky
Felix: Martin Gäbler
Laura: Carolina Krogius
Clockkeeper: Joshua Spink
Ensemble: Philharmonisches Orchester der Stadt Ulm
Conductor: Hendrik Haas
28 Oct 2022: Autohaus Hanser+Leiber, Ulm, Germany
2 Nov 2022: Autohaus Hanser+Leiber, Ulm, Germany
10 Nov 2022: Autohaus Hanser+Leiber, Ulm, Germany
18 Nov 2022: Autohaus Hanser+Leiber, Ulm, Germany
24 Nov 2022: Autohaus Hanser+Leiber, Ulm, Germany
9 Dec 2022: Autohaus Hanser+Leiber, Ulm, Germany
21 Dec 2022: Autohaus Hanser+Leiber, Ulm, Germany
THIRD PRODUCTION
Directed by Jacques Osinski. Produced by L’Aurore Boréale.
Designer: Yann Chapotel – Costume: Hélène Kritikos – Lighting: Catherine Verheyde
Violet: Juliette Allen
Felix: Olivier Gourdy
Laura: Natalie Perez
Clockkeeper: Manuel Nuñez Camelino
Ensemble: Ensemble Maja
Conductor: Bianca Chillemi
19 Apr 2023: École Normale Supérieur Paris-Saclay, Paris, France
20 Apr 2023: École Normale Supérieur Paris-Saclay, Paris, France
21 Apr 2023: École Normale Supérieur Paris-Saclay, Paris, France
23 Jun 2023: Theâtre de l’Aquarium, Paris, France
24 Jun 2023: Theâtre de l’Aquarium, Paris, France
25 Jun 2023: Theâtre de l’Aquarium, Paris, France
25 Jun 2024: Theâtre de l’Atelier, Paris, France