Newsgroups: bit.listserv.allmusic
Date:         Fri, 2 Oct 1992 13:10:27 EDT
From:         Rick <MMLRICK@UBVM.BITNET>
Subject:      put on your opera Glass(es)

CAUTION: This post contains matter which could be conceived as boring, i.e.,
it has no jazz/blues subject material. Please delete at this point if you are
easily bored. Read no further.

There. For the one or two of you still reading, I'll get to the main point.
Philip Glass' new opera commissioned for the Columbus 500th anniversary
celebration, is being world-premiered on Columbus Day (Mon. Oct. 12) by the
Met. It'll be broadcast live that night at 8:00-11:15 PM EST, on the Texaco/
Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network. I guess your local classical
station may carry it; if not, you can drive to the nearest Texaco station;
not doubt your neighborhood mechanics will have their ears spot-welded to
the radio that night.

Anyway, the latest issue of Opera News has a big spread about it, with
articles and interviews on Glass, librettist David Henry Hwang (author of
the Broadway hit M. Butterfly), and the stage director; a plot synopsis,
and an article about Columbus in the opera repertoire in general.

Here's the synopsis for your information (or complete boredom if you're
still reading, Leonard.) It has a Prologue, 3 Acts and an Epilogue.
                          PROLOGUE
    While a chorus poses eternal questions about the nature of time and space,
the Scientist, seated in a wheelchair that descends from the stars, ponders the
idea of exploration. Despite faulty equipment, inadequate bodies and finite
minds, there always have been people who have the courage to follow where their
vision leads.
                          ACT I
    Near the end of the Earth's Ice Age, a spaceship hurtles out of control
toward it. Inside, the Commander, complaining that nothing on her ship works--
neither the lights nor the engines, not even her training, which did not pre-
pare her for this eventuality--foresees a beast licking its chops, waiting for
the dead. As the spaceship plunges closer to the Earth, the First Mate punches
up an image of the rapidly approaching planet on his computer and describes its
life-giving properties--water, oxygen, vegetation and humanoid forms. Meanwhile
the Second Mate relives his wretched childhood, as the Ship's Doctor remembers
her garden and children at springtime. The spaceship crashes.
    Still at his computer screen, the First Mate sees images of the planet,
whose terrain in some areas is similar to the infant stages of their own. As
the Commander asks to see a last glimpse of the planet she and her shipmates
will soon forget, the First Mate adjusts his screen to receive a map of the
cosmos. In one corner, blinking, is the travelers' home planet. Each blink
produces a three-note chord. As each crew member takes one of the ship's
pulsating directional crystals, any two of which when brought together will
point the way home, he pictures in his mind the world he would like to live in
--the Second Mate a realm ruled by machines, where he turns the sky black (the
Europe of the Industrial Revolution); the First Mate a continuation of his voy-
age (he is transported to a pavilion near the top of a Tibetan mountain); and
the Ship's Doctor a place where people will listen eagerly to her stories (she
lives in India, with masses of children around her).
    Alone, the Commander stares at the pulsating crystal in her hand. She would
like to have dies rather than to be bound by boredom. She prepares to exit the
spacecraft, wondering what fate awaits her. As she steps out, natives, perform-
ing the rites of spring, think she is a fantastic creature, barely humanoid.
The Commander is swept up in the natives' ritual.
                        ACT II
    At Granada in 1492, Queen Isabella and the Spanish court bid farewell to
Columbus as he sets out for the Indies. As the queen encourages the navigator
by quoting from Scripture, members of the court promise him tithes, wealth and
power. This scene turns out to be...
   ... something remembered by Columbus on board the Santa Maria. The First
Mate's voice, calling out the dawn watch, jolts Columbus back to the sordid
realities of life at sea. It is the 32nd day into the voyage, and his men no
longer have faith in him or their mission. The awesome solitude seems to crush
in on him when he has a vision of Isabella, who reminds him that his dream,
before he set out, was so real that it could only have come from God. But,
argues Columbus, "As through the expanses of blue I see my own face, and it is
old." Isabella reminds him of Noah's faithfulness. The explorer further ex-
presses his doubts about "the order of God, and the Turks and Jews we kill in
His name." As the queen appears surrounded by a radiant holy light, looking
like the Madonna, she calls on the explorer to remember a virgin "who felt in
her belly a stirring, and held fast to the faith this was God." When Columbus
requires a promise that by this expedition he will further the kingdom of God,
Isabella, swearing it is so and becoming more clearly a mortal woman, claims to
be his queen, his love, his one true god. A bird sings, and the First and Sec-
ond Mates cry out "Tierra!"
                  ACT III
     In a space station in our solar system in the year 2092, Space Twins 1 and
2 scan the universe, seeking the origins of life. At the same time, archaeolo-
gist Earth Twins 1 and 2, each carrying a glowing crystal from Act I, meet in a
research laboratory on Earth. While hiking in the Andes, one heard a low-
pitched tone; the other was digging near the Ganges when she heard a high-
pitched tone. As the Earth Twins bring their crystals together, the original
three-note chord is re-created, causing the space station's scanner to focus on
the original visitors' home planet.
     The Commander, alone at first, muses on the eternal quest of humanity--a
goal, perhaps, to be realized in the coming voyage. In a jubilant send-off,
various dignitaries and politicians dance before a large, enthusiastic crowd.
The chorus of good wishes dims as the explorers enter the spaceship.
     Inside the spaceship, each member of the expedition--the Commander, Space
Twins 1 and 2 and the First Mate--bids farewell to his loved ones. Once again,
mankind is off on a voyage of discovery.
                 EPILOGUE
     As the space travelers fade away, Columbus appears on his deathbed. It is
1506. Dominican monks chant a requiem, and Isabella comes to accompany the
explorer to the realm of which she already is part. As he accuses the queen of
failing to keep her promises, she ridicules his arrogant faith as being born
of pride, his actions in the New world as being guided by Lucifer. She invites
him to her bed. Columbus resists her. Still pondering questions raised by man's
eternal curiosity, he is transported to the stars.
                 FINIS

   That's that. Mixture of revisionist history, sci-fi, New Age, a smidgin of
PC and traditionalism thrown in. Musically it should prove to be a departure
from Glass' usual minimalist froth. Listen if you can; I'll try to.

   There. That wasn't so boring, was it?...Was it?...Hello?.....Anyone there?
.... Oh well, I needed the typing practice. As well as the Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome. Have a good weekend.
Rick
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