The Midsummer Marriage: Difference between revisions

Template:Tippett operas The Midsummer Marriage is an opera in three acts, with music and libretto by Michael Tippett. The work's first performance was at Covent Garden, 27 January 1955, conducted by John Pritchard. The reception of the opera was controversial, over perceived confusion as to the libretto and Tippett's use of symbols and psychological references.^[1][2]

Tippett extracted the Four Ritual Dances from the opera as a separate concert work. The premiere performance was recorded, and has been issued on compact disc. Covent Garden first revived the work in 1968 conducted by Colin Davis with the Ritual dances choreographed by Gillian Lynne and in 1970, where the production formed the basis of the first commercial recording.^[3]

The story of The Midsummer Marriage was consciously modeled after Mozart's The Magic Flute.^[4] Both trace the path to marriage of one "royal" and one "common" couple: Jenifer and Mark correspond to Pamina and Tamino, the earthy Jack and Bella to Papageno and Papagena. King Fisher stands in for the Queen of the Night, the Ancients for Sarastro and his priests, and so on.

But the composer's first inspiration for the work was visual: Tippett recalled imagining "a wooded hill-top with a temple, where a warm and soft young man was being rebuffed by a cold and hard young woman to such a degree that the collective, magical archetypes take charge - Jung's anima and animus."

The character Sosostris is named after "Madame Sosostris, the famous clairvoyante," in T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land, and King Fisher's name is inspired by the Fisher King character mentioned in the same poem. Tippett was first given the idea of attempting a verse drama by reading Eliot's plays, and he corresponded with the poet with an eye to collaborating on the libretto for his opera, tackling the job himself when Eliot declined.

2 flutes (both doubling on piccolos), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani and two percussionists playing: snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, gong, tubular bells, harp, celesta and strings.

The opera is set in a forest clearing, with a group of buildings to one side. The buildings resemble a sanctuary, with a Greek temple in the middle. A set of spiral stairs leads off to the right and breaks off in midair. To the left, they lead down into the hillside. The costumes are contemporary, aside from the dancers and the Ancients.^[6]

A young group of people enters the clearing, surprised by the strange buildings. They hide as Strephon leads the dancers and the Ancients out of the temple. Mark emerges and asks for a new dance in honor of his wedding day. The Ancients warn him of the dangers of thwarting tradition. To demonstrate the point, the He-Ancient trips Mark as he dances. His bride Jenifer arrives, but she is distant, having run away from her father, King Fisher. She ascends the stone staircase and disappears.

King Fisher arrives, and Mark enters the cavern. King Fisher thinks Jenifer is with Mark, and he summons Jack to break down the gates after the Ancients refuse to let him inside. During the argument, a radiant Jenifer reappears. Mark returns as well, glowing blood red. Representing "starry heaven" and "fruitful earth", the two confront each other. Jenifer says her soul is free of earthly suffering, while Mark claims to have gained new appreciation for the miracle of mortality. Jenifer tries to show Mark his error in a mirror, but Mark causes the mirror to fall and shatter. The couple reverse their paths, and Jenifer descends into the hillside while Mark ascends the stairs and disappears.

In the clearing, Jack and Bella meet and decide to marry. They walk into the woods, and Strephon emerges with his dancers to perform three rituals. In the first, a hound chases a hare, but the hare escapes. In the second, an otter chases a fish, who hurts himself on the root of a tree. In the third, a bird with a broken wing is captured by a hawk. Bella is terrified by the rituals. Jack comforts her as she recomposes herself. Reassured, they resume their playful interlude and run off into the woods.

King Fisher orders the group of young people to fetch Madame Sosostris, his clairvoyant. He is determined to thwart the Ancients, convinced that they are responsible for Jenifer's disappearance. The group returns with Sosostris, and King Fisher orders her to reveal Jenifer's location. She warns him against such inquiries into the dream world, but she reveals Jenifer to be lying in a meadow consorting with a winged lion who has the arms and face of a man. Enraged, King Fisher insists Sosostris is lying to him, and he attempts to unveil her.

As he peels away her veils, they begin to glow. When he has stripped all the veils away, he finds an incandescent bud, which blossoms to reveal Mark and Jenifer. King Fisher aims his pistol at Mark, but the couple break from their meditative state to confront King Fisher, causing his heart to fail. The crowd carries his body into the temple. Strephon emerges from the temple with his dancers to perform a fourth ritual, which celebrates carnal love by transforming it into the fire of divine love. The ritual concludes as the bud closes around Mark and Jenifer and burst into flame.

When the fire subsides, Mark, Jenifer and the Ancients are gone. As the moonlight fades, Mark and Jenifer enter the clearing from opposite sides, dressed for their wedding. They head off down the hill with the crowd as the sun rises. The dawn reveals that the buildings were never more than ruins.

• Gala GL100.524 (1997): Richard Lewis; Joan Sutherland; Adele Leigh; Edith Coates; John Lanigan; Monica Sinclair; Otakar Kraus; Covent Garden Chorus and Orchestra; John Pritchard, conductor. Live recording of the 1955 premiere.
• Philips 6703.027 (1971, 3 LP set, recorded Wembley Town Hall, July 1970). Reissued on CD by Lyrita: SRCD.2217, 1995: Alberto Remedios; Joan Carlyle; Raimund Herincx; Elizabeth Harwood; Stuart Burrows; Helen Watts; Covent Garden Chorus and Orchestra; Colin Davis, conductor^[7]