| Leonard Bernstein |
|---|
 |
|
Operas
|
 |
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
Trouble in Tahiti is a one-act opera composed by Leonard Bernstein with an English libretto by the composer. Bernstein later wrote a sequel to the opera, A Quiet Place.
Contents |
Performance history
It received its first performance on 12 June 1952 at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Background
Musically, Bernstein indulges in many of the styles he is most recognized for. The heroine's first aria has a wistful melancholy that reminds us of Aaron Copland's earlier vernacular works and of Bernstein's later writing in West Side Story, while the jazzy interludes harken back to the score Bernstein wrote for On the Town.
There are only two main characters, a married couple named Sam and Dinah. A boy is often referred to throughout but is never seen or heard from. There is also a secretary spoken of and even being spoken to in certain arias but she is never seen or heard. The opera is frequently performed with minimal scenery and very simple costumes.
Very little occurs in terms of plot. It is the story of a day in the life of a desperately unhappy people. The characters are left in essentially the same position as they were when the opera began, with only a bleak hope of reconciliation. Only a few hours have passed in time and by the end of the opera no resolution has come about.
The opera features a chorus consisting of only three people; Bernstein refers to them as "A Greek chorus born of the radio commercial".[citation needed] They sing in quasi-gibberish about an idyllic suburban middle class life while listing everything that is the stereotyped 1950’s American ideal. They indicate that this married couple has all of these things, then they are often cut off by a fight between the married couple or a miserable lament.
Bernstein tried to make his opera as real as possible. He wanted everything about it to be believable. He even went to great lengths to write in language that would be heard in every day speech during that time. “All the music [in Trouble in Tahiti] derives from American vernacular roots, as do the words. And the words are very carefully set so that they will sound in the American cadence and with the American kind of syncopated, almost slurred quality”[citation needed]
While it was rumored that the troubled young couple was based on Leonard Bernstein himself and his new bride, Felicia Monealegre,[citation needed] there was another more plausible rumor that the story was based on the marriage of Bernstein’s own mother and father .[citation needed]
Synopsis
Set in an affluent, nameless American suburb, the story shows the disenchantment of Dinah with her husband Sam, who is more interested in his career and hobbies than in his family. They effect a reconcilement of sorts at the end of the opera, although it is doubtful that it will last.
The opera opens with a happy tune, as the chorus enters and sings of 1950’s suburban life and names suburban cities that this story could take place in. The action begins in the middle of the couple's breakfast, with a fight in progress. Dinah mentions that their son "Junior" has a school play that day, but Sam says he can't go because of his handball tournament. Sam storms out of the house and off to work.
Next, a charming Sam is shown in his office dealing with clients. After each client Sam speaks to, the chorus sings to him of his genius and business skills.
The action moves to Dinah, at a psychiatrist’s office. She looks distraught and eventually starts to tell the doctor of the dream she had the previous night, in which she is standing in a garden where all the plants have “gone to seed”. She then hears her father's voice calling to her to leave the garden immediately. She wants to leave but seems to be lost. There is no sign or any path to tell her how to get away. Just then she hears a second voice. It is very hard to hear but the words are now burned into her memory. The lovely sound of this voice intrigues her and she runs towards it. Everything around her becomes more frightening with every step. The ground starts to give way but she continues on.
Next, the action moves back to Sam in his office, who first asks his (unseen) secretary if he has ever made a pass at her, and then suggests she should forget it ever happened.
Next, Dinah continues the story of her dream. Desire has now taken over her. All she wants is to touch the face and hand of this mysterious voice. She finally sees his face and once again goes running to him. When she finally approaches him he vanishes leaving her in the garden and she awakes.
Dinah leaves her doctor’s office and bumps into Sam. They both say they are having lunch with someone else as an excuse to not eat together. The couple begins to walk away from each other but is stopped abruptly by the realization of what just took place. Both alone onstage, they start to remember the days when they were happy. Both then leave the stage with regret to go have lunch in solitude.
The chorus sings of the joys of married life. We see Sam at his gym where he sings an aria, having just won his handball tournament.
Dinah is next seen in a hat shop. She come in and sings of a "terrible" movie she just saw entitled “Trouble in Tahiti”. She goes into great detail explaining and mocking the ridiculous plot of the movie, but as she does she seems to get caught up in the romantic storyline. At the climax of the aria, she remembers that Sam’s dinner needs to be on the table and runs off back to her sullen lonely life.
The final scene of the opera is back at the couple’s home. Dinah has just put dinner on the table and Sam is standing outside the front door, dreading the evening ahead. He finally enters as the chorus sings of bringing the “loved ones” together with “evening pleasures”. Dinah is knitting and Sam is reading the paper. It is a perfect picture of what a happy life should look like but there is tension in the room.
Sam asks Dinah to talk. Pretending to be unaware of any problems she replies, “about what dear?” They continue on carefully and it seems like slight progress is being made. Unfortunately they begin bickering again. Sam asks about Junior's school play; Dinah replies that she didn't go. Sam now gives it one last chance and asks her to go see the new movie “Trouble in Tahiti” with him. Dinah agrees, and both inwardly express a wish that they could reconcile. In the interim, they will settle for the images of happiness displayed on "a super silver screen".
External links
- Bernstein on Bernstein - Trouble in Tahiti Quotes from a 1973 interview with Bernstein by Humphrey Burton (on Leonard Bernstein's official web site)
- Production history and scoring (on Leonard Bernstein's official web site)
- Anthony Tommasini, "A Short Bernstein Opera on a Troubled Marriage", New York Times, October 10, 2005
|
|||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
