''Life is a Dream'' is a three-act
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
with music by
Lewis Spratlan
M. Lewis Spratlan Jr. (born September 5, 1940) is an American music academic and composer of contemporary classical music.
Biography
Lewis Spratlan, recipient of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in music and the Charles Ives Opera Award (2016) from the Am ...
from an English-language
libretto by James Maraniss which was based on the 1635 play ''
Life Is a Dream'' by Spanish playwright
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (, ; ; 17 January 160025 May 1681) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, writer and knight of the Order of Santiago. He is known as one of the most distinguished Baroque ...
. It was written in the 1970s, but did not receive a complete stage premiere until 2010.
Spratlan's collaboration with his librettist began in the 1970s while the two were friends and colleagues at
Amherst College where Spratlan was a professor of music for 36 years and Maraniss was a professor of Spanish who greatly admired Calderon's play. Spratlan wrote the opera between 1975 and 1978 on a commission from the New Haven Opera Theatre,
[James M. Keller, "A midsummer night's Dream", ''Pasatiempo'' a section of ''The Santa Fe New Mexican'', 23 July 2010, p. 11]["''Life Is a Dream'' remained a dream for three decades"]
by Lewis Spratlan, ''Los Angeles Times'', 25 July 2010, accessed July 27, 2010 a company which closed in 1977. Spratlan's efforts to interest another company in staging the work failed until, in January 2000, he raised funds to finance two
concert performances of the opera's second act–"the second act is where most of the drama of the piece goes on," said the composer
–by the
Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble Dinosaur Annex Music Ensemble is a contemporary chamber music ensemble based in Boston, Massachusetts. The group was founded in 1975 by composers Scott Wheeler, Rodney Lister, and Ezra Sims as the concert giving “annex” of New England Dinosaur ...
, one at Amherst College and the other in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
at
Harvard's Paine Hall,
where the ''Boston Globe'' reviewer greeted it as "a strong piece that would prove compelling in a full production." "The concert," said a later report, "required a forty-six-piece orchestra, six singers and a chorus. A combined recording of both performances was made. Spratlan submitted it to the
Pulitzer Prize Board in March 2000, and to most everyone's surprise–especially Spratlan's–it won."
[David Belcher, "What Dreams May Come"](_blank)
Opera News, July 2010, Vol. 75, No. 1 The Pulitzer citation noted that Spratlan had "created a theatrical world in which the characters were given distinct musical thumbprints that were meant to embody their personalities, and in which the dissonances and angularities of contemporary styles were linked with traditional dance, march and madrigal forms."
In May 2002,
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived.
The opera company, du ...
presented another concert performance of the second act.
There was still no interest in staging the work until early 2009 when Santa Fe Opera's General Director
Charles MacKay Charles (or Charlie) Mackay, McKay, or MacKay may refer to:
* Charles Mackay (author) (1814–1889), Scottish poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter
* Charles McKay (1855–1883), American naturalist and explorer
* Charles ...
approached Spratlan to propose a 2010 staging.
The opera was given its world premiere at the
Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...
on 24 July 2010.
[James Keller, "Santa Fe Opera review: Spratlan's ''Dream'' comes true in impressive premiere"]
''Santa Fe New Mexican'', 26 July 2010 John Cheek, who had appeared in the 2000 concerts, appeared in the premiere as well.
Spratlan has described the musical style he employed as "'pan-tonal,' that is, mostly centered in certain keys or modes but fluid in moving among them" except for the use of 12-tone technique to represent the rigidity of the character of Don Basilio.
Each character is further differentiated:
The vocal style I think of as heightened speech, following closely the rhythms and contours of the text. Each character has a vocal "thumbprint." For some examples, the hero's music soars upward, only to fall a bit and resume its climb — Sisyphus pushing the bolder uphill. The king's music is marked by wide leaps, conveying pomposity and exaggeration. The music of Clarín, the jester, is staccato and very narrow in range; he is always announced and accompanied by the piccolo trumpet, a descendant of the namesake Baroque-era clarino. The opera's orchestration is many-hued and actively conveys the psychological environment at hand.
Roles
Critical reactions
In his review of the premiere performance, critic James Keller of the ''
Santa Fe New Mexican
''The Santa Fe New Mexican'' or simply ''The New Mexican'' is a daily newspaper published in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dubbed "the West's oldest newspaper," its first issue was printed on November 28, 1849.
Background
The downtown offices for '' ...
'' described the "impressive premiere" and noted one of the characteristics of the music of the period of composition which "sent opera-goers on a stroll down memory lane to the 1970s, when academic composers were still expected to worship at the altar of atonality."
He continued:
but a score as beautiful as Spratlan's reminds us that even if one might not care to dine on atonality for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, an occasional taste can be toothsome. From a musical standpoint, ''Life Is a Dream'' is an imposing accomplishment, the more so in light of the bland pablum that has so often been tendered in stage works of more recent vintage.
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' music critic,
Anthony Tommasini
Anthony Carl Tommasini (born April 14, 1948) is an American music critic and author who specializes in classical music. Described as "a discerning critic, whose taste, knowledge and judgment have made him a must-read", Tommasini was the chief ...
, gave the opera a positive review, writing:
"Overdue Debut for Composer and Exiled Prince"
by Anthony Tommasini, ''The New York Times'', 26 July 2010]
...no question, ''Life Is a Dream'' is an important opera, the rare philosophical work that holds the stage and gives singing actors real characters to grapple with. The cast, crew and especially the elated Mr. Spratlan basked in the ovation.
References
Notes
Sources
*Mays, Desirée, "''Life is a Dream''" in ''Opera Unveiled 2010'', Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: Art Forms Inc. 2010
External links
World-premiere production of three-act ''Life is a Dream'' from the Santa Fe Opera's website
{{Authority control
English-language operas
Operas
2010 operas
Operas by Lewis Spratlan
Operas based on plays
Pulitzer Prize for Music-winning works
Operas based on works by Pedro Calderón de la Barca