''Mr Emmet Takes a Walk'' is a

chamber opera Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra. Early 20th-century operas of this type include Paul Hindemith's ''Cardillac'' (1926). Earlier small-scale operas such as Pergoles ...

by the English composer Sir

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

with a

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

David Pountney Sir David Willoughby Pountney (born 10 September 1947) is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ...

. The work is self-described as a "dramatic

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cant ...

". It tells the story of the last seconds of the life of Mr Emmet before his suicide on a railway line. Thoughts, ideas, musical fragments and experiences flash through Mr Emmet's mind before his death which expand across the fifty-minute duration of the work. Davies has cited the works of four composers as

motif Motif may refer to: General concepts * Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose * Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions * Moti ...

s in the opera: * Bach's Prelude and Fugue No. 12 in F minor ( BWV, 881) from Book 2 of the ''

Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of in ...

'' * Andrea Gabrieli's ''Edipo Tiranno'' *"Come furia disperata" from

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' (sung by the character Donna Anna in act 1, scene 1), *the opening of Schumann's Second Symphony.Liner notes by the composer to the recording of the work, PsaCD1002. The work premiered in a co-production of

Muziektheater Transparant Muziektheater Transparant is a Flemish theatre company founded in 1994. They produce music theatre and their own versions of opera, operas. The artistic directors are Guy Coolen and Wouter Van Looy. Among the past and current composers in residence ...

and the Psappha ensemble at the St. Magnus Festival,

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

on 16 June 2000. It was recorded in 2005 with the original cast. The German Premier took place in 2004, produced by the

Berliner Kammeroper The Berliner Kammeroper was a Berlin opera company with changing venues, founded in 1981 by Henry Akina and . Around seventy works of music theatre, mostly rarely or previously unperformed, from various genres were developed, including proper cham ...

, directed by , and conducted by . Although Davies intimated that ''Mr Emmet Takes a Walk'' would be his last piece of musical theatre, just over a decade later he completed the a further opera, ''

Kommilitonen! ''Kommilitonen!'' (''Young Blood!'', or ''Student Activists'', literally ''Fellow Students!'') is an opera by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. The libretto is by David Pountney, who was also the director of the premiere performances in March 2011. Genes ...

''.

Roles

Sections

;Exposition — A premonition *No. 1 Introduction *No. 2 Duet *No. 3 Arioso *No. 4 Cabaletta *No. 5 Trio ;Development — Encounters *Episode 1 The Piano *Interlude 1 *Episode 2 The Park *Interlude 2 *Episode 3 The Hotel Room *Interlude 3 *Episode 4 The Mountain *Interlude 4 *Episode 5 The Teacher *The Torch Song *Interlude 5 *Recapitulation - A monologue *Coda

References

External links

Details
at

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 throu ...

Notes on the work
(Psappha)]
Production details
at Muziektheater Transparant {{authority control 2000 operas English-language operas Operas Operas by Peter Maxwell Davies Chamber operas