''The Immortal Hour'' is a 1899 play by Scottish playwright
Fiona Macleod
William Sharp (12 September 1855 – 12 December 1905) was a Scottish writer, of poetry and literary biography in particular, who from 1893 wrote also as Fiona Macleod, a pseudonym kept almost secret during his lifetime. He was also an editor ...
, a pseudonym of writer
William Sharp.
Dalua
Dalua is a character in the play. Although the play uses characters and settings from
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...
, the character of Dalua was the invention of Macleod. He is a brooding and fateful presence, known alternatively as the Amadan-Dhu, the Dark One, the Faery Fool. He claims to be even more ancient than the gods. It is through his movements and gestures that he affects the feelings and desires of the other characters and thus drives the fatal,
hubris
Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
tic pursuit of the Faery princess
Etain
Etain (also Étain, Étáin) can refer to:
* Étaín, a character from Irish mythology
* the fairy princess in Rutland Boughton's opera ''The Immortal Hour''
* the fairy princess in the play The Immortal Hour (play)
* Étain, France, a commune in ...
by the mortal king
Eochaidh; later, at the end of the work, he steps in and touches the king, who consequently dies.
Opera
The
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and Defi ...
Rutland Boughton
Rutland Boughton (23 January 187825 January 1960) was an English composer who became well known in the early 20th century as a composer of opera and choral music. He was also an influential communist activist within the Communist Party of Gre ...
composed an opera of the
same name 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 ...
adapted from the play.
Hurd, Michael. Notes to ''The Immortal Hour'', Hyperion CD 22040 (1983)
/ref>
References
Scottish plays
1899 plays
Plays set in Scotland
External links
* The Immortal Hour on the Internet Archive (The Writings of 'Fiona Macleod' vol. 7, p. 316)
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