''The Silver Tassie'' is an opera in four acts by the English composer

Mark-Anthony Turnage Mark-Anthony Turnage Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 10 June 1960) is a British composer of classical music. Biography Turnage was born in Corringham, Essex. He began composing at age nine and at fourteen began studying a ...

. The English libretto was written by

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English actress, media personality, and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent show competition ''Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the ''Heart Brea ...

based on the 1927/28

play of the same name Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. ...

. The opera was composed between 1997 and 1999.

Background

The ''Silver Tassie'' was commissioned by

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

(ENO) while Turnage was their Composer in Association and benefited from being worked on at the ENO Studio. It was part funded by

Dallas Opera The Dallas Opera is an American opera company located in Dallas, Texas. The company performs at the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, one venue of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. History The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic ...

. In an interview for the programme for the ENO production, Turnage talks about treating the four acts as the movements of a symphony with a dance finale. He also discusses how the studio workshops helped him thin out the orchestral textures to make the voices clearer. Although the libretto leaves things vague, Turnage makes it clear that he had a

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

setting in mind with references in the last act to an Irish

jig The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts of ...

as one of the dance movements and the use of fiddles in the off-stage band. Turnage includes references to dance and other music contemporary to the setting in his score. In particular, he quotes the

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

folk-song from which the opera gets its name.

Performance and recording history

''The Silver Tassie'' was first performed on 16 February 2000 by ENO at the London

Coliseum Theatre The London Coliseum (also known as the Coliseum Theatre) is a theatre in St Martin's Lane, Westminster, built as one of London's largest and most luxurious "family" variety theatres. Opened on 24 December 1904 as the London Coliseum Theatre o ...

. The opera won the

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Award and

Laurence Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known as ...

s for its original ENO run.See article at
ENO have released a live recording of the original cast. This production was broadcast on BBC television and radio and the film was shown at a Turnage weekend at the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

organised with the BBC. The production was revived with a different cast in 2002. Performances of ''The Silver Tassie'' were given in Dublin during 2001 by

Opera Ireland The Irish National Opera was created from a merger of the Opera Theatre Company (OTC) and Wide Open Opera in 2017 and launched in January 2018. The new entity continues the tradition of the former Opera Ireland (), Ireland's first permanent natio ...

. The opera was due to receive its North American premiere by Dallas Opera in 2003 but this was cancelled "due to financial considerations and political sensitivities in the wake of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

on the

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Roles

Synopsis

The opera is set during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in a town somewhere in Britain. There are interludes linking the first two acts and also the last two acts.

Act 1

''An Autumn evening in the Heegan family home'' Harry's parents and neighbours are waiting for him to come home to collect his equipment before returning to the front. Sylvester reminisces about Harry's sporting prowess and how he knocked out a police officer; Susie is preaching to him about the day of judgment; Mrs Heegan is waiting out in the cold. They hear the noise of Mrs Foran being attacked by her violent husband, Teddy. She takes refuge with the Heagans. Teddy comes in and smashes his wife's wedding bowl. He is angry that she was happier when he was away at the war. Harry arrives with Barney and Jessie. He is carrying a sports trophy – the Silver Tassie of the title. He and Barney talk about Harry's winning goal. Harry, Barnie and Teddy leave for the troopship to take them back to the war.

Act 2

''The trenches'' The Croucher is prophesying doom, misquoting the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

. Some weary soldiers are taking it easy when a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

arrives and complains. He visits the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

station and complains how negative the doctors are. Stretcher-bearers pass carrying wounded to the station. Then the

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...

hands out parcels: a bible and a football. The soldiers start a game but the officer returns saying the enemy have broken through. He sends the soldiers back to battle.

Act 3

''A hospital ward in Britain'' Harry is in a wheelchair, paralysed from the waist down. Susie is now a nurse. Their conversation drifts between first names and formal titles ("Nurse", (Patient) Number 28"). He is due an operation the next day. He is angry with the doctor's attitude. Visitors arrive: Harry's parents and Mrs Foran leading the now-blind Teddy. Jessie is outside, choosing to talk with Barney, now awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for saving Harry. Harry calls for her. Eventually Barney arrives alone with flowers from Jessie and Harry's

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

Act 4

''A dance at the football club'' Jessie and Barney are trying to avoid Harry who is following them in his wheelchair. His mother is watching him. The Forans and the Heegans comment critically on Susie dancing with Dr Maxwell and on Jessie's and Barney's "immodesty". Teddy is not sure who they're talking about. Harry faints and is tended by Maxwell. When he comes round, Harry has a drink poured for him in the Silver Tassie. Susie encourages him out to play the ukulele and sing in the garden. Barney and Jessie lock the door and start to kiss and to undress just where Harry and Jessie used to have sex. Harry forces his way in and angrily recalls Barney's words when he saved Harry that he should live for Jessie's sake. Barney pulls Harry out of the wheelchair and they fight on the floor. The fight is broken up and Maxwell tells the Heegans to take Harry home. Harry hurls the Tassie to the ground. The Heegans leave, Sylvester pushing the chair and guiding Teddy. Jessie, Susie, Maxwell and Barney return to the dance.

Reception

In 2018, Tim Ashley described ''The Silver Lassie'' as “arguably Turnage’s masterpiece”.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Tassie, The 2000 operas English-language operas Operas based on plays Operas by Mark-Anthony Turnage Operas set in Ireland Operas World War I fiction Opera world premieres at the English National Opera