What kind of opera is based on the Noh play Sumidagawa
今日は能「隅田川」と、それをもとにしたオペラの両方を見ていきましょう。(English) Today, let's look at the Noh play "Sumidagawa" and the opera based on it.
A)
What kind of opera is based on the Noh play Sumidagawa?
The British composer Benjamin Britten(1913 - 1976, British composer) was impressed by the Noh playing Sumida River when he visited Japan in 1956. On his return to Japan, he composed the opera Curlew River based on the Sumida River (first performed in 1964). The Curlew is a bird of the snipe family, the common sandpiper. It was inspired by the 'Miyako(metropolitan) bird' in the song of the Sumida River.
The opera is set in a medieval European convent and is a play-within-a-play in which monks in the church perform a story about a madwoman who loses her child. The storyline is almost identical to that of Noh. A baritone sings the roles of the ferryman and the traveller. A tenor sings the part of the madwoman. The boy soprano sings the role of the boy's ghost. In contrast to the Noh songs, the monks' chorus sings a different melody with each character and explains the flow of the story. It acts like a chorus in a Greek tragedy.
The main difference between opera and Noh is the final scene. Whereas the Noh play ends on a bleak note, showing the mother's grief as she chases the ghost of her child, the Christian opera ends with the child's spirit promising to reunite with her in heaven and the mother's salvation.
B)
"Noh 'SUMIDAGAWA' -Sound of prayer cradled in sorrow-" promotion clip
'Noh "Sumida River"' - Voices over Sadness' Announcement video.
A mother whose child is kidnapped and despairs on a journey
A ferry across the Sumida River is about to depart. The ferryman hesitates to let a possible shite onto the ferry. However, he is heartbroken by the woman who seeks out and brings aboard a child who has been kidnapped, quoting a waka poem. The ferryman explains that a memorial service will be held on the other side of the river in memory of a boy who was abducted by slavers and died exactly one year ago. The woman realises that the boy is her son and breaks down in tears. The boy's spirit appears when the woman recites a Buddhist prayer at the grave area to which she was taken. She tries to grab him, but when dawn comes, the ghost disappears.
There are many plays in Noh where a distraught woman becomes a madwoman to find the person she is looking for. The space usually ends with a reunion with the beloved woman, but in this Noh play, only the mother and child are not reunited alive.
C)
Some of the lyrics of the Sumida River!
Here is a dialogue in Sumida River between a boatman who says he won't let you on board unless you say something exciting and a madwoman who replies with some stylish words.
Miyakodori(Miyako-tori) = Capital bird
(Madwoman)
Oh, it's pathetic.
The ferryman on the Sumida River would have said, like the ferryman in the Ise Monogatari, "The sun has set, get on the boat quickly", but even so, he is from the capital, and to say, "Don't get on the boat" is an unbecoming thing to speak of a Sumida River ferryman.
(Ferryman )
He is a man of the capital and has the gentleness that comes with the name.
(Madwoman)
Oh, it is precisely these words that catch my ear.
Even Narihira said at the sea landing: 'If you bear the name of the capital, you are a bird of the capital. If it has the capital's name, you know about it, so I ask you, is the person I think of safe, I wonder?' He recited the poem.
Add info)
"I ask you, city bird, whose name means 'capital'.
Is that person whom I have feelings for still in the capital?"
This is a song composed by Ariwara no Narihira, who had come to a place far from the capital, thinking of the people he had left behind in the 'capital'.
Add info-No2)
The Ise Story (Ise Monogatari) is a Japanese poetry tale established in the Heian period. It is in one volume. These are a collection of short waka poem tales featuring a man reminiscent of the early Heian period aristocrat Ariwara no Narihira and are also a series of life story tales centred on the protagonist's love life. The protagonist's name is not specified, and many stories are known for having the opening phrase 'Mukashi, Otoko Ari-Keri. = Once upon a time, a man is here.'
A) What kind of opera is based on the Noh play Sumidagawa?
https://www.the-noh.com/jp/trivia/115.html
B) "Noh 'SUMIDAGAWA' -Sound of prayer cradled in sorrow-" promotion clip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNEMultObkY
C) Some of the lyrics of the Sumida River!
https://withplace.info/archives/7682
Sumida River - Excerpt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue5ZyNmLTPk
An excerpt from the classic noh "Sumidagawa" in Richard Emmert's English-language adaptation. She performed at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, Texas) on November 5, 2015.
Curlew River - A Parable for Church Performance | Inspired by Motamasa's Nō "Sumidagawa."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNNr1iby7Ks
Curlew River" (1964) is the first of Britten's so-called Church Parables, commonly regarded as the best. The piece is derived from the ritualism and simplicity of the Nō drama "Sumidagawa" by Kanze Motomasa. Written for an ensemble of flute, horn, viola, double bass, harp, percussion and organ, it fixes medieval church music with oriental elements to create a fantastic sound world of sliding strings and percussive effects. The singers are all male - as in Nō theatre - and some sounds are suggested by the flute and drum accompaniment to Nō drama. Still, Britten extends the extremely austere sound of the Japanese form into an incredibly inventive and colourful score.
A highly-acclaimed production for the Festival International d' Art Lyrique in Aix-en Provence was staged by the Japanese actor and director Yoshi Oida. He brings concentrated integrity to the mysterious tale, set in the English Fens, of a Madwoman who comes to the ferryman of the Curlew River, searching for her son. The emotional and atmospheric power of Britten's opera emerges in Oida's unadorned and poised interpretation, with sets and costumes by his compatriot Tomio Mohri.
A Parable Cuts Across Cultures - New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/arts/music/16curl.html
The Cherry Blossom Dances - Miyako Odori is an April Geisha dance held in Kyoto. - 都をどり
https://traditionalkyoto.com/traditional-areas/miyako-odori/
Biwa song Sumida River - 琵琶曲 隅田川
https://guignardbiwa.com/en/library/sumidagawa/
Kabuki, Sumida River - 歌舞伎 雙生(双生 )隅田川
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4y_k9qoB2w
Kiyomoto Shijutayu, Sumidagawa (Sumida River), sujoruri. 素浄瑠璃
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80SNDOftTz4
Benjamin Britten(1913 - 1976, British composer) interview, 1968
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41uBCBzsz2U
Britten, in 1968 talked to a CBC interviewer about how he saw his role as a composer. He explains that his approach is always to write for a person or occasion and that he can't write in a vacuum, isolated from the rest of humanity in an ivory tower and detached from the treatment and reception of his works by musicians and the general public. He speaks of how the artist must struggle - that great works come from labour and strife, not from an easy life. Perhaps most entertaining and beguiling are his thoughts and views on the Beatles, expressed here ...
The Hidden Heart (Life of B. Britten & P. Pears) (2001 - film complet - ST eng-fr-de)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S31OGrGkL4&t=1961s
"A generation after his death, Benjamin Britten remains 'the truly towering talent of his age'. His prodigious gifts as a composer and pianist drew comparisons with Mozart, and his musical influence extended far beyond the shores of his home country. This documentary focuses on Britten's first and last operas ('Peter Grimes' and 'Death in Venice') and his 'War Requiem' - including specially staged and newly filmed performances as well as archive footage - concerning the creator of their principal parts, Peter Pears and his long relationship with the composer that shaped both men's life and work."
Characteristics and evaluation of Benjamin Britten's work. Five recommended masterpieces.
https://classical-music.fun/edward-benjamin-britten-work/