Three Tales (opera)
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Three Tales is a contemporary video-opera in three acts, composed by American composer Steve Reich in 2002. Beryl Korot, the wife of the composer, created the visuals which accompany the music written for ensemble and pre-recorded audio. Its world premiere was at the Vienna Festival, on May 12, 2002. Following this, the BBC commissioned a version for television to be broadcast in September 2002.
[edit] The breakdown of the composition
The musical narrative of Three Tales follows "speech melodies" of pre-recorded interviews, and in many ways resembles Reich's works The Cave (1990-1993), City Life (1995) and Different Trains (1988). The libretto of Three Tales can be found on the website of the composer (see bottom of page).
The piece consists of three acts, each divided into different sections:
Act I – Hindenburg
- Nibelung Zeppelin -- A Very Impressive Thing to See -- I Couldn't Understand It
Act II – Bikini
- In the Air I -- The Atoll I -- On the Ships I -- In the Air II -- The Atoll II -- On the Ships II -- In the Air III -- The Atoll III -- On the Ships III -- Coda
Act III – Dolly
- Cloning -- Dolly -- Human Body Machine -- Darwin -- Interlude -- Robots/Cyborgs/Immortality
Three Tales is a response to nearly a hundred years of modern technology, concerning the explosion of the Hindenburg, nuclear testings on Bikini Atoll, and the cloning of Dolly the sheep (drawing connections between genetic engineering and artificial intelligence). The different stories are told from various perspectives, with speech culled from interviews with eye-witnesses, audiovisual documentary material of both the Hindenburg and Bikini tragedies, and experts in computer science (e.g. Marvin Minsky), artificial intelligence (Rodney Brooks), Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, and genetic engineering (Richard Dawkins).
[edit] References
- Steve Reich Ensemble. Three Tales. Rec. June 2002. Judith Sherman, 2003 (audio).
- Three Tales. Dir. Nick Mangano. Perf. Steve Reich Ensemble, Synergy Vocals. Videocassette. Brooklyn Academy of Music, 2002 (visual).
