Mr Emmet Takes a Walk
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Mr Emmet Takes a Walk is a chamber opera by the English composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with a libretto by David Pountney.
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 motifs in the opera: J.S. Bach's F minor Prelude from Book 2 of The Well-Tempered Clavier, Andrea Gabrieli's Edipo Tiranno, 'come furia disperata' from Mozart's Don Giovanni and the opening of Robert Schumann's Second Symphony.[1]
It was premiered at the St. Magnus Festival, Orkney on 16 June 2000. It was recorded in 2005 with the original cast.
Davies has intimated that this will be his last piece of musical theatre, and indeed since completing the work he has focused primarily on chamber music.
[edit] 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
[edit] References
- ^ Liner notes by the composer to the recording of the work, PsaCD1002.
