Program:
act i. luz de la ceniza
act ii. sangre
act iii. nieve
Scoring: soprano solo (Beckett), countertenor solo (Webern), offstage female chorus, flute (doubling picc.), oboe (doubling eng. hn.), clarinet (doubling
Eb Cl., Bs. Cl., Cb. Cl.), Saxophone (doubling Soprano,
alto & bari.), Bassoon (doubling contra.), Trumpet, Bass Trombone, 2 percussion [I. Crotales*,
Glockenspiel, Bass drum, Tamtam, Crash cymbals, Medium suspended
cymbal, Large suspended cymbal, 3 Suspended railroad stakes,
Small triangle, 5 Temple blocks, Sandpaper blocks, Small
Maracs, Plastic (toy) rattle, Guiro, Metal washboard, Whip,
Lion’s roar, Trap set** (Kick drum, Piccolo Snare drum,
2 Tom-toms (medium, low) , 2 Bongos (high, medium), Hi-hat,
Medium Suspended cymbal, Tambourine, Woodblock) II. Vibraphone
(with motor!), Xylophone, Marimba, Bass drum, Very small
triangle, Large triangle, Bell tree, Mark-tree, Large suspended
cymbal, Auto coil, Large woodblock, 5 Temple blocks, Small
maracas, Cabasa, Ratchet, Metal washboard, Vibraslap, Whip,
Police whistle, Waterphone, Large wooden box (such as a
timpano storage box – to be rammed with 2x4 or struck
with large heavy mallet.)], Piano (doubles Synthesizer &
Celesta; also metal music stand), Harp (doubles large ratchet),
Guitar (doubles Mandolin and Banjo; also washboard and suspended
railroad stakes), Accordion [(concert), also washtub and
suspended railroad stakes], computer-controled sampler, Digital Audio Playback, Video projection,
2 violas (I. doubles violin), 2 violoncelli, 2 Contrabasses
Duration: Act 2: 60 mins.
Libretto: Vin Calianno
Premiere:
(Act 2)
11. February. 2004
Kilbourne Hall
Rochester, NY
Ossia
Heather Gardner - Beckett
Caleb Burhans - Webern
Vin Calianno - Conductor
Synopsis:
ACT ONE : Luz de la ceniza
[ Winter. A tenement. ]
Scene 1: At lights up, Beckett is on the floor of her apartment
filing through papers, photographs, envelopes and newspaper
clippings. Her hair is a mess; her clothes are ragged and
torn. She holds a letter in her hand, which is from her
dead lover. She reads the letter to us, and after awhile
she gets upset at its contents and throws it to the side.
She begins to tell us about her missing lover. Some time
ago, she received a letter in the mail addressed to him.
Realizing its contents, she threw the letter away and he
never received it. After some time, another letter with
the same contents comes, except this time he reads it and
the following day, leaves Beckett, never to return. While
he is away, he writes her letters and sends her photographs.
The telephone rings. Beckett stares at it, frightened. She
won’t answer it. She hides from the telephone behind
her bed. She knows that it is a man named Gabriel who is
calling her. She doesn’t want to talk to him.
Scene 2: Beckett is asleep and suddenly is awakened by a
very bright and blinding light coming from her window. The
Light has no focus and fills the room with light and a beautiful
resonance. She thinks the Light is very beautiful and it
fills her with ecstasy. She is reminded that when the light
used to come before, it would bring a man named Gabriel,
who started to visit her after he husband left. While he
visited, he would tell her beautiful things, bring her beautiful
jewelry and exotic treasures. Before he would leave, he
would make her undress and make love to her in bizarre ways.
As she talks about her sexual encounters, tension builds
which is released in an explosive orgasm. The Light subsides
and Beckett is left alone, frightened. She remarks that
she has never felt so “alive” when Gabriel would
visit. On one visit, Gabriel said he found her lover’s
pulverized body “among the ashes, between spider webs
of rubber and beams of sand” and gives her an urn,
which contained the ashes of her lover. Since then, Gabriel
has never returned. However, Beckett feels that Gabriel
lied to her that her lover was dead, even though the letters
have stopped arriving. She becomes increasingly frenetic
and disoriented, obsessing over her lovers hopeful return.
She takes the urn, and begins to talk to it as if it were
her lover and hoping to make a communion with him, she opens
the urn and eats his ashes.
ACT
TWO : Sangre
[ Winter. A tenement. ]
Scene 1: The self-centered and pretentious composer, Anton
Webern, is sitting at his desk working on his Sinfonie,
his magnus opus. As he explains how brilliant his work is,
his girlfriend, Beckett is sitting on the sofa preparing
Heroin4. She comes up to him, with a syringe and tells him
that after they inject, she would like to go out dancing.
Not the dancing type, Webern begs to stay home so he can
work, but after some consideration, he reluctantly agrees.
She shoots him up and then herself. Webern explains how
he met Beckett and how they are only living together for
“simplicity’s sake” and how he would like
to move one and be with other people. Beckett explains how
she loves Webern for his money and sexual abilities, however
he is violent and abusive at times and doesn’t understand
her “sickness.” As Webern sinks into a trip he
explains that he is petrified of Beckett’s visitations
from a prophetic Light. They both become listless and tired
and pass out.
Scene 2: Beckett and Webern are asleep. Suddenly, the Light
appears through the window. Beckett awakes and cowers behind
the bed. However, after some time she is comforted by the
light and begins to talk to it. The Light tells her the
Webern “is He.” The light immediately subsides
and Beckett falls to the floor, crying. Webern awakes and
comes to Beckett’s side and comforts her. He tries
to explain to her that the Light is not real and is only
a visual hallucination caused by Beckett’s spiraling
drug problem. She does not agree. They fall back asleep.
Scene 3: Webern is alone in the apartment getting ready
for a “secret date” with another girl that Beckett
does not know about. He is looking at a love note that this
girl wrote him; he is falling out-of-love with Beckett.
The phone rings, it is the girl. He warns her not to call
this number anymore. He hangs up the phone, grabs his hat,
and exits. A few moments later, Beckett returns. She rolls
a joint and sings of her love for Webern. As she looks over
his desk at his music, she fantasizes for a moment about
Webern’s future as a star composer. There, she finds
the love note.
Scene 4: Some days later. Beckett is once again preparing
heroin. Webern sings a short aria about the process of making
heroin. They shoot up.
Scene 5: A few hours later, they are doped up. Webern sits
behind his cello, improvising some music. Beckett sits on
the floor, smoking a joint. To pass time, they are inventing
a story about a man named Sam, who cheats on his woman and
when she finds out she pre-meditates a murder and kills
him. Webern is somewhat alarmed by the story, it is all
to familiar. The Light appears, and suddenly Beckett realizes
what she must do: she must kill Webern. The phone rings,
Webern jumps for the phone and answers. It is the girl.
He explodes, telling her that she should never call again.
While he is on the phone, we see Beckett remove the endpin
of the cello and place it underneath the pillow on the bed.
Webern hangs up; Beckett comes to his side and tells him
that she knows what is going on. He tries to deny it, but
Beckett produces the note. He doesn’t know what to
say. Suddenly, Beckett changes her mood from angry to seductive.
She crawls behind him, kissing his neck and telling him
wonderful things. Webern slowly comes under her spell. She
reaches down toward his legs and slyly whispers into his
ear: “Fuck me.” He turns around, grabs Beckett
and throws her on to the bed and violently fucks her. As
Webern approaches orgasm, Beckett takes the endpin from
the pillow and plunges it into his back. Webern shrieks
the tone row from his Sinfonie and falls to the floor. She
stabs him a few more times until he is dead. The Light appears
and Beckett suddenly shifts moods from revenge to pure fear
and denial. She doesn’t know how this happened. In
a moment of panic she digs through her things until she
finds a small revolver. She puts it in her mouth and pulls
the trigger.
ACT
THREE : Nieve
[ Winter. A tenement. ]
Beckett is kneeling next to her bed with her head turned
skyward, praying. Her body is covered with stigmata. Some
girls come out and begin to sew her flesh in strange patterns;
they buzz around her like butterflies. Beckett is oblivious
that they are there. She talks about how some time ago she
was with a man with whom she had a child. Her life was good,
and the place where she came from was warm and uplifting.
However, at some point, she was visited by the archangel
Michael who would chain her up at night while he would make
love with her. She remembers that at first it was frightening
and eventually over time she began to enjoy her visits from
Michael. Michael would tell her that the second coming of
Christ was near and that she would bear this child. No one
around her understood. She began to become more reclusive,
spending every day praying fervently. She was given medication
but refused to take it. Her husband left her alone, taking
their daughter. One day, the Light appeared and told her
of a place where she must go to conceive the Christ child.
So she left and ended up in this place. Since she has been
here, the stigmata started, Michael comes to make love with
her often, yet she hasn’t yet conceived the child.
The doorbell rings. When she answers the door, there is
no one there, only a basket. She brings the basket into
her room and opens it. Inside there is a child. This must
be the Christ child. She takes the child into her arms and
talks to it, prophecising his rise to power, the fight against
Satan and his triumphant arrival into Jerusalem where he
will judge the living and the dead. She takes comfort that
she is the mother of the second Christ. She places the child
back into the basket and admires it. She sits down and begins
to compose a poetic letter to all the saints and the world.
This letter is the same letter Beckett reads in Act one,
and the same letter Webern reads in Act two. She comes to
the line about the dream without end. She pauses and begins
to silently ponder that line, it is full of more meaning
then she can fathom. She rises and walks to the mantle where
an urn is placed. She looks at her reflection in the urn;
suddenly, an epiphany. She realizes something about her
life, about the child. She takes the urn and throws it to
the ground, silently thinking. She takes a glance at the
urn and one last glance at heaven. She picks up the urn,
walks over to the child and crushes the baby’s skull
with the urn. She knows this is right. She knows this is
the end. At that moment, the Light and two angels appear.
She looks back at them. The angels come through the window
and attach a chain to each arm. They slowly drag her towards
the window.
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