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George's Marvellous Medicine
— an opera buffa in 2 acts --
Libretto by John Hollen
Music by Gisle Kverndokk
The opera was commissioned by The Kristiansund Opera, and was first performed 22. September 1995 in Kristiansund, Norway. The libretto is based on the novel by Roald Dahl, and it is a work especially directed to children.
Dramatis personae:
George, a boy at 10 - 12 years of age boy mezzo-soprano
Grandmother mezzo soprano
Mother high soprano (coloratura)
Father baritone
Orchestra (sinfonietta):
1 flute/ piccolo, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, 2 percussionists, piano/synthesizer , strings ( 4-3-2-2-1). There will also be sound effects on tape.
Durata: ca. 55 minutes.
There is a recording of the work available by The Norwegian Radio Orchestra that was broadcasted on 2. January 1997, on Norwegian radio.
Synopsis
The story is typically Roald Dahl; absurd and very funny. George lives on a farm with his parents and his old grandmother, and lots animals. After an opening scene where the mother and father sings a very quick scherzo, preparing to go shopping, they rush out of the door while shouting that George has to remember to give grandmother her medicine presicely at twelve o´clock.
He is left alone with the grandmother.This is no ordinary grandmother. She is always in a bad temper, and very wicked, almost like a bad witch. She awakens in her rocking chair and begins to tell George terrible things. She has a big aria, including a sharp tango and climaxing in a big, hilarious waltz. Her shouting is tormenting George so much that he decides on a revenge.
He gets a bright idea. He will make her a new medicine, a fantastic mixture that will give her quite a shock. He runs around the house collecting ingredients; tubes, boxes and packages with soap, perfume, shoepolish, paint, powder, spices, terpentine, animal medicine etc. He puts everything in a big pan, and the whole mixture is boiling wildly, causing big explotions. Grandmother is very curious about what is going on in the kitchen. But suddenly the clock strikes twelve, and George comes out from the kitchen with a small bottle and a spoon. He gives her a spoonful of the new medicine, as green and muddy as the old one, and she greedily swallows it down.
This has an incredible effect on her. Smoke is pouring out of her mouth and ears, and after lots of screaming she suddenly grows incredibly tall. She crashes through the ceiling, and realizes that she has become the tallest woman in the world. This inspires her to a very emotional arietta which culminates in a big waltz where she shouts at George to give her more of the fantastic medicine.
Then the mother and father come home. In an extremely fast scherzo they are shocked to find the grandmother´s head sticking out of the roof. After a hysterical quartet the father gets an idea. He will give the new medicine to the animals! This will give them the biggest cows and chicken in the world. He runs out and after a while the big animals make an enormous chaos.
The second act starts with an aria where the father sings of their bright future; they will be the richest farmers in the world if only George could make some more of that medicine. The grandmother is snoring loudly from the roof and everything is wonderful. The mother has her doubts, and they have a dispute in a duet where she is worried about the grandmother, while the father, who doesn´t care about the grandmother at all, gets more and more excited when George tries to recollect the ingerients of the medicine.
After several big explotions George comes out of the kitchen with a bottle of the new mixture. The father runs out to test it on a chicken. But to great disappointment this medicine has the reverse effect. The chicken shrinks and almost dissapears.
Now the grandmother wakes up and sees the bottle with the new medicine. Greedy as she is, she snatches the bottle and drinks it all. Then it happens: She is shrinking, and soon she has disappeared completely! The mother is very confused and starts looking for her, but the father convinces her that they are lucky that she is gone. After all she was a nightmare. In a quick finale they decide that they should go on as normal farmers and that a magical medicine isn´t the right thing for them. But just as the curtain falls they get a big suprise...
The musical concept
This opera is written as an opera buffa. It has been a challenge to find a musical expression that would communicate with children, and yet still to have a modernistic and operatic style.
I chose to use the musical language one finds in cartoons as a musical frame. This is a very active, colourful and illustrative symphonic style that children can relate to, espescially in a exciting and dramatic context. My music is to a certain degree tonal, with extreme effects and contrasts.
The storyline is full of action and allows for very descriptive music, like “mickey-mousing” in cartoons. The personalia are charicatures, illustrated with pastiches on different musical styles. This is certainly a feature in cartoons, where extreme pastiches are put together in a very fast tempo. In addition to this I have used parodies on operatic clichées, with references to Rossini, Puccini, R. Strauss - to make the charicatures alive.
George is the only normal person in this opera. He initializes incredible things, but the grown-ups take over and their actions are unexpected and unresponsible. They have extreme personalities. The grandmother is only cruel, the father is very idealistic and the mother is incredibly worried and upset.
Since the work has a traditional operatic form, it was natural to describe the grown-up characters as very operatic. The grandmother is a dramatic mezzo, the father a character-baritone, and the mother a “crazy” coloratura soprano. George is a contrast to this. He is at the audience´s side. An ordinary boy who sings with his “normal” voice, not a very “polished” boy´s soprano. He has simple melodies, and spoken dialogue. The whole work is a bizarre description of the adult world, as seen by a child.
*
Libretto by John Hollen
Music by Gisle Kverndokk
The opera was commissioned by The Kristiansund Opera, and was first performed 22. September 1995 in Kristiansund, Norway. The libretto is based on the novel by Roald Dahl, and it is a work especially directed to children.
Dramatis personae:
George, a boy at 10 - 12 years of age boy mezzo-soprano
Grandmother mezzo soprano
Mother high soprano (coloratura)
Father baritone
Orchestra (sinfonietta):
1 flute/ piccolo, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon, 1 horn, 1 trumpet, 1 trombone, 2 percussionists, piano/synthesizer , strings ( 4-3-2-2-1). There will also be sound effects on tape.
Durata: ca. 55 minutes.
There is a recording of the work available by The Norwegian Radio Orchestra that was broadcasted on 2. January 1997, on Norwegian radio.
Synopsis
The story is typically Roald Dahl; absurd and very funny. George lives on a farm with his parents and his old grandmother, and lots animals. After an opening scene where the mother and father sings a very quick scherzo, preparing to go shopping, they rush out of the door while shouting that George has to remember to give grandmother her medicine presicely at twelve o´clock.
He is left alone with the grandmother.This is no ordinary grandmother. She is always in a bad temper, and very wicked, almost like a bad witch. She awakens in her rocking chair and begins to tell George terrible things. She has a big aria, including a sharp tango and climaxing in a big, hilarious waltz. Her shouting is tormenting George so much that he decides on a revenge.
He gets a bright idea. He will make her a new medicine, a fantastic mixture that will give her quite a shock. He runs around the house collecting ingredients; tubes, boxes and packages with soap, perfume, shoepolish, paint, powder, spices, terpentine, animal medicine etc. He puts everything in a big pan, and the whole mixture is boiling wildly, causing big explotions. Grandmother is very curious about what is going on in the kitchen. But suddenly the clock strikes twelve, and George comes out from the kitchen with a small bottle and a spoon. He gives her a spoonful of the new medicine, as green and muddy as the old one, and she greedily swallows it down.
This has an incredible effect on her. Smoke is pouring out of her mouth and ears, and after lots of screaming she suddenly grows incredibly tall. She crashes through the ceiling, and realizes that she has become the tallest woman in the world. This inspires her to a very emotional arietta which culminates in a big waltz where she shouts at George to give her more of the fantastic medicine.
Then the mother and father come home. In an extremely fast scherzo they are shocked to find the grandmother´s head sticking out of the roof. After a hysterical quartet the father gets an idea. He will give the new medicine to the animals! This will give them the biggest cows and chicken in the world. He runs out and after a while the big animals make an enormous chaos.
The second act starts with an aria where the father sings of their bright future; they will be the richest farmers in the world if only George could make some more of that medicine. The grandmother is snoring loudly from the roof and everything is wonderful. The mother has her doubts, and they have a dispute in a duet where she is worried about the grandmother, while the father, who doesn´t care about the grandmother at all, gets more and more excited when George tries to recollect the ingerients of the medicine.
After several big explotions George comes out of the kitchen with a bottle of the new mixture. The father runs out to test it on a chicken. But to great disappointment this medicine has the reverse effect. The chicken shrinks and almost dissapears.
Now the grandmother wakes up and sees the bottle with the new medicine. Greedy as she is, she snatches the bottle and drinks it all. Then it happens: She is shrinking, and soon she has disappeared completely! The mother is very confused and starts looking for her, but the father convinces her that they are lucky that she is gone. After all she was a nightmare. In a quick finale they decide that they should go on as normal farmers and that a magical medicine isn´t the right thing for them. But just as the curtain falls they get a big suprise...
The musical concept
This opera is written as an opera buffa. It has been a challenge to find a musical expression that would communicate with children, and yet still to have a modernistic and operatic style.
I chose to use the musical language one finds in cartoons as a musical frame. This is a very active, colourful and illustrative symphonic style that children can relate to, espescially in a exciting and dramatic context. My music is to a certain degree tonal, with extreme effects and contrasts.
The storyline is full of action and allows for very descriptive music, like “mickey-mousing” in cartoons. The personalia are charicatures, illustrated with pastiches on different musical styles. This is certainly a feature in cartoons, where extreme pastiches are put together in a very fast tempo. In addition to this I have used parodies on operatic clichées, with references to Rossini, Puccini, R. Strauss - to make the charicatures alive.
George is the only normal person in this opera. He initializes incredible things, but the grown-ups take over and their actions are unexpected and unresponsible. They have extreme personalities. The grandmother is only cruel, the father is very idealistic and the mother is incredibly worried and upset.
Since the work has a traditional operatic form, it was natural to describe the grown-up characters as very operatic. The grandmother is a dramatic mezzo, the father a character-baritone, and the mother a “crazy” coloratura soprano. George is a contrast to this. He is at the audience´s side. An ordinary boy who sings with his “normal” voice, not a very “polished” boy´s soprano. He has simple melodies, and spoken dialogue. The whole work is a bizarre description of the adult world, as seen by a child.
*
Photo: Erik Berg
Sound clips:
Ouverture |
George's Marvellous March |
Finale Act 1 |
