Three Tales (opera)

Three Tales (opera)

"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.

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 : It Could Not Have Been a Technical Matter -- 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 and Kevin Warwick), artificial intelligence (Rodney Brooks), Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, and genetic engineering (Richard Dawkins).

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).

External links

* [http://www.stevereich.com SteveReich.com - "Three Tales" - opera libretto]
* [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000AN4F5 Amazon.com: Three Tales]


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