Love Counts
Encyclopedia
Love Counts is a 2005
opera
in two acts by Michael Nyman
on a libretto
by Michael Hastings
.
, Baden-Württemberg
, Germany
, directed by Robert Tannenbaum. It was performed in London
at the Almeida Opera on July 14, 2006, directed by Lindsay Posner
, designed by Peter McKintosh, and conducted by Paul McGrath
.
boxer
, punching leaves on a tree. Avril Ainger, a mathematics
lecturer, encounters him while riding her bicycle
and they have a conversation. The next day, Avril passes by the gym where Patsy fights. His manager has dropped him. He is waiting for the bus, but when the driver arrives, he will not tell Patsy the number, for Patsy is illiterate and has difficulty even recognizing numbers. She accompanies him back to his hut and they learn more about each other, Patsy's limitations, and the hurt of Avril's first marriage. They go to a restuarnt, and Avril tries to help Patsy will the bill, but he is typically one to walk off without paying.
She begins teaching him basic mathematics, starting with familiarizing him with all the digits, but he only wants to make love.
The second act is set mostly in Avril's bedroom, jumping backward and forward in time, often with the characters changing clothes in front of the audience.
Avril asks Patsy about the nature of his erection
s because her previous husband could get them only if he hit her. After they make love for the first time, Patsy's manager calls and tells him that a new lad wants him to be his trainer.
The lessons continue, and Nyman uses a found number system based on Albert Riemenschneider
's collection of 371 Bach Chorale Harmonisations, although Patsy surely knows nothing of Johann Sebastian Bach
's work. He compares this to Dr. P's use of Robert Schumann
in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
.
Avril wants Patsy to promise he will not get back in the ring. She cuts up his gear. She takes off her top and hits him, saying she does not want to be hurt again. Patsy asks her to be more ladylike and make love.
Later, she gets a phone call, and collapses at what she hears. Patsy has fallen into a coma. The doctor says he will regain his memory if she keeps talking to him.
In the final scene, Avril pushes Patsy, now in a wheelchair
, down the street where they first met, express their desire to make love, and go through their counting routine.
featuring Andrew Slater as Patsy Bear (bass) and Helen Williams
as Avril Ainger (soprano). It is the 57th Michael Nyman album.
2005 in music
-Events:*During the year 2005, 12 rock music albums scored number 1 in the USA. This was the first time even ten albums have scored number 1 since 1996.-January:...
opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in two acts by Michael Nyman
Michael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
on a libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Michael Hastings
Michael Hastings (playwright)
Michael Gerald Hastings was a British playwright, screen-writer, and occasional novelist and poet.He is probably best known for his 1984 play about the poet T.S. Eliot and his wife Vivienne Haigh-Wood, Tom & Viv, which became a motion picture released in 1994.Hastings was born in London...
.
Performance history
The opera premiered March 12, 2005 at the Badisches Staatstheater in KarlsruheKarlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, directed by Robert Tannenbaum. It was performed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
at the Almeida Opera on July 14, 2006, directed by Lindsay Posner
Lindsay Posner
Lindsay Posner is an award-winning British theatre director, known for his work in London's West End and at the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal National Theatre, particularly plays by David Mamet.-Career:...
, designed by Peter McKintosh, and conducted by Paul McGrath
Paul McGrath
Paul McGrath may refer to:* Paul McGrath , American actor* Paul McGrath , Irish politician and Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Westmeath* Paul McGrath , Irish international footballer...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 12 March 2005 (Conductor: Robert Tannenbaum) |
|---|---|---|
| Avril | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
|
| Patsy | bass | |
Synopsis
The opera begins with Patsy Bear (spelled Bear in the libretto but spelled Blair in the character list), a middleweightMiddleweight
Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
boxer
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
, punching leaves on a tree. Avril Ainger, a mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
lecturer, encounters him while riding her bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
and they have a conversation. The next day, Avril passes by the gym where Patsy fights. His manager has dropped him. He is waiting for the bus, but when the driver arrives, he will not tell Patsy the number, for Patsy is illiterate and has difficulty even recognizing numbers. She accompanies him back to his hut and they learn more about each other, Patsy's limitations, and the hurt of Avril's first marriage. They go to a restuarnt, and Avril tries to help Patsy will the bill, but he is typically one to walk off without paying.
She begins teaching him basic mathematics, starting with familiarizing him with all the digits, but he only wants to make love.
The second act is set mostly in Avril's bedroom, jumping backward and forward in time, often with the characters changing clothes in front of the audience.
Avril asks Patsy about the nature of his erection
Erection
Penile erection is a physiological phenomenon where the penis becomes enlarged and firm. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular and endocrine factors, and is usually, though not exclusively, associated with sexual arousal...
s because her previous husband could get them only if he hit her. After they make love for the first time, Patsy's manager calls and tells him that a new lad wants him to be his trainer.
The lessons continue, and Nyman uses a found number system based on Albert Riemenschneider
Albert Riemenschneider
Albert Riemenschneider was an American musician and Bach musicologist.Riemenschneider was born into a musical family. His father, Karl H. Riemenschneider,There are two conflicting sources about the name of his father: T. Riemenschneider & L...
's collection of 371 Bach Chorale Harmonisations, although Patsy surely knows nothing of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's work. He compares this to Dr. P's use of Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
in The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (opera)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is a one-act chamber opera by Michael Nyman to an English-language libretto by Christopher Rawlence, adapted from the case study of the same name by Oliver Sacks by Nyman, Rawlence, and Michael Morris...
.
Avril wants Patsy to promise he will not get back in the ring. She cuts up his gear. She takes off her top and hits him, saying she does not want to be hurt again. Patsy asks her to be more ladylike and make love.
Later, she gets a phone call, and collapses at what she hears. Patsy has fallen into a coma. The doctor says he will regain his memory if she keeps talking to him.
In the final scene, Avril pushes Patsy, now in a wheelchair
Wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, designed to be a replacement for walking. The device comes in variations where it is propelled by motors or by the seated occupant turning the rear wheels by hand. Often there are handles behind the seat for someone else to do the pushing...
, down the street where they first met, express their desire to make love, and go through their counting routine.
Recording
A recording based on the Almeida production was released in 20072007 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 2007.-January:*January 1 - George Shearing is knighted for services to music in the Queen's New Year Honours List. Evelyn Glennie becomes a Dame...
featuring Andrew Slater as Patsy Bear (bass) and Helen Williams
Helen Williams
Helen Mary Williams CB is a British civil servant and Director of School Curriculum and Pupil Well-being at the Department for Children, Schools and Families....
as Avril Ainger (soprano). It is the 57th Michael Nyman album.
Personnel
The Michael Nyman BandMichael Nyman Band
The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 play, Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic...
- conducted by Paul McGrathPaul McGrathPaul McGrath may refer to:* Paul McGrath , American actor* Paul McGrath , Irish politician and Fine Gael Teachta Dála for Westmeath* Paul McGrath , Irish international footballer...
- Ian Humphries, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Phillippa Ibbotson, violin
- Nicolette Kuo, violin
- Jonathan Evans-Jones, violin
- Emlyn Singleton, violin
- Debbie Widdup, violin
- Harriet Davies, violin
- Fenella Barton violin
- Kate Musker, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Nick Barr, viola
- Jonathan Barritt, celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- Tony HinniganTony HinniganAnthony "Tony" Hinnigan is a musician from Glasgow. He is best known for his work with Michael Nyman , Ennio Morricone, and James Horner. He plays cello as well as Irish whistle and various Andean woodwind instruments...
, cello - William Schofield, cello
- Chris LaurenceChris LaurenceChris Laurence is an English jazz double bassist born in London, perhaps most noteworthy for his 1980s work in various trios with Tony Oxley ....
, bassBass violinBass violin is the generic modern term used to denote various 16th- and 17th-century forms of bass instruments of the violin family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cello, but tuned the same or sometimes just one step... - Mary Scully, bass
- Andrew Walley, bass
- Martin Elliott, bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Dominic Saunders, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- Walter Fabeck, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- Dave Fuest, clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, bass clarinetBass clarinetThe bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet... - Andrew Sparling, bass clarinet
- Andrew FindonAndrew FindonAndrew Findon is an English flautist and saxophonist. Educated at Harrow County School for Boys, he trained as an orchestral flautist, and served as principal flute of the National Youth Orchestra in the early 1970s and three years at the Royal College of Music...
, baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, FluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, piccoloPiccoloThe piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written... - Dave LeeDave Lee (horn player)David Lee is currently solo horn with the Michael Nyman Band. He has held principal positions with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Royal Opera House Orchestra....
, hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player .... - Steve SidwellSteve Sidwell (musician)Steve Sidwell is a conductor, composer, and instrumentalist specialising in swing music. Renowned as an arranger and composer, Steve, has featured on numerous albums, television shows, advertising campaigns and films with his distinctive and innovative orchestrations and compositions.He is also a...
, trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air... - Nigel Gomm, trumpet