Mansfield Park (opera)
Encyclopedia
This article is about the Jonathan Dove opera. For the Jane Austen novel see: Mansfield Park
. For other works with this title see: Mansfield Park (disambiguation)
Mansfield Park is a 2011 chamber opera
in two acts by Jonathan Dove
with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton
based on the novel by Jane Austen
. It tells the story of poor relation Fanny Price, sent at age 10 to live with her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, at his family estate, Mansfield Park.
The opera was commissioned by Heritage Opera, and the world premiere performance was at Boughton House
in Northamptonshire
on July 30, 2011. The opera is scored for four handed piano (two pianists playing one piano) and was accompanied by Paul Greenhalgh and Jonathan Ellis, under the musical direction of Chris Gill. The world premiere tour comprised mainly heritage venues in the northwest of England, and one performance at the Arcola Theatre
in Dalston, East London, as part of the Grimeborn Festival
Mansfield Park
Mansfield Park may mean:* Mansfield Park by Jane Austen* Mansfield Park , based on the novel, directed by Patricia Rozema, starring Frances O'Connor, Embeth Davidtz, and Sheila Gish in 1999...
. For other works with this title see: Mansfield Park (disambiguation)
Mansfield Park is a 2011 chamber opera
Chamber opera
Chamber opera is a designation for operas written to be performed with a chamber ensemble rather than a full orchestra.The term and form were invented by Benjamin Britten in the 1940s, when the English Opera Group needed works that could easily be taken on tour and performed in a variety of small...
in two acts by Jonathan Dove
Jonathan Dove
Jonathan Dove is a British composer of opera, choral works, plays, films, and orchestral and chamber music. He has arranged a number of operas for English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera , including in 1990 a famous 18-player two-evening adaptation of Wagner's Der Ring des...
with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton
Alasdair Middleton
Alasdair Middleton is a British playwright and opera librettist. He also teaches the Junior Classes at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.- Opera libretti :*Everything Money Can Buy *Out Of The Ordinary...
based on the novel by Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. It tells the story of poor relation Fanny Price, sent at age 10 to live with her uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, at his family estate, Mansfield Park.
The opera was commissioned by Heritage Opera, and the world premiere performance was at Boughton House
Boughton House
Boughton House is a country house about north-east of Kettering off the A43 road near Geddington in Northamptonshire, England, which belongs to the Duke of Buccleuch.-History:...
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
on July 30, 2011. The opera is scored for four handed piano (two pianists playing one piano) and was accompanied by Paul Greenhalgh and Jonathan Ellis, under the musical direction of Chris Gill. The world premiere tour comprised mainly heritage venues in the northwest of England, and one performance at the Arcola Theatre
Arcola Theatre
Arcola Theatre is a studio theatre in Dalston, in the London Borough of Hackney. The theatre's ambition is to create and present high-quality theatre with a social and political relevance to its multicultural local community as well as a wider audience....
in Dalston, East London, as part of the Grimeborn Festival
Grimeborn
Grimeborn is an annual musical theatre and opera festival which coincides with the world famous Glyndebourne Opera Festival. Founded by Arcola Theatre’s artistic director Mehmet Ergen in 2007, the festival is held at Arcola Theatre in Dalston, East London...
Roles
(world premiere cast in brackets)- Fanny Price (SopranoSopranoA 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...
) (Serenna Wagner) - Lady Bertram (ContraltoContraltoContralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
) (Nuala Willis) - John Rawnsley (BaritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) (John Rawnsley) - Edmund Bertram (BaritoneBaritoneBaritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
) (Thomas Eaglen) - Maria Bertram (SopranoSopranoA 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...
) (Eloise Routledge) - Julia Bertram (Mezzo-SopranoMezzo-sopranoA mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
) (Paloma Bruce) - Aunt Norris (SopranoSopranoA 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...
) (Birgit Rohowska) - Mary Crawford (SopranoSopranoA 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...
) (Sarah Helsby Hughes) - Henry Crawford (TenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
) (Nicholas Sales) - Mr Rushworth (TenorTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
) (Darren Clarke)
Act One
- Scene 1: Chapter One: The Bertrams Observed
In which we meet the inhabitants of Mansfield Park. - Scene 2: Chapter Two: First Impressions
In which we discover that Miss Mary Crawford has twenty thousand pounds and that Mr Henry Crawford is not handsome. - Scene 3: Chapter Three: Sir Thomas Bertram's Farewell
In which Sir Thomas Bertram leaves for Antigua. - Scene 4: Chapter Four: Landscape Gardening
In which Mr Rushworth proposes a trip to Sotherton, his estate. - Scene 5: Chapter Five: In the Wilderness
In which the estate is explored. - Scene 6: Chapter Six: Music and Astronomy
In which songs are sung and stars observed. - Scene 7: Chapter Seven: Lovers' Vows
In which Amateur Theatricals are undertaken. - Scene 8: Chapter Eight: Persuasion
In which Edmund's resolution is tested. - Scene 9: Chapter Nine: The Rehearsal Interrupted
In which Sir Thomas returns. - Scene 10: Chapter Ten: Independence and Splendour, or, Twelve Thousand a Year
In which happiness is defined. - Scene 11: Chapter Eleven: A View of a Wedding
In which a wedding is celebrated, a honeymoon begun, a revelation made and plot hatched.
Act Two
- Scene 1: Chapter One: Preparations for a Ball
In which Miss Fanny Price accepts a present from Miss Mary Crawford. - Scene 2: Chapter Two: A Ball
In which partners are chosen. - Scene 3: Chapter Three: A Proposal
In which the Bertram family are variously surprised, delighted, disappointed, confused and outraged. - Scene 4: Chapter Four: Some Correspondence
In which much ink is spilt. - Scene 5: Chapter Five: Follies and Grottoes
In which the Rushworths meet an old acquaintance. - Scene 6: Chapter Six: A Newspaper Paragraph
In which occurs a matrimonial fracas. - Scene 7: Chapter The Last
In which Mr Edmund Bertram declares his feelings to his future bride.