The Second Mrs Kong
Encyclopedia
The Second Mrs Kong is an opera in two acts, with music by Sir Harrison Birtwistle
to a libretto by Russell Hoban
. Glyndebourne Touring Opera first staged the opera on 24 October 1994. The cast included Philip Langridge
, Helen Field and Michael Chance
. Tom Cairns designed and directed the production, in collaboration with choreographer Aletta Collins. Elgar Howarth
was the conductor. This production was recorded for the National Video Archive of Performance by the V&A Theatre Museum. This recording is available to view by appointment at the V&A Collections Centre and Reading Room in Olympia, London.
The opera is a mix of ancient and modern mythologies as well as history. Jonathan Cross has commented that the work, "like so many of Birtwistle's operas....is concerned with mythology" and is more about "the idea of Kong
" rather than King Kong as such. He has also analysed parallels between this work and Birtwistle's earlier opera The Mask of Orpheus. Robert Adlington has critically discussed the relationship of the opera's music to the words. David Beard has examined in detail the relationship of various forms of images to the music and Birtwistle's and Hoban's collaboration.
The second production of the opera took place in 1996 in Vienna. The London premiere of the work was in November 2004, as part of the 70th birthday concerts for Birtwistle.
after she hears his voice through the mirror that is in the room where Vermeer is painting. Kong himself is metaphysically trying to determine his identity while in denial of his own death. When he becomes aware of Pearl through the mirror, he becomes infatuated with her.
Later in the Act, Pearl is residing in a "stockbroker's high-tech penthouse", and at one point sees an excerpt from the 1933 film of King Kong on television. Pearl decides to try to establish a connection with Kong. Kong determines to leave the World of Shadows to find Pearl in the World of the Living, with the help of Orpheus.
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
to a libretto by Russell Hoban
Russell Hoban
Russell Conwell Hoban is an American writer, now living in England, of fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magic realism, poetry, and children's books-Biography:...
. Glyndebourne Touring Opera first staged the opera on 24 October 1994. The cast included Philip Langridge
Philip Langridge
Philip Gordon Langridge CBE was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio....
, Helen Field and Michael Chance
Michael Chance
Michael Chance CBE is an English countertenor.Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After growing up as a chorister he attended Eton College, Berkshire, and later King's College, Cambridge...
. Tom Cairns designed and directed the production, in collaboration with choreographer Aletta Collins. Elgar Howarth
Elgar Howarth
Elgar Howarth is an English conductor and composer.Howarth was educated in the 1950s at Manchester University and the Royal Manchester College of Music , where his fellow students included the composers Harrison Birtwistle, Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, and the...
was the conductor. This production was recorded for the National Video Archive of Performance by the V&A Theatre Museum. This recording is available to view by appointment at the V&A Collections Centre and Reading Room in Olympia, London.
The opera is a mix of ancient and modern mythologies as well as history. Jonathan Cross has commented that the work, "like so many of Birtwistle's operas....is concerned with mythology" and is more about "the idea of Kong
King Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
" rather than King Kong as such. He has also analysed parallels between this work and Birtwistle's earlier opera The Mask of Orpheus. Robert Adlington has critically discussed the relationship of the opera's music to the words. David Beard has examined in detail the relationship of various forms of images to the music and Birtwistle's and Hoban's collaboration.
The second production of the opera took place in 1996 in Vienna. The London premiere of the work was in November 2004, as part of the 70th birthday concerts for Birtwistle.
Roles
- Anubis
- Orpheus/The Head of Orpheus
- Eurydice
- Paganini
- Kong
- Death-of-Kong (taken by the same singer as Anubis)
- Vermeer
- Pearl (name given to the subject of Johannes VermeerJohannes VermeerJohannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
's Girl with a Pearl EarringGirl with a Pearl EarringGirl with a Pearl Earring is a painting by Johannes Vermeer.Girl With a Pearl Earring may also refer to:* Girl with a Pearl Earring , by Tracy Chevalier* Girl with a Pearl Earring...
) - Mr Dollorama, film producer
- Inanna, wife to Mr Dollorama
- Swami Zumzum, Inanna's lover
Synopsis
Act 1
The setting is the World of Shadows, a realm of the dead where historical people and fictional characters can intermingle. Anubis transports the dead to the World of Shadows. The dead are permitted to relive selected moments from their past. One such moment is when Vermeer paints Pearl as the subject of his painting Girl with a Pearl Earring. Pearl first learns of the existence of the mythical giant ape King KongKing Kong
King Kong is a fictional character, a giant movie monster resembling a gorilla, that has appeared in several movies since 1933. These include the groundbreaking 1933 movie, the film remakes of 1976 and 2005, as well as various sequels of the first two films...
after she hears his voice through the mirror that is in the room where Vermeer is painting. Kong himself is metaphysically trying to determine his identity while in denial of his own death. When he becomes aware of Pearl through the mirror, he becomes infatuated with her.
Later in the Act, Pearl is residing in a "stockbroker's high-tech penthouse", and at one point sees an excerpt from the 1933 film of King Kong on television. Pearl decides to try to establish a connection with Kong. Kong determines to leave the World of Shadows to find Pearl in the World of the Living, with the help of Orpheus.