The Tempest (Adès) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the 1993 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...

opera, see Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs

Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs

Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs is a 1991 opera by Michael Nyman that began as an opera-ballet titled La Princesse de Milan choreographed by Karine Saporta. The libretto is William Shakespeare's The Tempest, as abridged by the composer...

The Tempest is an opera by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

composer Thomas Adès

Thomas Adès

Thomas Adès is a British composer, pianist and conductor.-Biography:Adès studied piano with Paul Berkowitz and later composition with Robert Saxton at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London...

with a libretto in English by Meredith Oakes

Meredith Oakes

Meredith Oakes is an Australian playwright who has lived in London since 1970. She has written plays, adaptations, translations, opera texts and poems, and taught play-writing at Royal Holloway College and for the Arvon Foundation....

based on the play, The Tempest

The Tempest

The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...

by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

Background and premiere performances

Following the success of Powder Her Face

Powder Her Face

Powder Her Face is a chamber opera in two acts, Op. 14 by the British composer Thomas Adès , with an English libretto by Philip Hensher. The opera is 2 hours 20 minutes long...

, the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Royal Opera, London

The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...

commissioned a new opera from Adès in the late 1990s. Working with a librettist, a poetic version of the Jonestown Massacre of 1978 was prepared, but the composer found it impossible to set it to music. Finally, the libretto he needed emerged from a collaboration with Meredith Oakes.

The new opera became a co-production with the Copenhagen Opera House and the Opéra National du Rhin

Opéra national du Rhin

LOpéra national du Rhin is an opera company which performs in Alsace, eastern France, and which includes the Opéra in Strasbourg, the company's ballet in Mulhouse , and the "Opéra Studio" , a training centre for young singers, in Colmar...

in Strasbourg

Strasbourg

Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The Tempest received its world premiere to critical acclaim at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

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...

on 10 February 2004. Other productions followed in Strasbourg and Copenhagen later in 2005 and the opera was given its US premiere staging by the Santa Fe Opera

Santa Fe Opera

The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...

on 29 July 2006.

Performance history

Covent Garden revived the opera in March 2007 with the same production team, Thomas Adès conducting, and many of the original London cast, including Simon Keenlyside, Cyndia Sieden, Ian Bostridge, Toby Spence, Philip Langridge, and Stephen Richardson repeating their original roles. Cyndia Sieden is the only member of the cast to sing her role, that of Ariel

Ariel (The Tempest)

Ariel is a spirit who appears in William Shakespeare's play The Tempest. Ariel is bound to serve the magician Prospero, who rescued him from the tree in which he was imprisoned by Sycorax, the witch who previously inhabited the island. Prospero greets disobedience with a reminder that he saved...

in all four previous productions. Amongst others new to the cast are soprano Kate Royal

Kate Royal

Kate Royal is an English lyric soprano. She is the daughter of Steve Royal, a singer and songwriter for television, and of Carolyn Royal, a former model and dancer....

as "Miranda" and counter-tenor David Cordier as Trinculo.

The New York's Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

plans a new production of The Tempest for the 2012-13 season, created by director Robert Lepage

Robert Lepage

Robert Lepage, is a playwright, actor, film director, and stage director from Québec City, Québec, and is one of Canada's most honoured theatre artists.- Life and work :...

and featuring Simon Keenlyside. It will be a co-production with Milan's La Scala

La Scala

La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...

, who will offer it during the 2013-14 season.

Meredith Oakes' libretto

"As for the words, you don't get Shakespeare’s; but you get something that effectively suggests them at key moments, written by Meredith Oakes in rhyming couplets of impactful clarity. Neat and direct".

Michael White's review of the 2004 Royal Opera House premiere in The Independent

"The opera is a brilliant response to the play, rather than merely a setting of it. While entirely true to the spirit of Shakespeare's play, it is not contained by it. It is its own thing, and allows its own existence and resonance"

Jonathan Kent, Director of the 2006 Santa Fe Opera

Santa Fe Opera

The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...

production.

Looking for ideas for a new subject, Adès saw Jonathan Kent

Jonathan Kent (director)

Jonathan Kent is an English theatre director and opera director. He is best known as a director/producer partner of Ian McDiarmid at the Almeida Theatre from 1990 to 2002.-Early life:...

's staging of Shakespeare's The Tempest at the Almeida Theatre

Almeida Theatre

The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325 seat studio theatre with an international reputation which takes its name from the street in which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a diverse range of drama and holds an annual summer festival of...

in London in 2000. For a new libretto, Adès turned to the experienced dramatist, Meredith Oakes

Meredith Oakes

, whose work had included a short opera libretto for Miss Treat (2002); since the early-1990s, several original plays, translations and adaptations of classics and modern dramas; and, for television, the story line for Prime Suspect, Part Four (1995).

Rather than transfer Shakespeare's words directly into the libretto, Oakes has taken the approach of reducing much of the text to its essence, and she produces a compact libretto with the bulk of the text presented in the form of rhyming couplets. Many examples are given in the following plot synopsis, and they illustrate Oakes' technique but that does not always mean the complete removal of Shakespeare's text, as in the following example.

The result is that the original:

Full fathom five thy father lies

Of his bones are coral made;

Those are pearls that were his eyes

in the libretto becomes:

Five fathoms deep

Your father lies

Those are pearls

That were his eyes

Differences between the libretto and the play

The libretto is structured into three acts, more-or-less equal in length. As in Shakespeare's Act 1, Scenes 1 and 2, the five main characters are introduced. However, as the relationship between Miranda and Ferdinand progresses, the opera turns away from Shakespeare's presentation of Prospero as the benign manipulator of events, the controller of the pace of the young couple's growing love by using his trickery and magical powers.

In an aside to Ariel he comments:

"They are both in either's pow'rs. But this swift business

I must uneasy make, lest too light winning

Make the prize light"

and later, as his methods begin to take effect: "It works". The libretto suggests a more fatalistic acceptance by Prospero of the loss of his daughter to the young Prince. Therefore, whereas Shakespeare's Act 1 concludes with Prospero urging on Ariel to further tasks which involve bringing the Court to his part of the island, Oakes' libretto suggests a more vengeful Prospero:

"I must punish him

And the rest as well

Bring me to them, Ariel".

Shakespeare's Act 3, Scene 2, in which Prospero accepts Ferdinand and Miranda's relationship, and later in Act 4, Scene 1, his:

"for I

Have given you here a third of mine own life

contrasts sharply with the end of Oakes' Act 2 in which Miranda and Ferdinand find each other again and declare their love, as they are watched over by Prospero, who frees Ferdinand but laments his loss of power in:

"Miranda

I've lost her

I cannot rule their minds

My child has conquered me

A stronger power than mine

Has set the young man free".

Oakes' Act 2 features action taking place on the stage in the presence of entire Court rather than in separate scenes as in Shakespeare's Act 2.

Thomas Adès' music

Much has appeared in print about the striking music composed for this opera. Ranging from the almost dissonant (parts of Act 1) to the sublimely lyrical (the Miranda-Ferdinand love duet, rare in modern operas, and a quintet passacaglia

Passacaglia

The passacaglia is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used by contemporary composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often, but not always, based on a bass-ostinato and written in triple metre....

in Act 3), with surges and outpourings of emotion contrasting with harmonic clashes of tone and color, The Tempest is regarded as the composer's towering achievement to date. This is reflected in the following writers' statements:

"The evening deservedly belongs to Adès, who himself conducts a score as orchestrally lush and evocative as vocally varied and articulate. The cumulative effect is by turns ethereal, witty, incandescent, often ravishing".

Andrew Clement's review of the 2004 Royal Opera House premiere

"...For one composer at least, contemporary lyric opera is still a viable medium. It looks like an opera and it behaves like an opera, offering a musical drama in which the traditional operatic virtues of musically delineated characterisation and musically satisfactory dramatic pacing are wonderfully sustained".

"The musical action of the opera is continuous but is divided into a sequence of sharply distinct scenes. The techniques of pitch derivation found in earlier Adès scores are used again, so that instead of providing his characters with a set of musical identity cards there is a fluid, evolutionary system of characterisation in which vocal manner and accompaniment style are more important than leitmotifs. Qualities of place and status are as important as individual personalities, so the island is represented by evenly flowing accompaniments in woodwind and strings, while the world of the Milan court is represented by more declamatory writing in which the brass are often evident."

Christopher Fox writing in Musical Times, London, Autumn 2004.

Roles

Role	Voice type	World Premiere Royal Opera House Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The... February 10, 2004 (Conductor: Thomas Adès)	American Premiere Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:... July 29, 2006 (Conductor: Alan Gilbert Alan Gilbert (conductor) Alan Gilbert is an American violinist and conductor. He is currently the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, making his debut performance as the orchestra's music director on September 16, 2009.-Early years:... )
Miranda, Prospero’s daughter	mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A 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...	Christine Rice	Patricia Risley
Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan	high baritone Baritone Baritone 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...	Simon Keenlyside Simon Keenlyside Simon Keenlyside CBE is a British baritone who has had an active international career performing in operas and concerts since the mid 1980s.-Early life and education:...	Rod Gilfry Rod Gilfry Rodney Gilfry is a leading American opera baritone. After launching his career at Frankfurt Opera in 1987, Gilfry quickly established a reputation for stylish singing and acting...
Ariel, a spirit	coloratura 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...	Cyndia Sieden Cyndia Sieden Cyndia Sieden is an American coloratura soprano on the opera and concert stages.-Biography:Cyndia Sieden was born in 1961 in California, USA, and received her first vocal instruction there. A significant early milestone in her studies was work with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in master classes in...	Cyndia Sieden Cyndia Sieden Cyndia Sieden is an American coloratura soprano on the opera and concert stages.-Biography:Cyndia Sieden was born in 1961 in California, USA, and received her first vocal instruction there. A significant early milestone in her studies was work with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in master classes in...
Caliban, a savage	tenor Tenor The 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...	Ian Bostridge Ian Bostridge Ian Bostridge CBE is an English tenor, well known for his performances as an opera singer and as a song recitalist.-Early life and education:...	William Ferguson
Ferdinand, son of King Alonso	tenor	Toby Spence Toby Spence Toby Spence, born London 1969, is a professional and internationally renowned tenor active on the concert platform, in the opera house and in recordings across a wide range of classical music.-Early life and studies:...	Toby Spence Toby Spence Toby Spence, born London 1969, is a professional and internationally renowned tenor active on the concert platform, in the opera house and in recordings across a wide range of classical music.-Early life and studies:...
Stefano, a drunken butler	bass-baritone Bass-baritone A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...	Stephen Richardson	Wilbur Pauley
Trinculo, a jester	counter-tenor	Lawrence Zazzo	David Hansen
Antonio, Prospero's brother	tenor	John Daszak	Derek Taylor Derek Taylor Derek Taylor was an English journalist, writer and publicist, best known for his work as press officer for The Beatles...
Sebastian, King Alonso's brother	baritone Baritone Baritone 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...	Christopher Maltman	Keith Phares
Gonzalo, an honest councilor	bass-baritone	Gwynne Howell Gwynne Howell Gwynne Howell is a Welsh bass, particularly associated with Verdi and Wagner roles.-Life and career:Born in Gorseinon, Wales, he studied at the RMCM, where he sang Leporello in concert, and Hunding, Fasolt, and Pogner in staged performances.He joined the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1968, and the...	Gwynne Howell Gwynne Howell Gwynne Howell is a Welsh bass, particularly associated with Verdi and Wagner roles.-Life and career:Born in Gorseinon, Wales, he studied at the RMCM, where he sang Leporello in concert, and Hunding, Fasolt, and Pogner in staged performances.He joined the Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1968, and the...
Alonso, King of Naples	tenor	Philip Langridge Philip Langridge Philip Gordon Langridge CBE was an English tenor, considered to be among the foremost exponents of English opera and oratorio....	Chris Merritt
Chorus: Guests of King Alonso

Act 1

Scene 1: The Court

Using his magical powers, Prospero has created a huge storm during which the ship carrying his brother Antonio (who has usurped his position as Duke of Milan) along with King Alonso, Duke of Naples, Alonso's son Ferdinand, and their courts is wrecked. Offstage the Court is heard.

Scene 2: Miranda and Prospero

Miranda is horrified at the destruction which her father has caused, but Prospero explains how his brother usurped his position and how they were cast away on a small boat twelve years before, surviving with only the help of a faithful courtier, Gonzalo. Prospero sends Miranda to sleep.

Scene 3: Ariel and Prospero

Ariel explains that she has carried out Prospero’s orders, and he further instructs her to restore the shipwrecked group with “Not a hair perished/ On their clothes no blemish”. “I’ll clean them and dry them / And set them on the island” she obeys.

Scene 4: Caliban and Prospero (Miranda asleep)

Caliban appears and immediately questions why Prospero has caused such distress. Prospero dismisses him – “Abhorrent slave / Go to your cave” - as he recalls Ariel.

Scene 5: Prospero and Ariel (Miranda asleep)

Ariel tells Prospero that she has obeyed his commands. He then orders her to bring the King’s son, Ferdinand, to this part of the island. While loyal to Prospero, Ariel questions when she will be freed from his service and she is assured that after twelve years, this will happen. The pair then hides, leaving Miranda sleeping on the beach.

Scene 6: Ferdinand and Miranda (with Prospero and Ariel unseen)

Ferdinand arrives on the island to find Miranda asleep. At first he thinks that she is a spirit and, as she wakes up, she wonders who he is: “I never saw/ Your like before”. They are immediately attracted to each other, but Prospero appears, confronts Ferdinand, tells him of Alonso’s deeds, and immobilizes the young man. Ferdinand declares his love for Miranda and accepts anything which Prospero will do to him, but Prospero declares him unworthy of Miranda and then orders Ariel to bring Alonso and his party to him.

Act 2

Scene 1: The King, and the Court on the island. (Prospero and Ariel are unseen)

The chorus is amazed at how they come through the storm and shipwreck so unscathed. From his hidden vantage point, Prospero orders Ariel to “Taunt them, haunt them/ Goad and tease/ Prick them, trick them/ Give them no peace”. The king laments the loss of his son and Gonzalo attempts to comfort him, but Ariel’s trickery begins and, impersonating the voices of the group to confuse them and divide them, they begin to squabble. Conflict is avoided by the arrival of Caliban.

Scene 2: Caliban with the Court

They confront each other in amazement and soon Trincolo and Stefano begin to ply Caliban with drink. As Ariel’s trickery continues, he assures the group not to be afraid, that “the island’s full of noises” and explains his presence there, but, before he can reveal Prospero’s name, he is silenced and leaves the group. Confused, the King and Gonzalo leave to search the island with Prospero working his magic to send them to “search/ Where there’s no path/ Go in circles/ Drink the salt marsh”.

Scene 3: Caliban, Stefano, and Trincolo

Briefly, they plot to restore Caliban to his former position as head of the island.

Scene 4: Ferdinand, Miranda, (and Prospero unseen)

The couple expresses their love for each other and Miranda frees Ferdinand leaving Prospero to accept the loss of his daughter: “Miranda/ I’ve lost her/ I cannot rule their minds/ My child has conquered me/ A stronger power than mine/ Has set the young man free”.

Act 3

Scene 1: Caliban, Trincolo, and Stefano all drunk

The trio cavorts across the island proclaiming the coming moment when Stefano will be King of the island and Caliban will be free.

Scene 2: Prospero and Ariel, followed by the arrival of the Court

Ariel explains that she has led the Court around the island and, once more, asks to be freed. The King and the Court arrive exhausted and ready to collapse; quickly all but Antonio and Sebastian fall asleep. The two begin to plot to kill the King but are interrupted by the unseen Ariel’s plea to the sleepers to wake up. Creating a banquet out of thin air, she just as quickly causes it to disappear and then leads the group away into further confusion. Prospero comments on his power over his enemies.

Scene 3: Miranda and Ferdinand, return to Prospero

The couple tells Prospero that they are married and Ariel arrives with her good wishes in addition to telling the young man that his father is actually alive. As he causes Ariel to vanish, Prospero announces that he is ending the magic: “ Our revels are ended/ Why do you stare?/ He’s melted into air/ So cities will perish / Palaces vanish/ The globe itself/ Dissolve/ Nothing stay/ All will fade”. Caliban, Trincolo and Stefano return, the former re-affirming his lust for Miranda with whom “We’ll have Calibans/ Many and strong”. In disgust, Prospero makes them disappear, Ariel re-appears and is promised her freedom within an hour.

Scene 4: Everyone except Caliban

Prospero reveals himself to the King and his court , and reveals Ferdinand and Miranda to Alonso. With the re-appearance of Stefano and Trincolo the Court is joyously reunited; “Bless this isle/ Where Prospero found his dukedom/ Ferdinand his bride/ And Naples Ferdinand” says Gonzalo as all make their way to their restored ship. Prospero makes his peace with the King, forgives his brother, and breaks his staff as Ariel departs. Her voice is heard offstage.

Scene 5: Caliban alone, with Ariel offstage

Caliban stands alone on the island musing on the changes: “Who was here/ Have they disappeared?”. Ariel’s voice is heard off stage.

Recordings

The BBC broadcast The Tempest on 23 June 2007 from the Covent Garden revival and a commercial recording featuring Bostridge, Keenlyside, Sieden and Royal was released by EMI Classics in June 2009.

Critical reactions to UK and US premieres

London premiere production reviews, 2004:

American premiere production reviews, 2006:

London revival production reviews, 2007:

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