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- Jonathan Dove
Life is a Dream (2012)
(Opera in 3 Acts)- Peters Edition Limited (World)
Libretto by Alasdair Middleton after the play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Commissioned by Birmingham Opera Company. First performed 21 March 2012, Argyle Works Birmingham, Birmingham Opera Company.
- S,Mz,2T,bbar,B + 2(2pic).1.1.1(cbn)/2.2.1+btbn.1/3perc/pf.hp/str(3.3.2.2.1)
- Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, Tenor, Bass Baritone, Bass
- 1 hr 50 min
- Alasdair Middleton and Pedro Calderón de la Barca
- English
Programme Note
Life Is a Dream was commissioned by Graham Vick’s extraordinary Birmingham Opera Company for professionals and the people of Birmingham to perform together in a disused chemical works in the city.
Jonathan Dove’s full-length operatic version of Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s ‘philosophical play’ La vida es sueño with a libretto by Alasdair Middleton has echoes of 19th-century grand opera. The polarised struggles between father and son, freewill and predestination, dream and reality are passionately carried along with powerful choruses and strongly etched characters including a tour de force for bass-baritone in the role of the Prince.
The original orchestration, designed for the Birmingham production, is for 28 players, but in opera-house productions the opera may be performed with a conventional string section.
