Programmes and Performance Projects - Pierrot lunaire
The Pierrot Project
with the New Music Players
An Educational Residency culminating in a kaleidoscopic Performance Day
The Kernel
Schoenberg's masterpiece of modernism Pierrot lunaire in a new English translation, performed by male and female voices, with commedia dell'arte masks, projected images, animation and stage lighting. The original poems by Albert Giraud (translated into German by Hartleben) are part of a strong fin de siècle French Pierrot tradition which was shadowed in England by such poets as Dowson, and by such commedia dell'arte variants as pantomime and Punch & Judy. THE WORKS's Pierrot Project will put Schoenberg's idiosyncratic take on these traditions into context, enabling it to be understood more deeply and intimately.
The Commissions
The quintessence of the French Pierrot tradition is to be found, not so much in Verlaine or Giraud, as in the collection of poems by Jules Laforgue entitled Imitation de Notre Dame de la Lune . Laforgue, who was born in Montevideo, worked in Berlin as Official Reader to the Empress, married an Englishwoman in London on New Year's Eve 1886, and died of consumption in Paris 4 days after his 27 th birthday in August 1887, was an early practitioner of vers libre and a fine ironist. He was much admired and imitated by Eliot and Pound. Only one of his poems has ever been set to music. THE WORKS proposes to commission a variety of composers to set his verse; following Schoenberg's example, the poems will be translated into the vernacular.
The Characters
Schoenberg's first Pierrot interpreter, Albertine Zehme, was costumed as Columbine: an inexplicable choice of character as narrator, but one that confirms the link with French Pierrot tradition, which was embodied in the popular mind by the famous Mime Jean Dubureau, whose name appears in a poem by Verlaine set by Debussy. Such theatrical presentation could well be choreographed into the new Laforgue settings: we hope to work with collaborators from Complicite Education. THE WORKS is developing the use of puppets in its projects, notably in Schubert's Winterreise . We shall seek to use them in the Pierrot project as well, consulting with Martin Bridle of Hand to Mouth Theatre ; and to involve younger children, working with Jennifer Stinton of Piedpiper Music .
The Beacons of Context
Masks, mime, animated images, as well as talks and demonstrations, will all illuminate the commedia . But perhaps especially attractive to the wider audience will be: the Professor of Punch & Judy (first seen in England by Samuel Pepys, under the portico of St. Paul's Covent Garden); and Martin Jarvis reading a Just William story featuring Punch & Judy and a virtuoso violinist, with musical accompaniment. Mr. Jarvis writes:
“Re your thought about William and The Musician by Richmal Crompton. It's a very good one and the double aspect of the story (also very funny) lends itself perfectly to musical themes. So - a great idea - and would of course be happy to be involved.”
Other Commedia music
A wide range of music will be tasted in the course of the residency, from Stravinsky's Suite italienne ( Pulcinella ) via Debussy's Verlaine settings and Granville Bantock's music for Dowson's The Pierrot of the Minute to Edward Cowie's monumental 1982 song-cycle Brighella's World .
Educational Strands
Bantock's tuneful music to Dowson's verses offers a way in to the practice of Sprechstimme , the strange songful speech that is at the heart of Pierrot lunaire . Amateurs of all ages will enjoy making their own Sprechstimme versions of these pieces. With music students at school or college, deeper compositional work for voice and ensemble can be undertaken.
Several members of THE WORKS and the New Music Players are experienced classroom animateurs. School visits can result in a vivid piece of music-theatre in less than no time, which might include simple arrangements of commedia -related music.
Demonstrations by actors, singers, puppeteers and mask-makers are always in demand.
As well as these hands-on, audience-friendly events, THE WORKS can also provide serious scholarly lectures where appropriate.
A week's Educational Residency could comprise :
Open rehearsals
School and College visits by musicians, singers, actors, puppeteers and so on
Composition work at a central location
The Performance Day
This (probably a Saturday) could include a selection of the week's student work, theatre workshops, Punch & Judy shows, puppet and mask-making demonstrations, and Martin Jarvis. Formal concerts would present Cowie's song-cycle, Debussy's Verlaine settings, the new Laforgue commissions and, as a grand contextualized climax, Pierrot lunaire .
Websites
www.btinternet.com/~martsu/Punchhome.htm
