An
opera in three acts by Carlos Chavez |
LIBRETTO by Chester Kallman
Place:
A villa in the hills of Tuscany
Time:The fourteenth century
First performed
in the Bander Matthews Theater, Columbia University, New York, April
1957 under the name of PANFILO AND LAURETTA
Definitive version first
performed in the Teatro Juarez, International Festival of Cervantino,
Guanajuato, Mexico, 2 October 1999. |
| Cast: |
Lauretta/Psyche/Mary
Magdalen/Eve (Soprano)
Elissa/Venus/Procuress/Lilith
(Mezzosoprano)
Panfilo/Cupid/Centurion/Adam (Tenor)
Dioneo/Sadducee/Satan
(Baritone)
Leader of the Chorus/Monk/Luxury/Physician (Bass) |
| SYNOPSIS: |
| Act I. The scene is
set in the prologue by the Leader of the Chorus and choir. During
an outbreak of the plague, four privileged Italians have secluded themselves
in a villa. They entertain themselves by putting on plays. The curtain
opens on the love triangle between Panfilo, a soldier in love with
the young, vain, distracted Lauretta who bearly acknowledges his
existence, much to the chagrin of his discarded, older lover Elissa,
whom they treat as a servant. Dioneo, the poet and director of their
plays, tries to calm the troubled waters by suggesting they rehearse
their representation of Cupid and Psyche. Panfilo´s feelings for Lauretta find their
expression in the part of Cupid, and Elissa has the opportunity to
intervene as Venus. The rehearsal is interupted by the sound of a passing
funeral procession. They try to ignore it but as it passes, they become
confused, forget their lines and Elissa´s Venus becomes especially
violent venting her insult and jealousy. The rehearsal falls to pieces.
Their domestic strife and isolation are put to a sudden end by a
loud hammering on the door. |
| Act II. The curtain
rises where we left off. The knocking continues. Dioneo and Lauretta
are unable to stop Panfilo and Elissa from opening the doors. Enter
the monk (Leader of the Chorus), thrilled to find that he has interrupted
a rehearsal, he immediatly takes over the group of thespians, casting
Dioneo as a sadducee, Panfilo as a centurion, Elissa as Jerusalem´s
procuress, Lauretta as Mary Magdalen being sold into prostitution for
the first time, and himself as Luxury. Mary is sold to the centurion
by the procuress and Luxury, and Panfilo deflowers Lauretta in the
climax of their play. The monk has already set the stage for his second
ecclesiastic play. Elissa is now Lilith, Adam´s soulless first
wife. Satan (Dioneo) tries to tempt her with the apple but she rejects
him. He goes to seek Eve. Adam (Panfilo) is surprised when Eve (Lauretta,
still in the disheveled, torn costume of Magdalen) enters with her
nakedness covered. Wanting to teach him shame, she offers him the half-eaten,
forbidden fruit. As he bites into the apple, the monk throws open the
doors, letting in the motley crowd from outside. While proclaiming
the monk as their savior, he dies suddenly of the plague. As the horror
sets in the four characters turn on each other. While the accusations
and insults fly in a tone of measured hatred, the crowd takes over
the house, their voices raised in an apocalyptic prayer, some kicking
the dead body of the monk. |
| Act
III. It is two months later. In the villa’s courtyard, shortly
before sunrise, people huddle on the ground; some asleep, others ill
or dying. A physician (Leader of the Chorus) makes his rounds, every
so often covering his patient’s face, to be borne off silently
by two assistants. Dioneo has been tormented by nightmares. He asks
after Lauretta who has miraculously survived the plague. Lauretta enters
leaning heavily on Elissa, who has lovingly nursed her back to health.
She is told that Panfilo has gone to the city. The dawn seems to bring
hope, until the Doctor congratulates Lauretta on her pregnancy. In
horrified shock, Lauretta now realises that the past events were not,
as she was led to believe, a feverish hallucination. After a hysterical
outburst, she collapses. Panfilo returns, scornfully rejecting Elissa´s
gestures of welcome. Lauretta rebukes him for this. Drained and cynical
he tells of his hellish experience in the city. Elissa points
out that the plague has ravaged their safe haven too, and informs him
that Lauretta has narrowly escaped death. Lauretta intervenes and declares
her love to Panfilo. Reconciled, they leave Elissa feeling betrayed,
now not only by Panfilo but also Lauretta. Dioneo takes her aside,
in a gentle and light-hearted sermon he teaches her to embrace the
past and the future, and to forgive. She notices that he has a raging
fever, he confides to her that he has little life left in him. The
doctor asks them to entertain the convalescents with a play. They complete
their play of Cupid and Psyche. Venus, the goddess of love, forgives
them both their disobedience and grants Psyche immortality. Dioneo
witnesses their redemption before dying. Their child shall be known
as Joy. |
| Synopsis by Irene
Strachan |
|
 |
Alejandro
Giacomán
de Neymet © 1997-2024 D.R. |
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