|
''Dr. Sun Yat-sen'' () is a 2011 Chinese-language western-style opera in three acts by the New York-based American composer Huang Ruo who was born in China and is a graduate of Oberlin College's Conservatory as well as the Juilliard School of Music. The libretto was written by established playwright and translator Candace Mui-ngam Chong. It is her first opera libretto,〔Janice Leung, ( "Candace Chong: The playwright who draws inspiration from a complicated world" ) (Background on Candace Chong) on scmp.com/magazines. Retrieved 5 June 2014〕 and she has been a recent collaborator with playwright David Henry Hwang〔Gerard Raymond, ("Between East and West: An Interview with David Henry Hwang" ) on slantmagazine.com, 28 October 2011: "When I realized I wanted to do a bilingual play I asked Candace Chong, who is a successful playwright in her own right in Hong Kong, to help me with the translations. Just coincidentally Candace has become very famous recently because she is the librettist of ''Dr. Sun Yat-Sen'', the opera (the pioneering Chinese Nationalist political leader ) that just got cancelled in Beijing for reasons that are controversial." Retrieved 21 March 2013〕 in what has been described as "the bi-lingual Broadway hit, ''Chinglish''.〔Miyoshi, Lindsley, ("An Epic Life Sings: ''Dr. Sun Yat-sen'' bows at Santa Fe Opera" ), ''Opera News'', Vol. 78, No. 12, June 2014. p. 14. Retrieved 8 June 2014〕 The action of the opera focuses not on Sun's political life, but rather, it is a love story involving his second wife Soong Ching-Ling, a revered figure in modern Chinese history who became vice-president of the People's Republic of China until she died in 1981.〔 Writer Lindsley Miyoshi quotes the composer's description of the opera as being "about four kinds of love—between husband and wife or between lovers, friendship, between parents and children, love of country"〔Huang Ruo, in Miyoshi, pp. 14—15〕 and he continues by noting that "what I love about opera is character building", describing the technique as "dimensionalism",〔 while she states that the work "dramatizes what happens when these loves conflict".〔 Originally conceived by Opera Hong Kong (a company founded in 2003 under the artistic direction of tenor Warren Mok) and commissioned by the Hong Kong government's Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the opera company, 〔(Government of Hong Kong, Cultural Section; information on the opera and its premiere ) Retrieved 2 July 2013〕 the work was also planned in collaboration with New York City Opera's VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab annual program of new American works in progress. For Huang Ruo, the opera became the means of celebrating the 100th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen being elected as provisional president of the new Republic of China (an office he held from 1 January 1912) and which was the culmination of the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, the revolution which ended 2,000 years of Imperial rule when Emperor Puyi, known as the Last Emperor of China,〔''The Last Emperor'', the 1987 film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, tells the story of Puyi's life.〕 abdicated on 12 February 1912. In terms of the music, Santa Fe Opera's general director, Charles MacKay, who chose to present the North American premiere in July 2014, has stated that he characterizes Huang Ruo's style as "a really original and striking voice",〔 while adding that he sees the opera as "a kind of Chinese ''bel canto''.〔 ==Composition history== In her essay on the opera, Desirée Mays notes that the relationships which had developed between Sun and Charlie Soong, his longtime supporter and fundraiser, and the complications which were to arise because of the love-affair (and then marriage) of Ching-ling, Charlie's second daughter, to Sun, the impetus for the opera came from the discovery by playwright Candace Mui-ngam Chong of "a snippet of a true tale about a wedding dress intended for Ching-ling".〔Mays 2014, p. 45〕 It appears that the dress had been made some years before in anticipation of Ching-ling's future wedding, but when Charlie discovered that she had married Sun, he refused to give her the dress and ordered that it be sold by a friend. Recognizing its significance, the friend did not sell it. Chong then wrote the opera's libretto,〔 although "while staying 98% close to historical facts, Ruo states, () focuses on the human side of the great man".〔Mays 2014, p. 49〕 Huang Ruo planned the work in two versions, the first of which was designed to have a Western orchestra which would have been employed for the Beijing premiere while the second version, which was written for a Chinese orchestra, was planned to premiere at the Hong Kong Cultural Center under the direction of Yan Huichang leading the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra. The composer chose to create two versions of the opera because, as Kelly Chung Dawson states, "he is interested in experimenting with the ways in which Eastern and Western influences can affect a composition".〔 Huang notes: :When the vocals are accompanied by different orchestras they will reflect different qualities. In my work I like to use the word 'integration'. My goal is not for people to pinpoint 'That part is Western, that part is Eastern' - for me, that's only the surface. I want to blend and meld the influences together to create something new, but I don't consciously try to use Eastern and Western elements when I'm composing. I write what I write and whatever comes out will reflect my personality and influences."〔Kelly Chung Dawson, ( "A fresh look at Sun Yat-sen" ), ''China Daily'', 13 May 2011 on chinadaily.com.cn. Retrieved 2 July 2013〕 The premiere was planned to take place in Beijing in September 2011. It would then have been followed by the premiere by Opera Hong Kong planned for 13 October 2011.〔(Government of Hong Kong, Cultural Section; information on the opera and its premiere ) Retrieved 2 July 2013〕 However, the Beijing performances were cancelled and, instead, the premiere was given in Hong Kong. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Dr. Sun Yat-sen (opera)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|