Curlew River
Encyclopedia
Curlew River — A Parable for Church Performance (Op. 71) is the first of three Church Parables by Benjamin Britten
. The work is based on the Japanese
noh
play Sumidagawa (Sumida River) of Juro Motomasa (1395–1431), which Britten saw during a visit to Japan
and the Far East
in early 1956. Beyond the noh source dramatic material, Britten incorporated elements of noh treatment of theatrical time into this composition.
The libretto is by William Plomer
, who translated the setting of the original into a Christian
parable
, set in early medieval times near the fictional Curlew River, in the fenlands
of East Anglia
. The action centres on the Madwoman - an outsider. This theme is common to almost all of Britten's dramatic works: Peter Grimes
, Billy Budd
, The Turn of the Screw
and Owen Wingrave
all focus on an outsider protagonist.
Curlew River marked a departure in style for the remainder of the composer's creative life, paving the way for such works as Owen Wingrave, Death in Venice, and the Third String Quartet.
Under Colin Graham
's direction, the work was premiered on 13 June 1964 at Orford Church, Suffolk
, England
, by the English Opera Group. The original cast included Britten regulars Peter Pears
and Bryan Drake.
Curlew River opens, as do the other two Church Parables, with a processional
, to the hymn Te lucis ante terminum
(To Thee before the close of day), in which all performers, including the musicians, walk to the performance area and take their places. At a cue from the organ, the Abbot, who acts as a narrator, introduces the "mystery" to be presented. An unhurried robing ceremony - to stately instrumental accompaniment - follows, after which the play commences.
The Madwoman and Traveller wish to cross the Curlew River on the Ferryman's boat. After briefly introducing themselves, the Madwoman explains her quest: she is searching for her child who has been missing for a year. Though the Ferryman is initially reluctant to carry the Madwoman, the other characters take pity on her and persuade the Ferryman to give her passage. As he is carrying the Madwoman and the Traveller across the river, he tells the story of a boy who, one year ago, arrived in the area with a cruel master who kidnapped him from his home near the Black Mountains (which is where the Madwoman is from). The boy was sick, and was left by the river by his master. Though the boy was looked after by the local people, he died. The Ferryman recounts the boy's words:
The river people believe that the boy's grave is sacred, that:
As the Ferryman tells his story, it becomes clear that the boy who died one year ago is the child of the Madwoman. Grief-stricken by this knowledge, she joins the rest of the cast in praying at the boy's graveside. At the climactic moment when all the men are chanting together, the voice of the boy (a treble) is heard echoing them, and his spirit appears above the tomb to reassure his mother:
At this point, the Madwoman is redeemed and her madness lifts. Britten depicts the moment with the Madwoman letting out a joyful, melismatic "Amen", the final note of which resolves onto a long-delayed unison with the full cast - a signal of return and acceptance.
Here, the robing ceremony music returns, as at the start, and the players resume their normal dress. The Abbot reiterates the moral and bids the audience farewell. The full cast then recess to the same plainsong with which the work began.
, the horn player Neill Sanders
, the violist Cecil Aronowitz
, Stuart Knussen (double bass), the harpist Osian Ellis
, the organist Philip Ledger
and the percussionist James Blades
.
The singers are accompanied by a small group of instrumentalists, dressed as lay brothers. The work is scored for:
Unusually, there is no conductor in the work: instead, the instrumental performers lead among themselves, the places at which instrument is to lead being marked in the score. The lack of a conductor allows Britten to dispense with a universal tempo, the performers often instead playing in two or more separate groups at separate tempi, comparable to the sound of the music of a Nobayashi ensemble in Noh plays. This leads to another unusual notational device, the 'Curlew sign', which is used to 'resynchronise' previously separate groups of musicians by instructing one to sustain or repeat notes 'ad lib' until a given point has been reached in the music of another group. The harp part is heavily influenced by music for the koto and the chamber organ part features extensive use of tone clusters, which are derived from the shō, an ancient Japanese free reed mouth organ used in gagaku
court music. (Britten had become acquainted with this instrument while in Japan for two weeks in February 1956.)
Britten's chief compositional technique in Curlew River is heterophony
, which he uses to extraordinary dramatic effect. It permeates all aspects of the work's composition, with textures derived from short, decorative couplings, or long, unsynchronised layers of melody. It should be pointed out that the opening plainsong ('Te lucis ante terminum') suggests many of the melodic shapes throughout the Parable.
As in many of Britten's other dramatic works, individual instruments are used to symbolise particular characters. In Curlew River, the flute and horn are used most clearly for this purpose, symbolising the Madwoman and Ferryman respectively. With such a small orchestra, Britten does not use the 'sound worlds' that are clearly demonstrated in his War Requiem and A Midsummer Night's Dream, nor the dramatic change in orchestral timbre (with the entry of the celeste) that accompanies the appearances of Quint in The Turn of the Screw or Tadzio in Death in Venice.
Source: Recordings of Curlew River on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
“Cat:” refers to recording company’s catalogue number.
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
. The work is based on the Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
noh
Noh
, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
play Sumidagawa (Sumida River) of Juro Motomasa (1395–1431), which Britten saw during a visit to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
in early 1956. Beyond the noh source dramatic material, Britten incorporated elements of noh treatment of theatrical time into this composition.
The libretto is by William Plomer
William Plomer
William Charles Franklyn Plomer CBE was a South African author, known as a novelist, poet and literary editor. He was educated mostly in the United Kingdom...
, who translated the setting of the original into a Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
parable
Parable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
, set in early medieval times near the fictional Curlew River, in the fenlands
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
of East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
. The action centres on the Madwoman - an outsider. This theme is common to almost all of Britten's dramatic works: Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
, Billy Budd
Billy Budd (opera)
Billy Budd is an opera by Benjamin Britten, from a libretto by E. M. Forster and Eric Crozier, was first performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 1 December 1951. It is based on the short novel Billy Budd by Herman Melville....
, The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
and Owen Wingrave
Owen Wingrave
Owen Wingrave is an opera for television in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten, his Opus 85, and a libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after a short story by Henry James....
all focus on an outsider protagonist.
Curlew River marked a departure in style for the remainder of the composer's creative life, paving the way for such works as Owen Wingrave, Death in Venice, and the Third String Quartet.
Under Colin Graham
Colin Graham
Colin Graham, OBE was a British-born stage director of opera, theater, and television.Graham was educated at Northaw School , Stowe School and RADA...
's direction, the work was premiered on 13 June 1964 at Orford Church, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, England
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...
, by the English Opera Group. The original cast included Britten regulars Peter Pears
Peter Pears
Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
and Bryan Drake.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere Cast, 13 June 1964 (Conductor: None) |
|---|---|---|
| Madwoman | 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... |
Peter Pears Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten.... |
| Ferryman | 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... |
John Shirley-Quirk John Shirley-Quirk John Shirley-Quirk CBE is an English bass-baritone.He was born in Liverpool, England, and sang in his high school choir. He played the violin and was awarded a scholarship. While studying chemistry and physics at Liverpool University, he studied voice with Austen Carnegie... |
| Traveler | baritone | Bryan Drake. |
| Spirit of the boy | treble Boy soprano A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily... |
Robert Carr, Bruce Webb |
| Abbot | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Don Garrard |
| Three assistants (acolytes); Chorus of eight Pilgrims (three tenors, three baritones and two basses). | ||
Synopsis
- [The story is told through four main characters who, in the style of Noh theatre, are all performed by male singers: the Abbot (who acts as a narrator), the Madwoman, the Ferryman, and the Traveller. A chorusChoirA choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
is provided by eight Pilgrims]
Curlew River opens, as do the other two Church Parables, with a processional
Processional hymn
A processional hymn is a chant, hymn or other music sung during the Procession, usually at the start of a Christian service although occasionally during the service itself. The procession usually contains members of the clergy and the choir walking behind the processional cross...
, to the hymn Te lucis ante terminum
Te lucis ante terminum
Te lucis ante terminum is an old Latin hymn. It is the hymn at Compline in the Roman Breviary.-Origin:The authorship of Ambrose of Milan, for which Pimont contends, is not admitted by the Benedictine editors or by Luigi Biraghi...
(To Thee before the close of day), in which all performers, including the musicians, walk to the performance area and take their places. At a cue from the organ, the Abbot, who acts as a narrator, introduces the "mystery" to be presented. An unhurried robing ceremony - to stately instrumental accompaniment - follows, after which the play commences.
The Madwoman and Traveller wish to cross the Curlew River on the Ferryman's boat. After briefly introducing themselves, the Madwoman explains her quest: she is searching for her child who has been missing for a year. Though the Ferryman is initially reluctant to carry the Madwoman, the other characters take pity on her and persuade the Ferryman to give her passage. As he is carrying the Madwoman and the Traveller across the river, he tells the story of a boy who, one year ago, arrived in the area with a cruel master who kidnapped him from his home near the Black Mountains (which is where the Madwoman is from). The boy was sick, and was left by the river by his master. Though the boy was looked after by the local people, he died. The Ferryman recounts the boy's words:
I know I am dying... Please bury me here, by the path to this chapel. Then, if travellers from my dear country pass this way, their shadows will fall on my grave, and plant a yew tree in memory of me.
The river people believe that the boy's grave is sacred, that:
...some special grace is there, to heal the sick in body and in soul
As the Ferryman tells his story, it becomes clear that the boy who died one year ago is the child of the Madwoman. Grief-stricken by this knowledge, she joins the rest of the cast in praying at the boy's graveside. At the climactic moment when all the men are chanting together, the voice of the boy (a treble) is heard echoing them, and his spirit appears above the tomb to reassure his mother:
Go your way in peace, mother. The dead shall rise again, And in that blessed day, We shall meet in heav'n
At this point, the Madwoman is redeemed and her madness lifts. Britten depicts the moment with the Madwoman letting out a joyful, melismatic "Amen", the final note of which resolves onto a long-delayed unison with the full cast - a signal of return and acceptance.
Here, the robing ceremony music returns, as at the start, and the players resume their normal dress. The Abbot reiterates the moral and bids the audience farewell. The full cast then recess to the same plainsong with which the work began.
Music
At the premiere performance the instrumentalists included the flautist Richard AdeneyRichard Adeney
Richard Gilford Adeney was a British flautist who played principal flute with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the English Chamber Orchestra, was a soloist and a founding member of the Melos Ensemble.-Biography:...
, the horn player Neill Sanders
Neill Sanders
Neill Sanders was a British horn player, principal hornist of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Melos Ensemble for 29 years. He was a professor in Kalamazoo, Michigan and founded a chamber ensemble and a festival there.-Biography:Neill Sanders...
, the violist Cecil Aronowitz
Cecil Aronowitz
Cecil Aronowitz was a British viola player, a founding member of the Melos Ensemble, a leading chamber musician and an influential teacher at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music.-Biography:...
, Stuart Knussen (double bass), the harpist Osian Ellis
Osian Ellis
Osian Gwynn Ellis CBE is a Welsh harpist and composer.-Career:Osian Ellis was born in Ffynnongroyw, Flintshire in 1928. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Gwendolen Mason, whom he later succeeded as Professor of Harp from 1959 to 1989. He joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1961...
, the organist Philip Ledger
Philip Ledger
Sir Philip Ledger CBE is a British classical musician and academic. He is best-known for his tenure as director of the Choir of King's College, Cambridge between 1973 and 1982 and as director of Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama from 1982 until his retirement in 2001...
and the percussionist James Blades
James Blades
James "Jimmy" Blades OBE was an English percussionist.He was one of the most distinguished percussionists in Western music, with long and varied career. His book Percussion Instruments and their History is a standard reference work on the subject Blades was born in Peterborough, England in 1901...
.
The singers are accompanied by a small group of instrumentalists, dressed as lay brothers. The work is scored for:
- Flute (doubling piccolo)
- Horn
- Viola
- Double Bass
- Harp
- Percussion (5 small untuned drums, 5 small bells, 1 large tuned gong)
- Chamber Organ
Unusually, there is no conductor in the work: instead, the instrumental performers lead among themselves, the places at which instrument is to lead being marked in the score. The lack of a conductor allows Britten to dispense with a universal tempo, the performers often instead playing in two or more separate groups at separate tempi, comparable to the sound of the music of a Nobayashi ensemble in Noh plays. This leads to another unusual notational device, the 'Curlew sign', which is used to 'resynchronise' previously separate groups of musicians by instructing one to sustain or repeat notes 'ad lib' until a given point has been reached in the music of another group. The harp part is heavily influenced by music for the koto and the chamber organ part features extensive use of tone clusters, which are derived from the shō, an ancient Japanese free reed mouth organ used in gagaku
Gagaku
Gagaku is a type of Japanese classical music that has been performed at the Imperial Court in Kyoto for several centuries. It consists of three primary repertoires:#Native Shinto religious music and folk songs and dance, called kuniburi no utamai...
court music. (Britten had become acquainted with this instrument while in Japan for two weeks in February 1956.)
Britten's chief compositional technique in Curlew River is heterophony
Heterophony
In music, heterophony is a type of texture characterized by the simultaneous variation of a single melodic line. Such a texture can be regarded as a kind of complex monophony in which there is only one basic melody, but realized at the same time in multiple voices, each of which plays the melody...
, which he uses to extraordinary dramatic effect. It permeates all aspects of the work's composition, with textures derived from short, decorative couplings, or long, unsynchronised layers of melody. It should be pointed out that the opening plainsong ('Te lucis ante terminum') suggests many of the melodic shapes throughout the Parable.
As in many of Britten's other dramatic works, individual instruments are used to symbolise particular characters. In Curlew River, the flute and horn are used most clearly for this purpose, symbolising the Madwoman and Ferryman respectively. With such a small orchestra, Britten does not use the 'sound worlds' that are clearly demonstrated in his War Requiem and A Midsummer Night's Dream, nor the dramatic change in orchestral timbre (with the entry of the celeste) that accompanies the appearances of Quint in The Turn of the Screw or Tadzio in Death in Venice.
Recordings
Britten himself and Viola Tunnard supervised the first commercial recording of the work, for Decca (Decca SET 301), with the following singers:- Madwoman: Peter PearsPeter PearsSir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....
- Ferryman: John Shirley-QuirkJohn Shirley-QuirkJohn Shirley-Quirk CBE is an English bass-baritone.He was born in Liverpool, England, and sang in his high school choir. He played the violin and was awarded a scholarship. While studying chemistry and physics at Liverpool University, he studied voice with Austen Carnegie...
- Abbot: Harold Blackburn
- Traveller: Bryan Drake
- Voice of the Spirit: Bruce Webb
- The Pilgrims: Edmund Bohan, Edgar Boniface, Patrick Healy, Michael Kehoe, Peter Leeming, William McKinney, David Reed, Gerald Stern, Robert Tasman
Source: Recordings of Curlew River on operadis-opera-discography.org.uk
“Cat:” refers to recording company’s catalogue number.
External links
- Britten page, Stanford University
- Program notes and musical analysis by Christopher Hossfeld
- YouTube: Sumidagawa, excerpts from the nohNoh, or - derived from the Sino-Japanese word for "skill" or "talent" - is a major form of classical Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Many characters are masked, with men playing male and female roles. Traditionally, a Noh "performance day" lasts all day and...
play, National Noh Theatre (国立能楽堂) in Shibuya, TokyoShibuya, Tokyois one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
, Bunka Digital Library, 7 July 2004.