The CIVIL warS
Encyclopedia
The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down (rendered the CIVIL warS: a tree is best measured when it is down) is an opera
created in the early 1980s by director Robert Wilson
to music by Philip Glass
, David Byrne
, Gavin Bryars
and others. The vast five-act work has never been performed whole.
Originally, The Civil Wars was conceived as a single daylong piece of music theatre to accompany the 1984 Summer Olympics
. Six different composers from six different countries were to compose sections of Wilson's text inspired by the American Civil War
. After initial premieres in their countries of origin, the six parts were to be fused in one epic performance in Los Angeles
during the games, a parallel to the internationalist
ideals of the Olympic movement
.
The premiere of the full work was cancelled when funding failed to materialize (despite the Olympic Committee's offer of matching funds) and deadlines were not met. But four of the six sections had full productions under Wilson's direction in Minneapolis, Rome
, Rotterdam
and Cologne
, with workshop productions of the other two sections in Tokyo
and Marseille
.
A documentary on the work's creative process, Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars, was released in 1987. It is out of print.
was the composer of these mostly wordless pieces, and choreography was by Suzushi Hanayagi
. The Knee Plays premiered in April 1984 at the Walker Art Center
.
With no singers, The Knee Plays told its story through nine dancers wearing white doctor's smocks. The style of presentation was influenced by Japanese Bunraku
puppetry and Noh
and Kabuki
theater. The designs, by Jun Matsuno with Wilson and Byrne, were modular white squares resembling Japanese shoji
screens that moved fluidly to redefine the space for each scene.
Byrne's music, however, took its inspiration not from Japan but from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
of New Orleans. The instrumentation was for a brass ensemble, and incorporated a number of traditional tunes, including "In the Upper Room," "The Gift of Sound," "Theadora is Dozing," "I Bid You Good Night," and "I Tried."
New York Times critic John Rockwell wrote "The 'plot' traces the transformation of a tree into a boat into a book into a tree again, almost as a cycle of nature [...] All of which means little in words, but much in stage pictures."
Wilson coined the term "knee play," meaning an interlude between scenes, for the opera Einstein on the Beach
. The term emerges from Wilson's conception of these pieces as connective tissue linking the "meat" of a performance.
, and also incorporated text from Racine
and Shakespeare. The primary composer was Hans Peter Kuhn, with additional material by Michael Galasso
, Philip Glass, David Byrne, Franz Schubert
, and traditional Japanese gagaku
music. The piece was premiered on January 19, 1984 at the Schauspielhaus Köln or Cologne Opera House, Germany.
This section is more musical theatre than opera, with spoken dialogue predominating. Frederick the Great of Prussia
is the central character, and his struggle to cling to political power is paralleled in the private power struggles of a modern family under a domineering "Old Man."
In 1985 the Cologne sections were performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. The Pulitzer Prize
jury awarded this production the prize for drama
for 1986 by a unanimous vote. However, the Pulitzer supervisory board overruled the jury, with the result that no drama prize was given that year.
In the New York Times, critic John Rockwell described this production:
The production divided the critics of MIT's newspaper, The Tech. Michiel Bos wrote, "Tension is build up, maintained and relaxed with supreme skill. Timing is crucial and perfect: every move, every pause, every sound, every silence has its just measure." But Eric Ristad saw the piece as being hermetic to the point of opacity, of being "private theater with a vengeance; it is without content, and immune from criticism. [...] The piece just exists, and we react to it individually, in much the same way we might react to a drop of water."
, and Wilson collaborated with Maita di Niscemi on the text, which is in Latin
, Italian, and English. The Rome section premiered in March 1984 at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
, conducted by Marcello Panni, with Luigi Petroni as Garibaldi.
The act is divided into a prologue and two scenes. In the prologue, the Earth Mother and a Snow Owl duet before being joined by Abraham Lincoln
in a prayer for peace. In Scene A, Giuseppe Garibaldi
(who fought for the unification of Italy
) sings while his soldiers face off against a group of Hopi
dancers. Scene B is dominated by two spoken narrations: the first by Robert E. Lee
(who spins weightlessly as if in outer space as he speaks), and the second by the grieving, mentally ill Mary Todd Lincoln
. Throughout, an octet of characters from Greek mythology comments with excerpts from Hercules Furens and Hercules Oetaeus by Seneca the Younger
.
Philip Glass began composing the music for the Rome section late in the creative process, after Robert Wilson had already planned and videotaped a complete silent version of the drama. Glass's role was similar to that of a film composer, tailoring his music to the rhythm of the action rather than imposing his own tempo. Glass would later repeat this process with La belle et la bête (opera)
, an opera intended to be performed as a synchronized soundtrack to showings of Jean Cocteau
's classic film.
The Rome section was documented by the American Composers Orchestra
in 1999 under the influence of Dennis Russell Davies
. The cast was as follows: Robert Wilson as General Lee, Giuseppe Sabbatini
as Garibaldi, Laurie Anderson
as the Young Mrs. Lincoln, Denyce Graves
as the older Mrs. Lincoln and the Earth Mother, Zheng Zhou
as Abraham Lincoln, Sondra Radvanovsky as the Snow Owl and Alcmene, and Stephen Morscheck as Hercules. The Morgan State University
Choir sang under the direction of Dr. Nathan Carter.
was a principal composer for this section, and a principal writer was Lebanese poet Etel Adnan
, though the collage-like libretto incorporated a diverse collection of texts. Bryars set a speech by Marie Curie
, "I am among those who believe that science has a great beauty," a poem by Pope Leo XIII
on the then-new art of photography, and a speech by an imaginary scientist in Jules Verne
's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The work was not completed or publicly performed, but Bryars incorporated a number of its arias into the later works Effarene and On Photography.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
created in the early 1980s by director Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)
Robert Wilson is an American avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'". Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video...
to music by Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, David Byrne
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
, Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
and others. The vast five-act work has never been performed whole.
Originally, The Civil Wars was conceived as a single daylong piece of music theatre to accompany the 1984 Summer Olympics
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
. Six different composers from six different countries were to compose sections of Wilson's text inspired by the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. After initial premieres in their countries of origin, the six parts were to be fused in one epic performance in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
during the games, a parallel to the internationalist
Internationalism (politics)
Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...
ideals of the Olympic movement
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
.
The premiere of the full work was cancelled when funding failed to materialize (despite the Olympic Committee's offer of matching funds) and deadlines were not met. But four of the six sections had full productions under Wilson's direction in Minneapolis, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
and Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, with workshop productions of the other two sections in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
and Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
.
A documentary on the work's creative process, Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars, was released in 1987. It is out of print.
Minneapolis section: The Knee Plays
The American section of The Civil Wars was a series of twelve brief interludes intended to connect the larger scenes and provide time for set changes. David ByrneDavid Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
was the composer of these mostly wordless pieces, and choreography was by Suzushi Hanayagi
Suzushi Hanayagi
,born in Osaka, Japan, in 1928, is a Japanese dancer and choreographer. She found her way in the international art world through her mastery of more than three Japanese classical dance theater forms and experimental performance art forms...
. The Knee Plays premiered in April 1984 at the Walker Art Center
Walker Art Center
The Walker Art Center is a contemporary art center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is considered one of the nation's "big five" museums for modern art along with the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Hirshhorn...
.
With no singers, The Knee Plays told its story through nine dancers wearing white doctor's smocks. The style of presentation was influenced by Japanese Bunraku
Bunraku
, also known as Ningyō jōruri , is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater, founded in Osaka in 1684.Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance:* Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai—puppeteers* Tayū—the chanters* Shamisen players...
puppetry and 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...
and Kabuki
Kabuki
is classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers.The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing , dance , and skill...
theater. The designs, by Jun Matsuno with Wilson and Byrne, were modular white squares resembling Japanese shoji
Shoji
In traditional Japanese architecture, a shōji is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo...
screens that moved fluidly to redefine the space for each scene.
Byrne's music, however, took its inspiration not from Japan but from the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a New Orleans, Louisiana, brass band. The ensemble was established in 1977 by Benny Jones together with members of the Tornado Brass Band...
of New Orleans. The instrumentation was for a brass ensemble, and incorporated a number of traditional tunes, including "In the Upper Room," "The Gift of Sound," "Theadora is Dozing," "I Bid You Good Night," and "I Tried."
New York Times critic John Rockwell wrote "The 'plot' traces the transformation of a tree into a boat into a book into a tree again, almost as a cycle of nature [...] All of which means little in words, but much in stage pictures."
Wilson coined the term "knee play," meaning an interlude between scenes, for the opera Einstein on the Beach
Einstein on the Beach
Einstein on the Beach is an opera that premiered on July 25, 1976 at the Avignon Festival in France, scored and written by Philip Glass and designed and directed by theatrical producer Robert Wilson. It also contains writings by Christopher Knowles, Samuel M. Johnson and Lucinda Childs...
. The term emerges from Wilson's conception of these pieces as connective tissue linking the "meat" of a performance.
Cologne section
The Cologne section comprised the first scene of Act I, the final scene of Act III, and all of Act IV. Wilson collaborated on the libretto with German playwright Heiner MüllerHeiner Müller
Heiner Müller was a German dramatist, poet, writer, essayist and theatre director. Described as "the theatre's greatest living poet" since Samuel Beckett, Müller is arguably the most important German dramatist of the 20th century after Bertolt Brecht...
, and also incorporated text from Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
and Shakespeare. The primary composer was Hans Peter Kuhn, with additional material by Michael Galasso
Michael Galasso
Michael John Galasso was an American composer, violinist, and music director.-Film Scores:...
, Philip Glass, David Byrne, Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, and traditional Japanese 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...
music. The piece was premiered on January 19, 1984 at the Schauspielhaus Köln or Cologne Opera House, Germany.
This section is more musical theatre than opera, with spoken dialogue predominating. Frederick the Great of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
is the central character, and his struggle to cling to political power is paralleled in the private power struggles of a modern family under a domineering "Old Man."
In 1985 the Cologne sections were performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. The Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
jury awarded this production the prize for drama
Pulitzer Prize for Drama
The Pulitzer Prize for Drama was first awarded in 1918.From 1918 to 2006, the Drama Prize was unlike the majority of the other Pulitzer Prizes: during these years, the eligibility period for the drama prize ran from March 2 to March 1, to reflect the Broadway 'season' rather than the calendar year...
for 1986 by a unanimous vote. However, the Pulitzer supervisory board overruled the jury, with the result that no drama prize was given that year.
In the New York Times, critic John Rockwell described this production:
- "One scene can stand for all: Frederick, dressed in his 18th-century uniform, arises from beneath the stage on a statue stallion. He writhes and twists atop his steed, shielding his face with a Japanese mask to echo Schubert's ErlkönigDer ErlkönigDer Erlkönig is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It depicts the death of a child assailed by a supernatural being, the Erlking or "Erlkönig"...
song, about a child swept away by death, which is first recited by an actress floating in space behind a scrim and then mouthed to a German recording by a grotesque old woman clutching a live little dog."
The production divided the critics of MIT's newspaper, The Tech. Michiel Bos wrote, "Tension is build up, maintained and relaxed with supreme skill. Timing is crucial and perfect: every move, every pause, every sound, every silence has its just measure." But Eric Ristad saw the piece as being hermetic to the point of opacity, of being "private theater with a vengeance; it is without content, and immune from criticism. [...] The piece just exists, and we react to it individually, in much the same way we might react to a drop of water."
Rome section
The Rome section includes all of Act V. It is a full operatic setting by Philip GlassPhilip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, and Wilson collaborated with Maita di Niscemi on the text, which is in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, Italian, and English. The Rome section premiered in March 1984 at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
The Teatro dell'Opera di Roma is an opera house in Rome, Italy. Originally opened in November 1880 as the 2,212 seat Costanzi Theatre, it has undergone several changes of name as well modifications and improvements...
, conducted by Marcello Panni, with Luigi Petroni as Garibaldi.
The act is divided into a prologue and two scenes. In the prologue, the Earth Mother and a Snow Owl duet before being joined by Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
in a prayer for peace. In Scene A, Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
(who fought for the unification of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
) sings while his soldiers face off against a group of Hopi
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
dancers. Scene B is dominated by two spoken narrations: the first by Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
(who spins weightlessly as if in outer space as he speaks), and the second by the grieving, mentally ill Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Todd Lincoln
Mary Ann Lincoln was the wife of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, and was First Lady of the United States from 1861 to 1865.-Life before the White House:...
. Throughout, an octet of characters from Greek mythology comments with excerpts from Hercules Furens and Hercules Oetaeus by Seneca the Younger
Seneca the Younger
Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...
.
Philip Glass began composing the music for the Rome section late in the creative process, after Robert Wilson had already planned and videotaped a complete silent version of the drama. Glass's role was similar to that of a film composer, tailoring his music to the rhythm of the action rather than imposing his own tempo. Glass would later repeat this process with La belle et la bête (opera)
Beauty and the Beast (1946 film)
Beauty and the Beast is a 1946 French romantic fantasy film adaptation of the traditional fairy tale of the same name, written by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont and published in 1757 as part of a fairy tale anthology . Directed by French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, the film stars Josette...
, an opera intended to be performed as a synchronized soundtrack to showings of Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
's classic film.
The Rome section was documented by the American Composers Orchestra
American Composers Orchestra
The American Composers Orchestra is an American orchestra based in New York City. It is the only orchestra in the world dedicated solely to the creation, performance, preservation, and promulgation of music by American composers...
in 1999 under the influence of Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies
Dennis Russell Davies is an American conductor and pianist. He studied piano and conducting at the Juilliard School where he received his doctorate...
. The cast was as follows: Robert Wilson as General Lee, Giuseppe Sabbatini
Giuseppe Sabbatini
Giuseppe Sabbatini is a lyric tenor.His opera repertoire includes Idomeneo, Mitridate, re di Ponto, Don Giovanni, Linda di Chamounix, La favorita, L'elisir d'amore, Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux, Lucrezia Borgia, Dom Sébastien, I puritani, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Falstaff, La...
as Garibaldi, Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...
as the Young Mrs. Lincoln, Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.-Early life:Graves was born on March 7, 1964, to Charles Graves and Dorothy Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and was raised by her mother on Galveston Street, S.W., in the Bellevue section of Washington...
as the older Mrs. Lincoln and the Earth Mother, Zheng Zhou
Zheng Zhou
Zheng Zhou is an American operatic baritone who has sung at many of the world's finest opera houses. His opera credits include performances with the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Illinois, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Teatro Real, the Philippine...
as Abraham Lincoln, Sondra Radvanovsky as the Snow Owl and Alcmene, and Stephen Morscheck as Hercules. The Morgan State University
Morgan State University
Morgan State University, formerly Centenary Biblical Institute , Morgan College and Morgan State College , is a historically black college in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Morgan is Maryland's designated public urban university and the largest HBCU in the state of Maryland...
Choir sang under the direction of Dr. Nathan Carter.
Rotterdam section
Premiered in 1983. The production echoed the look of Dutch landscapes and included such characters and images as Mata Hari, Queen Wilhelmina, William the Silent, cabbages, and tulips.Marseille section
Gavin BryarsGavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
was a principal composer for this section, and a principal writer was Lebanese poet Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan is a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist.In 2003 MELUS, the journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States, called Adnan "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today."She has said, "As for any...
, though the collage-like libretto incorporated a diverse collection of texts. Bryars set a speech by Marie Curie
Marie Curie
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a physicist and chemist famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first person honored with two Nobel Prizes—in physics and chemistry...
, "I am among those who believe that science has a great beauty," a poem by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
on the then-new art of photography, and a speech by an imaginary scientist in Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
The work was not completed or publicly performed, but Bryars incorporated a number of its arias into the later works Effarene and On Photography.