Voss (opera)
Encyclopedia
Voss is an opera
by Australian composer Richard Meale
with libretto
by David Malouf
. It is an adaptation of Patrick White
's novel of the same name
. The opera was commissioned by The Australian Opera
, and premiered at the Adelaide Festival in 1986.
In 2011, Voss
was added to the National Film and Sound Archive
of Australia's Sounds of Australia
registry.
and administrator Peter Hemmings
, general manager of the Australian Opera (as Opera Australia
was then known), commissioned Meale to write an opera based on Voss, Patrick White's 1957 novel.
premiered Voss, directed by Jim Sharman
on 1 March 1986 at the Adelaide Festival Theatre
.
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...
by Australian composer Richard Meale
Richard Meale
Richard Graham Meale, AM, MBE was an Australian composer of instrumental works and operas.-Biography:Meale was born in Sydney and studied piano with Winifred Burston at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, as well as clarinet, harp, music history and theory, before studying at the University of...
with libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by David Malouf
David Malouf
David George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was...
. It is an adaptation of Patrick White
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
's novel of the same name
Voss (novel)
Voss is the fifth published novel of Patrick White. It is based upon the life of the nineteenth-century Prussian explorer and naturalist Ludwig Leichhardt who disappeared whilst on an expedition into the Australian outback.-Plot summary:...
. The opera was commissioned by The Australian Opera
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
, and premiered at the Adelaide Festival in 1986.
In 2011, Voss
Voss (opera)
Voss is an opera by Australian composer Richard Meale with libretto by David Malouf. It is an adaptation of Patrick White's novel of the same name...
was added to the National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
The National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
of Australia's Sounds of Australia
Sounds of Australia
The National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia is a public registry of recordings that celebrates the unique and diverse recorded sound culture and history of Australia.The Registry was launched in February 2007 with a foundation list of ten...
registry.
Commission
In 1977, impresarioImpresario
An impresario is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays or operas; analogous to a film producer in filmmaking, television production and an angel investor in business...
and administrator Peter Hemmings
Peter Hemmings
Peter Hemmings OBE was an English Opera administrator, impresario and singer.As a singer, he was an accomplished chorister in his youth and had a fine bass voice....
, general manager of the Australian Opera (as Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
was then known), commissioned Meale to write an opera based on Voss, Patrick White's 1957 novel.
Work in progress
White's novel was predominantly set in Queensland, and appropriately, Meale's librettist for the opera was Queensland writer, poet and playwright David Malouf. Malouf completed the libretto in 1978, but Voss would not be performed until 1986.A preview
12 minutes of Voss - the "Garden Scene" - was a feature of the 1982 Adelaide FestivalAdelaide Festival of Arts
The Adelaide Festival of Arts is an arts festival held biennially in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Although locally considered to be one of the world's greatest celebrations of the arts, that is internationally renowned and the pre-eminent cultural event in Australia, it is actually...
Premiere
The Australian Opera conducted by Stuart ChallenderStuart Challender
Stuart David Challender, AO was an Australian conductor, known particularly for his work with Opera Australia and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.-Early life:...
premiered Voss, directed by Jim Sharman
Jim Sharman
James "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...
on 1 March 1986 at the Adelaide Festival Theatre
Adelaide Festival Centre
The Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River...
.
Roles
| Role | Voice type |
|---|---|
| Johann Ulrich Voss | 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... |
| Frank le Mesurier | 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... |
| Palfreyman | baritone |
| Harry Robarts | tenor |
| Judd | baritone |
| Mrs Judd | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
| Mr Bonner | 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... |
| Mrs Bonner | mezzo-soprano |
| Belle Bonner | soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
| Laura Trevelyan | soprano |
| Rose Portion | mezzo-soprano |
| Lieutenant Tom Radclyffe | tenor |
| Mr Topp | tenor |
| Mercy | soprano |
| A reporter | tenor |
External links
- ABC's "At the Opera"
- "THE VOSS JOURNEY"
- 'Voss' was added to the National Film and Sound ArchiveNational Film and Sound ArchiveThe National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
's Sounds of AustraliaSounds of AustraliaThe National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia is a public registry of recordings that celebrates the unique and diverse recorded sound culture and history of Australia.The Registry was launched in February 2007 with a foundation list of ten...
registry in 2011.