Monodrama with live electronic processing by John Croft Lore Lixenberg (the Fury) Richard Craig (bass and contrabass flutes) A Fury’s Curses is an opera-monodrama in progress by John Croft, based on Jean Tardieu’s one-woman theatre piece Malédictions d’une Furie, with Lore Lixenberg as the Fury. The work is scored for voice, small ensemble, live electronics, and electroacoustic sounds. Sound examples of the opening and the bass flute solo intermedio (sostenuto…infranto) can be found here. The final version of the work included video, by Richard Craig.
Tardieu’s play is a relentless denunciation of the human condition and of the gods who have created such a world or futile suffering, alternating rage and lament, thundering fulmination and fragile threnody. This new work builds on the composer’s pioneering work with live electronics in order to evoke the Fury’s vacillation between these expressive extremes, creating the chaotic, primordial sonic environment demanded by the play. The electronic treatments will include live spectral processing and timbral transformation of a kind that has only very recently become possible, and will embody a new approach to the operatic persona. The operatic ‘hyper-persona’, the intensity of the text and staging, and the integrity of the musical material will together create an intense and innovative musical and theatrical experience. The result will be a fully staged opera-monodrama of about 40 minutes’ duration for voice, bass/contrabass flute, live electronics, and electroacoustic sounds. The piece may be staged or presented in a concert performance. John Croft is a composer specialising in live electronics. He is senior lecturer in music at Brunel University, West London. Jean Tardieu (1903–1995) was a French dramatist known for his highly experimental theatre pieces. He was the recipient of the Grand Prix of the Académie Française in 1972, the Critics Prize in 1976, and the National Grand Prix for Literature in 1993.
Premiere in May 2012
