Marco Polo (opera)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Marco Polo | |
|---|---|
| Opera by Tan Dun | |
| Librettist | Paul Griffiths |
| Language | English |
| Premiere | 7 May 1996 Munich Biennale |
Marco Polo is an opera in two acts by the Chinese-born composer Tan Dun with an English libretto by the writer and critic Paul Griffiths. It premiered at the Munich Biennale on 7 May 1996 in a staging by Martha Clarke.
The work divides the title figure into two characters—Marco (mezzo-soprano) and Polo (tenor)—and interleaves a spiritual “Book of Timespace” with episodes inspired by the Venetian’s travels. The scoring combines standard Western orchestra and chorus with instruments associated with the cultures evoked in the drama, including pipa, sheng, tabla and Tibetan horns.
Marco Polo received the 1998 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.[1] Notable productions include the United States premiere at New York City Opera in November 1997, a 2008 staging by De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam (issued on DVD/Blu‑ray), and a 2013 production for the Bergen International Festival.
The opera originated in a late-1980s commission from the Edinburgh International Festival. Although intended for Edinburgh, the completed work premiered at the 1996 Munich Biennale.[2] Griffiths’s earlier novel Myself and Marco Polo has been cited in connection with the opera’s genesis, although the libretto is not a direct adaptation.[3][4]
Performance history
Marco Polo began as a commission by the Edinburgh International Festival in the late 1980s. However, it was not completed until 1995 and received its first performance at the Munich Biennale on 7 May 1996 directed by Martha Clarke. Its US premiere followed on 8 November 1997 at the New York City Opera. Marco Polo was first seen in the UK in November 1998 in a concert performance at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. Its most recent revival was a November 2008 production at De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam.
Roles
- Memory: Polo (tenor)
- Being 1: Marco (mezzo-soprano)
- Being 2: Kublai Khan (bass)
- Nature: Water (soprano)
- Shadow 1: Rustichello/Li Po (tenor)
- Shadow 2: Sheherazada/Mahler/Queen (mezzo-soprano)
- Shadow 3: Dante/Shakespeare (baritone)
Synopsis
The opera presents Marco Polo’s expedition as three overlapping journeys: physical travel from an Italian piazza toward China’s Great Wall, a spiritual “Book of Timespace” (Winter–Spring–Summer–Autumn) in which “shadows” of historical figures appear, and a parallel musical journey. Marco embodies action and being, while Polo embodies memory. The three strands converge at the Great Wall, a symbolic threshold the merged “Marco Polo” must cross.[4]
