Word: orpheus
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...years back the innocuous if slightly disturbing cable TV network made classical music headlines when it began to accompany its scrolling local weather reports with recordings of young violin virtuoso Gil Shaham and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra performing Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Sales for the CD and for classical music in general skyrocketed, and Shaham rose to megastar status on the tide of his impeccable, resonant, almost glowing violin playing. At that time, however, Shaham was already a well-respected figure in the music world, having debuted at the age of 10 with the Jerusalem Symphony, attended Juilliard after graduating...
...half-century later, Vanessa Redgrave came to the rescue. While researching her role in Williams' Orpheus Descending a few years ago, the actress discovered a reference the playwright made to his forgotten early work: "I have never written anything since then that could compete with it in violence and horror." She tracked down the manuscript at the University of Texas and eventually showed it to Trevor Nunn, the acclaimed British director (Nicholas Nickleby; Cats) who is now artistic director of London's Royal National Theatre. Nunn's first reaction was surprise that there was no role in it for Redgrave...
...Mort d'Orphee, though composed in the same year as the Waverly, has a distinctly different tone. Berlioz wrote it for the Prix de Rome, the most prestigious composers' competition in Paris, but the judges deemed it too daring. This work tells the tale of Orpheus' death in three movements. The first is a sorrowful tenor melody in which Orpheus laments for his lost Eurydice. The second depicts the wrath of Bacchus' priestesses, who tear Orpheus to pieces when he rejects their love. Both a tenor and a women's choir are required for this movement, but this seems almost...
This much and a good deal more is brilliant. Too bad such books need a plot, because mood and murk are what they're about. But they do, and what Noon comes up with, no surprise, is a Quest. Worked with Orpheus and Eurydice-why not? Scribble tries to retrieve his incestuously beloved kid sister Desdemona from one of those alternate worlds, with scenic but otherwise dim results. Vurt is a good try at great nonsense, and if someone doesn't use it as the basis for Son of Blade Runner, Hollywood isn't paying attention...
...Orpheus Descending concludes at the moment of impending violence. Having dared to cast a final glance at the face of his beloved Lady, Val disappears into the night with the Sheriff's men in pursuit. Having condemned his lover to death, the young drifter is forced to resume the life he longed to leave behind. Though the mythical Orpheus "made Hell grant what love did seek," he could not escape the spectre of death. We are allowed the hope, however futile, that Tennessee Williams' rebel musician might...