The Turn of the Screw (opera)
Opera Queensland's staged Neil Armfield's production in 2005 which featured the solo professional operatic debut of Kate Miller-Heidke as Flora.[8] Opera Moderne produced the work in 2012 at Symphony Space in New York under the stage direction of Luke Leonard.[10][11] For a limited run in 2018, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre presented a co-production with the English National Opera, directed by Timothy Sheader and conducted by Toby Purser.[13][14] A male Prologue tells of the "curious story" he has in a faded manuscript, written by a young, unnamed Governess to two children, "long ago".She had been hired by their uncle and guardian in London, "young... bold, offhand and gay" and too busy with "affairs, travel, friends, visits" to care for them.When he stipulates that she is never to bother him about the children, never to write, but to be silent, the "Screw" theme is heard in fragments then, as she accepts, in full, followed by its first variation, suggestive of a coach.The Governess sings that she begins to love Bly, now her home, Mrs Grose that the lively children will do better with a young, clever person like her.Mrs Grose muses that now all will be well, but the letter says Miles has been expelled, giving only a vague "injury to his friends" as reason.(Scene 4 – The Tower) Walking in the grounds in the evening (after a variation suggesting birdsong), the Governess sings about their beauty and the charm of the children.I had only to see to the house" but ambiguously that Quint "was free with" Miles, and with Miss Jessel, the well-born and beautiful previous governess, and "had his will, morning and night".As she sings a strange lullaby ("Today by the dead salt sea") to her doll, the Governess suddenly sees a woman across the lake (to the sound of a gong).Realising it is the ghost of Miss Jessel, she sends Flora home to safety and sings that it is far worse than she dreamed and that the children are "lost".about whether Quint caused Miss Jessel's downfall, but unite (in the only time the "Screw" theme is sung) that they will claim the children, culminating with "The ceremony of innocence is drowned" (to the "O why did I come?"(Scene 4 – The Bedroom) That night, the Governess tells Miles that she has written to his uncle, and questions him about what happened at school, and at Bly before she came.This generates two interleaved whole-tone scales:[19] They therefore imply an infinitely extended pattern; as Peter Evans says, "this screw can turn forever.The theme as it first appears in the piano, 9 measures before rehearsal number 1: Peter Evans argues that the keys or "centres" of the Variations follow the notes of the row, and that the tonality of A corresponds to the Governess's moral courage, against that of A flat, representing the forces of evil.An Oxford English professor argues that the Latin words used in the lesson and church scenes are code for sexual terms.[23] The line "The ceremony of innocence is drowned" sung by Quint and Miss Jessel, is taken from the poem "The Second Coming" by W. B. Yeats.
Chamber operaBenjamin BrittenNew Zealand OperaMyfanwy PiperThe Turn of the ScrewHenry JamesTeatro La FenicegovernessThe GuardianvariationleitmotifstonalitydissonanceVenice BiennalePeter PearsSadler's Wells OperaStratford FestivalEnglish Opera GroupNew York College of MusicEnglish Touring OperaGlyndebourneGlyndebourne Festival OperaOpera QueenslandNeil ArmfieldKate Miller-HeidkeLos Angeles OperaJames ConlonOperaUpCloseSymphony SpaceLuke LeonardOpera Holland ParkRegent's Park Open Air TheatreEnglish National OperaTimothy SheaderWilton's Music HallAnna LeeseMadeleine PierardVoice typesopranoJennifer VyvyantrebleDavid HemmingsJoan CrossArda MandikianEnglish country houseexpelledDead Seatubular bellscat's cradlepassacagliathrenodyfourthsminor thirdswhole-tone scalestetrachordscircle of fifthsArnold Schoenberg12-note rowalto flutepiccoloEnglish hornJames BladesCecil Aronowitzclarinetbass clarinetcelestaMartin IseppTerence WeilbassoonVernon Elliottdouble bassTom, Tom, the Piper's SonLavender's Bluenursery rhymesmnemonicdeclensionnominativegrammatical genderablativeThe Second ComingW. B. YeatsLondon Symphony OrchestraPhilip LangridgeHelen DonathAva JuneLillian WatsonRobert TearHeather HarperColin DavisCovent Garden Opera HouseFelicity LottNadine SecundeSteuart BedfordIan BostridgeJoan RodgersJane HenschelVivian TierneyDaniel HardingMahler Chamber OrchestraJohn PiperKennedy, MichaelMaddocks, FionaThe New York TimesRupert ChristiansenMichael BillingtonBoosey & HawkesHolden, AmandaEastman School of MusicWhittall, ArnoldWarrack, JohnStanley SadieThe New Grove Dictionary of OperaThe Daily TelegraphList of compositionsPaul BunyanPeter GrimesThe Rape of LucretiaAlbert HerringThe Little SweepBilly BuddGlorianaNoye's FluddeA Midsummer Night's DreamOwen WingraveDeath in VeniceCurlew River