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DILLON

Philomela

Music / Theatre (2002–2004) in 5 Acts

Full Score

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JAMES DILLON ISSUU Version

Philomela

Music / Theatre (2002–2004) in 5 Acts

Full Score

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dedicated to Antoine Gindt

Commissioned by T&M Paris

Premiere: Oporto, Portugal 18th September, 2004

Subsequent performances: Oporto, 20th September, 2004

Strasbourg 2nd October, 2004

Paris 28, 29, 30th April

Co-production: T&M, Casa da Musica-Porto, Festival Musica-Strasbourg

James Dillon Music and Text

Pascal Rambert Mise en scéne installation and costumes

Lighting : Pierre Leblanc

Chef de chant: Vincent Leterme

Electronics/video: Carl Faia

Philomela : Anu Komsi

Procne : Susan Narucki

Tereus : Lionel Peintre

Remix Ensemble Conductor Jurjen Hempel

My sincerest thanks to everyone at T&M/Paris and Casa da Musica/Porto for their warmth and support.

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JAMES DILLON

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Philomela (2002-2004)

The tragedy is inspired the myth which explains the nightingale's mournful song (elegos a mourning song): the nightingale was originally a woman who killed her own child. Tereus was the king of Thrace who married Procne, the daughter of an Athenian king. After several years of marriage, which included the birth of their son Itys, Procne wanted to see her sister, Philomela. Tereus went to Athens to collect her, but on the return journey he raped Philomela and cut her tongue out to prevent her speaking the truth. However, Philomela was able to reveal the truth through a piece of weaving: ‘the voice of the loom’ (fr. 595 Radt). The sisters took a sinister revenge on Tereus. Procne killed Itys and fed him to Tereus. When he realised what had happened, he intended to kill the two women. But the gods intervened and changed all three into birds. The play itself must have covered the events after the return from Athens up to the metamorphoses. The story is well known from later poets and mythographers, but these sources are problematic when trying to recover the plot of this lost play. The longest surviving fragment is Procne's bitter comment about the position of women in relation to the institution of marriage.

Characters

Itys

Philomela

Procne

Tereus

Instrumentation

Flute (doubling Piccolo, Alto and Bass flutes)

Oboe (doubling Cor Anglais)

Clarinet (doubling Bass Clarinet)

Alto Saxophone (doubling Tenor)

Bassoon (doubling Contrabassoon)

Horn in F (+ mute)

Trumpet (+ Harmon, Cup, Metal and Hat mutes)

Trombone (+ Harmon, Cup, Metal and Hat mutes)

Tuba ( + mute)

Piano (doubling Celesta)

Piano accordion

Percussion (1 player)

Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Tubular Bells, glass chimes, bamboo chimes,

4 Thai Gongs ( D, F, A & C )

Medium Metal sheet

Medium Tamtam, Large Tamtam

2 Metal pots

Military drum, Snare drum, Bass drum

3 Tomtoms

Wooden chest (filled with glass + heavy stone weight)

Boy Actor (on video)

Soprano

Mezzo-soprano

Bass-baritone

Harp

Violin I

Violin II

Viola

Violoncello

Contrabass

Duration c.90 minutes

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Act 1

Overture

Scene : 1. Tereus, Procne and Philomela

3. Philomela, Procne

Act II

Scene : 1. Tereus

2. Tereus, Procne and ( Itys )

Act III

Shoreline ...

Scene : 1. Tereus

2. Tereus and Philomela

3. Tereus and Philomela

Act IV

Scene : 1. Philomela

Act V

Scene : 1. Tereus, Procne and Philomela

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TEXT: Act l

Overture…

Scene 1

A strange suspended (entre-temps) atmosphere

Procne : We meet in far hellish streams ... ( to herself) … did I ever love you?

enter Philomela wandering like some lost soul

Philomela: In my hands, this veil a weightless text I wove

(Then my hands were swift and skilled ) billows against my breath if I let go ... ? it would simply flyaway ...

Procne: during the night, when our bodies still wanted oh, dark sleep ...

Even now, yes now amongst the sulphur something hungers for ...

(whispers) you hurt me so badly!

Philomela: If I cannot hold on I go round and round

Tereus : Pale her knowing eyes pale her face, weaves a bloodied web am I this, or I ... a young girl’s body ...

a cut, the half-awake, half-alert, I might, or if ... ... or

... You were shy, then ... now restless; an afternoon when you almost …

Philomela : Soon there will be nothing we come from and march towards nothing the desire that drives you is just ash before it is blown

Oh mother, where is my tongue? in the vulva of a swallow pure space. A thousand stars exiled …

Tereus : Fire upon the tongue a single cut, and your sisters thunder was her tongue in my mouth? a little kiss

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come closer, does this body every cell moans with sound if one could but turn the drips from the back of the .. into sweet vowels .. .. into sweet nectar

all that is still and all that is moving my world could die for every young woman with moon in her waists sunken stars a little kiss blonde hair tied in a bun

Philomela: From the pain of living even through thunder between us, it's all passing . . . . . . we go round and round.

Scene 2

the loom . . .

Philomela: The royal pool will bitter seed your prick deeps and from within, disturbed .. transfuse, before I vomit

Procne: for goodnight sweet baby blue this line that carries my own bitter pricks your deep seed will flow no more . . . transfuse before I

Philomela: for goodnight sweet baby blue

Procne: nerve-scent nitric rear-brain red pink swells hand fast needle forest enzymes

Philomela: Hand fast needle forest enzymes beats a squeeze time pulse with juiced fruit climax with snake-bite aroma with cream-head thrust

Procne: Hand fast needle forest enzymes beats a squeeze time pulse with juiced fruit climax with snake-bite aroma with cream-head thrust

Act 2

Once upon a time

Scene 1

Tereus : Even the old books, all hush .. Thales, Anaximander, the stars, space. Born of moisture we ...

“Space is the greatest for it includes everything. Mind is the swiftest for it runs through everything. Necessity is the strongest for it controls everything. Time is the wisest for it discovers everything.” Thales

Scene 2

Pas de deux

Procne: I see the past so clearly. I see empires turn to sand. One minus two steps back. One plus two plus one.

Itys: Isn't the first the same as the second? ( he's ignored) - (pre-recorded voice)

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Procne pleads with Tereus

Tereus : By the wind, storms are my kingdom. A moment ... at the edge of whether I'm bad or good (pause) by the end of the day, my triumphs are less than this breath

Procne: Weakness hits just as hard as an earthquake the flames that raged from hull to hull street bridges fall lost limbs, fire . . . . . . cross water how many generations wait, surely anywhere but war?

Tereus : What protests when you spoon me honey?

Procne: (ignores) All brute at heart . . . your kingdom lies drawn by the sword a lonely drift space . . . (afterthought ) it's all sport. . . (Tereus interrupts)

Tereus : (to Procne) Give me a little... shine on me sweet princess.

Procne : Take your time blue eyes my sister? I cannot wait see to the sky and ocean, this short life the desire to power now spring comes and the frozen grass grows back

Tereus : I’ll ride the borders, What’s the problem? (to Procne) . . . climb on my horse . . (tugs on prick)

Tereus prepares to leave

Procne : Silence breaks, the flood of spring go with the windstream I pray for you, the word of man the quest for all things ...

hear the earth making waves this sixth winter gone ...

Tereus : The wider spray between storm and shore, telling me what I know all along my day breaks out (afterthought) how to exist, how to survive, these are the only borders,

Procne : How cold your wind blows,

Tereus : And yours also . . . . ( silence) apart from the noise the trade winds drive across a month’s trip who knows the toss of fate?

Procne: Bring my sister from her father's field

Tereus : And along the way?

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Procne : (to Itys) What do you find here?

Itys : to make a star I need to turn around

Procne : a star?

Itys : for grandfather

Tereus : From the pain of living, it's all passing, we go round and round. Past and future if we are to live . . .

Procne : For now and today I'll sing as I sang in the past the time & the seasons may change and yet six winters gone

Tereus : flowers bloom and fall, . . . bloom and fall.

Procne : The memory is a barrage of noise I long to see my sister

Tereus departs

Tereus : Philomela !!

Act 3

shoreline . . .

Scene 1

Tereus : So much for mystery .... your hair damp in the fragrant mist. my arms cold in the clear light. Let the moonlight on your voice

Scene 2

Philomela : Leaves fall early dried tears lunar moths hover, border grasses sway, and life flickers . . . Frost and snow melt, the air cuts clear into dark matter.

Tereus : Woven with semen and leaves, your blossom shudders with dry lips.

Scene 3

Philomela : Savage!! Prince of betrayal. Of violence. Of deceit, bearer of filth, you could not know love.

Finish now your lust. Your screams are not my screams. This emptied heart this hollowed soul. If I could but stop time . . . drowned, lost to tears . . . you have trapped me between the past and the future nothing between nothing. Curse now my open mouth, for it will not fall silent.

Sink deep your metal and spare me this ghastly noise.

Oh, it hurts . . Time’s in minus degrees, what doggish lust brings your savagery? I’ll see your fires freeze, whilst my heart burns flames of ice and shame. Your foreign soil has entered my modesty Union? Only the jack of death!

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You could not know love man .. snake .. corpse .. sand

I can't say you expanse of heat pushed in me the shape of the wind brings me ever closer to nowhere ...

I've never seen . . . or don't remember?

Sister what foul breath have you sent?

(Tereus moves in on her knife in hand) . . . how much light falls . . .

Oh no!

No!!

Tereus silences Philomela

(Tereus carries out the terrible deed)

pre-recorded entracte : Small twist sperm dance Eyes low on light; dance the salt prick Waist in motion; dance on eggwhite

A shake turn wiggle dance milks the past Solo glance caught in fright; dance the wind

A morphine breeze dance of lonely shadows Touched by chills of skin dance the price of sight On the slack frost dance, yolks the turn juice the pain spurts in spark thunder flies she screams in silence glue fuck loin tears scratch drags line flem the vulva throb a beat for tomorrow dances

Act 4

Scene 1

The voice of the loom

Chorus : one step, split and step (pre-recorded) one over one mind the crack one step and split blue blood, blue blood two step then one step and one one over two’s a short cut two step and split blood red, blood red one and one then two step two plus one leaves a three split and one step Tereus, Procne and me split and two step, one step and two minus one takes us back

one minus two steps back one plus two plus one two over one over two over one point three birds will hover.

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Act 5

Scene 1

The sacrifice of Itys with metamorphosis

Itys plays

Procne: bitters your seed deep prick will taste iron my king will taste his own fruit my white wet-skin

(whispers) for goodnight sweet baby blue

To muse on woman's destiny to see we are nothing what is this life first sold. then to think nobly . . . How do I differ from the slave?

A single night has joined us Oh, dark sleep

The royal pool will flow no more Oh, dark sleep

To muse on woman's destiny Oh, dark sleep

Tears not sight are the essence of these eyes I feel the past so clearly

A single night has joined us Oh, dark sleep.

Scene 2

Procne : nerve-scent nitric rear-brain red-pink swells hand fast needle forest enzymes beats a squeeze time-pulse with juice fruit climax with snake-bite aroma with cream head thrust

Philomela: If I cannot hold on I . . .

Procne: If I cannot hold on I . . .

Tereus : If I cannot hold on I . . .

Procne: “Life doesn't last” (Eva Hesse)

Philomela: “art doesn't last, it doesn't matter” (Hesse)

Tereus : “I think it is both a life . .. ”(Hesse)

Procne: “I think it is both a life . . .”

Philomela: “and artistic matter” (Hesse)

Procne: “baby fa' down and go boom” (Buckminster Fuller)

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Philomela

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Tereus

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PHILOMELA

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Violoncello

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( Bartok ‘snap’)

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ORACULUM II

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Oboe

Clarinet in B

Bassoon

Trumpet in B

Philomela

Procne

Tereus

Vibraphone

Celesta

Viola

Violoncello

Giocoso e leggiero

Giocoso

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James Dillon

James Dillon (b. 1950) has been published by Peters Edition since 1982. In that year, Parjanya-Vata, for solo cello, won the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik. The First String Quartet was premiered by the Arditti Quartet the following year at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival – one of many festivals regularly featuring Dillon’s music. Other works include his ‘German Triptych’ (Überschreiten, 1985; helle Nacht, 1987; Blitzschlag, 1996) and the opera Philomela (2004). In 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Huddersfield and in 2007 took up the position of Professor of Composition at the University of Minnesota.

James Dillon (*1950) wird seit 1982 von der Edition Peters verlegt. Im gleichen Jahr wurde Parjanya-Vata für Violoncello solo bei den Darmstädter Ferienkursen für Neue Musik mit dem Kranichsteiner Musikpreis ausgezeichnet. Das Arditti Quartet brachte im Folgejahr Dillons Streichquartett Nr. 1 beim Huddersfield-Festival für Zeitgenössische Musik zur Uraufführung – nur eines von vielen Festivals, bei denen seine Musik regelmäßig erklingt. Zu weiteren Werken gehören die „deutsche Trilogie“ (Überschreiten, 1985; helle Nacht, 1987; Blitzschlag, 1996) sowie die Oper Philomela (2004). Im Jahr 2003 erhielt er die Ehrendoktorwürde der Universität Huddersfield, und seit 2007 hat er eine Professur für Komposition an der University of Minnesota inne.